The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 127

[Echo]

After we finished eating, Val and Harmony followed me to Victor's office. We knocked on the door and were called in. Marius was there with a woman. She was sitting on one of the armchairs, leaning over the notebooks I'd gotten from Sean's dad. This must be Lila. She was thin, with long legs, dark blonde hair, and deep blue eyes, which seemed to be focused entirely on me as she stood up and gasped. Marius looked at her curiously. I wondered what had shocked her. "Grace?" She whispered.

I looked at Harmony. She shrugged and we turned back. Lila stepped around the coffee table.

"They look just like Grace, Mary Kathrine, and Fenton Jr. Where did they come from?" Lila said softly.

"I'm Echo Nightshade. You're Lila, right?" I asked.

"You sound just like Grace, too. You're Marius' children. The supernatural triad. No wonder Fenton didn't want to let her stay with Grigori. Can I touch you?" She asked.

"Don't touch them." Preston growled. "She's a dark witch, I'm fine with her helping out, but don't trust her for anything else."

"Lila wouldn't do anything to anger me. She knows how I feel about the children." Marius replied.

"I just want to feel that they're real. They look like people I haven't seen in decades, please." Lila said.

I reached out my hand to her. She grinned and took it, pulling me into a hug. She held me tightly.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't convince him not to send you away." She murmured.

Hugging her back I whispered. "It's okay, Lila. Everything worked out for the best."

"And you're mated to the Master again. The goddess always gets what she wants. I'm betting this triad would have existed even if Grace had stayed with Grigori." Lila said, pulling away.

Harmony and Val each shook her hand. She didn't try to hug them, only me. I couldn't imagine the guilt she felt. If I helped relieve any of it, then I was happy.

She returned to her seat. "Like I said, I made copies of these. If you think you can get more than a witch more than four times your age, then go for it. I've found the spell on the fae. It's a dark spell to reveal hidden things. He must have gotten ahold of hair or something from a fae to make it work. It's how I find them. I have skin from an old sacrifice."

I didn't like how that sounded. Marius looked enamored of her. I glanced over to Talia, who wore a smirk. He really was involved with Lila.

"I'll look into the curses he could have used on the werewolves if you want to focus entirely on the ones for the vampires." Preston offered stiffly.

"Fine. Let me know if you can't figure it out. I'm being well-compensated for helping out. Is there anything else you need me for?" Lila asked.

"I don't think there's anything else. Have you figured out how to break the spells that were identified?" He questioned.

"We need to find where he buried the hidden things spell. Then we just burn it and it should break the spell on the fae. As for the hearts' forgetting spell, well, you know that one, right?" She sighed.

"It's unbreakable. Grace is dead and so is Grigori. In essence, that one was gone once she died." Preston nodded.

"Does that mean the curse is permanent?" Val asked.

"It should only exist until the ones involved are all dead, or they find each other and remember." Lila answered.

"Could he have done that spell on everyone?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Lila tilted her head.

"We found that he took love from everyone. The wolves would have lost their mate connection, according to the journals. That was what the note told Alpha William Padua." Talia said.

"That bastard. It's possible to modify most spells. It wouldn't cause the wolves to be trapped, though. That had to be a separate spell. Good. That will help Preston. Two spells, hearts' forgetting and something to trap them. I'm betting he did the same spell on the fae along with the hidden things spell." Lila said.

"He probably did it on the vampires, too. No vampire has found their Solus Amor in this territory since Grigori died. Not until Victor found me." I added.

"If not for Queen Bellamy, I still would only suspect without confirmation." Victor said.

"Lila, Uncle Preston, will you two stay here while we try to push back the curse on Victor? I'd like a witch's opinion." Val asked.

"You think you can push back the curse?" Lila snorted.

"We did it a couple days ago on some wolves at school by accident." I told her.

Her eyes widened. "The power of a triad can never be predicted. You could have made it stronger, you got lucky. I'll stay and watch. I hope it works the way you want it to." Posted by FindNovel.net; visit us for more free novels. "Playing with unknown magic is dangerous." Preston sighed. "Anything could have happened. I'll stay, too."

"Victor, I need you to stand over here. We're going to surround you so we can focus it." I said.

He nodded and came to where we were. We stood around him, but didn't join hands yet. We had talked about it at school a little. We would focus on Victor, then join hands and try to direct the power at him.

I put my hands out. Val and Harmony took them. The breeze started. It swirled around us before entering the area where Victor was. I could see his clothing and hair reacting as if he were in the center of a vortex.

A pained look started to cross his face. He groaned and bent over like something was hurting him. We kept going.

We figured the longer we did this, the longer it would last. None of us had figured on it hurting him. I wanted to let go, but this was important.

Victor dropped to his knees. I felt tears in my eyes, but blinked them away. This would be worth it. We were going to get rid of the curse. I would have my Victor back.

After a while, Victor took a deep breath and stood. He looked into my eyes and caressed my cheek. It was my Victor.

I let go of Val and Harmony and wrapped my arms around Victor. He hugged me back. I looked up at him and there was no angry glow in his perfectly violet eyes. "We have to test it." He whispered.

"Harmony, call Gray in here." I said, pulling away from Victor.

Victor walked across the room. Finn, Marius, and Talia stood behind him, ready to grab him if he attacked. Harmony nodded to me and stood aside with Val.

Gray came in the room and looked around. He waved to Lila, but stayed in the doorway. I went to him and pulled him into the room.

"Echo. Don't touch me." He hissed, looking over to where Victor was.

I pulled harder and wrapped my arms around his waist. A hug was safer than a kiss. It wouldn't make Val upset, too. I didn't want to deal with two angry men if it didn't work.

Gray tried to pull me off of him. I looked up into his eyes and he stopped fighting me. He caressed my cheek like Victor had and his eyes softened.

"I feel nothing about this." Victor announced.

I grinned and so did Gray. He kissed me softly. I pulled away a little. I didn't want Val getting upset after I'd told him I wasn't like Harmony with my mates.

Turning to Victor, I bounced a little. There was no angry look, just the hungry look he used to always get when he would watch me and Gray together. I felt my body tighten, but shook it off.

"Do I get a little kiss as well, or did we just do this so I could watch?" Victor asked with a chuckle.

Quickly, I crossed the room and stood on my tiptoes so I could kiss Victor too. He smiled as he pulled away. I was thrilled that he didn't grab me and force a more passionate kiss like he would have with the curse. "I'm so sorry I scared you earlier, princess. I didn't intend for that to happen." He whispered.

"It's alright, Victor. I knew it wasn't you."

"That's so cute. Makes me want to do some kissing of my own." Lila purred.

"Calm down, witch. You have work to do still." Marius replied.

"Yes, daddy." She sighed and went back to talking with Preston.

Victor looked like he was trying not to laugh. I smiled. Maybe this was what Marius needed. A relationship with someone else. Maybe it would make him really happy. I turned to look at him, and he didn't look happy. "There shall be a punishment for that." He quietly growled.

Lila didn't look afraid. She actually looked excited. I didn't understand it, but I was too afraid of getting her in more trouble to ask him not to punish her.

"Echo, Grayson, I'd like to speak to you in private. Since the curse is no longer affecting me, I feel it will be safe enough without a chaperone." Victor said.

"At the minimum, this suppression should last until you wake tomorrow. With luck, it will last longer. For now, it's best if you can make some plans while you're in your right mind." Talia replied.

Victor took my hand and guided me to the door. Gray took my other hand and followed us out into the hallway. Victor led us to the library and opened the door.

I could see Rosario. He was standing with one hand on an upper shelf and leaning a little in. There was another hand pressed up against the side of the shelf, gripping it. I could see the movement of Rosario's hips and realized what was going on. "In the library? Really?" Gray scoffed.

They froze. There was some whispering and I heard a zipper go up. I bit my lips together. They certainly were a frisky pair.

Rosario turned with a slightly annoyed expression on his face. Sean looked embarrassed. I sighed.

"Please don't do things like that in the library. You have a room for that. Anyone could have walked in here." I chided.

"I was just looking around. I swear! He's the one who came up and started molesting me." Sean insisted.

"He didn't try to stop me. Sorry, babe. I'm not going down for this one alone." Rosario chuckled.

"You're an ass." Sean grumbled.

"And you love me too much to ever give me up." Rosario replied.

"Get out. Grown-ups need this room." Gray said.

We moved from the doorway as they hurried out of the room. I smiled after them. They had gotten their relationship sorted fairly quickly. I was happy with that, but still mad at Rosario's dad.

Victor closed the door and we all went to sit on the couch and chairs in the center of the room. I wondered what Victor wanted to talk about. There was so much going on, that it could be pretty much anything.

"Echo, Grayson. If this suppression doesn't last, then I want the two of you to have me locked up while I sleep. The way the curse was going, I was about to do something regrettable. Something I didn't want to do." Victor admitted. "Victor." I whispered.

"What do you mean?" Gray asked.

"Most of my struggles in the past couple of days had been fighting the curse when it told me to mark Echo, no matter what she said. Lately, the curse has been making me indulge in behaviors I dislike. It tries to make me do things to Echo while she sleeps. It urges

me to steal things from her. To take her blood. I can't even name some of the things it's made me do recently." Victor replied. "And it still whispers through my mind with thoughts of killing Grayson as he sleeps."

I stiffened. There was so much more to this than what I knew. He stole from me? I didn't even realize anything was missing.

"What did you steal?" I asked.

He looked very uncomfortable. Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of my panties. I covered my mouth and felt myself turn red.

"Dude. You stole her panties? Not cool." Gray scolded. "What would Talia say if she knew you were stealing panties?"

"She told me to make sure I put the ones I was finished with back in Echo's laundry so she wouldn't realize I took them." Victor answered.

"All of you vampires are perverts." Gray groaned.

"I am not! This isn't me! It was the curse! I don't steal panties!" Victor exclaimed.

"Of course you don't. You didn't steal the little lacey panties Echo was wearing under that babydoll nightie the first time she wore it." Gray scoffed.

Victor looked away. My mouth was open in shock. I had been looking everywhere for those panties!

"Victor?" I asked.

"It was for the memories." He mumbled.

Gray started laughing. I couldn't help but giggle a little. He looked so embarrassed and adorable. I missed this Victor. The one who was sentimental and a little silly.

"Please. Promise me that you'll take my body to the cell in the basement and lock me up if the curse comes back. It will be ready tomorrow. I don't want to do something unforgivable." Victor pled.

"What else is there? There's something you're not saying." Gray insisted.

"It keeps saying that Finn and Talia are scheming with Talon and Silence to kill me and take over my territory. It makes me want to try and fight my sire. Talia may forgive me, she may even let me live, but she would never forgive me if I killed Finn." He admitted. "We'll do it, Victor. If this wears off, Gray and I will lock you up while you sleep. You don't have to worry. You won't hurt anyone." I promised.

"We've got you." Gray nodded.

"Thank you. I feel better knowing that you'll honor my wishes." Victor smiled slightly.

I stood up and grabbed Victor's hand, pulling him to the couch. After I pushed him down to sit, I did the same to Gray. I squeezed in between them and pulled their arms around me. They both kissed the top of my head as they held me.

More than anything, I missed this. I missed being with both of them. I missed the closeness of our relationship. I hoped this suppression lasted a long time. I didn't want to lose it again.