The Gates of Paradise Read online

  Oliver understood the choice that Schuyler and Jack had made to keep away. They craved a normal life. After Schuyler graduated, they had told him of their plans to settle in California, near her grandmother. They sounded happy and content, and Oliver was happy for them. He was happy for all of them—Mimi and Kingsley, Bliss and Lawson, his friends and equals.

  But there was business to attend to, Committee meetings to discuss, regulations to be enforced; new Venators needed to be trained to fill the ranks. The Coven had to be rebuilt for those who chose to stay.

  Oliver was glad that his studies at Columbia did not interfere with his work. He needed to be here, in New York, near headquarters. There was so much work to do—so much to clean up. There were still Nephilim around, and the Gates of Hell, while secure, would need to be guarded once more. The Praetorian Guard would keep the Passages of Time safe from harm, and Kingsley and Mimi would keep an eye on the underworld.

  Oliver still could not believe his luck. He had knelt at the foot of the Almighty. What reward did Oliver seek? He had asked for the dearest wish he’d nurtured since he was a child, and it was done.

  “How’s it going?” a voice asked.

  He looked up and smiled.

  Finn Chase stood with a hand on a cocked hip. She was so beautiful, and her blue eyes sparkled with life and merriment. She had moved to New York for work, since Oliver had offered her a job.

  He nodded. “We’re almost there. We’ll reopen on schedule.”

  “Good,” she said, sitting on his desk. “Do we have time?” she asked. “Before?”

  He smiled. “We have all the time in the world.”

  Then he took her in his arms and inhaled her sweet scent, and she swooned against his body.

  He bared his fangs—those needlepoint incisors—and sank them into her neck, and drank deeply of her blood.

  She was his, body and soul. Her blood sustained him, and together they would forge a new path.

  They were together.

  Vampire and familiar.

  Regent and Conduit.

  Until…

  THE END

  Acknowledgments

  The Blue Bloods series changed my life—and words cannot express how grateful I am to the people who brought it to life and to the people who welcomed my characters to their lives.

  But I’ll try.

  The folks at Disney•Hyperion have believed in the book since the beginning, when the Mayflower sailed off with vampires on board. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in its long gestation.

  The superstar Blue Bloods Team at Hyperion: Suzanne Murphy, Stephanie Lurie, Jeanne Mosure, Nellie Kurtzman, Jennifer Corcoran, Andrew Sansone, Ann Dye, Dave Epstein, Simon Tasker, Elena Blanco, Kim Kneuppel, Tanya Stone, Laura Schreiber, Drew Richardson, and Mark Amundsen. Thanks to the fabulous home office team: Kady Weatherford and Michelle Falkoff.

  Special thanks to my lovely and wise editors over the years: Brenda Bowen, Helen Perelman, Jennifer Besser, and Christian Trimmer. Much love to my current editor: Emily Meehan. Lifesaver and editrix extraordinaire. Thanks for your patience and brilliance, Em!

  Thanks to my agent: Richard Abate. Friend, confidant, partner-in-crime. More than a decade’s worth of madness!

  Thank you to all my foreign publishers, especially Samantha Smith in the UK, Shane Cassim in France, and France Desroches in Montreal.

  Thank you to my foreign agents: Melissa Chinchillo and Mink Choi.

  Thanks to my family: All the DLCs and Johnstons. Especially the immediates: Mom, Aina, Steve, Nicholas, Josey, Chit, and Christina. We miss you, Pop.

  Big kisses and hugs to my dear friends in life and letters: Ally Carter, Rachel Cohn, Deborah Harkness, Alyson Noel, and Carrie Ryan for their support, encouragement, sympathy, and good humor. Very special thanks to my fellow hard-living chocolate-eating, wine-water-drinking denizens of the writer’s cave (LindaVista and DeadlineKona): Pseudonymous Bosch and Margie Stohl, who fixed the snags in this manuscript and brought in the rescue boat when I got stuck.

  Most of all, thanks to my husband, Michael Johnston. Co-creator, ally, and soul mate. And my daughter, Mattie Mat: Everything is for you.

  My dearest readers: Thank you for your love of the story and the characters. I hope I did well by you. You guys were an inspiration and a motivation. Thank you for everything.

  Melissa de la Cruz

  The Blue Bloods Series

  December 22, 2004–July 23, 2012