Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

“It’s a friggen’ wine cooler, Larissa. Peach no less! I’m not a girl. I’m a three-hundred-pound man. I can’t drink that shit.”

“Oh.” She pouted and lowered her arm holding out the beer, nay, wine cooler.

“Oh, Christ, give it to me. I don’t want to hurt your feelings. Thank you for the beer.”

He cracked open the cap and the bottle hissed as a fine wisp of cool mist drifted from the neck of the bottle like a puff of smoke. She watched anxiously as he took a sip. “How is it?”

He pulled the bottle away from his lips and read the label. He shrugged and said, “It’s actually not that bad, a little sweet, but good.”

Larissa gave a pleased clap. “Oh, good! Now,” she said, holding up the envelope of kernels. “Do you have any idea how to cook this?”

He laughed. “You don’t know how to make popcorn?”

“Not this kind. I was going to try to cook it on the stove, but I couldn’t figure out how to open the bag.”

“No, no, no. You don’t open it. That’s the point. You just pop it in the microwave.” He walked over to the glass cabinet and opened it. “Why do you have sugar and flour in your microwave?”

“I thought it was just a fancy cabinet.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “Man, whatever farm you came from, it sure was primitive. No, sweetie, this is a microwave. You cook in it.”

“Where’s the burner?”

“No burner, microwaves, sort of like the radio waves that carry music. It’s a form of electromagnetic energy that transfers heat to the moisture in foods and that moisture cooks the food from the inside out.”

“Wow, you’re really smart, Vito. I don’t understand anything you just said.”

“Not smart, just good at science. I watch a lot of Discovery. Anyway, you don’t need to understand how it works. You just need to know how to work it. Here, watch.” He placed the bag in the microwave and shut the door. “See this button with the picture? That’s for popcorn. All you gotta do is hit that.” He hit the button and the machine began to buzz. Larissa jumped back and he again laughed at her.

“Come on, let’s watch this movie,” he said as he turned and pulled the DVD she bought off of the counter. “What did you get?”

“Something called
Twilight.
I thought it looked interesting.”

“Wow, battin’ a thousand tonight, Laris.”

“What? No good? It’s about vampires.”

“I’m familiar with it. I’m just not a big sci-fi guy. No biggie. Where’s your DVD player?” She pointed to the box holding the machine she had purchased last week. “Not hooked up. Awesome.”

About an hour later Larissa had discovered several things. She had learned that while hooking up a DVD player was simple, programming a television was not. She also learned that microwave popcorn was possibly the best-tasting food on the planet. And finally, she had learned that not only did mortals enjoy cinema about vampires, they also believed in werewolves. She did not think there was such a thing as werewolves.

“This is such bullshit. Like if there were really vampires they would go back to high school,” Vito commented as he bit into a fistful of popcorn.

Larissa had enjoyed school. Unfortunately, like most Amish girls, she had only attended classes until her fourteenth birthday, but she dreamed of someday attending college. The fact that her upbringing had limited her from such opportunities made her sad. “I never went to high school. I think it would be fun.”

“You never went to high school?”

“Nope. I was only a scholar between the age of six and fourteen. After that I had to take on household duties like the rest of the females on the farm.”

“I swear you time traveled here,” he said and it was her turn to laugh.

“Would you like another beer?”

“Sure, why not. I sense I’m already halfway to earning some Girl Scout badges. Bring me another peach fuzzy whatever the fuck you call ’em.”

“Fuzzy Navels,” she supplied. As she returned to the couch and handed him a new bottle, she sat down closer to him. Vito reminded her of a big, fuzzy grizzly bear. He was all gruff and growls on the outside, but once he let you close enough, he was nothing but a big softy. “Why don’t you take off your shoes?”

A little while later Larissa was curled up under Vito’s arm as he finished the last Fuzzy Navel. Although he said he would not enjoy the movie, Larissa could sense his emotions and knew that he was enjoying it very much. She however had watched little more than Vito’s pulse in the past hour. Unconsciously she nuzzled her nose along his throat.

“Larissa?”

“Yes,” she answered, breathing the scent of his blood pumping under his skin.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She shut her eyes and scooted closer. “Just getting comfortable.”

“Um, I didn’t know we…did that.”

“Did what?”

“You know…we’re friends.”

“Do you not like what I’m doing?”

“Oh, no, I like it. It’s just…uh, I’m not really sure what you’re expecting here.”

“Shhh, just relax. I will make it nice for you.” She ran her lips over his pulse, which was now fluttering much faster than normal.

“Screw it,” Vito said just as he caught her off guard by turning and moving on top of her. His lips found hers, sending her eyes open wide. Although he was a big man, she was an immortal and he was no match for her. Yet she was so shocked by what he was doing, she could not seem to push him off. She squeaked beneath him and he settled more on top of her, wedging his thigh between her legs. He mistook her muffled panicked cry as enthusiasm. “I know,” he said as his tongue forced its way into her mouth.

She was about to tell him to stop when there was a loud crash that had them both jumping apart. Vito was suddenly hurled off of her and thrown against the wall. Larissa screamed as a flash of movement caught her eye followed by a feral growl. Vito grunted and shut his eyes, surely about to slump to the floor in a heap from the impact his body had taken, when suddenly in another flash, he was being held in place by a tall, broad body.

“Bishop King, no!” she screamed, but it was too late. The bishop pulled his head back for a brief second, exposing his sharp, pearly fangs, then plunged his teeth into Vito’s throat.

Vito’s legs twitched. This could not be happening.
“
No!
”
Larissa screamed again and the bishop, as if coming out of a haze, stilled. Larissa was on her knees in front of her couch. She did not recall when she had started to cry, but she was sobbing. The bishop turned and faced her, Vito’s blood trickling down his chin. She clenched her hands together and begged, “Please, Bishop King, do not hurt him. He is my friend. I will go with you. Just let him go.”

He gave her a look of such hatred. She did not understand why the bishop had never approved of her. She had always been an obedient member of The Order up until recently. “You will come with me?” he asked as if he did not believe her.

“Yes,” she cried. “Just don’t hurt my friend. Let him go and I will go home. I will be a good wife to Silus and never leave again. Just don’t kill my friend.”

Bishop King looked back at Vito, who was terrified. “What are you to her?”

“Just a friend,” Vito wheezed as the bishop held him in place with his muscled forearm pressed into his windpipe. “We work together.”

“Ah, yes, the doorman. Tell me, doorman, what were you planning on doing with your body pressed over Larissa’s?”

He pronounced her name
Lar-ees-ah.

“Nothing. I swear, man, I was just kissing her. I had been a Boy Scout up until about thirty seconds before you showed up. I never planned anything. She started kissing my neck and well…”

Bishop King growled. His head jerked toward her, his eyes sending her such a withering look she actually trembled. “Feeding, Bishop King. I was only going to feed. My hunger pains…they’re…frequent.”

The bishop released Vito, causing the big man to crumble to the floor like a wilted dishrag. Vito grasped his throat and began to cough. Larissa wanted to go to him, but the bishop stilled her advances with a mere look. When Vito slightly recovered, the bishop dropped down to his haunches and tipped the other man’s chin up.

“You will leave this place and never recall being here. You will forget ever having met Larissa or me. Whatever happened tonight, any recollections you may have will be labeled as nothing more than a dream. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Vito said in a monotone voice, lacking any of his normal enthusiasm.

“Leave now and do not look back.”

Vito stood and began to walk to the door. Always the grizzly-on-the-outside, softy-on-the-inside gentleman, he paused when he noticed her on the ground crying. “Miss, are you okay?”

“Do not speak to her!” the bishop hissed and Vito quickly continued on his way out of her apartment, out of her life.

Larissa dropped her head and surrendered to her tears. When she heard the bishop approach her, she opened her eyes and saw his clean, black boots standing before her. In a softer voice than she had ever heard him speak, he said, “Come off the floor, child.”

He reached for her shoulder and she flinched. “Don’t touch me.”

“Larissa—”

“I did not give you permission to use my first name.”

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth, “Ms. Hartzler—”

She gave him her coldest look. “My name is Mrs. Hostetler. It is the name of my husband who you are determined to return me to. Mrs. Hostetler is all I will ever be in this life, so I suggest you remember it, Bishop.” She stood without his assistance and lifted her chin. “I am ready when you are. None of this stuff is any use to me as Silus’s wife. Why, I doubt I will have all of my fingers by the end of the week. So you will excuse me, Bishop, if when I see you on the farm, I do not wave.” She could tell she hit a nerve. Good. “Shall we go?”

He glowered at her. What had she ever done to this man? “Just like that?”

“I told you if you let my friend go, I would go with you peacefully. I am a woman of my word.” When he simply stood there watching her for several minutes, Larissa prompted, “Bishop King?”

“You need to feed. I can feel your hunger.”

“Wha—I assure you I am fine. I will have my husband feed me when I return to the farm.”

“You will feed now.”

“I can’t.”

“You can and you will.”

“Silus would have issue with my feeding from another male of The Order.”