The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 53

[Victor]

We waited in the living room for Master Marius' call. We had moved our searches to older parts of town, sharing the information the dark witch had given us. The wolves picked up the scent of rogues in a few areas, but mostly found families or lone wolves who had no clue. Some of the wolves we'd seen had joined the search, wanting to make Queen Bellamy happy when they heard that her territory would be expanding. The ex-pack rogues were especially excited when they heard they would have a chance to rejoin a pack. They would call in every day with locations of other rogues they'd scented.

Every night, we looked for Echo in those locations. Grayson was getting frustrated, but not as frustrated as Master Marius. He really didn't want to be the payment for this spell, if he could avoid it. He would truly do anything for Echo. It was a strange thing to see. He wasn't normally considered caring, but she was his only childe, living or otherwise.

Grayson and I paced. We were used to being out there looking for her as soon as the sun set. Finding Echo was the most important thing to both of us.

In the past few days, I'd coached him on how to think of Echo without thinking of himself. I would posit scenarios to him and talk to him about what the right, wrong, and nearly right answers were.

He had some trouble. His wolf was very possessive. I had to learn how to pull back on the possessiveness I seemed to have developed. I just kept reminding myself that this was for Echo. She deserved to be happy. Grayson would give her the care and love she deserved in life, I could pamper and care for her for the rest of existence.

I explained our connection to him. That she was, most likely my Solus Amor. He didn't understand how she could be mated to two people, I told him about her two lives.

Unlike normal vampires, dhampyrs didn't have amnesia from turning. If not for the fact that they would sleep like a lower level vampire, some might have forgotten about the constraints of the sunlight and died.

Grayson tried to get me to concede the battle for her heart since she was meant to be mine after life. I refused. The only way to ensure that he took my lessons seriously was to make him think he was still competing against me.

-

The phone finally rang and I answered it on speaker. Master Marius seemed like he was on the move. The sound of wind racing past the receiver indicated that it was at a fairly fast pace.

"I have the location. I will meet you down the block from there. The witch gave me everything." He said, then gave us the address.

"I'll bring the car. I want Echo to ride home comfortably." I offered.

"No. I'll take her home." Marius said.

My heart leapt to my throat. I looked at Talia. She smiled tightly at me.

"Marius. She'll need her mates to heal. She can't just be tossed into a new environment after something like this." Talia told him.

"I will not be taking her to my home. Echo needs to be healthy in all respects. Pulling her away from her siblings will not help that process. After this, she may need them more than ever. Victor may keep her. If anything like this happens again, though, I will take her and her siblings. I'll even take the wolf my other daughter is mated to. I don't care who knows. After what I've just been through for that child, I will never let something like this pass again. I want you all to remember this. If my daughter is ever in danger like this again, I will take her to my home." He declared.

"Yes, Master Marius. Thank you for giving us another chance." I said.

"It's only because you offered yourself up for the payment. If you hadn't I would think you too selfish for my daughter. Get moving. I want her home before dawn."

I hung up the phone and we all ran from the house. Bellamy contacted her rogues and took a diverted path, stating that she and her people would do recon around the house so we didn't walk in blind. I was grateful that she was thinking of it. Grayson wasn't as willing to kill as a vampire or a rogue.

Soon we arrived in the neighborhood. It was right next to the one we searched the night before. I couldn't believe I had been so close and had no idea. I could see that Grayson recognized the area. He looked upset.

"We were so close." He whispered.

"We would have ended up on this street tonight. Either way, we were finding her tonight, Grayson." I assured him.

"Would you please call me Gray? I really prefer it." Grayson growled.

"Gray is a color, you are a man. I will continue calling you Grayson." I smiled.

"Ass." He huffed.

The rest of our party joined us and we found Master Marius. He was settled the across the street and down a little. It was a perfect position to see the house clearly, but not be seen. There was a large tree at the corner of the lot the house sat on that caused the sightline to be blocked from there, but not from where we were.

It was a ranch style house. I could see where the basement windows were. There were shadows on the curtains, but they were closed and we couldn't see inside.

Bellamy finally came up, but there were no wolves with her. She had a smirk on her face. This seemed to be something she wasn't worried about.

"Okay, there are four entrances to the house if you count the garage, which we're not. There is a back door which seems to go in there, though that we'll take in the breach to make sure no one escapes that way. Sliding glass doors at the back gave us an idea of the people in there. I would say four wolves and one vampire. We found two more wolf corpses buried in the back. Then, there's the front door. I want to be the first one in the front. It will take some of the fight out of the wolves. Mercenaries still have to bow to a more powerful wolf than them. I need to arrange this so I only have to eat one heart. Four is just too many for me. I'll suss out which one is the leader and take him out myself. You three are on the vampire. Gray, I want you to sniff out the entrance to the basement and figure out where Echo is." Bellamy instructed.

"Where are your pack wolves?" Marius asked.

"At Victor's house preparing for whatever medical needs Echo may have. She may be sick from only drinking blood. I want to be sure that we have everything we need for whatever injuries she may have. They're also cooking a meal for her. I have this covered, Marius. This isn't my first rescue mission." Bellamy scoffed.

"Alright. When do we go?" I asked.

"I told them to give me ten to get to you all and tell you what I'm doing. We have two minutes. I see they have no curtains or blinds open. They think they're safe. That's good. It will make this even better when we bust in there. They won't be prepared for the fight we'll be bringing to them. My guys are ready. Let's go." She smiled.

We made our way toward the house and readied ourselves to breach the door. I felt a sudden lurching in my stomach. 'I'm sorry, Victor. I love you.

"Echo?" Grayson whispered.

I wondered what he had heard.

"Shh." Bellamy hissed and kicked in the door.

There was a brief scuffle. The wolves didn't seem to want to bow before their queen, until she reached into someone's chest with very little effort and pulled out his heart. It only took two bites before the men realized who they were dealing with. The fighting broke off and they pointed in the direction Marius and Talia had already headed.

When I got to where they were, Marius had the vampire pinned to the floor. Talia was tying him up in special bonds made with treated strands of ash. The man was smirking.

"Where is Echo?" I demanded.

"I know no 'Echo'. This will not hold up in the high court. I've done nothing wrong. I was simply taking back my stolen property." He scoffed.

"Daniel Darknight. I don't recall selling you my children." Marius growled.

"What do you mean?" Daniel looked confused.

"Echo, Harmony, and Valor are the children of Master Marius. They cannot be your property as they were not purchased or given by one of their parents." Talia informed him. "I was surprised that someone would, not only steal the daughter of Death himself, but also the servant of the Hunter. You had to know you would be caught no matter where you ran."

I watched what little color he had drain from his face. I looked at the man who would claim my Echo as his property. When Echo's message with his name came through to me yesterday, I looked him up. He ruled his territory with an iron fist.

He had taken out the local wolf pack, stating that they threatened him and his people. No other packs had moved in. There was no proof to the contrary, so the Werewolf Association was inclined to believe him because of the tension between wolves and vampires. There were stories about him that made me more than happy to serve him a final punishment. It was my right. He was in my territory and had stolen my servant.

"You said you know of no 'Echo'. If we find her on this property, then you will have lied to Death and The Traveler. There will be no high court for you. That is an immediate death sentence." I told him. "Would you like to change your answer?"

"Her name is Emily. Emily Williams. The people who stole her gave her that ridiculous name. She was mine! I had her and her siblings being nursed by Verity Sanders and her husband Thomas. They stole my property. Emily is mine!" He snarled.

"Echo belongs to Victor. I have granted her the decision of where she will spend her life. She chose him. You claim her, but didn't tell us how you got her." Marius grumbled.

"Victor! I found the door!" Grayson called.

"Go get my daughter. We'll finish questioning him." Marius ordered.

I left the room. Grayson waved me down the hall to a closet. In the bottom of it was a hatch that led to stairs. The faint scent of Echo washed over me. And the scent of blood.

We went to the first door and unlocked it. The cell was empty. The next was also empty, but the scent of blood and death hung in the air. It mixed with the scent of Echo's father. "It was Thomas Gale. Or Sanders, if Darknight is to be believed. Let's keep going." I said softly.

Grayson nodded and we continued across the hall. We unlocked the door and I was struck by the scent of Echo and her blood. I rushed into the room, followed by Grayson. "Oh, goddess, no." He whispered.

She was on a mattress and had a broken plate next to her. There was a shaky cut across one of the arteries of her neck. She was coated in blood as the wound continued to pulse.

I leaned in and licked over the wound, feeling it close with the added healing power of my saliva. Grayson pulled me away. He was growling.

"How could you think of food right now?" Grayson asked.

"I was closing the wound, you idiot. She has one more on each wrist. Let me seal them. Then you can carry her out of here." I said.

He let me go. She had truly tried to make sure she would die. All that blood he'd fed her, may have healed her, but was wasted if she died like this. If we hadn't found her, she would have died.

I felt tears form in my eyes at the strength of her conviction. She refused to be made to do anything she didn't want to. Her decision that she would rather die than be subjected to the future that other female dhampyrs had forced on them, was reminiscent of the night I told her about them.

Her wrists healed as quickly as the wound in her neck, and I stepped back. There was still one cell to investigate. I was hoping Verity was in there and alive. It would give us another person to give an accounting of how the triplets actually came to be.

I was halfway across the room when I heard Grayson gasp and groan. I turned to see Echo in his arms. Her head was at his neck and was moving like she was drinking from him.

"Grayson?"

"She bit me." He breathed.

"Mine." Echo whispered.

"She marked me." Grayson said with wide eyes.

He started looking at her neck and licking his lips. "Come get her from me. She'll hate me if I mark her when she's like this. I'm having a hard time controlling Rex."

"Very responsible and selfless." I replied softly and went to retrieve Echo from his arms.