Blue Bloods: Keys to the Repository (13 page)

“Do it,” she decided.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded briskly, as if she were at the doctor’s office and had been asked to give consent to a particularly troublesome, but much-needed

operation. She took off her glasses, pul ed the right strap of her nightgown to the side, and arched her neck. She closed her eyes and prepared

herself for the worst.

He walked over to her. He was so tal , and when he rested his hands on her bare skin, they were surprisingly warm to the touch. He pul ed her

closer to him and bent down.

“Wait,” he said. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”

She did. She stared at into his dark eyes, wondering what he was doing.

“They’re beautiful—your eyes, I mean. You’re beautiful,” he said. “I thought you should know.”

She sighed and closed her eyes as his hand stroked her cheek.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

She could feel his hot breath on her cheek, and then his lips brushed hers for a moment. He kissed her, pressing his lips firmly upon hers. She

closed her eyes and kissed him back. His lips were so hot and wet.

Her first kiss, and from a vampire.

She felt his lips start to kiss the side of her mouth, and then the bottom of her chin, and then the base of her neck. This was it. She steeled herself

for pain.

But he was right: there was very little. Just two tiny pinpricks, then a deep feeling of sleep. She could hear him sucking and swal owing, feel

herself begin to get dizzy, woozy. Just like giving blood at the donor drive. Except she probably wouldn’t get a doughnut after this.

She slumped in his arms, and he caught her. She could feel him walk her to the bed and lay her down on top of the sheets, then cover her with the

duvet.

“Wil I ever see you again?” she asked. It was hard to keep her eyes open. She was so tired. But she could see him vividly now. He seemed to

glow. He looked more substantial.

“Maybe,” he whispered. “But you’d be safer if you didn’t.”

She nodded dreamily, sinking into the pil ows.

In the morning, she felt spent and logy, and told her mother she thought she was coming down with the flu and didn’t feel like going to school. When

she looked in the mirror, she saw nothing on her neck—there was no wound, no scar. Had nothing happened last night? Was she indeed going

crazy? She felt around her skin with her fingertips and final y found it—a hardening of the skin, just two little bumps. Almost imperceptible, but there.

She’d made him tel her his name before she had agreed to help him.

Dylan, he’d said.
My name is Dylan Ward.

Later that day, she dusted the plaque near the fireplace and looked at it closely. It was inscribed with a family crest, and underneath it read “Ward

House.” Wards were foster children. This had been a home for the lost. A safe house on Shelter Island.

Hannah thought of the beast out there in the night, rattling the windows, and hoped Dylan had made it to wherever he was going.

VENATOR RECORDS:

MARTIN

KINGSLEY MARTIN

Araquiel, Angel of Vengeance, the Angel with Two Faces

Birth Name
: Kingsley Anderson Martin

Origin
: Silver Blood Enmortal

Known Past Lives
: Tiberius Gemel us (Rome)

Bondmate
: None

Assigned Human Conduit
: None

List of Human Familiars
: None

Physical Characteristics:

Hair
: Dark brown

Eyes
: Blue

Height
: 6’1”

One of the Conclave’s most trusted and skil ful Venators, Kingsley Martin has a complicated past. He is a reformed Silver Blood—one who has been

Corrupted by the Dark but continues to serve the Light. He was turned Croatan by Lucifer himself during Lucifer’s reign as Caligula in ancient Rome.

Kingsley was Tiberius Gemel us, the true heir of Caesar Tiberius, but Caligula, his adopted cousin, was favored and became emperor. Stil , Gemel us

loved Caligula like a brother, and the emperor returned his love by dooming him to eternal damnation.

Gemel us came back into the Blue Blood fold, repenting his actions and learning to control the Abomination inside of him.

He was forgiven by Michael, and it is the Repository’s belief that he was made the guardian of the Gate of Time. He has been a Venator at the

service of the Regis ever since.

Throughout history, Kingsley has given much in service to the Coven. He is a key to understanding the Silver Blood methodology and physiology.

(See Silver Bloods, in Appendix C, for more information.)

Assigned to investigate the murder of Aggie Carondolet, Kingsley enrol ed as a student at Duchesne. With his cocky confidence, smoldering air

of mystery, and devastating good looks
{NOTE FROM RENFIELD: SCRIBES, ARE YOU VENATOR MARTIN HASN’T HACKED INTO THIS

FILE?}
, Kingsley was a legend only a week after arriving at Duchesne.
{NOTE TO RENFIELD FROM K.M. HI, RENNY!}

During the initial investigation he raised the first alarm that the Llewel yn family was not al it seemed, but the report was suppressed by Senator

Llewel yn in the security committee and has only recently been declassified by Warden Barlow.

As noted in records, he set up Mimi to cal up the Silver Blood, but fol owing the orders of the Regis (Charles Force) did it himself when she

could not, proving without a doubt that the Croatan had found a way back into the world.

His latest assignment was to search for Jordan Llewel yn in Rio, and Mimi Force was assigned to his Venator team along with Sam and Ted

Lennox. A dal iance between the Venator and
{REDACTED/RENFIELD: WAS THERE SOMETHING HERE? THIS FILE IS INCOMPLETE}
. The

team was successful in recovering the physical remains of the Watcher, and from his reports, we can safely assume that the Pistis Sophia is stil

alive.

Venator Martin was sent to Paris to hunt Leviathan but was instead spotted at the Force bonding at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New

York City. During the Silver Blood ambush he disappeared into the glom. He never returned, and the church showed traces of the
subvertio
spel . Al

traces of the Gate of Time and the path have been obliterated, and Venator Martin has not been seen since.

Current Status
: Missing after Silver Blood attack. Believed to be trapped in the underworld.

Author’s Note: This is a companion story to
The Van Alen Legacy
. It is the continuation of the conversation between Mimi and Kingsley in chapter

47.

THE VENATOR’S TALE

Kingsley’s Story

Kingsley Martin took a long, slow sip from his glass of whiskey. Firewater, indeed. Not even close. But it would suffice for now. The waitress had

mistaken his raised hand as a sign for another round. A mistake he didn’t bother to correct since it appeared they would not be vacating their table

anytime soon.

“Tel me everything,” Mimi said, with a hint of desperation this time.

It was a while before he spoke, and when he did he directed his words toward the top of her head rather than looking her in the eyes. It was a

trick he’d adopted in order to refrain from appearing nervous or insecure in her presence, making it seem as if he were distant and disinterested,

when neither was the case. It was imperative that Mimi continue to have no idea how much she affected him.

“You want to know why Charles asked me to cal the Silver Blood,” he said final y.

“I assume it wasn’t because he wanted to order a pizza,” she cracked.

He let a smile play on his lips. Her brashness amused him. Azrael had always been blunt almost to the point of being rude, but there was a

forthrightness to her that came through in every incarnation of her spirit. There was never a middle ground with her—she either loved you or loathed

you; she was your best friend or your worst enemy.

“Oh forget it, you’re not going to tel me anything,” Mimi said. She stood up from the table and began to put on her coat, glaring down at him.

Always a game with this one, Kingsley thought. But he decided to cal her bluff. She wanted to know, so why not tel her? She deserved to know.

They al did. Not just Mimi but the entire Coven. She would hate him for what he did, or else find him pathetic and weak. But he was tired of keeping

secrets. What was the point anymore, when everything was fal ing apart.

Kingsley put a hand on her wrist. “Sit down. I’l tel you everything you want to know,” he said quietly.

Mimi slunk back down on to the banquette, looking like a spoiled child. “Begin at the beginning, when you first came to Duchesne. When you set

me up.”

He shook his head. “Understand, you were just another suspect who happened to be at the club the night Aggie Carondolet died. No one

special. You were given the same treatment as the others. A Silver Blood sympathizer would be amenable to learning more about the Dark Matter.

You were the only one who took the bait. I tried with Schuyler, but never got anywhere with her. Then with Bliss.” He remembered what he had said to

the Southern girl: “I am the same as you.” If Bliss had been Croatan, she would have recognized the hidden meaning behind his words, that he was

revealing his true nature, Silver Blood to Silver Blood. But Bliss had not responded to his confession.

“But you, my dear . . . you were a different story. You were very receptive to learning the dark magic. I had to hide it from your father. Charles

would have protected you if he had known. Would have told me I was jumping to conclusions again.” Kingsley looked apologetic. “Old al egiances

and al . . .”

“You don’t have to remind me,” Mimi said, her face turning red. “I know what they say about Jack and me. That one day we’l be Benedict Arnold

vampires.”

He nodded. She knew as wel as he did that Azrael and Abbadon would forever carry the stain of once being Lucifer’s proudest generals.

“The
Incantation Demonata
,” Mimi said. “Why did you do it?”

“I was ordered to by the Regis himself. It was a test, he said.” Kingsley gripped his drink so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I thought he was

playing me. Testing
my
loyalty maybe. But whatever. We just take orders, Venators. That’s the way it is. If he wanted me to cal up the Silver Blood, I

was going to cal up the Silver Blood.”

“But why would Charles have you do such a thing. . . .” Mimi asked, horrified.

Kingsley gripped her arm across the smal table. “Do you remember anything about Rome?”

“Some of it,” she said. “It comes in bits and pieces— flashes—images—I remember the crisis, demons walking in daylight, hunting them

down . . . and that last night in Lutetia . . .” She closed her eyes. “I remember tel ing Valerius that Sophia was wrong—there was no way Caligula had