“Are you okay?”
Sam raked a hard gaze up and down my body, seeming to look for damage. I could smell the fear for my safety coming off him in hot waves. The overwhelming affection I felt for my best friend was incredible. I grabbed both of his forearms and moved close, leaning down.
“I’m fine, Sam. The sheriff and vampire mean us no harm,” I whispered, conscious of the other patrons in the bar.
Sam stared at me, looking deeply into both eyes before he finally nodded. “Okay.” He loosened his grip and dropped his hands as his claws retracted.
“We came in for some food,” the sheriff said suddenly. I looked over and saw him holding his hand out to Sam. “I’m Sheriff Harmon but you probably know that,” he said, “and this is Vincent Lasco.”
Sam reached out and took the sheriff’s hand. “Sam Jackson.” He turned to the vampire, also shaking his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” the vampire said. “We came in for dinner.”
I frowned, and so did Sam. “You...eat? Like…food?”
The vampire chuckled, and the sheriff smiled. “A little,” he said.
“Take a seat,” I said, looking around. At the moment, there were less than ten people in the saloon. I pointed to a booth at the very back. “Maybe over there in case…”
“In case more of your pack show up?” the vampire asked.
“Even if they do, most of them won’t try anything,” Sam said.
I nodded. “That’s true,” I said. “You have nothing to fear from them. Floyd is the one you have to worry about.”
“Greg!” Sam turned and frowned at me. “We don’t discuss pack business with outsiders…you get that?”
I nodded furiously. “Yeah. Yeah…I know.” I felt stupid but he was right. Still, I wanted to tell the sheriff about Floyd so bad. I knew he was a good man, and if he knew about how our alpha was hurting our females, he’d use his power to stop it.
Sam shook his head with a warning glare in his pretty eyes…eyes that I knew almost better than my own.
The sheriff cleared his throat, and when I turned to look at him and the vampire, he was frowning just a little.
“We’re gonna grab a seat,” he said, pointing to the booth before turning to Sam. “Join us. Won’t you, Sam?”
Sam exchanged a glance with me, and I nodded. “That would be nice, Sam.” We needed to stay on good terms with the sheriff. “I’ll be over in a minute with your beer.” I turned to the sheriff. “Beer, Sheriff Harmon?” I already knew his brand.
“Yes, thank you,” he replied before turning to the vampire. “What would you like to drink?”
I thought that would have been obvious but when the vampire smiled at the sheriff before turning to me, all I could do was shrug. I lowered my voice. “We don’t serve blood.”
The vampire chuckled. “Do you have ketchup?”
I blinked in surprise. “On the table.”
“Greg, would you bring us an unopened bottle of ketchup, a cup of seltzer water, and that beer?” the sheriff asked.
I turned and stared at the lawman, nodding slowly. “Uh…sure, okay.”
“Can I join this party?”
I turned to look at the door of the saloon and spotted Sid walking inside, holding a thick wooden staff in his hand.
“Sid!” the sheriff said, holding out a hand as the older man walked up.
I suppose I’d always known Sid was a witch before the night our pack had gathered at the vampire’s house but seeing him standing side by side with the unicorn sheriff and the vampire that night had been eye-opening. I watched as Sid shook Sheriff Harmon’s hand and then turned to the vampire.
“Vincent. Nice to see you here.” Sid glanced over at Sam and me. “It’s nice to see everyone getting along, Greg.”
“Sure,” I said, acknowledging the witch’s greeting. “Can I get you something, Sid?”
“Gimme one of those double cheeseburgers, heavy on the spread and grilled onions with extra pickles. Also, a basket of those onion rings,” the old man said.
“I’ll have the same,” Sheriff Harmon said.
I nodded before looking at the vampire. “Would you like anything besides the ketchup?”
Sid snickered as the vampire spoke up. “I’ll just have some of Romeo’s onion rings. Thanks, Greg.”
I was slightly surprised by the use of my first name, but I shook it off as I turned to Sam. “You want the usual?”
Sam smiled. “Tuna melt with pepper jack, Greg.”
I nodded. His order never changed. I leaned down and whispered, “Go make friends.”
I knew the others would be able to hear me. All supes had fantastic hearing. At the moment, I really couldn’t care about that. All I wanted to do was keep the peace in here. As long as everyone kept their cool, we might all be able to get away unscathed, having made new friends before the night was over. Sam smiled at me and followed the others to the booth.
A unicorn, a vampire, a werewolf, and a witch walk into a bar…
It sounded like the setup to a bad joke, and I couldn’t help but smile at their backs as they all walked away. My life was really weird right now.
Vincent
“Thank you for joining us, this evening,” I said as my lover sat down beside me, across from our two guests. Sid was a round man, and he reminded me of one of the tenant farmers who’d raised a large family of strapping men. Ben and his buxom wife had been my father’s favorite tenants, always bringing in the best harvest of all our fields. I’d played with Roderick and William, the farmer’s oldest sons when I’d been a boy and I
