Free Flight from Hell by Yasmine Galenorn Page B

might be bi like me, but Chase wasn’t her type. And Chase was in love with Sharah, the mother of his child, and not likely to cheat.
    Delilah snorted. “Yeah, that’s a likely scenario. Nerissa loves you, Menolly. More than you probably deserve.” But her voice was light, and I took the jibe with a wink. “So, what do we need to do before we head over to Shimmer’s?”
    I pulled up a chair, leaning back as I propped my feet on the table. “Weapons, whatever we might need.”
    â€œHanna’s going to smack you if she catches you doing that.” Delilah pointed to my boots. “Down, girl.”
    â€œGood point.” I hastily returned my feet to the floor. The last thing I wanted was our housekeeper mad at me. She wasn’t above strong-arming the lot of us when we fucked up. Camille and Delilah joined me at the table. “So, what do you think about Alex? Friend or foe?”
    â€œHe’s okay. I think I like him.” Delilah grabbed a handful of cookies off one of the plates. She was a sugar freak, and though we’d all done our best to stop her junk food mania, none of our interventions had taken. Oh, she ate apples now, but Cheetos and cookies were still her mainstay and probably always would be.
    â€œHow much do you think we can trust him?” Camille automatically grabbed two of Delilah’s cookies and put them back on the plate.
    â€œGood question.” I hesitated. My gut reaction told me to say that he was fine, but truth was, Camille was smart to ask. I’d hammered it into their heads over the past thirteen, fourteen years—the truth of the matter was this: Don’t ever fully trust any vampire. Not even me, though I did my best to keep myself in check. But when push came to shove, I had warned all my family and friends to always keep some semblance of caution around me, just in case my inner predator decided to barge its way to the surface and take control.
    â€œI think he’s on the up and up, to be honest. But we can’t be sure. I’ll call Roman again, see if he has any information on him.” But I stared at the phone, not wanting to rat out Alex just yet.
    â€œWhy not ask Carter about him? They know each other.” Delilah shrugged. “It might be enough to go on for now.”
    â€œGood idea.” I put in a call to Carter and, when he came on the line, asked him about Alex. He confirmed what I’d sensed.
    â€œAlex is reckless, but overall, he’s one of the good ones. He’s unconventional, even by Supe standards, and doesn’t knuckle under to authority. But he’s honest, and has an oddly heroic streak to him.” Then, with a chuckle, Carter added, “Alex has been known to rescue kittens and small children from dangerous situations. But don’t you tell him I told you so.”
    â€œI won’t.” I laughed as I hung up. Somehow, I could see that happening, even though Alex would probably deny it. “So, Carter thinks we can trust him, as much as we can trust any vamp. Hey, you think
Wilbur
might know who Julian is? That freakshow really gets around.”
    Camille snorted.
    Wilbur was our neighbor. He was also a powerful FBH necromancer and a nutcase who usually managed to be on our side. He had raised his brother—as in, raised him from the dead. After Martin died from cancer, Wilbur animated him and Martin became Martin the Ghoul, and now lived with Wilbur like a sad, decrepit, stupid dog.
    We figured that Wilbur had just been trying to cope with the loss of his brother, but seeing the pair of them—Wilbur in his ZZ Top getup, with his amputated leg, hanging around Martin, who wore a three-piece suit and who was conveniently controlled by the leash around his neck—was enough to shake the sanity of any normal person.
    â€œWe’ll drop in and ask before we head over to Shimmer’s place. Grab your gear and let’s head out. We’ll take my