The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 163

[Echo]

It was finally time. It was Tuesday night and it had been nine days since we'd done all of the spell's instructions. Finally, we could make Fenton talk.

Talia said that Sookie told her she didn't know how well it would work with the difference in species. If it helped at all, then we would be happy with the results. We needed more to figure out how he changed the spells.

Lila had recovered the missing spells with her investigation. She just couldn't figure out how he had changed them. There had to be a change if they were to work the way they did and she couldn't test it without needing to repeat conditions.

Marius had been more than willing to get her the needed sacrifices, but they couldn't seem to get it to work. Fixation was a spell that was typically cast on a person. It needed a lot of magic in order to attach to the person. That magic could be mimicked with sacrifices, but they would fade after the person died.

Fenton used a life extending spell, which also needed sacrifices. Lila hadn't noticed it missing because she only pulled it out when she needed to double check it. All witches had a handful of spells they memorized and that was one that she made sure she knew backward and forward.

There was actually no way to do that spell without sacrifices of other people. It was an entirely dark spell. Lila insisted on being in the room when we questioned Fenton. She couldn't understand him, but she wanted to be able to ask questions.

I was more than happy to have her there. She would be able to shine a light on things from a dark witch's perspective. We needed that little bit of extra information and experience.

Everyone gathered in the office. It ended up quite crowded. Harmony sat on Cam's lap. Amelia sat on Finn's. I kind of wanted to sit on Victor or Gray, but it had been decided that I would be the one to question Fenton. Victor said it was because I could get under Fenton's skin. He hated that I could tune him out and didn't get as upset as everyone else when he was being a jerk. It was particularly irking to him that I wasn't crazy anymore.

Fenton had figured out that I was no longer in the thrall of the curse. He was livid and demanded to know what vampire was Master now. We refused to bring the new Master, and Fenton thought we were trying to protect him so he pushed the curse even harder. Marius was giving us updates on how the curse was affecting Daniel. Because he was in a similar sort of cell as the ones in the basement, his natural resistance as a vampire was nonexistent. He was apparently demanding that I be given to him. When Marius told Daniel I had been marked by Victor, Daniel started slamming his head against the cell door and walls, screaming that I belonged to only him. Some of the things Marius told Victor were disturbing. Daniel started saying really horrible things that he planned to do to me once he was free.

I was promised that he could never escape and that I was completely safe. It made me feel only a little better. I still didn't like it, but my safety was assured.

Victor nodded to me. It was time to start the questioning. I had a bunch of questions ready as well. I'd spent most of my free time over the last week figuring out things we needed to know.

Sitting in front of the cage, I pulled out my notebook and a pencil. Fenton looked at me curiously. I took a deep breath. Finally, some answers.

"Fenton, how are you today?" I asked.

There was a scoff behind me. I didn't care. I wanted to start easy.

"Fine. Why do you ask? You never cared before."

"I hope you're ready to answer some questions." I smiled.

"I won't eat or drink anything that smells like a spell. There's nothing you can do to make me tell you anything." He replied.

"What do you really think of Gray?" I asked.

"For a wolf, he's a good sort. He seems to have a kind heart and is always very gentle with me, which I appreciate. The cat likes him and wants to be his pet. I think he's not as good for you as the vampire is, but he's a good balance for the coldness of your other mate." Fenton said.

"Wow." Sean whispered.

"What have you done to me?" Fenton asked.

"That's not how this will work, Fenton. I ask the questions." I told him. "How did you combine the spells?"

He growled. "I cast each spell then did my sacrifices. Fifteen people. A mix of humans and witches. Ones that no one would miss. All young enough to give me a good long life and with enough power to rival my own if it was all consolidated. It should have powered the curse for a few hundred years. But the spells wanted more. I was given an unending life because of this curse. Do you know how many times I've been run over, or even shot, only to come back into this body?" "That must be frustrating. How can we break the curse?" I pressed.

Fenton started laughing. "I have no clue. If I could have ended this life, I would have already. Everything else would outlive me. The only perk to this body is that I was able to watch people suffer. No one knew it was me. It took me decades before I realized my family could understand me."

Harmony had been quietly repeating what Fenton said. Lila started laughing as well. Hers was more of a mocking laughter, where Fenton's was pitiful.

"I can't believe you sealed yourself into the body of a cat! You totally deserve it you cranky old fuck. I hope you suffered over the last century for what you did. I may be a dark witch, but what you did was so selfish and stupid that you made dark witches look like a f*****g joke." She snorted.

"I asked for your help! You refused! You said that I should just let Grace do what she wanted and that having this many people against me was just proof that I was making the wrong choice. You have no idea what I was doing or why! You only thought I was trying to control my daughter." He snarled.

"Why did you do it, then?" I asked.

"For you, your sister, and your brother. I heard you saying there could have been a triad if Grace had stayed here. There wouldn't have been. I saw a fire witch who could see the future in their flames. He told me that a triad would come if I sent my daughter away. No matter what, she would thrive, this way I could ensure power unlike anyone had ever seen." Fenton said.

"You were going to steal their power, weren't you?" Lila asked.

"Of course I was. I could be one of the most powerful dark witches to have ever existed. All I needed was to live long enough for them to be born. Then this happened to me. I have no magic, only the ability to control the magics I've already enacted and direct the power of all the magic I used to create the curse. I could have killed that vampire and taken the triplets for myself." He replied.

"That means... you were going to kill us." I whispered.

"His heart was dead before the rest of his body died. It was where I always drew the line and always will. Children have never done anything to deserve having their lives cut short. I can't believe you, Fenton. Taking love from your daughter just so you can kill her great grandchildren. These are your flesh and blood. How could you have actually planned to kill your own descendants?" Lila sneered.

"As easily as I planned for a curse to torment generations of supernaturals. You think I care just because they're related to me? Grace taught me that it didn't matter the relation, people will turn on you. No matter what, they were going to die. Why not die to make me more powerful?" Fenton answered.

"You took her wanting to be with her soulmate as turning on you?" Amelia asked.

"A dutiful daughter listens to her father. She respects him and regards him as the person who directs and guides the family. She wanted to stay here with that vampire, even though I searched for months to find her a good match. They offered me money in return for my daughter. A power like hers was worth more than mere money." He growled.

"Without you, Fixation would fade. Is that correct?" I asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"As far as I can tell, Fixation will die with me. The problem is, I can't die. There's nothing you can do until the lives I stole are all gone from me. It seems we will be together for a very long time." Fenton chuckled.

I didn't like that. Victor needed his territory back. All we had to do was figure out how to end Fenton's life. That will kill the last bit of the curse.

Turning to Lila, I told her what we needed. She had to research how to break the spell she used to grant her a longer life. I knew she could die, but the way this was attached, gave Fenton a, seemingly, endless life. That meant we needed to break the spell with something other than his death.

She promised to work on it and disappeared with Marius. Preston said that he would work on it too.

"Dark witches only think of dark ways to get what they want. I will be thinking of ways to end this curse that are more light. There has to be something we can do that will not push us into using dark magic." Preston insisted.

"Thank you, Preston. I want to get this resolved as quickly as possible and without going dark if we can avoid it. Try to think outside of the box. Even really strange ideas are welcome. Anything will help." I told him.

"I tried everything I could about thirty years ago. There's no way to kill me. You think I wanted this. A century of licking myself, using a litter box, eating tasteless kibble, and being chased by dogs." Fenton chuckled mirthlessly. "I was supposed to be powerful. I was supposed to be one of the strongest witches in the world. I was supposed to be able to get whatever my heart desired."

"The goddess knew she couldn't let you live as you were. This was your punishment for using dark magic." Preston scolded.

"She doesn't punish other dark witches. Only me. I'm always punished for even the smallest infractions. The goddess keeps me around so I can be her jester, her fool. It's my punishment for killing my Guinevere." Fenton grumbled. "What do you mean? Who's Guinevere?" I asked.

"My wife. I knew she wasn't healthy after having Grace. That didn't stop me from badgering her into getting pregnant again. My sweet dove could never tell me no. There was a blood clot from the birth. It gave her a stroke and high blood pressure along with a multitude of other things caused her to be taken from me. If I could have gotten the power of the triad, I could have brought her back. We could have been together again. When I realized what had happened with the curse, I tried to die so I could be with her. There was no way I could take their powers as a cat. My only hope for seeing her again was to stop living, but I cursed myself when I cursed everyone else. You have no idea the torment of being separated from the only person who ever really loved you. She may not have been my soulmate, but she was my everything and I didn't realize it until I lost her." Fenton murmured.

"Why didn't you just wait until the kids were old enough to care for themselves and kill yourself then? Why did you decide on cursing everyone? Why did you make so many suffer?" Gray pressed.

"You wouldn't understand. They suffered because I did. I lived because I didn't like the idea of dying. If living was an option, I wanted to live. I wanted to live and I wanted her to live. I wanted to be able to give her everything I hadn't been able to give her before, back when I only saw her as a means of getting more children and not as the loving, caring, woman she was. She was the only one who really loved me. My children only saw me as a caregiver, not as a family member to be loved and cherished. That was made obvious by Grace's dalliance with the vampire." Fenton said.

I got up off the floor and went to Gray, wrapping my arms around him. I couldn't imagine losing him. Gray kissed the top of my head and I felt another pair of arms wrap around me. I knew it was Victor.

"Never worry about losing us, angel. We're here forever. Even if you have to turn me into a vampire too. I'm never going to let you be alone again." Gray promised.

"Neither shall I, princess. We will work our hardest to always be there for you. You'll never be alone again."

I breathed them in deeply. I knew I would never be alone. I would have my sister and brother, my friends, and my mates.