Mimi pouted. “Well, I guess we could do it in on the island,” she said, noticing that Schuyler and Bliss had just entered the room. Mimi sent a quick suggestion and caused Schuyler to suddenly trip. Ha. Someone sure wasn’t doing their occludo lessons. Schuyler’s mind was as open as a wound.
“You mean your dad’s place in Sandy Cay?” Lizbet asked. “That would be fabulous.” The Forces owned their own private island in the Bahamas. “Everyone could jet down for the weekend, and if they don’t have wings we could charter a plane. We just did that for Alex and Dani in Colombia.”
Mimi so did not want her bonding to be just like anyone else’s.
“What about Italy?” Lizbet suggested. “One of the ancestral palaces? You guys still have that place in Tuscany?”
“Um, no. Not Italy. Bad memories?” Mimi chided, glaring at the group that was staring at her. The chief warden and the rest of the senior committee had finally arrived, and lessons were about to commence.
“Right. Sorry.”
“You know,” Lizbet said thoughtfully, “with all the hoopla of everyone getting bonded everywhere, no one has done a five-star New York bonding in decades.”
“Here? Just at home?” Mimi frowned. That did not sound special at all.
Up front, Edmund Oelrich was shuffling papers at the podium and greeting the well-preserved women who made up the senior committee.
“Saint John the Divine is a fabulous Gothic cathedral. You could wear a train longer than Princess Di’s. And we could get the Boys Choir of Harlem. It would be properly angelic.”
Mimi considered the suggestion. It was indeed a beautiful church, she told Lizbet, and they could have the reception at the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum afterward. Charles was a museum trustee and had been particularly generous that year. She waved to Jack, who had just come in the door. Her brother joined her and gave a quick smile.
“Who are you talking to?” he mouthed.
“So, we’re on the same page here? Saint John’s? And then the Met?” Lizbet was asking. “And you did say you wanted to invite the whole Four Hundred, yes?”
“Done and done!” Mimi said with satisfaction. She put away her phone and smiled at her brother. Now that she knew his secret, she noticed that he looked everywhere in the room except toward the corner where Schuyler was sitting.
Schuyler’s sidekick, that equally annoying human Oliver, arrived soon after. That was another travesty—letting humans into their exclusive meetings. Charles would never have allowed it during his tenure. But Lawrence had made it clear he expected the Conduits to undergo their own training as well, and what better way to learn about their calling than to join the Committee.
Mimi sensed Jack tense by her side. Oliver had kissed Schuyler on the cheek. That was interesting. She used her vampire sense to zero in on Oliver’s neck. She spotted the telltale bite marks immediately. They were undetectable to the human eye, but glaring to the vampire sight. So. The little half-blood had made her best friend her familiar.
Well.
It gave Mimi an idea. If Schuyler wasn’t going to give up her pathetic little liaison with Jack, then maybe she could be forced to.
Oliver could prove useful.
Mimi would have to act fast. She’d told Lizbet she wanted her bonding to take place in three months.
NINETEEN
Unlike Mimi, Bliss enjoyed the Committee’s new agenda. She liked discovering and using her vampire abilities, instead of merely memorizing boring facts about their history, or stuffing envelopes and critiquing caterers for extravagant events that she didn’t look forward to attending. Lessons got her blood pumping. She was thrilled to find herself adept at some of the more difficult tasks, like the mutatio, for instance. The senior committee had asked the younger members to arrange themselves into groups of two or three while they practiced the delicate art of metamorphosis. “All vampires should be able to change into smoke, or air, or fog; although most of us can transform into fire and water as well. As you might be aware, The Conspiracy saw to it that the false legends about our people perpetuated in Red Blood history are based on a modicum of truth.” Dorothea Rockefeller, their guest lecturer, chuckled as she said this. The Conspiracy was a great source of amusement to the Committee.
“They also thought it might be suitable if the humans were led to believe that our kind can only transform into bats or rats or other creatures of the night. That way the Red Bloods would be lulled into a false sense of security during daylight hours. And while it is true that those of us who have the ability to shape-shift may choose these rather repulsive physical shapes, most of us do not. In fact, our lady Gabrielle chose a dove as her mutatus. If you are one of the few who can transform at will, you will find a shape that suits your abilities. Do not be surprised when it is one that you did not expect.”