“No, not yet. We wanted to run it by you first,” Polly said. “Angie and I know we haven’t all spent a lot of time together, but last night…last night, the five of us clicked. Don’t you think? I mean, we were fighting as one. We were acting as one, and it was so bloody natural, like being with you and Lisa and Ruby is where we need to be…where we’re supposed to be.”

“I’d have to agree with Polly because I felt it, too,” Ruby said, reaching for her champagne. “For the first time in my life, I actually had a sense of belonging, but no worries, Bennett. I’d never presume to intrude on your life, and besides, we both know my fate is in the council’s hands.”

“Okay, so I don’t know all the specifics, but Ruby’s one of the reasons we’re here,” Angelique said, looking at Bennett. “What does she mean, her fate is in the council’s hands? What did she do that we didn’t?”

Bennett looked across the table at Ruby and then back at Angelique. “A long time ago, Ruby did something that the council may have difficulties overlooking.”

“Like what?” Angelique said, looking at Ruby. “What did you do?”

“I hunted down the man responsible for turning Napoleon into a vampire and killed him,” Ruby said flatly. “His name was Diego, and he was an original.”

“Jesus. You killed one of the firsts?” Polly said in a breath.

“Yeah, and there’s no going back in time to fix it,” Ruby said quietly. “The only thing I ever wanted was for my brother to pay for murdering my family, and he will, so whatever punishment the council comes up with, I’ll accept.” Ruby downed what remained of her champagne. “With that being said, this very well may be my last supper, so what say we just eat, drink, and be merry?”

“You’ll have time to enjoy plenty of suppers,” Bennett said. “The council is like any other political faction. They’ll spend weeks, if not months, thrashing out every minute detail about all that’s happened. They’ll question all of us, and once we give our statements, they’ll sermonize amongst themselves until they need throat lozenges. And since this involves an original and the offspring of another, I expect they’ll deliberate for some time. The last thing they’d want to do is set some sort of precedent that could come back and bite them in the arse.”

“It sounds like I created yet another headache for you. Sorry,” Ruby said, pouring the last bit of champagne into her glass.