by Shannon Bell
The treadmill finally came to a stop. Sweaty and satisfied, I headed out of the fitness room and down to the room.
Nico was already stripped, walking around the room in briefs alone. His sinewy thighs were a sight all on their own.
He smiled as I set my headphones down and began to undress.
“Are you prepared for tonight?” He asked.
I nodded. “As much as I can be. Gregorio told me a little more about what would happen.”
“Gregorio?”
“Yeah. We bumped into each other after I got off a river cruise.”
Nico’s lips thinned out. “I don’t like that.”
I turned to him, letting my hands trail down his chest. “There’s nothing to worry about.” As my fingers started to nudge at the waistline of his briefs, his hands stopped me.
“So you hung out with Gregorio all afternoon?”
I let out a sigh. “We had lunch. We talked about the zombies. Then he went to do some scouting and I went back to doing my own thing.”
“Okay,” he said, finally.
“Honestly, there wasn’t anything more to it. He had gotten into the city this morning to start looking around to ensure all the zombies were still within city limits. We found three while we were walking and he sent them into the park.”
“Sent them?” Nico asked. I was glad to hear that he was pretty much as clueless to the necromancing as I was.
I shrugged. “He did something and tapped them on the forehead and they headed into the park.”
“How bad are they?”
“Pretty bad. It’s a good thing the problem is being taken care of tonight.”
He reached behind me and unclasped my bra.
“Thanks,” I said and stepped out of my panties. Then I reached for the waistline of his briefs again. He let me slide them down, but he didn’t spring to life as I was accustomed to seeing.
He saw my reaction. “Blood. I’ve been with you since yesterday. There has been no time to feed,” he said quietly.
It was the time where I proved I was with him once and for all. That I trusted him. That I acted like the pet I was. And the wife.
“Okay,” I swallowed and walked into the bathroom to turn on the shower. I dipped my toe in to make sure it was hot enough. “Come,” I said, pulling him into the shower.
I pushed my hair to one side and bent it, offering my neck to him.
He looked confused. “What are you doing?”
“Drink.”
Nico didn’t say anything. He embraced me, pressing my body against the tile of the shower. He licked my neck, planting several kisses there before his fangs pressed into my skin.
“Thank you,” he mumbled against my neck and began to drink. I closed my eyes and could feel the blood leave. It was erotic and as he continued to drink, his right hand slid down between my legs. This must be my thank you for making the offer so he didn’t have to ask. Though I couldn’t imagine him ever asking. He was ever the gentleman about it all.
His mouth sucked and licked at my neck. It felt like he was devouring me and this is what Antonio was talking about. Feeding could be very sexual and enjoyable.
As I began to shudder, Nico pulled away. He pulled away. There was no one there to stop him and he did it on his own. He looked a little tipsy and smiled before kissing me. I tasted the coppery flavor of my blood on his tongue as it danced with mine.
“Thank you,” he said again.
I nodded, not knowing what else to say. It was what I had to do in order to be all in. While I could tell Olivier and Gregorio that I was married all day long, actions spoke louder than words. If I was to truly be Nico’s, sharing blood was a big part of that. Even Antonio had told me as such.
Nico knew it was a big step, too, which I think is why he didn’t say anything right away. He grabbed the washcloth and the soap and formed a good lather before applying it to my body. I watched as a small amount of blood circled around the drain and then it was gone. He licked at the wound a few times and I knew there would be no trace of it by the time I stepped out of the shower.
The blood remaining in my body throbbed and left me weak. Meanwhile, Nico was more alert than ever, and more excited, as he demonstrated with a proud thrust in my direction.
I shook my head as he smiled, the kind that reached all the way to his eyes.
“It meant a lot,” he whispered to me.
“It was time.”
“I didn’t drain you. I promised I wouldn’t.”
“Thank you.”
He stared at me for a moment, trying to read me. “What made you finally change your mind?”
I didn’t trust my voice. He was making it more emotional by talking about it. I don’t want to deprive you of what you need. You are my husband, my master, and my friend.
“I love you,” he said, defiantly, as if he wondered if I questioned it at times.
I kissed him. “I love you, too.” My voice was a little shaky. Actually, my whole body was a little shaky.
“Good.” He reached behind me and turned off the water. “Now let’s feed you.”
I shook my head. “I ate earlier before heading to the gym and before that with Gregorio.” Jeez, putting it that way made me sound like I had pigged out.
“You gave blood. You need to eat for your strength more than anything. Tonight’s a big night,” he reminded me.
I nodded. Protein and lots of it. A cheeseburger should do the trick. I made the call down to room service.
“Happy?” I said, hanging up the phone.
“Extremely.”
I got dressed, knowing it would be colder at midnight than it was in the middle of the day. I zipped up my boots and saw Nico staring at me. “What?”
Nico smiled and shook his head. “Nothing.”
I gave him a look, trying to read him. He just kept a smug grin across his face.
A knock at the door startled me momentarily. Nico opened the door for the room service to come in and set up at the desk. The man took a quick glimpse at Nico, who had answered the door in jeans and nothing else. He flexed a muscle involuntarily and the man set up even faster, seeming to sense the danger that Nico held inside of him.
“Thank you,” Nico said and handed him money. He nodded and rushed out the door. “What a strange man,” Nico commented and closed the door.
“You scared the shit out of him,” I said, laughing.
“What? How?”
“You don’t know how intimidating you look with your shirt off, do you?”
Nico looked down. “I do?”
“With all those…those…muscles,” I said, waving my hand towards his cut abs. “Yeah. Intimidating. And when you flexed, I thought he would pee himself.”
“He was staring at me, they flinched.”
I laughed some more and opened the dome to my cheeseburger. “Intimidating,” I said again and turned to my dinner.
Chapter 18
“OLIVIER IS HERE,” Nico said, buttoning his shirt the rest of the way.
“What?” I asked, turning towards the door. “How do you know?”
Nico opened the door. “Because he announced himself when getting off of the elevator.”
“Oh.” Why did the vampires keep surprising me with these things? “That was nice of him,” I said, hoping to smooth things over with him and Olivier. I knew Nico hated being near him or rather having me near him.
Olivier greeted Nico and then me.
“I have something for you,” Olivier said, handing me a long box.
My brows rose. “What’s this?”
“Open it.”
Nico came to stand behind me.
I opened the box, which revealed a silver blade with an ornate handle. “Thanks?” I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it, but it looked pretty.
“We don’t know what tonight’s going to be like. You should be protected,” Olivier said.
“She has us,” Nico said. I was surprised he included the two of them i
n that statement instead of just himself.
Olivier nodded. “She does. But we don’t know what’s going to happen. I personally would feel better if she had this on her.”
“Thank you,” Nico said.
“I don’t know how to use it,” I said, stating the obvious as I stared at the blade. Running I could handle, but now I needed to know how to use a blade? Come on.
Olivier reached over and held the knife. He demonstrated how I was supposed to hold it in my right hand with the blade on its side. His thumb was on the top of the handle and he made a violent thrusting movement forward. “If someone comes at you, this is the movement you take.” He demonstrated more fully. “Understand?”
I nodded and took the knife from the palm of his hand.
“Show me, Dylan,” Nico said. He seemed interested in the knife and providing me with some additional protection.
I held the knife, testing the weight and flipping it over in my palm a few times. My thumb wrapped around the bottom of the blade and Olivier grabbed my hand.
“You’ll break your thumb or another finger that way. Like this,” he said. He opened up my fingers and wrapped my fingers around the blade the correct way.
I looked up at Nico to see what he had to say about the demonstration.
“Listen to him. I do not know about knives. My body is the only weapon I have ever used or needed.”
The truth shocked me, particularly that he said it in Olivier’s company. Though maybe it was a threat that his body was enough. It was hard to tell.
“Will I need this?” I asked, turning to both of them.
“The blade is silver, so it can hurt a vampire. It won’t kill us, but the blade can burn our skin,” Olivier said.
He touched the blade to his forefinger and the skin began to sizzle, melting into the blade. He pulled the blade back, pressed his finger into his mouth and was as if nothing had happened.
“Oh my God,” I said. Hearing that the blade could hurt was one thing, but seeing it was horrifying.
“You needed to see,” Nico said and Olivier nodded.
“Okay, so what do I need a silver blade for?”
Olivier stiffened. “The vampires in Paris are not the friendliest. They have not been friendly towards me and I doubt they will be towards you. You are human.”
Thanks for the reminder.
“Dylan, be serious,” Nico said. “If Olivier says the vampires are not friendly, they may not take too kindly to you being at a supernatural event such as what will go down tonight.”
I looked at him. “They’re not going to attack me with the two of you right there. And you’re the sovereign.”
“I am not. They took a blood oath to Costin, not to me. I am simply standing in and they are to be courteous of that, but it does not hold up all the time,” Nico said.
Well, fuck. Now they’re telling me all of this?
I held the blade in my hand. “Okay, so what do I do with it?”
Olivier reached into his pocket. “Put your leg up here.”
“What?”
Olivier patted the table.
Nico took the straps out of Olivier’s hand when he realized what it was. “It’s a leg strap for the knife. We’re going to strap it to your calf.”
I pulled the right leg of my jeans up.
“You can’t wear those tonight,” Olivier said, pointing at my boots. It would block my ability to reach the blade.
“What am I supposed to wear?”
Nico nodded to my sneakers. “You run well in those.”
“I’m going to be running tonight?” I asked. Now this whole thing was really starting to freak me out. I had my nerves calmed by talking to Gregorio about the ceremony, but he had no way of telling me about the Parisian vampires. Though his comment about vampires being assholes was starting to come back to me again.
“There’s always the possibility,” Olivier said. He looked over at Nico, who squared his shoulders and nodded.
I unzipped my boots and reached for the sneakers. Nico ran the straps around my calf at the bottom of the sheath and again at the top. I looked down at the black leather. It was badass, but didn’t know if I was badass enough to go through with it. Some of what I was thinking made it into the forefront of my thoughts.
“You’re going to have to be a badass if it comes down to it,” Nico said.
I made a face at him. He was reading my thoughts without permission.
He knew that face. “I’m sorry. But I need to make sure you can handle this.”
“He’s right,” Olivier said. “If the vampires turn on you in the middle of the ceremony, are you going to be able to run, grab the blade, and use it if you have to?”
I thought about that for a moment. Jen and I had taken a self-defense class years ago, so I had an idea of how to take an attacker down, but these were vampires. If it meant life or death, I could do it. Slowly, I nodded.
“Good,” Olivier said and gave the strap a little tug to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. The leather was biting into my leg a little, but I supposed it was best to remind me that it was there and so it stayed in place.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Nico said.
“Yeah, me too.” I pulled my jeans back down and tied my sneakers. So much for looking cool with my boots. Sneakers would be more comfortable, though, especially if I had to run from a bunch of fucking vampires.
Chapter 19
WE WERE STANDING around in the dark. Dark was the understatement of the year. It was pitch black and I could barely make out my own hand when held in front of me. The vampires weren’t bothered by it with all of their night vision, but I wished for some goggles right about now – or at least a damn flashlight. The team of vampires that were originally assigned to slaughter the zombies by Costin were in attendance. I didn’t know their names, their preference of blood type, or anything else and that made me nervous. The only thing that comforted me was the leather strap pressing into my calf.
Nico must have sensed my uneasiness and gripped my shoulder. I placed my hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze for security. We simply stood in front of the catacombs, waiting for Gregorio to show. I wondered how his scouting had gone to find out where all the zombies were.
Nico’s fingers tapped my shoulders and I saw what he saw. A figure was walking across the park towards us. He was carrying a bright flashlight and for that, I was thankful. Gotta love when the necromancer is mortal just like you. Maybe not just like me, but he needed something to see in the dark of the night.
“Dylan, Good Evening,” Gregorio said as he approached.
“How are you?” I asked.
I heard Nico take a sharp inhale. He didn’t like that Gregorio had kept me company while everyone was sleeping. Personally, I thought it was the friendly thing to do.
“Where is your master?” Gregorio asked. He used the appropriate term to be PC in front of all the vampires.
Olivier snickered. If I could have, I would have flipped him off and he knew it.
Nico stepped forward. “I am. Thank you for coming out this evening.”
“I never miss a business opportunity. You have the funds Olivier promised me?” Gregorio looked at me as we exchanged amused looks regarding the funds.
“I do. We will settle that when I have seen the zombies go back into the ground for myself,” Nico said.
Gregorio shook his head. “No offense, but I have been fucked around by vampires one too many times. I take my money up front or I turn around and leave on the next plane to Berlin.”
“Nico,” Olivier said, his voice holding a warning tone.
I knew that Gregorio wasn’t going anywhere. It was his way of flexing muscle with the vampires over the one thing he could.
Nico turned to Olivier and while words were not exchanged, I’m sure the look that was given said it all. Nico didn’t hide his dislike for Olivier in any way. Even though the two of them shared a common interest in keeping me safe, it wasn’t enough.
My guess is the look was something along the line of “Stay the hell out of this.”
“The money is in the back of the SUV. Would you like someone to put it into your car for you?” Nico was condescending and Gregorio responded by standing taller.
“I’ll take it myself,” Gregorio said. He followed Nico to the SUV, unzipped a few of the bags, made a quick inventory of the contents, and then nodded.
Nico grabbed three of the bags and followed Gregorio over to his car and loaded them into the trunk. “Now, what do you need for us to do?”
I knew that Gregorio didn’t like vampires and didn’t like to be rushed. Olivier’s warning tone was justified. If Nico didn’t settle down, Olivier assumed this would be blown. While I didn’t know Gregorio well, my guess was that he would have done this job for free because having zombies discovered in Paris would be bad for business.
“I brought the candles you asked for,” I stepped up, hoping to break some of the tension in the air.
Gregorio nodded. “Thank you, Dylan. Can you arrange them in a circle over here and then light them?”
“She is not your personal assistant,” Nico said quickly, stopping me with his arm.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” I said. Nico, what the fuck?
Olivier let out an uncomfortable cough, reminding me that Nico wasn’t the only one that could read minds. Great. I’m sure Nico would be talking to me about that one later tonight.
“Human sacrifice?” Gregorio asked
Every hair on my body stood up the way that Gregorio said it as though humans had no real value, even though he was one.
“Yes,” Olivier stepped up.
He brought a female with long blonde hair forward. She was blindfolded, gagged, and had rope digging into her wrists. He hadn’t told me the human sacrifice was going to be a female. She was only a few years younger than me.
I shook my head and started to walk away from the circle that I had just lit. Nico grabbed me by the wrist.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
“I’m not watching the sacrifice,” I said. It wasn’t a plea. This may be the only way to lay the zombies down, but I didn’t have to watch her burn or bleed out or whatever else would happen to her.
