The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 142

I woke up warm. I hadn’t thought Echo would actually come turn on the heated blanket without Victor being here. She was a very thoughtful and kind girl.

My pride in her escalated when she took over Victor’s position so gracefully and adeptly. She knew she couldn’t handle the vampire business, and turned it over to the lieutenants instead of asking Finn or me to help. She had us work on things that fit us far better than the political and legal sides of vampirism.

“Mmm. Talia. So soft and tiny.” He murmured.

“I’m going to beat your ass if you don’t let me go, Finnick. We can play before your bedtime. I want to go find out what Echo has managed. And Sean should be fully fae now. I wonder if he’s something tasty.” I replied, pulling out of his grasp.

Finn sighed. “You’re no fun.”

“I’ll be plenty of fun once Victor is no longer in danger.” I told him.

“Are you really sure it was okay to let Echo be named Master of the territory, Talia? I know it was her idea, but I wonder if she understands exactly what it means.” He said, getting out of Victor’s bed.

“I don’t believe Echo cares what it means. She’s very focused on saving Victor. She thought this might make the curse leave him alone. That it might confuse the curse, because she’s a dhampyr and not as vulnerable as a vampire would be. They are much harder to kill.” I climbed down from the bed and made my way to Victor’s closet.

As travelers, Finn and I didn’t tend to carry a lot with us. I had accumulated a few more things from staying with Bellamy, but I would have them sent to Zendaya when I moved on. For now, I was enjoying watching Bellamy’s family grow.

We dressed quickly and went to the kitchen. Finn was feeding nightly so he would always be at his maximum, power-wise. He was drinking his blood, when an odd look came across his face.

“I don’t feel like we need to find that person anymore. I feel like we have everything Victor asked for. Do you think Echo actually managed to find that person while we were sleeping?” Finn asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past her. Echo will be an amazing vampire when she turns. She brought together so much and it seems like she’s been the one to find everything. All she had to do was see how her life with Victor would be affected. And have no one there to reign her in. If Victor had let her be part of everything sooner, I’m sure we would have already had this curse resolved.” I chuckled. “He coddles her too much. She’s a very capable young woman.”

“And a little frightening. I didn’t realize there was another small female in the world who was as scary as you. I’m betting you’ll be best friends.”

“That is something I am hopeful about. I want Echo to be comfortable with me and include me in her life. I’m not like those other mothers in law. My childe’s spouse will actually like me and not just pretend.” I winked.

“Shall we go see what the kids have come up with?” He asked, offering his arm.

“You better rinse that mug or Echo’s going to tear your head off.” I laughed.

He took the mug to the sink and rinsed it well before we headed to the office. I opened the door and it was like all hell was breaking loose. The scene itself was strange.

Sean was green and being held back by Rosario and Valor. Harmony was standing behind the desk yelling at the corner where Gray was camped by a large cage that hadn’t been there before. Echo was holding on to her sister and glaring in the same direction.

The cage held a large black cat who was sitting on a cat bed and making a clicking chirruping sound. Gray looked completely bewildered. Preston was standing behind everyone with an appalled expression on his face.

“I’ll fucking skin you if you say something like that again!” Sean shouted.

The cat chirruped again and Sean started fighting even harder to get free.

“Shut up, or I’m going to find out about muzzles for cats.” Harmony growled.

“You know, male cats calm down once you get them snipped. We can make an appointment with the vet this week and have his balls taken off.” Valor suggested.

The cat hissed and Valor laughed. “You’d try.”

I looked to Finn, who seemed equally confused. They were all acting like they could understand the cat and were threatening it. The cat seemed to be responding.

“What is going on here?” I demanded.

The cat looked at me and chattered. Everyone froze and stared at him.

“You’re so lucky she couldn’t understand you.” Echo muttered and shook her head. “No more giving him attention. He’s trying to distract us from our work. If you think you can’t ignore the cat, then I want you to leave. I don’t have the time or energy to deal with this. Harmony, look into that cat muzzle idea.”

Finn and I crossed the room to her. She finally seemed to get Harmony calm and sent her off to find Cam. Echo straightened the map on her desk.

“Thank you for coming down as soon as you woke. Today, Fenton III died. We found that the being Finn was talking about was his cat. They called him The Old Man, but he’s actually Fenton Sr. and we brought him home.” Echo explained.

I looked at the cat again. That was the man who’d caused so much suffering? The one who made my childe have to be caged like an animal. I growled.

“None of that, please. He knows he’s valuable and enjoys taunting people. All afternoon Fenton has been whittling away at Sean’s composure. It didn’t really help that Sean’s been angry since he found out who the cat was.” Echo said. “He gave us a pretty good idea, though.”

“Who, Sean or the cat?” Finn asked.

“Both, in a way. Sean commented on the Hearts’ Forgetting spell and how it afflicted all supernaturals born, or living, inside the barrier for the Intruder spell. What if, instead of casting that spell on each group individually, he cast it as an area spell and used the same wards as the intruder? I’m guessing that was pretty accurate, because Fenton started insulting Sean and Rosario.” She replied.

“This is great. Is he telling anything else?” Finn grinned.

The cat made a trilling sound.

“Obviously, he’s not paying attention. Finn, if he were cooperating, do you honestly think I would have him in a cage?” Echo asked with an incredulous look.

“Oh, you have a point. Should’ve thought of that.” He chuckled.

“Why are you keeping him, then? Why not just kill him? He’s obviously not making himself useful.” I scoffed.

“He’s over one hundred and forty years old. We don’t know if we can kill him. If we did, I don’t know what it would do to the curse. It’s not like he’d tell me if killing him would relieve any part of it. But we do know it will attack if we go after the wards.” Echo said.

“The wards need to be our next focus.” Preston added. “I’m pretty sure Sean was right. I looked over the list of possible spells, and it looks like a large chunk of what he did was that reversed Intruder spell and the Hearts’ Forgetting spell. They line up with the bulk of the curse that we can map. If we take those two spells and the one we already dispelled out of everything, the only one left is the curse on Victor.”

The cat started chattering again. Echo blushed a little and balled her hands into fists. She was glaring at the map.

“What’s he saying?” I asked.

“He wants to know why I’m not affected as the Master of the territory. He says that I must not be the Master if another vampire is affected. Simply, Fenton, I am the new Master. The old Master is no longer able to be with us. It’s not safe for him. Your curse may know how to kill him, but it doesn’t know how to kill me.” She replied.

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