The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 23

We were met in Trent's office by his Beta and Gamma. I sat next to Val on the couch. I wouldn't let them exclude me if they tried, but I didn't think they would. "Tell us about Echo." I insisted.

"Harmony and I aren't twins, we're triplets. Echo is our little sister. Mom and Dad said she's evil. They never let her out of the house, made her cook and clean, punished her harshly, and barely let her eat. We tried to stop them when we were little, but she got punished worse when we did. We weren't even allowed to tell her that we loved her."

His voice shook and I saw tears in his eyes. I couldn't imagine having to see that and not be able to fight back. My poor mate had lived a terrible life because of those people. I wanted to go to their house and kick their asses on her behalf, but I'd reign myself in so I could find out what was happening to her and save her from whatever they sold her into.

"Every Saturday since we were about seven, our dad would take me and Harmony to a movie. When we got older, we were sent on our own. A couple months ago, I wanted to take my girlfriend out instead. Harmony got a friend to meet up with her for the movie and I took my girlfriend to dinner. She dumped me." Val laughed dryly.

"I thought it was the worst thing that would happen that night. I went home. Mom and Dad were always in bed by the time we got home from the theater. I figured I would sneak in the study until I heard them turn in and would go to my room. I got on the hose box and looked in the window. The light was on and Echo was on the couch. She was all dressed up and a vampire was sucking on her neck. He had his hand under her dress and she was crying."

Val stopped to calm himself. My hands were balled into fists. I wanted to kill the f*****g leech who made my mate cry, who touched her like he had a right.

Trent caught my eye and shook his head. I worked to calm myself down. This was one of the most emotionally trying conversations I'd ever had. "What happened next, Val?" He said softly.

"I went to the front door. I wasn't going to let him keep hurting my little sister and climbing through the window was dangerous. I couldn't defend or attack while crawling through. I figured my parents couldn't have known. When I walked in the house, they jumped up and tried to stop me from going in the study. It took me longer than it should've to realize they knew what was going on.

The door started to open and they shoved me into the coat closet. The vampire said she was better than normal. He asked how much to bite her thigh. I heard Echo gasp. She was right there. She was standing right there while my parents negotiated with a vampire for how much he would pay to bite my little sister between her legs.

When he left, they sent her to bed and told me Echo was feeding vampires to keep the evil in her blood low enough she wouldn't hurt anyone. They said she made them pay so she could help with bills. It sounded like crap and I told them so. Suddenly, it was like they changed. They told me they'd sell her to the nastiest vampire client she had if I said anything. They told me we'd leave one night and when we came back, she'd be gone. That was the night I realized our parents were the evil ones and Echo needed to be saved. Then, last Saturday, we left and didn't find out until Monday she was gone. They said she ran away, but I knew they sold her. They refused to tell me anything about who bought her. I tried all week to get anything out of them. I decided I'd go out this weekend and try talking to vampires to see if I could find out who had her and make sure she was okay. I wanted to figure out a safe place to hide her and try to save her.

Harmony saw her enrolling for school this morning. Echo told Harmony she was sold for two million dollars and her master isn't using her as a sex slave. That he needs someone to take care of him. She said she has a lot of freedom, all the food she can eat, and her master's credit card. She said her master helped her see her real value and it was making her different.

The man with her was called Drew Golden. She calls herself Echo Nightshade. The man called her 'Mistress Nightshade'. I don't know what it all means." Val shook his head.

I tried to process it. Echo Nightshade. The vampire saved her? That couldn't be right. Vampires were using her. He just bought her to use for a different reason.

"When a vampire takes a servant, they change the servant's last name to their own. It shows who owns them. His name is Victor Nightshade. We have the name of the master of the territory now. She is his representative in the daytime. So she's called 'mistress' when the sun is up." Trent explained.

"We need to find out where he sleeps and burn it to the ground." I growled.

"She told her sister she's fine. If we do that we bring, not only, the Vampire Council down on us, but the Werewolf Association as well. Taking out a master who hasn't done anything wrong is an act of war." Trent said.

"Hasn't done anything wrong!? He bought a girl and made her his slave! He stole the mate of a werewolf! She's mine and I want her back!" I jumped up and shouted.

"Calm down, now! You didn't find her until after he had her! He didn't steal anything!" Trent ordered. "Sit your a*s down!"

I sat and grumbled. "Yes, Alpha."

"What the hell was that?" Val asked.

"Your sister is my brother's mate. The moon goddess picks our perfect match for us to be our spouse and care for, forever. In our pack, we don't know who they are until we turn eighteen. That's why Cam didn't look at Harmony until just a few weeks ago. When he turned eighteen, he saw that she was his mate and pursued her." Trent sighed. "When Gray saw Echo last night, he saw the same thing." "What do you mean, he didn't do anything wrong, Trent?" I asked.

"We've been researching, calling contacts and anyone who might be able to tell us more about dhampyrs. They're property. From the moment they're born. He rightfully bought her from at least one of her biological parents. She belongs to him by supernatural law. We need to get an audience with him and see if he would sell her. If he will, she has to keep his name or she's free game for any other vampire to claim. I'll work on it. For now, she's safe enough. He's not breeding her. She's free to leave the property. And they put her in school. He's treating her like a normal human servant. Not a slave." He explained.

"Why did they sell her and not the other two?" Ben asked.

"Do you have a picture of her?" Trent asked Val.

He shook his head. "We weren't allowed to take pictures of her."

"I have one." I pulled out my phone and handed it to Trent.

He looked at it and back up at Val. Trent handed him the phone.

"Is that your sister?"

Val examined the picture. "Yeah. That's Echo."

"She's paler than Valor and Harmony. I bet she'd be pale even if she got outside more. Her hair is darker, her teeth are sharper, anything we're missing?"

"Her eyes are more green than ours." Val offered.

"But you're triplets.... I think she has more vampire blood than they do."

"Our parents are human. What do you mean?" Val asked.

"One of your parents isn't entirely human. The more vampire blood a dhampyr has, the more valuable they are. At more than half, they're guaranteed to return as vampires after death. There may not be a price we can manage, but we'll see what we can do. Why don't you guys go get some lunch? We need to figure out what our options are. We'll do everything to get her back, but you both have to be prepared for the possibility that we can't." Trent said solemnly.

I took Val to the dining room. We saw Cam and Harmony eating and sat with them. An omega brought us food soon after.

"How are you doing, Harmony?" Val asked.

"My boyfriend is a werewolf. My parents sold my sister and let vampires feed off her. My entire world is just.... How could they do that? She looks just like us. Does that mean they'd sell us, too? Dad was taking us to Saturday night movies every week for ten years, Val. She was just a little girl. She should've been in second grade, but she was locked away and only brought out to be violated by the undead and to be treated like a servant for us. We're as bad as them. We should've told someone. We failed Echo." She sniffled. "We did everything we could, Harmony. They messed us up, too. Maybe we can fix it, though. Trent says he's going to see if he can buy her from the vampire. I'm going to see what I can figure out, too. There has to be some sort of loophole. I'll find it." Val promised. "I'll do everything I can to save Echo. She's my mate. I want to keep her safe and take care of her. Let me know how I can help." I told him.

Val nodded and we ate our food. The rest of the afternoon was full of talking things over, making plans, and trading information. We planned to message each other often while we were working on things and I promised I wouldn't keep them out of the loop. When they were packing up to leave at three, Trent told them they were welcome on pack lands if they needed a safe place to stay. He didn't want them in a dangerous situation, but told them to confront their parents and see what they could get from them. If nothing else, they might know where the vampire was holding Echo.