The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 147

[Bellamy]

I watched as Lucien laid on the floor of my office. Light music played as Lunette and Étienne crawled all over him. They had started giving ‘kisses’, which were just slobbering raspberries they blew on people’s cheeks.

Lucien picked up Lunette and made her fly around over him. That was a mistake, she was a bit drool-y because of a tooth coming in. I watched as a gob of drool dropped onto his forehead.

She squealed and giggled as he tried to wipe it off on the sleeve of his shirt, waving her around in the air. Étienne pulled himself up to stand, using Lucien’s shirt, and started bouncing around like he was dancing, then lurched forward and started mouthing Lucien’s ribs.

I was enjoying this family time before the nannies came to take the babies for their afternoon nap. I was sitting on the couch, relaxing after a few hours of paperwork. Jean-Claude and Dillon had chosen seconds in command of their sections and I was just completing a survey of the warriors, plus the reports from my anti-hunter squads.

“Are you just going to watch while they slobber me to death, chouchoutte?” Lucien chuckled as he set Lunette down on the side opposite her brother.

Immediately, she mimicked her brother and started slobbering all over Lucien’s shirt on the other side. I started laughing as he groaned in disgust. I couldn’t help it they were all so adorable.

“You’re laughing while I suffer at the hands of our children? What an evil wife I have!” Lucien said in mock misery while pressing his wrist to his forehead.

“You’re the one who decided to play on the floor with them.” I giggled. “I suppose I can come save you.”

I stood and swooped quickly taking Étienne and Lunette off him and spinning around with them in my arms. They hung on and squealed. I danced them around the office while Lucien got off the floor.

He came up and slowed my movements, kissing me gently and taking Lunette from me. I positioned Étienne so that it was easier to hold him against me and we both danced with the babies.

There was a knock on the door and it opened a little. I stopped moving as much, but kept dancing Étienne around as I turned to see who it was. Evan stepped in.

“Sorry to bother you, Queen Bellamy, but Hannah and Miriam are here to take the babies for their naps. I also have a couple witches here to see you. It’s about the request you sent out to the collective.” She said.

The nannies stepped in behind her and approached to take the babies. Lucien and I gave Étienne and Lunette each a kiss and got our slobbery raspberries in return. We waited until the babies were gone to wipe the spit off our faces.

Evan smiled and waved at the babies as they went by. She didn’t really like kids, but she was always sweet to mine. I appreciated the effort she made, though.

She went back the hallway as we straightened ourselves up. I saw there was even more drool on Lucien’s shirt. I went to one of my file cabinets and pulled out a fresh shirt. They were there for if I happened to tear his shirt in some of our more passionate meetings, but I was finding them useful in this instance as well.

Lucien just finished pulling the new shirt on when Evan returned with the witches. I quickly tossed the soiled shirt into a hamper I had in the corner of the room.

“Queen Bellamy, this is Amelia and Emmalyn Grove. They’re members of the collective in good standing.” Evan said with a slight bow.

The girls bowed. They were both only a couple inches taller than me. Amelia had tight blonde curls that were piled on top of her head. She had warm, brown eyes and a spray of freckles across her nose. She actually looked like a girl version of Echo’s friend Sean, if a little on the chubby side.

Her sister was fairly different. Though she had the same spray of freckles, her hair was orange and stick straight. It fell like a waterfall from behind her headband, highlighting her thin frame. She wore thick glasses and had piercing blue eyes.

“Thank you both for coming. You understood the requirements?” I asked.

“You’re looking for relations of a witch named Fenton Aimes who lived in the early twentieth century. We’re descendants of his sister, Wilma Aimes. Will that do?” Emmalyn asked.

“We’re trying to break the wards of an intruder spell Fenton cast around the town he lived in.” I explained.

They looked at each other apprehensively. I knew witches couldn’t mindlink, but they seemed to be communicating. I waited for them to respond.

“We can’t help you with attacking a town. If you have a problem with someone there, you’re going to have to figure out another way to deal with them. I’m sorry if this upsets you, but we’re light witches. We can’t harm anyone unless it’s in defense of ourselves or others.” Emmalyn replied.

“Oh! It’s not so we can attack anyone. Are you not aware of the curse that Fenton cast?” I asked. “We’re trying to free people from his curse. They can’t leave the state without losing a portion of their power. For vampires, it makes them feel like they’re starving all the time. For werewolves and other shifters, it makes them loose their connection to their animal. And for witches, it weakens their powers and affinities.”

“Our mother told us there was a city in the state we should never go to, or we wouldn’t be able to leave Oregon. He’s the one who did that?” Amelia asked. “We have to help, Emmy. We can’t just let this stand. That’s some dark magic shit.”

“Queen Bellamy, may I do a rune casting before we decide?” Emmalyn requested.

“A rune casting?” I questioned.

“I’m an earth witch with the ability to read runes and a special affinity with crystals. I bring them with me everywhere. I’d like to do a reading to see what is truly going on. Not that I don’t believe that you believe this story. It just sounds a little out there. No one has ever reversed an intruder spell. It would take a lot of energy.” Emmalyn explained coolly.

I stepped aside and indicated the coffee table, which was clear at the moment. I wanted to see what a rune reading was like. I had been down to Sit a Spell, a potion and herb shop with a teahouse run by a local witch, a couple times and had my tealeaves read. I’d had readings from water witches, but I had never seen an earth witch cast runes.

Emmalyn sat in one of the chairs and scooted forward. I dragged Lucien to the couch so we could watch. Amelia sat in the chair next to her sister and Evan watched from where she was standing near the door. She didn’t trust witches much.

We watched as Emmalyn pulled out a bag from her purse. She opened it and removed a red silk cloth which she spread on the table. Then, she dug around in the bag and pulled out a beautiful looking stone and laid it on the cloth.

It had something carved in it. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but I was pretty sure that would be frowned upon. Instead, I just watched closely.

She pulled out five stones in total and arranged them in a pattern. Emmalyn studied each one carefully. She nodded.

“From what I see, you are correct. Fenton Aimes went dark, rare for someone of our family line. I see a powerful triad, a lost king, and a dark queen involved at this point. I would assume you are the dark queen, unless there’s a more powerful female involved.” Emmalyn murmured.

“Talia. She’s an ancient vampire. One of their Master Council. She’s a lot darker than I am.” I told her.

“Mmhmm. Okay. I see where you would benefit from having us. We can break the wards, but we cannot end the curse.” She said, picking up the runes and putting them back in the bag.

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