The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 169

"You're witches?" I asked.

I hadn't been expecting the people standing in front of me. Terry scratched the top of his partially shaved head uncomfortably. Elle's blue hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing all of her piercings on full display. "You work for the Master of the territory?" Elle replied.

"Could you do this in the house? There are people who are sensitive to sunlight." Victor said from a few feet behind me.

I blushed. "Please come in. Thank you for coming to help us with this spell."

They came into the house and I closed the door. Victor approached us and stood next to me. Terry pulled Elle a little closer to him.

"You needn't be afraid. You are here as my allies, not as my donors. I do not take blood from those who are unwilling." Victor assured them.

"Victor, these are two of my friends from school. Elle and Terry. Sean introduced them to me on my first day. Is this why you started pulling away from the group?" I asked.

"We were getting close to our graduation from training and we knew we wouldn't be able to leave the state because of the curse. We went to hang out with the other coven witches who were in our school. They'd be who we were around the most after everyone left." Elle said.

"Elle? Terry?" Sean gasped as he walked into the entryway.

"Sean?! What? What are you doing here?" Elle asked.

"I'm helping break the curse. You're witches? Why didn't you tell me? We've been friends since kindergarten!"

"We weren't supposed to tell anyone. It's dangerous. What are you doing here, though?" Terry pressed.

"I was a witch without an affinity and I just found out a little while ago. I'm fae now, but I can still do witch magic." Sean admitted.

"You got turned into a fae? Didn't anyone ever tell you to be wary of fae offering gifts?" Terry scoffed.

"My soulmate is fae. I wanted to be with him." Sean replied defensively.

"Him? I thought you were dating Rosario." Elle said. "I knew my gaydar was going off. How did she take it when you broke the news? You're not still dating her are you? Did you tell your parents? Who else knows? Why didn't you tell me? We could have done Pride together. I'm always looking for a buddy to go with."

"Sean? What's going on?" Rosario asked as he came out.

"Let's move this to the living room, we can do the introductions and explanations much more quickly." Gray called out from the other room.

I giggled. It felt like we just did all of this a few minutes ago. He was probably getting frustrated, especially with the threat of hunters hanging over everyone.

We led them into the living room. Amelia's eyes went wide.

"It's the girl who tried to crispy critter me!" She exclaimed.

"OMG! I'm so, so sorry! I couldn't control myself. I didn't want my first action as a fully-fledged witch to be hurting someone else!" Elle replied.

"You were very lucky you had that shield to protect you." Terry said. "My wind blades can be deadly. It wasn't how I wanted to start my witching career either."

"Don't worry about it. I knew you couldn't control it. It was really lucky Finn's ability decided to come out because I was in danger. I'm Amelia." She smiled.

We went around the room introducing everyone. Rosario had to put on his other glamour because Elle and Terry didn't quite believe he was the girl they had grown up with. The feeling in the room was really friendly and lighthearted.

After everyone finished talking, we dug into the history of the curse and what had been done so far, to get Terry and Elle up to speed. They asked appropriate questions and seemed to be fairly businesslike. There was a sound a few minutes later in the entryway. "Here's where they all are!" Lila grinned from the doorway. "I found them, Daddy."

"Lila." Marius said in a warning tone.

"Sorry. I found them, Master." She giggled.

"I swear to the Goddess, Lila, you're not going to like what I do to you if you don't stop this." He growled.

"Hi, Lila. Hi, Papa. Thank you for coming." I smiled and stood to give them each a hug.

"Lila the dark witch! Wow! I never thought I'd actually meet you." Elle bounced.

"Oh! I love your hair and your piercings. You're just so adorable!" Lila beamed.

Elle blushed and Terry chuckled. Marius came in and growled at Cam, making him get out of the chair he was in. Marius took Lila's hand and guided her to the seat, stationing himself behind the chair.

Lila sat back and crossed her legs before taking Marius' hand. He acted as if he didn't even notice. She was wearing a low-cut shirt and seemed to be flashing the bite in the crook of her neck around.

She seemed proud to be wearing Marius' mark. I was amused at it. I would need to wear a tank top to show off my mark. Not that I really wanted to at the moment. It was too dangerous.

When we'd questioned Fenton, she'd been too preoccupied to show off. Now, she was trying to make sure everyone saw it. Amelia shook her head at it.

"You're not the only witch marked by a vampire." She muttered.

I looked at her with wide eyes. She hadn't been marked just yesterday. She must have let Finn mark her last night.

"Yes, but I'm the only one marked by this vampire. You should have more pride in your mark and your man. Most witches would expect it from me, as a dark witch. What are you going to do when all your light friends start asking if you've crossed over to the dark side? Or are you planning on never telling them? You shouldn't hide your man away like that, little light witch." Lila chided.

"I'm not ashamed. I just don't know how to answer them if they accuse me of being dark now." Amelia said softly.

"Tell them to mind their damned business. You know who you are and you'll find witches who will accept you for your personality and not for your reputation. You already have everyone here. It's that simple. If they meet your Solus Amor and decide you're evil because of the preconception that vampires are inherently evil, then they aren't worth your time." Lila told her. "You've seen how good and sweet Echo is when she's not crazy from a curse. There's no way that she will ever be dark. She's still a witch too, you know." "I forget because she's a dhampyr more than she's a witch."

"Even if you're only a little witchy, it makes you a witch. Just look at Brian, here. No affinity, still a witch. Harmony, still a witch. Even Sean is still a witch. That's not important. What's important is what you're doing to your relationship when you try to hide away parts of it. You may not be as balls out into as I am, but you should have more pride in it. Were you sitting this far from him before other witches showed up?" Lila asked.

I hadn't even noticed how she'd sat further away from Finn once Brian, Hope, and Brooke showed up. From the expression on Finn's face, he hadn't either. He suddenly closed down.

It was something I'd seen happen with Victor. Sometimes he would just close himself off if he needed to show a cool and confident face. I could imagine someone as open as Finn using that as a way to not to give away his real emotions.

"Amelia, we don't care if you're dating a vampire. I mean, we're happy that you found someone you like, but you aren't defined by the person you date. You make your decisions, not him. I was raised being told that vampires are evil and they only want to suck the blood of the innocent and turn them into vampires." Brian said.

"I can assure all of you, we are not interested in drinking from unwilling donors, nor do we want to turn people into vampires all willy-nilly." Victor smirked. "A glut of vampires means fewer resources for other vampires."

"The important thing is if you're happy. There are plenty of dark witches who would shun me for being with my Marius. We're not so different from light witches, it's just that light witches turn their bigotry into an argument against going dark and dark witches own their bigotry for what it is. I would be labeled as a necrophiliac. I don't actually give a f**k, because I know that I'm happy." Lila shrugged.

"Wow. You just zeroed in on my insecurity." Amelia chuckled nervously.

"It's a gift. You don't get to be my age without being able to read people. Trust me, witchy-poo, it's just easier to focus on your happiness and know in your heart and your works that you are a light witch." Lila winked.

"Can we please focus on the curse? I would really like to only have one thing to worry about for a while." Gray growled.

"Does anyone have a spray bottle so we can calm the dog down?" Lila scoffed.

Marius smirked. "Don't rile up my daughter's mate, Lila. I don't know how housebroken he is. Victor lets him on the furniture, you don't want him getting too excited."

"Marius. Stop." I said sternly.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Or what?"

"Or I'll be very upset with you." I replied.

Marius tilted his head. He seemed very confused. Val and Harmony sucked in a breath.

"Is that something I should be worried about?" Marius asked.

"Echo isn't as nice or lovey when she's upset with people. You wouldn't think it would bother you, but you see her being that way with others and you start to miss it. It's like she doesn't care about you anymore and it stings." Harmony responded. Lila chuckled. "That doesn't seem so bad."

I caught her eye and turned away from her. She gasped.

"It's a form of persuasion." Marius said. "The opposite of Harmony's ability to make people want her to like them and feel happy in her presence."

"It feels like back when my sister turned her back on me. I'm sorry, Echo. Please don't be mad at me." Lila pled.

I turned back to her. She was leaning forward and reaching for me. I smiled at her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was intense. Stop teasing the wolf, Marius. You don't want to feel that." Lila shivered. "It was like I was being abandoned for the first time all over again."

"This is why no one wants to upset Echo." Val chuckled.

"I thought it was just because of how sweet and fragile she seems." Marius smiled. "Very impressive, Echo. Another ability we can add to your training." "Anyway." Gray said loudly. "Can we do the spell tonight or does everyone need a day to study it?"

"Sorry, Gray, you're right. We've distracted ourselves enough. Let's have everyone look it over. It's not too difficult." Preston replied.

We all looked at the spell. I could practically recite it with my eyes closed because I had helped write it a few times. I felt confident enough to do it tonight.

As everyone was reading, I looked around the room. Just a few months ago I wouldn't have been able to guess that my social circle would grow so much. I never knew I could have so many friends and so much family that I cared about.

I looked down at my hand, where Gray's ring sat on my finger. Only three months ago, I had nothing to look forward to. I was afraid of what my future could be. Now, I was engaged to two men who truly loved me. My sister and brother were always nearby. I had a new father and, now, a stepmother who seemed to like me.

"What are you grinning about, angel?" Gray whispered.

"I'm happy." I told him quietly.

"I'm glad you're happy, but you should be focusing on the spell." He chuckled.

"I was so alone before, Gray. I'm really happy now. And I could recite the spell backward if I needed to. I'm ready when everyone else is." I smiled.

Gray and Victor each picked up one of my hands, making me drop the paper with the spell on it, and kissed my fingers. I looked at each of them. They were mine and no one could take them from me. I resolved then and there to kill any hunter I saw. "I think we can do this. Brooke?" Brian said.

"Yeah. It has a good beat. I can totally recite this." She shrugged.

"It's pretty easy. I agree. This shouldn't be a big deal to do tonight." Terry said.

"Yeah. I got this too." Elle grinned. "Where are we doing this?"

"I'll go get the cage. You all want to push the furniture back?" Gray asked.

"I'll get salt for the protection circle. We don't want this magic escaping." Preston called out as he jogged out of the room.

Gray went to get the cage. Everyone moved the furniture and looked over the chart to see where they stood for the spell. I couldn't believe we were actually going to do it tonight. Then Victor could be the Master again. I hugged him. This was perfect.