“Oh, Gigi, he was famous. Sought after, until he quit out of nowhere.” The cowboy whose back was mostly toward us turned just enough to cast his profile in the light.
Kiki gasped and immediately pointed. “That’s him. That’s Ransom.”
Dahlia frowned. “Probably not best we just storm in, metaphorical guns blazing. Should we wait for them to go to sleep?”
Hades shook his head. “We can’t stick around that long. And poker games can go all night. We need to get him alone.”
“We also can’t assume the only people in the house are the ones we can see. A rich guy like this is bound to have staff around, at the very least,” Merri pointed out.
“I can walk through walls, and they can’t see me. Why don’t I do some exploring?” Kiki suggested.
“I have a faster way,” Dahlia said, then she closed her eyes. Her lips twisted into a smirk. “There’s a trio upstairs. They’re... busy. And then these four in the kitchen/dining area. That’s all.”
“Easy as pie,” I murmured.
“How do you figure?” Hades asked.
“Merri can put them to sleep with her succubus power, we pop in for a little blood, and then leave. They’ll be none the wiser, and I don’t have to get my hands dirty.”
“You can knock people out?” Dahlia asked, sounding impressed. “I thought you just made them horny.”
My beautiful Merri ducked her head as she blushed. “It’s all tied together. My kind are strongest in the dream realm, so we can pull people into it whenever we need to.”
“Huh. That seems pretty convenient.”
“Maybe not for the people falling asleep,” Kiki said with a snort. “Can you imagine just passing out while in the middle of something like cooking or driving? Yikes.”
Merri was frowning now. “I never really thought of that.”
I gave the ghost my darkest glower for upsetting my mate, then moved to Merri’s side, rubbing her arm in what I hoped was a soothing manner. “Don’t worry, crabapple. You can see clearly enough that everyone here will be safe as can be.”
“You’re forgetting one very important detail,” Kiki said.
“What’s that?”
“The security system. But don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” She held out her hands with a grin.
“Since when are you a cat burglar?” Dahlia asked.
Kiki rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to pick the lock, silly. I’m going to use my ghostie powers to short them.”
“She is quite skilled with electricity.” Hades beamed with pride. “Not everyone gets an ability, but our Keeks is strong.”
“Okay, so I put them to sleep, you bypass the system, then Luc goes in for the blood.” Merri turned her focus to me, expression worried. “You’re not going to kill anyone, right?”
“As long as you keep them in a dream, I won’t have to.”
“And you’ll come get me when you have what you need?”
“The very second.”
“Okay,” she said again, this time with a bit more confidence. “Ready when you are.”
“You’re up first, girlie. I can’t tap into that security system without alerting Ransom to something being wrong. They’ll have to be down for the count first.”
Merri took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“How long is this going to take?” Hades asked.
