by Shannon Bell
I took a sip and closed my eyes to savor the taste, particularly the raspberry syrup.
“That looks hideous.”
“Well, it’s delicious. I’d let you take a sip, but you only drink blood.”
He shook his head at me. “Play nice.”
“You first.”
The restaurant was packed and there wasn’t an empty table in the place. The music was pounding around us and a TV screen was showing the Michael Jackson Thriller video from all angles of the place. Olivier was right taking us here. No one would be able to hear a thing that we were saying at the table. Good.
“Why did you kill Henri?” I asked.
“I didn’t. It’s another one of those issues that are complicated, so I guess I should just start explaining some more.”
“Good idea.”
He tapped his fingers on his lips another moment before speaking. “I worked with a necromancer to gain some assistance. Are you familiar with that term?”
I nodded. Someone who could raise the dead. I got chills thinking about it.
“Well, the necromancer helped me to raise an army so that I could get a few things that I needed, including vampire blood. It was a small army, nothing out of hand. About a dozen bodies altogether. There were some complications, however. The zombies have gone rogue.”
“Explain.”
“Zombies are raised from the dead by a necromancer. They listen to the necromancer and when they have served their purpose, they go back into the ground. Henri learned that I was working with a necromancer and killed her before he had a chance to learn about everything. The zombies hadn’t been laid to rest and they killed Henri as a result of killing the necromancer.”
“Shit.”
“The problem is that the zombies have been out for months now and they are gaining a considerable amount of awareness.”
“People aren’t noticing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “They were raised with human sacrifice, so their features were brought back to life in their entirety. Unless you knew what to look for, you wouldn’t know if you were standing right next to a zombie, which is why there hasn’t been a news break in Paris and that’s the way we want to keep it.”
Goosebumps shot up my arms at the idea of a human dying just so that he could go on some kind of power trip across the city.
“Why did you raise the zombies?” I asked.
“I needed vampire blood from the other line that I was able to find in Paris.”
“Wait, I know that Nico said that there were five vampire blood lines, but he also said that most of them are very rare.”
“And they are, that’s why I wanted it.”
I leaned my head into my hands and massaged my temples.
“It’s a lot to take in, I know,” he said. “But I promise it’s going to start making sense as I explain some more.
“Wait, but why couldn’t you just get another necromancer to put the zombies down?”
“It was hard enough finding one. They are not very common. Plus they are gaining awareness, so it requires even more work.”
This was getting complicated. “So how do you kill a zombie?”
“Gunshot to the brain, decapitation, fire -.”
“Got it. So just take care of it.”
He laughed. “Dylan, if it was that easy, I wouldn’t have called you out here and we wouldn’t have any zombies walking around Paris. You can’t just kill them without the authorities seeing. It has to be done very discreetly.”
“So what? Now they’re just walking around, eating brains?”
“Um, no. That’s a myth. That’s really cute that you think that, but no. They don’t eat anything. They don’t know what they need. They’ve all been dead so long that their brain is not functional enough to form intelligible thoughts. They can walk, they can act when threatened, but they cannot speak and they cannot formulate ideas.”
“Okay. I’m still not sure what we do then and how I can help.”
“They’re going to start decomposing again if they don’t get into the ground and that’s when the residents of Paris will notice and there will be widespread panic. It would take about two years for them to decompose entirely so that they basically rot themselves out of existence. Obviously we cannot wait two years.”
“Obviously,” I said.
We were interrupted again by the delivery of my fajitas. The waitress asked Olivier if he was sure he didn’t want anything. He shooed her away and watched as I wrapped up a fajita and started to eat it.
It was awkward to sit there and eat because Olivier was watching my every move. His eyes were locked onto my mouth, which was downing the fajitas drenched in sour cream and guacamole.
“Can you look away or something?” I asked.
“What?”
“You’ve been staring at me since the food got here.”
His head shot up to watch the video of Billy Idol very intently. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it and was now embarrassed for being caught.
***
Olivier and I left the restaurant and took our time heading back to the hotel. It was nice to take in the scenery of Paris at night without wondering what was whispering my name in the middle of the night. The city was gorgeous and I was reminded of the fact that people call it the place for lovers. I wished Nico was at my side right now.
“A dozen?” I asked inside the Metro.
He nodded. There were too many people around for either of us to elaborate.
“Do you mind if I call Nico and Costin when we get back to the hotel room?” I shouldn’t have to ask and I probably didn’t, but Olivier still hadn’t explained why I had to come to Paris in order for him to disclose all of this information. That would be another question when we got back to the hotel room.
“Of course.”
We walked into the double doors of the hotel room and the smell of chocolate chip cookies overtook my senses. I smiled. This was definitely a smell I could get used to.
“Grab the elevator, I’ll be right there,” I said, running across the lobby to grab one of the gems that looked as though they just came out of the oven.
“So that’s why you like the hotel.”
I just laughed as the elevator brought us to my floor.
The phone rang once before Nico was asking questions in my ear.
“Just hold on,” I said. “Is Costin there, too? I’m going to put you on speakerphone so that Olivier can hear you also.
“Very well.”
“We are both here,” Costin said over the speakerphone.
Olivier grabbed the chair from the desk and pulled it over to where I rested the phone on the edge of the bed. “I’ve talked to Dylan about the problem.”
“And what is the problem, mia mortale?” Nico asked.
“Ha, well,” I said, “there are zombies in Paris. And the necromancer is dead, so they cannot be put back down.”
“Who the fuck would kill the necromancer before zombies were put back down?” Costin demanded.
“Henri,” I said.
There was silence on the other end.
“The zombies were the one that killed Henri,” I said.
“As an auto-response for killing their necromancer,” Costin said. It was a statement, not a question.
“I need your help. I know I don’t have any right to ask for your help, but I have a dozen zombies walking around Paris that need to be put down without the city officials finding out,” Olivier asked.
I looked over to see the pain and stress written across his face. He had pride. Asking for help was killing him.
“Why did you need Dylan there?” Nico asked, coming to my defense.
“She is a truth seeker. What I have done and what I have learned is something that she needs to know.”
Silence again.
“I’m still learning what all of this is,” I said.
“Very well,” Nico said, defeat strong in his voice. It made me sad.
; Olivier cleared his throat. “I made a promise to you, Nico. Two nights. She will be on a train the morning after next.”
“Yes, she will be,” Nico said without skipping a beat.
“So how do you propose we kill the zombies before they start to rot and without the officials taking notice?” Costin asked.
I was wondering when that question was going to be asked.
“Swords are silent. We can slaughter at night when patrolling is at its lowest. If we use guns, it creates too much blood splatter and it will make enough noise to cause suspicion,” Olivier said.
Damn, he’s given this quite a bit of thought.
“And your vampires won’t support you?” Costin asked.
“My vampires?”
“You are their sovereign,” Costin snapped.
“No. I never asked for the position and I do not want the position,” Olivier said.
“That explains why you have not accepted the position. So you come to me as the only sovereign that you know?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. I will assume sovereignty over Paris for the interim until we can find someone to oversee it. There is too much distance between Toscana and Paris for it to be permanent. There are enough vampires in Paris to take care of the issue?”
“Yes, but we lack swords.”
“I’ll bring them. I can be there tomorrow night to do the blood oath. Can you gather the troops?”
“I can.”
“Fine.”
The call ended, rather abruptly. I didn’t get to say goodnight to Nico.
“Thank you,” Olivier said.
“For what?”
“Your assistance.”
I nodded my head, still a little numb with the information that was revealed. Swords. Zombie slaughter. Blood oath. What the hell did I get myself into?
“I will leave you to sleep and see you around 7:30 pm tomorrow evening.”
“Thank you,” I said.
As he started to leave, I got up and stopped him. “And you will tell me more about being a truth seeker tomorrow evening?”
“Yes,” he said and grabbed my wrist. He kissed the inside, over the vein and dropped it just as quickly.
He left and I closed the door, my heart still beating against my chest.
Chapter 6
ANOTHER DAY IN Paris alone. Being the mortal one was really lonely sometimes. It would be another six months, at least, until Nico turned me. He was still “grooming” me as he liked to call it. I was learning about the history of vampires and the five different lines. Olivier had information that I wanted, but had no idea how much I would be able to get since there was going to be a blood oath conducted tonight.
I was able to call Nico last night and he told me that he would be overseeing Florence while Costin was in Paris. We were both disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to see each other. It did speak highly that Costin trusted Nico to be second in command, however.
Since the trains wouldn’t be fast enough to get Costin here with the whole issue of sunlight, Antonio was driving an SUV from Florence to Paris with a casket in the back. Nico said that they would be to the hotel I was at around one this afternoon. At least Antonio would be here to provide me with some company.
Nico explained a little more about the blood oath to me as well. All of the vampires would have to pledge their allegiance to Costin with a sip of blood. That included Olivier. The fact that Olivier hadn’t accepted sovereign made Costin feel more relaxed about the situation. He was basically handing Paris to Costin on a golden platter.
Once the blood oath was completed, Costin would be able to formulate a plan with the vampires to execute a slaughter. They were hoping to have it done within two days.
The plan was still for me to come home tomorrow morning. I longed to be back in Nico’s arms. It was safe there.
There was a knock on my door. I peeked through the little hole to see a man with a cart. Perfect. Breakfast.
I opened the door and the man brought a tray and a carafe of hot chocolate in and sat it on my desk. He handed me a piece of paper to sign and made a quick exit.
The hot chocolate was rich and steaming. I poured it into the provided mug and set to buttering my croissant. Just before taking a bite, there was another knock on the door.
I opened it, assuming it was room service again.
“You don’t even check to see who it is?” Antonio stood there grinning. He looked me up and down. “Christ, you look like shit in the morning.”
I punched him in the chest and let him in. “I thought you weren’t due in until after lunchtime.”
“Made great time. It’s a ten hour drive and I made it in about eight.”
“I don’t even want to know how fast you were driving.” I went back to my croissant.
Antonio closed the door and made himself comfortable, which I knew he would. He rested on my bed and knew he had to be tired. That’s a long drive to make all alone.
“Umm, where is Costin?” I asked, suddenly realizing that the drive wasn’t technically made alone.
“Ohh, yeah, he burnt to a crisp in the backseat.”
I shook my head. “Not funny. And he would kick your ass for even saying that.”
He started to laugh. “Yeah, I know he would. He’s in the backseat, in a casket.”
“No one will notice that? It would suck for authorities to come discover a casket in the back of your SUV.”
He shook his head. “Privacy tint glass. No one is gonna be able to see inside.” He was watching the croissant go into my mouth. “So how do I get some of that?”
I tossed the room service menu at him. “Just call down to the restaurant. Olivier’s footing the bill.”
“Nice. I’m starving, too,” he said, chuckling.
I showered while Antonio slept. Knowing it was going to be a late night, I should have been sleeping next to him, but that wasn’t something that I could do. I hated sleeping during the day and that made it harder to be around all of the vampires. The adrenaline alone would keep me going tonight. My hope was to get some information out of Olivier, but doubted that would happen. There would be no way in hell that Nico would let me stay an extra day, especially if it meant spending more time with Olivier. But damn it, he knew it.
There was a big part of me that was hoping I could see a zombie tonight. Olivier said they looked human, but come on, there was no fricking way. They had to look at least a little different, right? They were mute, but anything beyond that, I was clueless. Still, I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted to see them. What if they looked at me? What if they did talk? I shuttered at the thought.
I looked at the clock on the nightstand and it wasn’t even noon yet. This sucks. The vampires wouldn’t be up for hours yet. The zombies were roaming around 24 hours a day, so they definitely had the upper hand. It made me wonder just how cognizant they really were.
The room service menu was limited and my stomach was growling again. I scribbled a note and stuck it on the pillow next to Antonio and headed out.
“Would you like a taxi?”
I looked up to see Leuc calling across the lobby. I was hoping Olivier did as promised and sorted things out with him so he wouldn’t be up my ass.
“Please,” I said.
He snapped at one of the bell hops at the door and pointed to the taxis that were passing by the hotel entrance. The tall one with the small moustache nodded and stepped outside to hail one down.
“Thanks,” I said and headed out the entrance where a taxi door was already being held open for me. That was a lot smoother than the last few times I had to deal with Leuc. I would have to thank Olivier for that one.
From the last time that I was here, I remembered that there was a café around the Arc de Triomphe. It was popular and looked like a good menu, so I told the driver to take me there. He asked me what road it was on and my broken French gave him a good laugh. Always happy to provide some entertainment.
It took more than twe
nty minutes to get to the café because of all the traffic. The driver tried making some conversation, but it wasn’t working. He asked me if I spoke more French and I asked if he spoke more English. He finally shrugged and we went the rest of the way in awkward silence.
The café was as good as the crowd indicated. I was able to order a steak with foie gras on top as well as some potato straws. They also spoke English, which was much appreciated. While I was fluent in Spanish from high school and learning Italian faster than I thought would be possible, French was not as easy for me. The accents were different and there were other rules that I had yet to understand.
I did a little people watching at the table, wasting time. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel room and watch Antonio sleep. My phone started to ring, scaring the shit out of me. It was a number I didn’t recognize, but then again, I was only privy to the numbers that were programmed by Costin.
“Where the hell are you?”
“Who the hell is this?” I asked.
“Antonio. Where are you?”
I sighed. “Oh. You’re awake.”
“Yeah, and found out that you weren’t in the room. Seriously, where are you?”
I looked around. “In a café, having lunch.”
“Is that all you do? Eat?”
I sighed, getting annoyed. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
“Wait,” he said before I hung up. His voice changed and I could tell he was about to ask for a favor. “Can you grab me something and bring it back?”
“Sure, now you want to be nice.”
He laughed a little. “You could have woken me up and I would have come with you.”
“You looked tired. But I’ll grab you something and head back.”
We hung up and I waved the waiter over. I placed the same order all over again but to go and then added two éclairs after I spotted some being delivered to a table near me. The waiter nodded and headed over to the computer.
Within a few minutes, I held a bag with the steak, the éclairs, and headed out the door.
Finding a taxi was easy since the Arc was so close. Whenever there were major tourist sites, taxis were near. It was the areas that were off the beaten path that proved difficult.