“Seems like you don’t want my kind anywhere, do you now?” I sneered at him. “Seems to me that you are going to be a long time hoping for days long gone. Get with the program, boys—the world is more diverse than you will ever hope to understand and either you change and accept it, or you’re going to end up drop-kicked to some desert island.”
“Cunt. You’re an abomination. A demon. You have no feelings, no conscience. Be gone in the name of the Almighty!” He thrust out a cross made of wood.
I stared at it, then at him. “Nobody calls me that in my own bar.” With a deliberate nonchalance, I reached out and grabbed the cross out of his hands, stared at it, shrugged, and tossed it back to Digger, who caught it and stuck it in his pocket. “Sorry, but that’s going to do as much good as a feather. And it’s an insult to those of your belief who have more foresight than you do.”
“There is only one true race—and it’s the human race.”
I had to give it to him, he had more guts—or, most likely, stupidity—than most.
“Fine, you want to play, boy? I’m game; when I go for blood, trust me, I get it. I gave you a chance to leave my bar without incident. I’m going to give you one last opportunity to turn around and head for the door with your cronies.” I was usually less in-your-face with pathetic, desperate men, but after the destruction of the DarkTower Gardens, I wasn’t feeling charitable.
He wavered, and for a moment, I thought he was going to turn around and head out, but then one of his buddies murmured something and it seemed to spur him on. He leaped forward at me, and I caught him by the wrist, squeezing till the bones broke with an audible crack. I might as well have let loose the hordes, because that was all it took for the brawl to break. At that moment, Shade, Roz, Morio, and Delilah entered the bar and immediately moved in on the freaks.
“Subdue only, unless they make a move to kill you!” I raised my voice so it echoed through the room. And we were into it. I had to hold myself back. I was so used to going for broke with the enemy that fighting to restrain and not to kill was a challenge.
Morio had just shifted into his youkai form—an eight-foot-tall fox demon that would send terror into any sane human—when three prowl cars pulled up and several officers raced in. I recognized them as being from the FH-CSI and mentally sent a huge hug to Chase. Within ten minutes, the cops had rounded up ten men and two women between the gang in the bar and the picketers outside. A number of them had scrammed when the law arrived. Yugi—second in command to Chase, and a Swedish empath—was in charge. He waved me over.
“You want to press charges?” He glanced around and I followed his gaze. There had been some damage, but thankfully it was superficial.
“Yes. I do. They threatened my bar patrons and my staff, and me, and damaged my bar. Anything you can throw at them, Yugi.” What I wanted to do was to pound them into the ground, but now that the cops had them out in a wagon—they’d had to bring in a bigger vehicle to transport them all—it wouldn’t be good form to drag them out and rub their faces into the concrete.
“A couple of the guys out there are pretty beat up. They said you did it.”
“I did. They were harassing me and I was afraid one of them might have a stake.” I was lying, but then again, when I thought about it, the possibility had been all too real.
As if reading my mind, Yugi jerked his head toward the wagon of prisoners. “We found five stakes on them, two guns with silver bullets, and a variety of switchblades. We also found one flare gun and two Tasers, several pairs of silver handcuffs, and two pairs of iron handcuffs.”
“Those freaks came prepared.” A chill ran through my heart. They were out for trouble, and out to harm. That much was clear. “It could have been so much worse.”
“It probably would have been if we hadn’t arrived when we did. Derrick called us earlier but damn, the town is jumping tonight and there were quite a few calls. We got here as soon as we could.” The way he said it told me that something was up.
“What kind of calls?” I held his eyes.
Yugi’s gaze flickered to the ground. “Apparently the Brethren were holding synchronized events tonight. They also tried to hit the Supe-Urban Café, the Supe Community Council, and a major wedding tonight—two Weres from notable families were getting married. We’ve been fielding one crisis after another. By the way—your vamps? They’ve jumped in and helped us a couple of times already. Tell Lord Roman we appreciate the muscle.”
I nodded, feeling a little overwhelmed. That we were being attacked on two fronts, even though we were helping to save the butts of those who were attacking us, left a bitter taste in my mouth. I slumped back against a wall. “Tell me the truth. Will those guys get any time?”