Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (14 page)

“I told you he has been avoiding the sun. I also plucked a concern from his son Adam’s mind about his feeding habits. The boy apparently has noticed his father feeding much more than any healthy immortal should.”

Eleazar looked down at his now-empty cup. The hunger still plaguing his system suddenly occurred to him. He was being a glutton. He turned to place the pewter cup on the mantle and shut his eyes briefly as his equilibrium went off kilter. That reminded him of the other symptoms. “Has he suffered vertigo?”

“I am not completely sure, but I did pick up on a deliberate concentration as he moved past me. It was as if he needed to focus on walking.”

Some thought began to tickle the perimeter of his mind, yet he could not exactly pin it down. He cleared his thoughts and shook his head. Knowing Adriel’s past was not something up for discussion, he risked her ire and asked what he needed to know. “Does a mate always remember their dreams?”

She looked up at him sharply. She understood he was asking about her very own experience, something she never discussed. “I would not know.”

“Do not lie to me, Adriel. It is only you and I here. I am very much aware of the bond you share with him. I have never spoken his name nor do I plan to. I will not betray your friendship. I am merely curious.”

She seemed to consider his request. He knew good and well that Adriel was in fact a bonded female. No other immortal on the farm was privy to such information, but Eleazar knew. It was of no consequence either way. Christian’s father would never reach Adriel in anything more than a dream. He would never find his mate, which was exactly the way the female preferred it. Their bonding had been anything but tidy.

“Not always.”

“Explain,” he insisted.

“There are times that you wake up and a dream is fresh in your mind, but other times it is only a déjà vu you cannot seem to hold on to. It becomes a slippery bar of soap you simply cannot grip long enough to be of use. There are images, flashes, of bodies, facial expressions, things you are aware of never having witnessed in real life. Those are the crumbs left by a dream.”

Eleazar felt a cold stone settle into the pit of his stomach. His mind suddenly reeled with images. Bare legs, round breasts being cupped in his hands, his body sawing over another, the sensation of his lips caressing soft flesh just below a female’s ear, the sound of her raspy voice as she climaxed, dear God, it was her. Larissa.

“What? Are you speaking of the missing Hostetler wife?”

“She is a Hartzler,” he snapped, then followed his outburst with a wash of embarrassment for his uncontrolled hostility. He had not intended to speak her name out loud, but he must have. He hoped that was the only thought he voiced. He turned to Adriel, who was now watching him with a curious expression on her face.

“No doubt young Silus looks forward to having his wife returned,” she baited and he could not silence the growl that rumbled from his chest and filled the quiet room.

“I’ll be damned,” she whispered. “It has finally happened. Does anyone else know?”

“Know what? You are not making sense, old girl.”

She tipped her head back and laughed heartily. “Oh, Eleazar, must I really say it out loud? Do not lie to me. I could easily peek into your mind and find out if my assumptions are true.”

“Touch my mind and I will drop you faster than a sword sinks into its scabbard. I do not care that you are female. I am well aware that your strength far outweighs half the elders on the bench.”

She turned and tipped her nose in the air. Sometimes Eleazar wondered if Adriel was not part feline she appeared so self-assured. She may be a female, but she was incredibly powerful. She would not look at him.

“Have I offended you?”

She crossed her arms over her flat chest. “I simply do not understand why you should be privy to my secrets, yet not allow me access to yours.”

“Perhaps because I am your bishop.”

“Oh, pish! Do not try pulling that authority nonsense with me, Eleazar. I still remember the day when you were nothing more than a Portuguese youth running around as a page for your elders. I watched you come into your own. You may be able to hold yourself above all others, but not above me. I wonder will the fair Larissa be keen on having such an old man as her mate.”

“You are speaking nonsense, woman.”

“Am I?” She smiled wickedly at him. “I think that I am right. I think you and Jonas have an awful lot in common these days. I think there is a reason you have not yet returned Silus’s bride. Tsk, tsk, Bishop King, you should know better than to covet another man’s wife. Whatever will you do when it comes time to hand her over to that little whelp?”

The growl that ripped from his throat shocked even him, but not nearly as much as the words that followed it. “That cretin will never touch Larissa again!”

Her evil grin morphed into a fully satisfied Cheshire smile. “Promise me one thing, Eleazar, for old times’ sake. When you announce your call to the others, let me be there. I think I would enjoy nothing more than watching our old bishop being brought to his knees by a female not even half a century old.”

He wanted to demand her silence. He wanted to wipe that smirk right off of her arrogant face. He wanted to not give her the satisfaction of seeing him caught so entirely off guard. Yet he did nothing. As if a dam had broken, his mind was suddenly awash with a million fragments he had somehow never noticed. He had dreamed. He had been clumsy as of late. He had been ignoring hunger pains that never ceased regardless of the blood he gorged himself on.

He thought back to the night he had seen Larissa dancing. He suddenly relived the rage he had felt at seeing the other males admiring her. As if experiencing the world for the first time in color, he remembered things he had somehow overlooked in real time. She had aroused him. He had not suffered a single sexual inclination since he was a youth, yet she had somehow awaken that part of him, stimulated it. He thought about how he enjoyed chasing her as if he were the mountain lion pouncing on his lioness. He had become the predator at some point, no longer on a task for another, but on a task to satisfy his own needs.

His body began to emit a low purr as he imagined what it would be like to finally possess Larissa, to actually hold her in his arms, feel her moist flesh clinging to his own as he took from her as fiercely as she took from him. She would be an incredible lover, passionate and insatiable. She exuded sexuality. He longed to feel her sharp claws digging into his thick muscles.

Adriel suddenly stood. “I can see that I am correct. Your lust is choking me.” She placed her cup on the table and collected her cape. As she reattached her bonnet, she asked, “I assume this means you are leaving immediately?”

He barely heard her question. He was too preoccupied with searching his memory for fragments of his dreams. It irritated him that he could not recall more than a glimpse leftover from his subconscious. “What? Yes, I will be leaving as soon as I change.”

She folded her hands under the front of her cloak. She was completely shrouded in black, making the intensity of her bright-green eyes all the more severe. “Remember one thing, Eleazar, for the girl’s sake. Silus Hostetler may be a male who comes from a long line of elders, but he is not the guiltless boy you all see him as. Females talk and when they do not, I listen. Larissa is a sweet girl. Why you jackasses decided to approve the union between she and Silus never did make sense to me. He can be cruel. I have seen it in his mind as well as Larissa’s. Be kind to her. Do not let your emotions get the better of you. Do not forget, I have abandoned my destiny. Any other female of worth could do the same. Do not underestimate the strength of a female. It is the quiet ones who usually surprise us most.”

He thought about the way Larissa had repelled his mental push and catapulted it back at him, not only dropping him, but also rendering him unconscious for God knew how long. “Oh, believe me. I will not underestimate her again.”

Chapter 8

Cain watched his brother shove another burnt biscuit into his mouth and frowned. “I don’t know how you can eat that,” he whispered to Adam while Annalise was busy basting a roast in the oven.

“What? I like my wife’s cooking.”

Cain reexamined his blackened roll and frowned. “I suppose that’s love.” He tossed the inedible briquette back into the basket with the others.

“The roast should be done in about five more minutes,” Annalise said as she returned to the table. She sat down and let out a long sigh and rubbed her slightly protruding belly. Her long, copper hair hung loose and glimmered in the glow from the lamp behind her.

“Greaaaat,” Cain commented with as much enthusiasm as he could muster for his sister-in-law’s cooking.

“Anna, why don’t you go find your bonnet while we have company,” Adam requested. His brother was so much more obedient and tolerant of Amish tradition than Cain himself was.

Anna’s hand went to her bare head as if just realizing she had been walking around with her hair uncovered. She slumped in her chair and whined, “I don’t feel like going upstairs to get it. It’s only Cain. He’s seen my hair before.”

Adam gave Annalise a look that said he did not approve of any man, even his brother, seeing his wife in such a state of undress, but Anna simply ignored him and picked up a biscuit. She sighed and began to pick off the blackened parts. “So tell me more about the meeting,” she suggested.

“There isn’t much more to tell. The bishop didn’t seem too concerned that one of our own may be running around murdering innocent civilians.”

“It could just be a bear or something, you know.”

“It wasn’t a bear.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I could smell whatever it was. It was not the scent an animal leaves behind.”

The front door of Adam and Anna’s home opened and a small figure, cloaked in black, stepped in. Small hands reached out from below the heavy, dark fabric and pulled back the bonnet veiling their younger sister Gracie’s face. “Can you believe how chilly it is for November? I dread to see what this winter will be like,” Gracie said as she hung her cloak on a hook by the door and joined them in the kitchen. She briskly rubbed her fingers together as she walked.

She first greeted Adam and placed a kiss on his cheek and then went to kiss Anna’s cheek just before she placed a hand on Anna’s belly and felt for the baby. Gracie was able to overhear others’ thoughts, an ability that allowed her to also be able to check on a mother’s fetus. It had something to do with the brainwaves, but Cain wasn’t really sure how it worked.

His sister looked at him and gave her usual greeting. “Hello, toad.”

“Good evening, runt.”

She stuck out her tongue at him then turned and smiled at Anna. “He’s active tonight.”

“He?” Cain asked with a look of pure skepticism.

Gracie turned to him, “Yes, the baby is a boy. Did they not tell you?” She clucked her tongue and sarcastically said, “Aw, too bad. Well, that’s what you get for never being around.”

“You act as though I was off doing nothing of importance. I’ll have you know, if not for me, the council would be clueless of recent events that could greatly affect The Order.”

Gracie pulled out a chair and sat. “And how does you fornicating with mortals and soiling motel bed sheets affect The Order, brother?”