henri dunn 01 - immortality cure (23 page)

BOOK: henri dunn 01 - immortality cure
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“I know,” I said. “Trust me, it’s been a long day.” Week. Month. And I may or may not have gotten one of the mortal groupies to give me a couple of Vicodin to get through the next few shifts. My shoulder didn’t hurt now, but that was almost definitely the drugs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping my focus.

Max raised his eyebrow, wanting to hear the whole story and clearly expecting something juicy. He wouldn’t be disappointed if I told him the truth. He’d also ask what I’d been smoking and demand I share. He grabbed the amuse-bouche for his new table and went back onto the floor. I did my best not to mess up anymore during my shift, counting the minutes until I could go home and get a solid night’s sleep in my own bed, without the threat of vampire vengeance hanging over my head.

When I got home three hours, two more mistakes, and a lecture from Eric the Manager later, my apartment was cold and dark and the best thing in the whole world. I turned on the lights, slipped into pajama pants, and pulled off my bra before tossing my salmon and risotto dinner (a gift from a cook who’d felt bad for me) into the microwave.

I opened a bottle of wine and set out silverware on the breakfast bar. And of course, just when the microwave beeped, there was a knock at my door. It couldn’t have been worse timing if someone had intentionally planned it.

I groaned and checked the peephole. Sean stood there. I groaned again, loudly this time as I opened the door so he’d be sure to hear it.

“What’s up?” I asked, hoping my obvious impatience would scare him off.

“I came to check on you, of course,” he said.

“Well, thanks for not being creepy and waiting inside my apartment,” I said.

He ignored the jab, if it even counted as a jab. I was too tired to be clever. “We hope this isn’t a bad time.”

“We?” I leaned out and saw someone was lurking down the hall. My jaw dropped. It was Cazimir, only it wasn’t the Cazimir I knew. The elegant, long-haired vampire was gone. Cazimir had cut his hair shorter. He wore normal clothes. Jeans and a t-shirt with a hoodie unzipped over it, stolen from Aidan’s closet if I had to guess. “Caz?”

Cazimir frowned. Well, some things never changed.

“May we come in?” Sean asked.

“When the hell have either of you ever asked for an invitation?” Vampires didn’t need invitations to get inside your house, something I’d loved as an immortal and was finding increasingly annoying in my mortality.

I opened the door wide for them and they came inside, Cazimir more hesitantly than Sean. He studied my IKEA furniture like he was planning out how to set it on fire. I pulled out three wineglasses and filled them all.

Cazimir sniffed at his for a moment. Sean took a big swig and I followed my sire’s suit. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

“Lark has commandeered my factory,” Cazimir said, the French accent extra thick. I was pretty relieved by that. It was weird enough seeing him in modern clothes, with pinkish hues to his pale skin. There was something comforting in knowing pieces of the old Caz remained.

“She what?”

“She’s under the impression that my”—he hesitated, turning his palm in a circle like he was trying to conjure the right word, then settled on, “
condition
means I forfeit my position.”

“Oh,” I said. I hadn’t thought too far ahead into what mortal life would hold for Cazimir. Lark certainly hadn’t mentioned any plans for a coup last night, but I guess it didn’t really surprise me.

“And no one seems willing to restore me to my proper form.” He said this very pointedly at Sean.

Sean shrugged. “Sorry, brother. Until I can be sure draining either of you won’t turn me human as well, I’m not taking that risk.”

“Look, I’m sorry to hear Lark is king of the mountain now or whatever, but I just got off work and I was about to eat dinner, so if you could explain how this involves me, I’d be grateful.”

“Always so impatient, Henrietta,” Sean said, helping himself to more wine. “I thought it was obvious. Cazimir needs a place to crash.”

The floor shook out from under me. I finished my wine and snatched the bottle back from Sean to refill my glass. “And why would you think my shitty apartment was a good place?”

“Who better to suffer such a fate with than someone stuck in the same mud pit?” Sean winked at me. I slapped him. Hard. From his amused smile, I knew it had hurt my hand more than his face. “Come, now, my dear, where else is there?”

“I don’t know. Can’t you buy a mansion with your millions?” I asked Caz.

He went a little pale and finally took a sip of his wine. “Lark has commandeered my finances as well.”

“You’re kidding.”

Sean set his wineglass down. “Well, this has been fun. I hope to continue putting out reckless fires you start. But for now, I have other business to attend to.” Sean kissed me on the temple and then let himself out.

“He means he’s going to try and get in on the coup, right?” I asked.

Cazimir grimaced. “I told you death was better.”

I rolled my eyes and tipped more wine into his glass. “Then let’s do what mortals do when faced with shitty situations: drink until it feels less shitty and hope things are better by morning.”

“Does that work?” he asked wryly.

I pulled my dinner out of the microwave and got out a second plate. “Nope. But humans are stubbornly determined to make it work anyhow.” I divided the salmon and risotto and braised brussels sprouts onto two plates and slid one to Caz, setting a fork on its side. “Bon appétit.”

He looked at the plate like it was roadkill and curled up his nose. Eating had been hard for me at first, too. After centuries of a liquid diet, chewing was a foreign concept.

“Being human is ridiculously complicated,” he said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, taking another swig of my wine. “You said it.”

For almost a century, my life had been simple. Straightforward. Travel, see the world, kill villains and murderers for their blood, and enjoy myself. The past six months as a human had involved putting out fire after fire, and it didn’t look like it was going to get easier anytime soon.

THANK YOU FOR READING

H
enri Dunn’s adventures will continue. Book 2,
Bloodless,
will follow shortly. If you want to be sure you never miss a release,
sign up for my newsletter.

I
F YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK
, please consider leaving a review. Reviews are invaluable to authors and we appreciate them.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I need to thank Faith McKay for always talking me down from whatever ledge I happen to be on at the moment, and providing me so much feedback and help both with the book itself and the publishing process. I owe her a huge debt. She’s an incredible person who writes amazingly cool books, and I’m lucky to call her a friend.

Thank you to Claire Browne, who always provides incredible feedback and also talks me off ledges. This book was written with you in mind and would not exist without your help. You inspire me so much.

Thanks also to Benjamin Woodall, who patiently waits through the long-con that is a successful writing career and encourages me all the time. The fact that you still get excited about my characters means the world to me.

To my mom Deborah, and my brother Richie, thank you for being supportive and awesome. You guys are so strong. I love you very much.

To my brother Andrew, who is no longer with us, you are missed constantly.

To Eliza Dee at Clio Editing Services, thank you for all of your hard work and incredible editing skills.

Thanks to everyone else who proofread the final draft to look for errors. I’m sure there are still mistakes and these are entirely, solely my own fault.

To everyone else who’s been encouraging and patient with me this past year, thank you so much for putting up with me.

Thanks to everyone who took a chance on this book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

And finally, thank you to all of the awesome women who’ve written vampire fiction over the years and kept vampires running through my imagination, including but certainly not limited to: Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite, Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, Holly Black, Stephenie Meyer, and Cherie Priest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tori Centanni is a nerd girl and recovering goth who lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest. When she’s not writing or reading through her never-ending TBR pile, she spends her time watching competition reality shows and wrangling cats.

 

toricentanni.com

Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Thank You For Reading

Acknowledgments

About the Author

BOOK: henri dunn 01 - immortality cure
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