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A few minutes later, Schuyler woke up to find Jack and her grandfather looking at her keenly. She shivered underneath the wool blanket and pulled it around her shoulders tightly.
"My dear, has this happened before?"
"Sometimes," Schuyler acknowledged softly.
"After lessons?"
Schuyler nodded. She hadn't admitted it, because she wanted the lessons to continue.
"I should have seen this. The first time this happened-- when you went into hibernation that was several days after you chased me in Venice, was it not?"
Schuyler nodded. She remembered what Dr. Pat had said: Sometimes it's a delayed reaction.
"I have figured out why you are so weak," Lawrence said. "I chastise myself for not realizing the problem earlier. It's simple. By exercising your vampire powers, your blue-blood cells are working overtime, and since your red-blood cells aren't high to begin with because of the mixed nature of your blood composition --your energy flags. There is only one solution to keep your blood counts in the normal range. You must take a human familiar."
"But I'm not even eighteen," Schuyler protested, citing the age of consent for the Sacred Kiss. "I was kind of planning on waiting."
"This is serious, Schuyler. I've already lost your mother to a coma, I don't want to lose you as well. While you possess certain special powers that vampires your age wouldn't even dream of having, in many ways, you are also much weaker than the average Blue Blood. You cannot escape from the progress of the transformation, but you can control some of its more adverse effects. You must take a familiar sooner than eighteen. A human boy. For your own sake."
Jack cleared his throat, and Schuyler was surprised to see him there. He had been so quiet during her grandfather's lecture. "I think I'll take your leave, Lawrence. Schuyler."
The door to the room opened just as Jack was about to exit.
Oliver Hazard-Perry stood in the doorway, looking flus- tered at seeing Jack. "I heard Schuyler had to go home from school. I was worried, I came as soon as I could."
The three vampires looked at him, all with the same thought on their minds.
Oliver was a human boy. A Red Blood. And Schuyler needed a familiar....
"What?" Oliver asked, when no one replied. "Do I smell or something?"
It was time to try her plan. The roses had been the last straw. It was not only that--her brother was becoming bolder and bolder in his pursuit of the half-blood. He hardly ever tried to disguise the fact that he lingered in hall- ways outside Schuyler's classroom, or had taken to hanging out in the library at school or the Repository to catch a glimpse of her. Mimi had even caught the two of them shamelessly flirting in public! The other day a friend told her she had seen Jack actually walk out of the school with Schuyler in his arms! Not that Mimi even believed that one.
Mimi drew the pentagram as the book had instructed, with a small white chalk on the pale blond hardwood floor. Then she placed the necessary ingredients together in a small steel bowl on her dressing-room table: verbena leaves, bay leaves, a cluster of tiger lilies, marjoram, a toad heart, and a bat wing. The array looked out of place among the many crystal bottles of perfume and expensive French lotions.
She lit a candle and drew a flame from it with a stick of rosemary. She blew out the candle as directed and threw the burning herb into the bowl.
A tall, violet flame erupted.
Mimi glanced at herself in the mirror and was surprised to find that the room, which only moments before had been filled with afternoon sunlight, was now pitch black, save for the light shooting up from the bowl.
Her hands trembled slightly as she opened a small, glassine envelope that contained Schuyler Van Alen's hair. She shook out the contents and held it in her hand.
The book instructed her to throw the hair into the flame, while saying the words that would vanquish her enemy. Mimi closed her eyes and tossed it into the fire.
"I, Azrael, command the spirits. Annul the power of my rival.
"I, Azrael, command the spirits. Annul the power of my rival.
"I, Azrael, command the spirits. Annul the power of my rival."
"MIMI!" The door flew open. Charles Force stood at the entryway. With a wave of his hand, he extinguished the bright violet flame.
