Calling for a Miracle [The Order of Vampyres 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (8 page)

For several minutes she told herself she was a good wife worthy of a husband’s love, but when she opened her eyes and saw the truth of her uncertainty in her still-trembling hand, she snapped. Without thought, she watched the backs of her trembling fingers lash out and smack the goblet off of the nightstand. The heavy pewter cup crashed against the plaster wall, spewing its crimson contents over the surface, and clattering heavily to the floor. She stood, mesmerized, as rivulets of red bled down her clean walls and onto the floor.

Somewhere in the distance a door opened and closed, but Abilene seemed to be struck dumb and deaf at the hypnotic way the blood seeped into the pores of the plaster and ran tiny rivers over the cracks of the wood-planked floor. Like a poison seeping into her life, she watched silently as the liquid collected into a small puddle and slowly crawled to her toes peeking out from beneath her dress.

The sound of Annalise’s voice in the hall had her eyes jerking to the door. What had she done? Quickly she scanned the room for something to clean up the mess. Galvanized into action by the sound of her daughter-in-law’s footsteps approaching, she pulled the pitcher from her dresser and doused the wall where the cup had crashed. Realizing the stupidity of her solution before the arc of water even touched the plaster wall she watched as crimson faded to pink and diluted, creating more of a mess. Her lace apron became speckled with dots of watered-down blood. She was utterly hopeless and in a matter of seconds her state would be humiliatingly exposed. She wanted to run and hide. Seventy-eight years old and she actually considered hiding under her bed. What was happening to her? She was losing her mind.

“Mom?” she heard Anna call from the hall.

Abilene began to panic, her breath coming in short, hysterical pants. Were immortals known for psychotic fits? And if she were truly losing her mind, would she possess the humility needed to stand idly by and watch it go?

There was a soft scratch at the door. “Abilene?”

She stood motionless as the door opened and Annalise stepped in. “There you are. I wanted to see if you…oh.”

Abilene watched as Anna’s eyes finally spotted the bloody state of her room. “I’ve made a mess,” Abilene mumbled lamely. Anna looked at her as if trying to understand what had happened. Abilene felt tears prickle her eyes. Her body began to quake as the reality of it all suddenly became too much, the silence of her life finally too heavy to bear. “I’ve made a mess of everything,” she said as the back of her palm pressed over her lips as if she could quiet the pain of her words.

Annalise rushed to wrap her in her arms just as Abilene collapsed to the bloodied floor and began to sob. “Oh, Mom, no. Don’t do this to yourself. Whatever it is, whatever has happened, we will fix it.”

Abilene sobbed like a babe. Her shift and apron slowly faded into pink as the puddle seeped into the fibers of her gown. Anna continued to hold her and whisper soothing words. She felt atrocious for being too weak to remain silent. It was as if she could actually see herself breaking into tiny pieces, parts of herself fragmenting and falling into spaces she could not collect them from. She felt as if she was dying and no one, save her daughter-in-law, would care.

* * * *

Cain watched as the blackness of sleep flickered at the waking of his subconscious. He was being pulled into a dream.

“Cain?” He heard Anna’s distant voice calling to him.

His dreaming world flickered as if trying to locate the exact frequency they connected on, as if there was one specific plane of existence that belonged only to them. First appeared the expansive grass, then a satisfying sense of nostalgia overcame him. This was his home. He knew he lay on a bed, sleeping in the noisy suburbs of Pennsylvania beside a lovely naked mortal woman, but his mind was elsewhere. Anna had called his sleeping mind home.

He smiled as the sporadic trees took shape, building the world around them. There was a flicker of light and the scent of fresh air and the always-present honeysuckle fragrance that accompanied Annalise. And there she was. Always beautiful, with her fiery-golden hair and soft, loving smile. His brother was a lucky male to have the love of such an incredible woman.

He looked toward her belly. The child in her womb was growing and this pleased him to no end. He smiled. “How is my brother, beautiful Anna? No doubt he is prouder than the proudest cock on the farm at the sight of you swelling with his seed.” When she did not immediately laugh at his teasing Cain looked to her eyes. Something was wrong. “What is it? What has happened? Is it Father?”

She looked down. “No, not Jonas. It is your mother.”

Cain sucked in a breath at the thought of trouble befalling his gentle mother. Although sweet and fiercely maternal, his mother was one of the most delicate females he had ever known. He loved her as completely as only a child could adore their mother and he would protect her with his last breath. “What is it?” He prayed she had not conceived and lost another babe. “Has she gotten with child again?”

“No.” Whatever had happened, Annalise was having a difficult time telling him.

“Just spit it out, Anna. If something has happened I need to know.”

“Your mother is sick, Cain.”

“Sick? Our kind does not get sick. Has she caught whatever has been ailing Father?”

“Not that kind of sick.”

“What other kind is there?”

“I think she suffered a nervous breakdown.”

“I do not understand what you are saying.”

“Your father’s illness, not knowing what is causing him to withdraw and grow so lethargic, has taken a toll on all of us. We are concerned for him and do not want to alert the others to what is a private matter. Your mother wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened between her and Jonas, but I sort of walked in on her ‘falling apart.’”

“What do you mean ‘falling apart’? My mother does not give in to emotional fits like many other females. I have watched her lose many children, a consequence of nature that would destroy lesser women, but she never handled it less than stoically. My mother is no crybaby.”

“You’re wrong. She cries. All women cry. Only she sheds her tears in private, but today, when I saw her, it was more than crying. She was hysterical. I couldn’t seem to break through the fog of sadness and reach her. She seems to believe whatever is happening with your father is somehow her fault.”

“What does my father have to say about this?”

“I’m not sure that he cares!” Anna snarled.

Cain leaned back, unaccustomed to such chilly emotions coming from his sister-in-law. “I assure you, my father cares. My mother has always been the one thing he cared about above all else, above The Order, above his children and perhaps even above his God—”

“Then why the hell isn’t he doing something?”

Cain raised his eyebrows at her outburst. “Has this ordeal driven you to swearing?”

She rolled her eyes. His brother was a male that did not approve of his mate’s use of English curse words. Cain couldn’t care either way, but he always enjoyed teasing Anna about his twin’s conservative beliefs. Anna did not seem to be in any mood to be teased. “God damn it, Cain! I am not kidding. I don’t know what I have to do to get even one of you Hartzler men to take me seriously. Your mother is not well! This is no joke! She cannot continue to carry on like this. Adam refuses to interfere in your parents’ business because it is against the protection of family law. Jonas won’t talk to me. I assumed I could at least depend on you, who is always making light of the laws of The Order, to at least do something. I swear you are all as stubborn as mules and sometimes as thick as molasses.”

Cain finally held his hands up before she unraveled into a rant that he would never be able to stifle. “Okay, okay, I’ll listen. Tell me exactly what you think I should do.”

She looked up at him and he noticed a sheen of tears coating the whites of her eyes. “I don’t know if there’s anything you can do. She is just so sad. It’s heartbreaking to see her this way.”

“I doubt she will discuss it with me.”

“Perhaps, but you could approach your father about whatever is going on.”

Cain did not look forward to returning home just yet, but the idea of his mother being so lost was something he could not abide. “Should I return home?”

Anna’s mouth moved, but Cain could not make out her words. There seemed to be some sort of interruption to their dream. His vision flickered.

“Bodies drained of blood,” he heard an unfamiliar voice say.

He frowned. “What?”

Anna frowned. Her mouth moved again as if she were repeating herself.

“Waiting for autopsy reports,” the interfering voice continued.

Cain looked around irritably for the unknown speaker. “Anna, is that you?”

No sound came from his sister-in-law’s mouth, yet he read her lips.
Is what me?

“Don’t you hear that?”

Hear what?
her lips asked irritably.

“Unidentified female victim,” the annoying voice spoke.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Anna’s image wavered, flickering in and out. A small, dark-haired woman suddenly appeared. Cain jumped at the intrusion. “Who is that?” Anna’s image flickered again, fading into an insubstantial presence without dimension. The strange little woman flickered. She was holding something in her hand. He vaguely heard Anna’s distant voice yell for him, yet her shout was nothing more than a whisper by the time it reached his ears. “Who are you?” He shouted at the woman standing before him.

“Following the death of Sharon Foster, leaving her two children Dane Foster, age sixteen, and daughter, Cybil Foster, age ten, in the custody of the victim’s mother and last surviving relative, Clara Barnes.”

“What?” Cain wondered, shaking his head. Nothing like this had ever happened. Although his ability to share dreams with his brother’s mate had always been a phenomenon among their people, he had never dreamt of another being. Who was this woman and what was she doing in his and Anna’s dream? Suddenly angry, he yelled, “Get out of here!”

The world began to fade to black, the woman fading with it. He felt the back of his head twisting across the cotton fabric covering his pillow. His eyes blinked open and he was again in his motel room with the blonde female he had spent the night with, draped across his body. Disoriented, he moved a curtain of blonde hair off the female’s face. Her nose was squished into his chest and she snored softly just below his armpit.

“Experts are questioning local zoos to see if there have been any animal outbreaks.”

Cain jolted upright at the sound of the woman’s voice. It was the woman who had interrupted his dream. His bed companion flopped back onto the mattress and muttered some indecisive complaint in her sleep. Her pale breasts were soft and Cain momentarily considered licking them into flushed pink peaks like he had the night before. His thoughts were dispelled as he saw what was showing on the motel television.

The woman from his dream occupied half of the screen while a man sitting at a desk occupied the other half.

“Is there any word on whether or not this will interfere with the upcoming hunting season, Destiny?” the man sitting at the desk asked.

“From what I can gather, Mike, the local hunters are eager to hit the woods in search of what could be the next Bigfoot,” the girl answered with a smile. Her skin was the color of coffee and cream. Her lips were full and a deep shade of red. Her black hair curled wildly around her heart-shaped face and her eyes seemed unnaturally big and feline shaped. Who was this woman and how had she broken into his dream? It must have been the sound of the television interfering with his sleep.

Suddenly he began to register what it was the newswoman was actually saying. “This is the twelfth case this year of a female victim being found in these woods. Police are now suspecting they may have a serial killer on their hands. Each victim, whether a Jane Doe or identified female, has bared the same twin telltale markings along the neck. Whatever is attacking these women, be it man or beast, it is draining them of blood from the neck. The DA has yet to release any reports of sexual assault.”