Masquerade

 

Their meeting in the Repository had been purely accidental. Schuyler was there to read as many books as possible on Lawrence's instructions and had been pleasantly surprised to find Jack studying at one of the desks.



"Oh, hey." He grinned, raking a hand through his hair and motioning for her to take the seat across from him. "What are you reading? The Trial?" he asked, showing her his copy.



She nodded. They had been assigned the Kafka tome in their AP English class. It was one of the several books she had in her stack.



"Silly love story, don't you think?" he asked, paging through the yellowed leaves in his book, which Schuyler noticed was well worn and dog-eared.



"Love story?" She made a face. "Isn't the book about the tyranny of justice? The absurd nature of bureaucracy? We never know what he's on trial for, after all."



"I disagree. And since Kafka never wanted the book to be published, who's to say what it's really about?" Jack asked in a slightly teasing tone. "I read that it's about his failed courtship and engagement to Felice Bauer. Which means it's not about the law at all, but about a man who's frustrated in love...."



"Oh, Jack..." Schuyler sighed. She wasn't sure if he was pulling her leg or not, but she was enjoying their banter. It hadn't been clear until then whether they would ever be able to mend the budding friendship, or whatever it was that had started between them and then ended so abruptly last semester. But it looked as if Jack might not be too put off from trying again. Not that it meant anything. He was still Mimi Force's brother.



"Maybe my book has something yours doesn't," Jack said, pushing his copy over. "Here, let me take yours." He said. "Yours has a better cover anyway."



Schuyler picked up his book, inhaling its mildewy scent. She found the page where she had left off and began to read.



Boring old place, Mimi thought, as she followed Kingsley down the stairs into the Repository of History, The Committee's headquarters and the coven's main library located underneath Block 122, the superexclusive nightclub open to Blue Bloods and their guests only.



Kingsley had become a friend, someone who shared Mimi's sense of wickedness. The incident with the boy on the balcony had been the start of their alliance. Kingsley represented everything Mimi admired in a vampire--the desire to use power. Privately, she agreed with Kingsley: The Committee was much too cautious, and she chafed against its stringent rules. Why not use their strength to dominate humans? What good was reading someone's mind if you couldn't use it for material or emotional gain? Why not feed on more than one familiar at a time? Why not flaunt their superior status instead of trying to blend in with the mortal world?



He had asked her to come with him to the Repository so he could show her something cool, and he had disappeared into the stacks to find it.



She looked around the cavernous old room. Several pathetic humans, former Conduits no longer attached to vampire families, were working diligently in their carrels.



Mimi took a seat at one of the large reading tables in the middle of the room, drumming her fingers impatiently.



The soft sound of conversation drifted to her ears from behind a row of books.



"There's nothing about love in here, Jack," a girl was say- ing. "Maybe you're the one being absurd."



"Are you sure? You should look harder, maybe you're not reading it closely enough," he countered.



Mimi gritted her teeth. That was the Van Alen mouse again, talking to her brother. She stood up and cleared her throat, peering over the low shelves at the two of them.



Jack and Schuyler immediately moved away from each other.



"I'll, uh, see you later," Schuyler said, taking her books and walking over to a different desk, not realizing she still had his copy.



"Oh, hi," Jack said, turning in his seat to smile at his sister. "I didn't even know you knew the way to this place."



"Don't you underestimate me, Benjamin Force. For your information, I'm a huge reader," Mimi sniffed.



Jack grinned. Liar, he sent.



You're the liar, she sent back.



He made a conciliatory gesture. Forgive me.



Always. Mimi's face softened.



I'm off. I'll see you at home.



Bye.



Mimi watched him leave, but even with his gentle thoughts imprinted on her mind, she couldn't help but feel troubled. Why was Schuyler still a factor? There was something about that girl that was keeping her brother off balance, she could feel it. She could sense his desire to commit himself to their bond, but it was almost as if he were convincing himself to fall in love with her against his will. Why? It had never been like this before. In every cycle, the two of them had reaffirmed their bond without any complications.



For a moment, the supreme, smug self-confidence left Mimi's face, and she looked like a lost and scared little girl. What if he leaves me? What if he doesn't renew our bond when the time comes? What will happen to us?



Mimi shuddered as she thought of Allegra Van Alen, lying in her hospital bed, practically dead to the world.



She could not let that happen, to either of them.



"You look like you've seen a ghost," Kingsley said, setting a thick book in front of Mimi.



Mimi flashed him her most disarming smile. "I wish." She looked down at the leather-bound tome.



"What is that?"



"It's something we shouldn't be looking at. It's an old reference book of forbidden spells. You've heard about this Croatan thing, right--the Silver Bloods?" Kingsley asked.



"Yeah," Mimi said warily. "But they're not supposed to exist."



"Right," Kingsley smirked. "Only because they're not so obedient anymore."



"What do you mean?"



"Silver Bloods used to be the Blue Bloods' slaves. When we were doomed to spend our immortal lives on earth, those who still followed Lucifer were subdued by Michael and Gabrielle, for a time. We controlled them, but they rose up against us and stopped doing our bidding. They hunted us, we hunted them, the war raged on for centuries. Now supposedly they're gone. But there is a way to bring them back."



"What do you mean?" Mimi asked, thinking Kingsley was being way too cavalier about this sort of thing. The Silver Bloods weren't some kind of joke, after all. Most Blue Bloods couldn't even talk about it.



"Call one from the Dark. You know. Make it do whatever you want," Kingsley said.



"I don't know if I like the sound of that," Mimi said, shuddering. "Too serious for me."



"C'mon, I think it would be fun," Kingsley said. Kingsley used "fun" to describe all manner of mischief It was apparent that to him, a dark and dangerous old spell was equal to driving a Ferrari at two hundred and fifty miles an hour: probably not a great idea, but one that had to be undertaken just to say you had done it.



"Nah." Mimi shook her head. But even if she wasn't interested in that, there might be something else she could find in the book that might prove useful.



Materia acerbus. Dark matter.



She turned to the first page and began to read.