Gates of Paradise (a Blue Bloods Novel)

They got up and surveyed the remnants of the scene. Many had fallen. Of the Venators, both Sam and Deming had lost their twin. Many wolves had lost their lives. There was grief and there was sorrow, but there was also hope. They had fought and won. Heaven was secure. Lucifer vanquished.

“Why do I feel so alone?” Azrael said. The bond was broken. She was empty. Her twin, her star, her brother, her enemy, her love, gone. She wept for Abbadon.

“Never,” Araquiel said. “You will never be alone again. Not if I have anything to say about it.”





SIXTYONE


Schuyler


here was someone helping her up, and at first she thought it was Jack. But when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was not.

Michael stood before her. The immortal angel had returned from the prison of the White Darkness, from the Hell that he had created for himself, from the darkness of his failure. Her father was white and pure. The pure light of Heaven shone from his eyes.

He smiled at her gently.

“My daughter,” he said. “I am so very proud of you.”

There was someone with him.

Gabrielle. Eternal angel. Her mother. She was so much more beautiful than she had ever been. She had returned to her full glory, to her full magnificence. So this was the Uncorrupted. Schuyler now understood what that meant.

Free of sin.

Full of joy.

Beauty and light.

There was someone with them. Schuyler’s father. Bendix Chase. He looked strangely inconsequential next to the two golden angels, but Schuyler saw his kind blue eyes and she was glad. The three of them smiled at her.

But there were so many more. Lawrence was there as well, and Cordelia; Kingsley and Mimi, Bliss and Lawson. Oliver. Dylan. Jane. So many of them looking at her, watching, waiting.

“What now?” she asked.

Then she saw that the gate had opened, that the way before them was filled with light.

“Lead us,” Gabrielle said, pointing to the path. “We will follow.”

It is said among our people that Gabrielle’s daughter will bring us the salvation we seek.

The Redemption of the Fallen had begun.





AFTER





ABSOLUTE

BEGINNERS




As long as we’re together,

The rest can go to hell.

—David Bowie, “Absolute Beginners”





SIXTYTWO


Schuyler


chuyler had chosen to go to college about as far away from New York City as she could while still remaining in the contiguous United States. The campus was beautiful, dotted with palm trees and reddish-tinted buildings made of stucco. She had joked with Oliver that it felt more like going to a country club than a university, as there was even a man-made lake for sailing lessons.

Three years had passed since the final battle. It was the first week of May, and Schuyler’s friends were making plans for the summer—traveling scholarships, working internships; everyone ready to leave, ready to go. Schuyler was sitting on the grass with them, watching their animated faces, laughing at their jokes, but when they asked about her plans she shrugged.

She thought she could stay right here for as long as possible—watch the days get longer and the nights shorter, enjoy being young for as long as she could, even as she had celebrated her twenty-first birthday that September.

A breeze blew, and she gathered her things and hopped onto her bike, thinking she would stop by the library to pick up a few books for research on her thesis. She had finally decided on a major—had been tempted to follow her sister’s path, but decided it was ultimately not for her, to Finn’s disappointment. While she was drawn to art, she wasn’t passionate enough to study it seriously.

Finn had moved to New York for work, and it was her cherished dream that the two of them could share an apartment in the city one day. But as much as Schuyler missed her sister and the city, she was enjoying being far away from so many memories. It was too soon. Schuyler enjoyed her anonymity in California. No one knew who she was, no one asked her questions about her past.

Lawrence had always advocated finding and fulfilling a passionate interest: Do not waste your life on drudgery, he had told her during those endless lessons.

So she had chosen a subject that fascinated her: History. Because it was said that those who did not study it were doomed to repeat it, and after what she had been through, that seemed reason enough to choose it.

She parked her bicycle and walked into the library, to her usual carrel, but discovered the librarian had given away her reservation to someone else by mistake. Schuyler sighed and settled at one of the big long tables in the middle of the library, where several students worked side by side.

She’d barely spread out her books when she noticed someone reading across from her. A boy. He looked so familiar.

He was reading about Roanoke.





SIXTYTHREE


Mimi


n all her lifetimes, Mimi Force had always had the perfect bonding. The perfect dress, the perfect venue, the perfect party.

This was unlike any bonding she had ever attended.

For one thing, it was in the underworld.