The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 154

[Echo]

After Talia made us leave the room, I went to the office. I needed answers. I trusted Talia, but maybe this would loosen Fenton's tongue a little.

Gray followed me while everyone else milled around in the hallway, waiting for news. I slammed the office door open, which didn't seem to faze Fenton at all. He just looked up at me with a bored expression. "Why? Why did you do it?" I pressed.

"I see my focus on the elf has taken hold. Didn't you like it? Banished to the dream realm with no hope of returning. I slacked his tether so no amount of trying could wake him. Unlike the sleeping beauty, true love's kiss won't break this curse." He laughed. "Answer my question." I demanded.

"Simply, it was a three-fold win for me. I get to take Maeve's youngest child, Sean's love, and your strongest ally all in one attack. It was really too tempting to ignore. All that suffering. And I'll keep on doing it. I'll take everyone you care for, everyone you depend on away from you. I'll keep you just sane enough to suffer." Fenton hissed.

"Why would you do that? What do you get from making me suffer? Why are you so bent on the suffering of others? It doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't need to make sense to you. My reasoning is my own. Enjoy what little time you have with your friends and family. In the end, it will just be you and me." He chuckled.

He was a beast. I couldn't believe he was only interested in making people suffer. There was no reason for it. Nothing I could give him that would make him take it back. No one was safe.

That wasn't right. Victor was safe. He was safe and sound in the basement. Fenton could have taken him and weakened me that way, but he took Rosario while he was outside training.

I turned and walked out of the office. I wouldn't get the answers I needed there. I needed to figure out how to keep everyone safe.

Something like the amulet that Grace gave Grigori, maybe. There had to be some way to keep his magic away from everyone else. I had an idea.

Quickly, I pulled Gray with me to the basement. Victor had to be awake still. I needed to talk to both of them.

"Victor." I said as I pulled open the viewing hatch.

He came up and looked out at us. I missed seeing his face, but I knew everything would be fine soon. I filled him in on what happened to Rosario and what Fenton said.

"I think I need to make sure Fenton doesn't know Rosario will be okay. If he thinks that part of his plan worked, then he may go slower trying to take everyone else. Just to make me think I'm safe before taking someone else from me." I suggested. "That would be a good idea. You would have to make sure everyone else knows and Rosario stays out of the office. Can you do that?" Victor asked.

"I think so. I'll talk to everyone at breakfast this morning. I think this is going to be the best way. I just don't understand why he's only interested in the suffering of others. There doesn't seem to be anything but hate in him. He doesn't want anything else." I sighed. "Sometimes there are just evil people in the world, Echo. Don't think on it too hard. He's not worth the time or the effort. We just need to keep working to keep him from hurting you." Victor said.

"I'll be right here, angel. I promise, I'll never leave you." Gray told me, wrapping his arms around me.

"I wish I could be out there hugging you too. I promise you the biggest hug when I get out of here Sunday night, princess. I can't wait to have you in my arms again." Victor murmured.

"Don't worry, Victor. You're safe. That's all that matters to me right now. We need to go see how things are going with Rosario and make sure everyone gets fed." I answered.

"That's my girl. You go take care of our people. You're right. I'm perfectly safe right here and you can always come see me." He said.

Gray took me upstairs. I went to the office and closed the door. Lisa came out of the dining room as I was turning to go to the second floor.

"We saw Rosario being carried in from training and held off on breakfast. Do you think anyone will feel up to eating?" She asked.

"Yes. I'm going to collect everyone. Make sure to save some food out for Talia, Rosario, and Sean. We have no clue how long this will take and I'm sure Sean won't want to leave Rosario's side." I replied. "Got it." Lisa said with a bright smile and headed into the dining room.

We went upstairs and started gathering everyone for breakfast. Emmalyn was in my room and said she was waiting, since the meal would be late. I headed to the room where Amelia was.

I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I opened the door and covered my mouth.

Finn was sitting up in the bed with a finger over his mouth. Amelia was curled on his waist. Her curls were in total disarray, but I could see a little smile playing on her lips. I closed the door and turned to Gray. "Well, we can change your sheets before you go back to your room." I giggled.

"What do you mean by that? Why do I smell vampire in my room?" He asked as I headed down the hall. "Echo?"

"Finn kept Amelia company last night." I told him and bounced down the stairs.

He groaned and followed me. "Only you would find that cute."

"Not if they did it in my bed." I laughed.

Gray huffed and followed me into the dining room. We sat in our normal seats. Since three seats were free, we had Dillon, Jean-Claude, and Samuel join us for the meal.

We were serving our food when Amelia and Finn came in. She had a very obvious bite mark on her neck. I looked at Finn.

He pulled her to sit next to him instead of sitting with her sister, like she normally did. Wendell served Finn's pudding. He proceeded to flirt with Amelia through the entire meal.

I took the chance to update everyone on what we knew and what Fenton had said. Leaving out the parts about him taking everyone away from me. I didn't want them to worry that something like what happened to Rosario could happen to them.

Gray told them about my idea about keeping Rosario from Fenton and pretending like he was still under the spell. Val and Preston liked the idea. Harmony grumbled because she wanted to rub it in Fenton's face that he hadn't won.

Quietly, I started working on my own plan to keep everyone safe. They could focus on everything else. I'd surprise them and they'd be so happy when they saw how safe they were. I was giddy with excitement.

We decided to take the day off from curse stuff. We'd been working so hard, everyone needed a break. I was more than happy to play games while I worked out my plan.

Cam took Harmony out for a date. Preston decided he would train Val in magic a little more. Samuel announced that he was needing to head back home. His mate was lonely and he was leaving before lunch.

Amelia went back to bed. She looked pretty tired. Emmalyn was spending the day in the library. Dillon and Jean-Claude joined me and Gray in the game room to play.

Talia came to the game room before lunch. I was happy to see her and pulled her to the couch with me.

"Tell me. What happened? Is Rosario okay?" I asked.

"He's fine. I have some wonderful news. I met a practitioner of some sort of mystic arts while we were in the realm of dreams. She gave me a spell for making Fenton talk. I'm going to go in the office to write it down. We'll hand it off to Lila tonight. She should be able to get it to work. Sookie told me that a light witch can't do it." Talia grinned.

"Sookie is the practitioner you met?"

"Yes. She looks how I imagined my Zendaya would have looked if she hadn't been turned. That elegant sort of aging. It was so interesting meeting a human that powerful. I'm going to head to bed after I write the spell down. Sean and Rosario will wait for lunch and come down. They needed some time." She said.

"I understand. Don't tell Fenton you were able to save Rosario. We're making him think that he won and Rosario is still in the realm of dreams." I told her.

"That's a wonderful idea. I'll pop in and tell them before I head to bed. Have a good day!" Talia smiled as she bounced up and headed for the office.

I continued watching the boys play their game and pulled out my phone. I was getting really good at researching things online. No one would mind if I worked while they played.

Time passed quickly and Wendell was getting us for lunch. I smiled at Rosario and Sean. Amelia looked a lot more rested. Emmalyn teased her about sleeping with Finn. Amelia didn't seem ashamed. She grinned and joked right back.

I needed to keep them safe too. They would be safer if they left, but I didn't want to be rude and just kick them out. I would just need to add them to my plan. Simple enough. The more the merrier.

When lunch was done, I excused myself from the games, letting the boys know I'd be back soon. I still had a lot of research to do on the second step of my plan, but I could do this right now. Slipping into Victor's room, I saw that Talia and Finn were sleeping. They would be first. I tucked them in and focused.

It worked out perfectly. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I locked the master bedroom door and returned to the game room to work on my research a little more.

From time to time, Gray would tell me to watch him, and I would. He really loved showing off. I'd protect that.

"It's almost dinner time." I said. "I'm gonna go see if I can help out. I'm tired of being lazy. I want to do something."

"If that's what you want, angel. I just want you to be happy." Gray grinned.

I went over and gave him a kiss before I headed out. I just needed to make a stop in my garden before I went to the kitchen. I was so happy to see that I had everything I needed in the garden. Walking into the kitchen, Wendell and Lisa looked up at me and smiled. I returned their smile and put my bundle on the counter near the door.

"I came to take over dinner. Why don't you two take Victor's card and go out for dinner? You've worked hard and deserve a break. I'll make sure the kitchen and dining room get cleaned up." I offered. "Are you sure?" Wendell asked.

"Of course. You already did the bulk of the work. It's just a little more stirring and making sure everything goes on the serving dishes. I'm fully capable of that." I snorted.

"Well, if you're sure, I'd love to go out on the boss' dime." Lisa chuckled.

"Go ahead and sleep in tomorrow too. I'll take care of breakfast." I smiled.

"Wow. That sounds great." Wendell grinned. "I love sleeping in."

"Who doesn't?" I winked.

They told me the instructions for the things they were working on before heading out the back door. Once they were gone, I grabbed my bundle and got to work. You would be surprised how many potions and spells are online.

I opened up the recipe on my phone and started putting together the potion that would help me with my plan. Everyone would be safe soon. Fenton wouldn't be able to hurt them. No one would.

After dinner was finished cooking, I started loading up the plates, instead of letting people serve themselves. I knew what everyone liked and what they needed. It was also covered the fact that my plate was preloaded. I couldn't give myself the potion. That wouldn't be good.

Everyone filed into the dining room and sat in their places. Amelia looked around. She seemed disappointed. "Where's Finn?" She asked.

"He had some stuff to look into. Talia brought back a spell and they're getting the ingredients." I answered. "Oh? I'd love to have a look at that." Preston said.

"Tomorrow. Today isn't the day for curse stuff. Today, everyone just needs to relax and recover from last night and this morning." I replied with a smile.

"Of course. There will be plenty of time." Preston smiled. "I just got excited."

"New spells are exciting, especially if they come from the dream realm." Emmalyn added.

Everyone ate and chatted happily. I enjoyed seeing them so cheerful. It was a nice change from the more sullen meals we'd eaten in the recent days.

Soon everyone was leaving the table to go do whatever. I cleared the table and started cleaning up. I hummed to myself as I scraped plates, pots, and pans into the garbage and started washing up.

Halfway through washing the dishes, I heard a thump from above me. I giggled and worked hard to finish up before taking care of everything. When the last inch of the counters was scrubbed, I was ready. It was time.

I walked around the house, finding everyone. They all looked so peaceful. I started moving their bodies. It wasn't very hard with my ability to travel. I covered them up and made sure they would be comfortable.

Taking care of them was important. If I was going to keep them safe, I had to make sure they were comfortable and well-cared for. I kissed Gray on the forehead as I tucked him in. He'd finally be safe. Fenton couldn't take him away from me now.