Some Vampires Shimmy - 6th in the Dancing Vampire Series
Blurb:
Afric and Foomna, the last of the dancing vampire sisters, shimmy and strut their way into belly dancing at a Scottish Steamapunk Con. It’s all sizzle and steam when they get together with a sexy rock guitarist and a hot looking god at the con. Afric swore she’d never love a human but Kade’s got her tied up in Celtic knots with the exotic pleasures of his shibari rope.
The War Goddess Morrigan commands Afric to cut her ties with her human lover. Afric’s caught between pleasing her goddess, her sister, and her man. What will it take for Afric to follow her own heart and where will that path lead to, the Earthly Realm or Underhill?
Excerpt:
“Can I take your picture?” A girl,
wearing a small hat fringed with a black veil, a corset, and a striped skirt
with a tulle petticoat peeking through, smiled at them. Clutching her
cellphone, she snapped a shot of Afric and Foomna.”Great costumes.”
“Thanks. We’re steampunk baobhan sith belly dancers.”
“Baobhan sith?” The girl’s eyebrows arched.
“Like vampires.” Afric moved her
hand to her hip.
“Where are your fangs?” The girl in
the corset leaned in closer to inspect their teeth.
“No fangs. Our nails turn to
claws.” Foomna held her hands up showing off her new manicure. “We use talons
rather than teeth.”
To Afric’s surprise the human
laughed.
“Fangless, belly dancing vampires.”
The girl held up her cell phone and snapped another shot. “Great characters.”
“It’s who we are.” Baffled by the
comment, Afric pressed her lips together. She’d never understand humans.
“Have fun.” The girl walked off.
“Look.” Foomna pointed to a black
stage with two small glass cages to the side, two towering Tesla coils and a
rock band. “ArcAttack. Let’s go.”
Foomna zig-zagged through the
crowd, toward the band, as Afric followed.
Electric bolts from the coils struck
the armored guitar player. Afric yelled in Foomna’s ear. “God Taranius would
love this.”
“That bearded thunder god is weird,
always clutching a lightning bolt. You’re right though, he’d love it.”
From all her YouTube viewing, Afric
recognized Joe Di Prima, the bandleader, as he stepped up to the microphone.
“Knock, Knock, Who’s there?”
Foomna grabbed Afric’s shoulder and
smiled. “It’s Dr. Who’s theme song. We watched that show with Sorcha and Ian.”
Afric swung her hips in a large
circle and glided her arms at her side in a serpentine motion, dancing to the
music as the bells on her belt chimed. She scanned the crowd looking for young,
handsome men she might want to feed on at the end of the con.
Her gaze settled on a tall man with
dark wavy hair falling to his shoulders. He wore a top hat with goggles on it,
which added to his height. His full lips curled into a wide smile on his well sculptured oval-face.
She licked her lips.
The song ended and stagehands
pulled a glass cage the size of a phone booth from between the huge coils.
“Do we have any volunteers to dance
in the cage?”
The moment she heard Di Prima say
volunteers, Afric thrust her hand in the air and shimmied to draw the bandleader’s
attention to her body.
“The steampunk belly dancer in the
green dress.” He pointed at her.
Chosen to dance in the ArcAttack
cage, a thousand bubbles seemed to burst inside her chest. She grasped Foomna
in a quick hug, then ran to the side of the stage and up the steps.
“And, Kade MacLeod of Golden Gears,
come on up here,” the ArcAttack band leader called out.
Standing on stage, Afric turned her
head toward the man joining her. Him. The one who’d caught her gaze. She
stepped into the glass, metal framed cage and the statuesque, steampunk
musician followed.
Blaring music with jolts of
electricity pulsated against the metal as she swayed her hips in front of the
glass wall, dancing for the crowd. As she faced him, only an inch of space
between them, the heat of Kade’s body radiated into her. A hot shudder coursed
through her. His toned, muscular body moved fluidly as he rocked his hips in a
matching rhythm to hers. The muscles in her abdomen drew tight. He was hers.
This human. She had to have him. Not for his blood…no…. but because of the way
he made her blood boil. Gazing into his eyes, she flashed her most seductive
smile.
He leaned his head to her ear.
“Looks like you and your friend are dancers.”
“She’s my sister.” She shimmied,
shaking her entire body for his gaze alone.
Kade’s eyes gleamed, meeting her
gaze. “What’s your name?”
“I’m fey. We don’t give our names
to just anyone.”
“Whatever you say?” Kade tilted his
head and leaned toward her. His hot breath fanned her cheek as he said, “Belly
dance for my band as part of our performance at the steampunk ball.”
Her breath grew so shallow it took
her a moment to push the word out, but she finally rasped a breathy, “Yes.”
She’d dance for him. Anytime.
Her entire body tingled when Kade
said, “Meet us at eight in the ballroom. For rehearsal.”
The music ended and the cage door
opened. Reluctantly, Afric stepped out but she stood by Kade’s side, not yet
ready to walk away from him. “I’ll see you at eight.”
Kade grinned at her and in a funny,
aristocratic voice he said, “Exit stage left.”
“What?” The steps by the stage were
to her right.
“Snagllepus.” Kade’s brows arched. “You
don’t know?” He chuckled. “It’s an old cartoon character. A big pink mountain
lion.”
“I just started watching TV some
and Youtube.” She had to ask Sorcha what cartoons were.
“What did you watch when you were a
kid?”
“Humans.” As she breathed in his
invigorating, manly scent, Afric remembered something else. “And gods.” She
dragged her feet down the steps of the stage to keep him close.
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