The Immortal Compromise (The Mortal One Series Book 3) by Shannon Bell Page A

walked out of the room quickly. He wasn’t out of the room for long before Wenzel walked in, commanding the space with his sheer size. He wore a long sleeved button down shirt that was rolled up to the elbows, showing off the bulk of muscles in his forearms. It was likely done for an intimidation factor, and it was working, at least on me.
    Nico stood, extending his hand. “Niccolò, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”
    “We don’t need to waste time with niceties. We all know who everyone is here,” he said, pulling a chair up in front of the sofa where the three of us had been seated. Nico sat back down.
    “Okay,” Nico said. “Why is that you took Dylan out of Berlin?”
    “I thought that would be obvious. If I took your pet, it would get you and your second in command down here,” Wenzel said.
    Nico’s jaw locked. “Why not simply request our presence?”
    “You are quite protective of your pet.”
    “She is my wife.”
    Wenzel smiled. “Yes, she said something of that. You have not turned her yet?”
    “She has asked to wait a little longer.”
    “And you let her call the shots? You don’t sound like a very strong sovereign,” Wenzel said.
    Olivier stood up.
    Before he could say anything, Wenzel stood up and flashed his fangs.
    I froze. Wenzel’s fangs were not like the vampire fangs I have seen in the past. There were two rows of fangs and they were dripping with spit. He snarled at Olivier and his lips rose up, exposing his pink gums.
    Nico . It was the only thing I could think of. I needed to make sure that I wasn’t the only one who saw this horrific display.
    Dempsey’s comment suddenly played in my head. That’s what he was talking about when he said about all the teeth. Seeing something like that coming at my neck would have me terrified to the core. I was suddenly very thankful I went to Italy for my search for vampires instead of Germany.
    Nico reached over and placed a hand on mine.
    Olivier took a step back, almost tripping over himself. He flashed his fangs as well, but it didn’t have the same effect.
    Wenzel let out another snarl and saliva oozed out of the corner of his mouth. “Back off.”
    “You first,” Olivier said.
    “I am not looking to start a territorial war,” Wenzel said.
    How he could even talk with a mouth full of teeth and fangs like that was amazing. I watched in silent horror as his face transformed back to normal. He sat down and motioned for Olivier to do the same.
    “Very well,” Nico said. “We are here now. What can we do for you Wenzel?”
    “I would like to know what the hell is going on in Paris.”
    From what I had heard from Nico and Olivier, there were rumors floating around the vampire circles throughout Europe about what had actually taken place in Paris. No one knew exactly what happened and that was the way that Nico, Olivier, and even Costin wanted to keep it. The less that the vampires knew, the better it would be for everyone.
    Henri was his friend. I sent the message to Nico before he spoke to ensure he understood the situation a little more.
    Nico glanced at me quickly and then turned his attention to Wenzel. “There was an unfortunate incident with Henri and the sovereignty went to Olivier, who gave it up to Costin.”
    “Costin, the sovereign of Toscana?” Wenzel interrupted. He casually wiped the corner of his mouth with the side of his sleeve.
    Nico nodded. “Correct. It was a temporary position. Once everything was under control, it was given to me, so I moved from Florence to Paris to become the sovereign. I have been in the position for less than a month.”
    Wenzel studied Nico for what seemed like eternity. “You are not lying.”
    “No.”
    “What was this unfortunate incident with Henri?”
    I saw Nico tense, but didn’t know if anyone else picked up on it.
    “Zombies killed him because he had killed their necromancer,” Nico said.
    “Good God,” Wenzel said. “I have not seen zombies in more than a