Revolutions (Davenport Manor Book 3) Page 2

  She had been spoiled for the past few days while staying in Todd’s room. His room was larger, and much grander than hers. The reasoning was because her room never belonged to any of the original family members. Emma still had her room, Todd was in Elizabeth’s room, and Daniel had Christopher’s room. During the tour that Emma gave her a few days ago, she showed Kelly her parents’ room that remained untouched for nearly two centuries.

  Although she couldn’t complain; this bedroom was three times the size of her own back at home. It had a big, bay window, her own bathroom, the king size bed with the finest of linens, and a chaise lounge. Her fireplace was much smaller than the other ones, mostly because her bedroom was smaller. When the house was built, they relied on the fireplaces for heat. They didn’t need a large fireplace for such a “small” room.

  It had a very earthy feel, which she loved. There were a lot of green and tan decorative accents, some live plants that were on the bay window where they could soak in their daily sunshine, and rustic, wooden dressers. She loved the way it looked in the morning with the sun pouring in through the window; it was very peaceful and serene. Definitely not a feeling she had felt all day. She had hoped that after the vampire war was over that she would be able to begin enjoying her time at the Manor. But now, with Daniel in the condition he was in, she knew that peace wasn’t going to come anytime soon.

  She slowly changed into her borrowed pajamas, went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, and climbed into her plush, warm bed. Her body was begging to go to sleep, but her brain had too many thoughts traipsing through it to allow sleep to come. She flipped onto her back and stared at the ceiling, hoping that she would eventually just drift off. As much as she wanted to be with Todd right now, she knew that now was probably not the right time. Daniel had become a very close and dear friend to him and she knew that his mind was elsewhere.

  Todd stood in the middle of his room for several minutes, unable to focus long enough to figure out what to do first. He took a deep breath and as he exhaled he began to weep uncontrollably. He did a bit of crying at the hospital and in the car, but nothing like this. It was as if his subconscious didn’t want the others to see him fall apart. Daniel was the last person on earth who deserved this; for being a young Hollywood celebrity, he was level-headed and kind.

  He sat down on the edge of his bed and began reminiscing about his first day at the Manor. The moment he walked in and Daniel had welcomed him like an old friend. He made Todd feel instantly at home, never putting on an air of being wealthy and famous. Over the past year he had become like the younger brother he never had.

  He got up and walked over to the pictures that were hanging on his wall, looking at the memorable times that he had spent with Daniel. There were several pictures of Todd, Emma, Zachariah, and Daniel—his mind began to imagine Daniel being erased from those happy times. Life would be incomplete without him there. Then he thought of Emma, which completely broke his heart as he knew how much she adored her sixth-great nephew. She was always fully aware that the day would eventually come where she would have to say goodbye to him, but she always spoke as if it would happen when Daniel was an old man. Daniel was the last remaining living Davenport; the legacy of the family would stop with him.

  Todd began to wonder what would happen then. How would they get by of keeping the property in the family if there was no family that remained? Emma and Zachariah would have to disappear from society eventually since they weren’t aging. They did that every few decades, keeping themselves hidden the best they could away from the townspeople who knew them. Emma had once told him that there were some who raised an eyebrow. Those who were young when they knew them and then recognized them when they were senior citizens; they questioned Emma and Zachariah, who promptly had to charm them to forget.

  Todd changed into his pajamas, throwing on his usual flannel pants and a T-shirt. He put on some slippers as well since the floor was so cold during the late autumn months. As weary as he was, his brain was too wired to even contemplate crawling into bed and falling asleep. Instead, he lit the fire place and stretched out on his couch, hoping that the quiet crackle of the fire would help him relax. After a while, he decided to walk over to Daniel’s room to see how Zachariah and Emma were coming along in search of the living will.

  The door was open, so he lightly knocked on the door frame, even though Zachariah and Emma already knew that he was on his way over. They could hear and smell him coming from his room. They had drawers pulled out and papers everywhere in search of the official documents.

  “Come on in, hun,” Emma said as she dug in one of the desk drawers. This kept her busy, which she liked, until she began to think of the reason why she was rummaging. Then, doom would loom over her once again.

  “Can I help?” Todd asked as he walked in, looking around. “What does it look like?”

  “I can’t tell for sure, but I guess it would look like legal documents,” Zachariah answered. “Although, knowing Daniel, it is probably in a very odd place where we would never look. All he ever told me was that it was in a drawer. I never thought to ask him which one.”

  “He probably never thought that the day would come so soon,” Todd quietly answered as he began to tackle the other side of his desk.

  Todd began to search through the drawers that were stuffed full of papers, folders, and odd junk that had no home in his room. He chuckled to himself at some of the items he was finding, feeling somewhat guilty for going through his things.

  “Did you ever have a cat?” Todd asked as he pulled a cat toy from the drawer, the tiny bell jingling between his fingers.

  Emma in Zachariah looked at the item quizzically; they were completely confused as to why Daniel had a cat toy in his desk. It had been decades since they had a feline family member, but it was long before Daniel was born.

  “Sometimes he can be a strange dude,” Zachariah said as he shook his head with a smile on his face.

  Emma reached to the bottom of the desk drawer she was working on, and shoveled out the stack of papers and books with her hands. She carefully flipped through each item and set it aside facedown so that she could return it back to the drawer in the order that Daniel had it in. She came across his senior yearbook and placed it on her lap. She used her thumb to begin flipping through the pages, searching for Daniel’s picture. Instead, a manila envelope shoved inside had caused the book to pop open to the middle.

  Emma set down the yearbook on the floor next to her, and picked up the plank manila envelope. She opened the top and slipped her fingers in two pull out the two papers inside. The first page simply read, “Living Will of Daniel Davenport”. She flipped to the next page and read his instructions in the event where he could not make choices himself. Her mouth hung open in disbelief as she read the words on the page.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered to herself. She looked to Zachariah and Todd, who stopped what they were doing when they realized that she found it. Each of them slowly got up and walked over to sit on either side of her, nervously curious about what was written on the page that had her in shock.

  Todd’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Whoa,” he quietly breathed.

  “No way,” Zachariah shook his head. “We can’t do this.”

  Emma shoved her hand back in the envelope, hoping to find more pages that she may have missed. “This has to be a joke,” she anxiously said when she found nothing inside.

  Zachariah took the papers from her hand and looked over them again, hoping that he would find something that Emma might have missed. Of course, he didn’t, and returned to stare at the page with Daniel’s instructions for them.

  “Are we going to actually do this?” Emma asked, exasperated by Daniel’s demands. “How could he put us in this position?”

  “It’s what he wants you to do, Emma,” Todd gently answered.

  Emma took the papers back from Zachariah, and the three of them remained sitting on the floor next to each other. They analy
zed Daniel’s words that were speaking to them from his comatose state. The lawyer that drew up the living will was no doubt a vampire, simply because only a vampire would understand Daniel’s request. Enough to make it official, just two simple words were on the second page.

  Turn me.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Aidan!” Emma called as she stormed down the stairs with Daniel’s living will in her hand. “You have to see this! I don’t know what to do.”

  Aidan met her at the bottom of the stairs, took the living will, and casually read the second page. “So, what’s the problem?” He asked, not understanding what she was conflicted about.

  She spread her hands and shook her head, trying to get him to understand her point. “I can’t turn him!”

  “Then have Zachariah do it,” he shrugged while handing the paper back to her.

  “Aidan! I’m trying to say that I don’t want this life for him!”

  “Well, it doesn’t look like you have that choice now, do you? This is what he wants,” Aidan urged as he pointed at the words on the paper. “He wants the immortal life. He wants to be turned. It’s not about what you want, these are his written words. What would be so bad about it anyway? You’d never lose your favorite nephew to a human death. Isn’t that something that you have always dreaded?”

  Emma remained silent, allowing Aidan’s wise words to absorb. She knew he had several points, especially the fact that she would never face the day when she would have to bury Daniel. It was something that she knew would be inevitable, and always tried to keep the thought tamed in the back of her mind. If she respected his wishes, that day would never come.

  Zachariah and Todd had joined them at the bottom of the stairs to join in the debate. Oddly, Zachariah was not as opposed to it as he thought he would be. He had always somewhat resented Emma for turning him without his consent; it was not a life he would’ve chosen. However, Daniel wanted this and it wasn’t the first occasion that he had mentioned it. He had said it several times in his life, and would often casually slip his desire to be a vampire into a sentence.

  Emma and Zachariah looked to each other for a response; both of them knew what the right thing to do was. No matter how reluctant they were to bring Daniel into their world, the two bolded words on the paper in front of them told them exactly what needed to be done. Daniel did not wish to be on life support. He wasn’t interested in being a vegetable for the rest of his life. And he had no desire to be completely dead. His one and only request was to be like them: immortal.

  “It’s what he wants, guys,” Todd shrugged. “There really shouldn’t be a debate about this.”

  Emma blankly stared at her feet before she spoke, trying to shove the words out of her mouth. “Who’s going to do it? Me or you, Zachariah?” She spoke quietly with defeat in her voice, still keeping her head lowered.

  “You do it,” Zachariah responded. “You’re the one that’s blood-related to him; it should be you.”

  Emma solemnly nodded in agreement.

  A slight smile crept across Aidan’s face. He was proud of Emma for relenting and agreeing to turn Daniel. In essence, Aidan and Zachariah would now be related to him; Aidan being his immortal grandfather and Zachariah being his immortal brother.

  Todd had a look of confusion on his face, slightly disgusted. “Uh, you guys explained the whole maker/offspring thing to me before. Won’t Daniel and up being attracted to you?”

  “Ew, no!” Emma exclaimed with a chuckle. “Remember? If the maker is related to the offspring there will be no attraction. However, he will be extremely devoted to me. The same natural rule applies if he were to be turned by a man since he isn’t gay.”

  Todd breathed a sigh of relief after shaking the revolting, incestual thought from his mind. “When are you guys going to do this?”

  Zachariah replied, “Well, no use in delaying the inevitable. I think we should probably just do it tonight. What do you think, Emma?”

  “I agree, I just want to get it over with.”

  “And what about his first feed?” Aidan asked with raised eyebrows. “I know you’re opposed to him killing someone, which you of all people know will happen,” he added while tipping his head in Emma’s direction.

  “What if you brought a jug of blood from your refrigerator?” Todd suggested. “Would that be enough? Or is it some vampy rule that you have to make your first kill?”

  Aidan explained, “It’s not a vampy rule, but more like an instinct that you can’t shake. It is an urge so strong that you can’t fight it. I was turned over two thousand years ago, yet I will never forget that feeling, that irresistible thirst, the moment my body became immortal. It was a sensation like no other. Naturally, we’re predators and unfortunately for humans, they’re our prey. I don’t know if a jug of blood is going to do the trick.”

  “We’re going to have to try,” Emma said. “I don’t want Daniel going on a rampage through the hospital. Hopefully, it will be enough to quench his thirst until we can get him out of there.”

  “Bring more than one,” Todd added. “Maybe bring one or two into the hospital, get him down to the car, let him chug away on the rest as you drive home.”

  Aidan folded his arms and looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head at the imbecile conversation they were having. “Do you two not remember that feeling when you first opened your eyes as a vampire? That urge that took over your bodies? Think back and remember it, would you have been content with a jug of blood?”

  “We have to try,” Emma simply stated.

  Aidan smugly threw his hands in the air and began to walk away, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Todd’s own curiosity got the best of him and he blurted, “Is fresh blood really that different from the jugged stuff?”

  Aidan stopped and turned around to answer him, “Do you like bananas, Todd?”

  Todd raised an eyebrow and attempted not to laugh at such a bizarre question. “Yeah…”

  “Okay, let’s say you have two bananas sitting on the counter next to each other. One is perfectly ripe and bright yellow. The other is starting to turn brown, has black bruises all over it, and you know it’s been there far longer than the other. It will still feed your hunger, but it probably won’t taste as good as the first banana. Which one do you choose?”

  Todd didn’t have to reply as he completely understood the analogy. Of course he would choose the ripe one, which would be the equivalent to a vampire drinking blood straight from the vein. Aidan slowly bowed his head as if to say, “I’ve made my point,” and turned around to join the other Kings and Queen in the parlor.

  “All right, let’s go do this,” Emma began. “Todd, you stay here and let Kelly know what’s going on. One of us will keep you posted on Daniel’s…ah…status. When we return, I would suggest that you and Kelly stay away from him for his own safety. You’re still a human, so he will have that urge to bite you. I’m not sure how much control he will have over himself, even knowing what you are.”

  Todd pulled her into a hug, holding on to her tightly for a moment. He knew that Daniel’s request was causing her much anxiety. She never wanted this for him. She was adamant about keeping him outside of the vampire world’s window, but allowing him to look in. She never wanted him to be a part of it.

  “He’s going to be okay,” Todd whispered directly into Emma’s ear. She felt his warm breath, which sent a shockwave through her. “This is better than the alternative, you know that.”

  “I know,” she softly replied. She pulled back, but not before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, which surprised him.

  Zachariah gave Todd a quick pat on the shoulder before walking toward the door with Emma. Todd watched them walk away until they shut the front door behind them. He turned to go back up the stairs to Kelly’s room, but halted when Aidan suddenly appeared on the step before him. He jumped slightly, startled by his abrupt appearance.

  “Todd,” Aidan’s gravelly voice spoke. “It is of the most import
ance that you understand that you need to stay away from Daniel until given the all clear. A new vampire has far less self-control than an older one, and their instincts tend to cloud their rational thinking. Lucky for him, he has all of us here to watch him and teach him. We’re all strong enough to hold him back if he were to try to attack you. But all it takes is one bite…you know that.”

  “I’m aware. I’ll do everything in my power to stay away from him and I’ll make sure to keep Kelly away, too. He’s like a brother to me, Aidan, I won’t put him in danger.”

  Aidan, who was satisfied with Todd’s response, vanished from the stairs as quickly as he appeared. Todd let out a breath of air that he didn’t realize he had been holding. He and Aidan had bonded while training for battle, and fought together against Declan and his vampires. But, he still intimidated Todd no matter how chummy they had become. He didn’t think they were going to be fishing buddies or golf partners anytime soon.

  Todd continued up the staircase and turned to walk down the bedroom hallway, finally stopping in front of Kelly’s door. He gently knocked on it, expecting her to be asleep. He was surprised when he heard her answer immediately and invite him in.

  As he turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door, he peeked in to find that she was not in bed, but sitting on her couch watching TV.

  “I thought you would be asleep!” He exclaimed.

  “I tried, but my brain is buzzing too much. I can’t get this evening and what happened to Daniel out of my head. Do you know if they found the living will?”

  Todd explained everything to Kelly and what was found in Daniel’s living will. He had expected her reaction to be of shock, but it wasn’t. She remembered Daniel speaking about becoming a vampire the day she first came to the Manor. Emma had quickly hushed him up, not wanting to hear those words coming out of his mouth.