Masquerade (Blue Bloods 2)

"Great," she said. "I feel like a cheat, I mean...you know."

He nodded. "I know what you mean. All we have to do is close our eyes, right?"

"It's like we have an open textbook or something," Bliss said.

"Well, it's not as if we have to use it," Jack mumbled.

"Excuse me?" Bliss asked.

"Nothing." Jack shrugged. He had a faraway look in his eyes, and Bliss wondered what was going on with him. She didn't know him very well, although she hung out with him often enough since Mimi always liked to have him around.

"Good luck this week," Jack said, slapping her on the back in a brotherly fashion.

"You too," Bliss called. She looked at her watch. She had several hours before her next exam. Maybe she could grab a quick bite from a corner deli and then try to score one of those cubicles in the library--if there were any left.

As she walked down the stairs, a girl fell into step with her. Bliss raised an eyebrow "Yes?"

It was Ava Breton, a fellow sophomore--a Red Blood-- and yet very popular. Almost all of Ava's friends were Blue Bloods, although she didn't know it. Bliss noticed there were telltale marks on her neck, which meant that Jaime Kip, her Blue Blood boyfriend, had made her a familiar. Interesting.

"Bliss, can I ask you something?" Ava asked, tucking a hair behind her ear. Ava was wearing a thin, long-sleeved American Apparel T-shirt over her boyfriend's basketball shorts, and gray thermal underwear.

"Sure."

"Do you know anything about this party that Mimi and Jack Force are throwing next week?"

Bliss shifted uncomfortably. "I..."

"It's okay. I mean, Jaime is being really weird about it. I know he's going to that ball at the St. Regis with his parents seriously, how lame is that? But I thought it was weird he didn't even invite me to the after-party."

"I'm sorry." Bliss said, feeling uncomfortable. She hated when people were left out of the fun. She remembered what her life had been like before Mimi had taken her under her wing. She didn't have it in her heart to exclude people. It was so shallow and snobby, and so Mimi. It certainly wasn't Bliss. Anyway, what was the harm? Maybe the Four Hundred Ball was exclusively for Blue Bloods, but the after-party was for teenagers. In Bliss's opinion, the more the merrier. If someone wanted to join, what was the harm, really?

"I just--it's just--I mean, I know everyone else will get an invite," Ava said, biting her lip. "And what if I don't..."

"It's downtown at the Angel Orensanz Center at mid- night," Bliss blurted out. "And it's a masquerade party. You'll need a mask, some sort of disguise, to get in."

A rapturous smile appeared on Ava's face. "Thank you, Bliss. Thank you SO MUCH."

Damn.

Now she'd gone and done it.

She'd invited a Red Blood to the party. Mimi was going to be seriously pissed.

Hopeless. Everything was hopeless now. Her grandfather had turned out to be useless: a scared old man with nothing to live for but his books, his cigars, and his port wine. What had she expected? A tutor, a guide, a patron...a father. Someone who would take the burden off her shoulders for a while.

As she packed her bags in her hotel room the next morn- ing, Schuyler remembered Lawrence's parting words.

"I am sorry, Schuyler. Cordelia was wrong in sending you to me."

He then began to pace in front of the fire. "The truth is, I no longer have any interest in Blue Blood affairs. I have washed my hands of their plight, ever since Roanoke. They chose to follow Michael then, as they have always done," he said, meaning the coven leadership had reinstalled Michael as Regis when the crisis at Roanoke had been discovered and it looked as if the Silver Bloods had returned. "And if I'm not mistaken, they still choose to follow him today as Charles Force." Lawrence shook his head. "When he turned his back on the family and renounced the Van Alen name, I vowed that I would never return to the coven.

"Alas, you have traveled to Venice in vain. I am an old man. I would prefer to live out my immortal life in peace. I have nothing to offer you."

"But Cordelia said..."

"Cordelia placed too much faith in me, as always. The key to defeating the Silver Bloods lies with Charles and Allegra, not with me. Only the Uncorrupted can save Blue Bloods from the Silver Blood Abominations.