Dead Reckoning

wasn’t sure he’d hear me, but after I repeated myself about twenty more times, he stopped the screaming (thank you, God) and said, “Miss Sookie, I want to get out of here.”
    “Sure,” I said, trying to keep my own voice calm and level when I wanted to scream, too. “You see that door over there?” I pointed to the door that led back to the rest of the club, Eric’s office and so on. “You go back there and wait. You did great, just great! Bill will be back there directly, I’m sure.”
    “Okay,” he said forlornly, and I saw his silhouette moving against the faint light coming from the opened door. I finally located Bill, who was picking his way through the combatants with his eyes on the prize. He took Bubba by the arm to steer him to safety, which was Bill’s designated job. I was proud to see that Bill had left one of the nameless vampires dead on the floor, already flaking away.
    I was so intent on Bubba that I didn’t see Audrina staggering toward me, her hands on her throat and blood pouring from a wound, until she actually collided with me, causing me to go down on my knees. I don’t know what her goal was—maybe she was trying to go past me to the bar to get a towel to staunch the red flow, maybe she was just trying to get away from her attacker—but she never made it. She went down full-length on the floor a yard past me, and there was nothing I could do for her. I sensed movement behind me as I touched her wrist, and I threw myself away from the body just in time to dodge a blow from the bartender, Jock. He had excellent survival instincts, going after human women instead of vampires. Indira, her sari billowing around her, gripped Jock’s heavy arm and swung him with enough force that he cannoned into a wall. A hole appeared in the wall, and Jock reeled back, unsteady on his feet. Indira threw herself down to the floor, reached between his legs, and gripped. Screaming, Jock stomped and kicked, but Indira emasculated him.
    I had a new “most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”
    Blood poured from Jock, thick and dark, and he looked down in shock while Indira shrieked in victory. With sudden determination, he swung his clenched fists and smacked her in the side of her head. Indira went flying, and it was her turn to collide with the wall. She lay still on the floor for a second, shaking her head as if there were flies buzzing around it. Jock went for her, but I caught hold of his shoulder long enough to slow him down a bit, and at the moment he reached her Indira revived enough to launch herself upward, throwing a fold of her sari over his face long enough to blind him while she caught the stake I tossed to her and drove it into his heart.
    Jock, I hardly knew ye.
    I tried to do a quick evaluation.
    Jock down, Mark and Mindy Simpson down, Ana Lyudmila down, Antonio down, Unknown Enemy Vamp #1 down. Luis . . . Where’d he gone? I heard a shot outside and figured that answered my question. Sure enough, Luis ran back into the club with a wound in his left shoulder. Mustapha Khan was waiting with a very long knife. Luis put up a furious fight despite the bullet wound, and he had a concealed weapon, too. He drew out his own blade and scored a cut on Mustapha, but Immanuel kicked Luis’s knee from the back and Luis crumpled. Rubio took advantage of the moment of weakness to drive in a stake. Though Mustapha said, “Oh, hell,” with great disgust, he bowed to Rubio. Surprised, Rubio bowed back.
    Palomino was having trouble with Unknown Enemy Vamp #2, who fought like a fiend. Maybe Palomino was not as skilled a fighter, or as old, but she was bloody and weakening. Parker, who was evidently not much of a brawler, kept to Two’s back and repeatedly jabbed him with an ice pick, which was not too effective but obviously irritating. Two, a hefty vamp who’d been turned in his thirties, would heal up only to be punctured again. I’m sure it hurt like hell. Parker was apparently too scared to get in close enough to pierce Two’s heart. Palomino was too slow from her many wounds to immobilize him. Mustapha, thwarted from the Luis kill, shoved Parker aside and beheaded Two with a dramatic sweep of his blade.
    Now Akiro and Victor were the only enemies left standing.
    They both knew they were fighting for their lives. Pam’s mouth was bloody, but I couldn’t tell if the blood was her own or Victor’s. I felt the cluviel dor press into my waist and I thought of pulling it out, but the next