31	FRIENDS IN NEED

HER FOUR HUNDRED BALL was so much better, Mimi wanted to tell Kingsley, except he wasn’t next to her. He was somewhere in the shadows, hiding. They decided it was better for Kingsley to remain hidden for now, as no one in the Coven knew he was back from the underworld yet, and it was better to keep it that way. She walked alone through the crowd, letting the murmurs flutter around her.

That’s right, take a good long look. The bitch is back.

Mimi had decided to go the classic route and was delighted to find the dress she had worn to her first Four Hundred Ball was still in her storage closet. She’d had it aired out, dry-cleaned, and readied. The white dress made of the thinnest white silk satin fit as well as it had back then, and the keyhole opening at the hip was as sexy as ever. The white dress showed every curve of her body; when the light hit her, her form was shown in the blackened silhouette. She was covered but exposed, clothed but bare.

Kingsley’s eyes had almost fallen out of their sockets when he saw her in it. “Jesus, is that what you’re wearing? Where has that dress been in ten years?”

She smirked and pinched his cheek. “Let’s go, put your tongue back in your mouth.”

When they arrived she couldn’t help but notice that while the party was in full swing, there was a sense of anxiety running through the crowd. What were they all waiting for? The Regent, she supposed. They were nervous about the investiture. This was a big moment for the Coven. A new leader, a new king. But where was Oliver? She didn’t see him anywhere. He would probably be angry that Kingsley had kept this information from the Coven, but they would make him understand soon enough.

Mimi took a glass of champagne from a passing tray. Just because they were working didn’t mean they didn’t get to have fun. They had arrived right in time to catch the blood ceremony, it seemed, as the crowd began to gather around the stage in the middle of the room.

“I was wrong,” Chris Jackson said, noticing Mimi. “I thought for certain that something would happen at the ball, but it looks like I was wrong.” She looked relieved. “Long live the King.”

Mimi nodded. “Nice brooch,” she said. “A gift from your brother?”

Chris Jackson’s eyes watered and her face flushed. “As a matter of fact, yes. I know I should be ashamed of him, and I am. I’m more ashamed of what Forsyth did than you can imagine. But he was my brother. He was kind to me. And I miss him.”

“I understand,” she said. “But I’m still glad he’s dead.”

But at least it cleared up one suspicion. Chris Jackson was not the enemy.

Oliver walked up to the altar, slipping out from a hidden room. He looked somber and grave, but powerful. Different. He was a vampire now, immortal like her. His hazel eyes glinted in the darkness, and Mimi approved of his new haircut. There was nothing boyish about him anymore. He had grown up; he was a man now, a vampire.

He raised the cup to his lips.

Drank the Coven’s blood.

And it was done.

The lights came back on and Mimi exhaled. Chris was right. She, too, had been holding her breath and was glad that the investiture had gone off without a hitch. She startled as someone touched her arm, but it was only Kingsley, who had stepped out of the shadows to whisper in her ear. “Oliver’s in the greenroom, behind the stage. Let’s go.”

“Roger that.” She nodded.

He smiled. “Roger that?”

“I thought you’d like it. For old times’ sake.”

He took a good long look at her and smiled. “You look beautiful, darling.”

She cocked a hip and winked. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” Even though she was still a little mad at him, she couldn’t help flirting with him. He was her husband after all, and Kingsley looked deadly handsome in a tuxedo.

He leaned down, and she allowed him to brush the hair off her face and kiss her cheek. He was murmuring something in her ear when she saw them.

Two Venators looking right at them, and they were drawing their guns and heading their way.

“They’ve made us,” she told Kingsley, pushing him back and snapping his spellcloak into place. “Hide!”

Kingsley shrugged. “They won’t catch me. I’ll see you there.”

They separated and Mimi saw the Venators run after her husband. He was fast, though, and already cloaked. They wouldn’t find him. Mimi cloaked herself and ran through the party toward the room on the first floor that had been reserved for the Regent. The ceremony had been held in the middle of the vast lobby, and there was a hallway of doors behind a hidden wall just as Kingsley had told her, where Oliver had disappeared to.

Mimi was the first to see the blood seeping out from underneath the doorway. Goddamnit.

She looked up to see Kingsley arrive, breathless. They exchanged a stricken glance. Kingsley broke down the door. Inside the room they found Oliver slumped over the body of Finn, both of them covered in blood. They had come to warn Oliver about the danger and it was too late.

Mimi knelt to take Finn’s pulse. There was nothing. “She’s dead,” she told Kingsley, her eyes widening with shock. “And it looks like he killed her. What the fuck is going on?”

Oliver wasn’t a killer. He would never do this. He loved Finn; they knew he loved her.

Then she realized.

Some way, somehow, this was Lucifer’s doing. It had to be. Lucifer had made this happen.

“It wasn’t Ollie,” Mimi said. “Or if it was, he didn’t know what he was doing.”

“No, of course not,” Kingsley agreed. “She’s gone, and now he’s a dead man. If the Venators see this, they’ll come after him. He won’t be safe anywhere in the Coven.”

Mimi cursed. “What do we do?”

“Get him out of here before they find him like this, or they’ll burn him for sure,” Kingsley said. He knelt down and shook Oliver awake. “Oliver, get up. Oliver.”

Oliver blinked his eyes open and stared at them. “Kingsley? What are you doing here? What’s happened?”

In answer, Kingsley helped him up and let Mimi shoulder the weight. “You got him?”

She nodded.

“I’ll follow.”

Oliver looked at them bleary-eyed. Blood was dripping from his fangs onto his white tuxedo shirt. He certainly looked like a killer.

They heard footsteps, shouting in the hallway. The Venators. They had tracked them.

“GO!” Kingsley said. “I’ll deal with them.”

“But what about you?” she asked. Suddenly, she didn’t want to leave him. She was scared for him. Scared to leave him alone, without her protection. No matter how much he’d hurt her, he was still hers.

“Don’t worry about me,” Kingsley said. “You know I can take care of myself.” He pushed her away. “Hurry!”

Mimi half held, half pulled Oliver into the back corridor, thinking she would take him through the kitchens and out the back way, out of the party and out of the Coven before anyone could find out what had just happened.

“Mimi?” Oliver asked, finally opening his eyes. They strove to focus and make sense of the situation. “Mimi, is that really you? What are you doing here? In New York? And where’s Kingsley? Didn’t I see him just now?”

“Oliver, please, can you stand? Can you walk?” she asked, pulling him. “I can do it, but it would be easier if you could. Come on. We need to go.”

“Go? Where are we going? Where am I?” He looked around. “Wait—why are we in the kitchen?”

“I’m trying to get you out the back entrance, so that no one will see you.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re going to be looking for you in a second,” she said, hurriedly casting ignorance spells on the kitchen staff.

“Looking for me? But why?” He threw her off him, his face red, blood seeping from his fangs. “What’s happened? Where am I?”

“Oliver, calm down. We don’t have much time, and you’re in terrible danger, my friend.”

“Why? Where’s Finn?” he said, looking around. His shirt was covered in blood, her blood. Dark red blood all over his white shirt, except there was more of it than he had ever seen, so much more; he was sticky and wet with it. Her blood.

“MIMI, WHERE IS FINN?” he yelled.

Mimi looked stricken. She didn’t know what to say, but it was better to be blunt and let him have the truth rather than talk around it. Maybe if she told him the truth, he would hurry up and help her get him out of here. “Oliver, I’m sorry, but Finn is dead and the Venators are coming after you.”

He just stared at her. “What are you talking about? What—Why?”

“Because it looks like you killed her, you drank too much blood,” she said. “I’m so sorry, Oliver. I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to get you out of here. I’ll explain later, but if you don’t come with me now and the Venators find you, they’ll kill you on sight. On your orders.”