Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (17 page)

“
I’ll be back before
filming is done,” she started, hesitating on her next words. “But,
it is entirely up to you if this is our final goodbye. I’m sure you
have noticed that I can make myself scarce.”

He looked her straight in
the eyes and replied, “I don’t want any of our goodbyes to be
final.” He bashfully shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t
not
love you. Your
absence around here for the past two weeks has been torture; I
thought you were already gone.”

This revelation made things
complicated all over again. When she was convinced that he no
longer had feelings for her it was easy for her to let him go. Now,
she contemplated canceling her trip, but the pull of seeing Aidan
was far stronger than any love she felt for a human. As they hugged
goodbye, they lingered with her head pressed against his
chest.

He kissed the top of her head and
said, “Have a safe flight, love.”

She looked at him with a smirk and
replied, “I think any flight would be safe for me…I’m not exactly
fragile.”

He chuckled and gave her one more
squeeze before letting her go.

She gave Daniel a tight hug and told
him she would call to let him know if Aidan would allow him and
Zachariah to join them. She picked up her suitcases and walked out
the door to her driver that was waiting in the black
Escalade.

Later that evening Todd sat on the
couch in his room and sipped a glass of wine while going over his
script. He heard a knock at the door and for one fleeting moment he
wondered if Emma may have changed her mind and returned. He
carelessly jogged across the room and opened the door, surprised to
find Zachariah standing there. He, too had a glass with red liquid,
but Todd was certain it wasn’t wine, now that he knew their
secret.

“
Can I come in?” He asked
as Todd looked him over.

“
Yeah, of course, sorry.
I’m just a bit surprised. Come on in and sit down.”

Zachariah sat down on the couch and
could still smell Emma’s scent all over it, reminding him that he
already missed her. Todd knew that he wasn’t there to become best
buddies and hang out together; there had to be a point to his
visit.

“
Well, let’s have it. I
know you’re not here to shoot the breeze,” Todd said as he plopped
down on the couch.

Zachariah gave an appreciative nod and
started, “I never had a problem with you, man. I just want you to
know that. I admit, I got a little jealous when you and Emma
started seeing each other. I normally don’t get jealous, but this
time I just did.”

“
She’s obviously been with
other men before I came along, so how come you were jealous of
me?”

“
Because you’re a human,”
Zachariah replied matter-of-factly. “Vampires are bound to this
Earth for a very long time; being with one person for an eternity
can get boring. It’s in our nature to be with other people from
time-to-time.” He paused, taking a sip from his glass. “Even when
we’re in love with someone, we stray, but our emotional makeup is
different from humans. It is accepted. I guess it’s like an eternal
open relationship.”

“
So, you guys sleep around
and always end up back with each other?” Todd asked, trying to
understand how they could freely be intimate with other people and
still be in love with each other.

“
Being intimate is in our
genetic makeup, just like humans. However, our urge is far more
dominant than yours. We have guiltless romps with whoever we are
attracted to, then always come back to one another. We’re like
boomerangs.” Zachariah laughed.

Todd rubbed his face with his hands
and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how the hell he got into
this completely surreal situation.

Zachariah continued, “The real reason
I behaved the way I did towards you is because you were headed down
a very dangerous path—you still are. I’ve been down that same road
and the destination isn’t one I would wish on my worst enemy. Emma
loves you, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. She obviously
loves you enough that she would fight to protect you. But, she may
also love you to the point where she may not be able to let you go,
just like she did with me.”

Todd appreciated Zachariah’s concern
with his mortal fate. They continued to speak about the situation
and Zachariah answered the questions that had plagued Todd for the
past couple of weeks. His number one question was mere curiosity,
but he didn’t know how to ask it delicately without sounding like
he had a hidden agenda.

“
I don’t want to sound
suspicious, but I have to ask,” he hesitantly started. “I know
you’re all immortal, so does that mean there is no way for you to
be killed?”

Zachariah was a little taken back, but
not entirely surprised. “No, we can be killed. But, I don’t know if
I should tell you…” he playfully raised an eyebrow.

Todd waved a hand and said,
“Nevermind, I don’t want to know.”

“
There are a few ways, but
we aren’t allowed to speak of them to humans,” he replied
immediately without looking at Todd. “It’s not a stake through the
heart or ripping us to pieces like Hollywood would have you
believe. The one weapon that is the easiest way to kill us is very
hard to find. There is a reason we’re called immortals…because
killing us is next to impossible. I’m not sure if the weapon even
exists anymore; the ancient vampires did their fair share of
eradicating them as each was found.

“
There are several ways to
weaken a vampire, though. The vampires who get into trouble with a
king or queen gets confined and is subject to starvation, which
weakens them. However, none have the easy weapon to kill the
troublemaker. Then, of course there are other ways to kill us, put
that involves a fight.”

“
So, a wood stake through
the heart is just a bunch of malarkey?”

“
Tell me, Todd, how would
a human sneak up on a vampire to try and stake them through the
heart? We can hear you coming, we are faster than you, and we have
the strength of a thousand men. Hell, how did you think Emma was
able to avoid you for this long? She’d hear you or smell you and
disappear.”

Todd looked at him with a subtle shock
in his eyes. He didn’t realize that Emma had been purposely
avoiding him.

“
There were several
occasions where she would be in the parlor and would be gone by the
time you walked in the room. She could smell you coming and hear
your footsteps.”

Todd chugged the last of his wine,
feeling both hurt by what she did and fascinated with her
abilities. Zachariah stood up and stuck out his hand, offering his
reconciliation, to which Todd responded with a firm shake and a
quick nod.

As Zachariah walked towards the door,
he said, “I’m waving my white flag. I’ve said what has needed to be
said since day one.” He glanced back at Todd, “Just be careful,
man. She’s an amazing girl; a one-of-a-kind. But, don’t get in over
your head.”

Daniel sat on his bed and flipped
through a photo album filled with memories of past Christmases.
They began with a little baby boy dressed in a tiny Santa outfit
being held by his parents. He sadly smiled at the joyful images of
them watching their only son open presents. Their extended family
had diminished over the years and Daniel was now the last living
Davenport as far as he knew. Their family that resided in the Manor
was small compared to his ancestors who had grandparents, aunts,
uncles, and cousins living here as well. Growing up, it was just
him, his parents, Zachariah, and Emma, who also graced the pages of
the photo album. They looked exactly the same throughout the years;
they had the same youthful, porcelain skin as those around them
continued to change. His parents’ faces gradually gained fine
wrinkles while he grew into a teenager. But, Emma and Zachariah
were both frozen as twenty-five-year olds.

He knew what she was from a young age
and never in his life did he fear her. She was as normal to him as
having blue eyes. She was just known as his “sister” throughout his
life, even though she was his sixth-great aunt. He thought about
the things she did with him when he was just a child. She would
make him squeal with giggles when she would pick up an entire couch
with one arm. He would watch her flit to the top of the tallest
tree and then perform several flips on the way down, always landing
on her feet. Every time she would remind him to never try that
himself. He liked when she would tell him bedtime stories—tales of
their ancestors, silly stories, and as he got a bit older, the
scary stories. He chuckled to himself when he remembered how she
would always end the scary stories she made up: “And then…I ate
them. The end.” She became his confidant; she had seen it all and
done it all, so there was nothing that would shock her.

When his parents were killed, Daniel
remembered Emma did all she could to comfort him. She cried with
him, consoled him, and reassured him that everything would be
alright. As a fifteen-year old boy, he was afraid of what would
happen to him since he had no immediate family left, but Emma made
sure that his life remained as normal as possible and was awarded
guardianship of him. She had no qualms with having to use her
charming abilities if the judge didn’t rule in her favor, but
luckily she didn’t have to.

Not only did he have Emma by his side
while growing up, he also had Zachariah, who was like a big brother
to him. As Daniel surpassed his teenage years, he became closer
than ever to him. While Zachariah wasn’t a blood relative, they had
a bond that paralleled ancestry.

He didn’t know what he would have done
without Emma and Zachariah in his life. They kept him stable during
his darkest times; they mourned with him, but didn’t allow him to
spiral down into depression. They picked him up when he was down
and would gently urge him to move forward. They did their best as
acting parents and guided him when he needed it the most. The
amount of normalcy he had after his parents died was owed to
them.

He reached the end of the
photo album where the pictures abruptly stopped several pages
before it was filled. Six years-worth of pictures that were never
taken, only because it was too painful. Christmas just wasn’t the
same even though Emma tried her hardest to make it as festive as
possible. She helped his mother’s legacy live on by continuing her
traditions; using her recipes to make cookies on Christmas Eve,
even though she had no idea if they tasted good or not. She allowed
Daniel to be the judge of that.
A
Christmas Story
played on repeat in the
parlor while she listened to Dean Martin and Bing Crosby Christmas
music in the kitchen. It was then that Daniel was reminded that
this may be the first Christmas that he spent without Emma and it
turned his stomach into a knot.

“
Hey Zach, can you come
here?” He said with a normal volume, knowing he could hear
him.

Within seconds, his bedroom door
opened and Zachariah poked his head in. “What’s up,
Dan?”

“
This is so weird with
Emma being gone. Do you think that Aidan guy is going to let us go
there?”

Zachariah shrugged, “I dunno. He’s
different than Emma. He’s still baffled at the fact that she has
remained with humans all this time.”

“
Why did she want to go so
bad?” Daniel never could comprehend the pull that a vampire had
toward their maker no matter how many times they had tried to
explain it. Zachariah didn’t bother trying again.

“
She just wanted to get
away from the whole situation with Todd. She was tired of
constantly running from him in her own house. Although it sounded
like they kind of made up right before she left.”

They continued to chat well into the
night and ventured off the subject of Emma. They ended up flipping
on Daniel’s TV to play Mario Kart on his Wii. Although Zachariah
almost always won due to his quick reflexes, Daniel gave him a run
for his money and would occasionally beat him. Other guests could
hear them throughout the halls, yelling at each other and talking
smack while racing. Their laughter and colorful language spilled
out of the room like a tidal wave.

Chapter 12

Once again, Emma found herself in
Glasgow and the internal satisfaction from being with her maker was
calming to her. She unpacked her suitcases and got settled in her
room while Aidan prepared a snack for her in his living room. She
went out to join him and saw a man and a woman, both roughly in
their early twenties, sitting on the couch. The both smiled at her
looked pleased that she was there. She could tell by their beating
hearts and scents that they were human. They both looked troubled,
as if they had lived rough lives.

“Emma, this is Chris and Nicole, they
are my current live-in donors. Please, have a drink…” Aidan said in
his gravelly voice saturated with a thick Scottish accent, while
motioning to the smiling humans.

Emma hadn’t drunk straight from the
vein since she was in Glasgow the last time. It was never really
necessary since she befriended Patricia Miller, the vampire who
owned the local funeral home and her source of bought-blood. With
as much humanity that was left in her, Emma still couldn’t argue
that blood was best right from the human body. When she was with
Aidan, she felt darker; instead of longing to be human, she
embraced being a vampire and dangerous predator.