The Immortal Compromise (The Mortal One Series Book 3) (6 page)

Chapter 8

I WAS CURLED up on the couch, reading on my Kindle. With a glass of wine at my side, I was in my own world. A knock at the door nearly caused me to spill the wine.

It was Olivier. He stood smiling at me. The sun just set and Nico wasn’t up yet. “Hi,” I said, holding the door open.

“Good evening,” he said, walking in and closing the door behind him.

“How are you here right now?” I asked.

Olivier shrugged. “I woke up about thirty minutes ago and headed over. I wanted to talk to Nico about it.”

I glanced out the window. The sun was technically still out, though it was making its descent on the horizon. Nico probably wouldn’t be up for another hour.

Olivier must have caught my confusion. “I don’t understand it any more than you do.”

“Do you think it has to do with the two blood lines?”

“Possibly. I really don’t know. As far as I know, I’m the only one with two inside of me.”

I shook my head. “But when there are blood oaths, the vampires are drinking blood.”

“Yes,” Olivier said. “Continue because I don’t follow.”

“Not all the vampires in a region have the Western European bloodline, right?”

Realization spread across his face. “You are right. But there is only a small amount of blood being consumed and there is magic tied to what is being consumed. What I did with the blood from the Asian vampire followed the ritual for turning a human.”

“Oh,” I said. “So you knew what you were doing?”

“More or less,” he said. “There was a lot of guesswork involved.”

I moved into the kitchen and opened the fridge. With Olivier arriving early, I needed to make dinner now or it would be a lot harder to make sure I got to eat later on. I took out a chicken breast and then opened the produce drawer for some of the fresh herbs I found at a market the other day.

“I talked to Gregorio this morning,” I said to him, pouring some olive oil on top of the chicken.

Olivier watched me. “You did?”

I nodded, cutting up some of the herbs on the cutting board. “He said he didn’t see a problem with me coming alone and that I was more than welcome to stay for as long as I wanted.”

“How long would you want to stay?”

I shrugged. “A day or two longer than the talk would take for some sightseeing.”

“We should wait for Nico to get up.”

“Okay,” I said, turning to get a frying pan out of the cabinet. I added some oil to the pan on the stove and waited for it to heat up.

“Do you mind if I have some?” Olivier asked.

“What?” I asked. “The chicken?”

He nodded. “It looks really good.”

“Ummm, I didn’t think you could eat anymore?” He was thoroughly confusing me today because he wasn’t acting like a vampire at all.

“I don’t know. I don’t have to eat food anymore and prior to the Asian bloodline, I never craved food. It was always blood. Recently, though, there have been more and more times I have craved actual food.”

“Can you digest it?”

He shrugged. “One way to find out.”

“Fair enough,” I said, walking to the fridge to take out one more chicken breast. I quickly tossed it in the rest of the chopped herbs and placed both of the breasts in the frying pan. The oil popped and sizzled and the smell of the herbs quickly wafted through the kitchen.

As the chicken cooked, I went into the produce drawer and grabbed up some spring mix and placed it into a mixing bowl on the counter. Then I crumbled up some goat cheese over the bowl and added in some dried cranberries from the pantry.

“Salad?” I asked Olivier, reaching for two plates.

“Please,” he said, still watching everything going on in the kitchen.

I took a handful of the salad mixture and put some on the plates. I then reached for balsamic vinegar and drizzled it over each of the mounds. The chicken browned on both sides and I grabbed the tongs to place the breasts onto the plates.

I put both plates on the kitchen counter and took out some silverware. I handed a fork and knife to Olivier and then went around the counter to sit next to him.

He studied the food for a moment without saying a word. “It smells delicious.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, slicing into the chicken breast. I was never a fan of goat cheese prior to visiting Paris, but they added it to a lot and it was actually good when paired with the right foods.

I heard movement coming down the stairs and waited for Nico to come around the corner.

“In the kitchen,” I yelled to him in between bites.

“Hello,” he said, kissing me on the cheek. He looked over at Olivier, out the window, down to his plate and simply stood there. “How long have you been here?”

Olivier stopped eating for a moment. Since he took the first bite, he hadn’t slowed down and he took a hard swallow before talking. “Less than an hour. Dylan started to make dinner and I just had to try some.”

Nico looked at me. A line was developing across his forehead as he tried to understand what was going on. I shrugged. “He apparently likes my cooking.”

“Did you rise before the sun set?” Nico asked.

“It was in the process of setting. When I saw it on the horizon, I came right to you to see if you had risen as well, but you had not,” Olivier said. He set the fork down on the empty plate and then slid his finger through the smear of balsamic vinegar that was left on the plate.

Nico shook his head and slid his hand into the dark mass on the top of his head. “I don’t understand. You rise before the sun sets and you have an appetite? Has this happened before?’

Olivier took his plate and reached over for mine. “I’ve noticed the appetite slowly in the past few weeks. As for rising before the sun, no, this is the first time.” He placed the empty plates in the dishwasher and then headed into the living room.

I followed, as did Nico. I wanted to talk about Gregorio, and Jen, and an idea that had been in my head for most of the day.

“It’s probably just the two bloodlines,” I said, trying to dismiss it all. “Can we talk about Berlin and Gregorio?”

Nico turned to me. “Yes.”

“Great. So I talked to Gregorio this morning and –.”

“You called him?” Nico asked.

“Yes, so –.”

Nico shook his head. “I thought we said we would talk tonight.”

“We did and we are,” I said. I could tell he wasn’t pleased that I reached out to Gregorio without telling him first, but honestly, it wasn’t easy for me to wait around all day and not act on anything. “He said he didn’t see an issue with me coming alone. He said it was probably easier because the sovereign over there is territorial.”

“Okay, so how many days do you want to go for?” Nico asked.

“Well,” I said, preparing for my big pitch. “Remember when Jen was in Florence and you were afraid of her learning too much so we swapped your name with Antonio’s and then she ended up meeting both of you?”

Nico nodded. “What does that have to do with a trip to Berlin, though?”

“What if I fly out to Berlin for a few days to talk to Gregorio and then fly Jen out to meet me there instead of here so that you don’t have to see her?”

Nico was silent and I could tell he was thinking about it.

Please
, I added silently.

“Without meeting any vampires, it would be easier to let her visit Dylan,” Olivier weighed in.

Nico nodded. “Does Gregorio know about this plan?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, but he said I was welcome to stay at his house for as long as I wanted.”

“Why don’t you make sure he is okay with another woman staying in his house as well? If he is alright with it, then go ahead and book your flight and then one for Jen if she would like to visit you in Berlin,” Nico said.

I jumped off the couch and ran to Nico. “Thank you,” I whispered, right before kissing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself sink into the kiss a little longer.

Olivier cleared his throat and I blushed, forgetting for a moment that he was in the room.

“Sorry,” I said, turning to face him.

“Do I get one of those, too? I helped with the decision,” he smiled.

“Ummm, no,” I said. It was weird, but after being with him, it flipped a switch. I was content to be Nico’s wife and his wife alone. There were no more feelings for Olivier, which was the opposite of what I had expected to happen. Without saying anything more, I reached for my phone and ran upstairs to call Jen, leaving them to talk amongst themselves in the living room.

***

“Guess what?” I asked as Jen answered the phone.

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about that trip to see me.”

“Sure, but I’m at work so we have to make it short.”

I looked at the time and realized it was like one in the afternoon by her. “I was going to head into Berlin to visit a friend of mine for a few days and wanted to see if you wanted to meet me over there?”

“Are you kidding me?

I laughed. “Nope. It would only be for a few days and then maybe we could go back to Paris or you could fly home and then come back in a few months. Whatever works for your schedule.”

“Oh my God, that would be amazing. I started a new job not too long ago, though. I’m actually working as an executive assistant at a fancy corporate office.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like you at all!” Jen had always been the party girl and her working in restaurants made sense because it allowed her to find out about all of the best get-togethers.

“I’m trying to grow up and start a new chapter of my life,” she said.

“Sounds familiar. I get it.”

“Let me talk to them and see how much time I can take off.  I know for sure I can get off the weekend and a Monday, but don’t want you to book a flight until I can make sure they will let me take at least a few more days.”

“No problem, just let me know.”

“Will do,” she said.

We hung up and then I decided to call over to Gregorio and make sure he was okay with the plan as well.

“Two calls in one week, lucky me,” Gregorio answered my call, chuckling.

“Were you serious about me staying with you for as long as I wanted?”

He was silent for a moment. “You weren’t thinking of moving in, were you?”

I laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. Would you mind if I brought a friend to stay at your place with me for a few days after we have our time?”

“Not at all. Who is the friend?”

I explained the whole Jen situation and how it wasn’t a good thing for her to meet Nico because of how she had been introduced in the past. There was also the part about her having a relatively rare blood type that Nico found irresistible, so it was best to keep the distance.

Chapter 9

“YOU HAVE EVERYTHING you need?” Nico asked as he drove me to the airport.

It was five in the morning and I was drinking coffee to try and wake up enough to deal with the Paris airport. All of them in there could speak English but they refused to as soon as they heard my American accent. It pissed me off, but luckily I was able to speak enough French to at least make my needs known.

“I’ve got two suitcases, Nico. I think I have everything. Anything I need, I’ll just buy it when I’m in Berlin.”

“Good.”

“And you will call me when you land?”

“My flight isn’t until seven. By the time I land, you will be down for the day, but yes, I will leave a voicemail for you.”

“Thank you,” he smiled over at me and placed his hand on my knee.

“You’re going to call once you’re up for the evening?”

“Of course.”

I nodded and tried to compose myself as he pulled up in front of the departures.

“You will be okay on a plane alone?”

“I have flown alone before,” I reminded him. While I’ve done it, it’s never been a favorite thing for me to do. It was the anxiety of the takeoff that took its toll on me. After we leveled off in the air, I was usually fine, unless there was turbulence.

“I know,” he said, getting out of the car. He took my suitcases out of the trunk and pulled out the handles for me.

We reached for each other at the same time. He kissed me, smoothing the hair down my back at the same time.

“Be careful. I love you,” he said, kissing me one more time.

“I will. Love you, too,” I said and grabbed the handles to my suitcases.

I walked into the airport and turned once to see Nico standing there, watching me walk inside. I smiled at him and then took a deep breath to face the bitches at the ticket counter.

Surprisingly, the woman at the counter was friendly. I greeted her in French and she switched to English when she heard my accent.

“Your passport is European Union?” She questioned.

I nodded. It became commonplace for people to ask. “My husband is Italian,” I explained.

“Oh,” she said and smiled.

I placed my bags on the scale and she moved them to the conveyor belt behind her.

“Here is your boarding pass and it should be a nice flight,” she said, sliding a piece of paper across the counter.

“Thanks,” I said and proceeded to security.

***

“How was your flight?” Gregorio greeted me at baggage claim just as he had promised. I had told him he didn’t need to come all the way out to the airport to pick me up since it was a bit of a drive, but he insisted.

“It was good,” I said.

The belt started to move and luggage started to appear.

Everyone crowded in to claim their bags.

“What does your luggage look like?” He asked, stepping in.

“Purple,” I smiled. He was tall, bald, and had tattoos up and down his arms. He looked intimidating, which made several people move out of his way. Seeing him with purple luggage would be amusing.

I pointed to my luggage and he grabbed up both pieces in one scoop. He placed them in front of me. “Anything else?”

“Nope.” I was trying desperately not to start laughing.

“What?”

“You look like such a badass, but you’re standing there with eggplant-colored luggage.”

He made a face and walked away. Over his shoulder, he said, “For that comment, you can carry your own luggage.”

I grabbed the handles of the luggage and followed him. “Will you slow down! I’m sorry.”

He stopped abruptly. “You know I’m teasing, right? Give me one of those,” he said, grabbing the handle of the bigger one and wheeling it out the double doors. We crossed over two lanes in front of arrivals and then into a parking structure.

“Nice car,” I commented as he opened the trunk to a BMW.

“Your husband helped to pay for it.”

I smiled, remembering the one million dollars that Nico had given Gregorio to bail Olivier out of the situation with the zombies. “How nice of him,” I said smiling.

We got into the car and there was awkward silence. He didn’t offer up any conversation and I didn’t want to be rude by turning on his stereo.

“What does it mean to be a sensitive?” I asked.

“Wow, you don’t waste any time, do you?” He asked, reversing out of the parking spot.

I shrugged. “Guess not.”

“When I was a child, my uncle had told me I was a sensitive. He had been performing a ceremony in our living room and I came down in the middle of the night to see what was going on. I never made it to downstairs because I had started vomiting on the stairs,” he explained.

“And because I vomited at the ceremony, it’s why you and Olivier knew I was a sensitive?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean I’m a necromancer, too?”

He shook his head. “Not necessarily. It means that you have the potential to be. You are sensitive to the magic. Necromancy runs in my family and it is more common for the men to be sensitive than the women, which is why it was a little surprising when you reacted the way you did.”

Great. Leave it to me to be different. “Olivier said he wasn’t formally trained. Are you?”

“Yes. Olivier knows enough to cause trouble. He learned what he knows off the streets. Since it runs in my family, I was raised around it and formally trained in the art of necromancing.”

“So how do we find out if I’m more than just sensitive to the magic of necromancy?” I asked, not really sure if I wanted to know what the answer was.

He smiled over at me. “It’s nothing to worry about. We can go over more of it once we get to my place.” He made a turn off of the airport property. “We should be there in about forty five minutes.”

I nodded. “Where in Berlin do you live?”

“How much of the city do you remember?” He asked.

“Enough, I think.”

“It’s about five minutes from Checkpoint Charlie.”

“Off of Fredrichstrasse?”

“Close, but in the other direction.”

“Got it.” I wasn’t sure exactly where he lived, but I knew the neighborhood and it was a good one in comparison to some of the areas of Berlin. It was also within city limits, so it would be easy to do some sightseeing. If he was over by the Olympic Village, it would have taken forever to get to anywhere exciting.

“How are things going with you and Nico?”

“Umm, yeah, they’re really good.”

“And you and Olivier?”

I looked over at him and he glanced over. “Fine.”

“Are you sure? The last time I saw you, he was the one taking care of you.”

“When I went into shock from the zombie ceremony?”

He nodded.

“Nico thought it was best if Olivier went back to the hotel room since he had more experience with that kind of thing.”

“I see,” Gregorio said.

“What?”

“Nothing. I am glad to hear that you and Nico are doing well. How is the partnership between he and Olivier going in the city?”

I shrugged. “The two of them seem to be inseparable. They are getting along well and talking politics.”

“I hate vampire politics,” he said.

“Ugh, tell me about it,” I said. It was nice to have a conversation like this with someone…someone who understood what it all meant.

“They never seem to let up. We have the same issue here with Wenzel, though I don’t hear too much about him since the vampires keep their distance from me.”

“Who is Wenzel?” I asked.

“He is the sovereign in Bavaria, but he oversees the entire country. It’s always so complicated to keep up with it all.”

“I know. By the way, if I forget to say it again, thank you for allowing my friend Jen to come and stay with you for a few days as well. She and I haven’t seen each other in a while and it is a much needed get together.”

Gregorio smiled. “You’re very welcome. Happy to help.”

I looked up in time to see a very large gray condominium building. “Wow.”

“It’s not much, but I’m on the top floor, so I have a great view of the city.”

***

I sat cross-legged on the floor with Gregorio across from me. His apartment was well furnished and he had poured us each a drink.

“We can order some food in later, but I thought we would get to work on some of the basics since I have to report to Nico later this evening,” he said, throwing in an eye roll for effects.

“Seriously?” Nico hadn’t said anything about making Gregorio check in each night, but it really didn’t surprise me.

He nodded. “Tell me about what you felt that night in Paris.”

I shrugged. “I got a cramp in my stomach and before I knew it, I was doubled over, puking.” It certainly wasn’t the most glamorous night of my life and now I had to sit here and relive it.

“Were you feeling sick at all leading up to the ceremony?” He asked.

“No.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re a sensitive then.”

My lips tightened. I didn’t like that term, especially because it was being used to describe me.

“You don’t seem happy,” Gregorio observed, his mouth curving up in a smile.

“I’m glad this amuses you, but no, I’m not happy about it. I don’t want to be what you are, no offense. I just want to be mortal.”

“I am mortal, too.”

“I want to be normal.”

“Ouch,” he said, clutching his chest.

It sounded bad once he said that. While I watched him look as though he was mortally wounded, I realized how harsh it came out. But the truth was that I didn’t view Gregorio as a normal human. He had powers that I couldn’t explain. Normal humans couldn’t control the dead. He could.

“Why don’t we take a break from this? It’s still early and you need to see some of Berlin,” he stood up and reached for my hand.

I let him pull me up. “Okay, what did you have in mind?”

He smiled and raised his eyebrows. “You like chocolate?”

“Of course,” I said.

“Ritter Sport.”

“I thought you said chocolate.”

“You haven’t heard of Ritter Sport?” He sounded shocked at the prospect. I was surprised I hadn’t stumbled across the chocolate place during my day in Berlin the last time.

“It’s better than Cadbury or…what do you have in the States? Hershey’s? It’s better than those.”

This had me intrigued. “Okay, let’s go have some chocolate.” I grabbed my sneakers from the side of the couch, slid them on and laced them up.

“We can take the U-Bahn and be over there in about ten minutes,” he said.

We left the apartment and took a walk down the street where we connected at the U-Bahn station near Checkpoint Charlie. “This has to be the easiest way to get around a city,” I commented while Gregorio stood at the kiosk to get a ticket for me.

“It is simple. I don’t drive anywhere unless I’m going outside of Berlin. Parking is not easy in the city, so it’s easier to just take the U-Bahn. This way,” he said as one of the trains pulled up. Once inside, he scanned our cards and shoved them in his pocket.

We stood there, holding onto a shared pole while a few more people got on from the station. The train shuddered as it took off again towards this chocolate shop that he spoke so highly of. After a few more stops of people getting on and off, it was our turn to get off.

We climbed the stairs to the street level and it took me a moment to get used to the bright light. The stations are so dark and now I had the afternoon sunlight streaming into my eyes.

“This way,” he said, pulling me around the corner.

That’s when I saw the sign and the colors of wrapped candy on the inside, beckoning to me. I could feel my mouth salivating.