Gates of Paradise (Blue Bloods 7)

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Regent and Conduit

liver Hazard-Perry watched as the Conduits made the final adjustments—wiping a surface here, adjusting a picture frame there. It had taken three long years to rebuild the Repository, but it was finally done. The gleaming shelves were once again stocked with the books and documents of the real history of the world, and the Conduits were busy updating files, keeping track of every remaining member of the Coven.

Oliver understood the choice that Schuyler and Jack had made to keep away. They craved a normal life. After Schuyler graduated, they had told him of their plans to settle in California, near her grandmother. They sounded happy and content, and Oliver was happy for them. He was happy for all of them—Mimi and Kingsley, Bliss and Lawson, his friends and equals.

But there was business to attend to, Committee meetings to discuss, regulations to be enforced; new Venators needed to be trained to fill the ranks. The Coven had to be rebuilt for those who chose to stay.

Oliver was glad that his studies at Columbia did not interfere with his work. He needed to be here, in New York, near headquarters. There was so much work to do—so much to clean up. There were still Nephilim around, and the Gates of Hell, while secure, would need to be guarded once more. The Praetorian Guard would keep the Passages of Time safe from harm, and Kingsley and Mimi would keep an eye on the underworld.

Oliver still could not believe his luck. He had knelt at the foot of the Almighty. What reward did Oliver seek? He had asked for the dearest wish he’d nurtured since he was a child, and it was done.

“How’s it going?” a voice asked.

He looked up and smiled.

Finn Chase stood with a hand on a cocked hip. She was so beautiful, and her blue eyes sparkled with life and merriment. She had moved to New York for work, since Oliver had offered her a job.

He nodded. “We’re almost there. We’ll reopen on schedule.”

“Good,” she said, sitting on his desk. “Do we have time?” she asked. “Before?”

He smiled. “We have all the time in the world.”

Then he took her in his arms and inhaled her sweet scent, and she swooned against his body.

He bared his fangs—those needlepoint incisors—and sank them into her neck, and drank deeply of her blood.

She was his, body and soul. Her blood sustained him, and together they would forge a new path.

They were together.

Vampire and familiar.

Regent and Conduit.

Until…

THE END