The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 177

[Gray]

I linked Harmony to come to me quickly and bring Marius. He'd called the pack hospital earlier and knew where it was. If we could get Echo in there, maybe we could stop her from dying.

Holding pressure on the wound, I howled a few more times, so Harmony could find us. Victor just sat by Echo and stroked her hair. She looked so peaceful, like she was sleeping.

"How did this even happen?" I asked gruffly. "You should have protected her!"

"She pulled me out of the way. I didn't realize there was a hunter behind me. It should have been me. I'm so sorry, princess." Victor whispered.

"She's going to forget us now, isn't she? That's what happens when vampires turn. They forget about their lives before."

"Yes and no. Yes, vampires forget, but she won't. Dhampyrs are different. They remember from the moment they wake up. It's because they were basically born vampires, rather than being turned into one from another species." Victor explained. "We should have made her stay home. A battlefield is no place for someone like Echo. She's never actually fought before."

"If she weren't here, you would be dead. At least we get her when she comes back as a vampire. It's not perfect, but it's more than we could hope for in this situation. If she were anything other than a dhampyr, she'd be dead." I told him.

A few moments later, Harmony and Marius broke through the trees. They were followed by Cam and Val. Where Marius looked the same as he had before the fight, everyone else looked more beaten up.

Harmony rushed over and sank to her knees. Val came and stood over us. They looked worried, but a little relieved.

"Why did you pull the stake out? You're never supposed to do that!" Harmony scolded. "They taught us that in the first aid portion of health class."

"They had to, Harmony. If Echo died with the stake in her heart, she wouldn't have come back as a vampire. The ash stake would have stopped the magic from turning her." Marius explained softly. "Don't worry, she has an entire second life to live." "She has an entire first life to live. We need to get her to the pack hospital before she bleeds out more!" Val insisted.

"It went through her heart. They probably can't save her. The surgery required would take too long." Victor answered.

"It didn't go through her heart! You guys have spent all this time with our sister and never realized she has Situs Inversus? She's my mirror image twin, just with paler skin and darker hair! Her organs are on the other side! If we get her to the hospital, they can save her." Harmony shouted.

That shook us out of our sorrow. Marius stepped forward and took over pressure on Echo's chest. Harmony put her hand on him.

"I'm going with. I know the most about her medical condition... apparently." She said coldly.

They disappeared and I felt the flame of hope ignite in my chest. They could save her from turning into a vampire. We could have our living Echo for even longer.

I reached across the space and hugged Victor. He hugged me back.

"I thought we were going to lose her right before we could show her the world. There are so many things she needs to be alive to experience." He whispered.

"We wouldn't have lost her, she would have just been a vampire." I replied.

Victor pulled back and looked into my eyes. "No. Even for dhampyrs, it changes you. She would have lost her innocence. Death is still death. It still kills anything fragile inside of you. When the time comes to change Echo, she'll be fully knowledgeable in the world. We won't notice the change as much. It would have been so drastic, that we wouldn't have been able to reconcile our Echo with the one we were left with."

"Let's get back to the fight. It's dying down, but there are still a few hunters hiding in the woods." Cam said.

"Where did the hunter who shot Echo go? I want to kill him myself." I growled.

"It was a young woman. She went that way. I'll join you. I want to tear her arms off before she dies." Victor replied with a snarl.

We got up and ran in that direction. Val was right behind us. I didn't see where Cam went.

Soon, I smelled human blood. Maybe it was the hunter. We turned and ended up near a stand of trees. On the ground was a man's body with claw marks down the chest and across the throat.

As we walked on a little further, we found another body. She looked like she'd been tossed aside. I rolled her over. It was Melissa.

"That's the girl who shot Echo." Victor said.

"She's dead. It looks like her throat was crushed and she was just tossed aside like so much trash." I told him.

"Good. I hope it was a painful death." He muttered and kicked the corpse.

"Leave her. The goblins will find them and take care of the bodies." Val said.

And we did. She was nothing to us anymore. I'd make sure Sean and Rosario knew she was dead. They would be happy to hear that.

We trekked on. The sounds of fighting, the screams, the gunshots, the thrashing, had all died down. I saw troops of goblins carrying corpses. They would put our people in the clearing and pile the hunters in one place to take back to their homes.

When we reached the clearing where the tent was, most of the party was there. Werewolves and vampires were talking about the fight like old friends. I could see Rosario and Sean laughing with some trolls who were making hand motions that looked like something hitting the ground. Amelia and Finn were making out. She was wrapped around him tightly.

Maeve came to us. She had a smile on her face.

"The battle was successful. Only minor casualties on our side so far. Not everyone has made it out of the woods yet. We're sending some werewolves and vampires back in to find allies in need of medical assistance." She said.

"Good plan. We can take them to the vehicles and get them to the pack hospital. For tonight, the pack will take in all supernaturals who need our help." Trent said, limping up to the group. "Trent." I said softly.

"Bastard got me in the leg with silver shot. I'll be fine. I'm waiting until we find all of our people."

"Amelia!" Victor shouted.

She and Finn pulled away from each other and looked over at us. Victor waved them over and they came. They seemed as curious as I was.

"You have an affinity for metal, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Could you see to the werewolves who have silver shot stuck in them? If the silver is removed, their wolves can heal them faster. See to Alpha Trent first." Victor said.

"Sure thing!" Amelia grinned and had my brother sit on the ground.

She knelt beside him and held her hands over his injured leg. He started hissing and growling. Bits of metal emerged from his skin and flew up to her hand.

I linked one of the wolves near the tent and he grabbed a cloth tote bag for her to put the shrapnel in. We set up a place for her to pull silver. Rosario started up a spot next to her to remove wood splinters from vampires who hadn't suffered killing shots, but had been hit and some left behind. Heading back to the woods, I was on the search for living allies and any hunters who thought they might get away. I didn't want any of our enemies to escape and come back with more hunters. I had about a dozen wolves with me, both pack and rogue. If we found someone injured, but alive, one of the wolves would help them back to the treatment site and head back to us. We wanted to try and find any injured vampires before dawn. Victor linked me that we had nearly all of them.

The plan was that I would go back to the pack lands with my brother and Val. We would wait for updates on Echo. Trent wouldn't leave until all our people were accounted for, dead or alive.

There was some muffled screaming coming from my right. I signaled to the group that we were heading that way. We stalked through the woods carefully. Soon, we heard a voice coming from that direction too. "Don't worry, baby. As soon as I get you to the cars, I'll take that gag outta your mouth. I just can't have you screaming right now."

My men spread out and I could finally see who it was. A large black man was carrying a woman over his shoulder. I didn't recognize him, that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't one of ours. Did he have a hunter? "Hold on right there." I ordered.

He came to a stop as we filtered out of the forest. The man looked around and saw that he was pretty much surrounded. My men moved to close the gaps. "Derrick? What the hell are you doing?" One of the rogues asked.

"Lyle. Nice to see you man. We never see each other anymore." Derrick chuckled. "I was just heading out. We should get together sometime for a drink." "Who's the girl, Derrick?" Lyle growled.

The girl over Derrick's shoulder started screaming and bucking. I caught sight of a flash of orange hair. The sound of the voice was suddenly familiar. "Emmalyn?" I gasped.

There was a squeal of confirmation from the girl. I growled at the man holding her. I could see that her legs were tied together. I was betting he had her arms tied too. "Mine." Derrick snarled.

That shocked me. Emmalyn's mate was a werewolf? She didn't seem to want to be with him. Maybe he didn't understand that you need to court non-wolf mates.

"You're a rogue-born, Derrick. You don't have a fated mate. Let the girl go." Lyle stated firmly.

"You don't understand. My wolf chose her. She's my mate. She just needs time to get to know me and fall in love with me." Derrick insisted.

"This isn't the way to do that." I told him. "Things like this only push your intended mate further from you. Do you even know what you're taking her from? Her little sister is back in the triage area, worried because she never came back from the fight." I was pretty sure Amelia was worried, once she realized Emmalyn hadn't come back. I would be worried if Trent hadn't. It was the nature of siblings, you worry.

"I need her. I need to make her love me." He mumbled.

"She won't love you if you take her away from her little sister right now. She has a lot of family who is worrying because she's not with them. One of her cousins is in the hospital on the pack lands right now. There's no way Emmalyn won't worry about them." I said. "Derrick." Bellamy said from behind me. "Lyle linked me. Put the witch down. You can't just steal the woman you want. You have to court her properly. This isn't the way to get her to want to be your mate."

"Queen Bellamy. Don't make me give her up. I never felt like this before. I love her." Derrick pled.

"I understand. That's why I'm not making it a command yet. Don't get me wrong, I will make this a command if you take even one step away with her. You're just making yourself the bad guy here. All she knows about you is that you're some big guy who decided to take what you wanted without considering her feelings. That's not going to make her love you. Let. Her. Go." Bellamy ordered.

Derrick looked around and sighed. He picked Emmalyn up off his shoulder and set her down in front of him. Then he untied the ropes around her wrists and ankles.

Emmalyn reached up and untied the gag in her mouth. Derrick stood and looked down at her. I kind of felt for him.

"I will never love you. I will never be your mate and I never want to see you again, Derrick." She growled, then kicked him between the legs and ran to hide behind Bellamy.

He dropped to the ground, holding himself. I winced. That did not look like fun. Two of the rogues headed toward him and helped him up.

"She's rejected you, Derrick. You need to move on. I want you out with the searchers looking for injured allies. You are to be in my office at Lune Rouge no later than Tuesday morning. That gives you a couple days to wrap up anything you need to here. You will not contact Ms. Grove while you are here." Bellamy commanded.

Derrick whimpered a little. It made me feel even worse. He really thought he was in love with Emmalyn. A rejection has to be as painful for him as it would be for a pack wolf.

Bellamy led Emmalyn back toward the gathering area, and we pressed on into the forest. We found a couple living hunters that we made quick work of. Derrick was quiet.

I ended up walking with him as we led the search team. He seemed imposing, but a little broken. I wanted to help.

"You need to give her space. You overwhelmed her." I said quietly.

"I never loved anyone like this before. I just wanted her to give me a chance."

"You took it too far. Kidnapping is never the answer. Just try to stay away for the most part. Send her gifts. Visit without touching or going on about being mates. Get to know her and let her get to know you. You have to take things slow with humans." I told him. "Do you think she'll want me? Do you really think I can change her mind?" He asked.

"I think you have a better chance doing it this way than whatever crazy idea pops into your head." I chuckled.

He seemed to be thinking it over. I was certain, if his brain had decided kidnapping was a valid choice, that he would think of something even crazier next time.

"I'll do it. Thanks, man. You're a good guy, for a pack wolf." Derrick grinned.

I hope Emmalyn doesn't hate me for this. I just couldn't let another wolf suffer like that.