Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Okay.”

“What do you mean, okay?”

“I mean that’s fine. Costin and I assumed it would involve such an amount.”

“Oh.”

Nico laughed. “You seem to be surprised. Why?”

“I guess I haven’t gotten used to the fact that money is no object any longer,” I said.

There was silence on the phone. I assumed he was talking to Costin, but I couldn’t hear anything. I waited for a beat before saying anything.

“I’m going to put you on speaker, I have Costin right here,” Nico said.

“Okay, I have Olivier here, so I’ll put you on speaker as well.”

“Don’t put me on speaker yet, Dylan.”

I hit the button again so it was in my ear. “What’s up?”

“Why is he in your room?” Nico asked. His Italian accent was thick and that was a good indication his emotions were high and that meant he was jealous beyond being able to hide. Not a good sign.

“We just got back from meeting with Gregorio.”

“Is that all?”

I didn’t want to tell him that I was too weak to get into the room on my own because I let Christoph feed from me. Since Nico marked me, I hadn’t let him feed from me again. Each time I thought about it, Costin’s voice warning him not to drain me played through my head. It made me nervous, even though I knew Nico would never intentionally hurt me.

“Of course that’s all,” I lied.

Costin came over the phone. “Are you two done?”

Nico let out an uncomfortable cough. “Go ahead and put us on speaker phone.”

I swiveled around on the bed to face Olivier, who was leaning back in the desk chair. His tall frame was too big for the chair that he was in. His legs were stretched in front of him and his arms were folded behind his head. He hadn’t done anything with his hair since we landed and it was getting wavy and had that tousled look that made me want to run my fingers through it.

I had to get a hold of myself. Nico was on the phone. Thank God we weren’t doing a video conference. I didn’t think I would be able to handle it.

Olivier sat up and leaned forward so that he could be part of the conversation. “I’m here,” he announced.

“Great, so tell me how the meeting went with Gregorio,” Costin said.

Olivier began to recount the conversation, telling him about what Gregorio demanded in terms of payment and that he would be in Paris on Thursday.

“There’s no way to get him there sooner?”

“No, he seemed to set his own schedule.”

“I see. I will send Nico to Paris.”

Oh that’s not something I saw coming. “I am going, too,” I chimed in.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Costin said.

“She will be safe. Nico and I will see to it,” Olivier said.

“
I
will see to it,” Nico corrected.

“Fine.” Costin seemed bothered by the whole thing.

“Nico?” A female’s voice echoed through the background of the apartment.

“Who the fuck is that?” I said it before realizing the anger in my voice.

“No one,” Nico said, trying to dismiss it entirely.

“Is that Violante?” I asked.

I heard her laughing in the background and that confirmed it for me. What the fuck was she doing at Nico’s place with Costin? I assumed that’s where they were – that seemed to be where they always were.

Olivier looked at me with his eyebrows raised. I narrowed my eyes on him, hoping to keep his mouth shut with the glare.

“Take me off speaker phone right now,” I demanded.

“We have other things to discuss, first,” Costin said.

“Gregorio wants one million dollars as payment for laying the zombies to rest,” Olivier said, hoping to change the conversation back to what was important.

“Nico mentioned that. The amount isn’t a problem. Is he sure that he can lay them to rest?” Costin asked.

“That’s what he says. Christoph told me he’s one of the best necromancers remaining in Europe, so if there’s someone who can do it, it’s him. He needs a human virgin sacrifice to be able to pull it off.”

“Is blood magic normal for this kind of request?”

“For something this large, yes. It’s more difficult because of how long they have been up.”

“You sure know how to make a mess,” Costin said.

There was silence for a moment and I saw Olivier fighting with what he should say. “They would have been laid to rest quickly had Henri not killed the necromancer.”

I shook my head. He should have accepted the blame and let the conversation die down.

“What were you even raising the zombies for?” Nico asked.

Oh. I had forgotten that they were not privy to all of the information that Olivier had shared with me. They didn’t know that he stole immortality or that he had a second blood line in his veins now. Olivier saw the flash of realization on my face and he reached for my hand. He slowly shook his head, as though asking me to not reveal any of this to them.

I rolled my eyes and stayed silent.

“It’s of no concern now,” Olivier said.

“Bullshit,” Nico said.

“Listen asshole, I don’t report to you.” Olivier seemed pissed now and I wanted to slide out of the hotel room door to avoid listening to the two alphas hash it out over the phone.

I heard Violante giggling in the background again and I wanted to put my hand through the phone and wring her neck. I knew damn well that she was giggling simply so she could be heard. She never liked me in the picture because she’s been chasing Nico for close to a century. With me in Paris and Berlin, the bitch was trying to make another move to get in his bed.

“Stop,” Costin said. “Violante, you’re done for tonight. Leave. Dylan, you are back tomorrow night?”

“Yes.”

I heard Violante pissing and moaning in the background and then the door slammed. So mature.

“You will be here long enough to pack some more bags and head back to Paris. You and Nico need to be in the city no later than Wednesday night,” Costin explained.

I sighed. Traveling was exhausting me, especially all of this back and forth shit. I just wanted to be back home and in some sort of normal routine again. There wasn’t even enough time to pull a shift at Yankee Bar, which meant that I would have to call Matt and let him know that I needed a few more nights off of the schedule. He would bitch and complain, but there wasn’t much that I could do about it.

“Will the necromancer be working during the day or night?” I asked.

“I’m assuming at night,” Olivier said.

“The only reason that I ask is that I’m the only one that can be out during the day. If he works during the day, I’m the one left supervising.”

“That’s not going to work,” Nico said.

“Right,” I said.

Olivier let out an uncomfortable sigh and ran his fingers through his unruly locks. “I’ll contact Gregorio and find out when he plans on performing the ceremony. Are we in agreement that Thursday evening would be best?”

“Yes,” Nico and Costin said in unison.

“I will reach him and tell him to meet us at the catacombs around nine.”

Olivier and Costin talked a few more minutes about some of the details and Costin informed both Olivier and Nico that Nico would be in charge when in Paris.

“I am sending him as my second in command. For all intents and purposes, he is the sovereign. Understood?” Costin asked.

I looked at Olivier in time to see him rolling his eyes. “Yes, understood.”

I said good night to Nico with an audience on the line and hung up.

“That was awkward,” Olivier commented. “You want to tell me who Violante is?”

“No, not really,” I said. What I really wanted was for him to drop the conversation altogether and leave my hotel room so I could get some sleep. I was so tired and being up day and night these past few days was really not helping.

“Let me rephrase that, then. Who is Violante?”

“You’re relentless. She’s a vampire that’s based in Florence and has been after Nico for years. He’s never been interested, but she doesn’t give up. From what I can gather, she’s part of the inner circle. I don’t like her and she doesn’t like me. Now let’s drop it.”

He let out a sigh. I knew he wanted to ask more questions about her, but he didn’t dare because I would lose it on him.

“Are you tired?” He asked.

I yawned on cue. “Yes.”

“You look wide awake.”

“I am wide awake and that’s a problem. I’m tired, physically. I need some sleep because I feel like I’ve been up around the clock. I never actually sleep anymore, I nap.”

“I’ll nap with you,” he grinned.

There was a part of me that thought about that. I always seemed to fall asleep better against someone. A little cuddling helped to put me at ease and lull me to sleep. Napping in a bed with Olivier seemed like a really bad idea, though. Violante at Nico’s place was bothering me more than it probably should have. I would have loved to find out what the two of them were working on, especially since he tried to dismiss her presence so quickly.

“You’re thinking about Violante, aren’t you?” Olivier asked.

I nodded. “I’m trying not to, but I want to know why she was there. I’m not the jealous type, but out of anyone that could be at Nico’s, she’s the one that bothers me the most.”

Olivier scooted closer to me and put his hand on mine. “Nico would be crazy to cheat. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

It was sweet of him to comfort me, even though I was pretty sure he would love to have Nico out of the picture entirely. “Thanks,” I said. “Now get out so I can get into my pajamas, lay here and pretend to go to sleep.”

“I could stay around for a while if you want me to,” he offered.

“I think we both know that’s a bad idea,” I said.

He stared at me for a moment without saying anything. His gaze was making me uneasy and a little weak at the knees. Had things been different and had I not been married to Nico, I might have acted on what was between us. And Olivier knew it. That’s what made this so hard.

“Your heart is racing,” he whispered, coming a little closer to me without touching.

I didn’t know what to say. If I admitted that it was because of what he did to me, I would be betraying Nico and giving him a green light. If I lied, he would know it. I was screwed either way.

“I need to get to bed,” I said, quickly getting off of the bed. I walked past him and held the door open. “Good night.”

He bowed his head and took the hint. “Good night.”

I shut the door and walked over to my luggage to find some pajamas. Everything was messed up from the flight but I found a satin tank top and capris to change into. I grabbed my toiletries and headed into the bathroom, cleaning up and brushing my teeth. By the time I had done all of that, the idea of sleep was finally reaching the surface.

I heard the door to my hotel room open and rushed out to find out who had opened it.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked as Olivier walked in. He didn’t say anything. He kept walking towards me. I bumped against the window behind me, my backside pressing against the glass in an effort to make room for him.

“We’re going to settle this right now,” he said.

“Settle what?”             

And that’s when he kissed me. His full lips pressed against mine. He swept my hair up in his hands and cradled the back of my head as he continued to kiss me. Before I could stop him, my mouth opened, curious to what he tasted like. He used the opportunity to do some tasting of his own.

“You,” I breathed, trying to push him away, “can’t be here.”

He didn’t allow me to push him away. He pressed his mouth into the nook between my neck and shoulder, kissing me, licking my skin.

“Tell me you’re not enjoying this,” he said.

“Olivier, stop. You really can’t be here.”

He paused, but still didn’t back away. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

I was quiet for longer than I should have been. My body was pulsing with need. I wasn’t sure if it was a generic need of wanting sex since it had been nearly a week outside of Nico’s bed or it was a need of wanting to be with Olivier.

Olivier took my silence as a sign to resume kissing the nape of my neck. His fingers flicked my tank top straps down, showing off more skin for him to explore. I let out a moan before I could stop it from escaping.

“Dylan,” he whispered.

“Hmmmm?” My head was spinning out of control. Every touch was sending shivers down my body and I couldn’t seem to pull together the strength to resist.

He grabbed my hips and guided me towards the edge of the bed. As the mattress caught me behind the knees, propelling me backwards, it was the wake-up call that I needed.

“We need to stop.” It was a barely audible request and it wasn’t all too convincing.

“No, we don’t.” His cool to the touch fingertips danced across my bare shoulders and started down towards my breasts. My nipples were hard and craved some attention.