The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 141

[Echo]

We arrived home in one piece. Thank goodness. Sean drove like a madman. Fenton seemed to make him very angry.

I understood Sean's anger. He made me angry, too. Cursing people just so they would suffer? What was worth that? What did he want so badly that he wasn't even ashamed of how he hurt people? "Where are we? I know your parents couldn't afford a house like this, Sean. Are your parents well off, Echo? Is this where I find out some part of my family actually became successful?" Fenton laughed. "This is my husband's house. I'll take you to meet him soon." I promised.

Sean looked at me like I had grown a second head. I was completely serious. I would feed him to Victor if he didn't help us. The door we fed Victor through could easily fit a cat.

"One of my descendants is at least respectful and successful." Fenton said happily.

We walked into the house and he hissed. I knew he could smell all the werewolves in the house. There were more werewolves than vampires in the house. I knew the one scent would cover the other. "Our staff is mostly werewolf. As I said, I'm part werewolf. My father was a Beta werewolf in a pack back East." I explained as I walked through the house with the large cat. "Where are you taking me?" He asked.

"To my office. I'll have the girls make you some salmon. Would you like that, Fenton?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Lisa, would you get some salmon in a dish for this cat, please?" I called out.

"Of course, Mistress Nightshade. Would you like me to bring you some lunch?" She replied.

"Just some blood tea. Would you make something up for Sean? He hasn't eaten since last night." I said.

"Yes, Mistress Nightshade." Lisa said.

I kept moving to the office. Fenton was an idiot if he thought he could behave like this and would be set free. There was no way he retained his powers in his current form. He didn't smell like magic. He smelled like a cat. I wasn't going to let some cat kill my mate.

When I opened the door, Uncle Preston stood from where he was behind Victor's desk. Val and Harmony were sitting on the couch. Gray was gone. I wondered where he was.

"Uncle Preston, Harmony, Valor, I want you all to meet the newest addition to our home." I announced as I put the cat carrier on the coffee table.

Uncle Preston sat on the couch with Val and Harmony. They all looked in the carrier and back up to me curiously. I grinned.

"Come on, Old Man. This is my uncle Preston, my sister Harmony, and my brother Valor. You should recognize Harmony and Valor. Lila says they look just like Fenton Jr. and Mary Katherine. Preston is Grace's grandson." I told him. "Echo, you're acting weird." Harmony whispered.

"Lila was right, she sounds like Mary Katherine too." Fenton answered, pressing his face against the grate.

"Holy shit!" Val jumped when the cat spoke.

"Everyone. This is Fenton Aimes Sr." I smiled.

They stared at me. Sean came into the room with Lisa. I cleared away the mess on the desk so she could set the tea service down. Sean sat in one of the chairs with his sandwich. "Did you tell them?" He asked.

"Yeah. This is the best break we've had since yesterday when we broke the hidden things spell on the fae." I giggled.

"I bet Hollis is still licking his wounds after that one." Sean chuckled and dropped his glamour.

My smile widened as I saw his soft green skin and dark green freckles. I reached out to touch his hair. It felt like the tender shoots of young plants.

"Now I know what Rosario means when he says you feel good. My body feels like it's really happy whenever you touch me." Sean said.

"Good to know. Did you want to get Rosario? I think he'll want to meet Fenton as well."

"Not yet. He'd be too angry about what Fenton did to the fae. Killing a cat is a lot easier than killing the king of the fae." He replied. "You're acting really strange, Echo. Why did you bring him here? Is he willing to remove the curse?" Val asked.

"No." I said as I sat at Victor's desk and poured myself some tea.

I added some cream and a little bit of honey. They used B negative. It worked really well. I sipped my tea and thought about what I was doing.

It almost seemed mad. Like this crazy idea that seemed to grow inside me. I would do anything to get my Victor back and this cat was in my way.

"Turn Fenton this way, Harmony." I requested.

She did as I asked and sat back down. This wouldn't be easy. He was probably expecting t*****e. I wouldn't do that. I couldn't it wasn't in me, but I knew who could do it.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed. The line rang until Gray picked up.

"Hey, Echo. I was just running an errand. I'll be home soon." Gray said as he picked up.

"Actually, can you run by the pet store and get me a large kennel? One with smallish gaps. We have a guest and I want him to be comfortable." I asked.

"Sure. Make sure Victor pays me back, those things aren't cheap." He chuckled.

"Of course. See you in a while." I hung up.

Taking another sip of my tea, I sent a message to Marius letting him know I would need him to come by when he was up for the evening. He responded that he was going to sleep soon, but would come over when he woke up. I was glad for that. "So you intend to keep me in a cage?" Fenton scoffed.

"Just until I know you won't run away. If you promise to be good, I'll have Sean put this dish of food in your carrier for you. A big cat like you must be getting hungry soon." I said.

"Honestly, this is interesting. I wonder what you have planned for me. You seem too soft for torture... or you did earlier. This Echo might actually have the nerve to do it. I won't do anything." He promised.

I nodded to Sean and he picked up the dish. I watched as he put it into the carrier and locked it up again. While Fenton ate, I finished my tea. It was enough blood to sustain me for a little while. I would have another cup in a bit.

We waited for him to finish and Sean to remove the dish before we continued. I had calmed down a lot and was ready for the next steps. I needed him to tell us what spells were used in the curse and how to break them. "Fenton, what is it that you want? You said you didn't get what you wanted, or implied it. What could be so important that you would cast this curse on everyone and make them all suffer?" I asked. "They suffer for interfering with my family. A question for a question. I answered one, now you answer one. Why is this so important to you?"

"Because my friends and family are affected by the curse. I don't like people suffering. What do you want, Fenton?" I pressed.

"I want you to let me out of this carrier." He chuckled.

"You know what I meant." I sighed.

"I need to know more before I'll tell you my motives, child." Fenton said. "What are you? You smelled like vampires, werewolves, witches, and fae. I can't get a clear read on what you are."

"I'm the Master of this territory. What spells did you use on the supernaturals here?" I asked.

"You can't be the Master. You're not a vampire." He insisted.

With a smile, I let my fangs run out. His pupils went very large and he shook his head. I put my fangs away and poured myself another cup of tea. "Answer my question." I ordered.

"No. I won't give that away." Fenton growled.

"Then I guess the game is over and you can just stay there until the cage is here. I almost forgot a litter box. I'll text Gray." I shrugged and texted Gray.

I drank my tea and mindlinked Lisa to come get the tray. I had work to do. If Fenton wasn't going to cooperate, then I needed to get on what I did have. Every piece I took out of this curse weakened it. Maybe we could make it collapse. Once the desk was cleared, I pulled the map back out and settled it there. Val, Harmony, Preston, and Sean gathered around and we looked at what we had so far. I pondered the eight points.

"A guard. What we need is someone to guard you while you wipe out the wards. Finn didn't seem to be much use. Would another witch be useful? If these people can't stop themselves from defending it, we don't want to hurt them." I said.

"It would be great if we could do a few at a time. With all five of us, we could take care of the five easiest to get to. The others may be more difficult with how the town has grown." Val told me, he pointed to three areas on the map. "These are housing developments. I want to go investigate where the wards are exactly. Uncle Preston and Harmony may be the most useful here."

"Right, with her vampire abilities, she should be able to charm people into letting her in." I nodded. "Preston, can you teach the four of us how to dispel wards?"

"I can. I agree with Valor. If we could actually get eight witches in total, we could dispel all of them at the same time. But who would we use?" Preston hummed in thought.

"The five of us, my dad, Lila, and then we just need one more." Sean suggested.

"No one in the local coven will help get rid of the curse. I already asked and everyone I talked to said no." Val sighed. "They're afraid of what could happen."

"Lila won't be able to help. My wards are reinforced against dark magic." Fenton laughed. "You should just accept your fates."

"Plus, it needs to be a family member. We need more relations." Preston said.

"Thank you for your help, Fenton." I called out. "Let's call Bellamy and see if she has any witches in her collective who might be able to help us out."

"That's a good idea." Val nodded.

"I'll send her a text. I don't want to wake up her babies or anything." I said, picking up my cell and typing out a text. "Let's move on to what we have on the other spells."

I rolled up the map and set it aside before pulling up the spreadsheet of spells Victor had been working on. Preston moved beside me and I let him sit in the chair behind the desk. I moved to the other side of the desk.

"Can you go through this list of possibles from you and Lila and remove anything that doesn't fit with what we already know?" I asked.

"Got it." He said and got to work.

I heard the front door open and the sound of Gray struggling with something. Val came with me to help. I took the litter box and the cat litter from Gray. Val grabbed some other large bags from him, and we went into the office. Gray started setting up the cage without question. Val was looking through the bags. There was a scratching post, two bowls, a couple fake mice, catnip, freeze dried chicken treats, a jingly ball, and a cat bed in the large bags. We looked at Gray, who was quietly working on the cage. He got a lot of things for a cat. I thought it was terribly endearing. It was almost as if he was excited for it. Too bad our cat was literally, a grumpy old man. Harmony was touching Sean's arm. She was rubbing her hand up and down. I raised my eyebrow at her when she caught me looking.

"He's all velvety and soft, like grass in the springtime. It makes me want to roll around on him." She giggled.

"Please don't." Sean said, brushing her hands away.

She pulled her hands back and wandered over to see if she could help Gray. That was better for everyone. Harmony could be a bit much sometimes.

My alarm on my phone went off. It was almost time for Victor to wake up. I turned off the alarm and wandered up to his room.

I knew he wasn't in there, but Finn and Talia were. I figured I was being useful, at least. They would enjoy the warm bed as much as Victor would.

In the room, I took a deep breath. It still smelled like Victor. I turned on the blanket and left, closing the door behind me.

Though I knew I shouldn't do it, I went down to the basement. The empty cell was open again. I remembered Finn telling me that he'd opened it in case we needed it.

I turned on the light and knelt on the floor to see inside the door we had for feeding Victor. He was laying on the floor near it. I hated seeing him on the cold floor.

Standing, I decided I would move him while he slept. I popped into the room using my ability and picked Victor up. It was harder than picking him up from his bed, but I was used to moving his weight.

Putting him on the cot, I covered his body with the blankets and sat next to him. When he was peaceful like this, I could almost imagine my Victor would be the one waking up. In reality, I knew it would be that animal. Not my Victor at all.

After kissing him on his forehead, I stood again and popped myself into the office. Gray was just finishing the cage and setting things up inside. I sat on the couch and tried to control my emotions. I needed to be strong for everyone. Especially Victor. "Everything alright?" Val asked, sitting next to me.

"Yes. Finn and Talia will wake up soon. Victor was sleeping on the floor, so I went in and moved him."

"That was dangerous, what if he woke up?" Val growled.

"Then I would have done what I could have to get him away from me and come right back. I'm not stupid, Val. I planned to be gone before his normal wake up time. I just needed to see him." I said.

"Who is Victor?" Fenton asked.

"My husband. One of them, at least." I sighed.

"Echo? Who were you talking to?" Gray asked as he picked up the carrier.

"Fenton." I said pointing to the cat. "Didn't you hear him ask who Victor was?"

"The cat meowed and you answered." Gray said. "Are you able to understand him?"

I looked at everyone else. They stared back. I knew they could understand him too.

"Only my family can hear my words." Fenton laughed. "You must seem insane to this wolf." "He says only family can understand him." Val told Gray.

"I guess family by marriage doesn't count. I'm ready to put him into the cage." Gray smiled.

"Go ahead." I nodded and watched my other husband handle my great great-grandfather.