The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 80

[Gray]

After watching Echo disappear, I turned back to Victor. He had his phone out. He was probably texting everyone to let them know she came back. "What the hell was that?" I asked.

"She obviously gained a new power." Victor said with a shrug.

"That's not what I'm talking about. Not even five minutes ago you were practically praying for her to come home and, when she does, you act like a cold a*s bastard. What happened to 'I swear I'll never get mad at her again'?" I pressed.

"What she did was, not only a violation against both of us, but showed complete disregard for our feelings." He replied in a cool, clipped tone.

"What she did was try to find help. She was scared. You've never been mad at her before and you know how she was punished in the past. That was total bullshit. You told her you don't know if you can forgive her. She thinks you're going to reject her! You already hurt her once by trying to give her up, how do you think this is going to go? You told her she was manipulating us before, now you're manipulating her!" I growled.

"Grayson. She will keep doing things like this if I don't put my foot down. A little bratty behavior is fine. It's part of growing pains that come with gaining abilities and learning about herself. Running away to avoid punishment is not acceptable." Victor said, shuffling papers on his desk.

"How would you have punished her? I couldn't stop you from going after her. What exactly were you going to do when you got ahold of her?" I asked.

He didn't look at me or respond. I became angrier at him as I sat there waiting for a response. I stood and reached over the desk, pulling his shirt collar so he would have to look at me.

"What were you going to do, Victor?"

"I don't know. I wasn't going to hurt her. I could never do that. It was like I couldn't control my anger. I went from being amused by what she did, to being enraged. I snapped out of it as soon as I saw her with Master Marius. I've never had so much trouble controlling my anger, Grayson." He sighed.

I let him go. "Do you think it's the curse? You said people stopped acting like themselves. If you get angry enough and hurt her...." I couldn't finish what I was saying.

"I'd either kill myself, or Master Marius would kill me. She's my Solus Amor. We don't hurt them. They're precious to us. Just like mates are to werewolves. What would you do if you hurt her?" Victor asked.

"Same as you. I'd hurt myself, or let Marius hurt me. If I killed her, I would die." I whispered.

"When I saw her, I was relieved, then the anger started coming back. The hurt at her having decided to leave. I know that I wasn't in control and she needed to leave. Maybe Echo should go live on the pack lands with you and her family." He sighed.

"I don't think Echo will approve of that. She'll want to be here for you. What would happen to your mental health without her? I know I would start falling into a dark hole if I couldn't see her every day. I bet it's the same for you." I told him. "It's not safe for her to be here."

"I'll talk to her. I'll explain things and we'll make sure she doesn't do anything like that again. She can do that traveling thing. I bet we can find a way for her to get far enough that you have time to calm down. Why didn't Talia try and help you calm down, though?" I asked.

"She didn't think I would hurt Echo. I'll talk to her and let her know we think the curse is affecting me that way. You need to be careful too. If I hurt you, it would hurt Echo."

"Her ability is pretty impressive, though. I didn't realize what it felt like for her. No wonder she keeps pushing things." I chuckled.

"You didn't go all the way to the end." He snorted. "I would love to try it again, when I'm not having dinner with my sire."

"Yeah. I hope she doesn't use it to tease us too often once we have this curse resolved. We should tell Echo about the curse. She should know that wasn't you." I insisted.

"No. I don't want her to be afraid of me dying. I can fix the things I do wrong. You and Talia will help me to not hurt Echo. Trust me, Grayson, it's for the best." Victor replied with a smile.

There was a knock on the door. It was forceful, definitely not Echo. Victor called for the person to come in. The door opened and Bellamy came in.

She closed the door behind her and sat in the chair next to me. In her hands was a tablet computer. Bellamy tapped on a few things and handed the computer across the desk.

Victor looked it over. He scrolled on the screen for a while, reading through it slowly. I looked over at Bellamy.

"What's that?" I asked.

"The alliance agreement I wrote up for your brother's pack. I wanted to show Master Nightshade what kinds of benefits there are to being allied with my collective." She said in a serious voice.

His lips curled briefly into a smile and went back to their usual state. He scanned through it intently. Bellamy just sat watching him. I never got to sit in on things like this back home. I wanted to see what would happen next.

"This is impressive, Queen Bellamy. If I were to offer an alliance, would these conditions apply to myself and my people?" Victor asked.

"We could think of a few things that are more vampire specific. Or we could work things out as we go." Bellamy offered.

"I could see how an alliance could benefit my people." He replied and started digging through some drawers until he pulled out a stack of papers and handed them to Bellamy.

She looked over the pages carefully. I had no idea what was going on really. This was outside of my experience. The only thing I did know, was that I could feel Echo crying. I was giving her time, like Victor said, to think about what she did, but I fully intended to go wipe those tears away at bedtime.

"I like this. Does this mean that you're interested in an alliance with me?" Bellamy smiled at him.

"Of course. One doesn't see a collective of your size and power and decide to not ally with them. That would be foolish on my part." Victor smirked a little.

"And you are anything but foolish when it comes to your territory. Shall we seal this with a blood oath?" She asked.

"A wonderful idea. I am sure we can trust each other to write up an agreeable contract. I would prefer to have this sealed while I'm still in my right mind. I only have one condition that needs to be absolutely followed." He said. "What is that?"

"If I become unable to function, if this curse kills me, I want you to take Echo and Grayson to your territory and care for them until you can break the curse. I've rewritten my will. Echo will inherit all of my holdings. She can help pay for her upkeep. Once she's safe from the curse, I've written instructions that she is to go to her sire for any additional education." Victor explained. "Victor. You don't need to do that! We're going to break the curse and you're going to live." I insisted.

"Gray. Victor's just being responsible. He's sure we're going to break the curse. It's a good idea to have a plan for the off chance that we don't figure it out in time." Bellamy said.

"Grayson, I would worry more if I didn't have a back-up plan for Echo's future. Getting her away from here will ensure that the curse doesn't try to take her too. After what happened today, I'm fairly certain the curse has gotten stronger. My anger has always been cold, not hot like it was earlier. I can feel her crying because of me and it tears my heart in half. I want you to protect her. If it looks like I am not in control, I want you to take her to the Hallowed Moon pack lands. Promise me, Grayson."

"Yes. I'll make sure she's safe. I still think we should tell her. Echo deserves to know what's going on." I told him.

I understood why he didn't want to tell her. Echo would worry a lot if Victor could die. She would get as emotional as when she thought of me dying. Probably more. I wasn't as simple as to think that she loved me more, or even as much as she loved Victor. He shook his head. "Not yet. Give me time. If we can resolve this without worrying her, I would prefer that."

Getting up, I went to the coffee table and started back in on my homework. I needed to get it done as soon as possible so I could be there for Echo. Bellamy and Victor talked for a little while longer.

After a bit, Talia came into the room with a bowl and a knife. She set the bowl in the center of the desk and held the knife. I watched curiously as she took each of their hands and sliced them.

The scent of blood seemed to fill the room. Victor and Bellamy pressed their hands together and held them there until the blood stopped dripping between them. Raw power swept through the room. I couldn't help it. The Alpha aura was so strong, I dropped onto my knees between the couch and coffee table.

Something darker seemed to be chasing the power. It almost felt like when Victor made me submit. I saw Bellamy bear her neck to Victor. He leaned over and kissed her neck before bearing his own neck in return and getting a kiss from Bellamy.

She pulled her hand back as he straightened. "I can feel the rogues in this territory submitting to me. You shouldn't have any more problems with rogues here. All of the ones who live here will suffer if they harm you and yours. They will come to your aid of outsiders try to take her again."

"Thank you, Queen Bellamy. The vampires in your care are safe to continue to vow loyalty to you until I free them from this curse and prove myself to them." Victor murmured.

"I have a request. If it's not too much trouble. I would like my mate to come stay with us for the next week. Alpha Lucien is smart and hardworking. I think he might have some insight into this curse. He's very good at puzzles." Bellamy said.

"I would be more than happy to host you and your mate for the next week. Talia did tell me about his issue with vampires previously. Are you sure he would be open to staying here?" He asked.

"Yeah. He's a lot better. It's been nearly a year. He trusts Talia and she vouched for you in order to get him to stop objecting to me coming to stay. I've told him about you every day since we got here. He's eager to meet you." She smiled. "Please let him know that he is welcome in my home."

"I get to meet the Alpha of Lune Rouge?" I asked excitedly.

The growth of his pack was the hot news among the Alphas. My father, grandfather, great-grandfather had all talked about it with Trent for the last year. Every Sunday, they talked about the news of Lune Rouge.

No one could believe he took a rogue for a mate, especially not a rogue queen. After getting to know Bellamy though, I could see why. She was beautiful, friendly, kind, strong, and deadly. Feeling her power just nailed it for me. He didn't pick her, she picked him and he had no chance.

Now I was even more eager for the family dinner. I would be the one to talk to him, learn from him, and actually find out the answers to some of the things they had wondered. I wouldn't ask any of the dirty things I'd heard them wondering. They had a lot of nasty ideas about why an Alpha would take a rogue for a mate.

Bellamy laughed. "He's eager to meet you too. He feels that you must be a very strong and brave wolf to have been willing to fight a vampire as old as Victor for your mate. And even more so since I told him the two of you share Echo. Like me, he doesn't think he could share with someone else, especially not a vampire. Sorry, Victor."

"No offense taken. Werewolves and vampires have been at odds for the entirety of my life time and well beyond that. I hope this means we're ushering in a new era of supernatural relations." He answered with a wink.

Talia and Bellamy left shortly after. I returned to my work. Victor sat, with his head in his hands.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"She stopped crying. I think she may be sleeping now. I want to go to her, but I'm worried. What if the anger comes back?" Victor sighed.

"I'll go up to her at bedtime. You try to make it in before she wakes up. I know seeing you in the morning will make her happy." I told him.

He nodded. "I want to see her. I miss her smile and the way she says my name."

I smiled. He sounded as love struck as I was. It was times like this that he seemed almost human. Right now, Victor was just a man in love with a girl. He was just like me.

I focused on my school work again. I was lucky to have a couple classes that didn't have a ton of work, I just had to study the teachers notes and make my own based on them. Some of the work was simple reading, some was work sheets. There was one paper that I had already been done with before the week off. I would edit it and have it ready to turn in tomorrow.

As much as people liked to tease me about not being smart, I was actually a solid A student. I may be crap at emotional intelligence, but I was smart enough that I didn't have to put in a lot of effort to pass my classes. I was learning emotional intelligence, though, Echo was teaching me to understand how I affect others. She may not realize it, but she was teaching me more than I had ever learned in school.

When my alarm went off, I packed up my things and looked at Victor. He was staring at his computer screen with an angry expression. I went to the door.

"Don't forget to see Echo in the morning." I reminded him.

"Of course, Grayson. Thank you. Get some rest, take care of our mate. I'll see you in the morning."

I dropped my bag off in my room and changed into my pajamas before heading to Echo's room. What I saw there startled me. She wasn't in bed. A pillow and the blanket were missing. I checked her bathroom, then her closet.

She was curled up in the corner of her closet with her blanket wrapped around her. Her hair stuck to her damp face and she sniffled a little in her sleep. Carefully, I picked her up and carried her to her bed.

Echo snuggled into my arms and shivered a little. The floor was pretty cold. I didn't understand why she did that. Why would she have chosen to sleep in her closet instead of her bed? Then I realized, she was trying to hide the fact that she was crying. We wouldn't have heard it through the closet and her bedroom doors.

My heart hurt for her. She thought she had to hide it from us. I was betting that she hadn't planned on falling asleep either. She was still in her clothes. The blanket and pillow were probably added soundproofing.

"Please, don't leave me, Gray." She whimpered softly.

"Shh, angel. I'm here to stay with you. I'll go get your pajamas, you get those clothes off." I told her.

"You don't hate me?" Echo sniffled.

"No. I love you. Victor loves you. We were mad about what you did, but that would never make us stop loving you. Promise you won't do that again without us agreeing to it."

"I promise. I was just mad that you wouldn't change your plans and stay with me like I asked. Then I was mad at Victor for scolding me." She admitted.

"We should talk when you're mad. Not attack. Got it?" I said, heading to her closet.

"Got it." Echo whispered.

We got her changed in to her pajamas and I curled up in bed with her. Her skin was cool. I held both of her hands after wrapping my arms around her and spooning her. I wanted to warm her up. I thought of my promise to Victor. I would protect her. She needed me too. One day, she'd love me like she loved him. I was living for that day.