Mimi knew Trinity's story. Trinity was Sandalphon, the Angel of Silence. She had lost her twin to the Silver Bloods during the battle in Rome. Trinity had married Charles only in the Red Blood sense when his twin, Allegra, had broken their bond. It was a marriage of convenience, nothing more. Trinity mourned the angel Salgiel's passing still.
Trinity opened the cases. Nestled inside were two swords holstered in jeweled scabbards. Swords that would be worn underneath their garments at the bonding. Swords that they would now be allowed to use in the fight against the Croatan.
She picked up the first sword still in its scabbard and turned to Jack. "Kneel, Abbadon."
Jack stood up from his chair and walked to stand in front of Trinity. He knelt before her, his head bowed low.
Trinity raised the sword above her head. "With the authority of the Heavens vested in me, I, Sandalphon, confer upon you all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto as the true owner of Eversor Orbis."
World-Breaker.
She then tapped Jack's right and left shoulder with the sword. "Rise, Abbadon of the Dark."
Jack rose with a grim smile on his face as he accepted his sword. Trinity smiled proudly. Then she turned to Mimi.
"Kneel, Azrael."
Mimi took a moment to get in position, due to her high heels. Trinity picked up the second sword and once again raised it over her head.
"With the authority of the Heavens vested in me, I, Sandalphon, confer upon you all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto as the true owner of Eversor Lumen."
Light-Destroyer.
Mimi felt the sword tap her lightly on both shoulders. Then she stood up with a broad smile on her face. She turned to Jack, who nodded. Together the twins unsheathed their swords and lifted them aloft, pointing them to the Heavens.
"We accept these weapons as our divine right. Forged in Heaven, cast on Earth, they are our attendants in our search for Redemption."
Trinity joined them as they finished the litany of the Swords.
"Use them only in direst need.
"Keep them hidden from foes.
"Strike only to kill."
While they had received their swords at every bonding over the centuries, they had not been truly unsheathed in millennia. The Silver Bloods had been vanquished, or so they had believed. Mimi looked with wonder at the shining weapon in her hand. She remembered its weight and the sharpness of its blade. Remembered the terror it had once wrought in her enemies.
She noticed how Abbadon was holding his delicately, lovingly. One's sword was an extension of one's self. Unique, irreplaceable, unforgettable. Vampire swords changed shape and color and size. When needed they could become as wide as axes or as narrow as needles.
At the bonding, she would wear it on her hip, under the silk petticoats that would give her dress its shape.
Trinity turned the lights back to their full brightness. "All right, then." She nodded as if they had just finished talking about something small and trivial instead of having completed something wondrous and life-changing. In the afternoon light, with the sound of taxicabs zooming down the avenues and the metallic beeps from Trinity's fax machine (receiving yet another copy of a press clip in which she had been written up), it was hard to imagine the world as full of primitive, hidden dangers. How to reconcile a world with instant-messaging and twenty-four-hour news channels with the world of steel and blood.
But that is what their people did: they evolved, they adapted, they survived.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Jack asked, as they took leave of their mother and went their separate ways.
"You betcha." Mimi nodded, tucking the ebony case under her arm. She ran up to her room and shoved it in the back of her closet behind a rack of shoes.
She was late for Pilates. If she was going to be the most beautiful bride the Coven had ever seen, she'd better haul ass to her trainer's studio right away. She had arms to sculpt.
Cordelia Van Alen Personal File
Repository of History
CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT:
Altithronus Clearance Only
May 9, 1995
Dear Forsyth,
As you know, I have deeply appreciated your steadfast loyalty and friendship to the Van Alen family. It troubles me that we have been estranged of late due to your decision to run and hold a Red Blood office in direct violation of The Code. While I am not convinced you made the right choice, I respect it.
I am writing to beseech you to change your mind concerning your decision not to bring the new spirit of the Watcher into your family.
I must insist that you reconsider. We need vigilance more than ever, and the wisdom of the Watcher to guide us on our way. I fear Charles and his arrogance will bring nothing but doom to our people. Forsyth, I appeal to your friendship. Take the Watcher and your family. As a safeguard against the forces of the Dark.
Your friend, Cordelia Van Alen
Transitions Residential Treatment Center was located in a sprawling multi-building campus in upstate New York. Oliver had offered to drive Bliss and Schuyler, since he had recently gotten his license along with a hot new Mercedes G500. The boxy custom-made silver SUV was his latest source of pride.
Schuyler was glad to get away. She'd been feeling guilty about what had happened to Dylan, how much they'd failed him by neglecting to alert the Conclave about his condition as soon as possible. Hopefully the Elders would know the best course of action. Bliss told them her father assured her that Dylan would come to no harm at their hands and would be given the best treatment possible, but she wanted to see it with her own eyes—they all did.
In the backseat, Bliss fluctuated between being kind of bummed and being a little too cheerfully manic, Schuyler noticed. She'd been morose and silent when they left, probably worried about Dylan and what condition they would find him in, and Schuyler was glad when halfway through the trip out of the city Bliss perked up and began to jabber energetically over the GPS.
"Peanut M&M's?" Bliss offered, leaning over with a large open yellow bag.
"No thanks," Oliver said, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Sure," Schuyler agreed. It was funny how the Committee couldn't predict everything: even though they were vampires they hadn't lost their taste for candy.
It was pleasant to leave Duchesne, if only for a day. Everyone at school knew all the details of Mimi and Jack's upcoming bonding already (or at least the Blue Bloods did) and couldn't stop talking about it. The others just thought the Forces were throwing a fabulous party that they weren't invited to again, and in a way their assumption was correct. Schuyler was sick of hearing about Mimi's dress and how this bonding compared to all the past ones in their shared history. Piper Crandall constantly reminded everyone that she had been a bondsmaid for Mimi three times already.
It was depressing to think that Jack and Mimi had been together for such an incomprehensibly long time. She almost couldn't believe it and didn't want to think about it right then, and busied herself by playing with all the buttons on the shiny new dashboard computer. "Dude, this is like, the most luxurious army vehicle in the world. Check this out! This is the button that launches the M-15s," she joked.
"Careful, that's the red button that destroys the world," Oliver said gamely, following the GPS's robotic instructions as he steered the car over the George Washington Bridge. Traffic was light on the highway.
It was the first time they'd cut school all semester. Duchesne students were allowed several cuts per year; the school was so progressive that even rebellion was written into the curriculum. Some kids, like Mimi Force, pushed this policy to its limits, but most didn't even take advantage of it. The school was filled with overachieving strivers who would sooner stay in class than blow a chance at getting into an Ivy. Every day counted.