Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

Mimi opened her mouth to protest, but Lucifer stopped her. “I am not interested in explanations. However, I am more concerned with your ability to prove your devotion to me, personally. Barachiel, please leave us.”


Barachiel looked as if he were about to protest, but then smirked at Mimi and left the room quickly. What was all this about? It was true Lucifer had hinted that he’d be happy to take Jack’s place as her partner, should she desire it; and she did not. She would much rather French-kiss Barachiel if it came down to it.

Once, a long time ago, she had loved the Dark Prince as her king, her idol. Maybe the old Mimi—who had reigned as the queen of New York and thought nothing of loving and leaving—the Azrael who had brought armies of Heaven to their knees—would have sought Lucifer’s love. Would have welcomed it—would have relished being his bride for the power and the glory.

But that Azrael and that Mimi were long gone. Mimi had changed. Maybe it was due to centuries upon centuries of being cursed as a vampire—the many years living away from Paradise and the beauty of the eternal kingdom—but she was no longer the Dark Angel she once was. There was no longer any love in her immortal soul for the bright beautiful prince before her. She saw through his beauty, through his lies. He had brought the angels nothing but ruin and sorrow, she saw now. Evil was seductive and easy, and virtue was difficult and unappreciated.

If he desired her, she would fight him. She would never let him take her like a cheap whore to his bed. She would die before she gave up her body to his lust. But perhaps if he allowed her to be close enough to him, she could do what Michael had failed to do—she could destroy him.

“Yes, my lord?” she asked with her sweetest smile. “How can I please my lord and master?”

It appeared she was wrong about his intentions. Lucifer barely acknowledged the hidden invitation in her words. She studied his face more closely and realized his look of triumph was gone; she wondered if it had been a front for Jack and the other angels. Perhaps Schuyler was not the last barrier to their victory, after all.

“Is there a problem, my lord?” she asked. “Something you didn’t tell Abbadon and Danel?”

Lucifer frowned. “If they perform their task quickly and efficiently, then all should go as planned. But yes, there have been some…developments. Complications. Involving Araquiel, as a matter of fact. He remains a thorn in my side.”

Mimi didn’t like where this was going.

“His theft of the grail that you were supposed to steal would not present major problems for us were it not for the fact that he took something from me when he left the underworld.”

He couldn’t mean…there was no way…

“Araquiel has the godsfire in his possession,” Lucifer said. “And now he also has a grail, which means he has a weapon to counter ours. He can defend the Gate of Promise.”

Yes! Mimi had succeeded, then, in arming the Blue Bloods. Kingsley would defend the gate. She felt her love for him expand beyond her consciousness. They had hope yet.

“I am sending you aboveground to deal with him.”

“Deal with him? Has he expressed a willingness to negotiate?”

The Dark Prince laughed, a hollow, angry sound. “Negotiate? No, I mean you’re going to have to take care of him. Remove him from the equation. The vampires must not be allowed to use the godsfire. Do you understand me?”

She understood.

She had been given the same orders that Jack had received.

To kill her love.

Mimi wanted to laugh. She’d been so worried that by sending Danel to Jack, she’d made herself responsible for Lucifer’s having access to a chalice; now it turned out that by forcing Kingsley to steal the chalice from her, she’d set him up to die. At her hand, nonetheless.

“You will take this with you,” he said, gifting her with an emerald stone. Lucifer’s Bane. “It will allow me to see what you see, to hear what you hear. You will report to me directly on this mission. I cannot send any of the Dark Angels or demons with you, as Araquiel will recognize them for what they are. But you—as you must be aware—Araquiel always harbored an unrequited affection for you.”

Unrequited? Ha.

Lucifer smiled. “Perhaps you can use this infatuation to win his trust.”

Mimi returned the smile. Perhaps she could.

“If you fail me, Azrael, this stone you wear will destroy you and Abbadon both, as well as the lives of everyone around you.”

She was wearing a ticking time bomb around her neck.

“Azrael? Can I count on you?”

“Of course, my lord. Your will is my oath.” What else was there to say?





TWENTYSIX


Bliss