The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 138

[Gray]

I was talking to Grampy and Gammy when Echo’s text reached me. I had worried earlier when I felt her get scared, but she’d calmed pretty quickly and I figured Victor had resolved whatever the issue was. The text brought that worry right back.

Gammy gave me a few pies in boxes to take to the house. I gave her and Grampy big hugs before carting my things out to my truck and heading back home. It was a struggle to keep my speed low.

When I got to the house, I handed the pie boxes off to Wendell.

“Where’s Echo?” I asked.

“Mistress Nightshade is in the office.” She replied.

“Why are you calling her that? I thought she told you to call her Echo.” I said.

“She’s the Mistress of the territory now. We’re calling her that out of respect.” Wendell told me.

That didn’t sound good. Echo was only in charge of the territory when Victor couldn’t be around to take care of it, but he was awake. I headed to the office.

The door was open. I walked in and looked around. There was a person sized hole in the wall, one of the chairs was leaning where a missing leg had been, and there were some slashes on walls and other furniture. This wasn’t good.

“What happened? Where’s Victor?” I asked.

“The curse took Victor over.” Talia said. “He’s in a cell. Echo got him in without any problems and we found out Valor’s vampire ability.”

“Echo? Are you alright, angel?”

“I’m fine. Sorry I texted you like that. Talia reminded me there was a map of Trent’s territory, so it turns out I didn’t need you. Did everything go well with getting the journals?” Echo replied, her attention fully on copying the lines of one map onto another.

“Yeah…. Gammy sent some pies.” I said.

“Good. Everyone will enjoy that.” Echo smiled a little. “There. That’s the pack lands. Now, we only have to wait on Dennis and Finn to return. That should give us an idea of all the places Fenton would have wanted trapped in the border.”

She was different. This was the Echo I’d met with my brother and Val. She was focused on her work and wasn’t emotional at all.

A swell of pride filled my chest. My cleaning demon was as focused and serious about something other than cleaning and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I loved my sweet, needy, angel, but there was something just as enticing as my serious little demon.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Give Talia the journals. I want her to get started on reading through the material. We may not need it anymore, but I’m not taking any chances.”

Echo rolled up the map and slipped the ties over it. She then pulled another map out from under the one she was working on and rolled it as well. I handed the journals off to Talia as Val sidled up to me.

“She’s just like she was before. This is a lot like how Echo acted back home.” He whispered. “I never really realized how much she’d changed.”

“No matter what, she’s perfect. Look at how she’s commanding the whole room. My little vampire queen.” I grinned.

“Dhampyr queen.” Echo corrected with a wink before turning back to where she and Preston were analyzing the map.

Val and I chuckled. I started talking to him about his new vampire ability. He was excited about it. He’d worried that he didn’t have one.

Dinner smelled like it was nearly done when Finn arrived with an older looking vampire. The man was thinly built, but had an air of danger about him. He had salt and pepper hair and greenish blue eyes that seemed to glow without the vampire power behind them.

“Mistress Nightshade.” He said with a deep bow.

I liked that he was respectful of my mate. Echo deserved respect and so much more. She nodded to him regally.

“Come here, Dennis. I need you to map where Grigori’s house was, please.” Echo requested.

“Of course, Mistress Nightshade.” Dennis replied, straightening up and walking to the desk.

He looked over the map and muttered about how the town had gotten bigger. I watched him carefully follow the little lines of streets until he came to a specific corner and he circled it with the pencil Echo handed him. Dennis nodded and handed the pencil back.

“Preston, what do you think?” Echo asked.

“Where is the local coven?” He sighed. “I think that’s actually the last piece.”

“I know!” Val grinned.

I’m sure he felt as useless as I did at that point and was just happy to have something to contribute. He went to the map and examined it closely, then drew two more circles on it.

“The first one is where they meet in town, the second is where they meet in the woods. Missy took me to visit the coven. She was trying to get me to join, but I found out they wanted to marry me off to the coven leader’s daughter and noped on out.” He laughed.

“Why didn’t you want her?” I asked.

“Because she’s thirteen and I don’t do kids. Plus, my sisters have soulmates. I do too. I know I do. I’m going to marry the perfect girl for me. Not some random witch kid just because she has two affinities.” Val scoffed.

The poor girl was going to end up in an arranged marriage, but it wouldn’t be to Val. I hoped it worked out. I didn’t think her parents would stop trying to find her a husband just because Val turned her down.

“With your luck, it will turn out that the girl is your soulmate and you’ll have to win her affections.” Talia snorted.

“Don’t put that energy out there, Talia. I want to marry someone who’s at least close to my age.” He insisted.

“Five years isn’t a huge gap, you’ll see that later in your life. I understand, she’s not matured enough for your tastes. You are a healthy young man, after all. You want a woman, not a child.” Talia responded.

“If you’re all finished talking about how my brother turned down the love of his life, I need to discuss this circle Uncle Preston just drew.” Echo giggled.

“Don’t you start too. You’re supposed to be on my side.” Val whined.

“I’m over eight hundred years younger than Victor, Valley. She could be your soulmate.” Echo winked.

“Let’s deal with this.” Val grumbled.

We all crowded around the desk. There was a large circle that was off center from the rest of the town. I knew a lot of the part that was cut off had sprung up over the last fifty years or so.

Our school was only forty years old. It had been some farmer’s field until there was no one left to inherit and he left the land to the school district to build another school on. The circle cut through the land where the school was.

“If Fenton made the circle this large where would he have put the wards?” Echo asked.

“He would’ve used an eight point star. It would provide more complete coverage than the traditional five points. He would have them at exact directional points. As you can see, I’ve centered the circle over his home. All the spells should be centered there.” Preston explained.

“Except the spell that took the fae’s glamour.” Talia said. “That one was in the center of the park in their neighborhood.”

“That should be the only exception.” Preston nodded.

“Are you getting any ideas?” Echo asked.

“Yes. These points should be where the wards are located.” Preston responded, marking several places on the map. “I can go to the one nearest here and check it.”

“When can you do that?” I asked.

Echo smiled at me. I knew that was going to be her next question. With Victor in the cells, Echo was going to be more driven than ever to resolve this curse.

“Since dinner will be done soon, how about after dinner. It looks like I can drive there.” Preston said.

I looked at the place he was talking about. “That’s the movie theater. The old one that used to be a regular theater. Where could he have put a ward?”

“There are always threats, Gray. I’m not running and hiding behind you and Victor anymore. The sooner I can fight for myself, the better.” She answered coolly.

“Angel, think about this. All that training without a break will make you burn out. I don’t want you to have trouble.” I said.

“I have thought of this, Gray. Don’t worry. If I start to feel myself burning out, I’ll take a break. Trust me. I’ve got this.” Echo smiled. “Eat. You have to finish your dinner if you want pie. It’s the rule.”

I looked at the food on my plate. I was worried. She was throwing herself into training and acting more like a vampire. I didn’t like it, and neither did Rex.

“Val, Gray will be sleeping next to me tonight.” Echo said after a little while.

The surprise on my face made Talia start to giggle. I looked down the table at Val who seemed to be struggling with something. He put his fork down and glared at me.

“Just sleeping.” Val growled.

“Valor, you do not run my life. I already said I wasn’t doing anything else until the curse was broken. Do you have so little trust in me that you would make a command like that?” Echo scoffed.

If I looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to the look Val was wearing. It made Talia laugh even harder. I tried not to stare or even smile, though, Talia’s laughter was starting to seep into me.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Echo. I just don’t trust him.”

“He is my husband. I’ve marked him as mine and I’ll do with him as I please. I love you, but you aren’t my father, Val. You need to observe some boundaries. I’m fine with you being a little overprotective, but this is my house and my husband doesn’t need to be reminded to respect my requests.” Echo stated with a glare.

“Just yesterday he was trying to get you to give in to him!” Val snapped.

I had the decency to be embarrassed. Echo was defending me while her brother was making some pretty good points. I didn’t have the nerve to try and say anything. I didn’t want Echo to be mad at me. I may not always be wise, but my instincts were screaming at me to stay quiet.

“That was yesterday. If you haven’t noticed, a lot has changed since yesterday. If Gray tries anything, I’ll take him to his room and leave him there. Please, Valley, stop picking on Gray. He just wants to be there for me and I need him. I can be strong all day long as long as I can be soft at night.” She said softly.

Under the table, my hand found hers and she squeezed it hard. I would be there when she needed me. She was my angel.

“Fine. I’m not apologizing, though. You better not cross the line or going to bed on your own will be the least of your problems, Gray.” Val huffed.

“I promise. I will not do anything to your sister.” I vowed.

The room was uncomfortable as Wendell cleared the plates and Lisa dropped a slice of pie in front of everyone. Echo didn’t seem to be bothered as much as everyone else did. Even Val seemed a little uncomfortable.

“Well…. Now that awkward dessert is over, I’m taking Sean to our room. He’ll need to lie down soon. Mom told me what to expect before we left today. Good night everyone.” Rosario said, pulling Sean up and dragging him out of the dining room.

Everyone broke up slowly.

“Val, Gray, I’m heading back to the office to work some more. You can either come with me or you can go play video games together. I want you two to work on your relationship. I won’t have you two bickering and fighting all the time.” Echo announced.

“I’d rather if we could work on that too.” I said.

“I suggest the two of you play the games. I don’t want you distracting Echo. I didn’t know she could be like this and she’s proving to be as effective as Victor. Go play while we do grown-up work.” Talia smirked, waving us away.

“Let’s go, Talia.” Echo said, standing.

I was left in the room with Val. He looked a little uncomfortable and sullen. I stood and sighed.

“Come on. We better do as she says.” I told him.

“Fine, but I’m only doing this because my sister wants me to.” He grumbled.

“Whatever.” I replied.

We headed to the family room and played games together until Echo came to get me for bed. We actually started having fun after the first hour of him hunting me down and shooting me in the game. I hoped it was enough to start us on the road to friendship or this was going to be a very long and difficult life for both of us.