Page 31 of Fastest Kill

"I'm going to go get him," Dario announced loudly. "Before I do, remember this is Tore and Despina's house, and their rules are the rules. Nobody starts any shit here." He looked at Leo, whose eyes narrowed but nodded, and Altun lifted her wine, in something that was neither agreement nor refusal. "Rodrigo? You sure you can manage this?"

"I want to hear what he has to say," Rodrigo said, folding his arms. "That's all I'm committing to."

"Don't worry. We'll be good," Athena chimed in with a smile that said she wanted to be anything but.

"I'll just shoot him later if I have to," Silas said with a grin that matched his daughter's. "I want to eat first."

It had to be enough, so Dario went inside.

Serapis was standing by the kitchen window, watching the garden with a strange kind of longing in his eyes and was still holding the glass of wine Despina had given him an hour ago.

"Ready to do this?" Dario asked.

"That depends entirely on your brothers."

"It's Kon and Athena you need to worry about." He held the door open.

The moment Serapis stepped through the back door, everything went quiet as a group of very dangerous people collectively turned to stare at him.

Despina walked over to meet them and topped up Serapis's wine. She wasn't remotely concerned about the current temperature in her own backyard.

Serapis studied the assembled group, and if he felt the weight of it, he was too smart to show anything except the faintest tightening around his eyes. He looked at Leo last, and something moved across his face.

"Leonardo," Serapis said carefully. "Congratulations. It seems married life suits."

"Don't start trying to act like my uncle now. Its too fucking late," Leo replied, and Dante's hand covered Leo's on the table.

Serapis inclined his head and looked away, and that was enough to keep the peace for the next thirty seconds.

What followed was neither comfortable nor quick, but it was effective.

Serapis talked, and Altun asked the questions that cut to the center of things the way only someone with a century of experience knew how to ask, and Kon identified two artifacts by name before Serapis finished his first sentence about Agrippa's acquisitions, which seemed to unsettle even Serapis slightly.

"Some of what he needs to complete his ritual, he already has," Serapis said from his corner of the table. "Seven items from Agrippa's acquisitions map directly against what I know he requires for a completed apotheosis. I know of three items that have the potential he needs, which means he will know of them too. If we reach them first, we slow him down."

"And why is this so urgent now?" Altun asked.

"Because there is a celestial alignment about to occur, and he isn't going to pass up the opportunity to be ready for it," Serapis replied. "I'm out of time to be able to do this on my own, and if Agrippa succeeds, he'll come after me and all of you. He will want your magic and to kill my nephews for revenge on what I did to him."

Rodrigo glanced at Giana beside him, no doubt seeing the new target on her. His brother hated that he didn't know how to defend against magic. Dario had seen that firsthand. He wouldn't be able to keep her safe against something like Agrippa, and he knew it. That was all the motivation he needed to take over the situation.

Rodrigo looked at Altun. "You and Serapis can sort out what you need to in order to bury the hatchet. Then gather the information Agrippa will need on these artifacts. Prioritize what is most important." He looked at Kon and Athena. "First confirmed location of an artifact, you take it." He looked at Leo. "You and Dante are on intelligence work. I want everything we have on Agrippa's movements, his aliases, his pattern, and whatever time frame we are on." He looked at Silas. "You and Iz are flex support, wherever the need is sharpest, guns or keyboards."

Rodrigo stared at Dario across the table before glancing at Frederica. She was leaning against the garden wall, arms crossed, with an expression that gave nothing away.

"Dario, you'll be running the other two heists because I will need Kon and Athena to make a plan to deal with any magic Agrippa or his followers might throw at us. If Tore wants to, he's welcome to give advice on how to get the artifacts. Frederica's skill set and yours are a good match for this, so try not to kill each other, or anyone that you don't need to like Treviso," Rodrigo added and picked up his wine.

Dario rolled his eyes, and Frederica only snorted, which was her polite version of telling Rodrigo to fuck off.

The logistics took another hour. Altun and Serapis moved to Tore's study, and the sound of a low, rapid argument filtered through the closed door. No one dared go anywhere near it, not even Julian. Whatever the two ancient sorcerers had to work out was between them.

The others clustered in groups, phones out, running information. Kon and Athena looked torn between wanting to go and kill Serapis or ask him for more information. They were both alive and intensely magical because he had let the Aurora have a hand in creating them. They didn't know what they were really capable of, and the only person who did was Serapis.

The Colleonis were torn between seeing their uncle and an enemy at the same time. Julian, Iz, and Silas saw a creature who had threatened the people they loved.

Complicated didn't even begin to cover their family.

Dario refilled wine and carried plates back to the kitchen, and told himself the restlessness in him was the usual kind that came before a job. It was when the planning was almost done, and the action hadn't started yet, and the only thing left was waiting. He hated waiting.