The Van Alen Legacy (35 page)

But when she saw him, and they
looked at each other, she knew she would never be able to leave his side. He had recovered well;
he looked tired, but then so did she. They had been through a lot in the last twenty four
hours.

“You’re
here,”
she sent.
“My love.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere
else.”

“I came as soon as I got your
message,” Jack said to Oliver.

Oliver handed him his own
backpack. “Your flight is leaving soon. I suggest you guys get in
there,
security’s
a pain these days.
Especially for international.”

“You called him? Oliver,
what’s going on?” Schuyler asked.

“I asked Jack to meet us here.
I told him you were going to Florence. I asked him to go with you.”

“Oliver?”

“Sky . . .
stop
,”
Oliver said. “And don’t interrupt me, because I have to say this. I know you would never leave
me. I know that. I know you would never be able to make a decision, so I decided for you. You
have to go with him.”

Schuyler found her eyes
filling with tears. “Ollie . . .”

“You cannot choose between us.
So I chose for you. Jack can protect you in ways I cannot. Yesterday, when Leviathan took you,
I’d never felt so helpless in my life . . . and I knew . . . I knew I couldn’t be there for you,
not in the way that he can.” Oliver gulped. “I would rather have you safe, whole, and alive . . .
than with me.”

“Oliver . . .”

“Now go.
Before I change
my mind.
But you know I’m right. I’m always right, Schuyler.”

He never called her Schuyler,
only when he was serious.
Or angry.
Or maybe a little of both.
This
couldn’t be easy for him. It wasn’t easy for her to listen to.

“But what about you?” she
asked. “I marked you. . . .”

The Sacred Kiss would mean he
would pine for her forever. She couldn’t let him live the rest of his life that way.

“I’ll be all right. You’ll
see. I don’t believe in fatalism. And you’ll call me, won’t you?
Once in a while?
I
can still help you . . . from over here. I think I can, anyway. But I know this is what was meant
to happen. I can feel it . . . the rightness of it . . . and, like I said, I’m never wrong.”
Oliver shoved the tickets into Jack’s hands.

Schuyler pulled Oliver close
and hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered. Thank you for loving me enough to let me
go.

“You’re welcome,” Oliver
said.

He smiled, and she knew he had
heard what she’d left unsaid.
The connection between them, vampire and Conduit, sparking at
last.

“Good-bye, Ollie,” Schuyler
whispered.

“Take care of her,” Oliver
said, shaking Jack’s hand.
“For me.”

Jack nodded and shook Oliver’s
hand vigorously.
“Always.”

Oliver saluted them both,
then
he walked quickly away, jumping into the nearest cab he could find. Schuyler
watched him go, finding that her heart ached in the deepest way . . . but it did not break. They
would be friends. They would always remain friends. She loved him still.

Next to her, Jack put out his
hand.

Schuyler grasped it tightly.
She would never let go. Not in this lifetime. She knew what this meant. They were going to risk
it. They were going to go against the bond, the Code, everything that stood in their way, so that
they could be together. They would risk everything for their love. Just like her mother. Just
like Allegra.

No one would choose your life,
she had told her mother.

She had been wrong.

Together, hand in hand, the
two of them walked into the terminal.

Isabelle of Orleans, at home,
looked just as intimidating as she had at the party. The countess received them at her villa in
Saint-Tropez, on the sun splashed terrace that looked over the bright blue Mediterranean. It was
their first stop on the way to Florence, and it had been Jack’s idea to try to achieve what
Schuyler had failed to secure months before.

“So, you are refugees from
Michael’s tribe,” Isabelle said, her voice low and gravelly. “What makes you think I shall give
you what you ask? Why should the European Coven even care about two wayward children?”

“Your Grace, we understand
your skepticism . . . but we are desperate. Without the protection of the vampires, we will not
be able to carry out Lawrence Van Alen’s great work,” Jack said.

The countess raised her
eyebrows. “So you are here in Europe to try to fulfill his legacy?”

“Yes,
Your
Grace.” Schuyler nodded.

“Then why did you not mention
it sooner?” the countess demanded, causing her two lap dogs to yelp.

Jack and Schuyler exchanged a
glance. “Our apologies,” Jack said.

“I shall grant you access to
the European Coven, and give you my blessing. While you are within our borders, the New York
Coven will be unable to touch you.”

“Thank you, Countess. You
don’t know how much this means to us,” Schuyler said, relief and gratitude evident in her
voice.

The countess ruminated. “This
war has taken the life of my most trusted friend.”

Schuyler nodded. She had heard
the body of the real Baron de Coubertin had been found floating in the Seine, a few weeks after
the attack.

“We are so sorry to hear
that,” she said. She knew what it meant to lose a Conduit.

The countess shrugged sadly.
“You know, I was always a friend to Lawrence and Cordelia. It was Charles I could never stand,”
the countess sighed.

“I know he had to punish my
brother, but I thought the punishment was unnecessarily draconian. Surely there must have been a
way to live in peace together without resorting to such stringent measures. Well. There’s not
much we can do about that now, is there?”

“Your brother, Your
Grace?”
Jack asked.

“Why,
Valerius
,
have you forgotten me so soon?” The countess smiled, looking suddenly coy and
flirtatious.

“Oh, how much we three sisters
fought over you when you came of age! Handsome
Valerius
! But of course Agrippina won
you, as always. Well, perhaps not anymore.” She winked and looked at Schuyler. “You’re a lucky
girl, my dear.”

“I’m sorry?” Jack
asked.

“Back in Rome, you knew me as
Drusilla,” the countess told them as she got up from her chair. “Come, children. I believe lunch
is being served. And my chef makes an excellent tomato salad. You will join me, won’t
you?”

The Blue Bloods books are the
most fun and rewarding books to write, and I wouldn’t be able to write them without the help,
love, support, patience, and devotion of many people.

First
off ,
thank
you to my husband, Mike Johnston, for reading all the same books I did as a teen. My name is on
the front cover, but these books are ours together, in every possible way. Thank you to Mattie
for being the light of our lives. None of this would mean anything without the two of you, but
you guys already know that.

Thank you to my lovely editor,
Jennifer
Besser
, for being such a champion of the books and for gasping on the phone
about the Bliss chapters.
Yay
! And thank you to everyone at Hyperion: Go, team!
Thank you to Jennifer Corcoran for the fabulous publicity, Nellie
Kurtzman
and Ann
Dye for the awesome marketing plans, Elizabeth Clark for the gorgeous covers, and Jonathan
Yaged
for the faith, Simon
Tasker
and Dave Epstein from the sales force
(a true force to behold!). Thank you to my agent, Richard Abate, for keeping me focused and for
the above-and-beyond handholding. Thank you to Elizabeth Yates, Melissa Myers, and Richie Kern at
Endeavor, and Kate Lee and Larissa Silva at ICM.

Thank you to my mom, to whom
this book is dedicated, especially for saying, ‘the books are so exciting. I forget that you had
written them?” Now
THAT’s
a compliment from your mom! Thank you also to the rest of
my wonderful, fabulous, and infinitely supportive family: Pop,
Aina
, Steve,
Nicholas, Joseph, Chit, Christina (most of
whom
run the promotion/Web/fan mail side
of the business with a lot of good humor and ideas).

Also thanks to Mom J, Dad J,
and all the
Johnstons
.
A big thank-you to
Tita
Odette, Isabelle
and Christina
Gaisano
.
(There, you can show it to all your friends now,
Tina!)

Thank you to my BFF, Jennie
Kim, who always likes to be mentioned in these things.
( Jennie
, you can show this
off too.
Heh-heh
.)
And thanks to my NY and LA main girls and main gays
Katie Davis, Tina Hay, Tom Dolby and Drew
Frist
, Gabe Sandoval, Tristan Ashby and
Jeff Chu, Tyler Rollins and Jason Lundy, Andy
Goffe
and Jeff Levin, Peter
Edmonston
and Mark
Hidgen
, Kate and Harold Hope, and the ever-cool Kim
DeMarco
.

I would also like to thank the
late Miss Jean Murphy, who taught history and art history at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, and
who brought the world of ancient Rome to life in a dusty classroom. Miss Murphy always said it
was like history’s greatest soap opera. I know she’s up there with the greats.

Most of all I would like to
thank the Blue Blood faithful, just the most amazing, enthusiastic, intelligent, and gorgeous
bunch of kids I have ever met. (I mean it: I am always so blown away by how smart AND
goodlooking
you all are!) Thank you for bringing my story of the reincarnated
vampires into your lives. Thanks for following the journey, and hope to see you at the next
stop!