The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 138

[Gray]

I was talking to Grampy and Gammy when Echo's text reached me. I had worried earlier when I felt her get scared, but she'd calmed pretty quickly and I figured Victor had resolved whatever the issue was. The text brought that worry right back. Gammy gave me a few pies in boxes to take to the house. I gave her and Grampy big hugs before carting my things out to my truck and heading back home. It was a struggle to keep my speed low.

When I got to the house, I handed the pie boxes off to Wendell.

"Where's Echo?" I asked.

"Mistress Nightshade is in the office." She replied.

"Why are you calling her that? I thought she told you to call her Echo." I said.

"She's the Mistress of the territory now. We're calling her that out of respect." Wendell told me.

That didn't sound good. Echo was only in charge of the territory when Victor couldn't be around to take care of it, but he was awake. I headed to the office.

The door was open. I walked in and looked around. There was a person sized hole in the wall, one of the chairs was leaning where a missing leg had been, and there were some slashes on walls and other furniture. This wasn't good. "What happened? Where's Victor?" I asked.

"The curse took Victor over." Talia said. "He's in a cell. Echo got him in without any problems and we found out Valor's vampire ability." "Echo? Are you alright, angel?"

"I'm fine. Sorry I texted you like that. Talia reminded me there was a map of Trent's territory, so it turns out I didn't need you. Did everything go well with getting the journals?" Echo replied, her attention fully on copying the lines of one map onto another. "Yeah.... Gammy sent some pies." I said.

"Good. Everyone will enjoy that." Echo smiled a little. "There. That's the pack lands. Now, we only have to wait on Dennis and Finn to return. That should give us an idea of all the places Fenton would have wanted trapped in the border." She was different. This was the Echo I'd met with my brother and Val. She was focused on her work and wasn't emotional at all.

A swell of pride filled my chest. My cleaning demon was as focused and serious about something other than cleaning and I couldn't be more proud of her. I loved my sweet, needy, angel, but there was something just as enticing as my serious little demon. "What can I do?" I asked.

"Give Talia the journals. I want her to get started on reading through the material. We may not need it anymore, but I'm not taking any chances."

Echo rolled up the map and slipped the ties over it. She then pulled another map out from under the one she was working on and rolled it as well. I handed the journals off to Talia as Val sidled up to me.

"She's just like she was before. This is a lot like how Echo acted back home." He whispered. "I never really realized how much she'd changed."

"No matter what, she's perfect. Look at how she's commanding the whole room. My little vampire queen." I grinned.

"Dhampyr queen." Echo corrected with a wink before turning back to where she and Preston were analyzing the map.

Val and I chuckled. I started talking to him about his new vampire ability. He was excited about it. He'd worried that he didn't have one.

Dinner smelled like it was nearly done when Finn arrived with an older looking vampire. The man was thinly built, but had an air of danger about him. He had salt and pepper hair and greenish blue eyes that seemed to glow without the vampire power behind them. "Mistress Nightshade." He said with a deep bow.

I liked that he was respectful of my mate. Echo deserved respect and so much more. She nodded to him regally.

"Come here, Dennis. I need you to map where Grigori's house was, please." Echo requested.

"Of course, Mistress Nightshade." Dennis replied, straightening up and walking to the desk.

He looked over the map and muttered about how the town had gotten bigger. I watched him carefully follow the little lines of streets until he came to a specific corner and he circled it with the pencil Echo handed him. Dennis nodded and handed the pencil back. "Preston, what do you think?" Echo asked.

"Where is the local coven?" He sighed. "I think that's actually the last piece."

"I know!" Val grinned.

I'm sure he felt as useless as I did at that point and was just happy to have something to contribute. He went to the map and examined it closely, then drew two more circles on it.

"The first one is where they meet in town, the second is where they meet in the woods. Missy took me to visit the coven. She was trying to get me to join, but I found out they wanted to marry me off to the coven leader's daughter and noped on out." He laughed. "Why didn't you want her?" I asked.

"Because she's thirteen and I don't do kids. Plus, my sisters have soulmates. I do too. I know I do. I'm going to marry the perfect girl for me. Not some random witch kid just because she has two affinities." Val scoffed.

The poor girl was going to end up in an arranged marriage, but it wouldn't be to Val. I hoped it worked out. I didn't think her parents would stop trying to find her a husband just because Val turned her down. "With your luck, it will turn out that the girl is your soulmate and you'll have to win her affections." Talia snorted.

"Don't put that energy out there, Talia. I want to marry someone who's at least close to my age." He insisted.

"Five years isn't a huge gap, you'll see that later in your life. I understand, she's not matured enough for your tastes. You are a healthy young man, after all. You want a woman, not a child." Talia responded.

"If you're all finished talking about how my brother turned down the love of his life, I need to discuss this circle Uncle Preston just drew." Echo giggled.

"Don't you start too. You're supposed to be on my side." Val whined.

"I'm over eight hundred years younger than Victor, Valley. She could be your soulmate." Echo winked.

"Let's deal with this." Val grumbled.

We all crowded around the desk. There was a large circle that was off center from the rest of the town. I knew a lot of the part that was cut off had sprung up over the last fifty years or so.

Our school was only forty years old. It had been some farmer's field until there was no one left to inherit and he left the land to the school district to build another school on. The circle cut through the land where the school was.

"If Fenton made the circle this large where would he have put the wards?" Echo asked.

"He would've used an eight point star. It would provide more complete coverage than the traditional five points. He would have them at exact directional points. As you can see, I've centered the circle over his home. All the spells should be centered there." Preston explained.

"Except the spell that took the fae's glamour." Talia said. "That one was in the center of the park in their neighborhood."

"That should be the only exception." Preston nodded.

"Are you getting any ideas?" Echo asked.

"Yes. These points should be where the wards are located." Preston responded, marking several places on the map. "I can go to the one nearest here and check it." "When can you do that?" I asked.

Echo smiled at me. I knew that was going to be her next question. With Victor in the cells, Echo was going to be more driven than ever to resolve this curse.

"Since dinner will be done soon, how about after dinner. It looks like I can drive there." Preston said.

I looked at the place he was talking about. "That's the movie theater. The old one that used to be a regular theater. Where could he have put a ward?"

"I can help find it." Finn offered.

"I... I guess I can take you with me." Preston said.

"Thanks. I didn't know what I'd do with myself." Finn winked. "Promise I won't bite."

"Is there anything else you need me for, Mistress Nightshade?" Dennis asked.

"Sorry, Dennis. No. This was all I needed from you. Thank you. I'll let Victor know how you helped. Do you need a ride home?" Echo smiled at him.

"No. I can fly. It's a rare ability, but I was blessed with it." He replied and took his leave.

We turned our attention back to the map. Val and I worked to identify the places where the wards were. A couple were in the woods. They would be the easiest to access.

Lisa came in to get us for dinner. Echo took my hand and led us to the dining room. Dillon and Jean-Claude were already there.

Echo went to the head of the table, where Victor normally sat, and took a seat. She pulled me to sit to her left and Talia sat to the right of her. Everyone else sat in their normal seats.

When Rosario and Sean arrived, they stared at the new seating arrangement. Once they were seated, Echo called Lisa and Wendell into the room. She stood and looked over everyone.

"For everyone who was not aware, the curse has taken Victor over completely. He's currently in one of the cells in the basement. I'm in charge of this territory now, and I'm taking over the running of the curse team. We've had several big breakthroughs today. The first was the removal of the spell on the fae and the revelation of King Hollis Adair's involvement with the curse. The second, a list of the ingredients King Hollis got for Fenton. The third, an intruder spell which was used to create the part of the curse that stops supernaturals from leaving the area. I'll brief Cam and Harmony tomorrow. Only vampires and dhampyrs will be allowed in the basement." Echo explained.

Sean held Rosario's hand tightly. Samuel seemed unaffected. Dillon and Jean-Claude looked at each other with worry.

"Are you alright, Echo?" Dillon asked.

"I'm fine. We knew something like this could happen. What's important is that we get this curse resolved as soon as possible." She replied before sitting. "Lisa, Wendell, please serve dinner."

"Yes, Mistress Nightshade." They said and went into the kitchen.

The girls put out dinner quickly. Sean started piling food on his plate like he was starving. He piled it as high as I normally do. I'd never seen a human eat that much.

There was little conversation as we ate our meal. I watched everyone. This was where Echo normally sat, before Victor started seating her between her sister and brother.

Samuel talked with Jean-Claude about training. It seemed he wanted to take a training plan back to his pack. Trent had already asked me and Cam to note the training we went through so he could integrate it into our pack's sessions. Daylight Moon had some of the best warriors and everyone knew Lune Rouge was getting the same training.

I was excited for how powerful it could make our pack. Trent told me how useful some of Amy's games had been in training already. We didn't play games as much anymore, not now that fighting had become more of a focus for all of us.

"You're sure eating a lot, Sean." I said as I saw him refilling his plate. "Leave room for dessert, my great grandma sent some pies."

"I'm sure I'll have plenty of room. I feel like I'm starving." He chuckled.

"What's up with that? You've already eaten twice what you normally do." I asked.

"I'm becoming fae tonight. Rosario says it's really trying for my body. I was feeling sick earlier, but it was like a switch flipped and I went from nauseous to starving." Sean answered.

"Sean will go through a lot tonight. Turning fae isn't as easy as all the stories say. You don't just wake up fae. It will be a bit easier on Sean than on a normal human, because he has fae blood." Rosario explained.

"I thought you'd wait until we were done with the curse." I said.

"No. I want to be stronger. I want to be more useful. My brain shouldn't be the only thing I can contribute. As soon as I got an opening to request it, I did." Sean smiled and put another fork full of food in his mouth.

"I would like to request that Sean and I be relieved from training in the morning. He may still be feeling bad, depending on how the change goes." Rosario told Jean-Claude.

"That should be fine. Monday training will not be optional. You both need to be there." Jean-Claude replied.

"On that note, I will be training with Marius in the mornings now. I will also be training on Sundays." Echo stated nonchalantly.

"What? Why?" I asked. "Victor's locked up. There are no other threats."

"There are always threats, Gray. I'm not running and hiding behind you and Victor anymore. The sooner I can fight for myself, the better." She answered coolly.

"Angel, think about this. All that training without a break will make you burn out. I don't want you to have trouble." I said.

"I have thought of this, Gray. Don't worry. If I start to feel myself burning out, I'll take a break. Trust me. I've got this." Echo smiled. "Eat. You have to finish your dinner if you want pie. It's the rule."

I looked at the food on my plate. I was worried. She was throwing herself into training and acting more like a vampire. I didn't like it, and neither did Rex.

"Val, Gray will be sleeping next to me tonight." Echo said after a little while.

The surprise on my face made Talia start to giggle. I looked down the table at Val who seemed to be struggling with something. He put his fork down and glared at me.

"Just sleeping." Val growled.

"Valor, you do not run my life. I already said I wasn't doing anything else until the curse was broken. Do you have so little trust in me that you would make a command like that?" Echo scoffed.

If I looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to the look Val was wearing. It made Talia laugh even harder. I tried not to stare or even smile, though, Talia's laughter was starting to seep into me.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Echo. I just don't trust him."

"He is my husband. I've marked him as mine and I'll do with him as I please. I love you, but you aren't my father, Val. You need to observe some boundaries. I'm fine with you being a little overprotective, but this is my house and my husband doesn't need to be reminded to respect my requests." Echo stated with a glare.

"Just yesterday he was trying to get you to give in to him!" Val snapped.

I had the decency to be embarrassed. Echo was defending me while her brother was making some pretty good points. I didn't have the nerve to try and say anything. I didn't want Echo to be mad at me. I may not always be wise, but my instincts were screaming at me to stay quiet.

"That was yesterday. If you haven't noticed, a lot has changed since yesterday. If Gray tries anything, I'll take him to his room and leave him there. Please, Valley, stop picking on Gray. He just wants to be there for me and I need him. I can be strong all day long as long as I can be soft at night." She said softly.

Under the table, my hand found hers and she squeezed it hard. I would be there when she needed me. She was my angel.

"Fine. I'm not apologizing, though. You better not cross the line or going to bed on your own will be the least of your problems, Gray." Val huffed.

"I promise. I will not do anything to your sister." I vowed.

The room was uncomfortable as Wendell cleared the plates and Lisa dropped a slice of pie in front of everyone. Echo didn't seem to be bothered as much as everyone else did. Even Val seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Well.... Now that awkward dessert is over, I'm taking Sean to our room. He'll need to lie down soon. Mom told me what to expect before we left today. Good night everyone." Rosario said, pulling Sean up and dragging him out of the dining room. Everyone broke up slowly.

"Val, Gray, I'm heading back to the office to work some more. You can either come with me or you can go play video games together. I want you two to work on your relationship. I won't have you two bickering and fighting all the time." Echo announced. "I'd rather if we could work on that too." I said.

"I suggest the two of you play the games. I don't want you distracting Echo. I didn't know she could be like this and she's proving to be as effective as Victor. Go play while we do grown-up work." Talia smirked, waving us away.

"Let's go, Talia." Echo said, standing.

I was left in the room with Val. He looked a little uncomfortable and sullen. I stood and sighed.

"Come on. We better do as she says." I told him.

"Fine, but I'm only doing this because my sister wants me to." He grumbled.

"Whatever." I replied.

We headed to the family room and played games together until Echo came to get me for bed. We actually started having fun after the first hour of him hunting me down and shooting me in the game. I hoped it was enough to start us on the road to friendship or this was going to be a very long and difficult life for both of us.