The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 71

[Gray]

When it looked like they were going to be later than planned, I went up to Victor’s room and turned on his blanket. I made sure to text Echo, so she wouldn’t worry. She messaged back with a thank you and a lot of little heart emojis.

I went to the kitchen for a snack. Fighting with Jean-Claude had been awesome. He taught me a lot and helped me work out a bit of residual frustration.

Forgiving Echo was easy. I just hated that it was my blood and her connection to me that caused her such a difficult time. I loved her so much and I never wanted her to hurt.

Deciding to become her servant was easy. I wanted to be with her forever. The idea of dying and knowing I would leave her behind one day twisted my stomach. It was an easy choice. Echo was my future, forever.

What was hard, was dealing with the jealousy and possessiveness that kept creeping up. It was partly me and mostly Rex. He really didn’t like this arrangement, but I refused to give in to him and mark Echo. No one did that and kept going to human school. She wanted that experience. I wouldn’t ruin it for her.

I was fixing a light sandwich when Talia came in the room. She hopped up on a counter and watched me. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with her, but she seemed okay. She was really nice in all of the interactions I’d had with her.

“Grayson, may I ask you a few questions?”

“Please call me Gray.” I sighed.

“Sorry. Gray, may I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure.” I replied, focusing on my snack.

“Why are you following Victor’s lead with Echo? Are you forgetting that she’s your mate too? Is there something stopping you from acting on your own? Did he threaten you?” She asked.

“I don’t understand what you mean about following Victor’s lead. Of course I’m not forgetting that she’s my mate. Nothing is stopping me from acting on my own. And he threatens me a lot, so you’ll have to be more specific.” I answered.

“The way you treat Echo. You should act as your heart desires, not do what Victor wants. He’s one of her mates. You are not being permitted to be her mate. I see how you hold back with her. She’s going to need you if we don’t get this curse resolved.” Talia said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“There is a curse in this portion of the territory. It’s why werewolves here have to stay in the region. It’s why you don’t find your mate until eighteen, when every other wolf can find theirs at seventeen. And it kills every Master who claims the territory. Victor is trying to break the curse, but, if he doesn’t, it will kill him and Echo will need to know she can lean on you and you won’t be lost because you don’t have Victor to guide you.” She explained.

A curse? I needed to see if I could help. Echo wouldn’t do well if she lost Victor. Not if last night was any indication. She needed both of us.

“What do you recommend?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich and trying to play it cool.

“I hear Victor talking about what she’s ready for and what she needs. Have either of you even considered asking Echo what she’s ready for? I don’t think he’s ever considered asking Echo what she’s ready for and what she needs. He’s used to caring for others and, with vampires, that means doing what you think is best for them with very little input from the vampires.” Talia told me.

I nodded. It did seem an awful lot like how he acted. I had written it off to the imperious nature of vampires, but maybe it was just Victor. He thought he knew what was best for her, but maybe he was as clueless as I was.

Rex stirred at that. He’d had ideas about what he wanted to do with our mate ever since she marked us. I’d shut him down a lot of the time, but I knew I kissed her more roughly than Victor said I should. He told me all kisses should be soft and gentle until she changed them, to give her control of the situation.

Sometimes I wanted control of the situation, though. I wanted to show Echo just how much I loved and desired her. I wanted to go further last night. Maybe holding back is part of why she’s worried about losing us. She can tell we’re holding back and it’s hurting her.

“I’ll have to do something. I want Echo to be happy, but it’s so hard to figure her out. She seems so innocent and sheltered for the most part, but then she pulls out something I wasn’t expecting and seems so much more knowledgeable. It’s hard to pin anything down.” I sighed.

“Gray… did anyone ever tell you exactly what she has gone through over the last ten years?” Talia asked, looking concerned.

“Val told me what he saw a few months ago. Some vampire feeding on her and putting his hand up her skirt.” I answered.

It still made me angry that the people who called themselves her parents had allowed that. It was worse that no one had been able to save her from it, even after Val found out. I wished that I could have been there to help.

“Oh, dear. Let me tell you what Victor and Marius told me. You deserve to know everything. Echo is partly yours and how you treat her is important. I think you’ll understand your goddess’ intentions a little better afterward.” She said.

I followed her to the living room and sat on the couch next to her. Talia turned toward me and warned me to keep my wolf in check. That made me nervous. She then told me everything from the very first feeding to the things that had been running through Echo’s head when Victor saved her.

My anger was overwhelming. The things they’d done to her, said to her. Everything she’d had to go through every single week for ten years. I didn’t know how she hadn’t just given up on everything. The threats, the promises, the things people would pay extra to do to her.

No wonder she seemed amazed by everything we did. Others touched her like that, but none of them were gentle, loving, or kind. Every time with them had been a violation. I hated them for hurting her and using her like that. I was even more glad Victor had killed them all.

“Thank you for telling me. I can see how my earlier actions might have seemed like theirs. I wanted to own Echo. It wasn’t something where I stopped to think about what she wanted, only what I did. I won’t do that again.” I vowed.

“Good. But you see now how Victor has coddled her? Echo can’t grow if he’s guarding her experiences. You’re her mate as much as he is. You need to get him to loosen his grip on her.” Talia said.

“What exactly are you talking about?” I asked.

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