Psychic for Hire Series Box Set

by Hermione Stark

  “What do you mean missing?” he asked again, his voice gone steely.

  “Missing, presumed dead,” she replied, giving him no mercy.

  “But you don’t think she’s dead?” he said urgently. “You wouldn’t be looking for her if she was dead. You never said you were looking for a murderer.”

  “Why do you think she’s been murdered?” Diana asked sharply.

  “Because… because why else are you here?”

  She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Dead or alive, I need to close this case,” she said.

  But he could tell that really she did care. She wanted to find Zezi alive, and that was all Finch needed to know about her.

  She was looking at him as if she still hadn’t decided whether she trusted him or not. She reached out and touched the back of his hand, which startled him. Quickly, he pulled it away. She grabbed hold of it again, and said, “What do you know about the Petrichor Club?”

  “Nothing!” He yanked his hand away and put it behind him where she couldn’t get it again. He really, really did not want this Diana girl to touch him. Clearly she had done it on purpose. What had she been doing? Taking his pulse? Or was she using some magic to be able to tell if he was lying? Some magic that might tell her more about him than he wanted her to know?

  She seemed satisfied with his answer because she didn’t try to grab hold of him again.

  “What is this Petrichor Club?” he asked.

  She shrugged noncommittally. “A friend of Zezi’s mentioned she had hung out there.”

  The cowboy suddenly spoke up in a slow drawl. “Boss’s sister-in-law goes there at times,” he said.

  This immediately got Diana’s attention because she leaned forward to listen to him over the sound of the wind and his overly loud music. “Steffane Ronin’s sister in law?”

  The cowboy nodded. “Marielle Zamas Ronin. She’s married to Rodrigge, boss’s brother.”

  “The older brother, right?” Diana asked.

  The names rang a bell. Finch had heard them before. He leaned forward to join in the conversation. “Are you talking about the vampire Ronins?”

  The cowboy nodded.

  “I met Marielle Zamas already,” Diana said. “She said she’d keep an ear out at the club in case anyone had remembered seeing Zezi there.”

  “But she’s a vampire!” Finch burst out. “You can’t trust a vampire!”

  “Like you can’t trust a goblin?” said Diana with her eyebrows raised.

  “That’s different!” Finch insisted. “Vampires are… worse.”

  “And anyway,” said Diana. “Zezi said in her letters that she was working for your kind of people. So it’s not vampires that I’m interested in when it comes to Zezi.”

  “Did she say goblin specifically?” Finch demanded.

  “No. But that’s what she must’ve meant. She knew you were a goblin, right?”

  “She could have meant anything. To her, and to any human, when they say my kind of people they just mean otherkind in general. Which includes vampires.”

  Diana looked thoughtful. She nodded her head as if this might be something of interest, but there was no sense of urgency in her reaction, which frustrated Finch.

  “So are you going to question this Marielle woman about Zezi or not?” he demanded. “Are you going there now? To see these Ronins?”

  “None of your business.”

  “Zezi is my business. I’m coming with you.”

  Diana scoffed. She insisted that Finch needed to stay out of her business. Finch refused to back down. What the hell did she think he was going to do now? Go home and watch TV while this girl, who looked far too young to work for the Agency, was the only person in the world searching for Zezi? His Zezi. He did not think so!

  He reasoned that there was no way she was going to be able to go into a vampire’s nest by herself. She smirked and told him that she had her means. In the end, when the car pulled up outside of the Ronin house, Finch simply followed her up the drive to the front door. It wasn’t like she could stop him.

  Finally, she turn to him and scowled. “What do you think you’re playing at? This isn’t a game. I’m here investigating a case that has nothing to do with Zezi. And vampires are dangerous if you hadn’t noticed. So scoot off, little man. I don’t want you here.”

  “I know exactly how dangerous vampires are,” he retorted. “It looks to me like you’re the one who doesn’t. And you’ll need my help if anything goes wrong in there. Trust me.”

  There was no time to resolve their spat. The front door opened, and a forbidding looking woman glowered out at them. She was tall and broad and dressed in a prim uniform that screamed housekeeper, and clearly she was a human given that she wasn’t flinching away from the daylight.

  “How dare you disturb the sanctum of my mistress?” the woman demanded. “Be gone!”

  Diana look unimpressed. She took out her badge and flashed it at the woman. “I’m here on official business, and don’t bother to tell me that your employers are not home, given that it’s daylight outside.”

  She charged in, before the astonished housekeeper could stop her. Finch darted in after her with his customary swiftness. The housekeeper’s face went red. She looked immensely irate, as if she was about to grab Diana and Finch by the scruffs of their necks and throw them bodily outside. She was big enough to do it too.

  But then a sonorous voice emerged seemingly from the bowels of the house. “Bring them here, servant. At once!”

  It was a male voice, languorous and commanding, and incredibly rude given that he hadn’t bothered to address his servant by name. Finch hated the owner of the voice already and he hadn’t even seen him.

  The housekeeper obeyed immediately, leading Finch and Diana deep into the darkened interior of the house and down several flights of steps to a richly furnished sub-basement. The art adorning the walls looked like old master paintings, and were framed in what looked like real gold rather than mere gilt.

  The servant led Finch and Diana to a lavish sitting room, furnished in a style that looked like it belonged in the mansion of a billionaire who came from old money. The owner of the commanding voice was a thin, tall, and sallow-faced man with greasy slicked-back dark hair. He was sitting on a couch with his legs propped up on a pouffe and was puffing a cigar. The smell of it was incredibly strong, as if it was not only tobacco in the mix.

  Finch was very careful to immediately lower his eyes, but he noticed that Diana did not do the same. She was striding straight towards the vampire as if he was a normal human. Finch grabbed the back of her jacket and tugged it in warning, but Diana shrugged his hand off with irritation.

  “Hello,” she said cheerily to the vampire, and plonked herself down onto the couch opposite him.

  At least she hadn’t tried to shake his hand. Finch warily took a seat beside her. He hated sitting in the presence of a vampire. It made him feel vulnerable.

  “Thanks for inviting us in,” she continued. “I’m Diana. This is my… associate.” She gestured at Finch but did not mention his name, for which he was grateful.

  Though Finch was resolutely avoiding the vampire’s gaze, from the corners of his eyes he could see that the vampire appeared to be responding to Diana with some degree of confusion.

  “Diana,” drawled the vampire. “Such a lovely name for such a lovely young woman.”

  It was safe to look at Diana, so that’s where Finch looked. She was giving the vampire a look of mild disgust. Finch was astonished. She was looking the vampire right in the eyes while the vampire was trying to mesmerize her, and clearly the mesmerism was not working!

  “How can I help you, Diana?” the vampire continued, his voice still a drawl, but there was an undercurrent in it that made Finch suspect his eyes were narrowed.

  Before Diana could respond, a female voice called in a ringing tone, “Darling!”

  The door flew open and a simply stunning woman walked into the room. Her skin was like marbl
e carved by a master artiste, her curling silken locks so alluring that Finch immediately wanted to run his hands through them. Her eyes were dark lodestars, her sensual lips the color of blood… Finch wrenched his head away and focused entirely on his hands. Dammit. She’d made him look.

  The beautiful woman kept coming, her heels clicking on the stone underfoot and then coming to a sudden halt. Finch could tell that she had recognized Diana. Which must mean she was Marielle.

  “What are you doing here?” Marielle said accusingly.

  Finch found himself gritting his teeth. He wanted to confront this damned Marielle beast and demand to know what had happened to Zezi. She had to have something to do with it. It was a wild conclusion, but Finch seemed unable to make his mind think logically. He wanted to tear the vampire apart until she told him everything she knew.

  Finch forced himself to stay sat where he was. She was a goddamn vampire. She would be the one tearing him apart, and probably Diana too if Finch did anything stupid. Finch clenched his fists and sat on them, and everybody else in the room continued to pay him no attention at all.

  Diana had risen from her seat to greet Marielle with a neutral smile, but Marielle’s tone had made her eyebrows rise enquiringly. Finch didn’t look at Marielle’s face directly but he could tell from her body language that she was glaring at Diana, trying to mesmerize her, and growing angry when Diana seemed completely unaffected.

  Marielle’s stance was that of a predator’s, her legs slightly spread apart as if she was about to pounce forward. Finch was sure that if she had been a big cat with a tail, it would be slashing back and forth.

  She had called the male vampire ‘darling’, which meant he had to be her husband Rodrigge.

  Diana smiled and looked Rodrigge and Marielle right in the eyes as if taunting them with her immunity to their mesmerism. She watched them carefully as she said, “I’m here because Steffane ask me to come. He wanted me to look into his case. He insists that he is innocent, and he’s got me convinced. I thought the best place to start was by talking with his family, naturally.”

  “Steffane?” said Rodrigge in a quiet angry voice.

  The vampire rose swiftly to his feet. His anger seemed to radiate off him and for a moment Finch thought that the vampire was going to attack Diana.

  Finch moved forward swiftly, intending to put himself between Diana and the vampire, almost without thinking because otherwise he probably would not have risked his life for a stranger. But Diana flung out an arm and stopped him. She glowered at him in a way that made it clear that he was to stay out of this.

  Just then a maid arrived in the room, carefully carrying a tray loaded with beverages. The glasses and cups trembled and tinkled against the tray as she approached.

  “Be gone!” Marielle snarled at her.

  The maid hesitated, looking to Rodrigge for confirmation. This incensed Marielle. She slashed the maid’s face too fast for anyone to stop her, leaving deep bleeding claw gouges on the maid’s cheek. By some miracle the tray remained upright. Sobbing, the maid rushed from the room, the contents of her tray clattering.

  “There was no need for that!” Diana snapped, looking as outraged as Finch felt.

  “Steffane? Innocent? Ha!” said Marielle in a ringing voice. “Don’t tell me he has you fooled?”

  “I’m not easy to fool,” said Diana calmly.

  Her equanimity astonished Finch. Why wasn’t Diana shaking in her boots? There was no way she thought she would be able to take on two vampires, and yet she seemed intent on goading them. Finch had seen a lot of things in his life, but he had never seen anything like this. He wasn’t sure if it was madness or something else. Perhaps the girl Diana had strong magic. Perhaps there was more to her than met the eye. There had better be, because otherwise she was likely to get them both killed.

  Fuming, Finch sat back down. When the hell was Diana going to get around to asking about Zezi?

  “I think,” Diana continued, “That if Steffane really did not kill Leonie Ashbeck, it had to be one of you. One of his family.” She watched the two vampires intensely as she spoke, as if trying to catch something in the minute details of their expressions.

  The vampires had taken a swift glance at each other. When they did not respond, Diana continued. “I mean, he’s a dhampir. And you vampires hate dhampirs. So maybe someone in this family conspired to set him up? Is it true? Do you hate dhampirs?”

  “How dare you!” Marielle said, her voice gone quiet and cold and deadly. “How dare you speak of this family, outsider? How dare you presume to know us? How dare you come to our home and demand answers of us?”

  Finch’s whole body stiffened. The way Marielle was staring at Diana told him that Marielle was furious and maybe even a little afraid. Finch wasn’t sure quite what happened next. It happened so fast and so unexpectedly that he had no time to react.

  One moment Marielle had been standing several meters away from the couch, and the next moment she had shoved Finch aside to get to Diana.

  As if in slow motion Finch saw Marielle’s face contorting in a snarl, her fangs emerging from her mouth. Too fast for Finch to stop her. She threw her body at Diana, her mouth arcing towards Diana’s neck. And then Marielle was screeching, her body on the ground, and clutching her side in shock. And there was a sword in Diana’s hand. A long thin black sword with a wicked gleam.

  Finch was horrified, sure something awful would happen now, but neither of the vampires moved. They were staring at the sword. Finch had not seen Diana carrying it earlier. He had no idea where it had come from. But clearly Diana had just stabbed Marielle with it, and Marielle looked aghast.

  Diana looked as stunned by what had just happened as Marielle and Rodrigge. She was looking at the sword in her hand as if she couldn’t believe that she had used it. But she swiftly seemed to come to terms with the dangers of the current situation, because when Marielle pushed herself up from the ground to come towards Diana again, Diana extended the sword until its tip sank into Marielle’s chest. Marielle flinched back, hissing in pain. Her eyes had widened, and she was watching the sword warily.

  Finch realized that he was looking at both the vampire’s in the eye, but fortunately for him neither vampire seemed aware of his presence, let alone being interested in mesmerizing him.

  Rodrigge was clearly furious about what had just happened, but he was also watching the sword warily. He took several steps back from it, and yanked his wife away from Diana.

  “Marielle!” he said coldly. “Apologize to our guest at once!”

  “I will not!” Marielle hissed.

  Rodrigge demanded for her to leave the room and she did so angrily. Rodrigge said stiffly to Diana, his face cold and hard and ugly, “My wife was not herself. We do not treat our guests in such a manner. However, you made a mistake coming into this house with a sword. You made a mistake thinking you could come here at the behest of my murdering brother. You will leave here at once!”

  He glowered at the sword but Finch noticed that he made no move to come any closer to it. Finch had never heard of a sword that could affect a vampire like that. Its merest touch had made Marielle’s skin sizzle, the pain enough to frighten her off. Finch had never seen a vampire look as fearfully at a thing as Rodrigge was looking at Diana’s sword.

  This had not escaped Diana’s notice. “I don’t think so,” she said glibly. “I’m not done with this family yet, and since you and your wife are going to clearly be so unhelpful, I think I’d much rather speak to your parents. Perhaps they care about the innocence of their poor imprisoned son!”

  Rodrigge hissed in anger, his face becoming ugly and bestial for the briefest of moments before transforming back into its smooth human visage. “There is nothing you can do to help my brother, girl. You will get out of this house or I will have you thrown out!”

  But Diana merely pointed her sword at him and gave him a cheery smile. “Where are your parents? I’ll find out, shall I?”

  Using her po
inted sword to keep Rodrigge at bay, she said to Finch, “Come along!” Finch swiftly followed her out of the room.

  Chapter 10

  AUDRIETT

  Audriett Ronin had become aware of the stranger in her home the moment the stranger stepped in. The stranger’s presence snapped into her awareness from nowhere, like a shift in her world. The same way her world had shifted when she had been pregnant with her precious boy Steffane.

  Audriett had known Steffane would be a dhampir before he was born. How else could she explain the sudden heightened alertness of her senses in impossible ways? Rodrigge in her womb had done nothing but drain her, but Steffane had given her a strength that she had never possessed before. And she had used it to bring him forth into the world.

  She had feared her father’s response when she’d told him about the dhampir to come, but Gaius had shown a fierce joy. A dhampir! Such strength to bring his brood power and glory. Gaius had left Otherworld and its customs behind, he had said. He would build his strength here on Earth in new ways. And he would make any who sought to harm his precious dhampir son suffer.