“Abilene—”
“How long?” she interrupted. “How long have you kept this from me?”
Of course she would be more upset that he had kept it from her than the fact that it was actually happening. “Over two months,” he confessed. She turned her face away from him. “I didn’t want to hurt you, Abilene.”
“And yet, I do not remember the last time I felt happiness or pleasure from your attentions. I suppose it was about two months ago.”
“I never intended to keep it from—”
“Do not insult me further by lying. You have known this…this thing for over two months and done nothing but keep it from me. You have brought your lies into our home, our bedroom, our marriage!” Her voice quivered with emotion and she angrily swiped at her fallen tears with the back of her hand.
No longer could he ignore her distress. He stepped toward her, prepared to hold her in his arms the way he had wanted to so many times since this had begun, but she stepped away from him. “Abilene, please. I was trying to protect you.”
She looked at him, her red eyes brimming over with tears. She shook her head slowly. “There’s no protection from this, Jonas. No protection from God and His will.”
“I don’t have to go,” he said, his own voice thick with tears.
“Then you shall die as your uncle did. There is no way to ignore a calling. Either way I will lose you and you have wasted maybe the last two months we will ever have by lying to me and ignoring me.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Say what? The truth? I speak the truth, Jonas. The man I married valued that quality. Why don’t you?”
“I cannot accept that this is our fate.”
“Then you are a fool.”
“I need to hold you, Abilene. I need to feel you in my arms right now in this moment. Please come to me. Don’t let this distance between us continue. It has been killing me.”
“I needed you to hold me a week ago when you placed a cold cup of blood on our nightstand. This distance that has poisoned our marriage is here because you allowed it into our home with your lies. Was I not a good wife to you, Jonas? An obedient wife? Perhaps I did not bear all the children you had dreamed of—”
“You have given me four beautiful children and that is enough.”
“Either way, I married you because you told me you would never hurt me. I was to be your helpmate, your partner in this life. I could maybe accept the fact that destiny is unpredictable, but I cannot forgive how you have hurt me these past few months. At least not tonight.”
He felt as if a vise had grabbed hold of his heart and was slowly crushing him to death. Tears fell from his eyes as he watched her walk away from him. For the first time in sixty years, she had told him no. And yet, he could only blame himself.
Chapter 7
Eleazar occupied his seat at the center of the Elder’s Council bench and distractedly listened to the young Hartzler twin’s testimony. His attention should have been solely focused on the young brother’s account of his passing through the woods by Jim Thorpe, yet Eleazar’s mind was occupied with another Hartzler entirely.
As Cain continued to provide testimony that his great-uncle had survived the last eighty years, the bishop imagined Larissa’s long, lush legs. Damn her for displaying herself on a stage of sin. Images of her shapely thighs and pert, little breasts filled his mind. Her hair was dark, darker than Eleazar’s. He knew that such long chestnut locks would shine silver in the moonlight. He frowned. How would he know such things? He had never seen the girl under the light of the moon, yet he was certain that was how it would appear, fanned out along his pillows as the blue glow of night seeped through his windows.
He needed to stop. He was coveting another man’s wife. Not to mention the girl was over four hundred and fifty years younger than he. He shook his head to clear away his unclean thoughts and focused on what Cain was saying.
“Beyond the markings in the soil, I found hair. It was long and dark, the color of my uncle’s.”
“Perhaps it belonged to one of the female victims,” Eleazar offered.
“Perhaps, but I also sighted claw marks along the trees in several places. What I don’t understand is the pattern of the footprints.”
“How so?”
“There seemed to be so many. I am a fair tracker and I can tell the difference between recent imprints and ones left days before. These tracks were all from around the same time period. They circled about in a way that almost seemed as if there had been a struggle.”
“A struggle with what?”
“That’s what I am saying. I think there is more than my uncle in those woods.”
Grumbles from the males seated throughout the council hall filled the room. Eleazar sent out a mental demand for silence and the crowd quieted at once. “Let us not make any hasty assumptions. As I understand your family’s desire to find closure where Brother Isaiah is concerned, there is no proof that he is in fact the beast of the woods. Let us also keep in mind that if this beast is in fact Isaiah, he is most certainly deranged. The body can only sustain so long after being called without completing the bond. If there is any chance that Isaiah survived all this time unanswered, he would be beyond feeish, beyond rational thought and more animal than anything else. If he is occupying the woods, he could be leaving such tracks because he is hallucinating an enemy.”
“But, Bishop, the tracks, I know what I saw, there were more than one set.”
“Are you claiming that we may possibly have not one feeish immortal on our hands, but two?”
“That is exactly what I am saying.”
The heavy door to the council hall opened and Jonas entered. Odd, the bishop thought, that he would be late for a meeting regarding his uncle and one that required his son’s testimony. Eleazar would have assumed this meeting would be a priority for Jonas, being how close he had once been with his Uncle Isaiah. The older Hartzler took a seat. Eleazar did not miss how ragged the male appeared.
“I must leave the farm again to finish some business elsewhere. I will have a look for myself in these woods once I return,” Eleazar said.
“And what if more mortals die in that time? There have been twelve deaths, Bishop. Whatever is out there is dangerous.”
Eleazar raised his eyebrow at the boy. He walked a fine line with his questioning. “What is out there may not even be any of our concern, Brother Cain. Unless it proves to be one of our kind, it would be the English’s problem to solve. Our order will not involve itself with English business. It will be dealt with once I return and I remind you it is unwise to question my judgment.”
The boy’s lips thinned as if he wanted to argue but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. Cain Hartzler was no stranger to the bishop. He was a male that had some lessons to learn where authority was concerned. Eleazar had no doubt the boy would someday see that he was no more powerful than any other male when sparring with the bishop. A little temperance would do him good.
“If any other elders have questions for Brother Cain I ask that you speak now,” Eleazar said, marking some last notes from Cain’s testimony in his ledger. When he finished he looked to the others on the bench. All seemed satisfied. “Very well. Cain, you may return to your seat. The council now calls Silus Hostetler to the bench.”
Silus stood and walked before the Elder’s Council. “Bishop King, I ask that Brother Cain return to the bench to be questioned about his sister’s whereabouts.”
Eleazar heard Larissa’s brother’s thoughts and his intention to boldly lie to Silus. The corner of his mouth kicked up a bit, but then Eleazar steeled his expression. “That will not be necessary. I know where Ms. Hartzler is seeking shelter. I intend to retrieve her this evening.” Cain’s head jerked up at the bishop’s announcement.
Silus fidgeted. “I beg your pardon, Bishop King. My wife’s name is Mrs. Hostetler.”
The idea of calling Larissa by this title irritated Eleazar. “My mistake,” he gritted out. “I shall
have your wife returned to you by tomorrow evening.”
“Perhaps I should go with you to collect her.”
“That will not be necessary.”
The man wanted to argue. Eleazar did smile this time as he heard the tirade of insults spewing from Larissa’s husband’s mind. “I suggest you take your seat, Brother Silus.”
The meeting dragged on for another hour. Apparently Eleazar’s absence had left many issues unresolved. By the time the meeting was adjourned, Eleazar felt drained. He was the last to leave the hall, which happened to be located in the east wing of his home. As he exited the heavy doors, he was not surprised to see Adriel waiting for him on the bench he had placed there specifically for her.
In three hundred years she had not missed a meeting. Although she had never been granted entrance due to the fact that she was female, she heard every word from her place outside the doors. He knew, in the beginning, she did this to groom her son for his seat among the elders. Christian Schrock, Adriel’s fatherless boy, was the oldest male of the very short Schrock line.
He had been eight when they settled in America. His way to his seat on the bench had not been an easy one. Many of the other elders had protested his position due to the mystery surrounding his birth. The boy grew up known as The Bastard Schrock. Adriel had never made her son’s life easier by telling the others the name of Christian’s father. She had said it was her secret to keep, a secret she intended to die with. However, the bishop was well aware of the boy’s father. He had never betrayed her trust, thus only cementing their friendship more.
“Good evening, Adriel. I trust you feel everything was up to snuff this evening?”
“Invite me for a drink and I shall tell you exactly what I think,” she replied, folding her black cloak over her arm.
“I have business to tend to.”
“Trust me, friend, you want to hear what I have to say.”
“Very well,” he said, waving his hand for her to precede him into the private quarters of his home.
He followed Adriel into his den, her fiery-red hair interrupting the darkness. As he lit the lamp, he asked, “And what has put you in such a cryptic mood this evening, Adriel.”
She removed her bonnet, exposing her hair that was always a little more severely braided than the other females. “Jonas Hartzler.”
He raised an eyebrow and paused from pouring their drinks. “Go on.”
“He and Abilene are fighting.”
That was unusual. He tipped his head. “You have my attention.”
“Jonas has not been sharing his wife’s bed.”
“And you know this how?”
“When under stress immortals rarely guard their thoughts as well as they should. I plucked it right from his head.”
“Such a busybody.” He sighed.
“Do not judge me, Eleazar. Snooping is the only way a female can learn anything around here. Change the laws and I shall stop snooping.”
“I doubt it.”
“Yes, you’re probably right,” she admitted as she took the cup he offered her and settled deeper into her chair. “He also has been working a lot in the barn rather than in the field, keeping evening hours rather than daylight ones.”
“And this would interest me why?”
“Oh, come now, Bishop, you are not that dense.”
Eleazar sighed, losing interest in solving Adriel’s riddle. He briefly saw a flash of Larissa in his mind, her ankles resting on his shoulders and her face warm and soft from sleep. He frowned and quickly shook away the thought, not knowing where it had sprung from. “I am tired. I have not been sleeping entirely well and my mind is on other business. Stop toying with me and tell me what you are getting at.”
She huffed. “You are no fun. Jonas is being called.”
He froze, not at all expecting that. “What?”
“He is being called. Apparently for some time now. He and Abilene have been having issues and she discovered his secret two days ago after catching him dreaming. It really is quite sad. They are very much in love.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“You gained all of this from him simply passing by.”
“You underestimate my abilities, Eleazar. I can hold on to a male’s thoughts beyond some silly door. Your private barricade may separate the ‘weaker sex’ from entering your asinine boys’ club, but it does not halt my mind from passing,” she said in the pithy tone she always used when discussing the council.
“We should have never approved their union.”
“Be that as it may, it looks as though you will soon be approving a divorce.”
Eleazar grunted. Divorce was something he did not normally condone. However, it wasn’t much of an issue among The Order. There were only a select few that had married before receiving a call. Most of their kind did not like to tempt fate in such a way.
“Did you happen to glean when he plans on collecting his mate?”
“From what I could tell, he doesn’t yet know. I think he is desperate to find a way out of his situation without hurting his wife.”
“He has an obligation to the rest of us to follow God’s call. We already may have one feeish Hartzler on our hands. We do not need another. I wonder how severe his symptoms are at this point.”
“Apparently he is dreaming every time he rests. He is exhausted because one, he is fighting sleep, and two, when one dreams they do not sleep as soundly.”
Eleazar thought about how exhausted he had been of late. Perhaps Jonas’s exhaustion was the result of something else. “What other symptoms has he had?” Eleazar asked as he refilled his cup for the third time.
“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?”
Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 9
