Ram shook his head no in agreement.
"Nonetheless," Deliverance said nonchalantly, "they are vampire. Real vampire. Not the watered-down, diluted version of walking disease that humans call vampire. They're the source of the virus."
At that everybody temporarily forgot everything to gape at the demon.
Litha managed to ask, "You mean you knew about this?"
"Sure."
"What do you mean, 'Sure'? Your only child is married to a vampire slayer and you didn't think that would be good information to share?"
He looked around at the others like he was trying to decide whether or not they should be given clearance to hear his answer. He shrugged. "We have a non-interference policy."
"Okay, first, who is 'we'? And, second, what are you not interfering with? Exactly?"
"We, meaning the races of species who can travel between dimensions unassisted. We're not supposed to interfere with what the low..." He caught himself and thought better of continuing that phrase. "...um... other species are doing. Of course the f**king angels are always breaking the rules because they're such attention whores and The Council is too lazy to enforce their own laws, so in a way I guess that means that everything is really just a guideline. Still, some of us who are old school make an honest effort to comply with tradition even if it ends up being nothing more than a series of empty, meaningless gestures."
Everybody stared in silence for a long time. Finally Litha shook her head and said, "I don't even know where to start."
Deliverance grinned. "How about the Metropolitan Museum? Tonight at midnight there's a fundraiser in the Egyptian wing. Beautiful socialites. Dark corners."
"Stop! I meant I don't know where to start with questions!"
"Questions?" The demon scowled. "No. I'm hungry."
"Wait..." Litha yelled, but broke off, her hand in mid air, and growled with exasperation at the spot where her father had stood before he disappeared.
Litha looked at Storm. "Be right back."
He gave her a slight nod still not taking 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.