The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 166

If I learned anything from my jaunt into madness, it was how to act like I wasn't doing anything suspicious as I went about my evening. I cleaned up in my room and got new underclothes on. Then, I went to find Gray. He was in the living room with Val, Preston, Cam, and Harmony. I went over to see how the spell conversion was going. They'd managed to combine the spells pretty well. It looked so smooth, you couldn't even tell it was the combination of two spells. "Where were you, Echo?" Val asked. "I went to my room for a while after my time in the garden with Gray. I just needed a little alone time." I replied.

"He didn't do anything, did he?"

"Val. You need to stop. Gray is my husband. We're married in the eyes of supernatural law, just not human law. He's going to take care of me forever. I promise. Don't be mean. If he says we didn't do anything, then we didn't do anything." I sighed. Val looked at Gray. He hadn't thought I would put it on him, but Gray picked up on it pretty well.

"I made you a promise, remember? If Echo needed time alone, it's probably because there are so many people and she's still not quite used to it." Gray smiled.

"Alright." Val said, sounding doubtful.

"How long do you think before we hear back from the coven leader?" I asked.

"It could take a day or two. I'm not holding my breath. We're going to see about methods for contacting free witches in the area. I didn't even know that was an option until the girls started talking about it at dinner. I think I'll be a free witch. I only plan to marry my soulmate and I don't want some coven leader telling me who I need to be marrying or trying to arrange something... again." Val grumbled a little.

"There should be a place where they all frequent. We should ask Lila. She might know better than I would." Preston said.

"Wow. Didn't think I'd ever hear you suggest that we should talk to a dark witch, Uncle Preston." Harmony giggled.

"She's a valuable tool at the moment and she has an emotional stake in this because Marius is involved. I would never tell you not to use everything you can to get what you need. I would just ask you to stop short of going dark yourself." Preston replied. We found seats and started talking about how we should position everyone. We figured that I should hold hands with Gray and Victor and they should have Harmony and Val on either side of them. After that, we should try to space out Fenton's descendants a little. It took a little while to hammer out, because Cam would have a hard time with anyone holding Harmony's hand who was male and not related to us. The best we could do was having her hold hands with Victor, who Cam's wolf didn't see as competition, and any female witch that was sent to us.

If there was no female witch sent, then we would have Emmalyn or Amelia next to her. We figured that Fenton's descendants would have a stronger bond to him than descendants of his sister. So we were treating them as non-family members for the sake of the curse removal.

As we were chatting, Val's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. His eyes widened.

"Mrs. Layton. How can I help you?" He asked.

There was silence as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. I wondered who it was and looked around the room to see if anyone knew. "Coven leader." Preston said.

"I see. Yes, that will be perfect. When can they be available?" Val asked politely.

More silence as he nodded. I bit my lips together in anticipation and gripped Gray's hand. There were witches who wanted to help!

"Great. I'll message you the address. They just need to hit the buzzer to be let in the gate. It would be fantastic to meet with them tomorrow. I promise no harm will come to them. Yes, Lila will be on her best behavior. If they come over around six in the evening they can meet the vampires. Yes, I can guarantee that the vampires will not try to feed on them or entrance them." Val promised.

We waited patiently as he listened to more of what she had to say. I couldn't believe we'd gotten the witches so soon. This was the best news we'd had in a while.

Val hung up and grinned at us. "We have two young witches who wanted to help."

"Were they the only ones or are we waiting on others?" Preston asked.

"The answers all came back as 'no' pretty fast. These two were at their graduation ceremony for witch training when they felt compelled to walk into the forest and started attacking someone. The description sounded like Amelia. They wanted to help because they didn't agree with the coven's decree that they wouldn't help at all with the other parts of the curse." Val explained.

"That's very brave of them. Going against your coven isn't something young witches will normally do." Preston murmured.

"They said they wanted to help and, because the coven leader is still hoping I'll take her daughter as my wife, it was put to the coven to decide on their own, since we don't need all of them. I guess attacking Amelia made these two decide they couldn't stand aside anymore. Thank goodness. This means everything can be over sooner rather than later." Val said in a relieved tone.

"Sounds like you want to move on." Gray chuckled.

"I don't do my soulmate search until I know that Echo's safe. That will be when this curse is done and you've married her. I don't care if it's just human law. It's how I was raised and I want to know she's safe. I couldn't keep her safe for so much of our life. I'll even wait until Cam marries Harmony if that makes you think this is a little more equal." Val replied.

"I'll marry Harmony if it gets you off our backs about living together." Cam scoffed. "Living together?!" Val shouted.

"We can go to city hall as soon as this is over and get the license. Harmony can plan whatever she wants for the ceremony. We're marked mates. That's as good as husband and wife to most wolves. Most people just do a city hall wedding, because the bond is more important than the celebration." Cam explained.

There was more bickering. Harmony chatted with me while the guys went at it. She wanted a small wedding, just close friends from the pack and family.

I told her what the Lunas were planning for the wedding between me and Gray. Harmony was excited to be my maid of honor. She told me the Lunas got her measurements before everyone moved in here.

Elise told me the next family dinner would be the first fitting for the dress and they had made it a little bigger than my first set of measurements to take into account the fact that I was still working on becoming healthy. She said that it would be easier to take it in than let it out. I didn't know about that, but if she said so, it must be true.

Everyone was happy when we told them about the witches. Preston called Brian who said he would tell Brooke and they would be at the house around five. We were set to break the curse by Sunday at the latest.

-

Soon, it was bedtime. I went and took a hot shower. There was some residual soreness from my encounter with Gray and Victor in the garden. Thank goodness for my rapid healing factor, or I don't think I would be walking very well.

It just served to make me even more set on my revenge. I just needed to be sure what I was planning would work. My test would be when I did it to Gray.

I dressed in one of my pajama sets that had silky shorts and a tank top. They were cute, and just modest enough that my brother wouldn't throw a fit if he saw me in it, but it was skimpy enough that Victor would react the way I wanted him to.

Gray was already in bed when I came out of the closet after dressing. He smiled at me as I climbed in bed and cuddled up with him. Victor came in shortly after and slid into bed with us.

They wrapped me in their arms and told me how much they loved me. I sure hoped they felt that way after I got my revenge tonight. They deserved it for leaving me out in the garden to fend for myself without my bra and panties.

As Gray fell asleep, I mimicked his breathing and pretended to nod off as well. Victor kissed my head and slipped out of bed. I waited for him to close the door before I sat up.

Carefully, I reached down and got ahold of Gray's pajama pants and underwear. Then I used my ability to travel to the closet. I turned on the light in there and saw I had been successful.

The clothes were in my hand, but Gray wasn't. I peeked out of the closet and saw that he was still sleeping. I stifled a giggle before I enacted the next part of my plan.

Once Gray was comfortably settled, I made my way to Victor's office. I walked in and saw Victor at the desk with Talia. She looked over at me and tilted her head curiously.

"Echo, what's wrong?" Victor asked.

"I woke up and wanted to see you. I had a bad dream." I mumbled.

"Princess. I'm sorry. Why didn't you get Gray up?"

"Because it was about you, not about him." I pouted.

"Talia, would you give us some time?" He requested.

"Sure." She replied and got up, closing the door behind her.

"Come here, princess. Are you alright?" Victor asked.

I went and climbed in his lap and snuggled against him. Victor wrapped his arms around me. I slid my fingers down his chest and hooked my fingers into the waist of his pants, grabbing his belt and underwear.

"I didn't really have a nightmare, Victor. I just wanted to be alone with you for a few minutes. You know I didn't appreciate you leaving me out in the garden the way you did." I said softly.

"Mmm. You know I have work to do, Echo. I told you I was sorry and I gave you a lot of cuddles in bed tonight. Was it not enough?"

"Dear Goddess, could you not do this while I'm stuck in this cage?" Fenton growled.

I ignored him. This was important. Victor had to know why he was being punished.

"You stole my panties again, Victor. Then Gray stole my bra. I was stuck in the garden without any underclothes. That was very mean of the two of you." I told him.

Victor chuckled. "I don't mean to laugh, princess. I'm just getting a humorous picture in my head."

"If I didn't have the traveling ability, I would have had to try to make my way to my room without any underclothes. That would have been embarrassing, Victor. I don't find it funny." I stated firmly.

"Oh? And, shall I be punished for this?" He asked.

"Of course." I whispered and grasped his shirt with my other hand. "Why else would I stay up late, if not to punish my naughty mates?"

He laughed and I grinned. Then I used my ability to travel to my closet with his clothes. I gathered Gray's and headed back to the landing above the stairs as the shouting started.

"ECHO!!!" Victor yelled.

"What the fuck!?" Gray shouted a few moments later.

I heard Talia rushing to Victor's office and I could tell when she opened the door, because she burst out laughing. I leaned over the railing to the entryway and waited. To my right, I heard doors open and people rushed out. "Grayson? What on Earth are you doing?" I heard Victor ask.

"I'm wondering the same thing. I was sleeping in Echo's bed, then I woke up naked in the TV room! What the hell is going on?" Gray answered.

More doors opened as everyone came to the landing and started asking me what was going on. I giggled in the confusion of everything. Gray and Victor came into the entryway using cushions to cover their sensitive parts. Sean and Rosario started whistling at them. Harmony and Amelia started cat calling, much to the chagrin of their mates. Emmalyn was in hysterics. "Why are you two naked?!" Val exclaimed.

"Ask your sister!" Gray growled.

Val looked at me.

"If you steal from me and leave me to get back to my room alone, I'll do the same to you." I told Gray and held up the handfuls of their clothing.

"What did you steal from my sister?" Val asked.

Gray blushed and looked away. Victor looked like he was trying not to laugh. At least he was amused.

"You're going to be punished for this, Echo." Victor warned.

"I don't think so. You asked me if I was going to punish you for stealing from me and I told you I was. You knew you were in trouble. I'm just paying you back for what you did to me." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Alright, Echo. This has gone far enough. Give them back their clothes." Preston chided. "I'm sure they learned their lesson."

"Have you learned your lesson?" I asked.

"I promise not to steal from you again, Echo. Now, give me my clothes back." Victor said.

"I promise not to steal again, too. I'm sorry, Echo. Please, give me my clothes back." Gray answered in a shamed tone.

"He's so modest for a werewolf." Talia giggled.

"I'm mated. Only my mate is allowed to see me naked unless I'm shifting." Gray insisted.

I dropped the clothes over the bannister. Victor moved quickly to grab his clothing and head back to his office. Gray missed his and had to bend over to pick them up, getting more whistles from Rosario, Sean, Finn, and Cam. There were more hoots and howls from the girls, too.

He disappeared briefly and reappeared quickly, dressed in his pajamas. There was a wicked look on his face. I squealed and ran for my room, Gray gave chase.

Gray caught me just inside my bedroom door and pulled me to him. I looked up into his eyes and I could see the glint of humor in them.

"You're such a naughty girl." He purred.

"You stole my bra." I huffed.

"As soon as all these people are out of our house, I'm going to hide every stitch of your clothing where you'll never find them." Gray threatened.

"You wouldn't dare!" I gasped.

"I would. You'll have to go around the house in whatever you can borrow from Victor and me. Like that time when you wore my t-shirt and nothing else." He grinned. "You're terrible." I giggled.

We got into bed. Victor came back in to cuddle with me and return my panties. I fell asleep listening to them laughing about how I got back at them. Apparently, neither one was embarrassed at being naked, they were embarrassed about being called out over the theft. It was useful information for the next time I had to punish them.