The Vampire's Servant

Something to Occupy Her

I couldn’t think of an easier way to tell her everything. I knew dumping it on her like that wasn’t great, but I wanted her to have as much time as possible to process it. I had to believe that she would be okay.

After she slept and had something to occupy her mind, she would feel better. Echo wasn’t going to let this eat at her. She was going to pull herself together and do what she could. I could see that sort of resolve in her personality.

There was one way I could guarantee she didn’t have to do what her sire wanted…. I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I know she would have been considered an adult when I was alive, but she was so big eyed and innocent about so much. Seeing her as anything but a child was difficult.

I worked through the night on the research needed for the vampires and donors Silence wanted me to reprimand. I would do that tomorrow night. The scene with Echo had me worried about leaving her alone.

Dawn arrived. I worked for half an hour after and started to head to the basement. I couldn’t wait for the house to be done, so I wouldn’t have to sleep there anymore.

When I opened the door, the smell of mildew was gone. It smelled clean. Echo had cleaned the room.

She stacked my mattress on the old mattress Springer had used and changed the sheets to Egyptian cotton. She must have bought them yesterday. I would have known if any existed in this house. I smiled. Did she buy them thinking of me?

Echo really was the best servant I’d ever seen. All of her work had been done to make me comfortable. She did things for herself, but tried to anticipate my needs and preferences. She was polite and hard working.

If there was any way to keep her safe, I’d find it. Even if it meant going to my sire for help. I faded from the world thinking about how I could save Echo and keep her for myself.

-

[Echo]

-

I hadn’t slept well last night. It didn’t help a lot when I was at the furniture store with Drew. The sales guy was thrilled at my running all over to find things.

I told him I needed the highest quality of every item I was looking for and kept remembering things just when I thought I was done. He looked sad when I had to go to the appliance section, but waited nearby in case I remembered something else. Which I did.

Once I was certain I had everything, we went to the registers. The number that came up made me nearly panic, but I remembered Victor saying he could afford to buy me. This wasn’t anything near what I cost. Not even near what he paid my parents for me.

We arranged for everything to be delivered after noon the next day and they said they would put things anywhere I wanted and install my washer and dryer. They pushed off all of their deliveries for the next day and hired a moving company to help. When you spend a lot, I guess they give you a lot.

I called and found a hauler to take away the old furniture to be donated to the women’s and children’s center downtown in the morning. Now that I knew what size the beds were, I had Drew take me to a store for sheets, blankets, and pillows. While I was there, I bought decorations for the house, too.

We went to the bookstore and I bought a whole lot of books for Victor’s library. I offered the cashier extra money if he could bring them to the house and put them up.

My sister was a cashier and I knew they didn’t make a lot. He jumped at the offer of a thousand dollars, cash. It was probably a lot more than the job was worth, but I didn’t want to be stuck in the library all day while I had to try directing furniture.

Drew told me we needed to go to an electronics store for a laptop. While I was there, I bought a desktop computer for Victor. They said it was one of the best.

I bought a few video games and one of each type of console. I always wanted to play the games my brother had in his room. I added a huge smart TV and got a bunch of movies, Drew said the smart TV was a good idea.

He told me the consoles would play movies, so I didn’t get a Blu-ray player. The TV would be installed on Wednesday. 

Now, I was waiting for the tinting guy to finish counting and measuring the windows for the tint. Once I had the quote, I would hire him and offer extra to get it done before the end of the week.

I got the basement cleaned up a little, but I wanted Victor out of there as much as he wanted to be out of there. No one deserved to live in a basement. He should be able to enjoy his house.

Drew walked into the living room and sat next to me on the couch. I was grateful to have him helping me out so much. Even if he was a bit of a pervert at times. He was shaking his head.

“I have no clue how you convinced them to deliver, set up, and install everything the next day. I’ve never had shops jump to do that, and I’ve spent as much as you or more!” He said.

I remembered what Victor said. I was more persuasive because of my blood. Had I done that? I hadn’t even tried.

“You weren’t a cute girl with big eyes.” I laughed.

“That must be it. Your big… eyes.” He chuckled.

I blushed. I knew he was saying something dirty. He always did. Drew told me he liked making me blush. It was weird. He seemed so happy, I just let him. I didn’t want him to want to stop helping me.

There was a buzz from the entry. I went to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Delivery.”

“Come through to the house.” I said and opened the gate.

“It’s probably your phone. You don’t have a box for deliveries by the gate. You should get one. I already hired landscapers to take care of the grounds. They have their own code. So don’t worry if you hear people mowing the lawn and stuff.” Drew said.

“Where would I find a box for deliveries? How big of a box do I need?” I asked.

“I’ll take care of it. You shouldn’t have to worry about it right now. You have a lot on your plate. I can’t hang around today. My mistress needs me to be home before dusk. I’m gonna leave you on your own tomorrow. I have errands and stuff to do.” He told me.

“Okay. I’ll be fine. Thanks for your help, Drew.” I smiled.

There was a knock at the door and I answered it. The man had me sign for the small box and left. I opened it quickly and pulled out the phone box and a cover that was in a plastic package. Drew helped me get the phone set up and charging before he left.

I liked the case Victor picked. It was dark blue with cherry blossoms on it. I liked the time when our cherry tree would bloom. Flowering trees were my favorites. They were pretty, but useful.

The tinting guy told me they could completely black out the windows upstairs and just do a dark tint downstairs. I asked him to black out every window. I told him I could open the windows to get natural light and fresh air at the same time. He said there was an option for an opaque white covering that would let in light, but no direct light.

I thought of Victor, smiled, and agreed. The tinting guy would use that on all windows in open areas of the house, all the rooms downstairs, and on my bedroom windows. The other bedrooms would be blacked out. It would be nice not to have my days spent in a cave.

When we were trying to schedule, he was looking at three weeks out. I needed this done before tomorrow night. I wanted to have safe and comfortable spaces for Victor and his friend. So, I put in the effort to really convince him.

It took almost an hour to get him to, not only agree, but agree to bring every installer he had the next morning so it would be done quickly. I did end up paying double his quote as well. It was worth it.

Victor would be up soon. I went to the kitchen to start preheating the oven for a baked potato and start marinating my meat. There was a grill in the stove top. I was planning to have a steak, potato, and salad. I prepared a tray of snacks for whoever was feeding Victor tonight.