Mimi decided that when she came into her massive inheritance, and she and Jack bought their own place at 740 Park, she would hire the same decorator.
A few minutes later, Trinity entered the room holding two long ebony boxes embossed with gold filigree. Mimi’s senses shifted, her memories racing, and she suddenly knew why they were there. “But where’s Charles?” she cried. “We can’t do this without him, can we?”
“I tried, my dear. But he won’t leave his study. He’s just . . .” Trinity shook her shoulders ever so slightly. Mimi understood that her mother adhered to a rigid code of etiquette. As distressed as she might be about her husband’s condition, she would never admit to it or show any outward display of exasperation. She was a woman who was fundamentally unequipped to make a scene.
Charles’s deterioration since losing his position as Regis of the Coven was something that the Forces never spoke about. It baffled and troubled them, but there was nothing they could do about it. They assumed Charles would simply snap out of it one day. Meanwhile, the company and all its holdings was run by a highly efficient board of directors, who had stopped inquiring as to whether their chairman and founder would ever attend another meeting.
“It’s all right,” Jack assured his twin. He too knew what was about to happen and couldn’t disguise the excitement in his voice. “We don’t need him.”
“Are you sure?” Mimi asked, looking disappointed. “But without the Archangel’s blessing . . .”
“They will be just as deadly,” Jack soothed. “Nothing can change their power. Their power comes from the two of us.” He nodded to Trinity. “Shall we begin, Mother?”
In answer, Trinity bowed her head. “I shall be honored to perform the rite.” She closed the door quietly and dimmed the overhead lights. The boxes on the coffee table emanated a soft, hazy glow.
“I regret my hastiness in judging the precipitancy of your bonding. I was wrong, forgive me. It is perhaps only that I am saddened that I myself can no longer be bonded to my twin.”
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.