The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 121

Training the next day was tough and I was thrilled about it. I wanted to learn to fight. I sparred with Jean-Claude. He got annoyed at how well I was reading him and started attacking harder and faster.

Dillon had taught me how to block and punch, so it made him more upset when he tried to hit me and got hit instead. He tried to kick my legs out from under me and I ended up jumping into the branches of the tree near us. It made Dillon laugh. "Looks like your vampire tendencies are coming out. What's your next move?" He called out.

Jean-Claude was in a defensive stance. I couldn't see an opening. If I tried to jump behind him, he would be able to hit me before I landed. I smiled as I figured it out.

I jumped from the tree, as if I was trying to get behind him. I managed to throw my weight backward as he was turning and ended up behind him, hitting him in the back before springing away.

He turned and launched himself at me. I managed to leap and brought my knee down in the middle of his back, knocking him to the ground. Jumping off him, I landed a few feet away. "Damn. I thought I had you." He coughed. "You should fight her Dillon. She needs someone who fights like a vampire. I'm too slow."

Dillon grinned at me. "You want to fight me, cookie?"

"That depends." I smirked. "Are you going to go full speed with me?"

"She's so cute when she's confident like that." He laughed. "Let's do this, cookie. No time outs. This is until someone is down."

I prepared myself as Jean-Claude moved away. Dillon attacked. I understood why they'd had him holding back, he was a lot faster than Jean-Claude. I had trouble following his movements.

The entire time, I had few chances to attack. I tried jumping away, but he leapt with me and ended up right where I landed, continuing his attack while I tried to block. I became frustrated at my futile efforts to block my body from his hits. In my frustration, I didn't block as well as I should have and he knocked me back, before jumping behind me and sweeping my legs out from under me. I lay on the grass, panting and staring at the morning sky. I wondered if I could ever be good enough to win a fight against him.

"Good job, cookie. You did a lot better than anyone, without as much training as I have, should do. You even got a couple hits in. If you learn from this and apply what you learned, you should be able to beat me in a month or two." He smiled and reached out his hand.

"How long will you two be with us?" I asked.

"Six months, total. After that, it's up to you and Gray to keep training and keeping you ready to fight. I'll come visit next summer to see how you're doing. You, Victor, and Gray should come up to visit Lune Rouge. I think you'll love it up there. I know you'd love the gardens around the pack house." Dillon said, hauling me to my feet.

"I know Bellamy would love to have the three of you visit. She's probably told everyone about you by now." Jean-Claude chuckled.

"Everyone?"

"Her uncles, cousins, friends, probably her parents too. Bellamy is pretty chatty when it's gossipy. Like my mate here. Quiet when he needs to be and chatty the rest of the time." He replied.

"Hey! That's not fair. Gossip is the backbone of a solid friendship. Bemy and Cara know that." Dillon huffed. "We don't just grunt at each other like you and your friends."

I wanted to laugh. They were so funny and cute. The way they got closer while they were teasing each other. The way they smiled like they weren't insulting each other a little. The kiss that always ended the teasing.

That sort of relationship was where I wanted to be with Gray. Victor didn't do teasing well, but Gray was always fun. I wondered how his training was going as we walked back to the house.

It wasn't a long wait to find out. Talia stood in the kitchen while Gray was sprawled out in a chair at the kitchen table. He looked like he had been beaten up by a gang of other wolves. "Gray! Are you alright?!" I asked, rushing to his side.

"I'll be healed in time for school. Don't worry, angel." He smiled painfully.

"Talia. Why did you beat him up so bad?"

She shrugged. "I got bored. I didn't break anything. He's a healthy young wolf and will heal quickly."

"She can't go easy on me, angel. I need to be able to fight Victor. I've never fought a vampire before Sunday morning. She let me off easy yesterday. Trust me, I'm fine with this." Gray said.

"We'll get him up to his room. Victor's still awake, Echo. You need to get away from Gray." Dillon told me quietly.

I hated not being able to take care of my injured mate. I knew it was to keep Victor from trying to hurt him more, but it didn't make me any less upset. I backed away and let the men help Gray to stand.

"Everything will be fine. This is only a temporary situation, Echo. Soon, Victor will be back to normal and you will be able to coddle Gray as much as you desire." Talia said, taking my hand.

"I know. This is just a lot harder than I thought it would be." I admitted.

"Of course it is. Your first instinct is to take care of the people you love. That means tending their wounds. Don't take this too hard. Everything will work out. I won't let Victor die, Echo. I already turned him against his will. I'm not going to let him find love just to lose it again." She whispered.

"I need to go get ready for school. I believe you, Talia. I know that you'll try your hardest."

"NO. I will NOT let Victor be killed by this curse. Even if I have to burn this territory to the ground. I will not lose my childe." She growled and stormed out of the room.

Quietly, I headed to my room to shower and change for the day. I hated feeling weak, but I did after the workout I had. Breakfast was an event, because I could barely lift my spoon. Victor ended up feeding me. It seemed to make him happy.

Gray drove me out to the bus stop. He was careful not to touch me until we were too far to be seen from the house. At the stop, he slipped his arms around me. I loved being held by him and it felt more precious because we couldn't do it whenever the urge hit us. "Here comes your bus, Echo. I'll see you at school." He murmured, letting me go.

"You'll give me a hug when I get there, right?" I asked.

"Of course, angel. I miss holding you." Gray said.

The bus stopped and the door opened. I gave a final glance to Gray's retreating form as I boarded. I hurried to my seat. Rosario was sitting in the seat I normally shared with Sean. He wouldn't be on the bus today, since he was driving his mom's car to school. Rosario smiled at me and scooted over. "You look like you had an eventful morning."

"I had training this morning. I'm exhausted." I sighed.

"There's a bruise on your neck, Echo. Take your hair out of the ponytail and let it lay flat, or someone will report it."

"Thanks, Rosario." I replied, taking my hair out of the ponytail and smoothing it over my neck.

"No problem. I have the benefit of glamour to hide my bruises." He said.

We rode awkwardly for a while. I didn't like the sound of what he was saying. Did someone hurt him, or did he just train a lot?

"I'm... I'm thinking of asking Val and Harmony to come live with me." I said, changing the subject.

"That's a great idea. Maybe I should move in with you too, until the curse is broken. We can keep the whole team together." Rosario grinned.

"We'd have to move Sean in too." I told him. "If we want to have the whole team together. I don't know if we'd have the room for that."

"He and I could always share a room." He whispered.

"So this is all a plan to get Sean into bed with you?" I laughed.

Rosario winked. "I had to try."

We laughed about it for the rest of the trip to school. When we arrived, Sean and Gray were waiting together. Rosario and I hurried over to them.

Gray kissed me deeply. There were some catcalls from the students around us. I missed kissing him, and it had only been a day. We walked into the school and I put my things away before heading to my homeroom class.

There were some larger boys all standing around where Sean was sitting. I approached them. My seat was hidden by their bodies.

"I don't know how you got her to date you, man. None of us could. What's your secret?" One of the boys asked.

"We just have similar interests. It just took us getting the same friend for us to figure out how much we had in common. I can't help you." Sean shrugged.

"She wears heels all the time. Don't you hate having her tower over you?" Another asked.

"No. Her legs are gorgeous, just like the rest of her. If she likes it, I don't mind." He answered.

"Excuse me." I said. "You're blocking my seat."

"In a second, baby." The first boy said.

I raised my eyebrow at him. The second boy looked me up and down before turning his attention back to Sean. There was a third who didn't even acknowledge me.

"Hey, that's my friend let her have her seat." Sean told them.

The boys sighed and moved away so I could get to my desk. I sat down and pulled out a notebook where I'd been keeping notes on the curse. I listened to the boys badger Sean for more information on Rosario.

He was always curt and kept his answers short and respectful. They tried to get him to tell them about how far he'd gotten with Rosario and talk to them about her body, or his. They kept asking if he was 'packing' something. Sean sneered.

"The bell rang, gentlemen. As interesting as it is to hear you questioning a fellow student on his equipment. Which, I'm pretty sure, is sexual harassment. You need to go to your seats." Mr. Taylor ordered.

The boys grumbled, but walked to their desks. Mr. Taylor went over the announcements. For the day and let us do what we wanted, with the condition that no one sexually harass anyone else. That made the other students laugh and the large boys blush. I leaned over to Sean. "Did you get my email last night?"

"Yeah. I stayed up late getting your information transferred over. We need to talk to this Lila person. If she's in charge of deciphering my dad's notebooks, she will know a lot more. Do you think that she'll talk to us?" He asked.

"I don't know. No one told her not to, but from what I understand, Lila doesn't do anything without a price. She's not a light witch, she's a dark witch." I explained.

"We may not have a lot, but we might have something she wants." Sean shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to ask."

"True. We need all the help we can get if we're going to break this curse." I said.

The bell rang and we packed up our things. The rest of the day went quickly. Teachers were letting us work on our projects in most classes, in some people were giving presentations.

I met up with everyone at lunch. I was eager to talk to Val and Harmony together. I sat down across from them. They looked at me oddly. Normally, I would sit next to one of them.

Rosario sat next to me and Sean on his other side. Elle and Terry eyed us a little as they went to sit somewhere else. I looked over at Sean.

"Is there something wrong with Elle and Terry?" I asked.

"They keep whispering to each other in the classes I have with them. I have no idea. Ever since last week, they've been a little weird. On game night, they were a bit distant. Maybe they're just worried about maintaining friendships after school ends. Some people break away from their friend groups before the end of school." Sean said.

"That doesn't seem right. Something feels wrong. I can't put my finger on it." I sighed.

"We'll work on our relationship with them later. Right now, we need to work on the curse." Sean stated firmly.

We went over the information I'd sent out last night. We mapped it out on the timeline and the diagram of effects. There were a couple ideas, but nothing solid.

Val said he would take the name of the spell we knew to our uncle. He was hopeful that our uncle would give him more information about it and about breaking that spell. Soon, we were finished with our update and lunch.

"Harmony, Val. I wanted to ask if you two would move into the house with us. Cam can come too. I think we can explore our abilities together better if we're actually together." I offered.

They looked at each other with worried glances. "Why don't you come live at the pack house with us? Our uncles are there, they came to see us, not to live with Trent's pack." Harmony said.

"That might be better, Echo. I don't know how I'd feel about seeing you and your mates together. I've seen how Cam and Harmony can get...." Val winced.

I put my hands out to them. "Please. Our uncles can come live at the house too. They just have to promise not to hurt the vampires. I'm not as handsy as Harmony is with Cam. Please."

Val smiled a little and put his hand in mine. Harmony sighed and did the same. Val's smile widened and he took Harmony's other hand.

Something like a breeze swept around the room. Suddenly, two students on opposite sides of the cafeteria started sniffing the air. They got up and turned toward each other.

The two students started walking toward each other, dazed. There weren't many people in the cafeteria, but everyone who was, watched as they stopped a foot away from each other. The look on their faces was a little confusion and a lot of happiness.

Val and Harmony turned their heads to watch while we all still held hands. The boy put out his hand to the girl. She reached out and touched him gingerly, then jumped a little. Their smiles widened.

"Mate." The boy whispered.

"Yes, mate." The girl whispered back.

"That's not possible." Gray said. "They're only seventeen."

I pulled my hand from Harmony's and placed it on Gray's arm. He looked at me as the sparks of our connection jumped more actively than they ever had before. I looked around, all the wolves in the cafeteria were touching their mates as if they were compelled to. "The bond is stronger." Cam whispered.

"How did that happen?" Rosario asked.

"It happened when they all held hands. They haven't done that since we had the suppression spells removed." Gray said.

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang, breaking up whatever we were on to. We had to finish our classes for the day. We all groaned.

"Find out who they are and keep an eye on them." Gray ordered Cam.

"Got it."

"We'll move in with you." Harmony said. "Maybe this is how we can break the curse. Or, at least push it back."

"We might be able to bring Victor back." I whispered.

"Come on, angel. Let's get to class. Victor's gonna love this news." Gray grinned.

I kissed him passionately. My excitement was overwhelming. I just had to meet with Fenton Aimes III and then I could go home and tell everyone what we did today.