CHAPTER 53
Mimi
When Mimi left school that afternoon, she found Kingsley waiting for her in front of the Duchesne gates, among the usual collection of scruffy looking boys waiting for their private-school girlfriends. Except Kingsley didn't look scruffy at all. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a magazine: teeth gleaming, dark hair shiny and combed, his cheeks freshly shaven. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a white button-down shirt and battered blue jeans. The rock star look intact.
"What are you doing here?" Mimi demanded, looking around anxiously. "Jack might see you?" Not that she cared all that much. Maybe her twin would even get jealous, seeing them together. If Jack was even capable of any real feeling when it came to her. Who knew what he thought in that thick skull of his anymore?
Kingsley ignored her and pulled her close. He kissed her soundly in front of a group of titillated freshmen.
"Force. Get in the limo." Mimi saw a shiny car the length of a city block idling by the curb. A uniformed chauffeur held the door open.
Mimi had always harbored a secret love for limousines. It was tacky to use one in the city, lest you run the risk of looking like a tourist or like you were off to prom. But this one shone with a wicked gleam. She had to admit it: the guy traveled in style.
She gave Kingsley a look, then slid inside. He stepped in behind her and closed the door. He raised the driver's partition until it closed all the way. The windows were tinted. They were, for all intents and purposes, alone. The car was so wide it was like being in a moving living room. The carpet beneath her feet was lush, and the car seats were as wide as a bed.
"Now, where were we?" Kingsley asked, leaning over so that he was practically on top of her, one hand underneath her shirt and the other tugging the waistband of her skirt.
"Wait. Wait," Mimi gasped, putting a hand against his chest and pushing him away. And she thought she was fast. Kingsley was like the world's most talented make-out artist. She had barely gotten in the car and she was practically undressed.
"Sweetheart, I've waited all day," he sighed, burying his face in her neck. But he did as she asked and pulled his hand away from her thigh. He composed himself and leaned back against the seat. 'There. Better?"
Mimi tried not to look too flattered. It was nice to be wanted. Kingsley and his voracious appetite.
"Where are we going? Or should I say, where are you taking me?" she asked, as the car made a left onto FDR Drive. In answer, Kingsley held up several plane tickets.
"Paris. The Lennox boys are already at JFK. We leave tonight."
"We?"
"You're not deserting the team, are you, Force?" He smiled. "Don't worry, I have everything you need. Got you a new Venator pack. Of course, it doesn't come with those impractical boots of yours, but I'm sure you can find a replacement in the City of Lights."
Mimi buttoned her blouse. "You've got to be joking. Turn this car around right now. I'm not going to Paris."
"Why not?"
He really was a piece of work, this one, she thought. Did she have to say it?
"Don't you remember? I'm getting bonded next Sunday. Duh."
"Are you?"
"What are you getting at? Jack is my..." Soul mate seemed cheesy to say. "He's my twin. We belong together. We always have."
Kingsley nodded as if he were seriously considering her argument. 'Right. And that's why you've been sneaking into my hotel room every night for the last week."
Every night! Had it been every night? Surely he was wrong. Surely she had spent one night on her own. She had been in denial. This had gone too far. She was cutting it off right here.
"You know the Code," she said. 'that's just the way it is. I can't deny our bond."
"Bonds are made to be broken," he said. "Just like rules."
"Spoken like a true Silver Blood," she snapped.
Kingsley's face became grave. "You know my secret. You know what we face, the enormity of our task if what Charles suspects is true. The team needs you. Come with us."
Mimi flushed. She had never felt this way in her life. In all of her lives. Loving Abbadon was all she'd ever known. But then Kingsley walked in and turned her every assumption upside down. But did he really want her? Did he really care for her? Did he love her? Or did he just want her around for his amusement?
Kingsley smiled at her, and she knew it was a smile of triumph, the smile of a boy who always got what he wanted. Sure, he wanted her right now, but what happened when he didn't? She knew what the bond was like, the dedication, the commitment to each other and the service they rendered to the community as a whole. The vampires were fading, that much she knew. The Blue Bloods needed them now more than ever. She thought of all the things she and Jack had accomplished together: they had defeated Lucifer in Rome, they had founded the New World.... She was Azrael. She was true to her word. She would not waver from what was asked of her. Who did she think she was, her brother? Inconstant, indecisive, unable to make a choice between foolishness and duty?
"No, Kingsley. I can't." She shook her head. "Let me out of here. Stop the car."
Kingsley looked at her for a long time. Then he cleared his throat and picked up the interior phone and asked the driver to pull to the side. "As you wish."
CHAPTER 54
Bliss
New York Presbyterian visiting hours were over when Bliss arrived, not that it even mattered. Allegra Van Alen had checked out by the time she got there.