by Shannon Bell
Immortality Stolen
Shannon Bell
Immortality Stolen
Copyright © 2014 by Shannon Bell
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Book design by Sprinkles on Top
ISBN: 978-0-9913341-8-6
DEDICATION
To my husband who is continuously putting up with my characters who talk to me at all hours of the day and night and to my daughter who is my biggest cheerleader. Also to my mom who tells me when to keep the pages coming to her.
IMMORTALITY STOLEN
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my family, my Facebook groups, and of course, all of my readers.
Thank you for being part of this amazing journey.
Chapter 1
THERE WAS NO way I could do this. These vampires were stronger and faster than I was. Yet my adrenaline kept me racing around Florence. Every morning, I got up and ran. Why? Because I knew it was important to at least try and be able to out run any of the vampires who weren’t on our side.
Since arriving in Florence, I’d found out that vampires existed, fell in love with one, and been marked by one. Oh yeah, and there was another vampire in Paris that either wanted to kill me or fuck me. Not knowing which made things a little more complicated, but it was one of the few things that kept me motivated to run every morning. Plus, I had to run in the morning because the evenings were busy with everything from vampire politics to my nights bartending at Yankee Bar.
I did have to say things were a lot more interesting since I left my home in Florida. With my best friend Jen visiting last month, it also helped me sever my ties with everyone back home.
A knock at the door broke my thoughts.
“What’s all this?”
Three large boxes were in front of me and a postal carrier was handing me a clipboard and pointing to where I needed to sign.
“I didn’t order anything.”
“They came from the United States.” He pointed to the return address, collected the clipboard, and hurried down the stairs.
I pushed the boxes in one at a time. They were heavy. And they were from Jen. Once they were all inside, I tore them open, wondering what she sent me. I let out a sigh as the cardboard flaps sprung back from the first box. Everything I owned was carefully packed away – presumably in all three boxes.
As I methodically emptied each box, I thanked Jen for sending me everything. My clothes, my books, my yearbooks, my life. It was all in the boxes. She sent me everything that was in my apartment. She probably tied up all of the loose ends that she could. She probably even sold my car, though I hoped she kept the money to pay for the shipping of these boxes.
The yearbooks, the scrapbooks, and the other memories weren’t things that I wanted. It reminded me of the life I chose to give up. But the clothes were welcomed in my closet and the books fit well on the bookshelves.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting everything away. I was barely cognizant of the sun setting when the door opened.
Nico didn’t even say hi to me before he wore the scowl that I had seen one too many times.
“What is all of this?”
“Hi, honey.”
He lowered his eyes. “Hi. Where did all this come from?”
I smiled. “Jen sent it to me.”
“We have to move.”
“Excuse me?”
He shook his head. “We were going to move you, anyways. Now just proves the point.”
I stood up from the couch and walked over to him. “Come, sit down.”
He sighed. “We have to talk about this.”
“Sure,” I nodded. “Come sit first.”
He sat like requested but didn’t seem too happy about it.
“Do you want anything? Wine? Me?”
His eyes rolled.
Oh, it was one of these visits. I sat down next to him. “I have to move?”
“Yes.”
“Because she still knows where I live?”
“Yes.”
“And her sending everything to me proves that she knows where I live and we need to move me in case she tells anyone?”
“Yes.”
I smiled. “See, I’m smarter than I look.”
“Dylan, I don’t know why you have to joke about these things.” He sat stiff and uncomfortable on the couch.
“Because if I don’t joke, I would probably cry.” That was probably closer to the truth than I would ordinarily admit. Everything has been in fast forward since I met Nico. Fast is good for some things, but it was wearing me out. Before I had a chance to blink, I’d been married and marked – and that was only the half of it.
“Dylan - ,” Nico started to explain. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“I know what you’re going to say. You don’t have to explain anything. I get it.” I curled in next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Where am I moving?”
“In with me.”
I didn’t see that one coming. “Really?”
He smiled. “I knew that would get your attention. Yes, really. Costin and I talked about it the other day and thought it would be good. Olivier has been behaving himself, so it seems as though we can proceed as normal.”
Olivier was behaving himself. I didn’t really know whether that was true or not. He had just killed his sovereign, or so we were led to believe. There were still a lot of issues that we were dealing with because he had not yet assumed the role of sovereign. None of us knew what the hell to think about the situation. The only thing we did know is that he had not shown up in Florence to try and claim me again – and that was a good thing.
Costin and Nico were supposed to take a trip to Paris in the next few days to try and do a little investigative work to see what was going on. We had to figure out how Henri actually died because Olivier had sent word to me a few days ago claiming that he wasn’t responsible. We already knew he was involved, though. We just had no idea how – especially if he wasn’t actually the one who killed him.
“Costin will be here in a little while with Antonio,” Nico said.
“Why?”
“Because we need to talk about a plan.”
“Right.”
Nico kissed my ear and put his hand on my thigh. “It’s going to be this way for a while until we can get everything figured out. It’s the vampire politics, as you like to say.”
I nodded. “Got it. Why is Antonio coming over?” Usually he stayed out of the politics because he wasn’t a vampire yet. Most of the pets stayed out of things unless they were directly affected, like I was.
“Antonio has done a lot of research that may be of help.”
Before I could ask another question, the knock at the door announced that our visitors had arrived. I got up and opened the door for them. Costin gave me a kiss on both cheeks, as did Antonio.
Antonio followed me into the kitchen for wine and Costin took a seat in the chair across from Nico to talk about what was going on in Paris.
“Brunello or Chianti?” I held out the two bottles for Antonio to look over.
“You’ve been expanding your collection,” he smiled.
That was putting it mildly. Over the past week, I had purchased over a dozen bottles. After talking to people at the bar and doing a little research of my own, it had become a personal mission to try what some of the wineries around Tuscany had to offer.
Antonio picked the Brunello, I started to open the bottle, and Costin’s words caught me by surprise. I put the bottle down with the corkscrew still in it.
“Did you just say zombies?”
***
Costin nodded. “I did.”
I looked at Nico. “Is he kidding?”
Nico shook his head. “I told you that vampires were not the only thing to go bump in the night, mia mortale.”
“I know what you said, but I didn’t think you were talking about zombies. How the hell did zombies kill Henri?”
Antonio handed me the glass of wine. I took a big sip, needing it now more than ever before.
“That’s what we are trying to figure out.” Costin sounded a little impatient with me.
“When are you going to Paris?”
“Nico and I,” he said, “Are leaving in a few minutes.”
Nico looked a little shocked but nodded.
“Antonio is going to stay with you until we have the chance to move you, just in case. We don’t anticipate any problems, but until we figure out how Olivier was involved and what the zombies mean, we’re not taking any chances.”
I opened my mouth to argue that I didn’t need Antonio to babysit me, but I shut it. He was right. They were only taking precautions. There was no need for me to get all uppity and start a bunch of shit for no reason.
“I will send word once I know what is going on,” Nico said. It seemed like he wanted to say more, but he glanced at our present company and said nothing.
“Zombies?” I asked. No one had bothered to address my initial concern. Somehow it was easier for me to swallow that vampires existed than zombies.
Nico nodded.
“Ummmm…,” I trailed off. Someone needed to start talking fast. Everyone looked around, as if waiting to see who was going to tackle the issue with the clueless one.
It was Antonio who decided to step up to the task. “It’s hard to believe, I know. Zombies are not that common, but they do exist. It all depends on whether there is someone powerful enough to raise them. More importantly, it is important for someone to know when it is time to put them back into the ground.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Well, there are necromancers in the world that are able to raise the dead. Usually they are raised for questioning or for a very specific purpose. Then they are put back into the grave as though nothing ever happened. Every now and then, necromancers get carried away and leave the zombies out longer than they should. This is when zombies gain awareness of their surroundings and act on their own accord,” Antonio explained.
“And this is why we must go to Paris,” Costin interjected.
“Because you think the zombies were not put down and they are acting on their own?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Holy shit.”
“Precisely,” Nico added.
I shook my head. “Nothing is ever easy, is it?”
Costin laughed. “It used to be. Things have gotten more interesting since you’ve come around.”
“Great. Glad I could add a little excitement to your lives.” My sarcasm was beginning to drip.
“Do not worry, mia mortale. We will take care of things and be back in a few days.” Nico gave me a kiss, much too brief for my liking, and walked out the front door with Costin.
Chapter 2
“I DO HAVE to work tonight,” I said, looking over at Antonio. I didn’t know what his plans of babysitting were, but he wasn’t keeping me from going to the bar.
“I figured as much. You know I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do while they’re gone, right?”
I shrugged. “Even if you did, you wouldn’t be able to stop me from doing what I wanted to do.”
He laughed. “Trust me, I know.”
There was some awkward silence around the apartment. Finally I got up and headed towards my room. “I’m going to get ready. Want to walk with me over there?”
He nodded and I went into my room.
“I get off around two,” I said.
***
“Want me to meet you here?”
“Sure.”
We both knew I didn’t need him to walk me back to the apartment, but it was nice to have a mortal friend in the midst of everything that was going on. We were both marked and neither of us had taken the plunge to become immortal yet.
He took off around the corner and I went into the bar. I breathed in a sigh of relief once I stepped inside. No matter how crazy life got around me, being inside the bar was a way to relax. Being surrounded by bottles of booze was comforting to me. It was something I knew and something I was comfortable with. Maybe it had to do with control. I could control what went on inside the bar to an extent and that was desperately needed in my life.
“New boyfriend?” Giancarlo, my brown-haired bartender pal was always wondering what was going on in my life. If only he knew.
I shook my head. “No, just a friend.”
“Sure,” he gave me a sideways grin. “When do I get to be just a friend?”
I came around the bar and gave him a jab in the ribcage. “You already are. You didn’t expect any extra benefits, did you?”
“Well if you’re offering…”
“I’m not.”
“Damn.”
I laughed and grabbed the list that he had started of things we needed to get from the back. It had been a few days since I had a shift and it was good to be back. It wasn’t the most glamorous work, but it was fun for me.
“Dylan!” Matt caught up to me in the walk-in cooler. His floppy blond bangs were hanging in his face. He swept them away but they fell right back in place.
“Yes?” I grinned because he was only that happy to see me when he wanted me to take extra shifts.
“Can you work tomorrow night?”
“Sure.”
“As manager?”
“Oh?”
He smiled. “I know you have the experience and I need a day off.”
“So you can get a haircut?” I teased.
He played with his bangs for a second. “It’s not that bad is it?”
I scrunched up my nose. “Yeah, it kinda is.”
“Hmmph. Seriously, though, would you mind?” He leaned against the door to the cooler, keeping it open for me.
With Costin and Nico out of town, it would be a great distraction. It beat sitting inside the apartment drinking wine and reading books I’d read a hundred times already. “Sure. Anything special I need to do?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I’ll give you the keys tonight. Open up, give out the banks to the bartenders, collect the money from the servers at the end of the night, run some reports, and lock up.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“If you know what you’re doing,” he winked.
We talked about a few more details and then I grabbed up the jar of maraschino cherries and a case of beer before leaving the cooler.
The night was relatively uneventful. Drinks were made. Drunks were escorted out. Giancarlo flirted. I set drinks on fire. It was a good shift.
After we cleaned up and the last of the employees shuffled out, Matt tossed me the keys. “See you on Wednesday.”
“You got it,” I said, putting the keys in my messenger bag.
Giancarlo raised an eyebrow. “What’s that about?”
I dismissed it, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. “I’m just helping Matt out tomorrow.”
“As the manager?”
“It’s no biggie.”
“I’ve been here longer.”
I rolled my eyes. This is why I hadn’t mentioned it to him. “I have experience.”
“Back in the States?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“It’s really not a big deal. Nothing’s going to change.”
He shrugged. “Of course not.” He tried not to look hurt, but he couldn’t hide the expression that crossed his face before I saw it. �
��Your boyfriend’s here.”
I turned to see Antonio walking over to the back of the bar where a few of us were standing. Before I could argue with Giancarlo that he wasn’t my boyfriend, he had already started walking away. It was going to be weird tomorrow between us when I was managing, I just knew it.
“How was your night?” Antonio kept pace with me as we walked to my apartment. I told him about some of the highlights and he asked for details about a few different things. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“What do you mean?”
“The drinks, the people,” he made a gesture with his hands. “It all seems overwhelming. I don’t think I could do it.”
“Eh, you get used to it.” We started up the stairs. “Have you heard anything from Costin or Nico yet?”
He nodded and waited for me to open the door before launching into a full explanation.
“They’re on their way back now,” Antonio said.
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. Apparently they found out what they needed to and then Olivier asked them to leave.”
“What?”
“You know as much as I do.”
I can’t imagine Nico and Costin leaving Paris simply because Olivier asked them to do so. There would be no way that they would do that. Olivier didn’t leave Florence when we asked him to, so the same goes for why they shouldn’t when he did.
“So we wait?”
“Yep.” He flopped onto the couch, kicking off his shoes as he did so. He’s grown entirely too comfortable at my apartment, I noted to myself. “Any good wine?”
“Come see for yourself.” I walked into my room to get changed. I smelled like tequila and some of the other liquor that landed on me over the course of the night.
“Can I open any bottle I want?” He called.
I had my pants around my ankles, trying to step out of them. The thought of letting him open just any bottle made me want to run out there to see which. Then I remembered that I had already drank the best bottle out there. Whatever he opened could be replaced easily enough. “Sure.”