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“I have so much to tell you, I hardly know where to start,” she said. “But first—tell me what happened in New York.”
Oliver shook his head. “It wasn’t good. The Reposito
ry’s been destroyed, and Renfield was murdered. The Silver Bloods can break the wards now, so the Coven is basically unprotected.”
Schuyler accepted this information; it was nothing new. The vampires’ strength had weakened considerably since the Covens had disbanded.
“And it looks like someone else was there too. They rifled through the notes. The files were left open.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.” Oliver sighed. “Whoever it was used Bliss’s code.”
Bliss! Schuyler felt a glimmer of hope. “Do you think it was her?”
“Maybe. If luck is on our side. Remember Jane Murray? Our old history teacher? She has the spirit of the Watcher now, and she’s back too. She made contact with the Coven. She’s helping them to locate Bliss, see if she has the wolves.”
So many pieces to this puzzle of theirs; so many things that had to happen before they had any chance of succeeding. And so many complications.
They walked toward the parking lot for the car. Oliver said, “There’s more. The Silver Bloods burned down our safe house in London. Don’t worry, no one was hurt—it was empty when they torched it. And the good news is that Kingsley’s back.”
“Where’d he go?”
“He wouldn’t say, but wherever he went, he said he knows now what the demons are planning, and he thinks he might have an idea on how to subvert it. He’s called for a Venator conclave to plan the attack.”
“Attack?”
“He thinks it’s better to draw them out, especially now that we know they’re on to us and they found the safe house so easily. Since we know where the Gate of Promise is, he’d rather have them bring the battle to us than wait for them to sneak up on us. Show all our cards, as they say. Make it happen.”
“Is that wise?”
“Who am I to judge? I’m just a lowly Conduit, not a Venator. But strategically, I think it’s wise. We don’t know when the Silver Bloods plan to ambush the gate, but this way, we can have the upper hand. We can prepare.” He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “So tell me what’s been happening here? Did you have a happy little reunion with your grandmother? Was she round and soft? Did she bake you cookies?”
Schuyler punched him in the arm. “Don’t make fun! No, there weren’t any cookies.” She rolled her eyes. As far as she knew, neither of Oliver’s grandmothers were the cookie-baking type either. Doro Samuels had worked to preserve Grand Central Terminal and Central Park, while Eleanor Hazard-Perry was a children’s programming pioneer who taught kids how to read using tactics gleaned from vampire skills of instant memorization.
“She was cool, a grande dame, sort of like Cordelia but, you know…warmer,” Schuyler said.
“Warm-blooded.” Oliver smiled. “And did you find your dad?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Come on.”
The grass at the graveyard was lush and green, almost too alive, Schuyler thought. It was like a constant reminder of everything that was gone, everything lost. She’d brought a small bouquet of calla lilies, and when they found the headstone, she set them down.
“Sky, I’m so sorry,” Oliver said. “I know this wasn’t how you hoped it would turn out.” He put an arm around her shoulder, and she leaned against him as she read the headstone.
STEPHEN BENDIX CHASE
BELOVED SON AND HUSBAND
The headstone didn’t tell the whole story of his life, Schuyler thought, thinking not only of herself but of the sister she had yet to meet. Beloved son, husband, and father.
He had returned to his family in a box.
“Cancer,” Schuyler told Oliver. “Stupid old cancer. He wasn’t killed by a vampire. He wasn’t killed by Charles out of revenge, as I’d feared for a while. He was just another young person taken too early.”
Decca had told her the whole story: how Ben and Allegra had gone back to New York and how, in the end, Allegra had called them so they could say good-bye to their son. The disease had been swift and brutal. When they returned from the funeral, they discovered that they had a grandchild, as his ex-girlfriend had showed up at their doorstep with a baby. Renny had told Ben she was pregnant to get him to marry her, but when she admitted it was a fake pregnancy, he’d left to be with Allegra. Only it wasn’t fake: Renny had figured out that he would never love her like he loved Allegra, and she’d freed him to be with her.
“Noble of her, I suppose,” Decca had said, though Schuyler could tell that until she’d learned about Schuyler, she’d have preferred that Ben had stayed with the ex, Renny.
