Free Immortality Stolen (The Mortal One Series Book 2) by Shannon Bell

power out there. But I’m curious as to what these other vampires can do. Each line has its own list of features. I’m not going near the Arctic line because, honestly, they scare the shit out of me. I don’t want to become a monster…more than I already am.”
    The honesty in his voice made me feel bad for him. It was the same tone of voice that I had heard in Nico’s voice when he talked about never being able to see a sunset again.
    Olivier continued. “There are three lines that I’m interested in. I have two in me now and would love to learn more about the third. Considering I won’t go through zombies to get what I want again, it would require me asking a vampire of that line to give me his blood. Since I’m already a vampire, it would raise questions as to why I would want it. Telling them that I am a truth seeker and curious is not likely to work.”
    “And that’s what you want me for?” I leaned back in the chair and let out a sigh.
    “You make it sound like I’m using you. It’s not like that. I want to include you in on this discovery. We could have something incredible here, don’t you see this?”
    Damn it. He knew how to reel me in. I was more curious about vampires and the Imperial Five than he could know. While I tried to get a lot of these answers from Nico, he was very reserved. I wondered how much he knew and how much he was sheltering me from the truth for my own good. The protection was appreciated, but it was frustrating as all hell.
    “The beard.” I said. “That’s what’s different about you today.” From the moment he walked in, it was bothering me that something changed about him.
    “Yeah,” he said, scratching it. “With the second blood line, I am able to grow hair again. Damn inconvenient.”
    “Weird,” I said. It was an interesting feature for that blood line, though. I remember talking to Nico and Costin about it when they mentioned grooming prior to the change. The idea of being able to continue growing my hair had perks.
    Olivier looked at his watch. “We have to get going if we want to make our plane to Berlin.”
    I let out a sigh and got off of the bed. I paused in front of the window, looking out at the Eifel Tower in the background. The goldish structure seemed to glow in the moonlight. Paris was a gorgeous city, but there was always so much going on to fully enjoy it.
    I grabbed one of the smaller pieces of luggage and threw it on the bed. I started placing lingerie inside and then moved onto outfits.
    “One night?” I asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Promise me it’s only for one night. You asked Costin to have me here for two additional nights. This is one night.”
    “That means I have you tomorrow night as well. And then yes, you will be on a flight to Florence right after that.”
    Something about the way he said that he would “have me” tomorrow night made it sound dirty. It sped my heartbeat up a little and I silently prayed that he didn’t notice the change. If he did notice, he didn’t say anything.
    “I still have to call Nico about the change in my itinerary.”
    He nodded. “I’m surprised you didn’t do it when I first told you about the change.” There was a challenge in his voice. He was testing me. He wanted to see just how close Nico and I were. It wasn’t a direct challenge, but I took enough psychology in college to know what was going on.
    I reached for the phone on the desk and dialed. I glanced over at Olivier and before I could ask him to step out for some privacy, Nico answered.
    “ Mia mortale ,” he said, his Italian more heavily pronounced than normal.
    “Nico,” I said. The sound of his voice did strange things to my body, even over such a long distance. It was amazing that he had such an effect on me and he took advantage of it whenever he could.
    “Is everything okay?”
    “Ummm, well,” I said. “I’m headed to Berlin with Olivier in about thirty minutes.”
    “The hell you are.”
    I sighed, knowing that this