“What are you laughing at?” Kelly asked, walking over to them.
They began laughing harder and as she approached the painting, she saw that a black mustache had been drawn onto Emma with what looked like permanent marker. “Oh my gosh, what have you done?” Kelly was floored, completely shocked that they would deface the painting.
They shrugged their shoulders with sarcastic innocence and replied, “I have no idea, it was already there when we came up here.”
“Then why do you have a black marker smudge on your hand, Brianna?” Kelly accused, pointing at the evidence.
Brianna narrowed her eyes, “Listen, Nobody, you have no proof, so don’t go running off to Dan or Emma tattling on us. I’ll make your life miserable.”
“Highly unlikely…come on, get out of here,” she insisted as she began pushing them out of the hallway and toward the stairs.
“Who left you in charge?” Brianna snapped.
“Listen, I’m the closest thing to a resident right now and I don’t appreciate you having all these people here in my friend’s house. I know someone drugged Daniel, probably to get him out of the way. Not cool, Brianna.”
“Whatever,” Brianna muttered as she descended the stairs. “Where is Daniel, anyway?”
“I have no idea,” Kelly lied. She felt very protective of him at this point.
After she made sure that Brianna and her friend went all the way downstairs, Kelly hurried back to her room to check on Daniel, who was still out like a light on the couch. She checked to make sure he was breathing, just a precaution since she had no idea what had been slipped in his drink. She desperately wanted to call Emma, but knew that an impromptu party at her house was probably the least of her worries right now. Of course, Kelly began to wonder if Emma, Zachariah, and Todd were okay; if they found him and all got out of there alive. She scooted Daniel’s feet over a bit so she had room to sit down and turned on the television.
She flipped through the channels and stopped on a movie channel where Love Actually had just started. It was her all-time favorite, so she was perfectly content cozied up in her room while avoiding the commotion downstairs. She felt somewhat guilty for not monitoring the party for the Davenports, but she was sorely outnumbered down there. For now, she planned to kick back and try to relax. Just as she got comfortable, her phone rang and the caller ID showed that it was Emma. Her heart dropped when she saw the name and anxiously picked it up.
**Earlier that day**
The GPS told them to turn right onto Spaulding where they slowed down a bit to check the addresses. They were close since the house on the right was 24 and they descended by twos.
“That should be it right up there,” Zachariah said, pointing at the little house ahead.
They casually drove by to quickly scope the place out, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary from outside, which was a good thing. They continued to the corner which was a few houses down and turned right, parking their cars out of view of 10 Spaulding. They all got out and Emma gave everyone a last, quick briefing before they made their move.
It was just getting dark, so it made it easier for them to proceed with a sneak attack on the house, especially without alarming the neighbors. The guards scattered so that they surrounded the house without being seen. Zachariah and Emma snuck in from the backyard, noticing that there was a back door that they could kick in. They stood completely still in the bushes and remained completely silent; they didn’t want to be heard from inside and wanted to listen for voices. All they could hear was a television, so it didn’t sound like much was going on.
Emma and Zachariah swiftly crept up to the back door and attempted to take a peek into the basement window, but it was too dingy to see through. The curtain was pulled tightly closed on the back door window, so they couldn’t even get a glimpse inside, preparing to go in blindly. Emma took two bottles of Kelly’s blood out of her pocket and handed one to Zachariah. If they had to use one there would be no time to unscrew it, so they planned on smashing the entire bottle into an attacker’s mouth if they needed to. Emma nodded at Zachariah, silently letting him know it was go time.
He tightened his muscles and kicked in the door, causing it to awkwardly fling open and pulling it off the top hinge. In an instant, the female vampire that Elizabeth had described was in front of them baring her fangs. She crouched, ready to attack when Zachariah slammed the bottle of Kelly’s blood into her mouth. The glass shattered against her teeth, her face was stunned for a brief moment before she collapsed to the floor. Dead.
“One down…” Zachariah said as Emma gave him a quick, encouraging pat on the shoulder. He was careful not to put his hand anywhere near his mouth since there was lethal blood on his hand, which made him nervous. In less than 5 seconds he kicked in a door and killed one of Todd’s captors. Emma stuck two fingers into the air and waved her arm, indicating she wanted two guards to join them in the house. The guards emerged from the bushes and flew up behind them, ready to put themselves in front of Emma. She held her arm out and shook her head. Yes, the guards were there to protect her, but this was her fight and she was the leader. She would always put herself in the front line to protect those in her North American kingdom. This was the very reason that the North American vampires loved and respected her so much.
She motioned for the two guards to go check the main level of the ranch home while she and Zachariah turned left to go down the tight, basement stairs to look for Todd. She took another bottle out and handed to it Zachariah before they went down, each of them armed with deadly blood. Instead of walking slowly down the stairs, they moved at vampire speed, ready to attack. As their feet hit the basement floor, they crouched and remained as still as statues and listened for any movement. They only heard a weak heartbeat.
There was Todd, lying on the bed in the corner, his wrists and ankles had been untied because he was too weak to move. He smelled awful and looked just as bad, sleeping through the entire ordeal that had just taken place upstairs. He was pasty white, perhaps even surpassing Emma’s level of paleness. His eyes were deep from dehydration with circles so dark it looked as though he had been punched in both eyes. His lips were chapped and dry, cracked with the skin peeling back.
Emma and Zachariah cautiously approached him. Emma had her hand over her heart and fought the tears that were inevitable, her mouth was open, but no sound came out. She was choked up from the impending sobs building up in her chest. Zachariah, on the other hand, clenched his fists, furious at Declan for doing this to their friend. Todd wasn’t an enemy; he was innocent and didn’t deserve to be treated like this.
“Todd…” Emma’s trembling voice whispered as she touched his shoulder. “Zachariah, can you go fetch a glass of water, please?”
Zachariah flew up the stairs to the kitchen, hoping they had running water and cups. While he was up there he quickly washed Kelly’s blood off of his hand.
“Todd, honey wake up…” she coaxed. Just touching his shoulder was emotional for her; she never thought she would touch him again.
His eyes slowly peered open, but just enough for him to see. At first he thought he was hallucinating until he realized she was really touching his shoulder. “Emma,” his voice croaked in a whisper so quiet that only a vampire could hear. Inside, he was elated that she was there—not to rescue him, but that she was alive. He hadn’t stopped worrying about her since Declan told him that he planned to kill her.
“Yes,” she beamed. “You look frightening, love.”
A tiny smile crept onto his face and a tiny huff of air that was a laugh came out of his nose.
She bit into her wrist and placed it over his mouth, “Drink, so you can get some of your strength back.” Zachariah returned with a glass of water for him, waiting until Todd became strong enough to sit up and drink.
As he drank from her wrist, his color began to return to normal and he felt a little stronger. However, vampire blood does not cure illnesses, just injuries, so it was a fine line o
f what her blood could heal. It did help and he felt far less wretched than he did a minute before. Her wrist healed itself and she pulled it away from his mouth. Zachariah wedged himself behind him and helped sit him up as gently as possible, which was a nice change from the rough treatment he had been receiving from his captors.
Emma held the glass to his mouth and he took small sips until his parched mouth became rehydrated. Water had never tasted so good! He drank the entire glass, but slowly, so as not to overdo it. His captors were giving him water to drink, but just enough to keep him alive, not necessarily healthy.
The male vampire came home to find the door kicked in and saw the female’s body dead on the floor. Her mouth had blood on it and he could see the shards of glass hanging out. He immediately went downstairs to check on the living weapon they had been keeping captive. He was greeted at the bottom of the stairs by Emma and Zachariah, crouched and growling with their fangs exposed. Each had a bottle of blood in their hand ready to use as their weapon. He noticed this and quickly realized he was no match against the Queen and her second-in-command, both much older than he was.
He turned to run back up the stairs and was met by Emma’s two guards blocking the top. He was trapped and he knew that there was no way out. He raised his hands in the air in surrender and stated, “If it’s either torture by starvation or the ultimate death…I choose the latter.”
Emma shook her head, “Not until you tell us where Declan is.”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. He calls to check in to make sure we still have the living weapon…”
“Todd! His name is Todd! He’s not an inanimate object, he’s a person!” Emma interrupted.
He held his head low, “I mean, to make sure we still have Todd.”
“Why isn’t Declan here?” Zachariah interrogated.
“He’s off recruiting and turning new vampires, trying to build a force of followers to take down the royalty. I fell for his spiel and now I’m regretting it. Please, my Queen, please let me go. I want no part in his scheme now.”
Emma turned her head away from him; her sensitive heart strings were being tugged. She never relished in killing someone, human or vampire, and often tried to find the good in people. Then, she looked back at Todd, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed on his own, but still looked a mess. He leaned over and reached for the knife on the floor, the one they had used over and over to cut him. He held the knife, examining it, slowly turning it around in his hand. He looked back up at the male vampire with dark eyes.
He had enough strength to stand up, though it made him slightly dizzy and his legs felt a bit like Jell-O. He began to shuffle over to where the group of vampires were holding their standoff, knife dangling in his left hand.
“Todd, what are you doing? Go sit back down before you fall over,” Emma said, worried he would teeter over.
“Don’t let this man give you a sob story, Emma,” Todd’s tone was sinister. His eyes burned a hole through his captor and he slowly walked toward him, gaining momentum. “He may deserve your forgiveness…” he started as he raised the knife. The man tried to back up, but the guards grabbed him from both sides. “But, he doesn’t deserve mine!” Todd bellowed as he lunged at him while slashing his own hand, then quickly shoving it to the vampire’s mouth.
The male vampire, whose name was never known, had the same astonished face as the female before collapsing to his death on the stairs.
“Well done, Todd,” Zachariah approved, surprised by his initiative.
Todd’s adrenaline was running on high, causing him to shake. He took in a deep, staggered breath and exhaled while dropping the knife to the floor. “Sorry, Emma. But, there was no way that man could get away with the things he did to me. He enjoyed dicing me up and watching me suffer.”
Still a little stunned, she replied, “Uh, that’s okay.” She couldn’t help but be impressed by the aggressive side of him.
“Now, how about one of you give me some of your blood to heal this up?” He tried to keep his hand still so he didn’t drip his lethal blood everywhere. He didn’t want an accident to happen because he flipped out.
Emma bit into her wrist again and gave him a swig until his hand healed over. She looked at the guards and finally stated the obvious, “Yes, he’s a living weapon. That’s going to be kept between us, yeah?”
They loyally nodded without saying a word before they all made their way back upstairs. Todd went into the kitchen before they left to wash the blood off of his skin. He washed off all the fresh and dried blood that covered his hands and arms. He felt filthy and the first thing he wanted to do when he got home was take a shower.
“Guards, can you please search the house for the blood they have been draining from Todd? We need to confiscate it so Declan can’t use it against us,” Emma said as she casually looked in the refrigerator.
“We’re good!” Emma called out to all of the remaining guards that were outside.
Emma and Zachariah held on to Todd’s arms as he walked to the car to keep him steady. Although his strength was coming back, it wasn’t 100% yet. He took deep breaths, inhaled the fresh, cold air into his lungs, appreciating it like he never had before. After being in that stagnant basement for so long, the outside air slapped him in the face in a good way.
Chapter 9
Zachariah decided to drive home so Emma could sit in the back with Todd. She had her phone out and repeatedly tried to call Daniel, but he wasn’t picking up. However, she knew that Brianna was with him and she didn’t want to picture what they were probably doing. She made a “bleck” face to herself, sticking out her tongue in disgust.
She called Kelly and she picked it up after two rings. Her anxious “hello” told Emma that she had been waiting for their call.
“We got him, we’re on our way back. Everyone that came with us is okay,” Emma said much to Kelly’s relief. “I have been trying to call Dan’s phone, is he still there with Brianna?”
“Yeah…about that…Brianna invited a lot of people here and there is a full-on party downstairs. Someone drugged Daniel, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Brianna who did it, and he is passed out cold in my room.” Kelly explained all of the events that had taken place in such a short amount of time and she could hear Emma’s rage vibrating over the phone.
“I really, really appreciate you trying to keep things in order there, Kelly. I’m bringing the guards in with us when we get home, Brianna has some hell to pay.” Emma hung up without saying goodbye and Kelly was somewhat excited about watching Emma take Brianna down. That girl had nothing but attitude and Kelly couldn’t understand what Daniel saw in her. Sure, she was pretty and probably fun to be around, but her behavior made her so unattractive.
Emma turned to Todd and asked him what had happened at the premiere that night. How did Declan have him kidnapped right out from under their noses?
“The last thing I remember,” Todd started, recalling the night’s events. “Declan was giving me shit for flirting with that red-haired girl with you right there. He didn’t know that we had broken up. He then said that the girl, I think her name was Kelly, wanted me to meet her back outside. When I went out there, she wasn’t there, but those two vampires that kidnapped me were. The next thing I remember was waking up in the back of their car.”
Emma shook her head, “I’m so sorry I didn’t notice.” She felt terribly guilty that it all happened right in front of her and she didn’t even notice.
“It’s not your fault,” he replied. “It’s no one’s fault except Declan’s. You’ll never understand how shocked I was to see him running the show when I was down in that basement.”
“Well, you’re on your way home now, where you belong and where I promise to keep you safe from now on,” Emma said as she gently rubbed his leg.
He put his arm around her and she naturally cozied in, a feeling that she was familiar with. She wrapped her arms around his torso and closed her eyes, savoring his presence after worrying abo
ut him for so long. She felt him kiss the top of her head and it made her smile. She held onto him tighter and listened to his heartbeat while resting her head on his chest.
“Todd,” she quietly said after a long silence.
“Yeah?” He responded while mindlessly stroking her hair.
“You stink.”
“I’m aware, Senior Citizen. I’m aware,” he laughed, now even more eager to wash off the caked-on grime.
They eventually arrived home and as they pulled up to the guard shack Emma rolled down the back window to speak to the guard named Dillon. “So, what’s going on here?”
“Well, Daniel called up here and said that he had some people coming over and that their password was the Butler. I didn’t realize it was a lot of people, kind of surprised me. I apologize, Your Highness. Did I do something wrong?”
“No, Dillon, not at all. This is as much Daniel’s house as it is mine. You were just doing your job, thank you,” she graciously responded. “Can you please tell the guards behind us to follow us into the house? We have some crowd control we’re going to have to take care of.”
He nodded and as they pulled forward they slowed so that he could stop the other two SUVs behind them. They pulled up to the Manor to see that there were cars everywhere—parked in the circle drive, on the grass, even by the garages. They decided to just park “wherever” and ended up on the grass as well, like a bunch of guests.
The lot of them marched up to the door, by now Todd was feeling strong enough to walk on his own, but still looked like he had been run over by a truck several times. They opened the door—Emma leading the group flanked by Zachariah and Todd on each side. Behind them were the ten menacing guards dressed in all black.
The Living Weapon (Davenport Manor Book 2) Page 12
