Lost in Time (Blue Bloods 6)

“Yes. It kept our enemies off balance for a while.”

“And the Petruvians—was that part of it? Part of the plan?” Schuyler asked, feeling a little frantic. “Are you aware that they kill innocent women and their children in the name of the Blessed?”

“Like I said, I did what I could. I trained the Petruvians myself.” Catherine poured steaming water into a fat porcelain teapot. “And here I do the same. I try to break out the girls before they’re bonded to the Croatan.”

“But what if they’ve already been seduced?” Schuyler wanted to know. If they are already pregnant with the Nephilim child? What do you do then, gatekeeper?

Catherine set the table, removing biscuits from a tin and arranging them on plates with the fleur-de-lis design. “I slit their throats,” she said, without a trace of guilt or shame.

“Come, eat,” she said, taking a seat at the table and motioning for them to do the same.

“And the babies?” Schuyler’s voice shook.

“The same,” Catherine replied.

Schuyler went pale and could not breathe. She saw in a flash the long and bloody history of Catherine and the Petruvian priests: the babies spiked on bayonets, the girls with their bellies slashed from hip to hip, the blood and the burnings, the bitter war waged in secret.

“It has to be a mistake,” Schuyler said, looking at Jack, who only bowed his head. I did not know. There is no excuse for that kind of brutality, not even for the vampires’ survival.

The gatekeeper dipped a biscuit in her milky tea and took a bite before answering. “There is no mistake. The Petruvian Order was founded by Michael himself. I was charged to maintain its existence.”

THIRTY-FIVE

The Living and the Dead

“We’re leaving?” Oliver asked with palpable relief after Mimi had outlined the plan. She had stormed into his room looking murderous, and he had been worried for his safety for a moment. Thankfully, all she’d done was kick the pillows that had fallen on the floor, and after that she’d simply sunk into the couch next to him, a deflated little red balloon with all the fight seeped out of her.

“I bribed one of the demons with a vial of my blood. God knows what he wants it for.” Mimi shuddered. “He said if we want to get out of here, all we need is to catch some train that will take us straight to Limbo.”

“What about Kingsley?” he asked.

“What about Kingsley?” There was that murderous look again.

Oliver turned off the television. The show he’d been watching—about an alien who was part of the family and played by a puppet—was just about the height of inanity, and he was glad to find a reason to stop watching. He approached Mimi gingerly. “He’s not coming back with us?”

“No,” Mimi said, and she kicked the coffee table. “Ouch!”

she yelped, holding her foot. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

Oliver nodded. “Okay.”

Mimi went back to her room. She wanted to be alone. Her heart was broken, shattered to pieces, but she felt nothing.

Just numb. She had been hanging on to this love—this hope—that she would find happiness one day. That she would have a happy ending. But instead there was nothing for her here. It was clear that there never was. She had read it all wrong. Kingsley had never loved her. He didn’t feel the same way about her anymore, and possibly never had.

Her journey was over, and she had failed. She would return to the Coven, where hopefully she would be able to piece her life back together, and piece the vampires back together as well. She didn’t know what to do next. Look for her brother?

Find revenge? She felt too exhausted to think of revenge at the moment. She needed a good long cry, but she did not want to give Kingsley the satisfaction of hearing her sob. She hoped she’d hurt him when she’d hit him. His cheek had turned a deep scarlet, but the shocked look on his face was even better.

There was a quiet knock on the door.

“Go away,” Mimi growled. “Oliver, I said I don’t want to talk about it!”

The door opened anyway. “It’s not Oliver. It’s me.” Kingsley hovered at the doorway, looking tired and nervous. His left cheek, Mimi noticed, was slightly pink.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I came to apologize,” he said, slouching against the wall.