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

“Well haven’t you been busy!” Lily said, walking through the front door after a delivery man who was wheeling in my refrigerator.

I looked up from where I was peeling stickers off of plates and loading them into the dishwasher. Hair hung in my face and I blew it with a huff.

“Do you want me to send over one of my assistants to help with all of this little stuff?” You can relax and just point to what you need done,” Lily offered.

There was part of me that wanted to yell and ask why she didn’t offer this in the morning. Instead, I smiled and graciously accepted.

Chapter 4

“WOW,” NICO SAID, stepping into the master bedroom.

I flopped down on the bed, which had just been made with fresh sheets from the dryer and a brand new comforter. There were also half a dozen throw pillows, which I was currently lying across.

“What do you think?” I asked, lifting my head up.

“Impressive.”

“Is Olivier with you?” I asked.

Nico nodded. “He is. Downstairs.”

“Okay,” I said, getting off the bed.

“Is there something going on?” Nico asked.

I shook my head. “No, just want to talk to both of you.”

Nico walked downstairs and I was right behind him.

“You work quickly,” Olivier said, waving his hand in the direction of the living room. It was all set up, complete with artwork hanging above the sofa. The only thing missing was a fresh coat of paint and curtains.

“I didn’t have a choice, someone forgot a bed!” I said.

Nico and Olivier shook their heads.

“So what’s the plan with you both this evening?” I asked.

“We have to do the blood oath tonight,” Nico said.

I remembered this from a few months ago when all of the vampires pledged their allegiance to Costin.

“Have all the vampires agreed?” I asked.

“They do not have a choice,” Olivier said.

“Oh.” There was still so much I didn’t understand about the world of vampires.

“What did you want to talk to us about?” Nico asked.

Nothing, now
. I thought in my head.

Nico frowned, sensing I wanted to do something tonight, which would have been right. I wanted to explore the city or do something fun. He then reached across the counter to grab a knife and sliced his arm, blood running out immediately.

“Nico! What the fuck?” I asked.

Olivier stepped up to Nico, neither of them answering me. Nico said something under his breath and Olivier nodded. He then placed his mouth to the open wound. He licked the length of the gash and then began to suck. Nico finally placed his hand on Olivier’s shoulder.

“Well, that part is done,” Nico said.

“Warn a girl next time,” I said.

Nico stared at me. “I did.”

“I thought you meant the blood oath with the other vampires,” I said.

“That is next,” he said.

“Am I coming?”

“No,” Olivier chimed in. “I did the oath here to be able to stay with you. We are serious about keeping you safe. We need to ensure none of the vampires mean you harm. Until we can be sure, you are with one of us at all times.”

My heart started to race. I was going to be with Nico or Olivier at all times. Nico was my husband. I could handle being alone with him. Olivier was different. He was…well, he was Olivier. He was everything dark and forbidden, which made him that much more desirable.

Nico gave me a kiss, grabbed the dagger from the dining room table, and walked out the door. I stood there stunned for a moment. The jealousy that he once showed towards Olivier was gone. He didn’t question me with the hot vampire standing in our home, not even once. It left me a little uneasy because I thought it was a test. One that I was going to fail if I was truly tested.

I looked over at Olivier and he gave me a charming smile. Fuck.

“Did you want to give me a tour now that you have started decorating?” Olivier suggested.

My head was spinning. Nico would be gone for hours because I’d been to a ceremony before. Finally, I nodded. “Sure.”

I headed upstairs and Olivier was on my heels. I took a deep breath to steady myself. “So this is the master bedroom,” I said.

Olivier walked into the room, commanding the space. His fingers trailed along the comforter. He never looked down at the bedding. Instead, he held my stare. “Nice,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a smile.

I walked past him, giving him a wide clearance to avoid making contact. “This is the bathroom,” I said, pushing the door open.

Olivier peeked in. “The green looks good in there.”

We exited the bedroom and went down the hall where I showed him each of the rooms. I fidgeted, constantly aware of his presence. His body loomed behind me and if I stopped short, he would probably run right into the back of me. Oh, the temptations.

“Where’s mine?” Olivier asked.

I smiled. “Yeah, you don’t get one.”

Olivier’s eyebrows shot up. “Did Nico not tell you?”

I sighed. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m his second in command. When we have late night meetings, I will be staying here. Didn’t Nico have a room at Costin’s?”

I thought about it for a second. Damn it, Nico had stayed at Costin’s house on more than one occasion. The idea of Olivier sleeping here while Nico and I slept in another room down the hall made me uneasy.

“I’ll work on a room for you.”

Olivier smiled. “Until then, I can sleep in there with you,” he said, nodding back towards the master bedroom.

“With Nico beside me?” I taunted.

“As long as you’re in the middle, I would be happy to share,” he said.

Instantly, my body was throbbing with need. An image of me lying in the bed with Nico and Olivier on either side of me was in my head and it was all I could think about. My mouth went dry and other things further south went wet.

“Like that idea, huh?” Olivier asked, smiling. I knew he saw the vision that appeared in my head.

I wanted to punch him and throw him down on the bed at the same time. I couldn’t answer him because I didn’t trust my response, so I turned heel and walked downstairs. With each step, there was more distance growing between us and I finally felt as though I could breathe again.

He followed slowly, taking the hint that I wasn’t going to go into detail about where my thoughts were leading me.

***

“Nico, we have to talk,” I said as he walked through the door. It was time I figured out where his head was at and why he was suddenly okay with Olivier being in the picture. It was like a switch had been flipped. Olivier was his second and all worries about the man went out the window. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was because of the two blood lines flowing through Olivier. Nico wanted that power, too, he just didn’t want to admit it.

Nico looked immediately at Olivier, who shrugged. “Will you be staying with us tonight?” Nico asked.

Olivier glanced at me, knowing the image that had popped into my head earlier. “No, I can make it back to my place tonight. Besides, Dylan needs to get my room ready first.”

Nico and Olivier shook hands and then he left.

Nico turned his attention to me. “The place really does look great.”

“Thanks. Ready to head upstairs?”

Nico nodded. Before I could say anything, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me up the stairs. “Since I couldn’t carry you over the threshold yesterday, this is me making up for it.”

I laughed the whole way up.

“What did you want to talk about?” He asked, unbuttoning his shirt.

I walked around to the other side of the bed and began stripping as well. “I’m not sure what’s going on with you and Olivier.”

“How do you mean?”

“You couldn’t stand the guy. You were worried that he was going to act on his desires for me.”

Nico nodded and stopped with his hand on his belt. “This is true. Costin helped me to see that he would be a very good asset, however. Me liking him is a business move. I trust you and therefore I don’t have to worry about him acting on anything.”

“What about the two blood lines?” I asked.

Nico looked at me, thoughts crossing his face. “What do you mean?”

“We haven’t really talked about it. He has two of the vampire blood lines in him, making him very powerful. Do you want that?”

“The other blood line?” He asked. “I wouldn’t say no if it was given to me.”

I sighed. “That didn’t really answer the question.”

“Dylan, of course. He is more powerful because he has the Asian blood line in him in addition to the Western European line. I would be insane not to want that.”

“And his desire for me?” I said, though it was barely audible. I needed to make sure that it wasn’t still an issue with Nico.

“I’m still confident he wants to fuck you. But I trust you. Do I have reason not to?”

I shook my head. “No.” Hearing Nico say it like that shocked me, but I didn’t know what else I could say.

“Okay then,” he said and slid his pants down his muscular legs.

All I could do was watch. I’d been with this man for half a year, and watching him undress was still one of the sexiest things I have ever seen.

“Are you going to stand and stare at me?” Nico said, a crooked smile on his face.

I shook my head and slid under the covers, wearing nothing but panties.

Nico was instantly at my side, his cool fingers pushing my panties down.

“May I help you with something?” I asked.

“No. I am most certain I have this,” he said. He slid the panties the rest of the way down my legs and then slid his body down to remove them from my ankles. He tossed them out of bed and his dark, wavy hair tickled my inner thigh. I jerked slightly and he used that as his opportunity to spread my legs.

“Nico,” I moaned.

He placed warm lips behind my knees and up the length of my thighs. His warmth told me he fed, which may have to do with why he was so late getting back. Before I could say or do anything, he took me by surprise, placing his tongue right at the core of my wetness. He lapped at me for a few incredible seconds and then slowly started his ascent towards my breasts, where he placed my rock hard nipples into his mouth.

“We don’t have much time before sunrise,” he said as he moved his lips against my neck.

I nodded in understanding. We had done this often enough for me to take the subtle hint. It would be hard and quick. I wasn’t complaining. I would take his body however I could get it.

He was hard and already pushing at my entrance. I raised my hips to help the penetration along and he slid in as if it belonged there all along.

“Ohhh,” I cried as he quickly found his rhythm. He owned my body with each of his thrusts and I came hard, clawing at his strong shoulders as I tried to regain some control over myself. He didn’t let up.

“You’re mine,” he said, thrusting one last time before he came with a spasm that rattled the bed against the wall. His body collapsed against me and he quickly rolled to the side. “
Mia mortale
, you are like no other.”

I smiled at him and curled against his side, my sweat sealing me against him.

“Well, and we can check something off the list for the house,” I said.

“Oh?”

“Bed passed the test.”

He kissed me on the forehead. “That it did.”

Chapter 5

NICO WAS OUT, dead, asleep, whatever. I curled up against him and slept for a few hours and then woke with no chance of going back to sleep. I slipped out of the master bedroom with the blackout curtains and headed into the hall where there was sunlight. I closed the door to let Nico sleep and proceeded to get started with the day.

I was actually getting used to four or five hours of sleep a day. I kept the same hours as the vampires. The only difference was that they got to sleep for 10 or 12 hours during the day and I didn’t. Sometimes I went to sleep before he went down for the day and those were the nights that I was able to really catch up on my sleep.

Right now, I needed to do some grocery shopping. I had a refrigerator with no food in it and a gorgeous walk-in pantry that also had no food.

Another whole day to do whatever I wanted, but I didn’t have Nico. I didn’t have friends or a job. This was only going to last for a few days before I would lose my mind.

Last night was supposed to be Giancarlo’s date with Violante. It was close to noon, so I could easily call and find out how it went. I was trying to figure out how to approach the call without being too nosy. We were friends, but we never talked about our sex lives. I just didn’t trust Violante. She has some kind of ulterior motive with dating him, but I can’t figure out what it is.

After running scenarios through my head, I finally grabbed the phone and called him.

“Dylan?” His thick Italian accent greeted me.

“Hey,” I said. It had only been a couple days, and I missed him.

“How is Paris?” He asked.

“It’s great. I’m just getting settled.” Settled was an understatement, but he was a guy and didn’t want all the details of decorating.

“Cool. Will you have a spare room for when I come to visit?” He asked.

“Of course.”

“Cool. Hey, so last night was my date with Violante,” he said.

Oh good. I wouldn’t be the one to bring it up first. “That’s right. How did it go?”

He paused for a moment. “It was…interesting.”

“How do you mean?”

“I don’t know. She showed up at the bar looking gorgeous. We went out to dinner and she did nothing but pick at the food. I asked her if everything was alright and she said it was. I kept asking if there was something else I could get her and she gave me these exasperated looks.”

I couldn’t really tell him why she didn’t want to eat, but why the looks? Had it been that long since she spent time around mortals that she forgot about their eating habits? “Did she ever say anything as to why she didn’t want to eat?”

“No. When we left, we took a walk up to Piazzo Michelangelo because, you know, the view of the city is amazing from up there. I thought it would give us a chance to talk and get to know each other,” Giancarlo said.

“Right. Smart thinking,” I said. “How did that go?”

“Well, that’s the really strange part,” he trailed off.

“I don’t follow. She didn’t want to go up there with you?” I asked. I was desperate to find out what she tried to do with or to him. She was under orders not to kill him, but I never said anything about drinking. Had she taken a sip without him knowing it?

“Oh, she wanted to go up there. She was all over me from the moment we made it to the top. We were all alone and we could have done anything. But she wasn’t talking. She wouldn’t answer any of my questions. I finally stopped her and said I was taking her back to the bar.”

Why would she be all over him? I really wanted to ask if she bit him, but didn’t dare ask it. “So you didn’t let her kiss you?”

“Trust me, I wanted to. But I don’t want someone to make out with. Well, I do, but I want a relationship also. She barely said two words to me through the whole date.”

“That’s weird, Giancarlo,” I said. “I told you she was trouble.”

“I’m beginning to think you’re right,” he said.

“Does that mean you’re not going to see her again?” I asked, holding my breath.

There was hesitation on the line.

“Giancarlo?” I asked again.

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “Everyone can have a bad night, right?”

I groaned before I could stop it from coming out. She was hot and that entitled her to being able to get away with this kind of shit. There was part of me that wanted to yell at him for being such a guy, but that wouldn’t do anyone any good. He was a grown man and if he wanted to go out with her again, I couldn’t stop him. I still couldn’t figure out her angle with him, though, and that bothered me the most.

“So if she asks you out again, you are going to?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Probably. She really is hot and well, if she wants to spend her time with me, who am I to complain?

“Well, let me know how it goes,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “I do want you to be careful, though.”

“You say that like you think she’s going to hurt me. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I hesitated, but knew I couldn’t say anything. “No. I don’t know her all that well, so just be careful.”

“Will do. So, did you find a job in Paris yet?”

He knew me. He knew even though I was with a man that had more money than he could spend in three lifetimes that I would need to keep busy with something.

“Not yet,” I finally said. “I’m hoping to get settled through the week and then look for something next week.”

“Cool. I’ll have to come visit you one weekend.”

“That would be amazing,” I said. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. The conversation left me uneasy because I had no idea what Violante’s end game was. I could ask Nico to put a call into Costin to find out more about Violante and why she is going out with him. She has never been keen on spending time around humans, so it didn’t make any sense for her to pursue him. What did she want with Giancarlo, unless it was just another way to fuck with my head?

I tried to clear my head and focus on what was important at the moment. Grocery shopping. It was the next logical thing to do, so I grabbed the keys off the counter and decided it was time to do a little more navigating through this town.

***

It quickly became obvious that I would need to work on my French a little bit more. I knew the very basics like please and thank you, but I needed more language skills. The people in this town were rude and I didn’t have a fucking clue what they were saying to me or about me. My high school Spanish and my Italian I’d been learning didn’t help me. The accents were different, the words were different, and it wasn’t going to help me.

I was able to get the groceries I needed, but forget about getting anything from the butcher or at the deli. I had to settle for the pre-packaged items. Maybe I could ask Olivier to find me an assistant or something. The fact that I had enough money to be able to have such a thing still shocked me and I was trying desperately for it not to go to my head.

These winter months were rough in Europe. I was a Florida girl and it never got cold, even during December and January. A light jacket was all I was used to carrying. The tights and heavy jackets took some getting used to. The only benefit to it being cold outside was that sunset took place earlier, too. It would only be a few hours more until Nico would be up.

I dragged all the groceries into the house and began putting everything away. I spent hundreds of Euros because I needed a base within the pantry. This included all the basics, like spices, flour, sugar, and everything else.

Once everything was away, I began bringing some of the ingredients out again to cook a shepherd’s pie. It was my comfort food with the lamb, the mashed potatoes, and all of the goodness inside of it. There would be plenty of time for the flavors to simmer before Nico was up, so I could get a good meal in.

The phone rang, catching me off guard. I answered it and instantly began smiling. It was Lily, who had some additional furniture to bring over, as well as some décor that she wanted to show me for the living room and kitchen.

She was on her way over and wanted to make sure I was home. She also had painters coming tomorrow, which meant I could finally see some color on the walls.

Lily arrived in a fury of boxes and paint swatches. She showed me several different colors and where they would be going. She spoke quickly and her accent became thicker. I couldn’t keep up with all that she was saying, so I did a lot of nodding and hoped that I liked all of her color choices. Everything on the swatches looked good, so I was fairly confident that the house would turn out the way that I wanted.

I peaked into one of the boxes and she slapped my hand away.

“Patience,
mon cheri
,” she said.

This was ridiculous. The things were for my house, so I didn’t see why it all had to be some big secret. She caught my annoyance and smiled.

“Come,” she said, grabbing the top box and heading upstairs.

I followed her and she was about to go into the master bedroom when I stopped her. There was no way to explain Nico lying on the bed.

She looked at me, but said nothing, setting the box down in front of the door. She began showing me the contents so I knew what to do with them. There were several small paintings, an alarm clock, and purple vases. It all looked gorgeous and would certainly add some personality to the room.

She ran downstairs for a hammer and quickly returned, complete with a level and tape measure. She made short work of measuring the area in the office and hung the three photos next to each other above my desk. I nodded as she looked at me for confirmation.

We then went downstairs for another box. This one was for the kitchen. There were several old-fashioned bar tools that would go on the shelf, as well as several pieces of martini art. I had told her that I was a bartender and had a passion for cocktails and wine. These were perfect. The best part was the bulletin board she quickly hung on the pantry door that was made from old wine corks.

The final box was for the living room. There were several tall vases with reeds to go on the floor as well as a few coffee table books. It was just what the room needed to look finished. It all felt so sophisticated. She explained how there would be a colored border at the top of the wall by the end of tomorrow.

“That is it for today,” she said after a while of moving a few things around and making notes in her phone.

“Okay, thank you,” I said. I took a look around the room and smiled. “It all looks great.”

“Of course it does,” she smiled. “Remember, the painters will be here first thing in the morning.”

I nodded and followed her out the front door, saying goodbye.