The Mortal One (The Mortal One Series) (15 page)

Costin shook his head. “I don’t know. Let’s just wait until Henri arrives.”

“When can we expect him?” I asked. I had looked up at the clock and realized it was already two in the morning.

“Soon,” Costin said, looking at his watch.

“You are welcome to go to bed mia mortale,” Nico said. “I know you must be tired.”

Costin let out a chuckle and disguised it with a cough. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, but I shook my head. “It’s okay. I want to meet Henri, too.”

We simply stood there in awkward silence.

The living room was completely silent, except for my own breathing. I was the only one alive in the room, I noted with some amusement. The large moon outside the largest of the windows was providing enough light for tonight. Plus, Costin insisted on natural lighting whenever possible since fluorescent lights gave him a headache. The icemaker dumped some cubes automatically and the introduction of a new sound made me jump.

Costin and Nico stood across from each other like statues as I paced from room to room. I was trying to take my mind off the idea of yet another vampire was going to be coming over. I was comfortable with Nico, that was a given. Costin had proven himself to be on our side and he was Nico’s sovereign, but a new guy
and
one who oversaw Olivier? I just wasn’t able to calm my nerves, so I moved magazines from one table to another, made my bed, straightened picture frames, anything I could think of.

I made my way into the living room, fluffing the cushions on the couch when Nico reached out and grabbed my wrist. I paused and looked up into his eyes, pleading to let me go.

“Stop,” he whispered, releasing me.

I let the cushion drop from my hand and walked into the kitchen. I opened a bottle of wine and fought the urge to drink right from the bottle. It was certainly one way of handling the situation. I could just get drunk and pretend it was all a bad hallucination. I looked over at the men and they just stood there calmly and quietly. It was unnerving to watch them and their lack of movement.

“He’s here,” Costin finally said as he took a step towards the front door.

Our awaited visitor, Henri, strode in with his feet barely touching the ground. He wore a long leather jacket swaying back and forth in an invisible breeze as he stepped. The high collar stood away from his neck and he let his long brown hair flow loosely down his back. His skin was milky white, much paler than any of the others. He definitely didn’t start his life with an olive tone like the Italian men to my right. Dark blue eyes pierced my concentration as he walked past me and extended a hand to Costin.

Is being absolutely gorgeous some sort of prerequisite to being a vampire around here?

“Mia mortale,” Nico interrupted my daydream. “Please keep in mind we can all read your thoughts,” he added with some agitation. The jealousy was clear in his tone as well as his actions, as he moved in closer to my side and reminding me who I was supposed to be captivated by. Costin choked out a laugh but quickly put his hand to his mouth as though he was coughing.

“Of course,” I whispered. Had Nico been jealous of my thoughts? Had Henri really heard me? As I glanced sideways at him, I doubted it. If he had, he showed no emotion towards my straying thoughts.

“Have the two of you met?” Costin questioned Nico and Henri, taking the heat off me. I thanked him silently in my head.

Henri flashed a grin at Nico. “Yes, though it’s been at least a century. I almost didn’t recognize you with the short hair.”

Nico instinctively ran his fingers through the short curls. “Just trying to keep up with the times.”

I was staring at Nico and trying to picture him with longer hair. I couldn’t conjure an image and wasn’t sure I wanted to. I liked running my hands through his short curls. He had never mentioned anything about it, though it’s not like it would have come up in conversation, either.

“Yes, Dylan,” he announced. “I had hair longer than Costin’s when I was first turned. Over the centuries I have shortened it, as it became more fashionable for men to have shorter hair.”

“Huh,” I said as casually as I could muster.

I looked slowly between the men and they all seemed to be waiting for some additional comments or questions from me. When I chose not to say anything, they continued on about their conversation.

This was a good opportunity to go in the kitchen and pour another glass. Since they didn’t seem to be slowing down in their conversations, I might as well go ahead and work through a bottle of Chianti. Maybe the alcohol would even make it easier to listen to the vampire politics a little bit more.

Part of me was wishing I was at the bar, flipping bottles and pouring shots instead of standing here, but Nico smiled over at me when I had the wine glass to my lips. How could I not appreciate this man? With the glass in hand, I sat down on the couch in front of the men to learn about everything that had and has yet to take place.

Henri turned his attention on me suddenly, watching me without any thought of hiding his peaked interest in me. He stared at me as though he had just noticed I was in the room, as if I had been invisible until I had uttered the last comment. Minutes passed as he continued his inventory and I wondered what the others were thinking about his open display of voyeurism.

“So you’re Dylan,” he finally stated.

I nodded, not knowing what to say. It was one of those obvious statements since I was the only mortal in the room. Who else would I be? I kept my thoughts in check so I did not insult him.

He seemed to be smelling something in the air, his nostrils flaring. I sniffed, too, not smelling anything pungent. I was trying to follow the scent without attracting everyone’s attention. The only thing I had cooked here was a few days ago and I knew I kept a clean house.

“O positive,” he said with a grin.

Nico and Costin nodded in unison, confirming Henri’s comment.

“Ah, yes. That seems to be biting me in the ass frequently,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Henri chuckled and turned to Nico. “Real live one you have.”

“That I do.”

“Where is Olivier now?” Costin asked, getting back on track.

“He is back in Paris. He will not apologize and he believes he is still in the right for coming after Dylan,” Henri explained. “I cannot guarantee that he will stay there.”

“And why not? You are his sovereign, are you not?” Nico demanded.

Costin put his hand out. “I apologize for his bluntness, but I must ask the same.”

“You already know that Olivier is not your ordinary vampire. He was only made into one a few years ago, yet he has the power of one who is centuries old.”

“So I’ve been told,” Costin said.

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked. All three glanced at me, as though I had spoken out of turn. My heart skipped a beat and I took a step closer to the couch. My natural instinct was to run out of the room, but I kept my feet planted and desperately fought the urge to flee.

“It is the only thing I can offer right now. I would suggest your…,” he hesitated, and we all knew what he wanted to say. Lover. It reverberated inside my head and I waited for him to say it. “I suggest that Nico mark you sooner than later. Pablo or Costin can, too, but it is not safe for you to remain unmarked and human as long as Olivier exists. I cannot rightfully condemn him to death when he currently has equal rights to you, even if I agree with your situation.”

“Equal rights?” Nico asked. “How do you figure?”

Henri made a gesture with his hands. “He saw her in Paris. It was his move to make and he thought he had more time to play a game of cat and mouse as he hadn’t expected her to run into another one of us.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Nico said. “He had the chance to do something and then she came to Italy. It was our turn to take care of the problem.”

I wanted to speak up and say something but I kept quiet. As Costin had once mentioned, my scent was all over Nico, and the other way around. Just because I didn’t have some stupid mark wasn’t enough to give Olivier the right to abduct me.

I didn’t expect Henri to care about me, but I would have liked him to at least take care of Olivier. I felt as if Olivier should have been punished, or killed, or…I don’t know. Just being kept in Paris wasn’t enough.

“Is that how you see it? I don’t. We both knew she was human and had to deal with her. You and Olivier both seem to fancy the girl, yet neither of you did as you should have and just marked her. Or killed her and been done with the whole damn thing.”

Something told me that if it were Henri that had seen me first, I wouldn’t be sitting here. He would have “taken care of the problem” without hesitating. Now Olivier didn’t seem so bad in comparison to what I could have encountered in Paris.

If the situation presented itself, I didn’t believe Henri would defend us. He would not come to aid Nico and Costin to protect me. Instead, he would allow Olivier to get to me. I wanted to ask or hear the question asked, but Henri was intimidating. As I stood there, I saw his jaw set firmly. He waited for someone to respond to him or dismiss him. He seemed to think we were wasting his time and I knew he wanted to be in Paris more than here right now. I was content with him going back to France. He made me very uncomfortable.

“I will mark her tonight,” Nico stated as he pulled me towards him. I clung to him and didn’t argue as I tried to determine how long Olivier would stay in Paris for.

Costin glanced at us curiously. “No excuses, Nico.” There was some question to his voice, as though he didn’t trust either of us to make sure it was done. “You’ll mark her? Tonight?”

Nico nodded in silence.

“I will let Pablo know he can return to Spain,” Costin remarked with a grin. “It’s unfortunate, though. He was really looking to help out.”

“Yeah, by helping out, you mean helping himself to some O positive,” Nico tossed back.

O positive was the most common blood type in the United States, however over here, the derivatives of A were more common.

“I’ve never been a big fan of it, myself,” Costin said and winked at me. “It doesn’t have enough flavor.”

Nico nodded. “I wouldn’t say no flavor, it is certainly better than A. Now B positive on the other hand…”

“Ahh yes, B positive. I was able to enjoy that almost nightly when I was in Asia back in the 1800s. I had to force myself to leave because I thought I’d bleed the entire population.” He laughed

Henri chimed in, “Any of the positives will work for me, though I like B the best as well. I would rather starve myself before I go for O negative.” They all agreed and chuckled.

I knew they were talking about this in front of me to tease me, but the conversation still didn’t sit well with me. I guess I should be happy to have the blood type I did, considering the company I kept. “I guess it means not too many American tourists turn up missing, huh?”

The vampires began to laugh.

“That is true. I suppose the US embassy should thank us,” Henri added.

Chapter 15

A KNOCK ON my apartment door startled me. Nico normally just walked in, though maybe he was being formal since I was supposed to be marked tonight.

I peeked out the blinds and noted that it was still daylight. My dozing on the couch made me lose track of the time. My habits were slowly turning nocturnal, but the sun was still welcome in my life, even though I didn’t see it nearly as often as in the past. I hadn’t been expecting anyone – at least not anyone who would be knocking during the day. I laughed; this was the life I was leading.

There was no peep hole on the door and no windows that overlooked the door. I would have to talk to Nico about that to see what he could do. I didn’t do well with strangers, especially since he could never be with me during the day. Another knock sounded, this time louder and more impatient. I hesitated and debated if I should pretend no one was home. Whoever was knocking would get the hint and go away. The knocking persisted and curiosity got the best of me since whoever was on the other side of the door was determined to get the door to open.

I finally undid the deadbolt and opened the door, slow and cautious. A smiling blonde beamed at me as I peeked out over the chain that kept the door from swinging wide open. I swallowed hard in dread of the figure in front of me.

“Dylan!” She shrieked.

I moved the chain and she pushed the door open all the way, pulling me into her embrace.

“Jen – hi!” I greeted. Jen was supposed to be in Florida where I left her. I knew why she was here. I hadn’t called her in a while partly because Costin confiscated my phone like a child out of fear that I’d make contact with her. Ha. Little did he know Jen. Figures she’d manage a way out here, even if it did mean getting on a plane. For as long as I’ve known her, she’s never done that.

But how did she find me? She only knew the hotel I was staying at, not Nico’s apartment. She kept her arms wrapped in a tight hold across my chest until I thought I was going to suffocate.

“You can release me now,” I gasped.

She did as I asked and gave me a push in the chest. “I should give you a good bitch slap is what I should do.”

I laughed and took a step back. I wouldn’t put it past her to actually do it. If it were the other way around, I’d probably do the same thing.

Jen had gotten a call right before meeting Nico. Once I met him, I forgot about her. She passed through my mind once after the mind blowing sex with Nico because I wanted to tell her about it. That’s when Costin took my phone.

She was from my
other
life, the one I chose to give up when I became part of Nico’s. She was also the sister of Chris. He broke my heart and she was there to help pick up the pieces that her brother had smashed. She kept smiling at me and I forced my “happy to see you” face on.

Having her here brought my two worlds crashing together and I wasn’t sure if I could handle that. I held the door open and stood there dumbfounded. I didn’t know what to say or do with her, for that matter.

“Nice place,” she said as she pushed past me and walked into the living room. She dropped a suitcase I hadn’t initially seen next to the door. “So now I know you’re still alive, which room is mine?”

“How did you find me?” I knew that I sounded rude. There would be no other reason she came to Italy besides to see me - and here I was asking how she found me.

“It took a while since you didn’t leave a forwarding address at your hotel,” she boasted her detective skills. “You sound like you didn’t want to be found.”

She was right. Jen was my best friend because she could read me better than anyone else in the world. Hell, she understood me better than I did sometimes. I could never figure out how she could do that when her brother couldn’t. Chris could never read what was on my mind or what I wanted.

Now Jen was here. I wanted to leave my old life behind me and now she was
here
and posed a reminder of friends and obligations. The flip side was she was a close friend and I finally had someone human to hang around with while the sun was still out.

Human. That sent a sudden trigger through my head. It was approaching dusk and Nico would be here soon to mark me. Jen couldn’t have picked a worse time to come, but there was a part of me that was glad she was here. With Olivier in Paris, I was out of harm’s way. I needed something to take my mind off this crazy new life I had been pushed in to. Since it happened, I’ve been swept up in a whirlwind of events without any time to digest everything. Jen could be the mortal distraction that I needed. She could also help me remember why I left Florida to make this whole immortality thing seem like the best idea ever.

“I’m glad you’re here, Jen,” I finally said, closing the door.

She looked around and ran her fingers along the cushions of the couch and around the carved wooden tables. “How can you afford this place? You’ve been gone for over a month and have to be out of money by now, right?”

I changed the subject since I did not know how to answer her questions. “So how
did
you find me?”

“When I asked about you at the hotel you told me about, the front desk clerk told me you had checked out a few days ago.”

I remembered telling her about the hotel since it had been the only way I could get her off the phone. Now I regretted it. I looked over at Jen to find her face was painted with exhaustion and I knew she hadn’t even checked into a hotel. She still had the look of being on an airplane for the long flight and she smelled of sweat.

“Mmm hmm,” I urged her to continue.

“Well, then the bell hop interrupted and told me he hailed a taxi for you a few days ago to take you here.” She smiled at me. “It’s really good to see you. You look great, even if you are a little pale.”

I returned the gesture yet stayed silent. Stupid bell hop. I didn’t know what to say to her. I have to guard everything I say since she was part of my old life and definitely didn’t fit into the new one. What would Nico say about my visitor? She was going to start asking questions that I could not answer, at least not honestly. I could feel it by the way she studied the apartment. There was nothing I could tell her about my new life. I couldn’t risk introducing her to Nico and I certainly couldn’t risk her meeting Olivier if he chose to come back. So now what? I would only be able to dodge her questions for so long before she got nosy and tried her detective skills again without my consent. Who knows what she’d be able to find out.

“This place is really nice. It looks expensive!” She flopped down on the couch and kicked off her shoes. “I’m beat.”

I walked into the kitchen to avoid any immediate questions. Maybe she’d just take a nap for a few hours. “Do you want some water or anything?”

“Sure.” I could see her eyes getting heavy as she sat with her feet stretched out on the arm of the couch. All of the makeup she was so accustomed to wearing had worn off during the flight and the running around. She wasn’t the model of perfection as I always thought of her. It was all foundation and blush, which somehow made me feel better about my own image.

I walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of sparkling water. I set it on the table in front of her and took a seat in the chair across the room.

“Sparkling?” she asked, picking up the bottle.

Once upon a time, I could never drink sparkling, though it seemed that was all that was around. I had always thought it was more bubbles than water, like non-alcoholic champagne or something. The Italians refer to the water as either “gas or no gas” to the tourists, which still amuses me. I nodded. “It takes getting used to, though the regular stuff is just horrible.”

She shrugged and took a few sips. Her head lolled to the side and she yawned. Her hand went quickly to her mouth to mask the signs of being tired, but I saw it. She was never one to admit being tired. Instead, she was the epitome of the party girl.

I pointed towards the room down the hall. “I have a guest room – why don’t you take a nap? You’ve got to be exhausted.”

Jen looked over at me, a little embarrassed I caught her falling asleep. “Do you mind? I feel bad, though, I just found you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to do some shopping anyways – I’ve hardly got any groceries in the house. Rest up so we can go out tonight.”

That caught her attention. “Out? Like out on the town?”

“Only if you want to,” I coaxed, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to resist.

“You know me too well, Dylan,” she replied as she swung her feet off the couch. She got up and dragged her suitcase down the hall.

I listened to her unzip her luggage and then the squeak of the mattress. She’d be out in minutes. I closed my eyes and leaned into the cushion of the chair a little. How was I going to get out of this one?

It was nice to be awake during the daylight hours for a change. The supermarket nearest me closed at dusk, so I almost never made it over there in time to get groceries and my kitchen cabinets were severely suffering. I grabbed my purse and the apartment key and left Jen to sleep.

I walked back in with an armload of grocery bags and heard the shower running.
That was a quick nap.
I dumped the groceries across the kitchen counter, glad to be rid of the weight in my arms. I had picked up cereal, fruit, snacks, some deli meat, and bread.
Real food.
When I was with Nico, we’d typically stop into a wine bar and I’d get some sort of little aperitif, but I felt like I was always in a constant state of being hungry. My stomach hadn’t completely adjusted to my new schedule.

I sat on the couch and settled in with my feet tucked up under me. I turned on the radio and grabbed a book I picked up at the market.

The door to the bathroom opened like a sauna with hot steam pouring out. Jen stepped out with hair piled into a towel on the top of her head and otherwise she was back to her regular self. Makeup was perfectly applied and her fitted jeans sat low on her slim hips.

“So,” she said, sitting next to me on the couch, taking the book out of my hands.

“Yes?” I prepared myself for the worst. As I looked over at her, I thought she was going to explode with excitement.

“Have you met any hot Italian guys?” She asked, gushing and moving closer to me on the couch.

“A few,” I managed. There, it was honest. I didn’t have to give her all the details, but maybe I would be able to tell her enough to satisfy her curiosity without actually lying to her.

“Does this place belong to you or a guy?” Her eyes wandered across the expensive furniture spanning the two-bedroom flat. “I mean, unless you got a job here, there’s no way you can afford this place. It’s gotta cost at least seven hundred Euros a week, right?”

She was starting to ask questions that I was going to have to answer with at least some honesty. In reality, I had no idea how much this place was, but Nico had taken care of all of it – and I was so appreciative that he had been so generous.

“Well, I did get a job,” I remarked. “I’m a bartender.

She looked shocked. “What?”

I nodded. “As for the apartment, it belongs to a friend of mine.” I hesitated with how much to tell her. She’d wonder if I was living with this ‘friend’ or if they had an extra place. I could get out of it easily enough by saying it was their rental property because, technically, Nico didn’t live here with me. That would take the guesswork out of the equation when she saw that he didn’t spend the night with me.

Her eyebrows raised in anticipation of some juicy gossip to chew on.

“Maybe he’s a little more than a friend,” I added.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” she giggled.

“What about you? How did you afford airfare to Florence?”

She went quiet and fidgeted with a tendril of hair that had fallen from the towel. It’s been a bad habit of hers for as long as I’ve known her. “Promise not to lose it?”

Whenever Jen played with her hair nothing good ever came afterwards. “No promises,” I said, turning my full attention to her. I almost didn’t want to hear what her answer was but I knew I’d be mad, especially with a warning like that.

“You have to promise. It’s the only way I’m telling.” She stood there like a child, plea bargaining to make sure that she and I stayed on steady ground.

“Fine,” I sighed. “I promise.” I’d say whatever to get her to fess up at this point.

She bit the bottom of her lip and perused my face as she decided on how she was going to tell me. “Chris paid for my plane ticket. He was worried since you were supposed to be back over a week ago. No one’s gotten a postcard from you in over two weeks and your hotel said you checked out.” She took a few steps towards me as she said this, worried, I think, that I was going to break down. She was almost right.

“Chris?” I bit back. “Are you kidding me?” While I was glad Jen cared about me enough to get on a plane, I couldn’t believe he shelled out the money to send her all the way over to Italy to check on me. He left me at the altar for God’s sake. Why would he even care?

“You promised not to lose it,” she whined.

“Damn it, Jen. I don’t need you checking up on me so you can report back to your brother of all people. Tell him I’m fine and go.” I stood up from the couch and paced back and forth.