Free A Cursed Moon: A Weird Girls Novella (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) by Cecy Robson Page A

and adjusting her tiny glasses. “But that’s not what I meant by nasty. She emits a gas by breaking wind in order to keep her victims docile and dazed.”
    “Ew,” the rest of us said. Hell, I guess that explained the blasting trumpet. “I told you I couldn’t move,” I mumbled to Celia.
    Celia threw her hands out. “Then how come the vampires and I could?”
    Agnes watched me fix my pants. “La Tunda’s powers don’t work on supernatural beings. Unless, of course, they’re easily influenced.” She giggled. “Or aroused.”
    Celia pushed her hair away from her face. “Well, the important thing is that they’re back to blazes where they belong.” She lifted a few of the swaying bodies off the floor when they started to stir and the music exploded over the speakers. “Help me get them up, and be sure to alter their memories. They’re starting to wake up and God only knows what they saw.”
    I hoisted a few off their feet, pausing when one of the vamps stopped for a bite. “Edith, cut it out!”
    She scowled at Celia and took one last defiant lick. “What? I haven’t eaten all night and I’m thirsty, damn it.”
    Celia opened her mouth to say something to her, but then stopped suddenly. Her head whipped around. “Bren, where’s Danny?”
    I straightened and veered behind me. His scent failed to reach my senses. “The last time I saw him, he was with the naked chick you took out.”
    Celia urged the vamps forward. “Find him. Make sure he’s okay.”
    We raced around the dance floor in a mad rush, searching for any trace of his scent. My feet pounded down the hall toward the bathrooms. I threw opened the doors. “Dan. Dan! Are you in here, man?” Silence was my only response. Shit, was it too much to hope he was hiding in a stall?
    Celia sprinted up behind me. “He’s not in any of the offices, and the vamps can’t find him anywhere.”
    I backed out of the bathroom and froze. My nose fixed onto a faint trickle of Dan’s obnoxious cologne. It trailed in the direction of the emergency exit down the dark hall. I bolted toward it and latched on to the smell. The alarm blasted as I barreled through the door with Celia hot on my heels.
    The air in the alley mixed with the rotting garbage from the dumpster and still I scented Dan’s musky cologne . . . and drops of his blood.
    “He’s been taken,”
I growled.

Chapter Seven
    According to Agnes, legend states that a Ciguapa can only be tracked by a black and white dog, with extra digits, during a full moon.
    Well, screw that. The full moon wasn’t until the next night and no one I knew had any extra fingers. That wouldn’t stop me. I may have been a loafer, but I was the best damn tracker in California.
    I punched Aric’s number on the speed dial when Celia ran off to get her Lexus. The reception was shitty at best. We obviously hadn’t destroyed all the damn spirits. Their dark energy continued to interfere with the reception. Aric answered on the first ring, and surprise, surprise, he was pissed as all hell and growling.
“Did you send a wereskunk to gas bomb my Warriors cars?”
    “Dan’s been taken,” I said in way of a response. “We’re at the Hole. A bunch of Latin ghosts showed up and wreaked havoc. We destroyed the few we saw, but there must’ve been more.”
    Screams from the club cut me off. “What’s happening?” Aric pressed.
    I poked my head inside. “The humans here are waking up and I think someone stepped on a melting head. Don’t worry. The vamps are on it.”
    Suspicion lowered Aric’s voice. “What are you doing with vamps at the Hole?”
    I debated whether to tell him. In the end I knew there was no way around it. “They shadowed Celia. She’s with me.”
    “I see.” Aric paused briefly before switching into Leader mode. “I’m sending a team to scout the area in case there’s more spirits seeking to feast.
Stay
.
There
. The Warriors will help you track Dan.”
    Celia screeched her car to a halt