Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (20 page)

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 replied 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’.”

“
Thank you, sir,” she
responded, if she had the ability to blush, he cheeks would have
been crimson. “Patricia said you ordered ten cases of blood and a
casket, is that correct?” She asked as she walked around to the
back of the hearse.

“
Sure is, thanks for
coming on such short notice,” Emma replied as she helped unload the
cases and pull the casket out.

Allison knew better than to ask
questions, especially in the presence of vampire royalty.
Naturally, she wanted to know what, or rather who, the casket was
for, but didn’t dare vocalize about it. She knew Emma well enough
that she could assume that it was for a good reason and hoped she
didn’t hear about any people gone missing in the area. Although, if
it were a random kill they were trying to hide, she was sure they
would just bury them instead of going through the formalities of
getting a casket.