Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (21 page)

Allison had a sudden sinking feeling
and couldn’t refrain from blurting out, “Daniel is okay,
right?”

Emma’s eyes widened with surprise and
immediately put Allison’s fear to rest, “Oh no, Daniel is fine,”
she laughed. “Don’t worry, everyone is fine, I promise.”

Allison relaxed and then apologized
for asking. Once everything was unloaded she gave Emma a hug
goodbye and wished her a Merry Christmas. She then turned to Aidan
who kissed the top of her hand once again as she told him what an
honor it was to meet him. He was laying his Scottish charm on thick
tonight and she ate it right up.

“
Until we meet again, fair
Allison…” Aidan purred as he locked eyes with her.

She gave him a curtsy once more before
getting back in the hearse to go home. She couldn’t wait to tell
Patricia that she had just met the King of Europe and just how
dashing he was.

Aidan and Emma carried the casket
while trudging through the snow into the woods, heading to the far
East corner of the property where no one ever explored.

“
Right here,” Emma said as
she came to a stop.

They set the casket down and examined
the ground where they had stood together over two hundred years
earlier. Aidan closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through
his nose, assessing the location with his scent. He walked a few
steps and knelt down, taking another deep breath in, focusing on
the ground this time. He cleared away dead leaves and small tree
branches on the patch of ground.

“
X marks the spot,” he
said. “She’s right under here.”

“
Thanks, Aidan. We’ll
leave the casket here and come back to move her after Christmas.
Let’s carry in the cases of blood and have a drink…this has been
one hell of a night. And I need to put the Christmas presents under
the tree.”

“
You’re Vampy Claus now?”
Aidan antagonized.

“
Yes, King Kill Joy, I am
and you can be my little elf and help stuff the stockings,” she
threw his antics right back at him.

After Emma set out all the
gifts she had bought for everyone and stuffed all the stockings
that hung over the main fireplace, she returned to her bedroom
where Vivienne was still planted on the couch. Declan had joined
her to keep her company and they had switched from bad reality
shows to a middle-of-the-night airing of
Die Hard
.

“
How’s Todd? Has he
remained asleep?” Emma whispered to them as she began to change out
of her snow-dampened clothes to pajamas.

“
Like a baby, he’s barely
stirred since he went to sleep,” Vivienne replied, looking back
him. “Man, I’m envious. Sometimes I really miss being able to go to
sleep and just shutting everything off for a few hours.”

“
Not me,” Declan chimed
in. “I like being aware of everything around me. One is too
vulnerable when they sleep.”

“
I barely remember what it
felt like to go to sleep. But, I do remember what it was like to
wake up after a good dream,” Emma said as she sat down on the couch
with them. “Then again, I also remember what it was like to wake up
after having a nightmare.”

Zachariah had heard Emma’s voice from
his bedroom and joined them in hers. “Sleeping is overrated. I’m
with Declan, I’d rather be conscious at all times.”

“
You all good here, Emma?
Declan and I are going to head downstairs for a drink,” Vivienne
said as she and Declan stood up.

“
We’re good, thanks for
human-sitting,” she said with a wink.

She curled up on the couch with
Zachariah, something she hadn’t done in quite some time since Todd
had arrived. Emma, like all vampires, always had a wandering eye.
But, being with Zachariah was like coming home after a long
trip—comfortable and familiar. To a human, their relationship may
seem odd, if not completely unconventional. Sometimes Daniel even
wondered how they managed to stay together after each of them would
have an extracurricular love life. But, to vampires, this was the
norm. Eternity is a very long time to be with someone; love kept
them together, however sometimes they needed the short-term
relationships with others to crack the boredom.

As Emma laid on Zachariah while they
continued to watch the movie where Vivienne and Declan left off,
she felt at “home”. She thought about Todd, and while she had
feelings for him, there would be no future besides being good
friends in the long run. She felt bad because she knew his heart
would be broken when she had to let him go.

“
I’ve been thinking…” she
started as she mindlessly played with Zach’s fingers.

“
Don’t hurt yourself,” he
said as she swatted him.

“
I feel bad that Todd got
so attached to me. He’s in love with me and his heart is going to
crumble when this all ends.”

“
Well, that’s what happens
when a human is your toy,” Zachariah said
matter-of-factly.

“
Before he leaves…I’m
going to charm him to forget about what we are and the feelings he
has for me. He’ll leave here just knowing that we’re good friends
and be none-the-wiser about the world of vampires.” Saying the
words out loud was difficult for her. She never wanted to have to
charm him, but in this case she knew it was the right thing to
do.

Zachariah simply nodded, feeling
somewhat relieved that she had decided to do that. He and the
others had been telling her she needed to charm Todd to forget, but
she was always so reluctant for her own selfish reasons. Human or
vampire, everyone likes to know that they’re adored.

“
Do you know what it is
that your sister wants?” He asked.

Emma took a deep breath, “I do…I’m
going to make it right the day after Christmas, you’ll find out
then. I have been lying about my sister’s death for far too long,
that’s why she can’t rest. I just can’t understand why she has only
appeared to John and Todd after all these years.”

“
I thought your sister and
her husband ran off together,” he said, now intrigued.

She shook her head, “No, they didn’t
run off together. Elizabeth died shortly after I did, that’s why
when I eventually added her name to the tomb, it has the same year
as mine.”

He raised an eyebrow whispered, “Why
do I get the feeling that Aidan had a hand in this? That’s why she
was so pissed tonight, wasn’t it?”

Emma just shrugged and Zachariah knew
it was not because she didn’t know, but rather she didn’t want to
confirm or deny it right now.

They talked for a short time longer
until the sun began to spill in through her window. It was brighter
than usual due to the fresh-fallen snow that had been dumped onto
the Chicago area the day before. It was a beautiful, bright
Christmas morning.

Emma felt somewhat refreshed after
spending the remainder of the night talking with Zachariah. He gave
her a kiss on the lips before heading downstairs to wait for the
humans in the house to wake up. Todd began to lightly stir under
the covers and Emma went to the bed and climbed in with him. His
eyes peeked open and her face was the first thing he saw staring
back at him.

He unrolled his arms upward and
stretched. “Mornin’ love,” he said, his voice groggy from a deep
slumber.

“
Merry Christmas,” she
smiled. “How did you sleep?”

“
I don’t think I have
slept that soundly in a long time,” he replied as he became more
coherent.

“
I’m going to go
downstairs, Daniel should be up soon. Come down when you’re ready.”
She climbed out of the bed and left the room to go and wait in the
parlor. When she got down there, all the vampires in the house were
already convened on the couches, sipping warm blood from their
glasses. Zachariah had prepared one for Emma that was waiting for
her on the coffee table. Aidan sipped on his, making a peculiar
face.

“
What’s wrong, Aidan?”
Emma asked.

“
Doesn’t it make you
nervous drinking the blood of an unknown person? One you have never
met?” He asked.

“
A little,” she responded.
“But, I would prefer this rather than having to charm everyone in
town so I could feed on them.”

“
That’s why you should
always keep a few pets, my dear. Then you’ll know where the blood
is coming from.”

“
I can’t do that to
someone, I have too much humanity left in me,” she replied, ending
that topic as abruptly as possible.

Todd and Daniel had come downstairs
and joined the rest of them in the parlor. After several wishes of
“Merry Christmas” to one another, Emma turned on some Dean Martin
Christmas music and started to pull gifts from under the tree,
handing them to each person. Everyone joyfully opened their gifts,
even Aidan, who couldn’t have cared less about the
holiday.

Todd was surprised to have gotten a
gift from Emma, not realizing that she had already thought of him
weeks before. His eyes lit up and his smile was beaming when he saw
the box—a pair of rollerblades. He remembered the day when he first
got to the Manor when he, Daniel, and Zachariah talked about
rollerblading through the halls.

“
A little bird told me you
wanted to rollerblade through the halls of the Manor,” she said as
she winked at Zachariah.

Todd gave him a nod of gratitude while
Zachariah slightly rose his glass to him.

After all the gifts were opened,
Daniel went around the room with a garbage bag and cleared the
littered floor of wrapping paper scraps.

Emma sat down next to Todd and placed
her hand on his thigh. “So, how about we go upstairs…” she started,
with a sly grin. “…and go blading through the hallways.” The
atmosphere at home had been tense and dark for the past few weeks
and she was ready to let loose and have some fun. It was the
perfect opportunity since most of their guests went home for the
holidays and the halls would be clear.

He gave her a kiss on the lips and
said, “Thank you so much, these are such a cool gift.” He stood up
and took her hand to go upstairs while holding the box under his
other arm.

“
I know you’re not
planning on blading through the halls and not include us,”
Zachariah said, who was just as ready to have some play
time.

“
You’re blading?” Daniel
asked as he was getting ready to take the garbage bag out to the
trash. “I
know
you’re not leaving me out! Todd, you’ve never experienced
rollerblading until you’ve gone with vampires, hope you’re
coordinated!”

They all converged upstairs in the far
west hallway, gliding effortlessly around each other. It had been a
couple of years since Todd put on a pair of rollerblades, but he
immediately felt comfortable standing on eight wheels.

Normally they would race down the
hallway, which Daniel was no match for the vampires. They often
would let him win and attempt to skate at a human speed. They
decided to do a practice run for fun and all began to glide
effortlessly down the long hallway. The light gray marble floor was
so smooth that they never hit a single bump and coasted easily,
whizzing past each bedroom door.

They all picked up speed as they
passed the staircase and continued on into the hallway of
portraits; it was as if their ancestors were watching them have fun
with modern toys. By now, Todd had gotten a feel of his new blades
and became familiar with the smoothness of the floor and felt
comfortable pushing off to go faster. He began to pass up Emma, who
was smiling ear-to-ear with her hair gently blowing past her
shoulders.

As they reached the end of the
hallway, they glided into a turn to head back the other way, the
sound on their wheels lightly whooshing as they passed each other.
Zachariah began to playfully nudge Emma and skate a bit ahead of
her, taunting her to race him. She gave him a competitive grin and
pushed off at a speed that could only be done by an immortal. He
took off immediately behind her, leaving Todd and Daniel in their
dust. They disappeared from their view almost
instantaneously.

“
And this is how it always
goes,” Daniel said with a chuckle. “At least this time I’m not left
all by myself.”

By the time Daniel and Todd got to the
beginning of the hallway, Emma was nonchalantly looking at her
nails and Zachariah was leaning against the wall looking
dramatically bored.

“
Showoffs!” Daniel called
as he and Todd coasted up to them.

Emma skated into a quick spin and then
glided up to Todd. “Wanna go for a ride?” She asked while circling
him.

He looked at her skeptically and
asked, “What kind of a ride?”

“
Feeling comfortable on
those skates?”

He nodded, wondering where this was
going. She stopped in front of him, facing the long hallway once
more. She took his hands and linked his fingers into her side belt
loops, grasping his hands under hers. Daniel and Zachariah were
already doing the same—it was something both Emma and Zachariah did
with him since he was a kid.

“
You better hold on tight
and keep your feet straight, buddy,” Daniel said to Todd as his
adrenaline was pumping.