The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 66

After I cleaned up, I dressed for the evening. When I came back into the bedroom, Echo had made my bed and was waiting for me in the little sitting area by the bookshelves. She was picking at her fingers.

“What’s wrong, princess?” I asked picking her up and sitting with her in my lap.

“I made Gray a little mad at me today. I started talking about rejecting him. I know he worries that I’m going to pick you over him, but I wanted him to be happy. I just don’t know if I’m enough to make both of you happy.” She sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder.

“Echo. You’re ours. We’ll figure this out. I don’t want you to worry about this. If we’re feeling neglected, we’ll tell you. There is no reason for you to pick one or the other.” I assured her. “What did he do?”

“He kissed me and told me to never say that again.” Echo blushed.

“Then he handled it a lot better than he used to. Shall we go downstairs?” I suggested.

She nodded and got up. I briefly mourned the loss of her in my lap, but I had work to do. This curse business needed to be dealt with.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, Drew was coming out of the kitchen. He smiled brightly at Echo. I knew he had been worried about her while she was gone. When vampires worked closely, their servants tended to become closer. I let her go and she ran over to hug him.

Drew swung her in a circle and held her tight. Grayson came out of the kitchen and growled a little. I understood. It was hard watching another man hug my mate. At least, another man who wasn’t related to her or connected to her in some other way.

“I’m glad you’re safe again, princess.” Drew said.

“Only Victor is allowed to call me that.” Echo growled.

It was as if my heart swelled at that. He looked up at me in surprise. I smiled and nodded to him.

“Oh, well then. Looks like you figured out if he’d want that extra service I provide Silence.” He chuckled.

She hit his shoulder with her hand and blushed. Not all vampires had intimate relationships with their servants, but some indulged. It was hard not to get close to someone who took care of you for centuries. In fact, it was almost natural to fall into that habit.

Drew left soon after and Bellamy called us into the kitchen for dinner. The table was beautifully made up with bowls of food set out nicely. It smelled fantastic.

“I made a mousse, soup, and some blood wine for all of you. Well, all of you except Echo. I made her some blood chocolate milk. Gray and I were the donors for the meal. We’re all eating outside, since the table will only seat four. You four can have your meal in here. I’m sure Echo is eager to show you what she’s been working on all day.” Bellamy told us with a warm smile.

I pulled out Echo’s chair and got her seated. She was looking over everything with interest. I had already talked to Bellamy about giving us some of her recipes before she left. I was growing more and more fond of blood foods and it would enable me to have meal times with Echo.

The food was marvelous. Echo ate happily. I was glad that she was having something other than blood. It meant good things for her progress in getting back to solid foods. That little bit of normalcy would go a long way toward her recovery.

“What have you been working on all day, Echo?” Marius asked in a sweet tone that didn’t really suit him.

She grinned widely and launched into the details of her day, including the trip to the garden center and her search for the perfect flowers to plant. Watching her talking so animatedly gave me great hope for the future. It was almost as if she had never been taken.

While she was talking, Echo was calling Marius ‘papa’. It seemed that she had accepted him as her father. It was good considering the only father she had ever known was gone.

He was taking to the role well. All of his focus was on her and her story. He asked questions and seemed genuinely interested in her responses. Talia had an expression of disbelief as she watched him interact with Echo.

“That sounds like a lot of work. Are you tired, dear?” He asked.

“I took a nap with Victor before he woke up. I’ll be fine until my usual bedtime.” She replied.

His gaze turned on me. I met his eye with a great deal of nervousness. Marius nodded to me slightly and returned to his meal.

I was relieved, to say the least, that he hadn’t found her napping with me to be a trespass. Echo was blissfully unaware of the tension between her sire and me. For that I was grateful. I didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily.

When we were finished with the meal, I helped Echo clear the table and get the dishes washed. Marius and Talia sat at the table quietly talking about the witch who had helped us find Echo. Talia wanted to talk to her about the curse, but Marius was insisting that he take care of it.

Echo didn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation, or her hearing was still not as good as ours. Talia was teasing Marius about wanting to see the witch again. I didn’t dare laugh, but the look on his face told me he had never stopped seeing her.

After the dishes were in the dishwasher, Echo pulled me out of the house, through the back doors. The air was cool, but fragrant. The scent of freshly turned earth and flowers mingled with the scent of the wolves. For the first time, their scent didn’t make my stomach turn.

Grayson sat in a chair at the new patio set. I nodded to him and he nodded back in greeting. Echo led me, Marius, and Talia over to the garden. We walked the paths as she explained each group of flowers in her moon garden to us.

“And this area is all night blooming nightshade flowers.” She said indicating the area in front of us.

I stepped behind her and pulled her to me, crossing my arms over her waist and kissing her cheek. Echo leaned back against me. I was proud of her hard work and thoughtfulness. She thought of me again while making our home nicer. This time, out of love and not just being a dedicated servant.

“I love you, Echo.” I murmured.

“I love you, too, Victor.” Echo replied.

“Time to go, Victor. We have a lot of work to do. Echo can have more of your time later on tonight. We need to get things sorted as soon as possible.” Talia said softly from behind me.

I longed for more time to just be with Echo. There was still so much of our relationship to work out. So many things I wanted to experience with her.

Grayson came up beside us and held his hand out. I sighed and released Echo to him. She needed attention and rest. He looked pretty exhausted. I was betting they would go to bed earlier than they normally did.

Talia was right. I needed to get this curse business dealt with. I didn’t want to risk dying after I’d found so much to live for. Echo was my eternity.

–

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify