Free Moonlight: The Big Bad Wolf (Black Swan 4) by Victoria Danann

his eyes off the vampire.
    She grasped her black diamond pendant and stepped into the passes. The pendant contained demon magic, or advanced tracking technology, depending on your paradigm. In a flash she was standing in the back recesses of the Temple of Dendur that were restricted to patrons of the Metropolitan Museum, roped off and hidden from view.
    Deliverance was licking the neck of a woman he had pressed up against a wall. The first item on the midnight buffet was wearing long dangling earrings and a slinky black dress that probably cost thousands. She was moaning like she was in mid coitus, not foreplay. The incubus had taken advantage of the slit up the side of her dress and had her bare leg hitched over his waist.
    Litha walked up to them and began talking as if they were having pie at the diner. The lady yelped her surprise.
    Deliverance said, "Shhhh," and the woman instantly quieted.
    He was clearly irritated when he turned to Litha. "Two things. I'm gone. And I'm busy."
    Litha was just as irritated. "You're not gone. I'm talking to you and I have unanswered questions."
    He scowled and narrowed his eyes. "You can have three questions now. If you have more they'll have to wait until after snack time."
    Litha did a quick mental inventory trying to figure out which three questions would be considered most important if she had asked the dinner guests for a consensus.
    "Was I actually chased by a gang of French vampire? From France?"
    "Is that two of your three questions?"
    "Yes. No. Wait." She willed herself to be calm and rethink the question. "Are they from a version of France in another dimension? That's one."
    "Yes."
    "How big a danger are they to us? That's two."
    He snickered. "Dangerous? No. You might say they're lovers, not fighters. They never take enough blood to hurt anyone and the women they encounter are happy to give, if you take my meaning." He wiggled his eyebrows.
    "Yeah. Very subtle." In a fine demonstration of nature over nurture, Litha waggled her head exactly like her father did in moments of cognitive dissonance. He pressed his lips together impatiently. "Come on, sweet. Daddy's losing patience."
    "If they're not a danger, how did we end up with a plague of vampire virus?"
    He shrugged. "Accident of biological chemistry. It's an anomaly that only affects the human residents of Loti Dimension, so far as I know. That's three. You can either take off or stay for the show. Your choice. You're the bashful one." He smiled in challenge, daring her to stay and watch.
    "Thank you. More questions for you later." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, and disappeared.
     
    The remaining eleven humanoids eyed each other.
    Sol calmly took out his phone and speed dialed a number. "You're needed in private dining now."
    Litha popped back in next to Storm. He jumped a little less than usual and thought, in another fifty years or so, he might start getting used to that. "Litha?"
    "Hmmm?"
    "You want to tell us how you managed to pick up five French-speaking vampire who have normal-colored eyes and are unaffected by a flagpole through the heart?"
    Glen laughed. "Lucy! You got some 'splainin to do." Everyone was silent. "Well, I thought it was funny."
    She pointed to the one who had grabbed her, whose fingers no longer showed signs of having been burned. "I was on my way here when that one grabbed me."
    The idea of one of these vampire putting their hands on his wife infuriated Storm. He wanted to pick up the flagpole that had been tossed aside and put it through his chest again. Even if it didn't do anything more than further damage to the vamp's favorite shirt, it might make Storm feel a little better.
    "Okay. Please don't take this wrong, but how did you get away?"
    "Singed him. He's lucky I didn't turn him into a crispy critter 'cause I kind of felt like doing it."
    "Would that work?" Ram asked.
    "I don't know. I burned his hands, but they look okay now."
    "Do you know anything else about them? Other than the