Prologue

The man turned on the lights when he entered the hotel room. He put a brown paper bag down on a small, battered table beside the bed, and took out an old mason jar. Inside were dozens of bugs, all shapes and kinds, crawling all over each other, looking for a way of escape. He rubbed his hands together and smiled. He still had a few minutes until Vanda was due to arrive.

Alfie felt like screaming. In fact he did, as a rather large grasshopper stepped on his head. "Stupid morons," he mumbled. "We've been shut in here for hours and no one has found a way out yet. It's not likely to happen anytime soon, either, I tell you."

As usual, he was ignored. Actually, he probably couldn't be heard above the din. Other bugs were shouting, calling for help, plus there was the scraping of legs against bodies as the ones who hadn't already resigned themselves to whatever fate awaited them, scrambled to find a way out.

Suddenly panic level in the jar subsided, as eyes turned toward what was happening outside the jar.

The man scrambled off the bed at the first knock. "Vanda, love," he said, kissing the raincoat-clad woman full on the lips as she stepped into the room. She tossed off her coat, revealing a black leather corset, garter belt with matching stockings, and impossibly high heels.

"Do you got the music?" she asked, her accented voice omitting some of the words.

He clicked on a portable CD player; nothing was more sexy than the tango. He got comfortable on the bed, opening his trousers and taking out his limp cock. He ran his hand over the head, and licked his lips. Showtime.

Alfie held on for dear life as the lid was wrenched off and the jar upended, bugs falling out upon the floor.

Alfie gave in to his panic and screamed.

The woman started dancing in time to the music, her heels beating out a sharp staccato, smushing the bugs on the floor into gooey little smears.

The man's cock was at full mast now, his hand pumping in time with the tempo.

The keening of the remaining bugs reached an all-time high. Alife wished for ear plugs. Then he wished for ears.

The man was just on the verge of orgasm, and Alfie was already counting katydid days over, when in through the window came the largest swarm of dragonflies that Alife, or the two humans, had ever seen.

The woman started screaming hysterically. The man was torn between finishing his orgasm, or pulling up his pants and getting the hell out of there.

Alfie was caught in the pandemonium (hard to jump when you're at the bottom of a dogpile of beetles). He'd managed to push his way through when he looked up and saw a size 11 shoe headed his way. He froze.