The Vampire’s Servant novel Chapter 84

[Echo]

During first period, I went to Mr. Moxon’s office. There was another man there who he introduced as Lincoln McChesney. He left me with Mr. McChesney, who insisted I call him Link. I told him my story. Beginning to end. He listened and wrote notes. It took nearly the entire period for the abridged version and answer some of his questions.

Link was a nice man. He was tall and thick with salt and pepper hair and a full beard. He looked like someone who would’ve frightened me before, but I trusted people from Gray’s pack. Link told me to practice the exercises Mr. Moxon gave me until we could meet again next week.

I didn’t have the same problem I did in history class, and I was able to turn in a lot of my work. I still had a pile to finish, but I was confident I would manage it in the next few days. I’d asked Amy if I could hold off on training so I could get my work done. She agreed. Now I was set to do homework until dinner, then train with Marius and do more homework until bedtime.

–

At lunch, I went to my locker to get my food. There were some folded pieces of paper on my lunch box. I didn’t remember leaving them there. I picked one up and opened it.

Printed in red, was the word ‘LEECH’. I was confused and picked up another. ‘Get out of our school, vampire bitch.’ One page called me a ‘bloodsucking undead whore’.

There were at least six pieces of paper that called me names or told me to leave, or both. Gray came up behind me as I was reading the last one. He took it from me as I tearfully read the horrible words on it. His face turned red with anger and he sniffed the paper, then took the other pieces and sniffed them as well.

“I’ll kill them.” He growled.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be in school. I didn’t know I was making so many people uncomfortable.” I sniffled.

“This isn’t about you, it’s about them. You never did anything to them and they decided to attack you. I’ll tell Harmony. She can take care of the girls. Val, Cam, and I will take care of the guys.” Gray said in a deadly sounding voice.

“Please don’t, Gray. I don’t want this to be a fight. Maybe I can talk to them.”

He got a look on his face, followed by a strange smile. “I figured out something better. These are all from fae students. We can go talk to their leader. If she meets you, she’ll know what a nice girl you are. They would be ordered not to harass you again.”

“Shouldn’t I talk to them first?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t listen. Unfortunately, I know a few of these kids. It’s in their nature to be assholes. Literally part of what they are. Those were the ones who wrote the meanest things. I can maneuver talking to the fae, but you can’t and an adult fae would be more lenient with the tricky aspects.” He told me. “Come on, let’s go eat lunch.”

Gray guided me to the cafeteria. We went to sit at the table with Harmony and Val. When we got there, Gray showed the notes to my sister and brother before anyone else got to the table. Harmony sniffed the notes, like Gray had, and then sniffed the air. She turned and looked at a table of kids that was near us. There were at least ten of them.

Harmony got up from the table and went to theirs. She leaned over the table and spoke quietly. Whatever she said made a couple girls turn pale. There were about four of them who looked really happy with whatever was going on. She turned and came back to us.

“Eat your food, Echo. You’re still healing. Victor will be mad if you don’t eat.” Harmony said and took a bite of her lunch.

I smiled a little. Victor would be mad if I wasn’t eating. He wanted me to be healthy. A big part of me was thrilled that Harmony was actually thinking of him.

“What did you say to them?” I asked as I picked through my food.

“Just that the juniors who were hoping to take over once we left would have a hard time being popular with the things I was planning to spread about them if they didn’t back off.” She shrugged.

“That must be why the big ones are smiling. They don’t care about popularity and are amused it was the worst thing you could think of for revenge. This won’t stop them. I just got a text from Trent with the information for the leader of the fae in the area. We’re going to see her after school.” Gray said.

I focused on eating. I needed to get through this day. Soon, I’d be back home and safe again. I was starting to really not like the world outside of my house. It made me think that going to school was a bad idea. I should have worked harder to get Victor to let me stay home.

–

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, but there were more notes in my locker at the end of the day telling me to keep my lapdog on a shorter leash and calling Harmony my werebitch. Gray made sure Harmony didn’t see them. The peace between the fae and the werewolves wasn’t set in stone.

Gray took me from the school to his truck. I could tell he was angry. I rubbed his arm when he got in the truck, after closing my door. He gave me a tight smile.

We drove out to a neighborhood that was surrounded by trees. It was like its own little world, cut off from everything else by the dense forest and small two lane road, which seemed barely big enough for Gray’s truck. I had never seen anything like it before.

Gray pulled over and looked at his phone for a while. He set it aside and drove forward. I wasn’t used to quiet Gray. It always made me nervous when he stopped talking.

“Are you sure we should do this?” I asked.

“More than sure. It’s better we try this ourselves. I don’t know that the leader of the fae would want to listen to a full vampire. Victor would be pissed about these notes. Let’s take care of it, and you can tell Victor later. I bet he’ll be proud of you for resolving it so well.” Gray said with a smile.

We drove until we reached a house that was covered in ivy. The forest seemed to be right up next to the back of the house. It was a nice traditional looking house. Wild flowers grew in the yard. I noticed that most of the yards in the neighborhood were the same, covered in wild flowers. Some had water features. It was beautiful.

“Remember to say ‘I appreciate it’ not ‘thank you’. If they ask for your name, tell them they may not have your name, but they may call you Echo. We need to be very polite and respectful. I know I don’t need to tell you that, it’s mostly to remind myself. Insulting a fae in their own territory is dangerous.” Gray warned before getting out of the truck and running around to help me out.

I straightened out my skirt and grabbed the letters which were laying on the seat of the truck. We walked up the stone path.

As Gray walked past, he stepped on the stem of a flower that was growing over the path. I stopped and looked down at the, now broken, flower. Kneeling down, I gently picked it up.

It almost felt like pain radiated from the flower. I’d always loved flowers and plants. Val and I spent most weekends in the gardens at home. I’d even made the garden at Victor’s house so I could spend time with flowers.

“Shh. You’re going to be okay.” I whispered.

I learned this trick a long time ago. Gently I stroked the stem and thought of it being whole and healthy. Stronger than it had been before. I kept murmuring gentle assurances to the flower. The stem started filling out and, soon, it sprang up. I smiled and stood.

“Who are you?” A tall, thin woman stood at the end of the path watching us.

“I’m Echo Nightshade.” I replied, automatically.

“You speak the language of plants and you hold the magic of my people. Come closer.” She commanded.

Carefully, we walked forward. She wrinkled her nose when I got close to her.

“Vampire. That’s not possible. Vampires can’t hold plant magic.” The woman said.

“I’m not a vampire. I’m a dhampyr. My brother is a witch. He has plant magic.” I explained.

“And you?” She said to Gray.

“I’m Grayson Padua. My brother is Alpha Trent Padua of the Hallowed Moon Pack.” He replied.

“I am Maeve. Please come in.” She said opening her door.

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