Family Secrets (Davenport Manor Book 1)

by Melissa Zaroski

  When she finally emerged, she pushed the door back into place and planned to seal it off for the last time the following day. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, which was smeared with her own blood. As she started back toward the Manor, she berated herself for crying, it was always so darn messy. She glanced back at the cemetery once more before entering the woods in hopes of seeing another vision, but the space was empty. She turned back to continue walking, satisfied that she finally was able to close that chapter.

  Emma entered the front door and everyone had dispersed throughout the house since all the excitement was over. Zachariah remained in the parlor with Mackenzie, chatting about their experiences since the last time they saw each other.

  “He’s okay,” Zachariah said to Emma, knowing she would ask about Daniel. “I’ve been listening.”

  She nodded and turned to go upstairs, “I’m going to see Todd.”

  She followed his recent scent to his bedroom where she lightly knocked on his door. He answered it and his tight-lipped smile made her feel uneasy.

  “Come in,” he said, opening the door wider. “Did you get everything taken care of?”

  “I did,” she answered as she shut the door behind her. “You know I saw her? She appeared to me…it was something I had wished for so many years. My heart feels so light now since I got to say what I have always needed to say to her.”

  Todd couldn’t help but feel glad for her, no matter how strange the situation was. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, breathing in the sweet, light smell of her perfume.

  “Although, I’m still miffed at her for forcing us to pop open the can of worms about Dan’s parents. It feels good having the truth out there, but at what cost? All that pain he has had to get under control has just been unleashed once again and I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to look at us the same. But, he understands that it was inevitable and that we were doing all we had to do to protect him.”

  “What exactly happened? Why did Aidan want to kill Dan’s father?” Todd asked as his curiosity got the best of him.

  “Eh, better if you don’t know, it was vampire politics. There are rare humans that go their entire lives not realizing they have a smidge of supernatural in them…he was one of them,” Emma replied, choosing her words carefully.

  “A need-to-know basis, I got it.”

  “I’m sorry you got stuck in the middle of all this, I don’t know why she chose you to communicate with,” Emma said as she hugged him closer and nuzzled her cheek on his chest. She loved feeling the warmth radiating from him and breathing in his musky, masculine scent. “Have you ever been able to see ghosts before?”

  He chuckled, “Not that I know of! Although, I may have met one along the way and never realized it…just like I didn’t realize that my girlfriend was a vampire.”

  She smiled against his chest.

  Like a dream that is suddenly remembered in the middle of the day, their talk of vampires and ghosts evoked the conversation he had with Elizabeth on the edge of his bed the night before. “Oh my gosh,” he said as it all came flooding back.

  “What?” Emma asked, pulling away from him.

  “I think I had an out-of-body experience last night; it seems like it was a dream, but very real. I saw myself sleeping on the bed, Vivienne was watching TV, and I was having a conversation with Elizabeth.”

  “What did you talk about? Can you remember?” Emma was intrigued.

  “She kept telling me that the reason I could see her was because I was special…and to find out how special I am I need to…” he stopped short, realizing that her ears weren’t the only ones that could hear their conversation. He whipped out his phone and texted her, I need to provoke Aidan to bite me. I told Elizabeth there is no chance in hell that I’m going to provoke an ancient vampire.

  Perplexed, Emma shook her head and tried to figure out why on earth Elizabeth would want Todd to provoke Aidan. She had a small idea creep through her mind, but brushed it off because there was no way Elizabeth, a ghost, would know. She took his hand and led him to the bed; his decadent scent had awakened her carnal instinct.

  She pushed him down on the mattress with a force that made him bounce a few times after landing. She took his breath away; her seductive beauty and delicate features masked the predator that lied beneath the surface. Her brute strength and the potential danger she posed aroused him more than any woman he had ever met. Emma crawled on all fours onto the bed and gracefully straddled him, pinning him under her.

  She leaned down to his face, her lips hovering over his, feeling his warm breath escaping from his slightly-open mouth. She inched forward and tickled his top lip with the tip of her tongue, teasing him with an impending kiss. He lunged upward, grabbed her by the back of her head, and forced her mouth down onto his. He used his strength to flip her over onto her back and climbed on top of her in one fell sweep.

  Todd used his legs to part hers open and maneuvered himself in between her thighs. Knowing she was far more durable than any woman he had ever been with, he grabbed hold of her hair and yanked on it, causing her head to tilt back. She gasped at the pleasurable pain, enjoying Todd’s dominance. Humans were rarely dominant with vampires, most enjoyed being submissive to their strength, so this was a welcome change for her.

  He kissed down the side of her jawline, where he lingered to lick her neck as her head was tilted back and slightly to the left. His teeth scraped against her skin, lightly biting her, taunting her. He knew he was no match for any vampire she had been with, but he was bound to try to get as close as he could. His free hand ran down the length of her throat while he hovered, admiring the porcelain-white skin of her neck. He opened his mouth and placed his teeth on her neck once again, biting harder than he did before. She responded by clawing her fingers into his shoulder blades, careful not to use her nails knowing her strength would cut into him and painfully draw blood.

  “Can I bite you or is that weird?” Todd whispered as his breath became ragged.

  “Please do, we like to bite during…intimate moments,” she replied as she writhed beneath him, pushing her neck up to his lips.

  He had never bitten someone to the point of breaking skin before and was nervous, yet excited. He remembered when she had fed him her blood when they were attacked, the night he found out what she was, and how fantastic he physically felt for days afterward. Every little ache and pain he had even before the attack was gone, his body completely healed of all injuries. He was energetic and had never felt so alive, his senses were slightly amplified, and his libido was through the roof. At this moment, he was looking forward to taking her blood and experiencing its after-effects once again.

  He licked his lips in nervous anticipation, eager to bite her, but naturally afraid of what the sensation of biting through skin would feel like. Her willingness gave him the courage to go for it, he leaned in, and clamped his teeth down on her neck, feeling them penetrate through her bare skin. She moaned in pleasure; she never experienced a human biting her. It was different since he didn’t have fangs to easily cut through the skin, so the bite was more forceful and a larger area as opposed to two puncture wounds.

  She wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could without snapping his bones, pulling him as close as nature would allow. Todd felt the warm, thick liquid begin to leak from the wounds he caused, covering his lips and drizzling onto his tongue. He wrapped his lips around the bite marks, drinking the blood that drained from her neck. The more he drank, the more invigorated he felt as if it was taking over his body. The magic from her blood pulsed through his veins; he felt empowered, strong, and completely alive, he was high while being completely coherent.

  With the excitement of Todd sucking on her neck and drinking her blood, Emma’s fangs slowly emerged and her mouth was open with desire. Her body had healed the bite wounds on her neck and Todd’s face returned to hers as he kissed her deeply, feeling the tip of her fang lightly poking at his tongue. Wi
th her strength and speed, she flipped him onto his back and took power over him once more. She pinned his arms above his head, pressing his wrists into the pillows as she gained complete control over him. He rhythmically pushed his pelvis upward and she felt the bulge in his pants getting harder and larger. She scrunched her nose and opened her mouth, ready to strike and drink from him for the first time, something she had wanted to do for weeks. She tilted her head and arched her back, and came down on his neck faster than Todd could see. But, she abruptly stopped before touching his skin.

  “Emma!” She heard Daniel calling in the hallway. “Emma, I’m leaving for a while.”

  She heard Zachariah trying to reason with him not to go, apologizing profusely and begging him not to leave the family on Christmas.

  Emma pressed her face into Todd’s shoulder and groaned in frustration. “I’ll be right back, I need to get this ironed out with Daniel.” She climbed off of him and ran out of the room so fast all he saw was the door open.

  She approached Daniel, who was standing in the hallway with a packed suitcase. Zachariah looked at Emma with a sense of hope, thinking that maybe she would be able to talk Daniel out of leaving.

  “Why are you leaving, Dan?” She asked.

  “I just can’t be here right now,” he replied as he shook his head and blankly looked away. “I’ll come back when we resume filming, but for now I just need to get away from all of this.”

  “From us,” Zachariah added.

  Daniel sympathetically looked at him, unable to answer that he was correct. “I know you both had no choice about what happened to my parents…I know you were just trying to protect me. But, everything that happened that day just came rushing back; all the pain, but it is altered now knowing that you knew the truth all along.”

  Emma’s brow was furrowed with a mother’s worry. “Where will you go?”

  Daniel shook his head and gave her a slight smile, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” He looked back and forth to Emma and Zachariah, who both knew they couldn’t stop him. He was no longer a kid under their guardianship anymore and it was difficult for them to bite their tongues and let him leave. He gave Zachariah a quick hug and patted him on the back then hugged Emma and kissed her on the cheek.

  As he turned his back and walked away with his suitcase, Emma and Zachariah communicated with each other without speaking a word. He knew what she was thinking and she gave him one affirmative and commanding nod. She followed him with her eyes as he took his cell phone out of his pocket and slipped into her bedroom. She stood in the hallway by herself for a moment, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back to take a mental breather. She wanted to return to Todd to finish what they had started, but found herself being pulled into her bedroom with Zachariah instead.

  As she entered, Zachariah had just hit the “end” button on his phone and said, “All is taken care of. They’ll let us know where he is when he gets to wherever he’s going. They’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

  “Good,” Emma replied as she sat on the couch and rubber her forehead.

  “You okay?” Zachariah asked, knowing she was stressing about Daniel.

  “Yeah, I think everything will be fine with Daniel eventually. I’m actually more worried about Todd. I love him…and I know he loves me…that has become a problem.”

  “You know, the longer you wait, the more painful it will be for you,” he replied.

  “I know,” she said as she thought about it for a moment. “I pursued him, I caused him to fall for me even though I knew that it could go nowhere, so it’s up to me to put a stop to it. It’s not fair for him to suffer a broken heart…that’s why I’m going to charm him to forget he was ever in love with me.”

  Zachariah looked at her with surprise, but nodded in agreement. Emma never expected that she and Todd would connect like they did; she didn’t think they would fall for each other. When he arrived at the Manor, she saw him as her new toy to play with, if only temporarily. It was time to make things right.

  “Wait in the hallway,” she said to Zachariah as she walked toward the door. “I think I’m going to need a shoulder when this is over.”

  Emma stepped out into the hall and called for Todd to come to her room. He bound out of his door to her, looking forward to picking up where they left off. Noticing the solemn look on her face, his eagerness to be with her turned sour. She invited him to have a seat on the couch and she proceeded to sit close to him, putting her hand on his thigh. Todd and he had a sinking feeling that this wasn’t going to be good.

  “What’s going on, Emma? Is everything alright with Daniel?” Todd asked.

  “He’s fine, he just needed to get away from here for a bit.”

  “Then, what’s the matter? Are you okay?” His concern swept away any remaining desire he had.

  “This is hard for me to say,” her voice quivering, fighting the urge to cry. “I love you, Todd. I shouldn’t love you like this because you’re a human…but I do. So very much.”

  “Hey, why are you crying, love?” Todd gently said as he put his arm around her. “I love you, too…so very much,” he added with a sweet smile in attempt to comfort her.

  “And that is the reason that I have to do this,” she continued, wriggling out from under his arm. “There’s no future for us, you have to know that. You have such a short lifetime compared to mine, it wouldn’t be fair to you if I allowed you to waste it on me. You should get married, have children, grow old, and die with someone who will do the same. I can’t do any of those things.”

  Todd heard the words coming from her mouth and tried to comprehend them, but his adrenaline began to rush through him as he felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to believe what she was trying to say. “Are you breaking up with me?”

  She painfully nodded while a blood tear dripped down her cheek.

  “You’re breaking up with me because you don’t want me to waste my life on you? Shouldn’t I have a say in that? Or is it really because I’m not good enough for you?” To this day he still couldn’t understand how she was attracted to him; he felt she was way out of his league. Even if she had been human, he would still wonder why she was with him.

  “Of course you’re good enough for me,” Emma replied. “I’m upset with myself for pursuing you, however never did I think we would fall for each other. You deserve a better life…a human life with a human girl. Trust me, you don’t want to be mixed up in our world if you can help it.” Her tone had become steady and serious.

  He sat in silence as he absorbed words he had dreaded, but deep down he knew this moment would come eventually. He had thought the same things from time to time, but had always pushed those thoughts out of his head and just enjoyed living in the present.

  He finally croaked, “I understand. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get over you; it’s not every day I get to date such a unique girl. Someone so kind and stunning, who is my lover and my friend. And there’s something to be said about being the boyfriend of a vampire, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to top that.”

  She shook her head and replied, “You don’t have to.” She locked eyes with him and her voice became steady, “You will forget that you were ever in love with me. When you walk out of this room, you will only know that we have become great friends over the past few months. And most of all, you will forget about what I am…forget that vampires exist. All you know is that they are a mythical creature that you see in books and movies. Vampires are not real.”

  She unlocked her eyes from his, breaking her charm tactic. She never wanted to have to do that to him. Although, she was relieved that any heartbreak he would feel would be forgotten and she knew, in time, she would get over him as well. For now, the tears flowed down her cheeks as she felt like a chapter in her life had just been erased. It was incredibly painful loving someone who literally forgot that they ever loved you back.

  He looked at her and said, “There’s no way I could ever forget about my love for
you and what you are. You’ll always hold a special place in my heart.”

  Her sorrow immediately ceased and turned to an alarmed confusion. Zachariah flung open the door and was crouched in front of them in the blink of an eye.

  Anxiously, Zachariah asked, “Todd, do you know what we are?”

  He looked at them as if they were crazy and replied, “Uhhh, vampires?”

  Emma slumped, feeling defeated and looked to Zachariah for an alternate answer from the one that was already in her head.

  Zachariah went on to ask, “Are you in love with Emma?”

  His brow furrowed with sadness as he answered, “Yes…madly in love with her. What’s going on? Why are you freaking out?”

  Beginning to panic, Emma said, “Todd, I was trying to charm you into forgetting everything about us. Are you saying you are still in love with me and you still know what we are?”

  “Yeah,” he hesitated. “Whatever charming you were trying to do didn’t work, love. Sorry.”

  “Let me try,” Zachariah insisted as he got up from the couch and squatted directly in front of Todd. He repeated what Emma had said—forgetting they were vampires and that he would no longer be in love with her. Zachariah was far more experienced with charming humans and was hoping that the problem was due to Emma’s lack of practice.

  When Zachariah finished his charm on Todd, he waited for Todd to speak.

  Todd shrugged and said, “Yeah…still in love with Emma and still know you’re vampires.”

  Emma’s eyes widened in horror as she looked at him, unable to speak. She turned to Zachariah, who’s shock mirrored her own. They both knew why he couldn’t be charmed and this was going to end badly if they didn’t act fast. They were aware that the other vampires in the house could hear their entire conversation. Before they had time to react, Aidan burst into the room with his fangs gleaming and a roar bellowing out of him. He was in full attack mode and was crouched, ready to take down anyone in his way.