From Dead to Worse

had while he was working on his truck at home.
    Most unexpectedly, on the third night Eric walked into Merlotte’s. I took one look at him and suddenly my throat seemed to ease and I felt tears well up in my eyes. But Eric walked through as though he owned the place, and he went into the hall to Sam’s office. Moments later Sam stuck his head out and beckoned to me.
    After I walked in, I didn’t expect Sam to shut the office door.
    “What’s wrong?” Sam asked me. He’d been trying to find out for days, and I’d been fending off his well-meant queries.
    Eric was standing to one side, his arms crossed over his chest. He made a gesture with one hand that said, “Tell us; we’re waiting.” Despite his brusqueness, his presence relaxed the big knot inside me, the one that had kept the words locked in my stomach.
    “I broke Calvin Norris’s hand into bits,” I said. “With a brick.”
    “Then he was . . . He stood up for your sister-in-law at the wedding,” Sam said, figuring it out quickly. Eric looked blank. The vampires know something about the wereanimals—they have to—but the vamps think they are far superior, so they don’t make an effort to learn specifics about the rituals and rhythms of being a were.
    “She had to break his hand, which represents his claws in panther form,” Sam explained impatiently. “She stood up for Jason.” And then Sam and Eric exchanged a look that scared me in its complete agreement. Neither of them liked Jason one little bit.
    Sam looked from me to Eric as if he expected Eric to do something to make me feel better. “I don’t belong to him,” I said sharply, since all this was making me feel handled in a major way. “Did you think Eric coming would make me all happy and carefree?”
    “No,” Sam said, sounding a little angry himself. “But I hoped it would help you talk about whatever was wrong.”
    “What’s wrong,” I said very quietly. “Okay, what’s wrong is that my brother arranged for Calvin and me to check on Crystal, who’s about four months pregnant, and he fixed it so we’d get there at about the same time. And when we checked, we found Crystal in bed with Dove Beck. As Jason knew we would.”
    Eric said, “And for this, you had to break the werepanther’s fingers.” He might have been asking if I’d had to wear chicken bones and turn around three times, it was so obvious he was inquiring into the quaint customs of a primitive tribe.
    “Yes, Eric, that’s what I had to do,” I said grimly. “I had to break my friend’s fingers with a brick in front of a crowd.”
    For the first time Eric seemed to realize that he’d taken the wrong approach. Sam was looking at him in total exasperation. “And I thought you’d be such a big help,” he said.
    “I have a few things going in Shreveport,” Eric answered with a shade of defensiveness. “Including hosting the new king.”
    Sam muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Fucking vampires.”
    This was totally unfair. I’d expected tons of sympathy when I finally confessed the reason for my bad mood. But now Sam and Eric were so wrapped up in being irritated with each other that neither one of them was giving me a moment’s thought. “Well, thanks, guys,” I said. “This has been a lot of fun. Eric, big help there—I appreciate the kind words.” And I left in what my grandmother called high dudgeon. I stomped back out into the bar and waited on tables so grimly that some people were scared to call me over to order more drinks.
    I decided to clean the surfaces behind the bar, because Sam was still in his office with Eric ... though possibly Eric had left out the back door. I scrubbed and polished and pulled some beers for Holly, and I straightened everything so meticulously that Sam might have a wee problem finding things. Just for a week or two.
    Then Sam came out to take his place, looked at the counter in mute displeasure, and jerked his head to indicate I should get the hell out from behind the bar. My bad mood was catching.
    You know how it is sometimes, when someone really tries to cheer you up? When you just decide that by golly, nothing in the world is going to make you feel better? Sam had thrown Eric at me like he was throwing a happy pill, yet he was aggravated that I hadn’t swallowed it. Instead of being grateful that Sam was fond enough of me to call Eric, I was mad at him for his assumption.
    I was in a totally black mood.
    Quinn was gone. I’d