Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (7 page)

He smirked and fully intended to take
advantage of that while his maker and sometimes-girlfriend was
away.

He dropped her off at the airport
where she boarded her flight bound to Scotland. During her
overnight flight, she spent most of the time staring out the window
into the darkness of the Atlantic Ocean. While most of the
passengers on board were sleeping, she was able to see out into the
night sky. Every constellation could be seen and she was able to
faintly see sea life swimming in the ocean below with her excellent
vision. She thought of Aidan and how she hadn’t seen him in several
years. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on him if he’d have her.
Desire was the nature of the beast for their kind.

She also thought of Todd; sweet,
kind-hearted, and completely oblivious to his surroundings at her
home, Davenport Manor. She thought about if she was going to tell
him her secret and if she did, how would she do it? She knew he
liked her, she’d hear it in his heartbeat every time he saw her.
And she had to admit, she liked him, too. It had been over a
hundred years since she had dated a human…not since Zachariah. But,
Emma had become slightly arrogant over the years, now thinking that
dating a human was boring and nearly pointless. It definitely
wasn’t as exciting as being with a fellow vampire.

Her flight landed the following
morning and after she picked up her luggage, she used her sense of
smell, not her eyes, to find Aidan. He was nearby; she knew his
scent distinctly even after all these years. And there, standing
next to a vintage Rolls Royce with a hired driver, was Aidan
O’Shea. He was just as gorgeous as she remembered him to be and she
instantly had the urge to climb him, wrap her arms around his neck,
and kiss him right here in plain view.

She walked up to the car and they met
eyes for the first time in years. The driver casually got out of
the car and picked up her luggage to place in the trunk of the car.
Aidan and Emma still hadn’t spoken.

He swiftly moved forward and
forcefully took her waist, pulling her against him. He towered over
her small frame by over a foot, but their faces were inches apart.
She could feel his breath on her mouth as he looked for the words
to say.

“
My Emma...” He cradled
her head with his large hand, examining her face that he hadn’t
seen in so long. “My Emma…,” he repeated. “I’ve missed you.” He
leaned down and gently placed a kiss on her lips.

She kissed him back and whispered,
“I’ve missed you, too. Please let us not go this long without
seeing each other again.”

They got into the back of the car and
savored each other’s presence in silence for a while. When they
finally spoke, it was as if they had never spent a moment apart.
After a long ride, the car finally pulled into the large driveway
that lead to Aidan’s sprawling home. He showed her to her room
where she unpacked and got settled. She joined him in his living
room and sat down while he went into one of the bedrooms and
returned with two young women.

“
Do you still favor
O-Neg?” He asked, gesturing to the one on his right.

“
Of course,” she replied,
glad to have a drink straight from the source for once.

Aidan was a bit more traditional when
it came to being a vampire. He was no longer barbaric like he was
in his younger days and had regained most of his humanity back.
However, he believed that humans were a food source and that
nothing was more fulfilling than drinking straight from the vein.
He often kept human blood supplies at his home, charming them to
live there and willingly donate. He often picked people who had
nothing to lose, no one important they would leave behind. In a
twisted way, he felt that he was rescuing these people from a worse
fate on the street and in a way, he was right. At least being
live-in donors they would have food, shelter, and a relative amount
of safety. They only price they had to pay was to let Aidan feed on
them. He never killed them, but eventually he would get bored and
let them go, searching for new donors.

“
Alright love,” he said
after they had their fill and he sent away their donors. “Tell me,
are you well? Happy? Do you have any more offspring?”

“
I am quite content with
how my life is going. I still only have Zachariah as my offspring
and no plans to make any more for now.”

“
How is Daniel
doing?”

“
He is doing well
considering the circumstances,” she answered as she glared at him
with a raised eyebrow. “He went into a downward spiral for a while
there, but Zachariah and I were just barely able to keep his head
above water. He recently turned twenty-one.”

“
You seem very attached to
this family member, more so than the rest.”

“
He is incredible; I love
him like he is my own brother. Out of every generation of my human
family, he is the one who I have been closest with. I don’t even
want to think about how painful it will be when he dies,” she
sullenly said while staring down at her hands.

“
I warned you when you
were turned to just leave your family, that it would be the easiest
way. Instead, you chose to stay and suffer each time you have to
say your final goodbye to them. I told you not to get attached to
humans unless you planned on turning them.”

She chortled under her breath, “I
know. That’s how Zachariah got turned. I fear he will forever hold
resent for what I did to him. But, we loved each other for several
years, when he got sick I couldn’t bear to let him go. That’s when
he learned what I was.”

“
Do you resent me?” He
asked.

“
No! I would do anything
for you—although that is probably because you’re my maker. I know
Zachariah feels the same for me.”

He paused for a moment and looked her
in the eyes, “I am so proud of what you’ve become. I made a good
choice when I made you; you’re sensitive, yet stronger than you
give yourself credit for.”

She beamed at him, so happy that her
maker was so accepting of her and the choices she made.

“
Where is Mackenzie?” Emma
asked, realizing that the house was incredibly empty for
once.

Mackenzie Campbell was another
creation of Aidan’s who lived with him as his second-in-command.
She was turned by him in her hometown of Paisley, Scotland where
she was a young widow that worked as a weaver. Aidan saw strength
within her; a woman who worked hard and was no holds barred when it
came to speaking her mind. She was fiercely loyal and trustworthy
to those around her. She was a ferocious fighter when she was
needed for battle and Aidan couldn’t have picked a better
second-in-command to his kingdom of Europe.

“
I sent her to run errands
for me to prepare for the others’ arrival. I wanted a day to have
you all to myself,” he replied in his thick Scottish accent with a
sly grin.

“
Well, I’m all yours,” she
purred.

“
You tempting little
vixen,” he said with amusement. “We’ll get no work done if you keep
that up. Now, let’s get down to business, the others will be here
to join us this evening.”

Chapter 5

Todd was having a restless
night and could barely sleep, constantly tossing and turning. The
house just felt empty without Emma there. He looked forward to
seeing her every day, passing her in the hallway, seeing her in the
parlor and having flirtatious conversations. Before he met her, he
was purely content with the thought of living at Davenport Manor
for the next three months. But, now that he knew Emma,
she
was the reason for
being here, not the Manor’s atmosphere.

He looked at his clock and it was 4:30
in the morning, still dark outside. He laid awake with maddening
thoughts racing through his head, eyes open and staring up at the
black ceiling. He thought about what kind of history she and
Zachariah had and it unsettled him knowing that he lived here at
the Manor. Which bedroom was his—he didn’t remember anyone saying
which room was Zach’s and never saw a headshot in the hallway,
although he hadn’t actually looked for it. He made a mental note to
casually look in the morning.

He laid there and thought
of Emma’s beautiful, flawless face, her gorgeous green eyes, and
those perfect red lips. He thought of his drunken words to her the
other night when he said his bedroom door was always open for her
and rubbed his forehead. But, then he thought of her
response,
“I’ll keep that in mind…trust
me, this is taking all the willpower I have.”
She wanted him, too…she was just fighting it for whatever
reason. Was she thinking of him while she was away? Did she miss
him as much as he missed her? His brain was spiraling into a
frustrating array of thoughts that eventually gave in to a light
slumber.

Todd awoke four hours later to his
screaming alarm clock. They were filming outside again this
morning, so he wanted to get showered and eat some breakfast before
he had to see the makeup crew. He checked his phone and saw a text
from an unknown, but local Illinois number. It read:

“
Hi Todd, this is Emma. So save my number into your phone! All
is well here in Scotland. I just wanted to say that I miss your
face. ;-)”

He immediately saved her number into
his phone and read over her message a few times, smiling to
himself. He tried to think of something to write.

“
Good morning Emma, thanks for the text. Seems pretty empty
here without you around. I miss your beautiful face, too. I want to
talk to you when you get back.”

He looked it over once more and his
thumb hovered over the ‘send’ button. He held his breath for a
moment and hit it. Now he would have to figure out just what he
wanted to say when he saw her! His phone dinged with a new text and
he anxiously looked at his phone.

“I’ll be back before you
know it and we can talk then.”

He sent one last response,
“
Until then, you’re continually in my
head.”

He waited for her to reply, but none
came. He got up out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower. He
got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast where most of the
cast and crew were gathered. He fixed a plate for himself and
pulled up a chair next to Daniel.

“Mornin’ buddy, how are you today?” He
said as he sat down.

“Good! How about you?” Daniel said
while gnawing on a piece of bacon.

“Not bad, I was just texting with
Emma. What was her friend’s emergency that she had to leave so
suddenly?” The curiosity was getting the best of him, but he didn’t
want to ask Emma directly in fear of sounding nosey.

Zachariah slid up next to them with a
glass of tomato juice in his hand. “Mornin’. What are we talking
about?”

“Todd was asking what the emergency
was that Emma had to leave so quickly,” Daniel said, not knowing
what to tell him. As soon as Todd looked away, Daniel gave an
intense shrug to Zachariah.

“She didn’t say what happened with
him, just that she needed to go.” Zachariah took a sip of his juice
from his bent straw.

“
He?
” Todd asked, not realizing this
friend of hers was a male.

Zachariah’s mouth twitched
up into a half-smirk when he realized Todd was sporting some
jealousy. “Yes,
he,
meaning Aidan…”

Todd nodded slowly while trying to
hide his true feelings. “She must be very close to him since she
jumped a plane across the ocean…”

Daniel, wanting to alleviate Todd’s
suspicion, added, “They’ve known each other for a long time,
they’re very close.”

However, Zachariah was relishing in
Todd’s discomfort with the situation. He thoroughly enjoyed
watching Todd squirm while knowing that Emma was with another man.
To add fuel to the fire, he said, “…and occasional
lovers…”

Todd and Daniel both looked at him
incredulously while he tried to contain his grin. This was just too
much fun for him. Todd, not wanting to think about the fact that
Emma could be doing God knows what with this Aidan guy at that very
moment, pushed the idea to the back of his mind and changed the
subject.

“Is that tomato juice? That looks good
right now.” Todd asked while pointing at Zachariah’s
glass.

“It is, but I took the last of it,
sorry man.”

Daniel looked at the clock on the wall
and got up from the table, “I gotta go. I need to run upstairs
before I have to be down in makeup.”

Alone for the first time since Todd
arrived, there was an awkward silence between Zachariah and him.
Zachariah shifted in his seat about to get up, but sat back down.
He looked at Todd and took a breath, as he was about to say
something, but tried to find the right words. Todd looked at him
from the corner of his eye, waiting for him to talk. He was pretty
darn sure that it was regarding Emma. He was right.

“I noticed you seem a bit smitten by
Emma,” Zachariah started. “It’s not a good idea to pursue it.” His
hand was balled up in a fist and his eyes gave him an alarming
stare.

“Why is it a bad idea?” Todd responded
without looking at him and still chewing his food. “Am I in the
way?” He brazenly asked with nonchalance.