Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (26 page)

“
You okay?” Zachariah
asked, knowing she was stressing about Daniel.

“
Yeah, I think everything
will be fine with Daniel eventually. I’m actually more worried
about Todd. I love him…and I know he loves me…that has become a
problem.”

“
You know, the longer you
wait, the more painful it will be for you,” he replied.

“
I know,” she said as she
thought about it for a moment. “I pursued him, I caused him to fall
for me even though I knew that it could go nowhere, so it’s up to
me to put a stop to it. It’s not fair for him to suffer a broken
heart…that’s why I’m going to charm him to forget he was ever in
love with me.”

Zachariah looked at her with surprise,
but nodded in agreement. Emma never expected that she and Todd
would connect like they did; she didn’t think they would fall for
each other. When he arrived at the Manor, she saw him as her new
toy to play with, if only temporarily. It was time to make things
right.

“
Wait in the hallway,” she
said to Zachariah as she walked toward the door. “I think I’m going
to need a shoulder when this is over.”

Emma stepped out into the hall and
called for Todd to come to her room. He bound out of his door to
her, looking forward to picking up where they left off. Noticing
the solemn look on her face, his eagerness to be with her turned
sour. She invited him to have a seat on the couch and she proceeded
to sit close to him, putting her hand on his thigh. Todd and he had
a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be good.

“What’s going on, Emma? Is everything
alright with Daniel?” Todd asked.

“He’s fine, he just needed to get away
from here for a bit.”

“Then, what’s the matter? Are you
okay?” His concern swept away any remaining desire he
had.

“This is hard for me to say,” her
voice quivering, fighting the urge to cry. “I love you, Todd. I
shouldn’t love you like this because you’re a human…but I do. So
very much.”

“Hey, why are you crying, love?” Todd
gently said as he put his arm around her. “I love you, too…so very
much,” he added with a sweet smile in attempt to comfort
her.

“
And that is the reason
that I have to do this,” she continued, wriggling out from under
his arm. “There’s no future for us, you have to know that. You have
such a short lifetime compared to mine, it wouldn’t be fair to you
if I allowed you to waste it on me. You should get married, have
children, grow old, and die with someone who will do the same. I
can’t do any of those things.”

Todd heard the words coming from her
mouth and tried to comprehend them, but his adrenaline began to
rush through him as he felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to
believe what she was trying to say. “Are you breaking up with
me?”

She painfully nodded while a blood
tear dripped down her cheek.

“You’re breaking up with
me because you don’t want me to
waste
my life on you? Shouldn’t I
have a say in that? Or is it really because I’m not good enough for
you?” To this day he still couldn’t understand how she was
attracted to him; he felt she was way out of his league. Even if
she had been human, he would still wonder why she was with
him.

“Of course you’re good enough for me,”
Emma replied. “I’m upset with myself for pursuing you, however
never did I think we would fall for each other. You deserve a
better life…a human life with a human girl. Trust me, you don’t
want to be mixed up in our world if you can help it.” Her tone had
become steady and serious.

He sat in silence as he absorbed words
he had dreaded, but deep down he knew this moment would come
eventually. He had thought the same things from time to time, but
had always pushed those thoughts out of his head and just enjoyed
living in the present.

He finally croaked, “I
understand. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get over you; it’s
not every day I get to date such a unique girl. Someone so kind and
stunning, who is my lover
and
my friend. And there’s something to be said about
being the boyfriend of a vampire, I don’t know how I’ll ever be
able to top that.”

She shook her head and replied, “You
don’t have to.” She locked eyes with him and her voice became
steady, “You will forget that you were ever in love with me. When
you walk out of this room, you will only know that we have become
great friends over the past few months. And most of all, you will
forget about what I am…forget that vampires exist. All you know is
that they are a mythical creature that you see in books and movies.
Vampires are not real.”

She unlocked her eyes from his,
breaking her charm tactic. She never wanted to have to do that to
him. Although, she was relieved that any heartbreak he would feel
would be forgotten and she knew, in time, she would get over him as
well. For now, the tears flowed down her cheeks as she felt like a
chapter in her life had just been erased. It was incredibly painful
loving someone who literally forgot that they ever loved you
back.

He looked at her and said, “There’s no
way I could ever forget about my love for you and what you are.
You’ll always hold a special place in my heart.”

Her sorrow immediately ceased and
turned to an alarmed confusion. Zachariah flung open the door and
was crouched in front of them in the blink of an eye.

Anxiously, Zachariah asked, “Todd, do
you know what we are?”

He looked at them as if they were
crazy and replied, “Uhhh, vampires?”

Emma slumped, feeling defeated and
looked to Zachariah for an alternate answer from the one that was
already in her head.

Zachariah went on to ask, “Are you in
love with Emma?”

His brow furrowed with sadness as he
answered, “Yes…madly in love with her. What’s going on? Why are you
freaking out?”

Beginning to panic, Emma said, “Todd,
I was trying to charm you into forgetting everything about us. Are
you saying you are still in love with me and you still know what we
are?”

“Yeah,” he hesitated. “Whatever
charming you were trying to do didn’t work, love.
Sorry.”

“Let me try,” Zachariah insisted as he
got up from the couch and squatted directly in front of Todd. He
repeated what Emma had said—forgetting they were vampires and that
he would no longer be in love with her. Zachariah was far more
experienced with charming humans and was hoping that the problem
was due to Emma’s lack of practice.

When Zachariah finished his charm on
Todd, he waited for Todd to speak.

Todd shrugged and said, “Yeah…still in
love with Emma and still know you’re vampires.”

Emma’s eyes widened in horror as she
looked at him, unable to speak. She turned to Zachariah, who’s
shock mirrored her own. They both knew why he couldn’t be charmed
and this was going to end badly if they didn’t act fast. They were
aware that the other vampires in the house could hear their entire
conversation. Before they had time to react, Aidan burst into the
room with his fangs gleaming and a roar bellowing out of him. He
was in full attack mode and was crouched, ready to take down anyone
in his way.

“NO!” Emma screamed as she took a
stance in front of Todd, protecting him.

Zachariah was unsure of which side to
take; he knew what had to be done and it was logical to take
Aidan’s side. However, Todd had become a friend and he had never
had to turn on someone who trusted him. He wasn’t prepared to go
through this again after betraying Daniel’s father. He quickly
stepped back and just became the audience to whatever was about to
go down.

Todd sputtered colorful profanities
out of fright and had just about had it with the Little Shop of
Horrors that the Manor had become. All he saw was an ancient
vampire that was burning with rage, ready to kill him and he hadn’t
a clue as to why.

“He’s a living weapon!” Aidan yelled,
his voice booming off the walls. “He has to be killed,
Emma!”

Emma was hysterical, pleading with
Aidan to back off. Blood tears were pouring down hear face as she
cried, begging her maker not to hurt Todd. “Please, Aidan, don’t
hurt him!”

“He could end us all, Emma! I have
spent my entire life hunting down the living weapons to make sure
they don’t hunt us!” Aidan furiously responded.

Todd, who was still oblivious, said,
“What are you talking about? I’m not hunting any of
you!”

By now, Vivienne, Declan, and
Mackenzie had entered the room after they had heard the commotion.
Mackenzie, who sided with Aidan, chimed in, “He should at least
know what he is before he dies. It’s only right.” She put her hand
on Aidan’s shoulder, who was still crouched and ready to
attack.

Emma began to speak to Todd without
looking at him; at this moment she didn’t trust Aidan to turn her
back on him. “You’re what we call a living weapon,” she began,
reaching back to hold his hand. “Living weapons are rare humans, so
rare that the only other one I have encountered was Daniel’s
father, John. That’s why Aidan killed him.”

“What does that mean, living weapon?”
Todd asked, trying not to panic.

“The blood of a living
weapon is one of the easiest ways to kill us. One drop is all that
it would take and we would instantly die. There’s a reason we charm
our prey
before
we feed…because if we can’t charm them, we know their blood
will kill us. Most living weapons don’t even know what they are
since a majority of humans don’t know we exist. However, once a
living weapon is dead, their blood is no longer fatal for
us.”

Todd recalled his conversation with
Zachariah that one night when he was explaining that killing a
vampire was next to impossible. He remembered him saying that the
ancient vampires had tried to eradicate the weapons as they were
found. He never thought that the blood of a rare human could kill a
vampire.

“I’m not going to try and kill any of
you if that’s what you’re thinking, Aidan,” he said, attempting to
reason with him.

Aidan remained frozen in his stance,
not taking his eyes off of Emma, who was glaring back at him with
warning. Never had she bared her teeth at him, defied him, and took
a stance against him, ready to fight. The adoration she had for her
maker was barely an afterthought and every tissue in her body was
ready to battle him to protect Todd. The silent stand-off between
the two of them made the anxiety in the others heightened,
wondering who would make the first move.

“Are you willing to fight me, Emma? To
protect a human?” Aidan growled, keeping his eyes locked on
hers.

Her mind was
screaming,
No!
She knew Todd was now a danger to all of them if he ever
turned on them. And the fact that there was no way she could take
on Aidan because, due to his age, he was ten times stronger than
she was. However, she ignored her inner voice and unconfidently
squeaked, “Yes.”

Aidan slowly rose to stand upright in
a non-threatening stance, his glare softening. Emma remained
crouched, baring her teeth with a low snarl coming from her chest.
The others were on pins and needles wondering what would happen
next. Vivienne, Declan, and Zachariah knew that killing Todd would
be the smart thing to do to insure their safety, but they found it
difficult to agree to kill their friend. Zachariah couldn’t bring
himself to agree to that again after carrying the guilt about
Daniel’s parents for so long.

“I admire your bravery,” Aidan finally
spoke. Ideas began to swarm in his head, realizing that keeping
Todd alive could actually be to their advantage. “Everyone leave,”
he said as he motioned toward the door. “Emma, Todd, and I need to
have a talk.” He turned to Emma, who was still unable to relax, and
said, “I’m of no threat right now, Emma. But, we do have some
things to discuss.”

Mackenzie let out an exasperated huff,
surprised that Aidan was reconsidering Todd’s demise. However, she
knew her maker better than anybody and realized that he must have
had an alternative plan that would benefit him. Aidan had never
given a second thought about killing a living weapon, who were
always strangers he would find from time to time.

The others hesitantly exited the room,
Zachariah looking back at his maker, worried for her safety. He
knew Aidan well enough to know that he was fair and reasonable, but
was afraid that he may turn on Emma due to the intense situation
they were facing. Emma gave him an affirmative nod, indicating that
she trusted that everything would be okay…for now. He closed the
door behind him, but the immortal ears in the house could clearly
hear through the walls.

Emma slowly began to stand up
straight, slightly relaxing, but remained in front of Todd,
guarding him. She feared what Aidan had planned for Todd and had an
idea of what it was, knowing that the outcome would probably be
unfavorable. As he carefully strolled toward them, Emma continued
to keep her arms slightly spread and behind her, ready to shield
Todd from an impending attack. Aidan held his hands in front of him
in submission and asked her yet again to relax.

“Sit, both of you,” he ordered as he
took a seat at the end of the couch.