The Mortal One (The Mortal One Series) (20 page)

Chapter 19

IT WAS EARLY morning when I heard my bedroom door creak open. “Dylan?” Jen asked, peering into my bedroom. I was lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling just thinking, daydreaming, and absorbing everything in.

“Yes?” I asked, not bothering to sit up.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and put her hand across the comforter, right over my leg. “I’m leaving tomorrow, but I wanted to talk to you about some things first.”

“Okay.”

“Well, I just don’t want you to think I’m intervening in your life, but….” She nervously tore at her perfectly manicured red fingernails with her teeth.

“Jen, just say what’s on your mind,” I commented, trying not to sound agitated. I did feel like she’d been butting in, though I stayed silent about all that. As much as I loved having her here, she didn’t belong. Olivier could show up again at any moment and she simply wasn’t safe amongst the vampires. She remained in the dark about all that, but it would only be a matter of time before she learned something that could cost her dearly. I wouldn’t be able to live with her if that happened, so I had to say goodbye to her.

Her timing was poor, too. I needed to ask a million questions of Antonio, but she always seemed to be within earshot. The whole charade of Nico and Antonio around her was getting harder.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all.” I heard the concern in her voice, but she was worried for all the wrong reasons. Had she known even a small portion of the truth, she’d realize how true her words were.

“What is all of this about?”

She sighed and laid down beside me, like her and I had done a million times before back home. “He just seems out of your league. You know I love you, but—”

“I know. I think he’s out of my league, too, but somehow it works. I can’t explain it.” Had she actually met the real Nico face to face, she’d know how much out of my league he truly was. I still wondered how he was attracted to me and how we were able to be together. I’m glad she hadn’t gotten the chance to get to know the real Nico or this conversation would be even harder.

“Do you love him?” She turned her head to look at me.

Love. That was a big word. I couldn’t even begin to answer her because there was so much depth in that question. Technically, we were married, but love was not something that he and I had talked about. I suppose I did love him, even if I had no idea where he stood on the topic. Slowly, I nodded in response to her question.

“Then…never mind.” Jen was trying to change the subject and avoiding eye contact with me.

I let out a tired sigh. “What?”

She hesitated, rolling her head back and forth on the pillow, not wanting to say what was on her mind. She took in a deep breath and blurted it out. “Why not ask him to come back to Florida with you?”

There it was. I had been waiting four days for her to come to this conclusion and ask. Of course she’d ask. It was a selfish thing, really. I would never ask a guy to move across the world for me, even if I had wanted it. The problem this time is that I didn’t want it. I wanted to stay here. Not to mention that because of everything else going on, Florida was not even a comprehensible option. “I like it here. I feel more like myself than I ever have.”

“I thought you’d say that. I can see it in your eyes. You’re different. Good different, but you’re not the same Dylan you were in Florida.”

She had no idea how true the statement was, but I nodded in agreement. “Thank you for not pushing.”

“Wouldn’t you invite your friends to the wedding?” She asked. She seemed personally offended that I wouldn’t invite anyone to my nuptials.

I shook my head. “Probably not. Only because I don’t think I’d get married. The idea of planning another wedding makes my stomach turn. I’ve done it once already.” Little did she know that technically I already was married, thanks to Nico.

“Dylan,” she trailed off. I could tell she felt sad for me and did not know what to say. “I hate that my brother left you feeling so jaded. You can’t say you will never get married just because of what he did to you.”

“Jen, you don’t need to feel bad or sad, it’s just the way it is. Just know that I’m happy and you can return to Florida sharing that information. I’m at home here and I’m in love. It’s all that matters anymore.”

She stood up from the side of my bed and headed out the door. “Okay. I just get the feeling that I’m talking to you for the very last time…like you’re never going to keep in touch with me ever again.”

I wanted to tell her she was right and that as soon as I dropped her off at the airport tomorrow, she never would see or hear from me ever again. I wanted to tell her the truth about it, but I couldn’t. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I lied.

Chapter 20

JEN AND I finished lunch at a little bistro around the corner from my apartment and got a taxi to pick us up from there. Our driver was a little old man with white hair and dark shades, struggling to get her suitcases in the trunk. Jen offered to put them in herself but he pointed to the backseat and kept saying, “in, in.”

The taxi ride to the airport was silent, with the exception of traffic and the taxi driver singing rather loudly to some song on the radio. Jen looked at me several times as his voice cracked and squeaked as he mutilated the song. He pulled up close to the small terminal and Jen and I got out. She saved him the trouble this time and got her bags out of the back before he could. I paid the fare and asked him to wait a few minutes for me.

I walked around and held out my arms to her to come to me. “Jen.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Jen said, hugging me tight. I returned the gesture and choked back tears. I was surprised at how emotional I had become. I neither wanted her to go nor stay. I pulled back, wiping the back of my hand across my face. Keep it together, I told myself.

“I’ll miss you, too.” I lifted her carry-on so she could sling it across her shoulder. She and I stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, each of us knowing in our own way this would be the last time we’d ever see each other.

The airport was surprisingly busy this early in the afternoon. A small coffee shop just outside the terminal was swarming with people getting their java fix. We stood in front, people passing us with their bags of luggage. A small plane was taking off in the background and I glanced up at it.

Jen looked at her boarding pass and then back at me. “You and Antonio or Nico…you’ll be fine whichever you choose. And don’t worry, I’ll let your friends know you’re good. Though,” she hesitated. “I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to tell them. They all knew I came here to see what happened to you. I mean, I think everyone expected you to be on the plane back home with me.”

I nodded, knowing she’d smooth things over for me somehow. “Well, you’ve got about ten hours to figure out how you’re going to do it.”

“Thanks for the help,” she said sarcastically, giving me a poke in the ribcage with her elbow.

She’d figure a way to tell everyone. I was confident of that. I wished that they could hear the news directly from me, but since it was impossible, she was the next best thing. “Just promise me one thing?”

“Sure,” I agreed, wondering what she was going to ask and hoped that that I’d be able to comply.

“If you do get married, even if it’s a year from now, let me be the maid of honor,” she smiled. I had forgotten that I denied her of the role with the last debacle.

My eyes rolled at her and she smiled at me anyways. “Yeah, okay.”

She peeked at her watch. “I’ve got to go….” She paused, not knowing what else to say.

There was nothing else
to
say. I watched her go through airport security and held up a single hand to wave goodbye as she turned around one last time. I knew I’d never see her again and that she was the last of my old life. She would go back to Florida and tell my friends that I was happy in Italy. She’d also speak of the new man I’d met and about my apartment and everything else she’d seen. They would accept it as the truth because it’s all that Jen had seen. She’d bought the lies Nico and I told her, which—I justified to myself—had spared her life.

I imagined my friends grilling Jen for the details on my new boyfriend. They’d hate that I wasn’t trying to bring him back to the States.

At least I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about any of them anymore. They wouldn’t come to find me. I could keep them safe.

***

Once home, I flopped myself across the bed and cried. I hadn’t even been turned into a vampire and yet I was forced to say goodbye to my old life. I loved the fact that Jen came to find me and visit with me, but almost wished she hadn’t because it made it that much harder.

I heard the front door creak open and Nico yelled his arrival.

The bed gave a little as he sat down. My head was still buried in the pillows. “I dropped her off earlier this afternoon.”

He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I know it was hard for you to see her, but aren’t you glad she came in a way? I know you were worried about how to sever ties with your friends.”

“Yes.” I sniffled and looked away. I didn’t want him to see me get emotional about this. He felt bad enough about everything else that was going on, I didn’t want to add to his stress as well.

“I do have some fun planned for us tonight,” Nico said, pulling me into his lap.

I raised my eyebrows. “Oh?”

Nico nodded. “After all the chaos that’s been going on, I thought you could use a way to relax. There’s a wine tasting going on around the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. We could take a walk over there after dinner. This way you can finally learn about some more of the wonderful wines we have in Italy.”

“Something fruitier?”

“I told you Italian wine isn’t fruity. It’s aged in oak barrels, so there will never be a sweet, fruity taste to the wine.”

“In Florida,” I said. “We have citrus wine. It’s made with almost as much sugar as fruit.”

“That sounds disgusting. Here, we use the Sangiovese grape. Depending on the region it comes from and what other grapes it is mixed with determines the actual name of the wine.”

I climbed out of his lap and headed to the bathroom so I could reapply some makeup. Crying didn’t leave me with much. “Where can we grab a bite to eat first?” I called out while applying eye liner.

“There’s a trattoria down the road from the wine tasting. I heard a couple talking about the wild boar ragout on the menu and thought you might want to try it out.”

I popped my head out of the bathroom to catch his eye. “Did this couple perhaps run into someone who needed a few sips for the night?”

Nico laughed and put his hands up. “I plead the fifth.”

After putting a few finishing touches on my hair, I was ready to go. “Feed me and teach me about wine!” I said with a smile.

“My pleasure, mia mortale.”

***

“Do you really have to go to work tomorrow?”

“I do, why?”

Nico shook his head. “I wanted your company.”

My lips met his. “You have my company now.”

He flipped me onto the bed and I allowed him because the wine had gone right to my head. “That I do.”

“Whatever are you going to do to me?” I giggled.

He began plucking buttons open down my chest. “Wait and see my love, wait and see.”

Chapter 21

I LACED UP my new leather knee high boots and paired them with a denim skirt and my black button down blouse for work. I was hoping the boots weren’t going to kill me even though I knew I wasn’t working until close, so that saved me a little. Luckily, Matt had too many people on the schedule tonight so I got a call earlier today asking if I would come in to open and then leave after the first rush. I was happy to.

The shelves were stocked and ready to go after I added a few bottles of Sambuca, rum, and tequila from the back. Giancarlo wasn’t working until later so I got stuck opening up with Maria, who was still in training. She didn’t know what she was doing and her too tight t-shirts were beginning to grate on my nerves, especially when it interfered with my tips.

An early bar patron sat at the end of the bar. He ordered beer and ate the lime garnish out of the bottle. Maria was smiling and giggling in front of him but he didn’t seem to find her of interest. After a few minutes of being ignored, Maria finally came back over to start slicing fruit for the bar.

“Can you get more cherries from the back?” I asked her as I made a mental note of everything else we still needed.

She stared blankly at me. I guessed she didn’t know exactly what I said and I knew my speech wasn’t coming out too fast. I also didn’t know how to say cherry in Italian so I settled with pointing to the glass jar and saying, “more.” She nodded and scampered off to the back.

I caught Matt looking over at the bar and I shot him a playful scowl. He knew I hated working with her but I think he got some sort of kick out of watching me deal with her.
Sadist
. He flashed me his million dollar smile and turned on his heel back to the dining room before I could hurl a bottle at his head, which I held high above in threat.

I was looking forward to leaving early tonight because Nico and I were supposed to catch up on some lost time. Butterflies leapt around in my stomach at the thought because I was looking forward to being alone with him again. Privacy with him had been so limited over the past week because of Jen. It had been taking its toll on me with trying to keep Antonio and Nico separate for her to buy all the lies we fed her. A night alone together was what I needed to put it all to rest.

Maria returned with the jar of cherries and the guy at the end of the bar raised his bottle, silently asking for another one. She grabbed a new bottle from the small cooler and was trying to get the lid off. I watched in silent amusement as she struggled with it and wondered how she was ever going to survive a busy Saturday night. I walked by her and grabbed the bottle out of her hand. I popped the lid off on the side of the bar with one quick movement and handed it to the man who was choking back a laugh.

“Trainee?” He asked with a low chuckle.

“You think?” I joked back.

He smiled. “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “Ahh, it’s okay. I’ve dealt with worse.”

“The name is Blake,” he said, reaching across the bar with his hand extended.

I shook it. “Dylan. Nice to meet you.”

“Dylan? Really?”

I rolled my eyes. “Girls can have the name, too.”

He laughed. “Heard that too many times, huh?”

Maria was watching me so I continued talking to the man. After a short conversation, I learned Blake was an investment banker on business from London. He and I would periodically look back at the struggling trainee, who had lost interest in the two of us and was now trying to seduce a young college boy of maybe twenty. We both knew he didn’t stand a chance. The poor guy wouldn’t even know what hit him.

Blake and the college boy were the last of the pre-rush patrons. The crowds hit hard and fast tonight. I pushed Maria to the well to pour all the shots until the rest of the staff showed up. She threw a little hissy fit, not wanting to be where she couldn’t be seen. After stomping her feet and mumbling some choice Italian under her breath, she settled into a decent pace of placing shots on the bar. After she made them, I’d either pass them out or light them on fire for as much flair as I could without a partner.

Giancarlo walked in just as the lines at the bar were getting uncomfortably long. He raised his eyebrows at Maria, who had her head down, her mouth shut and was pouring shots at a fairly normal pace.

“Just in time,” I said to him, washing my hands at the little sink. “Your turn.”

As I was about to head out from behind the bar, he grabbed my wrist and chuckled. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I dusted my hands off in front of him. “I’m done for the night. Matt said I would open and then get out when relief showed up. You’re my relief.”

“You’re leaving me with her?” Disgust was evident in his voice.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

Maria tossed an empty tequila bottle into the garbage and glared at us. “I hear you,” she commented with extremely thick English. “I know what you say.”

My lips quivered as they held back a grin. “Gotta go,” I touted as I made a quick break for the back door.

Within minutes of walking out the back door, I had Nico beside me.

“Hey.”

I grinned. “Hey yourself.”

“Are you ready for tonight?”

I took a deep breath. Tonight was going to be the mark. No matter how much we talked about it and no matter how much Antonio told me it would be erotic, it still made my knees weak. “Sure.”

“Before we go to the apartment, however, I want to talk to you about something,” Nico said, pulling at my arm so we went in the opposite direction.

“Um, okay.” The night was already dark, but South Centro was lit up with the street lights and the lights from all the little trattorias. The smell of pizza pouring from the wood burning ovens was intoxicating.

Nico squeezed my hand. “That man.” It was a statement, not a question.

“What man?” There weren’t any people along the route that we took that stood out.

“The man in the bar that you shook hands with. You seemed to be flirting.”

I stopped short to find Nico with a very serious face. He had never really been the jealous type before. “Blake? He was just a customer.”

Nico shook his head in disdain. “You even know his name?”

“Yes, I ask the names of a lot of my customers. It gives me better tips.” He didn’t seem too convinced. “Really. You have nothing to worry about.”

We were in front of the fountains of the Uffizi. It was late enough that most of the students had retreated from the night and the palazzo was almost to ourselves.

“Take a seat.”

I let out a sight but complied anyway.

Nico turned his back to me and reached into his pocket. He fished out a box and turned around again. The box popped open and I heard myself gasp.

“Perhaps if you had this on your finger, he wouldn’t have flirted back.”

“Nico,” I choked between sobs.

He slid the ring onto my left ring finger. “We got married before I could ask you properly. I’m hoping you love me as much as I love you, mia mortale. Will you wear the ring?

I stared down at the blue diamond that was encrusted with what looked like hundreds of white diamonds around it. It was in a white gold setting and looked absolutely stunning. “Yes, of course. I love you, too.” My lips met his and I flung my arms around his neck.

“Do you like the blue diamonds?” he whispered.

“I do, they match your eyes.”

“I’m glad.”

I stayed glued to his neck for a few more moments, breathing in his scent. If nothing else, it was now he and I against the world. This was what I wanted, even if I hadn’t known it until now.

“Now I have something else I must tell you.” He led me by the hand so we could continue down the road to get to the apartment.

“Nothing could top this,” I said, holding his hand with my right hand and staring down at the ring, feeling content for the first time in a long time.

We walked in silence until Nico opened the front door.

***

“Costin has requested to watch me mark you tonight.”

I stared at Nico and tried to figure out why Costin would want to sit in on this very intimate affair. Costin actually walked in after the last time I was supposed to be marked, though, so I knew exactly why. This situation couldn’t get more awkward.

Nico smiled. “He wants to make sure we don’t get carried away again.”

“So he wants to be in the room when you mark me?” I rubbed the palms of my hands across my face, wanting to wake from this nightmare. “Does he have to?”

Nico nodded. “Apparently he has been talking with Henri and they’re not sure how much longer your Parisian admirer is going to keep behaving. Costin doesn’t want to see any harm come to you and me marking you is the best chance of honoring it.”

“What a way to celebrate.”

“I’m sorry, Dylan.”

I waved my hand to dismiss his concern. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not ideal, but I know why he’s doing it. When will he be here?”

“He should be here any minute,” Nico answered as he moved closer to me. “I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

A knock on the door let us know Costin had arrived. This was going to happen. Antonio told me it was a great feeling and better than sex. As I stared at Costin, I couldn’t help but form a mental picture of him and Antonio in a lover’s embrace with Costin nibbling on his neck.

“Dylan?” He broke my wandering thoughts.

I shook my head and I feared it was too late. They both saw the image I had conjured up. Cursing myself silently, I turned my attention to them.

“Antonio is right,” Costin pointed out. “It can be a great thing for both parties. There’s nothing to be scared of.” I was glad he wasn’t upset by my straying thoughts. The ease of which they could pluck images and thoughts from my head was disturbing. “Do you have any questions about how this works?”

I glanced at Nico, who had seated himself in the center of the bed. He patted the mattress for me to join him.

“No, not really,” I said as I took a step towards the bed. “I’m just still a little unclear about how it’s different than a bite.”

“Well,” Costin explained, “A bite is something a vampire does to an unsuspecting mortal. You know what you’re getting and you’re accepting of it. Through acceptance, it is different.”

“Okay,” I said, still a little unsure of how to proceed. I walked to the foot of the bed, my body shaking.

“It’s okay, Dylan,” Nico whispered while holding his hand out to me.

A part of me wanted to ask or even beg Costin to leave and promise him we’d behave. The other part of me knew it was silly, so I climbed onto the bed next to Nico.

He looked over at Costin, who gave him a small nod, and back to me. He stroked my hair for a moment and kissed me softly on the lips before letting his mouth trail down my throat. “Are you sure?”

I nodded and tried not to look at Costin. I knew he was watching us because I could feel as though his gaze was burning into the back of my head.

“Let me hear you,
mia mortale
,” he said a little louder.

“Yes,” I replied, my voice breaking. “Yes, I’m sure.” I shifted slightly on the bed, closed my eyes, and leaned back so my head fell into the pillows. Nico moved so he was beside me and nestled his head in the crook of my neck.

His tongue traced the pulse in my throat, resting on my jugular. My breath was getting short in anticipation the bite without fully knowing what to expect. He moved my head to the side a little and I felt his teeth graze my skin.

“Okay,” he whispered through clenched teeth against me.

Before I could object, I felt a sharp pain as his fangs sank into the side of my throat. A tingling sensation replaced the pain almost immediately and I could feel the blood flowing out of me. A chill ran through my body and my mind was overwhelmed with waves of pleasure.

“Good,” I heard Costin in the background. He was saying something else, but I could only focus on Nico.

The room was spinning and there was only him. His scent flooded my senses and I felt like I was drowning in honeysuckle. My body pulsated with the sensations and I rode them as best as I knew how. I kept my hands on Nico and felt his skin getting warmer to the touch. I let my hands glide down his chest as I lay victim to his bite.

Nico stayed glued to my neck and I felt his cold fingers slide lower on my body as he continued to drink from me. I was getting light-headed and thought of trying to pull away, but I was enjoying the route his fingers were pursuing. My focus was on Nico’s touch and the beat of my own heart. For a second, I thought I heard his heartbeat, as well.

“Enough,” Costin said faintly in the background.

A loud moan of fulfillment sounded in the room and it took me several moments to realize that it was me who had made the sound. My head was spinning and my body was reacting to what Nico was doing with his hands when I felt him being physically pulled from me.

“Enough,” Costin repeated louder while forcing Nico off of me.