Jack stomped his feet on the wooden porch before opening the screen door and then the heavy wooden door. He was really hoping this tavern had rooms for the night, his ass was sore from being in the saddle for hours on end and he could use a good night of sleep. They'd traveled longer than he had planned today, but the few towns in between this mountain area, and the coast they had left, had already had his brother's men in them and were well under control.

They'd come across the last occupied town a little before noon today. He hadn't expected it to take hours before they would find another town, but the farther they had gone the more mountainous and less populated the rocky terrain had become. The sun had set over an hour ago, he'd been about to call an end to their ride and camp outside for the night, when they'd finally come across this remote town. They'd dropped the horses off at a stable down the road and walked to the tavern. He could hear William's stomach rumbling, and all he really craved were a few drinks and a chance to relax for awhile before retreating to a bed.

Servers rushed about the room, patrons were engrossed in their drinks and games of chance. The comforting sounds of laughter, teasing and groans washed over him, along with the pulse of blood through human veins, and the familiar hushed stillness that accompanied those he recognized as vampire. At least this town is mingling well together, he thought as he searched for somewhere to sit. He spotted a couple of chairs at a table near the back of the large, open room. He began to weave his way through the crowd toward them with William on his heels.

From somewhere near the wooden stairs that led to the second story, an enticing song being played on a flute began to drift through the smoky room. He shrugged out of the bow and quiver on his back and placed them on the floor before settling on the empty seat. Jack cocked his head to the side as he closed his eyes and savored in the enchanting melody filling the room. It had been almost a year since he'd heard the haunting notes of a flute; he hadn't realized how much he'd missed it. William's dark auburn hair gleamed in the flickering candlelight as his sky colored eyes searched for the source of the sound. Jack picked up on the subtle slowing of heartbeats as the song calmed those gathered around him.

The sweet music drifted away, the spell it had woven over the crowd broke as everyone seemed to shake themselves before returning to their activities. A pretty blond woman came by to take their order. Jack leaned back in his chair; he stretched his long legs before him. He rubbed at his thighs as he tried to loosen up his muscles. It felt good to be out of the saddle and even if things did appear relatively calm in this town, he thought they might spend a few days here just to take a break.

He nodded a thank you to the woman when she returned with their drinks. A loud shout from his right drew his attention to the large fireplace with a fire smoldering low in the hearth. Six men had been playing a game of cards; there was a fair sized pot gathered within the center of the table. One of the men slammed his hand onto the table and rose up out of his chair. Spittle flew from his mouth as his face turned beet red.

A smile slid across Jack's lips; maybe he wasn't as tired as he'd thought. He pushed his drink away and cracked his knuckles. This was another one of the things he loved about these outer lands, the common brawls that allowed him to get out some of the pent up frustration and anger that had been festering within him ever since the war had ended. William broke into a big grin; he leapt to his feet as the fight broke out.

***

Hannah lifted her head as the first shout resonated through the tavern. Her hand clenched around the knife she held as she fought the urge to stab someone with it. Couldn't they go just one damn night without a fight, especially tonight when Calvin was supposed to be arriving?

She forced herself to drop the knife as she wiped her hands on her apron and walked to the doorway of the kitchen. Heath was already standing there; even he seemed to have forgotten what tonight was as he threw first a right hook at an imaginary fiend and then a left. It was about as close as the spindly looking boy was going to get to an actual fight for awhile.

Resting her hand on his shoulder, she gently pulled him back a step to look out the doorway. She rolled her eyes as she spotted the group of men rolling around on the floor. Chairs and tables skittered across the floor as they were kicked out of the way, legs and arms flailed about in the tangled mess. She spotted Lucas amongst the chaos, kicking and punching with the same ruthless intensity as everyone else.

They all knew the rules, fighting wasn't to be tolerated anywhere. They also knew it was a law Calvin strictly enforced. They may not all know what was happening tonight, but Lucas certainly did. Her acute anxiety over her "date night" began to turn toward rage when the crack of a breaking chair pierced the air. She was going to strangle her cousin when she got her hands on him.

"Just one night, is that so much to ask?" she muttered as she left the kitchen behind.

"Careful Hannah!" Ellen called to her from the stairs where she stood trying to stay out of the way.

"Those men are going to have to be the ones that are careful by the time she gets done with them!" Uncle Abe retorted from beside Ellen.

Hannah agreed wholeheartedly with her uncle as she honed in on the rotating pile of vampire and human testosterone. She planted her hands on her hips as she stared down at the rolling ball. She spotted a human with auburn hair happily swinging away at another blond human.

"Lucas!" she shouted but her cousin ignored her as he swung at a vampire that she knew wasn't from their town. Even better, there were outsiders involved in the fray, she thought angrily. Hannah's hands clenched on her hips as she stared at Lucas, she'd already put them in danger, and now he was adding to her mistake by taking the risk of being caught fighting. "Lucas!"

He continued to ignore her though as he punched at Marvin, a local vampire with sandy brown hair that was standing straight up on his head. A trickle of blood was trailing down from the corner of one of Marvin's hazel eyes. She was almost tempted to jump in and pull Lucas out of there, but she had enough problems without having her fangs knocked out too.

A table crashed against the wall as a chair toppled over. She was already adding up the cost of the losses as another table hit the back wall and bits of wood exploded across the room. She didn't have time to move out of the way before a flying splinter of wood hit her in the cheek. That was it, she'd had enough.

She pushed past a grinning Heath and grabbed a pot filled with water from the unlit iron stove. The fighters were still scrambling over top of each other when she arrived back at the pile and threw the water over them. Some of them came up sputtering, but three others were so determined to kill each other that they didn't even notice.

Lucas finally separated himself from the chaos. Pushing back strands of wet hair, he rose to his feet. Hannah shoved the pot into his hands and glowered at him. He at least had the decency to look ashamed as he clutched the pot against his chest. "What were you thinking?" she demanded.

He shrugged as his gaze slid back to the group of men. "Just blowing off some steam."

"Break this up," she told him.

"I will."

She was turning away from him when the familiar sound of bells approaching drifted through the building. The hair on her arms stood on end as she exchanged a look with Lucas. "Calvin!" she hissed. "Calvin is coming!"

Where the pot of water had failed to completely end the brawl, those four words succeeded. She grabbed hold of a table and quickly settled it back into place. Humans and vampires alike scrambled around her to right the broken furniture the best that they could. She didn't look back as she fled toward Heath and shoved him into the kitchen. Though Calvin most likely knew Heath was here, she didn't want him to see the boy right now.