Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2)

Immortality Stolen

Shannon Bell

Immortality Stolen

Copyright © 2014 by Shannon Bell

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Book design by Sprinkles on Top

ISBN: 978-0-9913341-8-6

DEDICATION

To my husband who is continuously putting up with my characters who talk to me at all hours of the day and night and to my daughter who is my biggest cheerleader. Also to my mom who tells me when to keep the pages coming to her.

IMMORTALITY STOLEN

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to my family, my Facebook groups, and of course, all of my readers.

Thank you for being part of this amazing journey.

Chapter 1

THERE WAS NO way I could do this. These vampires were stronger and faster than I was. Yet my adrenaline kept me racing around Florence. Every morning, I got up and ran. Why? Because I knew it was important to at least try and be able to out run any of the vampires who weren’t on our side.

Since arriving in Florence, I’d found out that vampires existed, fell in love with one, and been marked by one. Oh yeah, and there was another vampire in Paris that either wanted to kill me or fuck me. Not knowing which made things a little more complicated, but it was one of the few things that kept me motivated to run every morning. Plus, I had to run in the morning because the evenings were busy with everything from vampire politics to my nights bartending at Yankee Bar.

I did have to say things were a lot more interesting since I left my home in Florida. With my best friend Jen visiting last month, it also helped me sever my ties with everyone back home.

A knock at the door broke my thoughts.

“What’s all this?”

Three large boxes were in front of me and a postal carrier was handing me a clipboard and pointing to where I needed to sign.

“I didn’t order anything.”

“They came from the United States.” He pointed to the return address, collected the clipboard, and hurried down the stairs.

I pushed the boxes in one at a time. They were heavy. And they were from Jen. Once they were all inside, I tore them open, wondering what she sent me. I let out a sigh as the cardboard flaps sprung back from the first box. Everything I owned was carefully packed away – presumably in all three boxes.

As I methodically emptied each box, I thanked Jen for sending me everything. My clothes, my books, my yearbooks, my life. It was all in the boxes. She sent me everything that was in my apartment. She probably tied up all of the loose ends that she could. She probably even sold my car, though I hoped she kept the money to pay for the shipping of these boxes.

The yearbooks, the scrapbooks, and the other memories weren’t things that I wanted. It reminded me of the life I chose to give up. But the clothes were welcomed in my closet and the books fit well on the bookshelves.

The rest of the afternoon was spent putting everything away. I was barely cognizant of the sun setting when the door opened.

Nico didn’t even say hi to me before he wore the scowl that I had seen one too many times.

“What is all of this?”

“Hi, honey.”

He lowered his eyes. “Hi. Where did all this come from?”

I smiled. “Jen sent it to me.”

“We have to move.”

“Excuse me?”

He shook his head. “We were going to move you, anyways. Now just proves the point.”

I stood up from the couch and walked over to him. “Come, sit down.”

He sighed. “We have to talk about this.”

“Sure,” I nodded. “Come sit first.”

He sat like requested but didn’t seem too happy about it.

“Do you want anything? Wine? Me?”

His eyes rolled.

Oh, it was one of
these
visits. I sat down next to him. “I have to move?”

“Yes.”

“Because she still knows where I live?”

“Yes.”

“And her sending everything to me proves that she knows where I live and we need to move me in case she tells anyone?”

“Yes.”

I smiled. “See, I’m smarter than I look.”

“Dylan, I don’t know why you have to joke about these things.” He sat stiff and uncomfortable on the couch.

“Because if I don’t joke, I would probably cry.” That was probably closer to the truth than I would ordinarily admit. Everything has been in fast forward since I met Nico. Fast is good for some things, but it was wearing me out. Before I had a chance to blink, I’d been married and marked – and that was only the half of it.

“Dylan - ,” Nico started to explain. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I know what you’re going to say. You don’t have to explain anything. I get it.” I curled in next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Where am I moving?”

“In with me.”

I didn’t see that one coming. “Really?”

He smiled. “I knew that would get your attention. Yes, really. Costin and I talked about it the other day and thought it would be good. Olivier has been behaving himself, so it seems as though we can proceed as normal.”

Olivier was behaving himself. I didn’t really know whether that was true or not. He had just killed his sovereign, or so we were led to believe. There were still a lot of issues that we were dealing with because he had not yet assumed the role of sovereign. None of us knew what the hell to think about the situation. The only thing we did know is that he had not shown up in Florence to try and claim me again – and that was a good thing.

Costin and Nico were supposed to take a trip to Paris in the next few days to try and do a little investigative work to see what was going on. We had to figure out how Henri actually died because Olivier had sent word to me a few days ago claiming that he wasn’t responsible. We already knew he was involved, though. We just had no idea how – especially if he wasn’t actually the one who killed him.

“Costin will be here in a little while with Antonio,” Nico said.

“Why?”

“Because we need to talk about a plan.”

“Right.”

Nico kissed my ear and put his hand on my thigh. “It’s going to be this way for a while until we can get everything figured out. It’s the vampire politics, as you like to say.”

I nodded. “Got it. Why is Antonio coming over?” Usually he stayed out of the politics because he wasn’t a vampire yet. Most of the pets stayed out of things unless they were directly affected, like I was.

“Antonio has done a lot of research that may be of help.”

Before I could ask another question, the knock at the door announced that our visitors had arrived. I got up and opened the door for them. Costin gave me a kiss on both cheeks, as did Antonio.

Antonio followed me into the kitchen for wine and Costin took a seat in the chair across from Nico to talk about what was going on in Paris.

“Brunello or Chianti?” I held out the two bottles for Antonio to look over.

“You’ve been expanding your collection,” he smiled.

That was putting it mildly. Over the past week, I had purchased over a dozen bottles. After talking to people at the bar and doing a little research of my own, it had become a personal mission to try what some of the wineries around Tuscany had to offer.

Antonio picked the Brunello, I started to open the bottle, and Costin’s words caught me by surprise. I put the bottle down with the corkscrew still in it.

“Did you just say zombies?”

***

Costin nodded. “I did.”

I looked at Nico. “Is he kidding?”

Nico shook his head. “I told you that vampires were not the only thing to go bump in the night,
mia mortale
.”

“I know what you said, but I didn’t think you were talking about zombies. How the hell did zombies kill Henri?”

Antonio handed me the glass of wine. I took a big sip, needing it now more than ever before.

“That’s what we are trying to figure out.” Costin sounded a little impatient with me.

“When are you going to Paris?”

“Nico and I,” he said, “Are leaving in a few minutes.”

Nico looked a little shocked but nodded.

“Antonio is going to stay with you until we have the chance to move you, just in case. We don’t anticipate any problems, but until we figure out how Olivier was involved and what the zombies mean, we’re not taking any chances.”

I opened my mouth to argue that I didn’t need Antonio to babysit me, but I shut it. He was right. They were only taking precautions. There was no need for me to get all uppity and start a bunch of shit for no reason.

“I will send word once I know what is going on,” Nico said. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but he glanced at our present company and said nothing.

“Zombies?” I asked. No one had bothered to address my initial concern. Somehow it was easier for me to swallow that vampires existed than zombies.

Nico nodded.

“Ummmm…,” I trailed off. Someone needed to start talking fast. Everyone looked around, as if waiting to see who was going to tackle the issue with the clueless one.

It was Antonio who decided to step up to the task. “It’s hard to believe, I know. Zombies are not that common, but they do exist. It all depends on whether there is someone powerful enough to raise them. More importantly, it is important for someone to know when it is time to put them back into the ground.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Well, there are necromancers in the world that are able to raise the dead. Usually they are raised for questioning or for a very specific purpose. Then they are put back into the grave as though nothing ever happened. Every now and then, necromancers get carried away and leave the zombies out longer than they should. This is when zombies gain awareness of their surroundings and act on their own accord,” Antonio explained.

“And this is why we must go to Paris,” Costin interjected.

“Because you think the zombies were not put down and they are acting on their own?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Holy shit.”

“Precisely,” Nico added.

I shook my head. “Nothing is ever easy, is it?”

Costin laughed. “It used to be. Things have gotten more interesting since you’ve come around.”

“Great. Glad I could add a little excitement to your lives.” My sarcasm was beginning to drip.

“Do not worry,
mia mortale
. We will take care of things and be back in a few days.” Nico gave me a kiss, much too brief for my liking, and walked out the front door with Costin.