The Immortal Compromise (The Mortal One Series Book 3) (11 page)

“I love you, too,” he said, then walked over to shake Gregorio’s hand and opened the front door.

Olivier walked through first, giving me a wave.

“Nice meeting you,” Jen called after him.

He smiled at her and Nico closed the door behind the two of them. They would likely get a hotel room to sleep through the day and fly back to Paris at sunset.

“I hate to be a party pooper right now,” I said, “but I need some sleep. I have been in a car for more than four hours and I can’t sleep in moving vehicles.”

Jen looked less than happy about that, but didn’t say anything.

“Night,” Gregorio called as I walked into the guest room.

I slipped off my shoes, took my bra off and climbed into the bed. My head hit the pillow and it was all over from there.

Chapter 14

“DYLAN, WHERE HAVE you been?” Jen demanded.

What a way to wake up. I opened one eye at a time to see her, standing with her hands on her hips. It was only a matter of time before she started demanding some answers, especially since she didn’t last night.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, sitting up in bed with a yawn. “I went to Wurzburg the day before your arrival and thought I would be back last night, but I ran into problem after problem.” I tried to keep it as vague as possible since I couldn’t tell her that my problems were vampire related.

“I guess I have to forgive you,” she said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“What time is it?” I asked, my head still pounding from the lack of sleep.

“It’s eleven. I didn’t want you to sleep through the whole day,” she said, smiling. Six hours of sleep was better than nothing and she had no way of knowing that I hadn’t slept in over twenty four hours.

I leaned forward to give her a hug. “I promise I will be here at your side for the rest of your time in Berlin. Did Gregorio give you a tour?”

Gregorio stepped into the room with a knock on the door to introduce his presence. “I heard my name,” he paused, smiling. “I have been showing her the sights, including Checkpoint Charlie.”

“Yes, he has. But I’ve been here almost a full day and have been without my best friend,” she huffed.

Gregorio shrugged and I felt bad because he was trying to be nice and she probably hadn’t even thanked him for the tour.

“Did you get some sleep?” He asked, looking in my direction.

I nodded. “Enough for now. It seems right now, I need to get into a shower and take my best friend out for some sightseeing.”

Her eyes lit up and she threw her arms around me, knocking me back onto my pillow. I laughed.

Gregorio laughed and closed the door. “I will let you girls be alone for a while. When you need me, I will be in the living room.”

“Thanks,” I called out to him. “What have you done already?” I asked Jen.

“Well,” she said, deep in thought for a moment, “We did the TV Tower and the hop on, hop off tour. There’s a lot to see in the city and we didn’t cover much.”

“Okay,” I said, thinking. “I’m not an expert in the city, but did you see Alexanderplatz?”

Jen shook her head. “I saw Checkpoint Charlie, though.”

I nodded. “So we do Alexanderplatz for lunch and then I’ll see if we can’t get tickets to the boat tour for this evening. They serve dinner on the boat. I’ve heard it’s a lot of fun, but I haven’t been on it.”

“Sounds good. And then to a club?” Jen smiled.

“Of course,” I said, remembering how much Jen loves the party scene. “Do you mind if Gregorio comes with us?”

Jen shrugged. “Can it be just us for lunch so we can catch up and then he can join us for the boat tour?”

I understood what she meant about catching up. We had months of time to catch up on, yet I still couldn’t tell her even close to what was really happening to me.

***

“Can I talk to you?” I went over to Gregorio. He was at work on his computer and Jen was in the shower.

He closed the lid to his laptop. “Of course, what’s going on?”

I shrugged. “We never got to finish talking about necromancy because of all that took place.”

He nodded. “You have learned a lot about the power of necromancy and I have no doubt that it flows through your veins.”

I made a face because I still had my doubts about that. “How do we know that for sure?”

“You have to be the one to perform a ceremony. I can supervise, but it has to be your necromancy that activates it all, not mine,” Gregorio said.

“It’s just –,”

“Shhh,” he whispered.

It was the sound of the shower coming to a stop. We both waited patiently to hear what was going on in the bathroom to ensure that Jen could not hear the conversation we were having.

“I don’t know what ceremony I am okay with performing,” I said once I heard the hair dryer turn on.

“Well, think on it. We can raise a zombie, raise an apparition, or control a vampire,” Gregorio said.

“The last one,” I said. “You hadn’t mentioned that before.”

“Why do you think the Parisian vampires don’t want me in the city?”

“Oh,” I said. “I guess I didn’t understand it completely. So you can control vampires?”

He nodded. “It’s why they are scared of me. It is also how Olivier was able to accomplish what he has been able to.”

“That may be what I will do. I am not sure yet. Maybe Nico or Olivier will allow me to control them for the test,” I said, thinking out loud.

Gregorio laughed. “I can’t wait to see that one. Actually, can I be there when you ask them?”

I swatted at his shoulder, but he was right. Asking one of them if I could control one of them during the day would be an interesting request. Would one of them allow me? Only time would tell.

“So, Jen and I are going to do some sightseeing and have lunch around Alexanderplatz,” I said.

“Sounds good. Would you like me to accompany you?”

“Not for lunch. I know how to take the U-Bahn there and back. But I was hoping you could get us tickets for the dinner boat tour and you could come with us?”

“I can take care of that for you. Are you sure it’s safe for you to be out alone?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Wenzel gave his word to Nico that I would be safe for as long as I was in Germany, so we have to believe him at this point.”

“Okay,” Gregorio said. “Just call me if there is anything that concerns you while the two of you are out.”

Jen came out of the bathroom with a cloud of steam following her. Her hair was styled and makeup was applied, but she was wrapped in a towel. She gave a quick wave to us and went into the guest room.

“By the way, how do I get to that chocolate place again?” I asked, smiling.

“Now you can’t stay away?”

“What can I say, I love my chocolate,” I laughed.

Gregorio explained that it was in the opposite direction of Alexanderplatz, so either way, I would have to pass the apartment. “Why don’t you call me when you’re done in Alexanderplatz and I will meet you at the
Kochstrasse
station around the corner from here? I will join you for some Ritter Sport.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“What’s a plan?” Jen asked, coming out of the bedroom. She was wearing jeans and a sweater with heeled boots and a scarf.

I looked down at the boots. “We’re doing a lot of walking,” I said.

She frowned. “But the boots are so cute.”

“I agree,” I laughed, “But very impractical. Change into sneakers, I promise you will thank me.”

“Fine,” she said, leaning against the couch for support while she unzipped them. “So what’s the plan?”

“Lunch at Alexanderplatz and then Gregorio is going to meet us to get some of the most amazing chocolate. After that, we can come back here to chill for a while before grabbing the boat tour for dinner,” I said.

Her eyes lit up. “Chocolate?”

“Girls,” Gregorio said, shaking his head.

“Oh, shut up,” I said. “You love the chocolate there just as much as I do.”

I grabbed my scarf from the couch and waited for Jen to get her sneakers on. Gregorio waved and we headed out. I slipped my messenger bag over my head and closed the door.

“Hey,” Gregorio said, catching up to us on the first floor landing.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He held a key in my hand. “I’m running out for a while. If you need to get in while I’m gone, here’s a key.”

“Thanks,” I said, sliding it into the front pouch of my bag.

He climbed the stairs back up to the apartment and we left his apartment complex, over to the U-Bahn station.

“He seems nice,” Jen said, nodding towards Gregorio’s place.

I nodded. “He is a good friend of mine.”

“How good?” She asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

I have her a playful shove. “Jen!”

She giggled. “Just asking.”

We descended the stairs to the U-Bahn and I went over to the kiosk to get us each a day pass. “Isn’t this the best transportation ever?”

“We didn’t take this way before. So it’s like a Subway?”

“Pretty much. So you got around Berlin yesterday with the hop on bus only?”

“Yeah. Greg said it was easier.”

“Greg, huh?” I asked. She made it a habit to shorten everyone’s names when she could and it made me smile at Gregorio becoming Greg. It didn’t sound like him at all.

“Well, yeah. He said it was okay if I called him that. I told him Gregorio was a mouthful for me,” Jen said.

I couldn’t resist. “That’s never stopped you before.”

“Dylan! Now look who’s being bad,” she laughed.

“Sorry, but I had to take the shot.”

The train arrived. “This way,” I said. We pushed the button for the doors to open and shoved our way on amongst the crowd of people.

Jen and I rode in silence for the few stops it took to get to Alexanderplatz. We listened to all of the conversations being held in German. I only knew a few words to get me by and be polite, so what they were saying was a mystery to me. Jen seemed to listen intently, though I knew she had less of a clue as to what they said than I did.

We climbed the stairs to street level and I stood there for a few moments to get my bearings.

“Are you lost?” Jen asked.

I shook my head. “No, just give me a second.” I looked around and then caught glimpse of the wooden signs. “Follow me.” I said, taking a left.

“This is so cute,” Jen said as we got into the middle of Alexanderplatz with all of the wooden booths and the wooden carousel off to the right.

“You probably saw some of it from the hop on tour yesterday, but being in the center of it all is a lot of fun,” I said.

“Is that a bar?” She asked, staring at the large wooden bar in the middle of the area.

I nodded. “Yes, come on.”

She stared at the menu, which was mostly in German.

“Flip it over,” the bartender said.

“Excuse me?” Jen said.

The bartender came over to smile at her. He flipped the menu over for her. “This is the English side.”

“Oh,” she smiled up at him, twirling her hair around her finger. “Thank you.”

I shook my head. Leave it to Jen to find someone to flirt with wherever we went.

“Where are you from?” He asked.

“Florida, ummm United States,” Jen said. “So what do you recommend for an American girl to drink?”

“Well, that depends,” the bartender said. “Do you like the taste of beer or do you want something sweeter?”

“I like beer, but something a little sweeter would be nice,” she said.

“Okay. Let’s give a Diesel a try.”

Jen smiled over at me. “He’s nice.”

I rolled my eyes. “He would be nicer if he took my drink order, too.” I walked around the bar and got the other bartender’s attention and held out several euros. The bartender nodded in my direction and I called out the beer I wanted. He nodded and began to pour it.

“Well aren’t you Miss Thang,” Jen laughed.

I shrugged. “I got my beer, though.”

“What’s good to eat?” She asked, looking around at all of the food stalls.

“There’s pretzels, goulash, oh and
flammkuchen
,” I said, suddenly getting excited about the possibilities.

“Flamm what?” She asked.

I laughed. “It’s hard to pronounce, but
flammkuchen
is kind of like pizza, but it’s a thin crust and a creamy cheesy sauce instead of marinara. It’s so good.”

“Okay, I’m willing to try it.”

Her bartender returned with a liter mug of Diesel for her to try. She looked at the size. “Holy shit, this is my kind of country.”