The Lyrical Lycanthrope: Bakery Street Mysteries, #1

By Ysobella Black

The life of a Succubus isn't easy — especially since Xartarishaqu is different than all the other Succubi on Wicked Way. When the opportunity to move to Bakery Street falls from the sky, Xartarishaqu leaps at the chance. An attempted murder gets a new friend arrested for a crime she didn't commit, and the authorities think the case is solved. Xartarishaqu must follow the clues to find the true solution to the crime with the help of an amnesiac Pixie and a mysterious Claviger.

 

The mysteries take place in the paranormal city of Underground. The location is introduced in the Vampires & Strygoi Witches story Bijou's Cure: Zeke, but this series features new characters and can be read as stand-alone. These are the naughty/steamy versions of the stories with a happily-ever-after, but no cheating, closed doors, or cliffhangers. 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ysobella Black
• Release date: Jun 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798224576418

Ysobella Black

I love to travel, read, and think of ways to complicate my characters’ lives. I have two borrowed cats who take shameless advantage of my good nature. Hopefully you find my characters a lot more entertaining than I am. :) If you enjoyed this story, you may be interested to know that I write in several series. While each novel is written for one relationship, features unique mythologies, and can be read as standalone, a little more of that world is revealed and the overall arc of the series grows throughout. I also write two versions of most of my stories. For the naughty versions, read stories by Ysobella Black. If you prefer nice/sweet stories with fade to black scenes and no swearing, you'll want to read the versions by Ysobel Black. The best way to find out what’s going on with the series, and me, is to visit my website at https://www.ysobellablack.com. There, you can also check out the wikis and timelines for each series. Or, sign up for the newsletter. https://ysobellablack.com/newsletter/ I send out things like surveys, freebies, contests, and random news about things going on with me that may or may not be interesting.  I love hearing from my readers. Feel free to contact me via my website, or find me on social media. I admit, I don't keep up with posting constantly on one account, much less two, so I don't have separate accounts for my two pen names on most platforms. Twitter - @Ysobellablack Pinterest - ysobellablack Goodreads - ysobellablack or ysobelblack Instagram - @ysobellablackauthor TikTok - @ysobellablack Bookbub - ysobellablack or ysobelblack

Book preview

WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

Written by Ysobel Black

(Nice/Sweet Versions)

Bakery Street Cozy Mysteries

Paranormal Cozy Mysteries

The Lycanthrope Lyrical

Druids of Bandrui

Immortal Druids find their Maites.

Druid for a Banshee

Druid for a Goddess

Fairy Tales With a Twist

Retellings of fairy tales, myths, and legends you thought you knew.

The Crimson Hood & the Alpha of Wolves

The Ice Maiden & the Princes of Diamonds

The Chestnut Fox & the Baker of Sweets

Holiday Hullabaloo

Even in Ashana love can be tricky, but twelve days of Christmas chaos result in paranormal happily-ever-afters.

A Penghou in a Pine Tree

Two Tatzelwurms

Three French Bêtes

Four Ceffyl Dŵr

Five Golden Wings

Six Grootslangs Playing

Seven Spawns a-Swimming

Eight Maenads Mixing

Nine Lazy Dragons

Ten Swords a-Sneaking

Eleven Pixie Potions

Twelve Lovers Loving

Pohjola Maidens

The Maidens of Pohjola are free, heading for the human world, and looking for love.

Sleeper of Dream's: Lemminki

Strygoi Witches & Vampires

Join an Ildum of vampires over 12,000 years of history and mythology as they find their Dragăs — witches who make their hearts beat and restore their souls.

Ember's Light: Stryx

Viktoria's Shadow: Jael

Myth's Legend: Norrix

Bijou's Cure: Zeke

Musette's Fate: Idris

Strygoi Witches & Vampires Companion Stories

Shadowy — Viktoria's prequel (companion novella)

Echo's Answer: Lachlan (companion novel)

COLLECTIONS/BOX SETS

Holiday Hullabaloo

DAYS 1-12

Strygoi Witches & Vampires

COLLECTION ONE, BOOKS 1-4

Written by Ysobella Black

(Naughty/Steamy Versions)

Alix in Wonderland

A reverse harem (MFMMM) retelling of Alice in Wonderland.

Madness of the Hatter

Bakery Street Mysteries

Paranormal Cozy-ish Mysteries

The Lyrical Lycanthrope

Fairy Tales With a Kink

Retellings of fairy tales, myths, and legends you thought you knew.

The Alpha of Wolves & the Crimson Hood

The Princes of Diamonds & the Ice Maiden

The Baker of Sweets & the Chestnut Fox

Grove of Bandrui

Immortal Druids search for their Maités.

Druid of Oaks

Druid of Apples

Harom & Aneja

Witches choose three men to form their Haroms as they become Aneja — Walkers in magic. Reverse Harem (MFMM) 

Realm Walker

Beast Walker

Magical Love in London

Regency London with a Paranormal Twist

Marriage of Inconvenience

Oubliette

Paranormal Short and Steamy Stories

Selkie

Merrow

Cherufe

Pohjola Passions

The Maidens of Pohjola are free, heading for the human world, and looking for love.

Dream’s Sleeper: Lemminki

Raven Chronicles: Phoenix Rising

The battle for the Raven Throne is full of war, sex, intrigue, and betrayal that span generations.

First Generation

Souls Lost & Found

Under a Blue Moon, star-crossed lovers get a second chance for their love to shine.

The Egyptian

Utopia Pack Shifters

A pack of wolf shifters find their Fateds.

Unyielding

Unleashed

Vampires & Strygoi Witches

Join an Ildum of vampires over 12,000 years of history and mythology as they find their Dragăs — witches who make their hearts beat.

Ember’s Light: Stryx

Viktoria’s Shadow: Jael

Myth’s Legend: Norrix

Bijou’s Cure: Zeke

Musette’s Fate: Idris

Vampires & Strygoi Witches Companion Stories

Shadowy — Viktoria's Prequel (Companion Novella)

Echo’s Answer: Lachlan (Companion Novel)

Xuterias: Xov & Xau

Enemies to Lovers Paranormal Romances

Poisoned Heart

Yuletide Chaos

Even in Ashana love can be tricky, but twelve days of Christmas chaos result in paranormal happily-ever-afters.

A Penghou in a Pine Tree

Two Tatzelwurms

Three French Bêtes

Four Ceffyl Dŵr

Five Golden Wings

Six Grootslangs Playing

Seven Spawns a-Swimming

Eight Maenads Mixing

Nine Lazy Dragons

Ten Swords a-Sneaking

Eleven Pixie Potions

Twelve Lovers Loving

COLLECTIONS/BOX SETS

Fated — Three Firsts in a Series

Ember's Light:Stryx

Realm Walker

Poisoned Heart

Fated — Five Firsts in a Series

Ember's Light:Stryx

The Crimson Hood & the Alpha of Wolves

Realm Walker

Dream's Sleeper: Lemminki

Druid of Oaks

Vampires & Strygoi Witches

COLLECTION ONE: BOOKS 1-4

Yuletide Yearnings

DAYS 1-12

https://ysobelblack.com/newsletter

TUESDAY,

DECEMBER 10

CHAPTER ONE

Holding a blanket around herself, Xartarishaqu moved to her bedroom window and surveyed her domain. At least, it could be her domain... if she wasn’t a Succubus.

It was always night in the paranormal city of Underground. While there was no sun, there were times of darker and lighter. The moon went through a full cycle roughly every twenty-four hours, coinciding with a human day. The cycle started at the darkest time, equivalent to midnight with the new moon. The full moon was the human equivalent of noon.

And there were seasons. Currently, winter reigned. A dusting of snow lay atop flat roofs and the air was a little chilly.

Will-o’-the-Wisps floated across the sky, their sheer numbers and dancing glows eclipsed the ever-present moon and stars. The Wisps kept watch, and since electricity didn't function well in this city between places, they, along with ravens, bats, and rarely a dragonfly, carried messages between inhabitants.

Xartarishaqu watched the city and its people as they went about their lives. This high, she imagined she could see the whole thing spread before her. Ground level, a mishmash of castles, skyscrapers, thatch-roof cottages, walled estates, and temples filled her view. Up and down Wicked Way, a variety of saloons, bordellos, and brothels lined the street.

Witches provided transport in the sky. And on street level, Other Worlders traveled by foot, horseback, carriage, wagons, or carts.

Underground, an old city, combined architecture from different ages, worlds, and civilizations, built up around a graveyard. No one knew who, or what, had been buried there to start everything, but the powerful magic in the graveyard drew Other Worlders in droves.

In the distance, outside walls lined with Gargoyles, to the west, ocean waves whispered secrets to a sandy beach. East, a vast forest filled an area between the edge of the graveyard and the start of the urban landscape. That was what she could see, but Underground was full of portals, gateways, and doors to other worlds. 

She longed to experience them all.

But that was not the fate of a Succubus.

Xartarishaqu turned away from what could not be. She loved her bedroom — a cozy space under the rafters, holding only the basics — four-poster bed, nightstand, and dressing table. Succubi were social creatures, and she only slept here. The rest of her time was spent sharing energy with the other succubi and incubi in the castle. 

She climbed into her bed and waited for her nightmare to start. It didn't seem fair that succubi weren't even meant to dream, and she had bad ones. Sex demons didn't have dreams, at least not when they slept. They only manipulated the dreams of others when feeding. 

Except for her.

In her twenty four years of life, she’d fed twice. Both men had wanted her to, but she’d never do it again.

When she slept, he appeared. Was he dreaming about how he'd humiliated her, and the connection she imagined to him showed his dreams to her, even after all this time? Had he enjoyed it so much he relived the experience each night? 

Slut.

Whore.

The memory of his mocking laughter still felt like a knife to her heart, all the more sharp in her dream. 

Why would anyone want to be with you? You thought I loved you? Pretty. But stupid.

His words were nothing she hadn't heard before, but she hadn't expected to hear them from him. It had been stupid to think a human could love a Succubus. She wouldn't make that mistake again. 

If only it was as easy to change her dreams as it had been to make that decision. 

Light encroached on the darkness of her bad dream, gradually taking more space and pushing the unpleasantness away. A woman walked in sunlight through a green meadow. Her flowing purple dress caught on the tall grasses as she made her way through blue, red, and yellow flowers. She never turned around, just moved forward on the never-ending meadow.

A woman's face took shape in puffy white clouds overhead. Long cloud hair streamed to one side, blown by a wind Xartarishaqu didn't feel. Grey eyes with a hint of mauve to them watched her, but she never felt judged by them.

If the woman walking in the meadow turned around, the face in the clouds would match hers. Somehow, Xartarishaqu just knew it.

She wondered again who the woman was, and why these dreams came to her. She didn't feed on people anymore and had no need to make them dream. The dreams must belong to the mystery woman.

Having always lived in Underground, Xartarishaqu had never felt sunlight on her skin. She hardly left the castle she shared with other succubi and incubi. They'd formed an insular community where no one judged for what they were and how they fed to live. 

The sun that came with the woman touched Xartarishaqu's skin in a gentle caress. She settled deeper into slumber, under the watchful gaze of the cloud woman, letting the sense of warmth and comfort soothe her soul.

CHAPTER TWO

Rising from her bed , Xartarishaqu turned away from the window and took a step toward her closet. She should get dressed, although lounging in her pajamas all day held some appeal.

A thud against her window was followed by a barely audible oof. She hurried to the window in time to see a blur of wings falling toward the ground.

What was that? A butterfly? A dragonfly? Not a raven or bat. That grunt sounded like a person.

Xartarishaqu rushed down the wooden stairs, socked feet nearly sending her slipping several times, but hesitated at the front door. This was Wicked Way, but sometimes people were still cruel. The little creature might be hurt, though.

She opened the door, went outside, and searched the ground.

Was she imagining things? No. There, under the bushes. A shimmer that blended in with the snow-covered foliage but didn’t belong at the same time.  

The creature was tiny and colorless, her wings, hair, and skin practically translucent. A shapeless dress hung from tiny shoulders, and an identical figure hovered above the one on the ground. What was she? Some sort of fairy, maybe. They were tiny, weren't they? Little wings fluttered as the second fairy stared at her fallen companion. 

Is your friend okay? Receiving no response, Xartarishaqu extended a finger to touch the small form. No movement. No energy. What should she do? Maybe fairies didn't give off energy. Or did she need some energy? That's all a Succubus knew how to do, although she'd never shared with someone so small, or a Fae before.

Polished black dress shoes came to a stop on the sidewalk in front of her. She jerked her attention up to the scowling man, his face twisted in revulsion. What? You have to prey on Pixies now? Disgusting Succubus. You’ll suck the life out of anyone you can get your talons on.

Her stomach lurched, and a chill made her shiver as she caught her breath. This wasn't a feeding! But there was no