The Immortal Compromise (The Mortal One Series Book 3) (13 page)

Chapter 16

“WHAT DO YOU mean you’re bringing her here?” Nico yelled into the phone.

I cringed and held the phone away from my ear. “We’re getting on a plane in about twenty minutes. I would have told you sooner, but you weren’t awake yet.”

“Dylan, this is not a good idea,” Nico said. His reaction was exactly what I expected, which is why I put off making the phone call until the very last minute.

“I know it’s not ideal, but I want to have my best friend in Paris. It’s only for two nights and there is no reason why she can’t come. Yes, her blood type is your favorite, but I have faith that you’re not going to drain my best friend,” I said, looking over my shoulder to make sure Jen wasn’t anywhere around.

“That is not what I am worried about,” Nico said, between gritted teeth.

“Then what is the problem?” I sighed.

“Olivier and I are trying to focus on your security. Adding another mortal to watch over is not what we had in mind.”

“It’s only for two days. It will be fine. Do you want to take down our flight information or should I take a taxi to the house?” I didn’t want to ask for permission on this. Relationships were give and take. It was my turn to take for a change.

“What is the flight number?” Nico asked. He wasn’t happy about this. I knew just from the way he was curt with me, but he asked for the flight number, so I took that as a win.

I told him the number and what our anticipated arrival time was. “We won’t be at the house for very long. We were going to go into Paris and have dinner and see the Eiffel Tower.” I said this more so he knew he wouldn’t have to do a lot of socializing if he didn’t want to.

“Olivier or I will accompany you,” he said.

I smiled. “I was counting on it,” I said. “They just started boarding, so I will see you in about an hour and a half.”

I waved Jen over and we took out our boarding passes.

“Nico is picking us up?” Jen asked. She was downing the rest of the pretzel she bought.

I nodded and slipped the phone in my messenger bag and got in line behind the group of people who were already standing at the gate. I hated the “hurry up and wait” mentality at airports. Even though we had assigned seats, I’d rather be sitting on the plane and waiting than in the airport itself.

“First class?” Jen asked, turning left instead of right at the direction of the flight attendant.

“Why not?” I asked, smiling. I hadn’t told her because it was so much better this way. “They serve champagne in first class,” I said, taking the seat next to her. There were pillows and blankets already waiting and headphones, which would be a much needed escape at some point during the flight.

“Really?” She said, her interest piqued. It really didn’t take much to keep her entertained. Give her some alcohol and she was good to go.

We settled in and waited for all of the announcements to be made. Jen was a nervous flyer just like I was, so neither of us felt comfortable until the plane leveled off in the air. When the flight attendant told us we could turn on electronic devices, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and waited for the champagne to be poured.

The flight attendant that was working on the plane was feeling overly generous with the champagne and poured us several glasses. Jen and I weren’t the kind of girls to turn down champagne, so we lifted our glasses every time he came around with the bottle.

“I need you to explain some more to me,” Jen said, turning to me.

I took a deep breath, waiting for her questions to begin. I didn’t know how many I could answer, but I would do my best. “Okay.”

“Gregorio is a friend?”

I laughed. “Yes, a good one.”

“Okay. And Nico?”

“Is my husband,” I said, reaching for my glass of champagne and signaling for another refill.

Jen shook her head. “You said Antonio was your husband. When we talked on the phone, you said it was Antonio.”

I was treading on thin ice here, but I was confident that I could tell her the truth about enough details that it would be okay. “It was all sorts of confusing when you were there. Nico was nervous about meeting you and so he thought that our friend Antonio should stand in for him. When he did end up meeting you, it all got confusing.”

She made a face and started to think about everything. “Why not just tell me then when I was there?”

I laughed it away. “We just figured you would think we were weird, so we just kept it up.”

“Because you never thought you would see me again.” She hit that right on the head, being more perceptive than I would have given her credit for.

I looked down. “Yeah.”

“Why?”

“It just seemed easier. I made the decision to move to Italy and it didn’t seem realistic that we would ever see each other again,” I confessed.

“You didn’t know he had money when you met him?” Jen asked, sipping her champagne.

“I knew he had some, but not quite this much,” I said. It was true. Even now, his total net worth was a complete mystery. He was in real estate and made sound investments. There seemed to be no limit to the amount of money he had and he said that there would be no problems with anything I would ever want to buy.

“So he has a lot?”

I could clue her in on some of it, but I just nodded.

“Nico isn’t nervous about meeting me anymore?” She asked.

I shook my head, considering he never was. Though she did have the blood type that he loved most in the world, he would be able to restrain himself.

“Okay, so when we land, Nico, who I thought was Antonio, is going to pick us up and take us to your house?” She asked.

“Yes. And once we drop off our suitcases and get settled and freshened up, Nico or Olivier will bring us to Paris.”

“What’s the deal with Olivier?” Jen asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, wondering if she sensed something weird between us. There was no way I wanted to get into that conversation, ever.

“Well,” she raised her eyebrows, “he’s hot.”

“Yes, and?” I smiled, wondering exactly where she was headed with her inquiries.

She shifted in her seat. “He was in Berlin with Nico, but he is from Paris?”

“Yes, they are friends and work together,” I said, exaggerating the truth a little. They did work together, just not in the most traditional sense. And the whole friend’s aspect was something new and they were still working on that. I had to admit that Nico was taking to him better than I had ever expected.

“Do you know if he is seeing anyone?” Her eyes were wide with hope.

There it was. Now I had to figure out the best way to tell her that he wasn’t the guy for her. She did not need to be getting involved with a vampire during her stay here. “I don’t think he’s seeing anyone, but I don’t know if he’s really looking, either.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Hmm, well a girl can hope, right?”

“Sure,” I said and wished I had told her that he was gay. That wouldn’t have stopped her either, I mused. She would figure it was her mission to turn him hetero.

The announcements came on that the plane was preparing for its final descent. She and I both gripped the armrests and when we reached for the same one, we looked down and laughed. I took a deep breath, waiting for the plane to land and wondering what would be waiting for us at home in
Marnes-la-Coquette.

Chapter 17

VIOLANTE WAS STANDING in the middle of my kitchen when Jen and I arrived. She stood there as if she owned the place, talking to Olivier. Her back was to me and she didn’t bother to turn around when we walked through the door.

I dropped my bags in the hallway. She took one look at me and went back to her conversation.

“Why is she here?” I asked Nico, enunciating every word carefully. I didn’t care who was around to hear this argument. I just spent an hour in the car with him and he never thought to mention it on the way here. It wouldn’t have softened my reaction, but at least I would have been prepared to see her in my home.

“I told you,
mia mortale
, she was here to help out while Olivier and I were in Germany.”

I nodded. “And now you are back, so why isn’t she on her way back to Florence?”

Violante walked over to me, tossing her long black hair off of her shoulder. “Are you having a jealous wife moment?”

“Fuck you,” I spat at her and turned to Nico, looking for his help with this.

“Violante, can you give us a moment?” He stood tall and ran his hand through his dark, wavy hair.

She shook her head and walked over to where Jen was standing by the door. She gave her a look from head to toe. Jen stood her ground and gave her the same look down. Violante then marched into the middle of the kitchen, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor.

“What are we doing with another mortal here?” Violante asked, hand on her hip.

I cringed. Violante was making assumptions and that was dangerous territory, given the topic that was at hand.

“Mortal?” Jen asked. “I’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but no one has ever called me that, nor made it sound like a bad thing. Dylan, who the fuck is this woman?” She looked worried and I didn’t blame her one bit.

“My name is Violante.” She said it as though everyone should not only know who she is, but bow before her.

“Obviously, this situation needs to be dealt with,” Violante commanded. She paced back and forth between everyone in the kitchen. She was overstepping her bounds and that was typical.

“There was no situation to deal with until you opened your fucking mouth,” I said to her.

“Nico, control your wife,” she said. “I think she has forgotten who she is speaking to.” She stood there, tapping her nails on the kitchen counter.

“Who I’m speaking to?” I asked, stepping up to her. I tried not to laugh outright in her face. “You are nothing here. There is Nico and Olivier. Those are the only ones I see around here who are of any importance.”

Olivier, who had been leaning against the wall that divided the kitchen and living room, decided to walk into the kitchen. He stood closer to me, as if ready to move me out of the way if things took a turn for the worse. I could see that happening at any time.

“Dylan?”

I turned to see Jen with a look of panic on her face. There was a lot going on right now and Jen heard way too much. I hadn’t explained any of this to her because I couldn’t and now I had no idea what was running through her mind.

“As far as I see, she knows the truth and therefore she must die,” Violante said, walking towards Jen.

Jen instinctively stepped back until she was up against the front door.

“She knows nothing,” Nico and Olivier said at the same time.

“Listen to her thoughts. She already has her suspicions.” Violante said, one of her arms resting above Jen’s head on the front door.

Nico stood quiet and then his face fell. That confirmed it. Jen went there with her thoughts. She guessed that they were vampires and that probably wasn’t hard to do considering there was that ‘mortal’ comment.

Jen gasped, her face losing all color. “You mean I’m right?”

I looked at Jen and shook my head. She stared at me and I tried to quiet her with my eyes alone, telling her not to say another word.

“Unless she is going to be someone’s pet and turned, she needs to die,” Violante announced and spun on her heel towards Nico. “Should we do it now?”

“Slow down, Violante,” Nico said. He turned to Olivier and then to me as if trying to figure out what could be done.

This is why I needed to be a vampire right now. I would turn her myself in order to save her life. Violante was such a bitch. She knew this would happen, which is why she made the comment from the beginning. She instigated the whole thing.

“Give us a moment,” I said and hauled Jen upstairs. I heard footsteps following but I didn’t bother to look behind to see who was on their way up.

I pushed Jen into my room and closed the door. She sat on the bed with a panicked look on her face.

“What the fuck is going on right now?” She asked. “Vampires?”

I closed my eyes and knelt in front of her, trying to calm her down. “Yes. They are real.”

“But you aren’t one.” She said it quietly, as if she wasn’t confident in her statement.

“No, not yet. Nico is going to turn me when I’m ready,” I confessed.

“So Nico is a vampire?”

I nodded.

“And Olivier?”

“Him, too.”

Jen rubbed her temples. “I’m so confused. They look normal.”

I nodded. “Yes. But Nico is the sovereign of Paris. That’s like the big boss. Olivier is his second in command. The woman is Violante and she’s a fucking bitch from Florence who has a thing for Nico and is determined to ruin my life.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” she said. “I don’t understand what all this means, though. Why does Violante say I have to become a pet? What the hell is a pet?”

“Oh, Jen. This is such a fucking nightmare.”

“What’s going to happen to me? Is Violante going to kill me?” Her voice was getting high pitched and I was afraid she was going to go into hysterics at any moment.

My bedroom door opened. “No, that’s not going to happen.”

It was Olivier. He walked in and stood next to me. “Dylan has explained what I am?”

Jen looked up at him. “Yes.”

“Are you scared?”

She nodded, her eyes very large.

“You don’t need to be,” he whispered, taking a seat next to her. “There is a choice to be made.”

“What choice do I have?” Jen asked, her voice cracking as tears started to stream down her cheek.

“You can let Violante win or I can turn you. You can be my pet while I groom you to become a vampire,” Olivier said.

What? I almost fell back on my heels. I reached my hand in front of me to balance and stood up. Olivier was talking quietly to Jen and she was nodding. Was my best friend about to be turned into a vampire?

“Jen?” I asked.

She looked up at me, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “It’s better than dying, right?”

“Are you sure you want to do this? You always made fun of me when I talked about vampires.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t think they existed. I never thought you and I would become vampires.”

“Do you want some time to think about this?” Olivier asked, placing his hand on top of hers.

She looked up at him and shook her head. “No. I will be your pet. You can turn me.” She said it all very quietly.

Jen made up her mind so fast it made me dizzy. It took me days to make sense of it all and here she was accepting it all. Maybe it was because there was a vampire downstairs who was ready to kill her.

“Are you sure of this?” I asked her.

She stared at Olivier for a moment, her eyes sparkling. I noticed he still had his hands on hers and he was staring at her as well.

“Jen?” I asked again.

She seemed to break out of the trance she was in. “What?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I don’t think I really have a choice about this. I wished we just stayed in Berlin and hung out with Greg for a few more days, but there’s a vampire downstairs who wants to kill me because I guessed that she was a vampire after she called me a mortal,” Jen said in a rush of words.

I nodded, not knowing what I was supposed to say. There wasn’t really a way for me to talk her out of it because it would be as good as condemning her to death. There were rules in place for this kind of thing. When a mortal found out about vampires, they were killed or turned. When you were given the chance to be turned, you didn’t say no because it would mean death for sure.

“It will all work out,” Olivier said.

Jen took a deep breath and looked between the two of us and finally kept her gaze on Olivier. “Okay, well, it looks like you are my savior.”

“It is my pleasure,” he said, kissing her hand.

“Wait until you hear about the mark,” I smiled, remembering how hard it was for me to get mine.

She gave me another look of panic. There was so much I hadn’t told her about what had happened to me over the past several months and now she was going to learn much of it firsthand.

“We can do that now if you like,” Olivier said, more to Jen than me.

“It may be the only way for Violante to back down,” I said, though I didn’t know if Jen was ready for a crash course on how to be a vampire.

“Wait,” Jen said. “What is the mark?”

I smiled at the two of them. “I’ll be downstairs.”

***

“What is going on upstairs?” Nico asked as I walked into the kitchen. Violante was leaning against the wall in the kitchen and barely looked in my direction.

My hand tensed in a fist and I worked hard not to walk over and punch her in the face. It would probably hurt me more than her, which is the only reason why I didn’t. “Jen is going to be marked by Olivier.”

“What?” Violante asked, standing up straight and taking several steps towards me.

I smiled. “She is receiving the mark, which protects her.”

“Olivier cannot simply mark everyone who learns about vampires.”

I shook my head. “This is the first person he has ever marked and the reason she learned about vampires is because of your fucking mouth.”

“I assumed you already told her. She is your best friend,” Violante said.

“Well, you know what they say about assumptions,” I said.

She stared at me with a look of confusion. That’s when I realized that she probably didn’t know what they said about assumptions, which made me smile.

“It looks like everything is under control then,” Nico announced. He looked at his watch and then looked at Violante. “You can go ahead and take that flight back to Florence that is booked for tonight.”

She shook her head. “Nico, it is obvious that you need me here for longer.”

I rolled my eyes and waited for him to tell her off.

“I have it from here. I can take you to the airport or we can call a taxi to take you,” he said.

I walked behind her and over to the wine fridge that I had installed under the kitchen counter. It was time to open a bottle of Sangiovese. The champagne from the flight had worn off and it was easier to deal with Violante when I had a buzz.

“The vampires in Paris are weak. They cannot defend the city if there is an attack. They have no respect for you yet,” she said. “Together, we can fix all of that.” She smoothed her hair with her hand and stood tall, smiling at him.

Nico shook his head. “Your help was needed and I appreciate you coming up here for a few days. Olivier and I have it from here.”

“I said I will help you, Niccolò.” She had a hand on one hip as if he should be bowing down before her in gratitude.

“I heard you,” Nico said. “And I’m telling you that you can go back to Florence. You are the second to Costin, not to me.”

I took a good sip of wine and leaned against the kitchen counter, watching this exchange with mild amusement.

“I will pledge myself to you,” Violante said, bending down in a curtsy of sorts. I did my best not to laugh.

Nico looked over at me, as if wondering how he was supposed to proceed. I raised my eyebrows and smiled as if to tell him that he had his work cut out for him.