“Then how? Why?”

“You came to visit me not too long ago.”

“Yes.” Bliss nodded. She remembered that surreptitious visit to the hospital, while Allegra remained immobile in her bed.

“When you came to see me, I felt a presence I had not felt in a very long time. I was very afraid and I was very angry. I screamed. I think the whole hospital heard me. But now I understand that Charles and Lawrence did what they felt they had to. They did it for love, and sometimes love makes us do the irrational . . . even the inexcusable. But I don’t know if I will ever forgive them for what they tried to do to you,” Allegra said quietly.

Bliss curled her fists up in the quilt. She had a mother, but she had also been robbed of one. “So Lucifer did not lie to me,” she said stonily. She felt conflicted and agonized.

“No, he did not. You are ours.”

“But how, how?, you were bound to Michael.”

Allegra nodded. “Yes. It is a long and painful story. But know that we made you together. In love.”

“Where are you? Are you here? Are you actually here?”

“I am in you. I did not find the link until now. As I told your sister, I will always be with you.”

“Okay.” Bliss blinked back her tears.

“Do you notice anything different about yourself?”, Allegra asked.

“Like what?”

She had no idea what Allegra was talking about, until she stopped to think about it. There was silence. She was alone in her body. The voices were gone. The heaviness, those many souls that had lived in her, they were gone. Most important, the Visitor was gone.

“Michael’s sword killed your blood link to Lucifer. Your father saw you as a way to reach through the boundary that was keeping him in the underworld.”

“So I’m not dead. But my father is dead in me.”

Bliss was overwhelmed with relief. She had her life back. She’d done it!, she had successfully killed herself, just as she and Dylan had known would be her task. She’d done it. . . .

And then, as if she had conjured him from the air, Dylan appeared next to Allegra. “I’m proud of you, Bliss,” he said. “Michael’s sword released the souls that were trapped in your blood. You freed them. You freed me.”

“But now I’m never going to see you again, am I?” she asked.

Dylan smiled. “It’s unlikely. But I never say never.”

“I wish you wouldn’t go. I’ll miss you so much,” Bliss said.

“I’ll miss you too.”

Dylan put his hand up, and so did Bliss. But this time, instead of touching air, she felt his warm hand grasping her cold one. She looked at Allegra. Somehow, she knew her mother was making this happen. Dylan leaned down, and she could feel his lips, soft and inviting, gently kissing hers. Then Dylan was gone. But Bliss did not feel anguished. She felt at peace. Dylan was not broken and incomplete anymore. He was whole.

“You are healed.” Allegra nodded. “You are no longer a Silver Blood.” She paused. “But you are no longer a vampire either.”

Bliss started. No longer a vampire?, but what did that mean? Did it mean she was just human?

“Now, listen closely.” Bliss heard Allegra’s voice in her head, in the glom, as if she were speaking directly into Bliss’s mind. “A long time ago when the world was young and the paths between Heaven and Hell were still open, Lucifer brought the beasts out of the ground, the hounds of Hell. But their alliance with the Silver Bloods was short-lived. The wolves are demon fighters. They stood with the Blue Bloods during the crisis. But over the centuries we have become estranged. You must find them. The Blue Bloods will need them in the final battle with the Silver Bloods. Find the wolves. Tame them. Bring them back into the fold.”

“But where do I start?”

“I have not left you alone. You will have someone to help you with your task. Someone who loves you and will take care of you since I cannot.”

Bliss understood. Miss Murray was standing next to Allegra, and she did not look like an apple-cheeked history teacher. Instead, her eyes were gray and serious . . . and Bliss gasped.

“Jordan?"

“You knew me by that name once. Her teacher nodded. But my true name is . . .”

“Sophia.”

“Quite right. Good girl.” Miss Murray beamed.

“Is that what I should call you?”

“I think Miss Murray will do for now. Although, if you like, you can call me Aunt Jane.”

“Michael’s sword. You were the one who slipped it into my bouquet. I’m right, aren’t I?”, Bliss asked.

Her teacher did not deny it.

“I knew you would use it the right way. I had faith in you.”

“But if I’m not a vampire anymore . . . how can I do anything?”

The thought of being human scared her. To live without the incredible abilities given by the undying blood . . . to be so frail and weak . . . and absolutely powerless.

“Do your best. That is all I ask of you”, her mother told her.

“Where are you going?” Bliss asked, using her voice now.

“Somewhere no one can follow. But do not despair. We will meet again, Bliss Llewellyn.”

“Allegra, before you leave . . . can you tell me . . . what is my name? I mean to say, Mimi is Azrael and Jack is Abbadon. But I don’t know my real name. I never have. Do I even have one?” Bliss asked.

“Names are forged in Heaven. Your father named you Azazel, the Darkling. But I shall name you Lupus Theliel, Angel of Love, and my Wolfsbane.”

 CHAPTER 69

Schuyler

During the ride to JFK, Schuyler kept to herself.

She was still exhausted from yesterday’s events, but there was no time to rest. The documents Oliver had found, which he had been so excited about, were a small package of notebooks that he had discovered in files kept by Christopher Anderson, Lawrence’s Conduit.

Fifty-five notebooks detailing everything her grandfather had found concerning the Van Alen Legacy, and every possible lead. The keepers of the third gate, the Gate of Promise, were most likely still in the city of Florence, which was where they were headed now.

Last night, when she finally came home, Oliver was waiting for her in her apartment. When she walked in, it took him a while to accept the fact that she was truly alive and standing in front of him. He had been convinced he had lost her forever. They hugged each other close, but Schuyler was still too distraught and confused about everything that had happened with Jack, to give Oliver much of her attention.

She listened as he filled her in on what had happened to everyone else during the attack and the aftermath; most of the Blue Bloods had gone to hide in the Force Tower, as they had been instructed by the Conclave. They had all come out safe.

But for how long?

The cab pulled up to the terminal, and Oliver unloaded their bags. He had been quiet too, during the trip. And he looked at Schuyler so intensely now, as if he were trying to memorize her face.

“What?” Schuyler asked. “Do I have something in my teeth or something? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m not going to Florence,” Oliver said as the cab pulled away. “What do you mean you’re not going to Florence . . .” Schuyler said, just as Jack Force walked up to the terminal.

Yesterday, Mimi had finally come back to the church, and had taken her brother away. Jack had been too weak to speak when Schuyler saw the two of them off in a cab. From the possessive way Mimi had held on to Jack, Schuyler knew they wouldn’t get a chance to say the things they wanted to say to each other anyway.

There were no traces of the lost, broken girl that Mimi had been when she’d returned. And Schuyler understood that the struggle for Jack’s heart was far from over. Maybe she and Jack just weren’t meant to be, and the two of them would just have to accept it. It was enough to know they had risked everything for each other. Maybe the memory of their love was all that they were allowed. She didn’t know. She only knew that she had so much to do. And if she had to leave Jack as part of it, then there was nothing she could do about it anymore. She had to fulfill her legacy.