The Vampire’s Servant
Chapter 99

[Echo]

I closed the journal for December of 1918. There were tears in my eyes. I was right, she was his Solus Amor. They wanted to be together, but her father wanted her to marry someone else.

What he said about her being his to do with as he pleased reminded me of that nightmare. I could almost imagine him pulling her out of the house instead of my father pulling me out. Had I somehow connected with the past? That would be so strange. Gray was sitting next to me reading silently. He had a grim look on his face. I leaned my head on his shoulder and read what he was reading.

Alpha William offered to take Grace to the pack lands to collect ingredients. He told her that he knew about her and Grigori and she begged him not to tell her father. He was describing how scared she seemed.

The door to the office opened and Victor came in, followed by Finn and Talia. I looked up at him with my teary eyes and he rushed to my side, pulling me into a hug. I needed it. There was no happy ending for Grace and Grigori. It made me very sad. "Echo was right." Gray said softly. "Grace was Grigori's Solus Amor. My great great-grandfather knew about their relationship. He tried to help. It... didn't work out, I guess."

"I read through December. There were only a couple mentions." I told him.

"I was reading January. There was more. He really wanted to help. The negotiations were going well. He was making sure to address the needs of the whole pack at the time. They were doing okay. He was working on getting Maeve to meet with Grigori." He explained. "Let me take over. This seems to affect Echo deeply. I'll make sure to tell you everything of importance." Talia said.

I handed her the journal from December. Gray handed her the one from January. I agreed. I didn't think I could handle watching a father tear his daughter from the man she loved. I couldn't accept it.

Grace had found the man she was meant to love forever. If her love for Grigori was anything like mine for Victor, that would have torn her heart in half. She was meant to be with him. Not the man her father engaged her to.

"Why don't you go help with dinner, Echo? I'll stay and help here." Victor murmured.

"No. You take her and stay with her. She's just read about a girl losing her Solus Amor. Our Echo is sensitive. She needs to have both of you with her to be sure she knows where you are and that no one will take you from her. Finn and I will take care of this. Go, Victor. Take the night off and be with your family." Talia urged.

"Come on, Victor. Echo needs us more than Talia and Finn do." Gray said softly.

Victor nodded and held out his hand to help Gray up from the couch. We filed out of the office. I didn't want to let them go. I never would.

-

[Talia]

-

The door closed behind them and I sighed. Victor really was my favorite. He was constantly impressing me. I was proud of all of my children, but Victor was above and beyond the others. "We'll save him, Talia." Finn told me.

"Of course we will. I didn't take the time to make him and train him just to watch some witch's spell kill him." I scoffed.

I settled onto the couch with the journals. This would, at least, tell us what had caused the curse. It was possible that Marius' witch would be able to figure out what the curse was. "You look worried." Finn said.

"I look worried? No one else seems to think so." I chuckled.

"I know you in a different way than any of them do. Tallie, you know that this isn't your fault."

"The High Council approves all bids for territories. I knew there was a curse here and I still gave it to Victor. How exactly is this not my fault?"

"Did you know that the curse would kill him? Or did you just know there was a vague mention of a curse in a letter from a hundred years ago? Did you even know Grigori?" He pressed.

"I did. He was a thousand years old and wanted a challenge. He was getting bored and cruel. We sent him to Oregon at the same time we sent Clarissa to California. She's still alive and well, and he's dead. I came to this territory almost twenty years ago to investigate. It's why I've been in one region for so long. I thought Victor could sort it out. I didn't know." I sighed.

"Victor has done a good job. I know you see that. He started as soon as he knew she was safe. Having Echo will keep him fighting the curse. He won't want to leave her." Finn said.

"I know. Poor Grigori. A thousand years without a Solus Amor and she's taken from him in such a manner. I need to read and find out what happened." I told him.

"I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you need me." He smiled and left the room.

I settled in with the first journal. I enjoyed William's writing style. He added a little flair that almost made it seem like a novel.

The way their relationship grew wasn't entirely covered here. Only the things William saw were documented. I took notes on the things that were important. The dates, the interactions that involved Fenton, any hints to retribution that occurred. When I reached the point where Grigori had tried using Grace as a bargaining chip, offering ingredients that were only options for dark witches to retrieve. Killing without a threat to a witch's life would turn them dark, but accepting parts from someone else's kill was an acceptable work around.

All he asked was for Fenton to break his arrangement with the witch family and give him Grace. Grigori even offered to pay him double Grace's, already given, dowry. It was an enticing enough offer for Fenton to think over for a couple weeks.

It seemed that Fenton had thought before acting. One afternoon, he came into Grigori's house to retrieve Grace, probably intending to have her on her way to her new home before Grigori woke for the day and not realizing that he woke several hours before sunset. He used some sort of ability that William described as having fire searing him from the inside.

Fenton dragged Grace out of the house. By the time it was safe for Grigori to leave the house, and William recovered, the Aimes house was on fire and nearly burned to ash. There was no sign of Grace, Fenton, or the boys. Just the strays that lived in the barn dashing around, catching mice that were running out of the fire.

There was a letter for William at his pack house when he returned. It stated that his meddling had caused the part of the curse that was on his people. They would forget their bond with their mates. Their wolves would never find another mate and they would have to take chosen mates.

For wolves, that was a torturous idea. We would marry, but they never loved anyone but their mates. My pheata had found her chosen mate, but she knew she didn't have a destined mate. Not a truly destined one.

To know that they had a destined mate, but would never find them, would be terrible. If Grigori hadn't killed himself before the curse solidified, it would have ended up like that for them. William wrote about a dream from the moon goddess saying she helped. It took several days for him to put the information down.

It seemed the moon goddess used the gap left by Grigori's sacrifice to obscure mates for a year for every generation that came after those who were living. It actually ensured that people would find the mate they were intended to have, but she couldn't save them from having to stay in the territory.

If not for that, Gray may not have been born and we wouldn't have had this lead to go on. I was grateful for it. She enabled us to save my Victor in the future. I'm sure this was something she foresaw and she twisted it to work in a way to save her people. I continued reading. The curse was cast in the middle of February. It started with the younger generation, seventeen year olds felt their mate bond disappear. Their wolves felt agitated, they didn't want anything to do with their former mates.

Grigori disappeared for a week. He came back weakened and told William that he made it a night's drive outside the territory until he couldn't keep going. He felt like he was starving and nearly drained a donor, but was able to stop before killing him. His hunger stayed with him, though, until he was back in the territory.

My phone started ringing as I was just finishing March's journal. I looked at the caller ID and smiled. My pheata had impeccable timing.

"Good evening, Bellamy. I thought you would be busy with your mate." I chuckled.

"It's two in the morning, Talia. Lucien went to find us some food. My parents are keeping the twins until next week. So it's just him and me. I wanted to know how the information digging went." She replied.

"They found the journals with the Alpha's account of what happened. Victor and Echo were correct. This had to do with Fenton's daughter. Grigori tried to make her part of the deal, but Fenton wasn't having it. He took the girl and sent her off with the man she was intended for. At least we know she didn't burn with him." I sighed.

"How could he do that to his own child, though? She had a mate. Someone she was meant to love and who was perfectly matched to love her. It's what every supernatural child dreams of. How could he not want his child to be happy?" Bellamy growled. "His pride was more important. I bet he would have been more willing to accept it if his wife were still alive. William said Lila told him Fenton became a little darker after he lost his wife. She said they'd fallen in love even though their marriage was arranged. It doesn't always take much to turn a witch from the light." I replied.

"Does this help with anything at all?" She asked.

"It should give Lila a good idea of the curse on the wolves. It was painstaking, but William wrote as much as possible about it and the moon goddess dream he had. We have a little information on what happened to Grigori when he left the territory. We need to confirm it with the other vampires. And we know from Echo's letter, that the fae lost the ability to use their glamour for more than eight hours. Originally, it was supposed to no longer work at all. Grigori obviously caused a shift with his death." I answered. "Oh, Lucien's back. I'll have to let you go. Look, I'll be up for helping as soon as my heat is over or I'm pregnant again. I'll call you." Bellamy promised.

"Good luck, pheata." I said and hung up.

I looked over my notes. This was the best I could hope for without having the journals for the rest of the year. I would present it to Finn and Victor later.