Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2) (20 page)

Chapter 20

“ARE YOU OKAY?” Olivier asked. We had just walked into my hotel room and I was shaking a little. It was a combination of shock and cold.

I nodded.

“You have to talk to me. You haven’t said anything since we left the Catacombs.”

I nodded again.

“Dylan, fuck.” Olivier sat me on the bed and helped me out of my jacket. He then reached down and untied my shoes.

He went over to the little refrigerator in the hotel room and grabbed a bottle of water. He took off the lid and brought it right up to my face. “Drink.”

I took a sip and nearly choked as the cold liquid rushed down my throat.

“You’re a mess,” Olivier said. He brushed the dark hair out of his face and paced across the room. “I have to get back to help Nico with the zombie bodies. Can you talk to me?”

I nodded.

There were too many thoughts spinning around in my head. Human sacrifice. An officer of the law was killed. Zombies were being burned. And I was a sensitive? What the fuck did that mean? My head just kept spinning as I tried to put into words what I was thinking. Gregorio might be right. Vampires were assholes. What the hell did I get myself into? That Colin guy snapped the officer’s neck without even thinking about it. And the other vampires stood by and snickered.

I let out a violent spasm as it all replayed through my head again.

Olivier reached into his pocket and called Nico.

“One of us need to stay with Dylan,” Olivier said into the phone. “She’s in severe shock.” He waited a few seconds. “You can burn the bodies or I can but it has to be done tonight and she can’t be here on her own.” He nodded as he held the phone and wiped his hand over his face. “I know I have the damn SUV. See if Colin or one of the others have an SUV to borrow for the bodies. What the fuck do you want me to do?” He hung up the phone and sat down on the bed.

I felt my stomach clench and a rush of hot saliva flow into my mouth. Before I could control it or warn Olivier, I leaned forward and vomited.

“Sweetheart,” Olivier cooed, he pulled my hair out of my face and ran his fingers through the tangles. He went into the bathroom and came out with one of my hairclips. He wrapped the length of my hair around his hand and then used the clip so it stayed on the top of my head.

I let out a moan and leaned forward again. Olivier kicked the waste basket in front of me this time, catching the majority of what came out.

There was a knock on the door. Olivier used the peephole to see who it was and then opened it. Gregorio stood there and pushed the door open the rest of the way until he came into my full view.

“She’s a sensitive,” Gregorio announced.

Olivier nodded. “I know. And she’s in shock.”

“I figured. I brought something that should help.” Gregorio pulled out a bag of green and brown flakes.

“Valerian and clove?” Olivier asked.

“Yes.”

“I’ll make a tea with it, thank you,” Olivier said.

Gregorio looked over at me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“That’s all she does when I talk to her,” Olivier said.

“Oh. Make the tea and that should help. I’m leaving to Berlin in the morning. If she needs to talk or needs anything, please have her call me,” Gregorio said and left the hotel room.

Olivier walked over to the coffee maker and crushed up all of the herbs and put them in the top, then grabbed the bottle of water that was on the nightstand. He pressed a button and the percolation began.

A few minutes later, a mug of hot tea was being pressed against my lips. “Drink.”

I drank. It tasted horrible. I hated hot drinks, but I continued to drink, mainly because Olivier wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

It was the last thing I remembered as my head hit the pillow.

***

“Dylan, wake up,” Nico whispered above me. He was shaking me back and forth in the bed.

“Huh?” I asked, opening my eyes.

Nico and Olivier were both leaning over me with concerned looks on their faces.

“What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Nico asked.

I looked back and forth between the two men. “I, um, I remember being at the Catacombs. And the officer. And the vomiting.” I looked at Olivier. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. The tea helped.”

“What tea?”

“Do not worry about it,” Nico said. “We have to go down for the day. It is almost sunrise. Neither of us wanted to leave you.”

His words sunk in. I looked over at Olivier. “Do you have time to get home?”

Olivier shook his head. “Non. I have a room down the hall.”

I nodded. “Okay. Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” Nico said. “We are going down. You will be okay?”

“Yes. Now,” I said.

“Good,” Olivier said. “I won’t see you again for a while. Not until you come back to Paris.” He looked over at Nico and then gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “Be well.” He walked out of the hotel room.

Nico locked the door behind him and then drew the curtains closed. He climbed into the bed where I was sitting. I looked over at him and he kissed me on the cheek. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.”

“When I wake, we will head back home.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Nico stretched out in the bed and I curled up next to him. He smoothed my hair down and I wrapped a leg over his, getting comfortable. It wasn’t hard to fall back asleep.

When I finally woke for the day, Nico was like a stone next to me. He wasn’t breathing and he resembled a statue more than anything else. I had to carefully try to regain my leg that was wrapped in between the two of his, which took longer than it should have. I pulled the comforter over him and then stepped into the bathroom.

I didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to pass the time. Gregorio was back in Berlin, Olivier and Nico were dead to the world, and I had seen my share of Paris for a while. What I really wanted to do was sit around talking with Antonio, drink wine, and have a sense of normal wrapped around me like a blanket for a while.

Last night was, well, last night was fucked up. Between the zombies, the vampires, and the magic, I didn’t know what to make of it all. Thank God for Gregorio and Olivier knowing how to help me. My body went into shock and I still didn’t know if I was completely myself. Hanging out with all of these people took a toll on me and stole parts of my humanity. Antonio had warned me of this, though we both knew there was nothing that could be done about it.

After getting dressed, I went down to the bistro right across from the hotel and did the best thing I could think of. I ordered a carafe of wine and called Antonio.

“Hey you,” he answered. “How did everything go?”

“Where do I begin?” I asked. I told him to grab a glass of wine and take a seat. He did and as I poured wine into my own glass, we talked. Being able to talk to someone who understood from a mortal point of view helped me to breathe easier. After finishing the carafe of wine, I felt better.

“You’re coming home tonight, right?” Antonio asked.

“Yes. I love Paris, but I’m ready to leave it for a while. I want to get back to bartending and surround myself with humans for a while,” I admitted.

“I understand. If it will make you feel any better, I went up to Greve in Chianti and got the newest release of Montepulciano,” he said.

I smiled. “You’re too good to me. I’ll order the
pappardelle
if you bring the wine.”

“Deal,” he said and we hung up.

I signaled to the waiter to bring me another carafe of wine. Since the hotel was just across the street, I didn’t feel bad about drinking entirely too much. The bistro wasn’t busy, so there was no harm in taking up a table for a few hours. I reached into my messenger bag, grabbed my Kindle, and proceeded to read a novel and drink wine until the sun started to set.

Chapter 21

I WAS EAGER to get back to Nico because I had countless questions for him. Antonio helped to ease my issues with what transpired last night and now I wanted answers. Nico had to do everything on his own with the help of the other vampires of Paris since Olivier was busy with me and my shock.

I wanted to know that the zombies were down and burned with no chance of coming back up. They freaked me out and the fact that the vampires were willing to kill humans that found out about them made me especially on edge.

Nico practically pounced on me when I opened the door to the hotel room.

“You’re up,” I said, thinking there was another hour before he would be awake.

“I thought you had left.”

“Left? Where would I go?”

Nico stared at me. “After everything you went through last night, I thought you left me. Left us. Left everything.”

I shook my head and tears welled up at the surface. “I’m not going anywhere.” Nico’s deepest insecurities had come forward and I was shocked that he was showing them. He had shown emotion before, but this was the farthest they had ever gone.

He sat me down on the bed and kneeled in front of me. “
Mia mortale
, you are my world now. You cannot leave me. I know that last night was difficult and I know that you have questions. We will sort everything out together.”

I nodded.

“Do not nod at me. Not after last night. I need to know that you hear me completely.”

“I do, Nico. I am not going anywhere. Last night was horrible. I do have questions and I will need answers for them. But you and I, we are partners through it all. Acting like an ass in front of the vampires is not something I can tolerate, however. And while I know you are the acting sovereign, there are things you can delegate. Olivier does have my best interests in mind, though you will need to trust him. Trust me.”

Nico nodded. “I understand. Believe me when I say I want to believe Olivier will protect you, but it is not easy for me to see someone who blatantly cares for you when you belong to another man.”

I bristled at the word ‘belong’ but I understood what he was saying. There were times when I had to remind myself that Nico was born in the 1700s when women were meant to obey their men and they were seen as property. It somehow allowed me to turn a cheek every now and then when he used certain words. I knew he did not see me in that way.

“We need to get ready to go,” Nico said.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m already showered and ready. I had gone over to the bistro across from the hotel to drink some wine and talk to Antonio.”

“That explains it.”

“What?”

“The smell of wine on your breath.”

“Oh,” I said. Before I spoke another word, I unzipped my luggage and grabbed my toiletries. Apparently brushing my teeth would be a good idea right about now.

Nico chuckled as he began undressing to step into the shower. “Do you want to join me?”

As tempting as it was, I declined. We needed to get out of here in a timely manner and if I stepped into the shower with him, it would be anything but timely.

Nico stepped out of the shower a few minutes later to a cloud of steam. He smirked at me as his towel dropped to the floor and he stood there in all of his glory. The self-esteem that man had always took me by surprise.

The suitcases were already packed. We had a private flight that Costin had arranged to avoid waiting another day. With all the money that they had, I couldn’t understand why they didn’t own their own private jet. I knew they didn’t like to fly, but damn it would have been a lot more convenient sometimes.

“Ready?” Nico asked.

I nodded. We probably wouldn’t be back to Paris for a while and I pulled back the curtain to look at what I could of the cityscape. It was gorgeous, but I couldn’t be happier with going back to Florence and back to my life that was waiting for me.