Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (12 page)

Emma heard Todd’s heart rate increase,
letting her know that he was afraid. For some odd reason, she
enjoyed the fact that he was uncomfortable there and continued to
ride on. Todd had slowed the pace of his horse, feeling hesitant
about moving forward.

“Something the matter, Todd?” Emma
asked as she turned her body around the face him.

He gave her a nervous smile and
replied, “Ahh, no. I just…I’m just a little uneasy about being in a
cemetery at night.”

“Oh come on, you have nothing to worry
about here. No one is going to get you! I like to come here when I
need some distance from people, I find it very serene. I like to
visit my family.”

He sped up his pace to catch up to her
since he certainly didn’t want to be left behind. Family or not,
all he could think about was that he was surrounded by dead
people.

Emma dismounted from her horse and
motioned for Todd to follow. She sat down on a bench located across
the path from the Davenport family tomb. Todd dismounted and
hesitantly walked over to join her while his nerves were beginning
to get the best of him. He sat down next to her and she took his
hand.

“See? Nothing to be afraid of, they
won’t hurt you,” she smiled.

Todd closed his eyes and listened to
the quiet breeze—trying to convince himself to relax. They sat in
silence for several minutes while holding hands; he was
concentrating on listening to the breeze and she concentrated on
listening to his heart. She heard it slow while he clearly made
himself relax, then it would speed up a little, then slow again.
Suddenly, his heart jumped and began racing while he abruptly sat
up straight, becoming rigid with his eyes wide open now.

“Todd, what is it?” Emma asked with
concern.

“Shhh, do you hear that?”

Emma sat silent for a moment,
listening intently. Certainly if he heard something, she would hear
it 10 times louder. “I don’t hear anything, love.”

“It sounds like a woman
weeping…faintly.” His breathing was fast and shallow while holding
perfectly still to listen.

Confused, Emma shook her
head and looked around, “I don’t hear anything, Todd.”
And trust me, I would.

“It sounds like it is coming from the
crypt there…dang, I’m freaking out, please let’s get out of here,”
he pleaded with anxiety in his voice. He wasn’t sure if it was real
or if his mind was playing tricks on him. But, fear had gotten the
best of him and the only thing he knew was that he wanted to be as
far away from that cemetery as possible. After the odd encounter
with what he believed to be a ghost the night before, he remained
edgy all day.

She gently rubbed his back and agreed
to leave. She felt bad that he was so frightened, but honestly
couldn’t understand why humans were often so afraid of dead people.
If only Todd knew what she was, he would have realized that he
would have been protected by the most dangerous predator on Earth
and that he had nothing to be afraid of.

It was dark out when they finally
walked into the house. Todd had relaxed and felt like a complete
fool for being such a chicken earlier. There was the usual bustle
of people strewn about and they were just getting ready to have
dinner.

“Sit by me at dinner, love? I don’t
think we have ever dined together!” Todd asked as he held her
hand.

“Sure, save me a spot and I’ll meet
you there.”

How was she going to get out of this
one? She wasn’t used to having to be completely aware and careful
of what she said and did. Sure, she could charm him into believing
whatever she wanted, but she hated using that tool unless
absolutely necessary. Todd went ahead into the dining room while
Emma sought out Zachariah. She could sense he was in the kitchen,
so she decided to sneak that way to join him. He was leaning on the
center island while chatting with Vivienne and Declan; all of them
had a glass of blood.

They all exchanged greetings while
Emma went into the secret refrigerator for a bag of blood for
herself. She poured it into a glass and popped it into the
microwave for a minute, which was the perfect
temperature.

“So, how did your little date with the
handsome human go?” Vivienne asked with a smirk.

Zachariah shifted uneasily and gave
Emma a cold stare.

“It was nice, we went horseback
riding. And Zach, you can stop looking at me like that,” Emma
replied while shooting Zachariah a threatening glance. “Although, I
wanted to talk to you guys, tell me what you think. But, I want
Daniel here, too.” Emma whipped out her phone and texted Dan to
come to the kitchen. When he walked in just seconds later, she shut
the door and locked it, not wanting any human
interruptions.

“So, tell me what you all think…Todd
was a bit shaken up this morning—he said he had an encounter with a
ghost last night. When I went to fetch him to go riding, I found
him upstairs looking at my sister, Elizabeth’s portrait. He swore
it was her that was in his room. Then, we ended up riding to the
cemetery, which made him totally on edge. Talked about being afraid
of cemeteries at night, blah blah blah…” Emma gave a wave of her
hand.

“I don’t understand why humans are
afraid of cemeteries, day or night. Those dead folks aren’t the
ones to be afraid of.” Zachariah said.

“I think it is because we’re
conditioned to be afraid of the unknown, the supernatural,” Daniel
replied. “That’s probably why I’m not afraid at all, I have grown
up amongst the supernatural my entire life, it’s normal to
me.”

“It’s too bad all humans don’t feel
the way you do, Dan,” Declan began. “It would make it a lot easier
for us, especially since a majority of humans are so afraid of us
that they wouldn’t hesitate to try and kill us.”

“Right? But, here’s the odd thing…when
we were at the cemetery we were just quietly sitting on the bench.
He suddenly started freaking out saying that he faintly heard a
woman weeping. He thought it was coming from my family’s tomb. I
didn’t hear anything, so I don’t know if he’s crazy or if something
is going on.” Emma added.

Perplexed, they all tried to think of
what it could have been that Todd had seen the night before and
heard at the cemetery. And if he really had heard something, why
didn’t Emma hear it, as well? None of them had ever seen a ghost,
which could be considered odd since the Manor itself was old and
could easily appear to be haunted. The household vampires were
awake 24/7 and had never seen anything out of the
ordinary.

“I’m wondering something
here…” Dan spoke up after a few moments of silence. “Personally, I
have never seen or heard anything weird here, but who’s to say
ghosts aren’t lurking? Just because someone has never met a
vampire, doesn’t mean you all don’t exist, right? What I’m thinking
is maybe the reason why you didn’t hear anything, Emma, is because
ghosts are spirits of the dead.
You
are already dead, so perhaps you can’t see or
hear them?”

“You’re brilliant, Dan. That makes
perfect sense.” Emma replied.

“Well, what fun is that if we’re
supernatural and can’t see ghosts?” Declan laughed.

They could hear that dinner was just
about over and people were headed into the parlor. Zachariah,
Vivienne, and Declan went to join them, but Emma wanted to continue
speaking with Dan. She was troubled, he could easily read that on
her face.

“Dan…have you ever seen her before? My
sister?” Emma gently asked.

He shook his head ‘no’ with his brows
furrowed in apology. “I have never seen anything out of the
ordinary except for you guys. But, that’s normal to me. I have
never seen any ghosts.”

“What about as a child? Do you ever
remember anything odd or being afraid? Children often let their
imaginations run wild.”

“No…the funny thing is, I know people
get spooked out, especially in our house. But, I never was. When I
was a kid I was never really afraid of anything,” Daniel
shrugged.

“Why is that?”

He gave her a big smile, “Because I
always knew that the scariest and most dangerous thing on Earth was
my ‘sister’ and that she was on my side. I never had any fear
knowing you were here.”

She drew her breath in deep and
grabbed him into a tight hug, overwhelmed with emotions. Love,
pride, and gratification rolled through her. She softly cried while
hugging him tight, but not tight enough to hurt him! She didn’t
want to think of the day when she would lose her beloved Daniel.
Over the countless decades she had to watch family members be born,
grow up, and then die. She would love them, of course, but she
never allowed herself to get too attached. It was different with
Daniel, though. As he grew up they were like two peas in a pod;
kindred spirits. With each passing year Emma allowed herself to get
more and more attached to him, but now she always feared they day
she would lose him. He was her little “brother” and the best human
friend she had ever had.

They pulled away from each other and
he saw the red streaks going down her cheeks. “Why are you crying?”
He asked.

“I just love you so much,” she replied
while dampening a paper towel.

Daniel paused before responding,” I
know what you’re thinking…hopefully that won’t be for a long
time.”

She looked at him with a forced smile
while wiping her cheeks. “I don’t know what I’ll ever do without
you. In the past two hundred years I have never bonded with a
family member like I have with you.”

Emma sat down next to Todd in the
parlor and apologized for not making it to dinner. She told him
that she got stuck in a conversation with Zachariah, Vivienne,
Declan, and Daniel and completely lost track of time.

“I have to be honest, I’m really
disappointed,” Todd said with hurt in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I know,” she
apologetically responded.

There was an uncomfortable
silence between them for a moment before Todd spoke again. He saw
Zachariah clear on the other side of the room, blatantly watching
them. Exasperated, he quietly said, “I just don’t understand how
you could
lose track of time
talking to Zach when you knew I was waiting for
you.”

Emma leaned back and looked at him
with an Oh-No-You-Didn’t look. “Do you have a problem with me
conversing with Zach?”

“I’m a little jealous, yes.” He
bluntly replied. He looked at Zachariah once again, who was now
grinning with complete satisfaction. It was as though he could hear
their conversation, but there was no way with him being so far
away. “Why is he grinning at us?”

“I don’t know! Look…if
you’re going to get jealous because I talk to Zach, then that is
going to be a problem. If you ultimately try to make me
choose
, you will
not
like the
answer.”

Todd held his hands out in front of
him, “Whoa, whoa! I’m not making you choose. I just can’t help but
be a little jealous since you and Zach have a history. I know
you’re close and probably always will be. You’ll have to forgive
me,” he said as he put his hands on top of hers.

She shook her head,
ashamed of herself for snapping at him the way she did. She knew
she was in the wrong—she ditched him at dinner and he had every
reason to be upset with her. “No, you’ll have to forgive
me
; I should have been
more attentive when I knew you were waiting for me at
dinner.”

“Water under the bridge,
love. You know, speaking of dinner…how do I phrase this
delicately?” He said, trying to find the right words. “I have never
seen you eat; you’re never at the meals when everyone is together.
You’re…
alright
,
right?”

She chuckled, “I’m fine. I don’t like
to be in the way when there is a film crew here, so I usually eat
in the kitchen.” She stood up and turned around, sticking out her
voluptuous butt toward him. “Does this look like I’m underfed?” She
laughed.

“Well, next time,
don’t
stay out of the
way and join us, yeah?”

She nodded with a sheepish smile while
tucking her hair behind her ear. “I think I’m going to put on a
movie and call everyone in for a movie night, want to join
me?”

“I’d be honored to be your date for
movie night,” he joyfully replied.

Emma called everyone to
the parlor for their always-enjoyable movie night. The guests
brought down blankets and pillows and sprawled them all around the
floor and couches. She decided pop in
Midnight in Paris
, one of her recent
favorite movies, where the setting took place in the 1920’s. She
stepped over some people lying on the floor and hopped onto the
couch to curl up with Todd. She nuzzled into his chest, listened to
his heartbeat and rhythmic breathing. She closed her eyes and was
almost in a trance while focusing on the sounds of life. She felt
his warm arms around her and began to feel a bit melancholy since
she no longer possessed any of those things. Little did he know
that he was holding a living corpse so close to his
body.