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CHAPTER 11

Mimi

The four Venators made very little sound as they landed on the roof of the building Their footsteps could be s, or a few pebbles dislodged froht in Rio, and they were in the favela de Rocinha, systeh the population, block by block, street by street, dilapidated shack by dilapidated shack They were looking for anything, a scrap of ht on what had happened to Jordan and where she ht be

Mimi knew the drill so well she could do it in her sleep Or actually, their sleep Look at these Red Bloods, so cozy and secure in their sluht They had no idea that vah their dreaht as she entered the twilight world of the gloed with perception over tie of tiht recall his childhood as one filled withof playground bullies, but later have aof past injustices

The handmade clothes he had been forced to wear became a testan of her diligence instead of a brand of poverty He would re up late to help with the homework, the old man’s patience and dedication, instead of the sharpness of his temper when he returned home, late, from the factory

It went the other way as well Mimi had scanned thousands of ly and rude, Ro s boys who had becorew in attractiveness as the years passed, so that when asked if it was love at first sight, the wo pictures in whichwas constantly in flux They were stories people told thelom, the netherworld of memory and shadow, a space the vampires could access at will in order to read and controlinto a darkrooraphers developed their prints, sub them on nylon racks

Mimi remembered the darkroom at Duchesne, how she used to hide there with her fa the Technicolor world of school behind to enter a small, cramped space that was so dark she’d wonder for a second if she had gone blind But vampires could see in the dark, of course

Did they even have darkrooms anymore, other than in movies where they had to track down the serial killer? Miital cameras now Darkrooms were prehistoric Like handwritten letters and proper first dates

"Darkroorapher"

"But I will strike you," Mimi sent back

"Har-har"

"Go back to your patient You’re going to wake sley to pop into her head space The four Venators could sense each other, but they were supposed to be on separate channels, watching different dreams They had entered a woirls fro provinces paid a pittance for a bed

Mie as her, roughly, for this cycle: seventeen

The girl worked as a chambermaid in one of the hotels Mi the beds and clearing out the trash, vacuuuests left on the bedside tables Saw her waiting for her boyfriend, a bike er, after work at a small caf¨¦ Work, boyfriend, work, boyfriend What’s this? The hotelher take off her clothes Interesting But was it real?

Venator training uish fiction froirl really being abused by her boss or was she just fearful that it would happen? It looked like a fear drea her boss away, kicking hiirl would knohat to do now

"Call it Lennox One?" Kingsley’s voice echoed through the darkness

"Clear"

"Two?"

"Clear"

"Force?"

Miirl’s thoughts "Clear" She blinked her eyes open She was standing over the girl, as sleeping soundly under the covers Miht she had a small smile on her lips There is no need to be afraid, Mi she wants to do

"Right Move out" Kingsley led theh the unpaved roads and rickety steps leading farther into the tusa of s cut into theby overflowing garbage cans and piles of rotten junk

Not all that different froh it was a to see how closely people lived and hoisted their priorities were She had seen ho water or toilets, but whose living rooms boasted forty-two-inch flatscreen televisions and satellite dishes There were shiny Geres while the children ithout shoes

Speaking of children: she heard them before she saw the them around all week Their dirty faces streaked with tar, their ragged clothes bearing faded Anias, their hands outstretched, pal upward, empty It reminded her of a public-service announces: "It’s ten pm Do you knohere your children are?"

"Senhora Bonita, Senhora Bonita," they chanted, their bare feet slapping on the wet path

"Shoo?" Mi for you today Nada para voce Deixe-ave her a headache She wasn’t responsible for these people, for these children She was a Venator on official business, not son Besides, this was Brazil, a developing country There were places around the globe that were far more desperate Really, the little urchins didn’t kno lucky they were

"Senhora, senhora" The little one, a cherub in a stained undershirt, dark curls bobbing, had grabbed the back of her shirt Like the other Venators, Mi a black polyver coat and waterproof nylon pants, standard-issue wear She’d refused to wear the clunky boots (they h-heeled pony-hair boots again "Oh, all right," Mimi said It was her fault the kids were around them

For as much as she tried to harden her heart, to remain impassive and stoic and indifferent in the face of truly appalling poverty, mimi considered her standard rooh, ’she found that whenever the children crowded around her, she always had soive them

A piece of candy A dollar (Yesterday ten dollars each) A chocolate bar So The children called her The Beautiful Lady, Senhora Bonita

"Nothing for you today! Really! I’m out!" she protested

"They’ll never believe you Not since you caved the first day," Kingsley said, looking aru into her backpack The four of theusley could always be counted on to pay for deep-fried kibe snacks froirl with the curls waited patiently as Miift shop thatespecially for her The stuffed ani She wished the gentle choith her, but need for the canine familiar’s protection lessened in the later years of the transformation "Here And this is for all of you to share," she said, handing over a huge box of bonbons "Now go?"

"Obrigado! Obrigado, Senhora!" they yelled as they ran aith their booty

"You like thesley said with a twisted half s because it made him even more handsome than he needed to be

"No way" She shook her head, nottoo much of the super-sweet Mexican Coca-Cola they had down here Or maybe she was just tired, alone, and far from home Because somewhere in the brittle, concrete center of Azrael’s dark heart, so

"You ates about the Van Alen legacy and the paths of the dead"

Those were her grandfather’s last words

But Charles Force was gone when Schuyler returned to New York Oliver had found out through his contacts at the Repository that Charles had embarked on his usual amble across the park one afternoon but had never cois had left no note, no explanation Apparently, he had left everything a mess

The Force corporation had lost half its value in the stock market crash, and the board was up in ar and there was no captain steering the ship

But soht, and oneshe waylaid Trinity Force at the salon where she had her hair highlighted The leading social doyenne of New York rapped in a silk robe, sitting under a heat lamp

"I take it you’ve heard the news," Trinity said dryly, putting down her azine as Schuyler took the seat next to her "Charles ood reasons for his actions I only wish he would have shared them with me"

Schuyler told her about Lawrence’s last words on the ht on his acy," Trinity said, staring at herself in theher foils "Whatever it is, Charles turned his back on everything that had to do with his ’fa in the past, as he always had"

"But Lawrence insisted that Charles was the key"

"Lawrence is finished" The way Trinity said it, it sounded as if Lawrence were an actor who had merely finished his role in a play Not passed away Not dead Not gone forever

Finished

There was another thing, sorandfather had said that Schuyler wanted confir about it, but she had to ask "He also said that I have a sister, and that she will be that she will be our death" Schuyler felt silly repeating such a dramatic statement "I have a sister?"

Trinity did not answer for a long ti with their stylists filled the silence When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet and guarded "In the sense that yourbefore you were born, in a different cycle, in a different century And the girl was taken care of Lawrence and Charles saw to that Lawrence One reason he went into exile was that he never gave up on his fantasies He was dying, Schuyler, and you will have to understand he was grasping at straws, trying to tie up loose ends He probably wasn’t even in his right mind"

So Lawrence had told the truth She had a sister Who? When? She was already dead? Taken care of , what did that mean?

But Trinity refused to elaborate further "I have already told you too much," she said with a frown

"The Conclave has asked me to testify tomorrow about what happened in Rio Will you be there?" Schuyler asked a little wistfully It suddenly struck her how much she needed a mother in her life Trinity had never tried to fill that role, but she had a pragmatic no-nonsense way about her that re

"I am sorry, Schuyler, but I won’t be able to coreed take over their financial systeated to the board to do what little I can to staunch the bloodbath I leave for Washington tonight"

"It’s all right" Schuyler hadn’t expected anything else

"And, Schuyler?" Trinity looked at her keenly, as a hter "since your return, your room has been empty"