“Shut up!” He jerked her head hard and as her face made contact with the wall again she saw a white flash as pain engulfed her face and her nose began to gush blood. “For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. I intend to take your blood as is my due as your lord and master. You pledged your troth to me and proved nothing more than a faithless witch, like a bitch in heat you gave yourself to the first willing stray. Well, I will have nothing more of your filthy loins but I will take what I am due and feed from your vein until I feel the Lord’s satisfaction that you are clean once more.”
He tipped his head back and quickly uttered words in German. Larissa was so afraid she could barely translate the verse he was quoting. His voice had gone guttural as he crowed, “Thou hast no pleasure in offering and sacrifices. I come to do thy will of God!”
She felt his fangs pierce the back of her neck and she screamed. He covered her mouth again and drank violently from her as if he hoped to drain her vein dry. She felt her strength waning and began to sag in his grip. She wanted to be somewhere, anywhere but there. The longer he drank from her, the easier it became to let go. Flashes of light danced behind her eyelids. She saw visions of herself, but it was as if she were seeing her own body from afar. As if she was remembering a dream. Flesh touching flesh, limbs twisting and pulling taut in pleasure. Eleazar’s face. A red ribbon tickling past her breasts. She heard herself laugh and watched herself smile as Eleazar tenderly leaned down to kiss her. She was aware that she was the girl in the vision, but she still felt separate from herself. She wanted to lie with him and her own self and feel their safety and warmth and love. The vision was ripped from her mind at the sound of what could have been a grandfather oak crashing through the walls of the house.
Her eyes burst opened as Silus’s mouth ripped from her throat. She wanted to scream, but was too weak. His body was hauled off of her and she collapsed to the ground like a sack of flour. She heard the sound of flesh tearing and Silus’s agonizing scream, but she was so tired she could not turn her head to look. A vicious animal seemed to have made it into the house. She knew she should run, but she was too weak. Her heavy eyelids crowded her blurred vision as the sounds of beastly roars faded away and her mind let go. She seemed too weak to even form a thought. All she could do was sleep.
Chapter 34
Larissa felt warm blood seeping down her throat. She swallowed and let the rich fluid nurture her abused veins. Why was she so groggy and why did her body ache so? Visions of Silus came to her mind and she recalled what had happened. Her lashes fluttered but she was still too weak to open her eyes. Did he have her? She tried to turn her face away from the wrist pressed to her lips and moaned at the pain it caused her.
“Shh, shh, shh. Drink, my love. I have you. Just drink for me.”
At the sound of Eleazar’s voice, she relaxed. He had her. He would not allow anything to happen to her. Where was Silus? She knew Eleazar must have found him. She recalled the sound of something vicious attacking Silus and his screams of agony. Had that been Eleazar? No. The bishop was always in control. He was bound by a code of honor not to harm another creature. He would not harm Silus or any other living thing. He was their bishop.
She dozed for a bit and when she awoke again, she felt a little more herself. She shifted her shoulders and groaned. Eleazar made a soothing sound and she immediately felt his palm coast over her hair affectionately. Her mouth was incredibly dry. She slowly opened her eyes and allowed her surroundings to come into focus. She was in their room.
Larissa attempted to speak, but could only make out a wheezing croak. Eleazar held a glass to her lips and slowly tipped it. The cool water was like a downpour after an overdone drought. When he pulled the glass away, she swallowed and attempted to speak again. Her throat was raw. “Silus?”
Eleazar looked away from her and answered, “He is confined. He will never have the chance to touch you again.”
“You hurt him.” It wasn’t a question. She had drawn her own conclusions.
“He hurt you. You are my mate. No other will touch you and any male that thinks he can will regret even the thought.”
She weakly placed a hand over his and made her best attempt at a smile. “Hero.”
He turned and looked at her. His eyes were creased with worry and perhaps regret. “I should have been there sooner.”
Speaking was becoming exhausting. She struggled, but lifted his hand to her chest and placed it over her heart. “Love you.”
He gave her a sad smile then leaned down to kiss her nose. “Try to get some rest. Adriel is coming to sit with you while I take care of some things.”
“Don’t go.”
“I have to. Allow me to take care of this and then I am yours for as long as you will have me.”
“Always. I’ll have you always.”
He lowered his head and whispered, “I am hoping so.”
* * * *
Dane walked behind Cain who was holding his sister and wondered why they had not called a cab. “How far are we walking?” It was cold and dark and miserable out. Cybil was resting her head on Cain’s shoulder, her eyes shutting for long bouts. He had no idea how she could fall asleep being held like that.
“About a mile more. There is a rest stop up ahead. I will call for a taxi when we get there. I wasn’t expecting the distance to be this hard on you two.”
Dane shook his head and sneered, “You make it sound like there is something wrong with us because we find it exhausting to walk six miles in the freezing cold in the middle of the night. Like it’s a perfectly normal thing to do. Cybil will probably have the flu by the time we get there.” It only irritated Dane more when Cain lovingly draped a jacket over his sister’s shoulders and held her tighter. “That’s it. I’m not going any further.”
Cain turned and frowned at him. “You must.”
“I don’t have to do crap. You aren’t my dad, you aren’t my brother. You aren’t even my friend. I am sick of just following along while everyone else acts crazy. For all we know you are taking us out to the woods to kill us. I’m going back.”
Dane turned and began walking in the other direction when Cain said his name with a bite of authority he had not expected from the guy. Dane turned around irritably and snapped, “What?”
“What are you going back to? You’re not a stupid kid. You know what’s happening here. I promise I am not here to hurt you or your sister. I only want to help you.”
“Help us what? You and Jonas show up out of nowhere and everyone starts acting like it’s perfectly normal to have strangers as houseguests. Well, I am not that gullible. Something isn’t right about you or Jonas. I can feel it. My grandmother is sick. She can’t protect herself. I should have never left her.”
Cain grabbed his shoulder and halted his steps. “And who is going to protect her? You?”
Dane shoved his hand away, sick of everyone thinking he couldn’t look out for his own. “Yeah, me!”
“Dane, you are just a kid. Jonas is strong. Trust me that if anyone will look out for your grandmother, it’s him.”
Dane began to take slow, deep gulps of air. His shoulders rose and fell with each breath. He had had it with everyone around him seeing him as nothing more than a useless child. He looked at Cybil sleeping in Cain’s arms. If he wasn’t holding his sister, Dane would have lunged at him. He wanted to punch that calm arrogance right off his face. Suddenly he said, “Cybil, wake up!”
His sister began to stir and Cain placed a comforting hand on her back then sent him a look that promised death as if he had just committed some heinous crime. “Let your sister sleep. She’s tired.”
“She’s not going with you. We’re going back. Cybil, I said wake up!”
Again Cain sent him a look that promised retribution only this time he growled. “What’s the matter with you? I said leave her be. She doesn’t need you upsetting her. For Christ’s sake, be a man and quit your bellyaching.”
Anger became a living thing that
seethed within Dane’s heart. “I said put her down!” He ran toward Cain with both hands outstretched and shoved at the other man’s front as hard as he could without harming his sister. The guy didn’t even budge. Dane looked up, knowing no one could be that strong. Not that he was any kind of hard-ass, but he should have at least caused Cain to adjust his footing. But the guy didn’t move. He only looked down at Dane as if he were an irritating housefly. Dane had never felt so impotent in his entire life.
“Let’s not do that again,” Cain said almost jokingly. “Look, I know you’re confused and upset, but I’m not the kind of guy who can help with that kind of stuff. I’m just here to take you to the farm.”
“I’m not going to your God damn farm! Aren’t you listening?”
“Aren’t you?” Cain shouted back. “Don’t you get it? Your grandmother is dying. There is nothing you can do about it. I know it is terrible, but you have to move on and think about your sister. Do you know what would happen to her if she had to spend the next eight years of her life going through the system, passing from house to house of strangers you know nothing about? You won’t be able to go with her once you’re of age. Do you honestly think you will be able to support her when you are eighteen? She’s another person and you can barely handle yourself. Do you understand that there are bad people out there who would love to have a beautiful little girl like her who doesn’t talk and therefore can’t tell? She would be helpless if someone tried to harm her. Now quit being so fucking selfish and think about her for once!”
Dane stumbled back as if the man had punched him in the gut. He had never been spoken to like that in his life. He looked at his sister in the other man’s arms and saw her as a tiny child. She had always been so precocious and bold, but since she stopped talking, her entire presence seemed to shrink. He was right, she was helpless. And Dane was in no position to help her if she fell into trouble.
“Look, I didn’t mean you don’t care about your sister. I know you do. I just—”
Dane held up his hand and Cain paused. “You’re right. I can’t save anyone when there is actual danger. I couldn’t save my mom. I couldn’t help my grandmother. And I wouldn’t be able to help Cybil if she got into trouble. I’m useless. Like you said, I’m just a kid. She’s all I got left and I just don’t want to lose her.”
“You’re not useless, Dane. You just have some maturing to do before you can take on the world. Cybil has a lot more years to go. You will be an adult in less than two years, but she has a long while until she gets there. You have to be a realist. Would you rather be placed in the care of the state where you have no say in whether you two stay together or are split apart? Or would you prefer to go to our farm where you will be looked after and treated as if you were our own? No danger can touch you on the farm. Yes, you will miss all the amenities of modern life, but you will own your days and not have to take any shit from anyone at night. You can work and learn a trade. Cybil can go to school and play with the other girls. You know it isn’t healthy for her to just spend all her time with you and that ugly dog. She needs a place she can feel safe.”
Dane nodded. He looked over to Shimmers who was whining as she watched the two of them argue. The dog had defected the moment Cain stepped on their property. “What are you looking at, you ugly mutt? Don’t even try to convince me you don’t want to go with him.” The dog came over and licked his hand. Dane patted the animal affectionately then looked at Cain. “I’m sorry. You’re just trying to look out for us. Not a lot of people are doing that for us these days and I am not always sure who to trust.”
“You can trust me, Dane. I’m your friend.”
Dane nodded and reached down to grab his duffel bag. They began to walk in silence. Eventually the rest stop came into view and Dane felt relieved he would soon be able to sit down. As they walked toward a pay phone in the distance, Cain asked, “How did Shimmers get her name? The last adjective I would use to describe that dog is something like shimmer.”
Dane laughed, glad for the lighter topic. “Cybil found her. She was convinced Shimmers was a he. She said no female could ever be that ugly. She was too young at the time to understand that there was a very easy way to prove the dog’s gender, so she just continued to argue on about it with me. When I would call her a she, Cybil would correct me by calling her a him. I started to call her shim. Eventually it stuck and turned into Shimmers.”
Cain looked down at the mangy dog trotting alongside of them and laughed. “For as ugly as she is, she doesn’t seem to realize it.”
Dane looked down. Shimmers was marching proudly between them as if she were a steed guarding the princess and two of the king’s men. “No, she sure doesn’t.”
* * * *
After Adriel arrived and Larissa had fallen back to sleep, Eleazar went down to his office to grab some things. His furniture was pushed around the room and tables had been toppled over from his fight with Silus. He had never wanted to murder another so completely. He still was not sure he was prepared to face him yet. How dare he think he could put his hands on his mate?
Eleazar roared and threw the chair he had just righted into the wall. He took a few deep breaths and prayed for his control to return, but feared when it came to Silus Hostetler, it never would. For the first time in all of his life, he regretted his commitment to God. How easy it would be to simply tear out Silus’s heart and never look back. But Eleazar knew he had taken a vow to lead a pure life and do his best to be a righteous man.
When he felt somewhat in control of his rage, he went to his desk and began sorting through papers. Whatever Silus had been looking for, he did not find. Eleazar had a good idea what it was. He went to the hidden cabinet in the wall and pressed down on what appeared a normal sampler stating scripture. The compartment opened and Eleazar withdrew the papers he needed. He reached for an ink pen and then left his office.
As Eleazar’s sure footsteps echoed down the long corridor of the holding cell block, he felt his jaw tighten and his muscles clench. Calm, he needed to remain calm. When he reached the cell that contained Silus, he pulled a chair close and casually sat down and watched the other man.
Silus stared at him with bloodshot eyes. His skin bore the remaining claw marks from Eleazar’s fists and his hair was in complete disarray. The man stared back at him with nothing less than complete hatred. His clothing was torn and bloodied and his arm still appeared broken as it hung lifelessly at his side and out of the socket.
After letting the male simply squirm under Eleazar’s scrutiny for a time, he finally said, “I have the papers you were searching for. You will sign them now.”
He watched as Silus’s jaw ticked, but the man said nothing.
“I warned you what would happen if you ever laid a finger upon her again. I warned you of the penalty if you chose not to respect her choice in all matters from here on. I told you not to test me on this. She is a mated female and by touching her you have broken one of our most sacred laws. You truly are a stupid man for thinking you could get away with taking her blood!” He roared the last few words and Silus snickered. “Are you mocking me, boy?” Eleazar seethed.
“You cannot do anything to me that has not already been done. I’ll sign your damn papers and then tomorrow my father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather will demand I be released. You may be the bishop, but you are not the council.”
The corner of Eleazar’s mouth kicked up in a sardonic grin. “Your ignorance baffles me. What a fool you are to think you will just walk away from this. I heard you had a run-in with Ms. Schrock.”
“Who?”
“Adriel Schrock.” Eleazar knew by the look on Silus’s face that he knew who he was speaking of. “Let me tell you a story of how reprobates were handled in my day. I can tell you this, because I know you will never have the opportunity to repeat it.” Eleazar settled more comfortably into his chair.
“Approximately three hundred years ago, a man named Cerberus was called to his mate. Times were diffe
rent then. Women were looked at as property and pawns to be maneuvered about a man’s world. When a man took a wife, he was entitled to use her as he saw fit. Women often disappeared with little follow-up. Murders were explained away as mishaps and brutal men continued to take wives and run through them like water.
“Times are different now. Although we remain sheltered from the outside world, we do try to stay abreast of English politics. Nowadays women are educated, they can vote, drive automobiles, raise families without the assistance of a male, and even work in fields that require great strength and fortitude. Although our views on mating and marriage are protected by family law, we still do not condone abuse of any creature of God.
“It was perhaps 1729, only a few years before we traveled to America. Cerberus had received his call and gone to claim his mate. She had expressed her wishes to join the pilgrimage to the new world, but Cerberus had refused. When she tried for diplomacy, he only took offense to her insolence. He ended up forcing himself on the female and bonding with her against her will. The result of this rape was Christian Schrock, your elder. Christian sits across from your family on the bench, just beside me, his uncle Abraham, Larissa’s grandfathers, Ezekiel and Thaddeus. So you see, as far as you feeling secure in your favor with the council, I assure you, you are outnumbered. And by men who do not take kindly to behavior such as your own.”
Eleazar crossed his booted foot over one knee and casually flicked a piece of dirt off the sole of his shoe. “Anyway, as I was saying, Cerberus had brutally raped his mate and commanded her to stay with him. He had showed her that his actions were not a result of turning feeish, but simply the way he was. She suffered many nights of unthinkable abuse. It wasn’t until I and several other elders had stumbled upon her that we realized just how atrociously she was being treated. There is right and then there is right. It would teach you well to understand such things.
Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 33
