Original Sin (The Order of Vampires 1)

“That’s enough about that,” Grace said. “Which colors do you like, Anna? You’ll need four, one for wash, one for wear, one for dress, and one for spare.”

“And perhaps a blue one.” Grace giggled and her sister smiled as if they shared a secret.

Annalise cleared her throat. “What I’m wearing is fine. I don’t want anyone to go to the trouble of sewing a new dress.”

“Nonsense.” Larissa lifted a deep purple sheet from the pile. “I love the brighter colors.” She also reached for the green. “This one would bring out your eyes.”

Her acknowledgement of vanity was refreshing. “I like both of those.”

“And you’ll eventually need a black prayer cap to cover your head.”

That she didn’t like. “Can’t I just use the one I’ve been wearing?”

“Not if you get—”

“Shoes!” Grace interrupted. “We’ll need a measurement of your feet to take to the shoemaker.”

Whatever Larissa had been about to explain was forgotten. The following hour passed in a whirlwind of measurements and harmless gossip. There was a gentleness to the women here that Annalise found refreshing. While they relied heavily on word of mouth news, their commentary never came across as judgmental.

Larissa showed a curiosity for Annalise’s home life no one else seemed to share. Her eyes lit when they talked about Annalise’s independence and the fact that she attended college.

“Who takes care of the children if the mothers work?”

“They do.” Annalise laughed. “Or the dads, if they’re around. Each couple works it out. There’s no one-size-fits-all set of rules for everyone. But I know plenty of single moms who manage work and family just fine on their own.”

“But they have to need a man for some things.”

“Such as what?” Annalise tried to think of something, but she honestly couldn’t. “If there’s something we need that we can’t do ourselves, we can learn how to do it.”

“How?”

She shrugged. “We just look it up online or in a book. And if we still can’t figure it out, we can always pay someone to do it for us.”

“Because you have your own money,” Larissa said, her eyes full of awe.

“Exactly.” She didn’t want to shock the woman, but even sex could be a one-woman show. “It’s really amazing how much you can do with a little electricity in your life.”

“It must be very dangerous, living on your own.”

“Not really. I mean, bad things happen, but you learn to read your surroundings and carry pepper spray.”

“Pepper spray?” The girls laughed and Grace asked, “For what?”

“If someone tried to attack you, you spray it in their eyes.”

Larissa gasped. “That would burn, no?”

“Like hell.” They covered their mouths and she realized her slip. “Sorry. Adam keeps warning me about my language.”

The girls smiled and glanced at each other.

“What if a man wants you?” Larissa whispered.

“He has to ask. No means no. And we have plenty of female judges who work hard to make sure men who break those laws are punished.”

Larissa took a deep breath and then sat back in her chair, while Grace continued to pin the seams of Annalise’s dress that they were making. “It must be nice to have such freedom.”

Something inherently sad crossed Larissa’s face. Grace didn’t seem to notice, but Annalise saw it. And then she didn’t.

Pressed by an unspoken obligation to help any woman in trouble, she lowered her voice and asked, “Does he force you?”

Larissa’s head shot up, a dark shade of red tinging her cheeks. “He is my husband.”

“I understand, but—”

Grace placed a hand on Annalise’s. “You mustn’t discuss such things. We could all get in trouble.”

The color leached from Larissa face and she stood, moving to the window. Annalise glanced at Grace in question.

She slid the last pin through the hem and rose from where she kneeled on the floor, offering Annalise a hand to help her off the chair. “The men are on their way back.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Annalise’s stomach dipped and spun like stretched taffy the moment Grace announced the men were back. Looking down at the fabric pinned to her, she wasn’t sure how to get it off. “Grace?”

The sisters stood at the window, one’s posture so regal and intimidating the other’s stature small and inconsequential, yet it was Grace’s hand that rested on Larissa’s back giving silent comfort.

Her suspicions had to be true. Larissa, though standing tall with her chin up, feared her husband, and Grace knew it too. Why didn’t they do anything to help her? Maybe Adam could.

“You’ll be back to visit again soon,” Grace said softly and they turned from the window, both wearing blank expressions of acceptance.

Larissa’s eyes jumped to Annalise. “Oh! We have to unpin you.”

They removed the scraps of fabric now marked for sewing and carefully lay them on the table.

“I’ll sew these tonight,” Grace said.

She didn’t know how far the men were or how much time they had left alone, so Annalise took Larissa’s hands in hers. “Thank you for today.”