Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (51 page)

“Do you know how long I have waited to get my hands on you? And you shamed me all the more with your return!” He turned her and pressed her roughly into the wall. Larissa trembled uncontrollably. Her hands were pinned awkwardly between her torso and the wall while he crushed his body to her back. Her face turned so not to bruise her cheek against the hard surface. He leaned hard against her and proceeded to ridicule her with biblical comparisons. “You provoke me to anger with your lustful promiscuity. No better than the Egyptian whore who engaged in prostitution with her lustful neighbors. Tell me, Larissa, is it as Ezekiel says in the bible? Did the bishop touch you with the flesh lengthened to that of a mule? Were his emissions like those of a horse? Did you allow him to fill you with quantities that rival the annual flooding of the Nile?” He enunciated his last question by jerking her head roughly against the wall.

She whimpered as tears reflexively flooded her eyes from the sharp whiplash. She knew he could sense her fear, but she refused to play victim to his cruelty one more time. “He is my mate,” she gritted out. “And he will slaughter you when he finds out about this.”

Silus laughed harshly. “You stupid female. Your precious bishop is bound by the laws he created to do no harm to me. Yes, I will atone, but then I shall be forgiven for my trespasses and I promise you this, wife, you will never forget that you belonged to me first. You will never forget the disgrace you brought to my home.”

His hand squeezed at her waist in a way that had Larissa cringing away from him and closer to the wall. “When did you become so vain that you thought yourself more important than your betters? So proud you are.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things.
Perhaps I should be serving our Lord now and do this deed for him. How do you think your bishop will like you without your whore mouth and serpent’s tongue?”

The more Silus continued to quote scripture, the more frightened she became. When he talked like that, it was because he was in the foulest of moods, which there was no near relief of. She worried if he would murder her for betraying him so. She felt a dark agony wash over her for the life she would lose with Eleazar, the children they could have had. Tears began to fall from her eyes unchecked as she begged. “Please, Silus. I am sorry I have wronged you. Please do not hurt me. I was only doing what God had asked of me.”

“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!”