From Dead to Worse

place, Sookie, do you choose to take Jason’s place?”
    Oh, crap. I looked at Calvin and I knew my whole face was asking him if there was any way out of this. And his whole face told me no. He actually looked sorry for me.
    I would never forgive my brother—or Crystal—for this.
    “Sookie,” Maryelizabeth prompted.
    “What would I have to do?” I said, and if I sounded sullen and grudging and angry, I thought I had a good reason.
    Maryelizabeth opened the book again and read the answer. “We exist by our wits and our claws, and if faith is broken, a claw is broken,” she said.
    I stared at her, trying to make sense of that.
    “Either you or Jason has to break Calvin’s finger,” she said simply. “In fact, since Crystal broke the faith completely, you have to break two, at least. More would be better. Jason gets to pick, I guess.”
    More would be better. Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea. I tried to be dispassionate. Who could cause the most damage to my friend Calvin? My brother, no doubt about it. If I was a true friend to Calvin, I would do this. Could I bring myself to? And then it was taken out of my hands.
    Jason said, “I didn’t think it would happen this way, Sookie.” He sounded simultaneously angry, confused, and defensive. “If Calvin stands in for Crystal, I want Sookie to stand in for me,” he told Maryelizabeth. I never thought I could hate my own brother, but at that moment I found out it was possible.
    “So be it,” said Maryelizabeth.
    I tried to boost myself up mentally. After all, this wasn’t maybe quite as bad as I’d anticipated. I’d pictured Calvin being whipped or having to whip Crystal. Or we might have had to do some awful thing involving knives; that would have been way worse.
    I tried to believe this might not be so bad right up until the time two of the males carried out a pair of concrete blocks and put them on top of the picnic table.
    And then Maryelizabeth produced a brick. She held it out to me.
    I began to shake my head involuntarily because I felt a heavy twinge in my stomach. Nausea did flip-flops in my belly. Looking at the common red brick, I began to have an idea what this was going to cost me.
    Calvin stepped forward and took my hand. He leaned over to talk very close to my ear. “Darlin’,” he said, “you have to do this. I accepted this, when I stood up for her when she married. And I knew what she was. And you know Jason. This might easily have been the other way ’round. I might be about to do this to you. And you don’t heal as well. This is better. And it has to be. Our people require this.” He straightened and looked me right in the eyes. His own were golden, utterly strange, and quite steady.
    I pinched my lips together, and I made myself nod. Calvin gave me a bracing look and took his place by the table. He put his hand on the concrete blocks. With no further ado, Maryelizabeth handed me the brick. The rest of the panthers waited patiently for me to perform the punishment. The vampires would have dressed this all up with a special wardrobe and probably an extraspecial fancy brick from an old temple or something, but not the panthers. It was just a damn brick. I held it with both hands gripping one long side.
    After I’d looked at it for a long minute, I said to Jason. “I don’t want to talk to you again. Ever.” I faced Crystal. “I hope you enjoyed it, bitch,” I said, and I turned as quick as I could and brought the brick down on Calvin’s hand.

Chapter 19
    Amelia and Octavia hovered around for two days before they decided leaving me alone was the best policy. Reading their anxious thoughts just made me surlier, because I didn’t want to accept comfort. I should suffer for what I’d done, and that meant I couldn’t accept any easing of my misery. So I gloomed and sulked and brooded and rained my grim mood all over my house.
    My brother came into the bar once, and I turned my back on him. Dove Beck didn’t choose to drink at Merlotte’s, which was a good thing, though he was the least guilty of the bunch as far as I was concerned—though that didn’t make him any clean Gene. When Alcee Beck came in, it was clear his brother had confided in him, because Alcee looked even angrier than usual, and he met my eyes every chance he got, just to let me know he was my equal.
    Thank God, Calvin didn’t show. I couldn’t have stood it. I heard enough talk around the bar from his coworkers at Nor-cross about the accident he’d