Gates of Paradise
Page 31

Chapter Sixty-Five
Schuyler
chuyler couldn't stop staring at the boy in the library. It couldn't be, could it? It couldn't be him. He looked different somehow, even if the physical attributes were the same: the golden hair, the sloe-eyed green eyes. But it was impossible. He was dead. It had been three years already, but it was as if it had happened yesterday.
The boy looked up from his book and caught her eye.
She put down her books. "I'm sorry to bother you, but..." she started.
"Yes?" he asked.
"It's just...you look like someone I used to know."
"Do I?" His lips were pressed together, almost as if he were trying to keep from laughing.
It was impossible, and yet..."It's you, isn't it?" she asked.
Jack Force smiled. For it was him, and Schuyler wondered why she had not seen it from the beginning. But it was as if a veil had been lifted, and she could see him clearly now.
She wanted to throw her arms around him, to embrace him right there in the middle of the library, in front of everyone. But she was too afraid that it wasn't real, that maybe she was hallucinating. It was just too good to be true, and she could not bring herself to believe it.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
"Right here, always," he said.
And now her heart was bursting in her chest, and she felt as if she could not breathe. Jack. Alive. She felt as if she could not breathe from so much joy.
"Come on," he said, and led her outside to a park bench, their books forgotten.
"Hey," he said, taking her hand.
He pulled her toward him and held her close. Schuyler was trembling all over. She wanted to cry, but she was too happy. She kept her hand on his, gripping it tightly, unable to believe what was right in front of her.
"How?" she asked. "I don't understand. But really, where have you been all this time?"
"Looking for you," he said. "I was gone, and when I woke up I was on the side of a road. Someone stopped and picked me up and took me to a hospital. I had no idea who I was. But it came back to me, slowly."
"I saw you die."
"I did," he said. "But like all the vampires, I was given a choice, and I chose to return. I've been looking for you ever since."
"I was right here, all this time, waiting," she said.
She had led the Fallen back to Paradise, and in the Garden of Eden, the vampires had been forgiven. The curse was lifted, and the lost children of the Almighty were given a choice. They could ascend into Heaven, or return to mid-world and continue their immortal life. But the path back home would always be open to them when they tired of their life aboveground. Paradise would welcome the just and the good among them, as it was for the Red Bloods. Redemption was in their hands now. Salvation an individual choice.
Most of the Fallen had chosen to go back home to the Garden they had lost so long ago. But Schuyler had decided to return.
She was half human. She still had family and friends, and she couldn't imagine that Paradise would bring anything but sorrow without her love.
She brought Jack's warm hand to her cheek and saw that he was still wearing his bonding ring on his left finger. Just as she wore hers. Their matching rings glinted in the sunlight.
"What happens now?" Schuyler asked. But somehow, she knew. They were together. They would have children one day. She was half mortal; she was blessed with the gift of procreation. Children. Hope. Blessings. There was so much to look forward to.
In truth, this was just the beginning of their story.
Then finally, they were kissing, and his mouth was on hers, and she felt his arms encircle her waist and she was sitting on his lap, and he was holding her and kissing her and she was kissing him back, and his head was against her chest and she ran her fingers against his soft hair.
Jack had returned to her. Jack was alive.
"I didn't know," she said. "I missed you so much. I didn't know you would come back to me. I thought you were lost forever."
"You made a sacrifice," Jack said. "And Heaven rewarded you."
Chapter Sixty-Six
Regent and Conduit
liver Hazard-Perry watched as the Conduits made the final adjustments - wiping a surface here, adjusting a picture frame there. It had taken three long years to rebuild the Repository, but it was finally done. The gleaming shelves were once again stocked with the books and documents of the real history of the world, and the Conduits were busy updating files, keeping track of every remaining member of the Coven.
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