Called to Order (23 page)

“We eat from the land just as you do. When we…feed, we lull animals into a sort of twilight haze and only take what we need and never too much. We do not harm or deplete the animal’s blood source.”

“So you never bite people? But you bit me.”

“Mates feed from each other. Humans can be a blood source, but it is easier to deal with animals sometimes. Their blood is not as strong, but it is enough.”

“How often do you do it?”

“It varies. Right now because of my…situation, I require much more than I ever have. Age comes into play as well. Gracie only feeds once every day or two because she is young. Some of the children on the farm only need blood from their mothers every few weeks. My mother has blood in the evenings and my father feeds her the rest of the time. If a woman is with child she requires much more, but the average man or woman usually only feeds once a day.”

“When your mother…and your father…when they…doesn’t it deplete your father.”

“The men are around the animals more throughout the day. We have an easier time keeping ourselves fed. Besides, when a male feeds his female it is…erotic. It usually takes place in the throes of passion.”

Anna looked down and fidgeted. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It can, I suppose if the donor is not being distracted, but we know how to prevent that. It can actually be a very pleasurable experience.” He remembered the first time he’d fed from Anna and how she eventually fell to pieces in orgasmic bliss. True he had been touching her intimately beforehand, but when he was feeding from her he had only been touching her with his mouth. Should he tell her about that? “You liked it.”

“What?”

“When I fed from you…you…” He rolled his hand in the direction of her lower body.

“Are you saying I had an orgasm?”

He thought about the word. “Orgasm, yes.” A moment passed and he offered, “I can show you.”

“I don’t think I’m quite there yet.”

He knew she wasn’t, but her light laugh at his suggestion brought him great comfort. “You did not eat today. Why don’t you come inside and have your supper?”

“I think I just want to go to bed.”

* * * *

Later that night Anna lay next to Adam wide-awake in the darkness. He had been quiet for several hours, and she assumed he was asleep. Her brain had not stopped, and now her stomach was beginning to ache and groan.

She quietly slipped out of the bed and padded over to where their clothing hung from the pegs by the door. She reached blindly for her skirt and found Adam’s shirt. She pulled the large shirt over her shoulders, fastened the snaps, and quietly slipped out the door.

The house was dark and silent. She felt her way down the hall and navigated her way to the kitchen. She had noticed a plate waiting on the counter for her earlier and hoped it was still there.

When she entered the kitchen, she carefully walked to the hutch on which she knew one of the lanterns rested. It took a few moments for her to get the contraption lit, but she finally managed. As the amber glow chased away the shadows, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her plate still sitting there. She pulled the cloth away and lifted the dish. Turning toward the table she gasped and stifled a scream, almost dropping her plate. Adam’s father sat at the table, holding a tall pewter goblet and watching her.

“Hello, my child.”

“Jonas. I didn’t think anyone was in here.”

“My apologies. Would you like me to leave?”

“Of course not. I was just going to grab something to eat. Do you mind? I missed both meals today.”

“Please,” he said motioning to the chair across from her.

She watched him as she nibbled at the food on her plate. He watched her as well, sipping occasionally from his goblet. She wondered what he was drinking and then figured it was probably better not to think too hard on the matter.

Jonas finally broke the silence by asking, “Did Adam ever speak to you of his great uncle Isaiah?”

She plucked at her cold biscuit. “No.”

“Well, he was actually my uncle, brother to my father Ezekiel. He was an amazing man.”

“Was?”

“We lost him many years ago. He was, I believed, a great model for the rest of us to follow. He was kind, patient, generous, charitable, and wonderful with the children on the farm. I remember being a boy and thinking he was almost mythological, like the man you English call Saint Nicholas.

“When Uncle Isaiah would travel to our home, he would always bring treasures he had found and show us new ways to have fun. He could transform the most irritating chores into treasure hunts and adventures. As I grew into a man, he proved to be not only an influential elder I held in great esteem, but a friend. I miss my uncle very much.”

“What happened to him?”

She watched as the man took a long sip from his goblet and placed the heavy metal cup on the table. “At first we were not sure what was happening. He was working beside me in the field one day when, all the sudden, he fell from his horse. He split his arm, but managed to heal by the next day. He had suddenly become clumsy. This man I hero-worshipped my entire life who could do anything in my eyes was suddenly incapable of simple tasks. The more he had these spells, the more his disposition changed.

“One day, after another bad fall, he had taken to bed. He had damaged his back, a painful injury even for our kind. I had finished my chores early and told Abilene I wanted to check on my uncle. She sent me with a basket of food to take to him and I went on my way. When I arrived, his home was dark. Younger generations live with their families until they marry most of the time. Isaiah was quite old though, so he had his own home built several years prior.

“I walked into the quiet dwelling and heard him in the back room. The house smelled of death. I could hear him moving around and moaning and I hoped he hadn’t fallen and worsened his injury. I dropped my basket and ran into his private room. When I found him, he was in bed and asleep, but not sleeping the way our kind normally does. He was tossing and turning and groaning. He sounded like he was with a female, yet would sometimes make sounds of such anguish I did not understand what was happening. He was definitely alone. I made sure of it.

“As I am sure you have noticed, our people sleep quite soundly. Although Adam dreams, he only does so when he is sharing a dream with you, his mate. I’m several times my son’s age and had never had a dream in my long life. It is something that does not happen. Until we are called to our mate, that is.”

“So your uncle was dreaming? He was being called?”

“Yes.” Jonas sighed. “He had been having the dreams and dizzy spells for some time, but chose not to tell anyone. I had noticed other oddities as well. One day we had been shoeing horses in the barn for a few hours. When we left the shade, he hissed and jumped back into the shelter of the barn. Evolution has made it so that we can tolerate the sun. It has been so for so long I am not sure if there was ever any truth to the whole sunlight kills vampyres legend anyway. Yet, when it is time for one of our kind to find their mate, the sun becomes a problem.”

“But Adam is gone during the day.”

“It is a chore. He purchased
sunspecs
while he was searching for you. I watch him in the early hours of the day. The trek from the house to shelter is becoming more difficult with each passing day. He does most of his work in the shade of the barns, but getting there still wears on him. This morning alone his flesh was burned to the degree that it would have sent a mere human to the hospital.”

“But he seemed fine when I saw him.”

Jonas waved a finger at her. “Rapid healing. It is part of the reason he requires more blood of late. His body is expending more energy. It is also why you do not see him during first meal with the rest of us. By midafternoon the sun is too extreme for him to venture into its rays.”

They sat quietly for a while. Annalise finally said, “Please tell me more about your uncle.”

“After I realized Isaiah was showing signs of the calling, I went right to my father. There was a meeting, and the elders decided they needed to make a swift decision. Isaiah was already beginning to change. I did not even get a chance to wish him a safe trip and speedy return. He was gone within the hour.

“After two weeks and not a word from Isaiah, there was another meeting. I was not invited to this one. I found my father after the meeting had been adjourned. He was furious but mostly upset. He, along with several other males of The Order, would leave that evening to track Isaiah. If they found him with his mate they would bring him home. If they found him alone, they would trap him and…destroy him.”

Anna gasped. “Why?” She knew Adam had said that the same would happen with him if they did not bond, but she still didn’t understand why such measures where necessary.

“When one of us is called and does not find our mate, they become the unanswered. We are all animals before rational thinking beings. When the calling is unanswered and one’s mate proves elusive, the mind begins to fragment. The sun begins to limit our freedom and the bloodlust becomes a force too powerful to ignore. Small creatures no longer satisfy our appetites and actual food becomes too complex for our systems to digest. This leads to a need for more blood in order to sustain us. Only the blood begins to run through our systems like water. There is only one blood that will stop the process. The blood of a true mate.

“However at that point, the mind is so far gone the man is incapable of courting said mate. He is more animal than man, a nocturnal beast that lurks in the shadows, bearing fangs and claws and watching the world through glowing eyes. You could imagine, when your mate is a human and grew up on tales that told of monsters that were only folklore meant to keep the kiddies in bed at night, that seeing a deranged creature, an unanswered vampyre, that the mating would not go too smoothly. That is if the mate is ever truly found at all.

“Once a male or female of our kind reaches that point, they are not thinking clearly. They are so blood hungry and confused they begin taking victims at random, a game of roulette, hoping to fall across their called mate. When the blood hits the system and they realize it is again not satisfying the need the way a mate’s would, the beast falls into a rage and usually rips the victim’s throat out.” Anna gasped and Jonas sadly said, “There is a lot of carnage and a lot of innocent lives are destroyed. Not to mention the lives of those related to the victims, sons, daughters, spouses, mothers, fathers. It is a tragedy. Those lives lost are our burden. The guilt is ours to bear, and the crimes are our responsibility to end.

“When I discovered what my father and the other men intended to do, I insisted on coming. I swore to do whatever my brethren required of me but harbored my own plan to save my uncle. I could not imagine my calm, tenderhearted mentor turning into such a beast. I was sure if it came to that I would be able to cure him some way or convince the others all hope was not yet lost.”

Jonas gave a cold, humorless chuckle. “I was so naive. When we did eventually find him, it was in a field. The scent of bloodshed led us right to him. There were more bodies than I could have imagined. Cold, lifeless eyes stared back at us as we made our way past the carnage. When we finally found Isaiah, he was sucking the last drops of life from a woman who appeared long dead while he raped another still fighting for her life. It was a bloody mess, and he had become almost unrecognizable as the man I once knew.

“We tried to save the woman he was raping, but when we pulled him from her, we realized his claws were actually holding her organs in place from where he gutted her. She died seconds after he released her. He was
ferricked,
deranged. He sprung at us like a demon, no longer seeing us as his kin. It was an image I hope never to see the likes of again.”

“Did you kill him?”

Jonas took a deep breath. “All of my plans to save him fell away once I saw how far he had fallen. We all attacked, but he was so full of human blood and rage he had become much more powerful than the twelve of us combined. Many men were hurt, some even lost limbs. Finally my father had him in his grips, his own claws and fangs out, ready to deliver a deathblow, when he swears he saw something human flash across his brother’s eyes, a glimmer of remorse perhaps. It made him hesitate only a second, but it was enough for Isaiah to gain the upper hand. He slit my father, his brother, clear across the throat, a gouge so deep it almost severed my father’s head. I ran to my father and made him drink from my wrist. The blood I fed him seemed to leak right out of his throat. I became distraught, thinking I would lose my father right there in my arms, murdered by the man I idolized most in my life.