When black plague swept through the local village, Ben, his wife, and all his children save the youngest daughter had been swept away, Roderick and William along with them. I still remembered how my father grieved the loss of the family he’d felt such affection for. It had been my first real introduction to death, and it had hurt my much too tender heart.
I’d been a boy of fourteen when they died.
If losing my friends wasn’t bad enough, watching my father and uncle put a torch to their home along with half the village had been worse. Afterward, they’d burned piles of diseased corpses. I could still remember the horrible smell and the ashes swirling in the noxious air.
I came back to myself as I dragged my eyes away from Sid and glanced at Sam, sizing the werewolf up for the first time. He wasn’t as tall as Greg, but he was at least as wide. He had black hair with a wide streak of light gray right down the center like a skunk. I wondered how he’d look in his wolf form. It wasn’t that I’d spent a whole lot of time checking out werewolves, much less, sitting across from one in a bar, but I was willing to give it a chance. Sam seemed protective of Greg and that was a personality trait I admired since it was so similar to my own when it came to Romeo.
Sam regarded me with suspicion, and I was pretty sure the last place he wanted to be was sitting across from me. He cleared his throat and dragged his eyes away from me to Romeo who sat with his muscular thigh pressed to mine, seeming quite relaxed if I was reading his posture correctly. I wondered if all unicorns were this comfortable around werewolves, witches, and vampires. For that matter, I wondered if there were any other unicorns alive at all.
Peggy, the waitress, came over and set down our drinks. I was slightly amused when she put a glass of ice down in front of me along with a full unopened bottle of ketchup and a small cup of seltzer water. Everyone else had beers in front of them. I ignored the stares of the two men across from me and thanked Peggy who smiled shyly and walked away.
The men watched as I picked up the bottle of Heinz ketchup and cracked the seal, pouring it over the ice, topping it with the seltzer water to thin it out, and adding several squirts of Tabasco sauce to it. I stirred my drink with a spoon until it was smooth.
Sid chuckled as he picked up his beer and clinked his glass with mine and Romeo’s. When Sam sighed and lifted his beer, he did the same. He looked reluctant to be sitting here, and I totally understood why. We were sworn enemies after all. He was staring at me like I was crazy when I tipped my ketchup glass and swallowed the cool refreshing glass of thick red liquid in just a few gulps.
“What the fuck?” Sam muttered under his breath.
I glanced at Romeo to find him grinning at Sid. Sid simply shrugged his shoulders.
“Now I get why you ordered an entire case of ketchup,” Sid said, smirking as he turned to look at me.
I nodded and lifted the ketchup bottle to start preparing a second drink as the werewolf let out a low growl. Looking up, I saw him staring at the door to the saloon and my breath caught. Walking into the saloon were Floyd with his enforcers, Renaldo and Mike.
Chapter Eight
Prosper Woods Chronicle. Letters to the editor:
“I went to the fortune teller on main street yesterday. That place is a rip off. There was a real-life woman, not a crystal ball with a disembodied talking head. And not a single little car to ride around in with a hitchhiking ghost. Save your money.” Signed, “Ghostless and grumpy.”
Romeo
I didn’t notice Floyd until Vincent suddenly sat up straight and hissed beside me. Noting where his attention was, I glanced over at the door and spotted Floyd Reardon with two huge guys. One was Hispanic, covered with tattoos. I remembered him as the one who’d told Floyd there was no fighting me in unicorn form in Vincent’s yard the night the werewolves had come for my vampire. The other man had also been there that night. He was a big guy too, flanking the alpha werewolf and glowering at the four of us.
Floyd turned and glared at Greg before pointing at the table, and I watched the bartender’s eyes widen as he seemed to shrink against the back bar in fear. When they began walking over, I heard Sam’s growl grow louder. I could sense something under the surface of the man’s skin, and then I felt a pulse of fear come off him. I reached down and set my right hand on the gun at my hip, hoping I wasn’t going to have to pull it. I unsnapped the holster, freeing the weapon and sat up straight, narrowing my eyes at the three big men who stopped at our table looking down at us.
Floyd leaned down and grasped the table with two hands, and I made a quick sweep of the room with my eyes. I took note of where the customers sat, innocently enjoying their meals and drinks, seemingly unaware of the confrontation about to happen at our table. Floyd and his menacing enforcers certainly weren’t here to make small talk. I glanced down and was surprised to see that Floyd’s fingers had long claws which dug into the table as a low growl emanated from his throat.
“Well, lookie here,” he said in the same voice I’d heard the last time he’d threatened me and Vincent that night in my vampire’s yard. He was
