The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 7

Upon waking, I stared at the basement ceiling. It was like being in a box in the ground all over again. It was a box in the ground, just with more box over it. I suddenly wished Springer was alive again, so I could kill him a little slower. Two more hours, at least, until I could leave.

The door at the top of the stairs opened. I squinted to see if there was a clue as to who it was. Then the scent of her hit me.

“Victor? Are you awake?” Echo called out.

“Yes. Do you need something?” I asked.

“I bought blackout curtains today and Drew helped me put them up. You can come upstairs if you want. Just not any farther than the first floor.” Echo replied.

I felt a smile cross my face. No more basement. At least, not tonight. I was thrilled that she’d thought of it and bounded up the stairs.

If I’d been thinking, I would have worried about a trick. Thank goodness she was as good and sweet as she seemed and I didn’t get burnt to a crisp. She was grinning when I exited the basement.

“You seem as excited to leave your basement as I was to leave mine.” Echo laughed.

“Neither one of us should ever have to live in a basement again.” I chuckled.

I followed her to the kitchen, where Drew was pulling dishes out of the dishwasher and putting them in cupboards. Echo went to the counter and resumed cutting up vegetables. She must have been working on it and decided to check on me.

The feeling of pride I had in her was immense. She was thoughtful and intelligent. A perfect servant. I was hopeful that she would choose to stay with me and I couldn’t wait to see what she would do with this house.

“There were no dishes, utensils, or pans. I had to buy everything, including some gadgets and small appliances. Blender, microwave, toaster, you know like that.” She said as she sliced.

“And the curtains.” I added.

“Yes. Oh! Drew taught me about the difference in types of sheets. I didn’t realize there was one. I also got stuff for cleaning the house. Tomorrow, we’re headed to the furniture store and I have someone coming at three to give a quote on tinting the windows. I still plan to get more curtains, but I was thinking an extra dark tint on your windows might be better than paint, which can flake off. What size bed do you want in your room?” She asked.

I smiled. She was much more talkative now. Drew was pretty good at getting people to relax and open up. He’s managed to get Springer to talk about a few other things before I killed him. I knew he was the best option for helping her relax. Echo just needed to see that she was safe and actually in charge of her life.

“King size. I like to sprawl.” I winked when she turned to look at me.

“Okay. We’ll buy a whole bunch of stuff tomorrow and you’ll really regret giving me that card.” She giggled.

“I don’t think I’ll ever regret giving you anything, little one.” I smiled.

Drew dropped a dish that clattered onto the floor. Echo looked relieved that it didn’t break and turned back to her work. He stared at me.

“You have no idea.” He whispered.

Echo didn’t seem to hear. We weren’t able to talk mentally, since he wasn’t my servant, but I could hear very well. And, depending on how much vampire was in Echo’s blood, she could, too.

I shook my head, telling him I didn’t want him to say anything else and he turned back to the dishes. I had no idea what he was about to enlighten me on, but I didn’t want to upset Echo. I’d given her some work that was close to what she had experienced before, and she was adapting well. Everything else, would have to wait.

–

In two days, Rosalynn would come and test Echo to see what her bloodline was and how much of it was vampire. But all of the facts were already pointing to her being at least half.

The question was, how. Her father was entirely human. Her mother was about a quarter, but that was baseline for the descendants of vampires. It would never drop below one quarter. No matter how diluted the line. I was betting her sister and brother would be a quarter as well.

It was entirely possible that was what her parents meant when they said she’d stolen from the other two children. They were probably under the impression that the other two would have been half or more, but she absorbed it from them somehow.

We tried to look into their birth after I spoke with the last three vampires on my list. But it was like the family had just appeared, fully formed, in town almost sixteen years ago with three two-year-olds.

It meant they were running. But why? If her sire came for her, they would’ve been compensated. Even more than I gave them.

One of the vampires had been old and experienced enough to know what she was. He offered the family seven hundred thousand dollars for her. She was worth exponentially more. Her parents’ greed was a boon for us.

If he had gotten her, and decided to sell, he could have made up to a billion dollars. The conditions for breeding with a human are fragile and have to be exact. It happened so very rarely, that the babes ended up on the auction block rather than being raised by their mothers.

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