CHAPTER 53

Mimi

When Mimi left school that afternoon, she found Kingsley waiting for her in front of the Duchesne gates, among the usual collection of scruffy looking boys waiting for their private-school girlfriends. Except Kingsley didn't look scruffy at all. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a magazine: teeth gleaming, dark hair shiny and combed, his cheeks freshly shaven. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a white button-down shirt and battered blue jeans. The rock star look intact.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi demanded, looking around anxiously. "Jack might see you?" Not that she cared all that much. Maybe her twin would even get jealous, seeing them together. If Jack was even capable of any real feeling when it came to her. Who knew what he thought in that thick skull of his anymore?

Kingsley ignored her and pulled her close. He kissed her soundly in front of a group of titillated freshmen.

"Force. Get in the limo." Mimi saw a shiny car the length of a city block idling by the curb. A uniformed chauffeur held the door open.

Mimi had always harbored a secret love for limousines. It was tacky to use one in the city, lest you run the risk of looking like a tourist or like you were off to prom. But this one shone with a wicked gleam. She had to admit it: the guy traveled in style.

She gave Kingsley a look, then slid inside. He stepped in behind her and closed the door. He raised the driver's partition until it closed all the way. The windows were tinted. They were, for all intents and purposes, alone. The car was so wide it was like being in a moving living room. The carpet beneath her feet was lush, and the car seats were as wide as a bed.

"Now, where were we?" Kingsley asked, leaning over so that he was practically on top of her, one hand underneath her shirt and the other tugging the waistband of her skirt.

"Wait. Wait," Mimi gasped, putting a hand against his chest and pushing him away. And she thought she was fast. Kingsley was like the world's most talented make-out artist. She had barely gotten in the car and she was practically undressed.

"Sweetheart, I've waited all day," he sighed, burying his face in her neck. But he did as she asked and pulled his hand away from her thigh. He composed himself and leaned back against the seat. 'There. Better?"

Mimi tried not to look too flattered. It was nice to be wanted. Kingsley and his voracious appetite.

"Where are we going? Or should I say, where are you taking me?" she asked, as the car made a left onto FDR Drive. In answer, Kingsley held up several plane tickets.

"Paris. The Lennox boys are already at JFK. We leave tonight."

"We?"

"You're not deserting the team, are you, Force?" He smiled. "Don't worry, I have everything you need. Got you a new Venator pack. Of course, it doesn't come with those impractical boots of yours, but I'm sure you can find a replacement in the City of Lights."

Mimi buttoned her blouse. "You've got to be joking. Turn this car around right now. I'm not going to Paris."

"Why not?"

He really was a piece of work, this one, she thought. Did she have to say it?

"Don't you remember? I'm getting bonded next Sunday. Duh."

"Are you?"

"What are you getting at? Jack is my..." Soul mate seemed cheesy to say. "He's my twin. We belong together. We always have."

Kingsley nodded as if he were seriously considering her argument. 'Right. And that's why you've been sneaking into my hotel room every night for the last week."

Every night! Had it been every night? Surely he was wrong. Surely she had spent one night on her own. She had been in denial. This had gone too far. She was cutting it off right here.

"You know the Code," she said. 'that's just the way it is. I can't deny our bond."

"Bonds are made to be broken," he said. "Just like rules."

"Spoken like a true Silver Blood," she snapped.

Kingsley's face became grave. "You know my secret. You know what we face, the enormity of our task if what Charles suspects is true. The team needs you. Come with us."

Mimi flushed. She had never felt this way in her life. In all of her lives. Loving Abbadon was all she'd ever known. But then Kingsley walked in and turned her every assumption upside down. But did he really want her? Did he really care for her? Did he love her? Or did he just want her around for his amusement?

Kingsley smiled at her, and she knew it was a smile of triumph, the smile of a boy who always got what he wanted. Sure, he wanted her right now, but what happened when he didn't? She knew what the bond was like, the dedication, the commitment to each other and the service they rendered to the community as a whole. The vampires were fading, that much she knew. The Blue Bloods needed them now more than ever. She thought of all the things she and Jack had accomplished together: they had defeated Lucifer in Rome, they had founded the New World.... She was Azrael. She was true to her word. She would not waver from what was asked of her. Who did she think she was, her brother? Inconstant, indecisive, unable to make a choice between foolishness and duty?

"No, Kingsley. I can't." She shook her head. "Let me out of here. Stop the car."

Kingsley looked at her for a long time. Then he cleared his throat and picked up the interior phone and asked the driver to pull to the side. "As you wish."

CHAPTER 54

Bliss

New York Presbyterian visiting hours were over when Bliss arrived, not that it even mattered. Allegra Van Alen had checked out by the time she got there.

"But what do you mean she's gone? I just got a call that she was awake.... I'm her daughter!" Bliss cried.

"Schuyler was here an hour ago," the nurse said, looking confused. 'she walked out with Allegra."

"I mean, I'm her other daughter. Oh, never mind," Bliss said, stomping off and shaking raindrops all over the floor.

"She's gone. Allegra was gone. She didn't even stick around long enough to talk to me. She doesn't care about me. She doesn't even know I'm alive. Do you hear that, Father?" she screamed inside her head. "Where are you, anyway?"

But it was as if the Visitor knew they would not find Allegra at the hospital. Sometime during the traffic-clogged drive uptown, he had retreated again.

Bliss went back home to an empty apartment as usual. She nuked a potato for dinner. Even if she didn't feel really hungry anymore, try ever, it was hard to break the habit of having three meals a day.

After taking a few bites she tossed the potato in the trash and went to her room to try on her new dress. Schuyler was right. She shouldn't have bought it. It was too tight in the chest and too short in the hem. And the color wasn't right; the deep purple shade made her look paler than usual, and clashed with her red hair. She'd had sale goggles. She took off the dress and crumpled it into a bag so that she could take it to a consignment shop. Hopefully she would get some of her money back. Ever since the bankruptcy, Forsyth had been stingy with her allowance.

Allegra was her mother.... The truth of it hurt, like when you overhear what your friends really think about you. She called Schuyler again, but there was no answer.

Bliss closed her eyes and went to the top of the Cloisters, looking for her friend. She had to tell somebody. But instead of seeing Dylan, she saw someone else.

The man in the white suit. The Visitor. Lucifer. Her father.

"Hello, daughter."

"Where have you been? I went up to the hospital, but she wasn't there anymore."

"Oh, I know," he said. 'she was too fast for us. She always was. But no matter. We shall catch up to her soon enough. It's nice up here. What do you call this place?"

"The Cloisters," Bliss said.

"Ah, so this is where you and your young man meet. But don't worry; he won't be bothering us anymore."

Bliss felt her stomach clench. "What do you mean?"

"I know what you have been doing. I know everything you know. You cannot hide from me, Bliss. I hear your every thought. I hear your every word. I know that you have seen what is in my mind, and I am glad. For you must be ready."

"Ready? For what?"

"Hearing about Allegra reminded me we have unfinished business to attend to. Her half-blood mongrel daughter'schuyler Van Alen. A very good friend of yours, from what I can tell."

"What about Schuyler?" Bliss asked nervously.

"Forsyth has been unable to bring her to me. Leviathan has failed as well. It is amazing how blind I have been to the advantage that is just within my reach. Because you shall not fail me, my daughter. No. You will bring her to me."

Bliss shook her head and stepped away, almost to the edge of the rooftop. "No way! You're crazy if you think I'd ever do such a thing."

Lucifer's face was calm. "Why? Is it because you mistakenly believe Schuyler Van Alen is a friend? What kind of friend leaves you behind? She never called, not even once, did she? Never wanted to know how you were. What kind of friend is that? How could she leave you alone, knowing how much you were suffering?"

Bliss continued to shake her head so vigorously that she thought she would make herself dizzy. "She had no choice... she was running... Forsyth made her a fugitive!"

"Still, each of us has a choice. Each of us has the freedom to choose how we act, and she chose to leave you alone. Alone with me." Lucifer smiled again, and this time Bliss could see his fangs.

"No. I won't. You'll have to do it yourself if you want it done."

"I have tried, my dear," Lucifer sighed. "do not forget: we have, as you young people say, 'been there, done that.' "

Bliss realized Lucifer meant he had already tried to harm Schuyler during the times he had been in charge, when Bliss was having all those blackouts.

"And so far I have not been able to truly harm the girl. Gabrielle's protection is rooted in her blood and must have deflected my presence. But you, my dear, you have your mother's blood in you as well. Same as Schuyler. You will be able to push through where I was unable."

"I'll never do it." Bliss pushed her fists into the pockets of her coat. Her father was insane if he thought she would ever harm her friend.

"Well, now you have a choice: you can do as I ask, or you shall never see your young man again."

"What do I care? He's not real," Bliss insisted.

"He's as real as I am. You think yours is the only world that is true? There are an infinite number of worlds in the universe. The world in your mind is as real as the world outside of it."

Bliss looked down from the roof of the museum. If she jumped, if she fell into the glom, in her mind, could she hurt herself?

"What are you going to do? What do you want me to do... with Schuyler?" she whispered.

"My dear? Isn't it obvious? You're going to kill her."