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She told him, and Storm could not believe what he was hearing. It was outrageous. He should have known better than to think she would come up with something within the realms of normality. Reasonable, he had hoped for. Logical at the very least.
“This is not going to work,” he said.
“You’re damn right it is!” she said with a wicked grin. “Trust me.”
Chapter 25
DIANA
Storm drove us to the Ronin house, where we had to park some distance up the driveway given the number of cars already present. As we arrived at the front door, I shoved myself bodily in front of the Storm. “I am going to do the speaking,” I insisted for the dozenth time.
“It would be better coming from me,” he said. “They won’t believe it coming from you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure that you bring your Agency boss-man gravitas and all that, but as far as I’m aware, you are not immune to their mesmerism and I am. So it’s best if I speak and you glower attractively at my side as if you’re giving me your full support.”
“How are you even sure you’re immune to their mesmerism? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is this some kind of magic from your wizard friend, and if he’s dabbling in these untested areas, how do you know you can tru
st it?”
“Never you mind what it is. Just follow my lead. I’ve got this.”
“You’d better have this. The vampire council people are going to be furious that we have come here again. This is going to get the team fired for sure. If you have any doubts at all, now is the time to say it.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” I didn’t need his reminder that if this went wrong the whole team would be fired. It had been worrying me quite a lot, but I didn’t want to let on to Storm. We both needed to appear absolutely confident and sure of ourselves in front of the Ronins if this was going to work.
We both stopped speaking as the front door opened, and a servant let us in. “The mistress is expecting you,” she said.
We had called ahead this time, just thirty minutes ago to catch them off guard. Storm had told Audriett Ronin that he had official Agency business to discuss with all of the members of her family.. She had retorted that tonight was inconvenient, given that she was hosting a soiree for business acquaintances. This had been part of my plan, of course. The one thing I had learned was that the Ronins valued their pride. They would not want us to make a scene in front of all of their guests, and they probably wouldn’t kill us in front of their guests either. Storm had not given Audriett at a choice. He had said we would arrive at 9:30 pm precisely, and here we were as planned.
By the number of sleek and expensive cars parked in their driveway, the soiree was well underway.
The servant tried to lead us in the opposite direction to the rose garden cavern where the soiree was taking place, but I refused to follow her and headed straight for the cavern. She cried out in dismay, trying to stop me, but she seemed hesitant to actually touch me, no doubt having heard that I was the one who had skewered Marielle with a magical sword that had appeared out of thin air.
We could hear music playing as we approached the cavern, and the sounds of many voices. Perhaps another servant had scurried ahead to warn Audriett, because she stalked out of the cavern to intercept us before we could disturb her party. She was closely followed by Marielle and Rodrigge. The two women were dressed in sweeping floor-length evening gowns that looked worth my annual salary. Rodrigge’s tuxedo did nothing to improve his usual slimy, greasy-haired self. I really could not imagine what the gorgeous Marielle saw in him.
Marielle was eying Storm up with great interest. Rodrigge was sulking at her side.
“I cannot allow you to disturb my guests,” said Audriett in a perfectly pleasant tone. “If you’ll follow me…” She tried to lead us away to a private room, but I refused to move.
“Here it’s fine.” I said.
Here was the perfect spot; it was near enough to the vicinity of her guests to make the vampires feel uncomfortable and far enough away that the guests would not overhear our conversation.
Audriett shooed her servant away, her smile still pasted on her face, as this is if this was an entirely ordinary situation. When the servant was gone, leaving the five of us alone, she said, “How can we help you?”
“Some new information has come to light about the Leonie Ashbeck murder case,” I said. “And we needed to speak with you about it immediately.”
Behind Audriett, Marielle was glaring at me. She looked like she would happily leap onto me and rip my throat out like she had tried the other night. Clearly her encounter with my sword had not dampened her desire for my blood. It felt good to have Storm’s large comforting presence at my back. Storm was fully armed, of course. It would have been interesting to see a supposedly especially powerful angelus like him battle it out with a vampire, but I had no intention of letting it come to that.
The next part of what I planned to say was going to be tricky. I had been up all night tormenting myself with how I was going to make this little confrontation work, and got absolutely nowhere. No fresh ideas had magically appeared in my mind. This morning, with the long hours of today spread before me and nothing to do but agonize about how I was going to wing this conversation with the Ronins, I had resorted to passing time by watching some TV shows. It must have been fate, or perhaps my psychic skills had led me towards the exact right show, because something I had seen in one of them had given me the flash of inspiration that had made a very important piece of the puzzle drop into place. And now I just had to hope that the conclusion that I had reached was the correct one.
“This would really be best if your husband joined us,” I said to Audriett.
“I have already informed you that Gaius is in seclusion,” she replied coolly.
Marielle spoke up in a sly voice. “Audriett, perhaps Gaius would be the best person to handle—”
“Quiet,” Audriett snapped at her.
