Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods 7)

“This isn’t good,” Oliver said.

“Get out of the car,” a cold voice said. “Now.”

“Where are you taking us?” Schuyler screamed as her assailant pulled her out of the car.

“Not us,” he said. “You.”

Then Schuyler blacked out.

In a flash, she and her captor seemed to be somewhere else, somewhere familiar: falling, falling deep into the glom, and away from the light, though Schuyler felt like they were still moving.

They stopped. Schuyler tried to keep herself from throwing up; all that motion had made her nauseous. It was dark, but as her vision started to clear, she realized where she was.

Hell.

FORTY-THREE

Mimi

he Venators grabbed Mimi and brought her to a room on the second floor of the house, then left her alone. Really? Would it be that easy? She tried the handle. Locked. Enchanted-locked, too, not just regular-locked, which would be easy enough to pulverize. She looked around. They’d taken her to a library, the walls filled with books from floor to ceiling, ladders on wheels propped against every shelf so browsers could slide back and forth between the higher rows. Too bad she wasn’t much of a reader.

The Venators left her in the room for so long she actually started looking at some of the titles. She picked a book with a familiar-sounding title and settled into an enormous leather chair to read. She barely had time to process a word before she fell asleep.

She awoke to the sound of low male laughter. “Such a threatening figure, all curled up in a chair like a puppy.”

Kingsley.

Mimi yawned and stretched her arms over her head, well aware that he was watching.

“A kitten, then. A very, very sexy kitten.”

Mimi started to stand up, but Kingsley blocked her. “No, you stay where you are for now. I want to have a conversation with you, and I don’t want you pulling out that little needle of a sword, like you did the last time we saw each other.”

Mimi held up her hands and sat back down. “You’re the one with guards at the door,” she said. “You’re in charge now.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about you,” Kingsley said. “A lot more than I wanted to, given how you’ve been behaving. But I really wanted to figure out what was going on. One minute you travel to Hell for me; the next you never want to see me again; then you throw a fight with me to get me to steal the grail. You let me win, I know. Don’t even try to tell me differently. I know you.”

Mimi started to interrupt, but Kingsley held up a finger. “I’m not done. I want some answers, and if at the end of this conversation you still want to do a little sparring, that can be arranged. But be warned, my darling, that if I’m not satisfied with what I hear from you, this will be the last fight we ever have. One way or another.”

“Fair enough,” she said. So this would end how it was supposed to.

“Here’s what I’m thinking: given your sudden shift in attentiveness toward me after we got out of Hell, I’m guessing that you were forced into making some sort of deal with Lucifer. I know you entered the underworld thinking you’d happily sacrifice Oliver for a chance to save me, but he turned out to be too good a friend. See, the thing I’ve known about you from the beginning is that no matter what you want people to think, you’re not a bad person. Even on your worst day,” he said gently. “Unless, of course, you’re missing something vital. Like your soul.”

She stared at him.

“I think you traded your soul for mine, and that’s how you freed me from Hell. You couldn’t sacrifice Oliver, so you sacrificed yourself. That’s why you were so cold, as if you didn’t care about me at all. Because you didn’t.”

Mimi shook her head. “What a lovely story you’ve told yourself. I’ll tell Lucifer you’re not just a weakling these days, you’re delusional as well.”

Kingsley sighed. “You can insult me all you want. I know it’s a charade. But what I can’t figure out is what happened after that. Because, as much as you’d like me to think that you’re working for the devil himself, I know you. I can look into your eyes and see that you’re there and that you still love me.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” Mimi spat. “I’m just a much better actress than you think I am.”

“You aren’t, though,” Kingsley said. “I know you think you are, but you’re not. And somehow I get the feeling that this whole thing you’ve orchestrated is simply a way to set us up for some sort of fight to the finish that I’d rather not engage in.”

“As if you have a choice.”

“Maybe I don’t,” he agreed. “But you had your chance to kill me back at Rosslyn Chapel, and you didn’t take it. Not only that, but you set up that meeting. I think you wanted me to take the chalice from you, to save you from having to bring Lucifer something he so desperately needed.”