The Mortal One (The Mortal One Series) (17 page)

Antonio came up behind me. “I upset you.”

“Not upset me, but….” I let the thought go unfinished. I didn’t know how to tell him to back off without offending him.

“I came on too strong?” He backed up from me a little and poured himself a glass of wine.

I nodded. “It’s fine if Jen is here because she’d expect it, but otherwise….”

“It’s just, well, Costin shares me, so I figured Nico shares you.”

I tried to hide my shock in his words. “What do you mean Costin shares you?”

“He lets me have my own life. I can see women and sometimes if there is a visiting sovereign, I will supply them.” Antonio said all this nonchalantly and I had to think about what he was saying.

“Supply them? As in, let them bite you?” I whispered. I was surprised Antonio was okay with all this. I hadn’t thought of it until now. Now I had more questions.

He made a small hand gesture to dismiss my naivety. “In this community, touching isn’t as intimate as humans make it out to be. It’s really not a big a deal. It is a small sacrifice for eternity, don’t you think?”

“My relationship with Nico is a little different. I don’t think he plans on sharing me.”

“Oh.” I watched his face absorb what I was trying to say. “So the two of you,” he trailed off. “Ohhh.” He finally realized what I was telling him.

I turned to hide the embarrassment I knew was written all over my face. Why had he expected Nico and I weren’t intimately involved? Is this the first time it’s been done? I found it hard to believe but I wasn’t going to talk to Antonio about my sex life, so I tried for some silence for a while.

I heard a sound from down the hall and before I could react, Antonio wrapped his arms around my waist. As I craned my head around the corner to see Jen trotting towards us, he buried his head in the crook of my neck.

“I thought I heard voices,” she announced as she came into view and letting out a yawn. She raised her eyebrows as she watched Antonio nuzzle at my neck.

“Hey Jen,” I said, pulling out of Antonio’s grip a little. “I’d like you to meet…Nico.”

Antonio released me and took a step towards Jen. “Great to meet you,” he held out his hand in greeting.

Jen smiled and glanced over at me, giving me her ‘I approve’ look. “Nice to meet you.”

We walked into the living room and she curled up in the seat across from where we sat on the couch. Antonio still kept a firm arm around my shoulder and his other hand on my knee. Jen couldn’t get the grin off her face. We talked for about an hour before Antonio finally excused himself for the night.

“Bring a friend tomorrow,” Jen giggled as I closed the door.

“So?” I asked as I walked back into the living room. I was making sure she had accepted the hoax we dealt in front of her.

“Nice. I see you’ve moved on as well, and I’m glad.”

“I have,” I smiled, “Way on. Now, I’m turning in for the night.”

Chapter 16

“IS SHE GONE?” Nico asked when he cautiously entered my apartment.

“For now, yes. She’s out with a friend of Antonio’s. He stopped by earlier to pick her up and introduce her. He figured it would give us some alone time.” I shut the door behind us. “I’m supposed to meet them down at a club later.”

“Remind me to thank him,” Nico commented. He took a step closer to me to close the distance between our lips.

The apartment was quiet except for the traffic sounds outside. I needed a fountain or something that would make some more noise. I couldn’t handle being the only thing who made sound in this place.

“Your friend believes that you and Antonio are a couple?”

“Yes, Jen thinks that he is way out of my league, but he does a good job of acting, so she bought the whole thing.” I did not want him to ask for details. He had to know Antonio would have to get close to me for Jen to believe we were dating on such a level that I moved into his apartment.

“Good. Did Antonio go too far?” He asked. I knew he’d have to ask for at least some details. I was getting used to his jealous side and it made me feel more secure in our relationship. It was endearing, though I wondered why he felt the need. Any sane girl would only have to take one look at him and be hooked.

My stomach was cramping and I realized it’d been a while since my last meal. I made my way to the kitchen cabinets with Nico close on my heels and waiting for my answer.

I pulled down the crackers and in between bites, I explained. “There was a lot of talking at first. Jen was asleep when he first arrived. When she showed up, I think we were convincing.”

“And what kind of convincing did it take?” He asked, his voice raising an octave.

I considered dragging out the details a little to find out the degree of jealousy that Nico had, but thought better of it. “There was touching, but we never kissed.”

“Touching?” He asked, watching my every move. It would be interesting to see how things would play out if Nico ever thought Antonio took things too far. The rule was you could not harm another vampire’s pet…however there were always exceptions. Would he have to get Costin’s permission? Antonio was harmless, as far as I could see, so hopefully it would never come to blows.

I laughed. “Yes, touching. Innocent touching,” I traced my fingers along his neck as Antonio had done to me.

Nico accepted this with a small bow of his head. “All right.”

“Can you explain some things to me?”

“Sure,
mia mortale
, what’s the matter?”

I sat on the couch and fidgeted a little, wondering when he was going to tire of all my questions. “Why can’t you be around Jen? I mean, she’s my one mortal friend. She came all the way from Florida to check on me and I just thought you’d want to meet her.”

He let out a sigh. “Dylan, it’s not that I don’t
want
to meet your friend. It’s, well, I figured you would get it.”

“Get what?”

“Remember the conversation we had with Henri?”

I tried remembering which one he meant and just when I was about to ask, it dawned on me. “She’s B positive?”

“Yes, and I fear I might make a bad first impression if I attack her,” he smiled. “It’s one thing to be able to take a sip when I encounter a tourist, but it’s another to be surrounded by the smell.”

“Got it. Why didn’t you just say so in the beginning?”

He stared at me. “I didn’t want you to think I’m some sort of monster.”

“I know what you are, it just goes with the territory…right?” I kissed his lips lightly.

He shook his head. “It never surprises me how accepting you are.”

I laughed. “Because I’m going to change my mind about you now? After all this? Give me some credit!”

“I know I should know better. So when is she leaving?” He glanced around as though he expected her to barge through the door at any moment. Her scent was all around the apartment and I knew it was driving him crazy. He couldn’t seem to sit still.

“I don’t know. In a day or two, I think. Will you be able to mark me tonight?” I blurted the last part out by accident and wished that I eased into the topic a little better. I had nightmares last night of Olivier and I woke up screaming. That one was a little difficult to explain to Jen, but she finally accepted I had had too much to drink and it’s what caused my fit.

“Why the sudden interest in the mark again?”

I smiled and recalled what Antonio said about the bite. “Antonio said it wasn’t bad.”

“Really? What did he say about the mark?”

“He said it can be better than sex.”

Nico raised his eyebrows. “I doubt that, but it’s an interesting theory. What else did the two of you talk about?”

“He told me about how Costin shares him. He thought you would share me, too.”

“Oh?” His brow dropped a little and I couldn’t quite read his emotions. “I do not like the sound of that, Dylan.”

“Don’t worry. I told him I doubted you had plans to share me.” I watched his face turn to a smile as he wrapped his arms around me.

“You would be correct.” He shifted his weight on the couch and brought me under his arm. “Did Antonio talk to you about his research?”

“A little. It’s nice to be able to talk to another human. I mean, about everything that’s been going on. Someone who won’t think I’ve lost my mind, though….”

“Yes?”

I coughed nervously. “It’s just that he seemed a little surprised we were intimate. It’s certainly not the relationship he and Costin have.”

There was a soft laugh and then silence for a moment. “As for the intimacy, it’s true – what we are doing is not common.” He said it wasn’t common, not unheard of. That was encouraging. I’d hate to think we were the only ones to be intimately involved.

“And the other part?” I had to ask by the way he casually omitted any comments to the last part. Was there something Antonio wasn’t sharing?

Nico shifted uncomfortably and finally settled for standing. “I am not one to talk about my sovereign’s love life, though what he has shared sounds a bit more intimate than what Antonio has perhaps told you.”

I let it soak in for a minute. “Hmmm.” I wondered if Antonio was embarrassed to tell me he was intimate with another man or if he didn’t consider certain things as Costin might. I was thinking of ways I could approach the subject without alarming Antonio to my curiosity.

“Now for the sharing – I have heard Costin shares Antonio with others. Antonio allows friends of Costin to drink from him and he quite enjoys it.”

“Do you want to drink from me?” I asked nervously. I knew my voice went up a pitch when I asked but I hoped he hadn’t noticed.

He smiled, flashing his fangs for an instant. “Are you offering?”

“It depends…” I didn’t know how to approach this subject. Antonio and I talked about this subject a few times throughout the night and he said it was my duty as a pet to offer blood to my maker, as he put it. When I told him Nico hadn’t drunk from me yet, he was shocked.

Had I been denying Nico something I should have been offering? He hadn’t said anything, though maybe he was waiting for me to offer. Maybe it was something that he expected of me once I was marked.

“Depends on what?” He seemed to be deep in thought, wondering what it was I was going to say to allow him to drink from me. I could tell the excitement of this possibility was lying just below the surface of his cool exterior.

“Do you
want
to drink from me?” I asked. Maybe he didn’t even want to. After all, O positive wasn’t even his favorite.

He made a gesture with his hand. “Is this a trick question?” I shook my head. “That’s like me asking you if you’d like a glass of wine or a piece of chocolate. You’d never refuse it.”

I grinned at the way he phrased it. There it was. He wanted to drink from me and I hadn’t offered…yet. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it as much as Antonio told me I would. How much would he even take? Would it be a few ounces or a pint? I was trying to remember how much I used to give during blood donations.

“Dylan,” he cooed. He had one arm on either side of my head, leaning his weight into the back of the couch. “Don’t worry so much. I will mark you before I ask to drink from you. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He got up and paced in front of me in an attempt to get the scent of Jen out of his head. From his reactions, you’d think her blood had spurted out and dripped on everything in here.

“Do you want to go somewhere?”

He was at the front door before I could even blink. “I thought you’d never suggest it.” He held the door for me. “Let’s go.”

“Can we go to your place?” It was one of the many things that were still a mystery to me. I hadn’t seen where he slept at night, or even been told where it was.

Nico shut the door to my apartment and studied me for a few minutes. I stood there under his scrutiny while I watched a million thoughts race across his face.

“Olivier’s in Paris,” I added to remind him that he didn’t have any valid excuses to deny me yet again.

Finally, he nodded. “Come.” He scooped me into his arms.

After leaping several dozen rooftops, we walked down a narrow road where loose stone scattered the ground and faded paintings were etched on the walls. The road ended into a large wooded area. I stood there and compared his version of flight compared to Pablo’s. It wasn’t quite as smooth and I wondered if it was an age thing or a skill that hadn’t been acquired. Nico broke my train of thought before I had a chance to ask.

“I need you to close your eyes,” he said, coming to a stop.

“Why?”

“You can’t see where I live. I can take you on the inside, but I can’t have you see the outside or how to get there. Not until you’ve been turned.”

I rubbed the back of my head and knew he was going to be frustrated with my next question. “Why?”

“Because…,” he sighed. “Other vampires could find me and until you’re turned, they can easily pull that from your mind.”

Well, that was a good reason. I had more questions, but I humored him and closed my eyes.

He gathered me into his arms and we were off again. The wind was in my hair and I clung close to him, my eyes sealed tight. I could feel the brush of branches against my arm and as I was about to ask how much longer, a heavy wood door creaked open and he set me down.

“Now?” I asked, standing with my eyes still closed, hands on my hips.

“Now.”

I opened my eyes to what could have been a giant bed and breakfast. “Wow.” I was speechless. This place was absolutely gorgeous and couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t living here instead of an apartment some twenty minutes away.

“Would you like a tour?”

I nodded, following closely behind. “How old is this place?” I asked, admiring the tall walls of solid white stone.

“It was built in the 13
th
century as a mill. I bought it sometime in the early 1800s once it had been converted to a house. Then, about fifty years ago, I had electric and plumbing installed.”

“It’s amazing, though….” I trailed off. I stared at the wooden rafters above my head and the spacious areas.

“Yes?”

“I love the apartment, but I really wish I could have stayed here.”

“Why did you put me up in the apartment instead of letting me stay here?”

He laughed. “I know you would have, but it’s just not safe. Besides, this place is very far out of the way.”

“Will it really be safe when I’m turned, though? Costin can read your mind.”

“Yes, but it is because he is my sovereign. Reading thoughts are limited to those in your line, meaning those who make you or who you’ve made, as well as your sovereign.”

“Really?” I asked as I started to climb the wooden staircase in the corner. “So I’ll be able to read your thoughts?”

“Yes,” he spoke, and I knew he was right behind me.

“Won’t that be fun!” I turned on the stairs to see his reaction.

Nico flashed a smile. “I’ll have to be careful is what it means.”

“So, can I ask more questions? I’ve been trying to be good and wait for them to be answered, but—”

“Of course,” he pulled me into his arms as we reached the top of the landing.

The second floor was one giant room with a large bay window overlooking the Arno. He led us to the couch that was positioned in front of the breathtaking view. From here, I could see all the twinkling lights of Florence and wondered how much different it would look during the day, though I knew I wouldn’t get to see it.

Nico rested his arm around my shoulders and waited for my questions to begin.

“How can you afford my apartment? Do I need to start paying you rent? I mean I can pick up more nights at the bar.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t even need to work if you choose not to.”

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my constantly growing list of inquiries in check. “How?”

“Okay, I have made you wait long enough for your answers. I have told you I’m almost three hundred years old, yes?”