"No lizards here," Sam said, his voice even and calm. "You fellas are welcome to have a drink, but after that I think you better leave. This is a quiet place, a local place, and we don't need trouble."
"Trouble's already here!" boasted the shortest ass**le. His face was clean-shaven, and his hair was only blond stubble, showing scars on his scalp. He was built broad and chunky. The third kid was thin and dark, maybe Hispanic. His black hair was slicked back, and his lips had a sensuous pout to them that he tried to counteract by sneering. The fourth guy had gotten off on the vampire blood even more seriously than the rest, and he couldn't speak because he was lost in his own world. His eyes jerked from side to side as if he were tracking things the rest of us couldn't see. He was big, too. I thought the first attack would come from him, and though I was the least of the combatants, I began to ease to my right, planning to come at him from the side.
"We can have peace here," Sam said. He was still trying, though I knew he understood that there was no way we were going to escape violence. He was buying time for everyone in Merlotte's to understand what was up.
That was a good idea. By the time a few more seconds had passed, even the slowest of the few patrons had moved as far from the action as they could get, except for Danny Prideaux, who'd been playing darts with Andy Bellefleur, and Andy himself. Danny was actually holding a dart. Andy was off duty, but he was armed. I watched Jack Leeds's eyes and saw he'd realized, as I had, where the worst trouble would come from. The dazed hoodlum was actually rocking back and forth on his heels.
Since Jack Leeds had a gun and I did not, I carefully inched backward so I wouldn't interfere with his shot. Lily's cold eyes followed my small movement, and she nodded almost undetectably. I'd done a sensible thing.
"We don't want peace," snarled Bearded Leader. "We want the blonde." And he pointed in my direction with his left hand, while his right hand pulled a knife. It looked like it was two feet long, though maybe my fear was acting like a magnifying glass.
"We gonna take care of her," Blond Bristles said.
"And then maybe the resta you," Pouty Lips added.
Crazy Guy just smiled.
"I don't think so," Jack Leeds said. Jack pulled his gun in one smooth movement. Possibly he would have done it anyway out of sheer self- defense, but it didn't hurt that his wife, standing right by me, was a blonde. He couldn't be completely sure they meant me, the other white meat.
"I don't think so, either," said Andy Bellefleur. His arm was rock steady as he aimed his own Sig Sauer at the man with the knife. "You drop that pigsticker, and we'll work something out."
They might be high as kites, but at least three of the thugs retained enough sense to realize that facing guns was a bad idea. There was a lot of uncertain twitching and eye shifting as they flickered gazes at each other. The moment hung in the balance.
Unfortunately, Crazy Guy went over the edge and charged for Sam, so now we were all committed to stupidity. With Were swiftness, Pouty Lips whipped out his own gun, aimed, and fired. I'm not sure who he intended to hit, but he winged Jack Leeds, whose return shot went wild as he fell.
Watching Lily Leeds was a lesson in motion. She took two quick steps, pivoted on her left foot, and her right foot floated through the air to kick Pouty Lips in the head with the force of a mule. Almost before he hit the floor she was on him, pitching his gun toward the bar and breaking his arm in a flow of motion that was nearly hypnotic. As he screamed, Bearded Asshole and Blond Bristles gaped at her.
That second of inattention was all it took. Jannalynn took a flying leap off her barstool, describing an amazing arc through the air. She landed on Crazy Guy as Sam tackled him, and though CG howled and snapped and tried to throw her off, Jannalynn reared back to punch him in the jaw. I distinctly heard the bone break, and then Jannalynn leaped to her feet and stomped on his femur. Another snap. Sam, still holding him down, yelled, "Stop!"
In those seconds, Andy Bellefleur rushed Bearded Asshole, who'd whirled to present his back to Andy when Lily attacked Pouty Lips. When the tall guy felt the gun in his back, he froze.
"Drop the knife," Andy said. He was in deadly earnest.
Blond Bristles cocked his arm back to strike a blow. Danny Prideaux threw his dart. It got Blond Bristles square in the meat of his arm, and he shrieked like a teakettle. Sam abandoned Crazy Guy to 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 f**king 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.