The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 177

[Gray]

I linked Harmony to come to me quickly and bring Marius. He’d called the pack hospital earlier and knew where it was. If we could get Echo in there, maybe we could stop her from dying.

Holding pressure on the wound, I howled a few more times, so Harmony could find us. Victor just sat by Echo and stroked her hair. She looked so peaceful, like she was sleeping.

“How did this even happen?” I asked gruffly. “You should have protected her!”

“She pulled me out of the way. I didn’t realize there was a hunter behind me. It should have been me. I’m so sorry, princess.” Victor whispered.

“She’s going to forget us now, isn’t she? That’s what happens when vampires turn. They forget about their lives before.”

“Yes and no. Yes, vampires forget, but she won’t. Dhampyrs are different. They remember from the moment they wake up. It’s because they were basically born vampires, rather than being turned into one from another species.” Victor explained. “We should have made her stay home. A battlefield is no place for someone like Echo. She’s never actually fought before.”

“If she weren’t here, you would be dead. At least we get her when she comes back as a vampire. It’s not perfect, but it’s more than we could hope for in this situation. If she were anything other than a dhampyr, she’d be dead.” I told him.

A few moments later, Harmony and Marius broke through the trees. They were followed by Cam and Val. Where Marius looked the same as he had before the fight, everyone else looked more beaten up.

Harmony rushed over and sank to her knees. Val came and stood over us. They looked worried, but a little relieved.

“Why did you pull the stake out? You’re never supposed to do that!” Harmony scolded. “They taught us that in the first aid portion of health class.”

“They had to, Harmony. If Echo died with the stake in her heart, she wouldn’t have come back as a vampire. The ash stake would have stopped the magic from turning her.” Marius explained softly. “Don’t worry, she has an entire second life to live.”

“She has an entire first life to live. We need to get her to the pack hospital before she bleeds out more!” Val insisted.

“It went through her heart. They probably can’t save her. The surgery required would take too long.” Victor answered.

“It didn’t go through her heart! You guys have spent all this time with our sister and never realized she has Situs Inversus? She’s my mirror image twin, just with paler skin and darker hair! Her organs are on the other side! If we get her to the hospital, they can save her.” Harmony shouted.

That shook us out of our sorrow. Marius stepped forward and took over pressure on Echo’s chest. Harmony put her hand on him.

“I’m going with. I know the most about her medical condition… apparently.” She said coldly.

They disappeared and I felt the flame of hope ignite in my chest. They could save her from turning into a vampire. We could have our living Echo for even longer.

I reached across the space and hugged Victor. He hugged me back.

“I thought we were going to lose her right before we could show her the world. There are so many things she needs to be alive to experience.” He whispered.

“We wouldn’t have lost her, she would have just been a vampire.” I replied.

Victor pulled back and looked into my eyes. “No. Even for dhampyrs, it changes you. She would have lost her innocence. Death is still death. It still kills anything fragile inside of you. When the time comes to change Echo, she’ll be fully knowledgeable in the world. We won’t notice the change as much. It would have been so drastic, that we wouldn’t have been able to reconcile our Echo with the one we were left with.”

“Let’s get back to the fight. It’s dying down, but there are still a few hunters hiding in the woods.” Cam said.

“Where did the hunter who shot Echo go? I want to kill him myself.” I growled.

“It was a young woman. She went that way. I’ll join you. I want to tear her arms off before she dies.” Victor replied with a snarl.

We got up and ran in that direction. Val was right behind us. I didn’t see where Cam went.

Soon, I smelled human blood. Maybe it was the hunter. We turned and ended up near a stand of trees. On the ground was a man’s body with claw marks down the chest and across the throat.

As we walked on a little further, we found another body. She looked like she’d been tossed aside. I rolled her over. It was Melissa.

“That’s the girl who shot Echo.” Victor said.

“She’s dead. It looks like her throat was crushed and she was just tossed aside like so much trash.” I told him.

“Good. I hope it was a painful death.” He muttered and kicked the corpse.

“Leave her. The goblins will find them and take care of the bodies.” Val said.

And we did. She was nothing to us anymore. I’d make sure Sean and Rosario knew she was dead. They would be happy to hear that.

We trekked on. The sounds of fighting, the screams, the gunshots, the thrashing, had all died down. I saw troops of goblins carrying corpses. They would put our people in the clearing and pile the hunters in one place to take back to their homes.

When we reached the clearing where the tent was, most of the party was there. Werewolves and vampires were talking about the fight like old friends. I could see Rosario and Sean laughing with some trolls who were making hand motions that looked like something hitting the ground. Amelia and Finn were making out. She was wrapped around him tightly.

Maeve came to us. She had a smile on her face.

“The battle was successful. Only minor casualties on our side so far. Not everyone has made it out of the woods yet. We’re sending some werewolves and vampires back in to find allies in need of medical assistance.” She said.

“Good plan. We can take them to the vehicles and get them to the pack hospital. For tonight, the pack will take in all supernaturals who need our help.” Trent said, limping up to the group.

“Trent.” I said softly.

“Bastard got me in the leg with silver shot. I’ll be fine. I’m waiting until we find all of our people.”

“Amelia!” Victor shouted.

She and Finn pulled away from each other and looked over at us. Victor waved them over and they came. They seemed as curious as I was.

“You have an affinity for metal, right?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She replied.

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