Dead Reckoning

punch Blond Bristles right in his brisket. The guy went down like a sawn tree.
    Bearded Asshole looked at his buddies, down and disabled, and then he dropped the knife. Sensible.
    Finally.
    In less than two minutes, it was all over.
    I’d whipped my clean white apron off, and I bound Jack Leeds’s wound while Lily held his arm out for me, her face white as a vampire’s. She wanted to kill Pouty Lips in the worst possible way, because she loved her husband with an overwhelming passion. The strength of her feelings almost swamped me. Lily might be icy on the outside, but inside she was Vesuvius.
    As soon as Jack’s bleeding slowed, she turned to Pouty Lips, her face still absolutely calm. “You even move, I’ll break your fucking neck,” she said, her voice uninflected. The young thug probably didn’t even hear her through his own groaning and moaning, but her tone came through and he tried to inch away from her.
    Andy had already talked to the 911 dispatcher. In a moment I heard the siren, a disturbingly familiar sound. We might as well retain an ambulance to stay in the parking lot at this rate.
    Crazy Guy was screaming weakly at the pain in his leg and jaw. Sam had saved his life: Jannalynn was actually panting, she was so close to changing after the excitement and stimulation of the violence. The bones had slid around underneath the skin of her face, which was looking long and lumpy.
    It wouldn’t be good if she became a wolf before law enforcement got here. I didn’t try to spell out why to myself. I said, “Hey, Jannalynn.” Her eyes met mine. Hers were changing shape and color. Her little figure began to twist and turn restlessly.
    “You have to stop,” I said. All around us there was yelling, and excitement, and the thick atmosphere of fear—not a good atmosphere for a young werewolf. “You can’t change now.” I kept my eyes fixed on hers. I didn’t speak again but made sure she kept looking at me. “Breathe with me,” I said, and she made the effort. Gradually her own breathing slowed, and even more gradually her face resumed its normal contours. Her body ceased its restless movement, and her eyes returned to their regular brown.
    “All right,” she said.
    Sam put his hands on her thin shoulders. He gave her a tight hug. “Thanks, honey,” he said. “Thanks. You’re the greatest.” I felt the faintest thrum of exasperation.
    “Left your ass in the dust,” she said, and laughed raggedly. “Was that a good jump, or what? Wait’ll I tell Alcide.”
    “You’re the quickest,” Sam said, his voice gentle. “You’re the best pack enforcer I ever met.” You would have thought he’d told her she was as sexy as Heidi Klum, she was so proud.
    And then the law enforcement people and the emergency people were there, and we had to go through the whole procedure again.
    Lily and Jack Leeds took off to the hospital. She told the ambulance personnel she could take him herself in their car, and I understood from her thoughts that their insurance wouldn’t cover the whole cost of the ambulance ride. Considering the emergency room was only a few blocks away and Jack was walking and talking, I could see her reasoning. They never did get their food, and I didn’t get to thank them for the warning and for their promptness in obeying Mr. Cataliades’s orders. I wondered more than ever how he’d managed to shunt them into the bar in such a timely manner.
    Andy was pardonably proud of his part in the incident, and he got some pats on the back from his fellow officers. They all regarded Jannalynn with barely concealed mistrust and respect. All the bar patrons who’d tried to stay out of the way were falling all over themselves to describe Lily Leeds’s great kick and Jannalynn’s show-stopping leap onto Crazy Guy.
    Somehow, the picture the police got was that these four strangers had announced their intention to take Lily hostage and then to rob Merlotte’s. I’m not sure how that impression gathered credibility, but I was glad it did. If the bar patrons assumed that the blonde in question had been Lily Leeds, that was fine with me. She was certainly an outstanding-looking woman, and the strangers might have been following her, or they might have decided to rob the bar and take Lily as a bonus.
    Due to this welcome misconception, I escaped from any more questioning than the other patrons got.
    In the grand scheme of things, I thought it was about time I got a break.

Chapter 6
    Sunday