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

and pulled her to me. “Who said anything about settling down?” I dipped her and planted a raspberry on her neck. She laughed and pushed me away. It was all in good fun. Damn shame Misha’s vampires didn’t appreciate my awesome sense of humor.
    The four she-vamps abandoned their meals and stormed to us. Within seconds they had us surrounded, their hisses sharp enough to slice the club air thick with sweat and lust. An ice blonde protruded her nails and snarled. “Is this mongrel bothering you, Celia?”
    Celia stepped between us. “No, Liz. You know Bren’s my buddy.”
    Liz lowered her lids, her tone dangerous. “The master wouldn’t appreciate him fondling what’s his.”
    My grin widened. “That wasn’t a fondle. That was a kiss.” I shrugged. “I fondled her ass before the smooch, but you sluts missed it since you were staking out your next meal.”
    “Let me make myself clear.” Celia’s glare fixed on the blonde. “I don’t belong to Misha, and my friends are not to be touched.”
    The vamps took Celia’s growls out on me. They circled slowly like a cackle of hyenas, donning stilettos sharp enough to puncture a sternum. I laughed without humor. Maybe that was the point of their choice of footwear. I flexed for them. What could I say? I was one classy mo-fo. “That’s right, sweethearts. You only wish you could touch this.” I waved them off. “Now run along and gather up some virgins.”
    “Bren is who I came to meet,” Celia said when one of the vamps advanced. “I want to spend time alone with him. I’ll catch up with you after you . . . ah, eat.” The vamps hesitated when Celia made it clear it was time to scat. She sighed. “That’s an order,” she mumbled, as if embarrassed to give a direct command.
    The ice blonde nodded and slowly sashayed her way back to where the throng of idiots pitching tents anxiously awaited the vamps’ return. The others followed one after the other except for the naughty Catholic with the jet black hair—the one with the long flickering tongue. Not that I’d noticed. She slinked her way to me. She was tall to begin with, but the thigh-high boots she wore left her face just a few inches below mine.
    “
Edith
Anne
,” Celia warned.
    “Just saying good-bye to your pet, Celia,” she answered with a phony pout, not bothering to glance her way. She licked her overly glossed lips and ran the nail of her middle finger down the length of my nose, speaking in a tone that suggested sex and slaughter all in one breath. “A word of warning, little doggie. Some things are dangerous if you touch.”
    I snapped her nail off with my teeth and spit it on the floor. “You got that much right, sweetheart.”
    Fury flared behind her coal eyes and her incisors elongated to fall past her collagen-injected lips. For a second, I thought my wolf would get a chance to play again. My lip curled.
I’ve got chompers too, bat-girl.
She disappointed me by backing away, her glare telling me she’d prefer to take my wolf up on his challenge.
    “Remind me to tell Misha how well you follow orders, Edith.”
    Celia’s threat broke Edith’s eye contact with me. She quickened her steps and joined the others, her hips swinging hard enough to smack a baseball into left field. Not that I was watching or anything. “Is she wearing panties, Ceel?”
    Celia groaned. “I don’t know. I don’t care. But knowing Edith, probably not.”
    The she- vamps returned to jiggling their cleavage like world hunger depended on it. “Friends of yours?”
    Celia chuckled. “Hardly. They barely tolerate me, but I’m not working for Misha to win a popularity contest.”
    I clasped her hand and led to the bar. “So why’d you bring them?” I bounced and bartended at the Hole Thursday night through Saturday for extra bucks. My pal, Ed, was mixing drinks that night. He saw me coming and immediately dropped a bucket of Coronas on the bar for us, shoving limes down the long necks just like I