The Van Alen Legacy (29 page)

Schuyler shuffled into the
room, hesitating. But once Allegra opened her arms, Schuyler hurled
herself
into
them.

“Mother.”
Allegra
smelled like roses in the springtime; her skin was as soft as a baby’s. Her presence made the
room seem brighter, lighter somehow.

Allegra smoothed her
daughter’s hair.

“Schuyler. You came
home.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,”
Schuyler sobbed. “I’m sorry for everything I said to you in Tokyo.” She raised her tear-streaked
face.
“But how?”

“It was time,” Allegra
said.

Schuyler broke away from the
embrace. She couldn’t believe what Allegra was saying.

“So you’re telling me you
could have woken at any time?”

“No, darling.”
Allegra shook her head. She motioned to Schuyler to pull up a chair next to hers. “I felt the
stirring deep in the glom. . . . Something has happened to the world. . . . I felt it. It would
have been selfish for me to continue to stop taking the blood. To stay rooted in my
isolation.”

Then Schuyler saw what had
happened as if she had been there: the comatose woman rising from her bed, tearing into the neck
of an orderly who had come to change her sheets.
The vampire princess awoken.
Sleeping Beauty breaking through the glass.

Schuyler choked back a sob.
“Lawrence?”

“Is gone.
I know.
I spoke to him before he passed to the other side.” Allegra nodded.

“He told me about the Van Alen
Legacy.” Schuyler shrugged. “Do you know what I’m supposed to do?”

In answer, her mother pulled
her closer and spoke in a voice only Schuyler could hear. “Listen closely, my daughter. For what
I am about to tell you can only be told in the shelter of the glom.”

“In the days when we
called Paradise our home, the paths between the worlds were open.
Angels moved freely
between Earth, Heaven, and the underground.
But after Lucifer’s revolt, when the Dark
Prince and his followers were cast out of Heaven, the way to Paradise was shut forever. But the
seven Paths of the Dead remained open. In Rome, we still trusted Caligula then, did not know he
was Lucifer behind the mask,
did
not know he had made it his mission to discover
their locations on Earth. As emperor, he ordered a maze of tunnels built under the city of
Lutetia
. It was here that he discovered the first path.

In his arrogance, he
shared his secret with Michael. The Morning-star was never one for hiding his glory, which would
cost him. Michael insisted they build a gate upon the path, and forge a key that Michael would
hold in his trust. Lucifer agreed.

But of course it was
all a lie. Lucifer’s transformation into a
Croatan
was complete by then. His
betrayal of the Code of the Vampires created the crisis in Rome. He stole the key at the earliest
opportunity, unleashing Abomination upon the world. But we would not know this until it was
almost too late.

The Blue Bloods hunted
down the demons and their Silver Blood brethren. We turned
Lutetia
into a safe
haven. Michael defeated Lucifer, taking him down the
dead’s
path to the underworld
and locking the gate behind him. Michael then ordered the Blue Bloods to find the remaining six
paths, and to build gates upon them to keep the divisions between the worlds secure. The
gatekeepers were called the Order of the Seven and included the seven original families of the
Conclave.

The gatekeepers agreed
to scatter far and wide across the earth, hidden from one another. The knowledge of the gates
would remain in the guardians’ family, passed down through the generations.

The Van Alen Legacy is
just the latest name for the work that Lawrence and Cordelia began when they arrived in the New
World. When young Blue Bloods were disappearing again, they suspected that what they had feared
for centuries was true: that the gates were failing, and that somehow Lucifer and his Silver
Bloods had survived the war in Rome and were planning their return to power.

Lawrence made it his
life’s work to find each gate and guardian, to warn them of the danger. But Charles never
believed in the Van Alen Legacy. He resented his father’s doubt of the work he had forged
centuries before. So Lawrence went into exile. And the Van Alen Legacy was forgotten.”

 
“But Lawrence was right”,
Schuyler sent.
“They have returned.”

“Yes, they have
returned, and are desperately seeking to unlock the gates, to free the Devil trapped in Hell.
This is why we deceived them so long ago. Charles was not the gatekeeper of
Lutetia
.
The gate’s earthly anchor had been moved. The true gatekeeper saw to that a long time
ago.”

“How do you know that?
Are you the keeper?”

“No. Of the Van Alens,
only Lawrence was a gatekeeper. Remember the Order of the Seven.
One gate in each
family.”

“Leviathan and Corcovado.”
Schuyler understood now.

“Yes. Your grandfather
was the keeper of the Gate of Vengeance, Leviathan’s prison. With Lawrence’s murder of an
innocent, the gate opened and released Leviathan. But what the Silver Bloods did not know was
that the Gate of Vengeance was a
solom
bicallis
.
It can
only be used once, and in one direction. Once Leviathan was freed, the path was closed to
all.

The Silver Bloods will
not rest. They will seek out the guardians and the gates, until all the Paths of the Dead are
free once more.

Schuyler, it is up to
you to find the remaining members of the Order, alert them of the danger, and keep the gates
secure. As long as the gates hold, Lucifer cannot cross from the underworld to this world. That
is the Van Alen Legacy, and now it is yours. That is the Van Alen Legacy, and now it is
yours.”

“You mean, it is
ours.”

“Alas, that is not to
be. I cannot help you in your quest. I have to find Charles. He was lost, somewhere between
worlds, when the Silver Bloods let loose that
subvertio
. Our destiny is intertwined.
He needs me more than ever now. There is something broken in the universe that only we can fix
together . . . which is part of your journey as well.”

“Mother, you are leaving me.
Again.
Now that I need you the most,” Schuyler cried, shocked at her mother’s news
and the enormity of the responsibility that lay before her. Find the gates? Find the guardians?
Save the world? How was she supposed to do that alone?

“I am not leaving. I am always
with you,” Allegra said, holding Schuyler in her arms. “My daughter, I am in you. Never forget
that.”

“So that was really you, then,
with the sword?
In my dreams?”
Schuyler asked.

“Of course.”
Allegra smiled gently,
then
stood up. “Now listen closely. Leviathan has shown his
hand in Paris. We know he is looking to open the gate formerly located in
Lutetia
.
The Gate of Time.
Of this I am sure, for I was there when Michael and I made him
keeper. It was guarded by Tiberius
Gemellus
. Find him. Secure the gate.”

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.”