Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2) (14 page)

“I’m just tired,” I said, pressing into him and letting myself relax.

“Sweet dreams,” he said to me, kissing me on the neck. It was the last thing that I remembered for the night.

Chapter 13

I WOKE UP with a headache, which was never a good sign. Honestly, it felt like someone had bashed my skull in. As I rolled over in the bed, my whole body ached and letting out a wince, I knew it was because of playing around with Nico. He warned me that he hadn’t shielded me and it must have been the passion and need covering up his strength.

There weren’t any bruises as I peaked under the covers, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t appear in a day or two. Hopefully they wouldn’t be visible. Having to explain them could be awkward, especially to someone like Olivier. God, I didn’t want to explain them to him of all people.

The alarm clock showed that it was already one in the afternoon. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for being able to catch a full eight hours of sleep. It was what I needed to try and replenish at least a small part of the energy my body needed. Too many days or nights lately seemed like they were non-stop with one or two hours of sleep here and there. Everyone seemed to forget that I was mortal and needed sleep. They got to sleep during the day because it was part of being tied to the moon. Sleeping during the day wasn’t easy for me. I liked seeing the sun and when it cascaded through my windows, it was inevitable to wake up.

After lying in the bed for a few more minutes to see if I could fall back asleep, I got up and headed into the bathroom for a shower. Part of me wished I was in the shower at the hotel back in Paris because it had that amazing showerhead. That was something I’d have to get once I moved into Nico’s place – or our place – I corrected myself.

There was a knock at the door as I got out of the shower. I hadn’t even peaked in on Nico yet, which I knew I shouldn’t do anyways.

I was in a towel and it was daylight. Not too many people it could be. After peaking through the peephole, I opened the door.

It was Antonio, smiling and holding a bag of food.

“Hi there,” he said, walking in.

I smiled as the Italian food wafted through the air. “I love you.”

“You say the sweetest things when I have food in my hand.”

I laughed. That was certainly the truth.

“Give me just a second to throw some clothes on,” I said, rushing into the bedroom.

I came out quickly and twisted my wet hair into a knot on my head with a clip.

“Glad to see you were up when I headed over. Had my doubts as to whether you would be sleeping still or not.”

“I didn’t get up that long ago. I’ve been so tired,” I said.

“Tell me about it. It took me forever to remind them that I was mortal and needed to sleep. They like to keep these insane hours in comparison to what we need,” he commented.

I nodded. “This is why I keep you around. You’re the only one who gets it.”

He grabbed two plates from the cabinet and his hand lingered on a bottle of wine on my counter. “Is it too early for wine?”

“Never,” I said, reaching for the corkscrew.

We fixed plates and sat at the table in the living room, eating ravioli and sipping wine. He didn’t ask about Paris or Olivier. He went right for the dirt like the gossip queen he was.

“So last night,” he trailed off.

“Yes?” I asked, smiling at him.

“Nico chased us out of the apartment pretty fast.” He had a shit-eating grin on his face and I knew what he was asking about.

I nodded. “He sure did.” I bit off a piece of garlic bread. If he wanted to know details, he would have to ask.

“Did you get your fill of him?”

“Why do you have to be so crude?” I asked, throwing a piece of bread at him.

He laughed. “I was not trying to be. That was the best way I could find to ask the question. Would you rather me simply ask how long the two of you fucked for?”

That earned him a snort and I thought he was going to spew the wine in his mouth.

“You know that he could end up hurting you,” he warned.

“I know.”

“It’s really that good?”

I nodded and bit my lip. “Yeah. It really is.”

“So tell me about Olivier? He’s not a complete asshole?”

I was waiting for him to bring him up. “He’s not so bad,” I said, sipping on more wine.

“Is that all you’re going to tell me?”

I was guarded with Olivier. There was something between the two of us, but I’d yet to figure out what it was, what I was going to do about it, or how far I would let it go. “He gave me a lot of information about vampires,” I trailed off.

“Was he the one that raised the zombies?” I forgot that Antonio was really interested in this kind of stuff.

“Yes. He was the one that raised them because he was trying to get more vampire blood.” Antonio was the first one to learn about how Olivier stole his immortality. I didn’t tell Costin or Nico because they hadn’t asked and didn’t know how they would react to it. I found with them, it was easier to omit certain details so they wouldn’t get so worked up. If they asked, I would tell them, otherwise I’d keep my mouth shut.

“What do you mean?” He scooted forward towards me, setting his fork down.

I picked up the two plates and brought them into the sink. Antonio’s intensity was getting too much now and I needed a diversion. Olivier never told me not to tell anyone, but it seemed weird to be just blurting it all out.

“Don’t ignore me,” Antonio said, coming to stand next to me. He rinsed the plates and put them in the dishwasher while I topped off our glasses with Chianti.

“I’m not ignoring you. He was a truth seeker like I was,” I said, grabbing my glass and bringing it back over to the couch.

Antonio grabbed his and followed. “And?”

“And he raised zombies to help him attack a vampire so that he could take enough blood to be turned.”

“No shit?” Antonio seemed intrigued more than anything. “So when you say he stole immortality, he actually stole immortality.”

I nodded. “I didn’t even know something like that was possible. The first time he brought the zombies up, he was a necromancer. He laid them to rest and then became immortal. Once he became a vampire, he couldn’t raise them anymore and that’s when he enlisted the help of another necromancer.”

“And that’s how Henri died because he killed the necromancer.”

“You know about the link?”

Antonio nodded. “Costin mentioned it to me in passing, but I’d heard how zombies are linked to their necromancer. It only makes sense that they would lash out and kill.”

“But Olivier knows all of this stuff and he’s willing to share it with me.”

“So you want to spend more time with him?” Antonio looked confused.

“Well, yeah. He is a truth seeker like me, so there’s a lot of information that he has and is capable of teaching me about what’s going on.”

He shook his head. “Why not just ask Nico about it all?”

I stopped. Why
hadn’t
I asked Nico about it? I was relying on Olivier for all of the information without going to the first vampire that I met – and one that was considerably older than Olivier. He’d been around for more than two hundred years. He had to know just as much as Olivier if not more.

“Dylan?” He asked.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about what you said. I guess it’s because Olivier has been more forthcoming with information than Nico has. Nico still won’t tell me how someone is turned into a vampire.”

“He hasn’t?”

I shook my head.

“Do you want me to tell you?”

My eyes grew big. “You know?”

He laughed. “Costin told me more than a year ago. It was during my grooming stage.”

I frowned. “Now I feel cheated.”

“Remember that you have been at this for considerably less time than I have. You’ve known about vampires for about three months and I have known about them for about three years. It’s only natural that I will know more.”

“But I’m sleeping with one. Doesn’t that entitle me to anything?”

“So am I but,” Antonio stopped abruptly. He just realized what he said and reached for his glass of wine to take a sip and have an excuse not to make eye contact with me.

“You’re what?” I asked, calling him out on it.

He made a gesture with his hand. “Well, not really sleeping with one. But you know that I’m his pet.”

“And so how sexual do things get?” I asked. Now it was my time to be curious.

His cheeks burned red. “I, umm,” he tried to get something out.

“Penetration? Sucking?”

“Dylan! Who is being crude now?”

“What? You’re the one who suddenly brought this information out. Now I need to know the details.”

“There’s no penetration because Costin is afraid of hurting me. But we go as far up to that as it allows, but only when he’s feeding on me.” He added that last part as though it suddenly changed everything.

“So it is linked to the way you let him feed?”

He nodded. “I’m not gay. But when he’s taking blood from me…”

“You are?” I said, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

“No. But it feels good and it seems natural to let the sensations take over.” He wouldn’t make eye contact with me. His eyes seemed glued on the window behind me.

“Hmmm,” I said.

“What?” He reached for his wine glass.

“Nothing.”

“You’re judging me.”

I laughed. “No I’m not. Have some more wine.” He shrugged and took a sip.

“Just remember you asked.”

“I know. And thank you for telling me.”

“Don’t things get sexual when Nico feeds from you?” He asked, setting his wine glass down on the table.

I made a face.

“You haven’t let him feed since he marked you, have you?”

I shook my head. “I’m scared.”

“I get that, Dylan, I do. But,” he paused.

“I should be letting him because he’s promising me eternity.” I filled in the blanks without having to be prompted. In my head, I got it. It was something that I should be doing and allowing him to do, but it scared me.

“If you’re afraid he’s going to drain you, he’s not. Give him some credit. He has self-control and your blood cannot be that good,” he said, smirking.

“Thanks.”

“Well, I’m being serious. You have to give yourself into it.” He leaned back on the couch and put his arm around my shoulder.

I leaned back into him. He had become like my big brother around here and having him around helped me to maintain some of my sanity.

“It’s really that sexual?” I asked, looking up at him.

“It can be. If you had told me five years ago that vampires existed and that letting them bite me would get me to do anything sexual with a man, I would have told you that you were not only out of your mind but to go to hell and give you directions to get there.”

I laughed. “Okay, I’ll give it a try. But not tonight.”

“Why not? I mean, I know the two of you are flying to Paris, but that would be the perfect opportunity to make sure it doesn’t last too long.”

Telling Antonio about Christoph taking blood didn’t seem like a good idea. I was afraid it would get back to Costin and then to Nico and it wasn’t an argument I wanted to have. Olivier would keep that secret and it seemed best to keep silent.

“I just want to keep my strength up,” I said.

Antonio nodded like he understood and didn’t push it any further.

“Well Dylan, I have some errands to run for Costin before he gets up in an hour or so, he said looking at his watch. I wanted to bring you some lunch and catch up.”

“Thanks,” I said, standing up with him. We hugged goodbye and I locked the door behind him.

Then I threw myself on the couch, grabbed my Kindle, and emptied the rest of the bottle into my glass.