TRISTAN

She was trying to hide it with a brave face, but our mental connection let me know just how much of a seething, guiltridden wreck Savannah was inside.

I wished I could reassure her that Anne's report might be wrong, that Ron had heard it all wrong, or maybe even that the whole rumor was a lie designed to lure us close enough for the Clann to capture us.

But knowing Mr. Williams's history, all the worse now that we knew he'd helped Gowin kill his own people, told me otherwise. Carrie and Michelle were the latest humans caught in this stupid war. And we had no promise of any kind that they would survive it. By kidnapping and torturing them, Mr. Williams could take out two goals in one move... inf lict fear and possibly even pain on our friends while also possibly pulling us into a trap.

I froze as I realized what I'd thought. It was true. I did consider Savannah's friends my own, as well. They'd accepted me into their circle despite plenty of reasons not to.

For their sakes as well as Savannah's and mine, I hoped they would make it till we could get them out of wherever the Keepers had put them. Best-case scenario, maybe the Keepers were still holding them somewhere and Mr. Williams hadn't had time to interrogate them yet.

Worst-case scenario...

Knowing Savannah could hear my thoughts, I didn't follow that line of thinking.

We would get them out of there. Just as soon as we got rid of Mr. Williams, one way or another.

Emily burned up every cell tower we passed, calling countless Clann. Many tried to ask her questions, but to her credit, she handled every conversation smoothly, telling them the emergency didn't give her enough time to answer their questions by phone. But she promised all would be answered in the email she'd be sending out to everyone tonight if they couldn't hear it all in person at the hearing in the Circle. Most descendants lived too far away to make the hearing. But there were at least twenty or more who said they would be there.

Then she called Mr. Williams. I was surprised when he actually picked up.

"Emily," he greeted her warmly. "I hear you're planning a surprise for the Clann this evening. I've received many a call over the past hour saying that you're inviting everyone to the Circle, and asking whether I know what you're up to."

"What I'm up to has to do with those two innocent girls you're currently holding for questioning," Emily said, her eyes blazing but her voice amazingly even.

"Ah, so you heard about Savannah Coleman's unfortunate two friends. Yes, well, that is what happens when you help a traitor and a murderer of a Clann leader."

You'd know about that, wouldn't you! Savannah silently screamed. But she managed to keep her lips clamped shut.

"We want them released," Emily said, following the plan step by step.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't do that. We have good reason to believe these girls know the whereabouts of Savannah and your brother, Tristan."

"Yeah, well maybe you should just stop interrogating them and ask me that instead, because I'm sitting right across from my brother and his girlfriend."

"Hello, Mr. Williams," I said.

Savannah leaned in, a thousand things she'd like to shout f looding her mind. I laid a hand on her forearm in silent reminder to stick with the plan.

She swallowed hard. "You'd better not hurt my friends, or so help me..."

Mr. Williams made a tsking noise, sounding so much like his son that it managed to actually creep me out a little. "Threatening the new Clann leader after murdering the previous one? My, my, but your list of crimes is adding up. Why don't you two simply turn yourselves in and save us all a lot of time and grief."

"Sure, if you agree to release Sav's friends," I said.

Silence as Mr. Williams absorbed the offer. "You would turn yourselves in willingly without a fight in exchange for them?"

"Yes," Savannah said. At least this time she had no problem speaking.

"Hmm. I suppose they would be useless to me if I no longer needed them to reveal your whereabouts. However, if this were some sort of attempt to trick me and you two did not keep your end of the bargain, I might be forced to question them even more...strongly in order to find you."

There was a ripping sound and a low scream, then Carrie yelled, "Don't do it, Sav! He can't get anything out of us anyways, so just-"

Her words turned into a scream.

I twisted and grabbed Savannah's shoulders as she tried to lunge for the phone, which Emily grabbed and held out of her reach. "I'll kill you! Do you hear me? If you hurt them any more, I will kill you and all the Clann spells in the world won't be able to save you!"

I had to struggle to hold her while Emily told Mr. Williams to meet us in an hour at the Circle. When Emily ended the phone call, Savannah collapsed against me, her hands fisting around my shirt as she fought the rage. Over her head, I jerked a chin at the dinette window, and Emily leaned over to open it, letting out precious cool conditioned air but also giving us some fresh air so Savannah wouldn't have any lingering human fear pheromones to trigger her bloodlust except her rage.

She tilted her head up to look at me, her eyes round and white, her fangs fully extended and biting into her lower lip. She didn't even seem to feel the pain as two drops of blood welled up. "We have to stop him, Tristan."

"We will." I stroked her back as she buried her face against my neck, drew in long breaths, and struggled to rein in her fury.

Emily cleared her throat and suggested Mac come with her to watch some TV. Watching Savannah the entire time, he slowly slid around the dinette and then sat with Emily on the couch behind us.

An hour later, I held Savannah's shaking hand as our entire group slowly walked around my family's home and across its backyard. At the edge of the woods, we hesitated. I looked at Emily, making sure she was ready. Sweat beaded her upper lip and forehead as she winced. Then she realized I was watching her and waiting for her signal. At her nod, I took a deep breath and looked at Savannah. Ready?

Teeth clenched, she nodded and took the first step into the woods.

A ripple of pinpricks erupted across my skin, signaling that either we'd triggered a spell or someone in the Circle was gathering power. Whatever the cause, it took real effort not to stop and touch the ground to gather even more power of my own in turn.

Not yet. First we would try Emily's plan and go the politically strategic route.

Mac stayed one step behind and in between Emily and me. The combination of heartbeats and fear-induced pheromones from him, Emily and Ms. Evans was a tough distraction to ignore and made me grateful we weren't in an enclosed area. I wasn't sure even holding our breaths would have prevented the bloodlust from kicking in otherwise.

Light glimmered through the thick pine branches ahead, signaling we were getting closer to the Circle. Not that I needed the guidance. I'd grown up in these woods and knew every inch of them by memory. The light did let us know that we were expected, though.

When we reached the edge of the Circle, I didn't know whether to feel relief or worry. The Circle was only about a third as full as it had been the night the Clann had met to vote me in as leader. Had these thirty descendants shown up because of Emily's call, or at Mr. Williams's request? Did we have any shot at having even one unbiased and fair judge present to hear us? Or was this plan doomed from the start?

Mr. Williams, seated in the stone chair that had once seated my father, and his father, and his father before him, stared at Mac as the scared but furious kid entered the Circle with us. Then he pasted on his trademark smile, the one that said so many things... "trust me, I will steer you right," "isn't this a sad night to have to take part in," "don't you wish everyone could just follow the rules and get along."

For that smile alone, he deserved to die. There was nothing about this man that spoke the truth, from his perfectly tailored suit to his salt-and-pepper hair so carefully trimmed and styled. And though Savannah, her dad and I were the vampires here, Mr. Williams's eyes were the creepiest in the clearing. Why couldn't everyone see those were the eyes of a cold and calculating serial killer?

Soon they would know the truth.

"I see your group has grown," Mr. Williams called across the Circle as, at either side of him, several descendants tightened their ranks and drew in closer to the stone chair.

I had to do a double take. His buddies all had white hair. As some kind of sign of their obedience and loyalty to their new leader?

Then Dylan stepped forward, tilted his head hard from left to right with a popping sound, and rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. And I understood.

That was how Dylan had survived the night of my mother's death. Mr. Williams must have made his closest followers use the old ways-sacrificial magic-to heal his son's spine. Judging by the unchanged color of Mr. Williams's hair, though, it appeared he was only willing to make his followers give up part of their life force.

They must not have given enough of their life force. Dylan looked like crap, with sunken-in cheeks, colorless skin except for the dark circles under his eyes, which peered out from beneath greasy, dull hair that was months past due for a cut.

"Where are my friends?" Savannah demanded, her hand tightening on mine.

Mr. Williams stared at her with that same cold smile. "Emily, do you think that recording this moment for YouTube is really the wisest way to show your loyalty to the Clann and its secrets?" He nodded at the laptop she held open and turned toward him.

"Oh, I'm loyal to the Clann, all right," she said. "Just not to those who would destroy it or its members with-as you put it-secrets. Speaking of which..." She turned to address everyone else in the Circle. "Thank you everyone for coming here on such short notice. I know how this must look to you right now. But I promise if you hear us out, you're going to understand the truth very soon."

"You mean like the truth of whose baby you carry?" Mr. Williams said.

Emily f linched and froze. She swallowed so hard it made an audible click in the silence. "Yes. The same person whom you apparently got quite close to, as well. Mac, why don't you tell everyone how your parents, the Griffins, really died last year?"

Mac hesitated then took a tiny step forward and cleared his throat. He hesitated, scanning the crowd of frowning and confused faces.

"Mac..." Emily muttered. "Any day now please."

He cleared his throat again. "Right. Um, so...the night my parents died, I was out with some friends at the movies. When I came back, I saw a vampire..."

"Gowin," Emily supplied.

"Right, Gowin, and this man, Mr. Williams, leaving my house." Gasps rose up from several descendants. Mac paused then continued. "I heard him telling the vamp-Gowin- that they needed to find me. But Gowin said he needed to rest first. Then they left, and I went inside and found my parents' bodies."

Emily slung an arm around his shoulders for comfort. "And after you called the police and they came and got you, what happened next?"

"They took me to the police station, and then Mr. Williams showed up and grabbed my wrist, and I didn't remember anything until tonight when you guys showed up."

"Lies!" one of Mr. Williams' white-haired friends shouted. "This kid is obviously in league with the traitors."

Mr. Williams made a show of gently gesturing for everyone to quiet down. "Let's not jump to conclusions. This poor boy has been through a lot. He could be simply confused or perhaps even under a spell-"

"You mean like that memory confusion spell you put on me for months?" Mac shouted, ignoring the plan now. "Or how about the spells you must have used against my parents to help that bloodsucker get close enough to kill them?"

I put an arm out to block him as he tried to step forward in fury.

"Test his memories," Emily said in a quiet voice. "That's why he agreed to come here tonight, so every one of you could see for yourself that his memories are true."

Mac clenched his fists at his side as fear poured out from him. But he nodded and lifted his chin, waiting for the invasion into his mind.

The crowd went silent then began to murmur.

"It is simply a planted memory," Mr. Williams said. "Why on earth would I ever ally myself with one of their kind?" He nodded at Savannah, her father and me. "It is obvious they have come here to foolishly spread lies and doubt among us so that we will become divided and weakened before another vamp attack."

"We also came here to free my friends," Savannah said, her entire body shaking with anger now. She was having trouble keeping the fury in check.

"What friends?" Mr. Williams's eyebrows rose.

Everything inside both Savannah and me sank. Oh, God. Had he already killed them?

He'd never planned to release them at all. Though why I was surprised by his latest treachery, I had no idea.

"The humans you had your Keepers take from their homes tonight," I said. "Don't play dumb, we know you have them."

"I have no idea what you are talking-" Mr. Williams began.

"Here they are," a Keeper called out as he and another man dragged Carrie and Michelle into the clearing. Both girls' mouths were duct-taped shut and their hands bound behind their backs. "We brought them just as you said." The Keeper hesitated, searching the Clann leader's furious face. "You did say to bring them here, right?"

"I never-" Mr. Williams began.

"No, I did," Ron said, resting his hands on his hips. "When I heard you had them kidnapped, I called the guards and told them to bring our prisoners to the Circle tonight so everyone else could see exactly what you've been using the Keepers for."

And then a third Keeper led Anne forward to join Carrie and Michelle. Like her friends, Anne was also bound. Unlike them, her eyes were filled with more fury than fear.

"We caught this one with these-" the third Keeper tossed down a black compound bow and quiver full of arrows "-trying to rescue her friends."