“Oh, sorry. So, how was it? Did you work things out with your teachers and your job? Any new developments? Everyone still happy? Oh, gross!” Adam’s sister made a gagging noise, her jaw lurching past her neck as her tongue stuck out in revulsion. “You two are worse than the rabbits.”
“Stay out of my head, Gracie!” Anna snapped.
Gracie scoffed. “I will now. Oh, my mind’s eye!”
Adam stepped out of the truck and came around to help Anna down. “Where is Father, Gracie?”
“Inside reading. He should be out in a minute. Is something wrong?”
“Council business.”
She looked at Anna but frowned when all she heard in her thoughts was the singing of great big gobs of greasy grimy gofer guts…over and over again as they walked into the house.
Both Jonas and Abilene greeted them affectionately. Gracie continued to watch Anna as if hoping to pick up on some thread about the news Adam had yet to share. Anna felt no guilt in the pleasure she got from watching Gracie wince after Anna imagined her brother naked. Served her right. She would learn eventually.
“Gracie, run and tell your grandfather Adam and Annalise have returned,” Jonas requested, and Anna relaxed the moment the door shut behind Adam’s nosey little sister. She had no idea how the others guarded their thoughts all the time, but she needed to ask Adam the trick. Her way was exhausting.
Once they had all settled in and Abilene had served everyone a cup of tea and forced copious amounts of food into their bellies, Gracie had returned with a man and a woman Anna did not recognize. Again, it shocked Anna how young everyone here appeared. If this was in fact Jonas’s father, he did not look a day over twenty-eight.
The man resembled Jonas so much it was as if they were twins as well. The only telltale difference was in the way Ezekiel carried himself and the silver shock of hair amongst a full head of black. He wore it long, much like Adam’s father. Anna remembered someone mentioning that this man was almost three centuries old and for some reason that intimidated her more than anything.
The woman who returned with Gracie stood meekly by the door. Abilene greeted her kindly and called her Rachel. Ezekiel was soft spoken and gentle in his mannerisms. His affection for his grandson was evident in the way he embraced him and welcomed him home. “And this must be the lovely Annalise I have heard so much about.” He took her hand, held it between his two larger ones and smiled. “Easy, child, you are here of your own free will. No harm will befall you.”
“Quite beautiful,” he said to his grandson. Anna had the sudden feeling that she was being appraised much like a stock horse would. Ezekiel laughed and released her hand. He cupped a loving hand on Adam’s shoulder and said, “I think you will appreciate my bringing Rachel. Annalise will find much comfort in knowing her, I believe.”
Anna looked to the other woman who nervously plucked at a thread hanging from her apron. The woman saw Anna watching her and offered an anxious smile.
Jonas stood and kissed his wife. To the men, he said, “Come, let us give the women time to talk. We will see about the automobile. I sure hope this journey did not spoil you, son.”
As the men left, Abilene cleared away the dishes and instructed Gracie to find something to do. Gracie argued, but her words were cut short by the stern look her mother gave her. It wasn’t long before Adam’s mother left the kitchen as well. That left only Anna and the shy woman named Rachel.
“Soooo,” Anna said, feeling as if she were on some sort of blind date.
“You are very pretty. Does Adam mind you dressing English?”
Anna looked down at her shorts and T-shirt. She suddenly wished she’d had time to change before Rachel and Ezekiel arrived. Who knew what Adam’s grandfather had thought of her appearance? “I’m not normally dressed like this when I’m here. Are you Adam’s grandmother?”
The woman choked on the sip of tea working its way down her throat. “God no! I’m only forty.”
“Oh, sorry.” Anna fingers flipped a coin back and forth within her pocket. It felt like a penny, but could have been a dime.
After a few minutes of sitting silently, Rachel finally pushed her tea aside and said, “Where are you from?”
“Bensalem.” Anna looked at the door. When was Adam coming back?
“Is that in Pennsylvania?”
“Yes, a little under two hours from here.”
“Oh, so you didn’t have to come that far. I’m from Quebec.”
“Do they have Amish sects up there?” Anna asked without really thinking about her question.
“I suppose they do in some parts of Canada, but I was not born in one. I was born into a family named Bouvier.” She pronounced the name Boe-fee-air.
Anna frowned. “Wait, if you weren’t born here…”
“I was human, qui. French Canadian, actually. I was nineteen when Samuel found me. I have been vampyre for twenty-one years now.”
“You were so young,” Anna said almost to herself.
“Not too young. It was a different time and a different life even from what you are used to. I would have been married by my twentieth birthday anyway.”
“Did you leave someone behind?”
“My entire family. Three brothers, two sisters, my mamma and papa, my fiancé, and my cat.”
Anna simply shook her head. She had no one to leave behind aside from acquaintances except Kyle, and Kyle didn’t seem to care one way or the other what she did with herself these days.
Rachel continued, “’Twas difficult at first. Letting go of so many comforts and customs. Samuel was very understanding. He allowed me to write to my family for a long time, so long as with each letter, I allowed more time to pass in between. They could not understand my sudden desire to move to the States when I had never once visited before. The idea of me running off with a man they had never heard me speak of only confounded them more. It took about a year of letters to finally help them grasp that I was happy, yet they still never truly understood. How could they? They had no idea what Samuel was or the fact that we shared a predestined part of each other’s soul.
“By the second year, I felt a sense of detachment in my mamma’s notes. I believe people often tend to ignore what they cannot comprehend. I realized she would never understand my abandoning my entire family without being told the truth and that was something I could not do. My dragging out our relationship was only hurting her. By my fourth year on the farm, I had stopped writing at all, except on my parents’ birthdays and once during the winter holidays. I stopped writing altogether several years ago. I am a memory easily forgotten. My letters only remind them that they have forgotten a child and thus fill them with unnecessary guilt. I am happy in a way I am not entitled to share with them. It only makes me feel guilty to cause them unnecessary grief over my absence. Samuel says it is better for me to let go of them on my own than to have them taken from me, which each one eventually will be since I am the only one here for eternity.”
“Were you this accepting from the beginning?”
Rachel laughed. “Hell no!” She covered her mouth quickly and looked around. The slip made Anna smile, and they each giggled. She suddenly felt a sense of camaraderie with this woman she had not yet found with anyone else on the farm. “I still let them slip every once in a while. Samuel only gets upset when I say cocksucker or fuck, but they’re my favorites when I’m really frustrated so I cannot seem to erase them from my vocabulary.
“Anyway, no, I did not agree to this easily. I was nineteen, still practically a child. I think I was more upset about becoming Amish than actually becoming a vampyre. I was very much into the Goth-Punk trends as a youth, so I think something about falling in love with a real vampyre intrigued me. The Amish thing however…let’s just say I miss regular clothes sometimes.” She smiled, leaned close and whispered, “I still have my prom dress. Sometimes I wear it around the house. Samuel says it isn’t right, but I know he likes it. It always ends up in a pile on the floor by our bed.”
They each had a good laugh when Anna told Rachel about the corset she wore for Adam. He had told her that it simply wasn’t Christian to wear such things, yet he made sure that item found its way into her suitcase before they left. Anna’s heart grew lighter as she recognized a friendship forming between herself and Rachel Bouvier–Rocke. It only made Anna more pleased to discover that if she mated with Adam, she and Rachel would be distant cousins. Family, there was so much of it here, and it was a foreign gift Anna looked forward to embracing.
“Does it hurt?” Anna asked hesitantly.
“What? The change? If it does, I do not remember the pain. I was dead.”
“I’m so scared, Rachel. What if something goes wrong?”
“Do you trust Adam?”
“Yes.”
“He will not let anything happen to you, Annalise. These men are not like other men. There is nothing, nothing, they put before their mate’s safety. Trust him on that.”
* * * *
“We will make arrangements to have the ceremony in two days time,” Ezekiel said facing the others from within his study.
“Before you do that, I must be sure Anna is sure,” Adam promised.
“She is sure. I read it in her when I held her hand,” his grandfather assured, but Adam still wasn’t comfortable making plans without speaking to his mate first. His grandfather tapped the mantle as if thinking through his plans and reaching some sort of conclusion. “I will inform the others about Cain and have anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts held accountable.”
“Now wait a minute,” Jonas said. “You realize if he is confiding in someone on the farm it is most likely my daughter. If we keep charging my children with crimes, I will have none left. Let me speak to Silus. He will tell me if Larissa has seen her brother since he has disappeared.”
“Can you not simply ask Larissa, Father?” Adam suggested.
“Your sister has grown very close to Cain since she has become a married female. She confides in him more than she does her sister or mother. With that confidence comes trust, and I do not know if she would willingly break that bond being that she is perfectly aware of what consequences her brother faces.”
“An absolute mess,” Ezekiel grumbled. “And you are sure the dreams your mate has had have been shared dreams?”
“Cain has spoken words to her she otherwise would not recognize.”
“She has been here a few days, perhaps she picked up some of the vernacular without realizing it,” his grandfather countered.
“Perhaps, but even so, why would Cain approach her as he did?”
“If…” Ezekiel began with a heavy sigh, “If Cain is in fact sharing dreams with her that would mean he is being called to her as well. I do not understand how such a thing is possible, but suppose it is. Who is to say if Annalise belongs to you or your brother?”
“Anna is to say!” Adam said, outraged at the idea that she was not his. “She is my mate. I love her and she loves me. No other man will touch her so long as I still breathe.”
“Sit down, Adam. No one is taking Anna from you,” his father said from his place by the mantle. “If Anna chooses you, she will have you. We would never dream of denying you that right. Your grandfather was only pointing out the fact that if Cain is being called to her as well, he will feel equally entitled.”
Adam growled. “Has he come to anyone and confessed his symptoms? Has he even approached the council to defend his actions? No. He may be somehow connected to Anna through me, but I refuse to admit that it is anything more than some genetic fluke because we are twins! He has overstepped, and if he does it again, he will not live to run away. Brother or not, I will not tolerate such disrespect.”
Jonas approached his son. “Adam, go home. Find your mate and once and for all, convince her to go through with the bond. You are both my sons, I have loved you each the same amount of days, and I refuse to let this go on any longer. Once Annalise is irrevocably yours, Cain will show himself and we will get to the bottom of this. Until then we are only playing a guessing game none of us have the answers for.”
* * * *
When Adam returned home that evening, it was to find Anna sitting cross-legged like a child upon his bed, her chemise draping off her pale shoulder and her gorgeous hair spilling freely down her back. She held an open Bible in her lap.
“Well, there is a beautiful sight.” He hung his hat and leaned in to kiss her cheek.
“Do you read this often? I found it in your drawer,” she said, motioning to the Bible.
“I do not read it as often as I should.”
“I do not know any of this. I never really went to church, and the only thing I remember from Sunday school is that my teachers slip showed when she read to us.”
“Such a good student you must have been,” he teased. “Did you have a nice visit with Rachel?”
“Yes. I have to thank your grandfather for introducing us. I like her a lot.”
“I will tell him you said that. He will be pleased.” He had removed his clothing and gently took the Bible from her hands and placed it on the bedside table. His lips touched her shoulder, and she shivered. “You always smell like honeysuckle. Is it soap or your natural scent?”
“I would assume it’s soap,” she said, smiling as he eased her back into the mattress. His fingers plucked the string from the garment and pulled the sheer material back, exposing her breasts. She felt her lower body tighten in anticipation.
“Anna, my love, I did not feed before I came to bed.”
She smiled as he kissed a trail between her breasts and he pressed her gown up to her hips. Her legs fell open as he deftly toyed with her sex. “Are you asking if you can drink from me, Adam?”
He pressed one long finger into her core, and her back curved as her hips followed the movement. “I am.” His breath heated the damp tip of her nipple. “How did I ever live without you? You plague my every thought, Annalise. I am ashamed to say I have less control over my body now than I did as a boy.”
She moaned and arched as he continued to torment her so. After several moments of simply touching each other with a familiarity almost inappropriate for a courtship as brief as theirs, Adam slowly moved up her body and replaced his fingers with his erection.
The fullness overwhelmed Anna as it always did. Her legs wrapped around his torso as he moved over her. He held her tightly as they made love with their mouths as well. Remembering what he asked, she finally said, “Yes, Adam, you may take what you need from me.”
He stilled for a moment and looked at her. His fangs had already extended, and his eyes were more diamond shaped than spherical. He licked at her mouth and she did the same, her tongue dancing over the sharp incisor. As she pulled her tongue back into her mouth, she tasted her own blood. He seemed in no rush to feed, satisfied with simply making love to her for the time being.
“Will I turn if I taste your blood?”
He paused, taken off guard by her question. She wasn’t sure why she’d asked such a thing. She did not recall even thinking it, but at the moment, the idea of drinking from Adam the way he drank from her seemed to be the most erotic idea she’d had ever had.
“Ainsicht, it only takes a swallow, I am told. You would not want to risk it. Not until you are sure.”
She nodded but could not hide her disappointment. “You need the ceremony then?”
“The ceremony is more religious than necessary. We do it that way because it is how we have always done things. Anyone could convert a human without making a vow I suppose. We just never have.”
“Do you plan on asking me then, to be your wife I mean? If I recall, the last time you asked you did not do such a fine job.”
All movement ceased. “Anna, have you made a decision?”
“You won’t know unless you ask, Adam.”
He smiled. “Annalise, will you do me the honor of spending eternity with me, by my side, letting me love you for as many lifetimes as we both shall live?”
She kissed his chin. “Yes, Adam. I will. So long as you let me sneak a radio into our house.”
“Anything you need I shall provide.” Then he kissed her.
“When can we get married?”
“In two days’ time.”
She frowned. “Why two days?”
“The women will want to make you your dress, and there are the food preparations as well. The entire farm will be present. That is quite a bit of food. Speaking of which,” he paused to lick her throat. “I am dying to taste you.”
“Please,” she begged, and he sunk his teeth into her delicate flesh, a thousand sparks of ecstasy splintering from every nerve along her spine.
Chapter 23
After a night of making love well into dawn, Anna was exhausted. Adam had woken her up early in the morning, the sky still a striking shade of purple, to tell her he would be gone for most of the day. He had said he needed to see how things were progressing with their new home. She was shocked when he announced it would be most likely habitable by the day of their wedding. She didn’t believe him, but also didn’t see the need to dispute his confidence. After he had left, she continued to sleep.
She’d had an odd dream that she was still replaying by the time Gracie came to pull her from bed. In her dream she had sat in a field as the sun was setting. She watched the colors of the day fade to a magnificent rainbow of deeper tones and thought this was what her forefathers had meant when they spoke of amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties. It was no wonder the Amish lived in such places. Sometimes it seemed as if they were so close to heaven, they were tucked within the breast of a holy spirit. Even the way the rays of sun pierced the clouds here, it seemed as if they were fingers of God.
She had sat in that field completely satisfied. There was no need for worldly riches or stimulating man-made things. She had found a moment of peace she never knew she craved yet knew now she could never give up. It was during that tranquil epiphany that Anna noticed another figure in the distance, sitting about fifty feet away, mimicking her exact pose. She strained her eyes and saw Adam’s strong shoulders and thick dark hair and smiled.
Called to Order [The Order of Vampyres 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 27