Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) Read online

  Todd nodded and took his phone back and typed, He’s still a jerk.

  Emma grinned and lightly whacked him on the arm. “Do you want to come in?” She asked while turning the doorknob. “I’ve missed you.”

  “Love to,” he replied, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve missed you, too.”

  She lit the fireplace and turned on some background music. The only light in the room was the warm glow of the fire that was lightly crackling and casting dark shadows in the far corners. She crawled up onto the bed and motioned for Todd to join her. He sauntered over to her, looking gorgeous in the soft glow of the fire with his wavy hair tucked behind his ears. He took his shirt off so that he was wearing just his black pajama pants baring his slender, yet muscular torso.

  Without missing a beat, he climbed onto the bed and instead of getting under the covers, he took her face into his hands and began to passionately kiss her. She reached up and draped her arms up over his shoulders, running her hands through his silky hair, occasionally grabbing and lightly pulling.

  Her fangs began to lower from her gums, and she kissed down his jawline to the curve where his neck and shoulder met. She had the strongest urge to bite, especially being so close to his neck and hearing his blood pounding through his jugular. She hovered her mouth over his neck, tempted to sink her fangs into his flesh and drinking his warm, thick blood. She grazed his neck with her fangs, but didn’t break the skin.

  “Bite me,” Todd panted as he felt the scratch on his neck. Being intimate with a dangerous, once-mythical creature had suddenly become extremely fascinating to him. He wanted to absorb every detail of it. “Do it, I know you want to drink. I can feel your fangs.” He pushed his neck toward her face, egging her on.

  She opened her mouth wider, preparing to bite, which was a natural instinct for vampires when making out with someone. The combination of intimacy and drinking blood was mind-blowing for them. She lingered above his neck, having an inner debate on whether to do it or not. She’d think screw it and move forward, then instantly pull back. She couldn’t do it to him, her conscious wouldn’t allow it, but her urge to bite was overwhelming. She couldn’t stop herself and quickly turned her head and sunk her fangs into her own arm. She didn’t have the willpower to not bite, but at least she had enough self-control to bite herself instead of him.

  Noticing that she bit herself, Todd laid down on his side and gave her a confused look. “How come you didn’t bite me? I know you wanted to.”

  She turned her head to look at his face, “I did want to, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not to you.”

  He was almost hurt that she wouldn’t allow herself to bite him since he was somewhat craving the full vampire-as-a-girlfriend experience. He was actually looking forward to the pleasurable pain.

  She read his face and knew what he must have been thinking. “In due time, my love. There’s always next time,” she said with a wicked wink.

  Emma nestled in next to him and he automatically put his arm around her. “Another thing you should know,” she started, figuring she would continue to teach him things about being a vampire. “We don’t sleep. So, don’t be surprised if you wake up and I’m not in bed.”

  He crooked his neck to look down at her, “You don’t sleep at all?”

  “Nope, I haven’t slept a wink since 1815. We can shut our eyes and kind of go into a trance-like state, but never asleep.”

  “Hollywood has you guys all wrong, don’t they?” He chuckled.

  “A little, but not entirely. Some of those myths we made up ourselves so that humans couldn’t figure us out. We made up the rumor that we’d burn up in the sun so that if humans saw us out in the daytime, we’d never be pegged as immortals. We obviously don’t sleep during the day and come out only at night. We don’t need to sleep at all…we’re dead.”

  Her last statement sent a small shock through his brain. He thought, Okay, so I just made out with a dead girl…a very dead girl. She should be long decomposed by now. How did my life get so weird?

  “You okay?” She asked, snapping him from his thoughts.

  “I’m fine, why?”

  “Your heart sped up,” she answered.

  “I was just thinking how weird my life got,” he snickered.

  They laid in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. Todd began to drift asleep and Emma listened for his heart rate to become slow and steady so she could slip out of the room. She darted out of the bed and put her pajamas back on, ready to go back downstairs and rejoin the other vampires. She quietly exited through the door and headed toward the parlor where she heard the familiar voices.

  She turned the corner and was greeted by Aidan’s eyebrow raised in disapproval. They had clearly heard what she was doing upstairs with Todd and Vivienne had an amused smirk on her face.

  “Alright, Aidan, let’s have it,” she waved her hand toward herself as she sat down next to Vivienne.

  “There’s something about him that’s familiar. I can’t put my finger on it, but it is unsettling,” he replied.

  “He’s an actor, maybe you saw him in a movie?” Zachariah chimed in.

  Aidan shook his head, frustrated that he couldn’t out what was so familiar about Todd. “No, it wasn’t his face that’s familiar, it is his scent.”

  Baffled, Emma said, “Have you met him before?”

  “No, I would remember him clearly if I had. But, part of his scent is something I have smelled before, but not the entirety of it.”

  This troubled Aidan, as vampires had an impeccable memory and never forgot the way a person smelled.

  They all jolted out of their conversation when they heard Todd screaming from Emma’s bedroom. It was an alarming scream, the kind you often would hear in a horror movie. All six of the vampires flew up the stairs and were at the door in seconds. Emma burst into her bedroom where Todd was still under the covers, terrified of what he had seen.

  “What is it, Todd? What happened?” Emma exclaimed as she went to him to console him.

  “I saw her again, your sister,” he panted with fright. “She’s angry, completely furious! This time, I didn’t have the sense of calm when she appeared; rage was radiating off of her! She was bloody, it was all over her. It looked like the side of her neck had been torn.”

  Emma was puzzled as to why Elizabeth had suddenly become so livid and resorted to scaring Todd now. She glanced at the others who were all in her room now, quietly listening to Todd’s story.

  “Your sister? Elizabeth?” Aidan asked Emma, completely unaware that her ghost had appeared to Todd.

  “Yes, Elizabeth. Her spirit has appeared to Todd several times over the past couple of months. Normally, she is calm, but her feathers seem to be ruffled tonight. Did she say anything this time, Todd?”

  “It was her bellowing scream that woke me up, but she just kept repeating, ‘He’s not welcome here, he’s not welcome here!’” Todd answered, feeling almost irritated that the apparition was always so cryptic—why didn’t she just get to the point and say what she wanted to say? “Emma, you have got to figure out what the hell she wants.”

  Emma nodded, “I will, love. Try to go back to sleep.”

  Todd shook his head, “I can’t, not after that.”

  She looked to Zachariah and said, “Go to Dan’s room, in his bathroom there should be a prescription of sleeping pills, grab one and bring a glass of water.”

  She knew why Elizabeth was so angry this evening because there was only one man who could have triggered it. She looked to Aidan who was glaring back with a hint of a smirk on the side of his mouth.

  Zachariah quickly returned with a pill and a glass of water and handed them both to Todd, who was leery about taking it. Zachariah gave him a comforting grab on his shoulder and motioned for him to take it.

  “Go ahead, it’s the lowest dose. Dan sometimes needs them when he has insomnia,” Emma said.

  “Will you stay with me? I don’t want to be alone,” he re
plied after gulping the pill down.

  “I need to talk to Aidan to try and figure this out, but one of us will stay,” she responded as she looked at the others, hoping one would volunteer.

  Vivienne immediately piped in, “I’ll stay with him.”

  Emma looked at her with gratitude and gave Todd a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back soon, but I think you’ll be out like a light by the time I get back. Get some rest.”

  She walked out of the room as the others followed. Once the door was closed, she turned to Aidan and said, “Take a walk with me…”

  Vivienne sat on the bed propped up next to Todd and gently ran her fingers through his wavy hair in attempt to help him relax. Within ten minutes of swallowing the little pill that Zachariah had handed him, Todd felt imminent slumber taking over both his body and brain. His eyes couldn’t have stayed open no matter how much he fought it. Once he was out, Vivienne went to sit on the couch and watch TV—she had the volume turned down low so he wouldn’t be disturbed, but she heard it perfectly clear.

  “Todd…Todd…”

  His eyes reluctantly fluttered open as he heard someone saying his name. They fought to focus on the girl sitting on the edge of the bed right next to him. It was Elizabeth, who was no longer covered in blood and angry, she radiated the calm that she normally would. She was no longer transparent and looked as if she was a normal person, body and bones, sitting beside him. He sat up and scooted himself so that he sat on the edge of the bed, too.

  “Todd, don’t be afraid. I’m sorry I frightened you. Seeing him in my home made me very angry. Forgive me.”

  “Who? Who makes you angry Elizabeth?” He asked, trying to get a straight answer out of her for once.

  “I don’t know his name, but I will never forget his face. His was the last face I saw before I died,” she quietly answered.

  “Aidan?” He asked, going on a hunch.

  She closed her eyes and relief spread across her face as she nodded.

  “Why are you haunting me? Why me?”

  She touched his face, making physical contact with him. Her hand lingered on his cheek as she softly replied with a smile, “Because you’re special.”

  He glanced over at Vivienne who was still watching TV on the couch, none-the-wiser about the conversation he was currently having. “How am I special?”

  “To find out why you’re special, have him drink from you, then you’ll know,” she replied, her answer obscure as always. “You cannot be obvious and invite him to drink from you, for he will be suspicious. You must provoke him.”

  “I’m not about to provoke an ancient vampire to bite me, sorry.”

  “But, that’s the only way you’ll know how truly special you are,” she replied with desperation.

  Eager to quickly change the subject, he asked, “And what about Emma? What does she need to do to so you can rest in peace?”

  Her face grew serious, “She knows what she has to do. She is not telling you the truth…she’s not telling anyone the truth. I think she has begun to believe her own lie about my demise. Although, my fate is not the only one she lies about. She has deceived her own family once again.”

  “What do you mean that Emma is lying? About what? Why don’t you just tell me exactly what you want to say?” Todd was tired of beating around the bush; he wanted straight answers.

  “I can’t. I want to, but I physically can’t. The words I want to say are in my head, but I can never say them. That’s the problem with restless spirits…those of us who have died at the hands of others. We cannot rest unless the truth about our death is unveiled by those who are living, but since our bodies are dead, we are unable to make our case.”

  “So, in order for you to rest, the living has to figure out how you died in order for you to move on? Were you killed?”

  Overcome with sadness, she replied, “Yes, I was killed.” They sat in silence for a moment while Elizabeth composed herself and she continued, “You cannot trust the vampires, Todd. Emma is good, you and I both know that, but in the end she is a vampire. No matter how much she may love a human, vampires will always stick together to protect their own kind.”

  Todd rubbed his tired face. A few months ago if anyone had told him that he would spend three months living in the historic Davenport Manor, fall in love with its original resident, who was a two-hundred year old vampire, and having a late-night conversation with a ghost…well, he would have told them that they needed to seek professional help. This was enough mythology and folklore for a lifetime, and yet he had it all in one hefty dose.

  He looked to Vivienne again who was still watching a bad reality show on the TV. “Vivienne,” he said, puzzled as to why she was ignoring him.

  “She can’t hear you. If she looks at you, she’ll see that you are sleeping…see?” She said as pointed behind him.

  Todd turned around and saw his own sleeping body still lying in the spot where he was before. Startled, he gasped and turned back to Elizabeth, “Am I dead?”

  “No, you’re not dead. You’ve just temporarily left your body, but it’s time you return to it. Remember what I said, you must provoke Aidan. You need to know how special you are…” Elizabeth’s voice faded as Todd felt himself blacking out, returning to his body in a deep slumber.

  Chapter 14

  Emma told the others that she needed to speak to Aidan privately where no other supersonic ears could hear. They went out the front door and started across the field that led to the wooded path toward the old cottages. To the human eye, it led into pitch darkness, but their keen vision allowed them to see without the aid of a light. Once they were far enough into the woods, Emma felt like it was safe distance to talk privately.

  “I remember this path…” Aidan commented before Emma could speak.

  “You should, it’s where you turned me,” she bluntly responded.

  “So, tell me about your sister’s torment.”

  “She has appeared to Todd several times over the past couple of months, but she has never been angry. She’s restless and we both know why…we’re the only ones who know why. I’ve never told anyone what really happened to her that night.”

  “And now she’s angry because I’m here. Well, she’s just going to have to get over it.” Aidan spoke as if he were talking about a child not getting a second helping of cake.

  Exasperated, Emma replied, “She’s my sister, Aidan. I can’t just let her float around the afterlife expecting her to ‘get over it’.”

  Aidan, becoming irritated, stopped walking and turned to her, “What does she expect you to do? Bring her back? You can’t change what happened, Emma! It’s been over two hundred years and, like I said, she needs to get over it.”

  “I need to make it right. That’s all she wants. I have to tell the truth about what happened to her.”

  He rolled his eyes and flicked his hands in the air, “Then why haven’t you? Just spill the truth and she goes away!”

  Emma closed her eyes and shook her head, “She doesn’t just want the truth to be told. She also mentioned to Todd that she wants to ‘sleep next to her family’. You know what that means I have to do.”

  Aidan’s face twisted in disgust, “And I suppose you want me to help you with that?”

  “Well, you certainly helped put her there…” Emma said as she raised an accusing eyebrow. “Please don’t make me do this alone, I need you.”

  He let out a huff of air and resumed walking, “Alright, I’ll help you. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow’s Christmas, Aidan,” she reminded him.

  He shrugged, “Christmas doesn’t mean much to me since I am centuries older than Jesus.”

  “Well, I’m not and even though I am what many would consider damned, I’m still a Christian girl per se and I celebrate Christmas.” She gave him a playful nudge in the ribs with her elbow.

  Aidan rolled his eyes, “Fine, the day after then. Where are you going to put her? Do you have a spare coffin lying around?”
>
  “Darn it, I didn’t think of that,” she replied as she scrambled through her brain to come up with an idea. “I can call my friend, Patricia Miller, she owns the funeral home where we get our blood supply from.”

  She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called Patricia, who was surprised to hear from her on Christmas Eve. Emma explained that she was going to need to buy a coffin from her and have it delivered as soon as possible. While she was at it, she put in an order for some cases of blood as well—at least it would save her a trip into Barrington. She was glad Patricia didn’t ask why she needed a coffin, although that kind of a request coming from a vampire wasn’t something out of the ordinary. She told Emma her assistant could deliver it that night and they made the arrangements for it to be done as discreetly as possible on the property.

  Shortly after 3:00am Emma’s cell phone rang, it was the guard informing her that Patricia’s assistant, Allison had arrived at the gate. She had been instructed not to pull up to the house, but to look for Aidan and Emma waiting near the side of the road where the pathway lead into the woods. She drove slowly down the road, which had been removed of snow earlier, but a new blanket had formed since then. She saw Aidan and Emma standing off to the side and pulled up to them.

  “Hey Emma!” She said as she climbed out of the hearse. Allison was barely eighteen when she had been turned; an adorable girl who was a permanent teenager. She had bouncy, chestnut-colored hair and sparking blue eyes with a personality to match. She gave a curtsy to them after she approached them.

  “Hey Allison, how are you, sweetie?” Emma said as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. She had always liked Allison and her bubbly personality, it was infectious. “Allison, this is Aidan…the King of Europe.”

  Without missing a beat, Allison grew serious and gave yet another, deeper curtsy. “Good to meet you, King Aidan. Please forgive me for my informalities before, I didn’t know.”

  Aidan took hold of her hand and lightly kissed the top, “Nothing to forgive, darlin’.”