Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) by Ronnie Massey

were ready to rip my head off, or so depressed they need stock in Prozac.  Hell, if I could control it may be it wouldn’t be so bad, but half the time I don't even realize I’m doing it until it’s too late.  Shit.
    Then there was my David.  He lost the tough guy exterior a few weeks after moving in.  In the time he's been with us, he’s become as much a part of my life as Irulan's.  It's funny; sometimes you never know how much you needed something until you’ve got it.  One night you're sitting there and have an ‘uh-huh’ moment.  David was that moment.  I’d never given a second thought to having kids, but now that David was in my life, I could see it without him.  Thomas Meriwether was a threat, and it’s time I confronted him about his intentions.
    I turned a corner, and there was The Den.  Unlike other clubs for non-humans, The Den didn’t make an effort to appear inconspicuous.  The Den used to be an old strip mall, until it was brought by a resourceful shifter and changed into a club.  It was in what was considered a bad neighborhood, so at the time humans didn’t object that much.  Now that it regularly drew crowds close to a thousand on the weekends, it had come under fire, but the owner wasn’t worried.
    The closer I got, the louder the hard pumping music got until I was bopping my head in time.  The line to get in was wrapped around the building.  Luckily I was a regular.  I waltzed past the mix of humans and Extras, right up to the bouncer.  “Hey, Georgie,” I said as I patted him on the back.
    “V”, he exclaimed as he jerked me off my feet and into a hug.  Georgie was a Serpentine shifter.  His long lanky body didn’t give a clue to the strength he possessed.  I heard a few gasps of surprise behind me, but I didn’t pay them any attention.
    He eased me to my feet, “Where have you been, mama?  It's been months since I‘ve seen you.”  He grabbed my hands, and I yelped.  “What?”  He held them up and reeled.  “What in the hell happened to your hands, V; you look like you boiled them alive.”
    I dropped them to my side and shook my head.  “Long story, Georgie.  How’s it going tonight?”
    He looked back to the doors and shrugged.  “The usual, you looking for some fun tonight?”
    Um, so he didn’t know I was married now.  I was shocked, but then Georgie was never one to read the tabloids.  “Not that much fun, Georgie, I just need to find a donor…maybe a few drinks.”
    Georgie gave me another quick hug and waved me inside.  “Alright, girl.  I know I don't have to remind you about the no bloodletting policy, have fun.”
    I walked through the darkened corridor and rounded the corner to the main floor.  I was home.  The huge dance floor was flanked by raised seating areas, while the far end was home to a large stage.  Both the stage and the dance floor were packed with revelers.  I pushed my aura ahead of me and felt a mix of people: weres, vampires, shifters, witches, and the faint pulses of hundreds of humans.
    Their fervor slammed into me and my own frustrated aura, beckoning me to join them.  The flicker of the strobe lights changed, and I knew that my eyes had gone black.  My control was sketchy at best, so admittedly this probably wasn’t the best place to be, but it I was beyond caring.
    I hissed and began pushing my way through the crowd.  I didn’t have to go that far to find someone to dance with.  I’d barely made it five feet, when a hand wrapped itself around my arm.  I flipped a burgundy streak of hair out of my face and turned to face my captor.
    It was a human, a large, well-muscled human male, judging from the way his black wife beater was stretched across his broad chest.  Nice and healthy.  I jumped into his mind and saw that he was on the prowl, trying to lose his ’vampire virginity’.  Well buddy, you won't lose it tonight, but I was going to liberate a few pints of blood.
    I turned into his arms and