Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (54 page)

She tilted her head and enjoyed the beauty of this morning. The world she had known yesterday had been washed away and bathed anew. She decided she would pull strength from this gift of beauty. It was time she began looking toward the future and letting go of her past.

Chapter 36

Eleazar opened his eyes as Larissa softly caressed his cheek. She looked into those dark eyes and wondered how she had ever found them anything but kind. “Good morning, Bishop.”

“Good morning, my love. How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

“Good.”

“It snowed last night.”

He smiled softly. “And this pleases you?”

“It’s beautiful.”

“
You
are beautiful.” He pulled her close and kissed her nose. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you to come get me yesterday. None of this would have happened if I had listened to you.”

He shook his head. “I am glad you learned your lesson, but I doubt this was avoidable. Perhaps not this exact consequence, but men like Silus do not yield until they are stopped by something much bigger than themselves.”

She was silent for a few minutes as she contemplated his words. “Eleazar…is…is Silus dead?”

“No.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I sent him somewhere where he can no longer harm you. A place he will stay until he understands what you mean to me and knows how to treat you with the honor and respect you deserve.”

“What if he comes back?”

“He cannot come back until I allow it. You must trust me on this.”

“I will never make the mistake of not trusting you again. When I am with you, I feel as if I never need to worry. I know if I stumble you will catch me. If I am frightened you will hold me. If I am sad you will warm my heart. And when I am lonely…”

“I will warm your body.”

She smiled at him and he drew her close and gently kissed her. As their bodies pressed together, they quickly heated despite the cold weather surrounding them. Eleazar turned Larissa onto her back, and she smiled at him under drowsed eyes. “I love you, Eleazar King.”

Eleazar paused above Larissa and looked at her for a moment with such vulnerability it tugged a thread right from her heart. “I love you, too, Larissa. More than I have ever loved another.” They found each other’s mouths again and began kissing once more. Legs scissored together softly under the blankets and hands caressed warm flesh as their tongues teased one another’s mouth.

Eleazar began to kiss a line from Larissa’s lips to her ear. He bit playfully at her lobe and she shivered. His hands found her breasts and cupped them gently, his thumbs grazing the tips. She arched into him and his flat belly pressed against her own softer tummy. He leaned down and drew her nipple into his mouth and shock waves of pleasure shot to her womb.

He slid lower and she felt his hard length nudge against her sex. Larissa pulled her knees back and held herself open for him. She was already wet and ready for him. He slid deeply inside of her until their bodies touched and there was not another millimeter left for him to go. He held himself above her, his muscles rippling with each slow thrust that left her quivering below him.

Larissa looked up into those dark eyes that were now practically iridescent. She watched Eleazar’s intent face as he rode her long and slow, savoring every press, pull, and slide. Her body began to coil about him and when he smiled, she saw that his fangs had dropped. She imagined he was noticing the same effect in her own features.

She felt the jolt of his own pleasure shoot through her. They each moaned. As he thrust into her, she arched, her fingers held him tightly to her and she never wanted to let go. Her thighs clung to his hips as he plunged deep and rotated slightly with each thrust. Their heated skin grew dewy and she savored the feel of their flesh clinging to each other. They were getting close. She could sense it in herself as well as in him.

“Look at me, Larissa.” She looked up at him as their bodies continued to rock together. “You are mine. I am never letting you go. Forever and always, you will know no other body, but my own.”

“Only you, Eleazar,” she agreed, her breath coming faster now.

“Now tell me you will be my wife.”

“Nothing could please me more than becoming your wife, Bishop King.”

He growled and thrust into her forcefully. It seemed as if he had reached a new place hidden deep within her.

“I plan on making you a mother today, so I suggest we call one of the elders over to make the marriage official.”

She worried that with all the determination in the world, Eleazar’s desires might never come true if God did not will it. “Will you be terribly disappointed if I cannot give you children?”

He frowned. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because I have yet to get with child—”

“No, why would you assume you could ever disappoint me with something that is out of your control? Larissa, I love you. I think you would make a wonderful mother, but if this is all our family shall ever be, I will never have to look far to find reason to thank God every day, so long as you are by my side.”

She blinked back tears and smiled up at him. “I love you so much. I never dreamed I would find someone who could be happy with just ordinary old me.”

“You are far from ordinary and so long as you are with me you never have to worry about anyone thinking
you
the old one.”

She laughed and then all humor faded away as their emotions and passion took control. They clung so tightly to each other their bodies became one. When they finally came apart in each other’s arms, it was only a matter of time before they were clawing to be connected to the other again. The morning passed in a blur of sweetly spoken words of love, silly moments filled with laughter, and heated flashes of passion.

Today was the first day of Larissa’s new life. She smiled, knowing when she would return to this bed later that evening, it would be as Mrs. Larissa King, wife to the bishop.

Chapter 37

They pulled up to a snow-covered field that looked much like the last twenty miles they had driven past. Cain told the cabby to stop and paid the driver as Dane opened his door and went to retrieve their bags from the back. As he slammed the trunk closed, Cain came around the car and took both bags and slung them over one shoulder. The cab pulled away and Dane turned in a complete circle, feeling as though he had just been deposited in the middle of nowhere. White, snow-covered fields stretched as far as his eyes could see.

“Come on, this way,” Cain said as he took one of Cybil’s hands and Dane took the other.

They walked for a long while. Despite the snow, the temperature seemed to be a little warmer than the day before. The sun shined brightly over the white hills and as they crested the top of one steep knoll, Cybil gasped. Dane perhaps would have seen the view if he wasn’t so taken aback by the sound slipping from his sister’s mouth. Cain was also watching Cybil. They both smiled at her wide-eyed expression.

Dane turned to see what had provoked such a reaction and almost gasped himself. Set deep in the valley of the mountains was an enormous spread of farmland. Stone houses and other colonial-style buildings dotted the space, appearing miniature from their vantage point. Red barns popped across the white earth and animals left a speckled trail of footprints winding throughout the fields. It was indeed a farm, one of the most picturesque farms he had ever seen.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Cain asked, but Dane did not answer. The answer was plain to anyone possessing eyes.

They traveled downhill and as they came closer to the homes, Dane heard sounds of animals grazing and bleating, people talking, buggies crunching over the crystallized ground accompanied with the tromping of hoof steps. He could smell various foods cooking, bacon, eggs, and fresh bread. He spotted a girl in an Amish gown carrying two buckets from a barn. Milk sloshed over the brim as she marched through the snow and the fresh, warm cream formed small wisps of steam in the cold air.

He and Cybil both turned at the sound of children. Boys in black, brimmed hats and girls in layered dresses and cloaks glided down the hillside upon antique toboggans. Each sled left its own set of parallel tracks winding in its wake. Cybil giggled and Dane felt his smile grow large enough to reach his eyes. He decided this was a good place to be. He was glad he had settled on coming.

“Come on, munchkin,” Cain said, scooping Cybil into his arms. He pointed to a stone house in the distance. “See that house down there with the smoke piping from the chimney? That’s my grandfather’s. That is where you guys are going to stay.”

Cybil looked at Cain and her smile faded. Her eyes were desperately trying to convey something to Cain. Dane looked into her mind and saw images of Cybil and Cain together at their grandmother’s house, in the yard, on the porch, in the snow earlier that morning, at the breakfast table. “She wants to know where you will go,” Dane said and Cybil smiled at him.

“Oh,” Cain turned her on his hip to face him better. “Well, I have to leave for a bit to take care of some things, but I will be back. And when I do return I will be living in that house right there. The one with the green shutters. See, we’ll be neighbors.”

Cybil tried to smile but in her head flashed images of their mother, their father, their grandfather, and grandmother, all people she had lost. Dane kept quiet and watched as his sister hugged Cain close.

They walked down the hill and paused at the opening in the twin post fence boxing in the old colonial. The front door opened and a young woman stepped out. She was very attractive, even with her hair covered by a bonnet. “Cain, my boy!” She smiled and clapped her hands together.

Cain smiled and shifted Cybil on his hip. “Nanna Faith, how are you?” Dane frowned as Cain kissed the girl on the cheek. This could not be Cain’s grandmother. It was genetically impossible. A man stepped out onto the porch and looked softly upon Cain. He had a face that was kind, yet did not seem capable of forming a complete smile. Dane supposed this, his lips slightly pulling toward his cheeks and his eyes crinkling tenderly, was his smile.

He had the longest hair Dane had ever seen on a man. It reached almost to his lower back and was blacker than a crow’s feather all except for one strip of white that fell down the right side. Cain hugged this man and referred to him as Grandfather. Something was not right here, Dane thought.

“And who is this you have brought with you?” the woman asked.

Cain introduced them. “This is little Miss Cybil. She’s ten and a bit shy and this is her brother, Dane. He’s going to be seventeen in a few months.”

“Oh, you aren’t that much younger than our son, Fisher. He’s twenty-six.” Dane frowned again. Ten years was a pretty sufficient age gap in his mind. “And how long will your friends be staying, Cain?”

For once, Cain did not appear the master of confidence. He looked down and shuffled his feet. “My father has arranged for them to stay on the farm with us indefinitely.”

The man with the long hair frowned. “Jonas has no right to decide such things.”