Original Sin (The Order of Vampires 1)

“I felt her tonight,” his brother rasped. “I felt her life drifting away and I felt the emptiness consuming her. I’m tethered to her, but...” His brow creased. “She’s tied to you.”

“It’s your blood that saved her.”

He shook his head. “I’ve felt her fear, her anxiety, her anger, pain, and death. But I’ve never felt her love, Adam. Her heart belongs to you.”

They sat in silence. The night had shifted into day and with dawn came the rising press to move. But neither of them knew where to go from here.

“Perhaps it was a combination of both our blood that saved her,” Cain wondered aloud. “What would have happened if she hadn’t had yours first?”

They shared a womb, at one point surviving off the same blood. Could it be that simple? Adam rested his head against the wall, shutting his eyes. Exhaustion crept into his bones. Nothing about this was simple.

“I feel her now, Adam.”

His eyes flashed open. Jealousy—his out—slashed through him.

“She’s in pain. She’s scared and confused and having a lot of bad thoughts—dangerous thoughts.”

A heavy weight pressed against his chest. He reflexively reached for her emotions, only to hit a wall. “I feel nothing,” he gasped.

Cain arched a brow. “She’s immortal now. Her mind won’t be as open. And I imagine our sister probably taught her how to block you.”

A tear trailed down his face. “She must think this the cruelest joke.”

Cain shifted his weight, moving to the opposite wall and sitting beside his brother, shoulder to shoulder. “Show her it’s not, Adam. You’re good and honorable and everything she deserves. Take away her regret and replace it with the love I know you feel for her.”

His body pulsed with the need to do just that. Everything inside of him wanted to fix this, but their laws... What was the authority here? Even the Bishop had doubted Cain’s instinct. They were in uncharted territory. And Adam feared adding to the damage, adding to her heartache.

“She might never forgive me.”

“Oh, then by all means, leave her to me and sentence her to an eternity of disappointment.”

Adam glanced at his brother, hearing the sarcasm in his voice and the deflection of his emotions, but he couldn’t hide his feelings from him. He never could.

Adam gripped his hand, silently telling him he felt his pain. Cain could not walk away from this unscathed. He’d already been hurt so much.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to you sooner.”

Cain’s eyes shifted. “Neither of us knew what was happening. If I’d known earlier... If I’d been the one to find her first... You would have never known the scent of her skin, or the weight of her hair running through your fingers, or the feel of her lips. I would have kept it all for myself and turned my back on you just as fast. It’s the nature of the beast, brother. And it’s inside of all of us.”

“Where will you go?” They both understood the sacrifice Cain offered. There would be no staying on the farm—at least not right away.

“Do you honestly care what happens to me?”

He scowled. “Yes, I care.”

He dropped his head back, looking up at the rafters, his fingers entwined between his knees. “I suppose it might be interesting to try a nomadic existence for a while, get out in nature, connect with the greater picture. I’ll know where I’m heading when I find it.”

“It will be strange here without you.”

“You’ll be too busy with your new wife to even realize I’m gone.”

Adam hesitated, once again suffering a wave of sadness from Cain. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

He nodded. “I’m open to you, Adam. Search my emotions and see the truth by feeling what I feel for her. I care, yes, but... It’s nothing in comparison to your feelings.”

His scalp prickled as he sent out a gentle probe. Annalise colored certain emotions surrounding his aura, but they resembled the colors he recognized in Cain’s emotions for Larissa and Gracie.

“You view her as a sister?”

Cain raised a brow. “I suppose that’s accurate.”

Adam frowned. “But you tried—”

“I didn’t know what I was doing. Now...” He wrinkled his nose. “I just want her to be happy. I’m not the male to do that.”

“You humble me, Cain. Thank you.”

“Thank me by doing right by her. Give her everything she deserves, Adam. Do that, and I’ll never have a reason to regret my sacrifice.”

“You have my word.”

Chapter Forty-Nine

Bishop Eleazar King watched the sun rise above the distant horizon, his muscles clenching with the need to withdraw into the shadows, but his firm will forbid he cower. As the greatest authority of the order, he would not forsake dignity for instinct. They were not unaccountable animals. But how long would that remain true for him?

How long could he refuse to acknowledge the symptoms plaguing his mind? Deny the ache poisoning his appetite?