Free Danger Money by John Van Stry

either walk out, or die here."
    "Just you?" I laughed, "Or do you need your friends to help?"
    "I don't need any help to kill you kitty."
    "Hobb, he didn't ..." began Sil.
    "Quiet," I said softly, she shut up. "That's twice you've threatened to kill me now." I started growling at him, flattening my ears and closing my eyes to slits. "If you get down on your knees and beg forgiveness, I'll let you live."
    He pulled his knife then. I spun off my chair on my left foot, my right foot just missed his stomach. But the chair, which I was holding in my left hand now, didn't. He dropped the knife and I jumped him, punching him in the head several times backing him up.
    He came back with his fists and claws managing to open a few small cuts on my arms. I responded with a flurry of my own followed by a spinning crescent kick combination and the claws on my right foot scored a deep gash on his forehead.
    It was quickly becoming obvious to everyone around that this wasn't a regular fight anymore, as we continued to go at it.
    He was pretty good, I'll admit. He had a lot of speed, more than a Weasel normally would, I wondered if he was on drugs or something similar. On the other hand I was slightly drunk and not as fast as I should have been.
    My extensive experience was the only thing saving me. He telegraphed most of his moves and I just did the standard counters. But he still cut me up good. That got my adrenaline flowing and helped clear out the fuzz the beer had given me.
    I was giving at least as good as I was getting, and the effect was showing on him. He was slowing down and even getting worried.
    It took a while, longer than it should have, but he finally swung wide in response to a feint and I was able to duck under his arm and slide behind him. I grabbed him quick and got a good head lock on him then. A quick hard twist, accompanied by a sickening crunch and I dropped the body to the floor.
    "Gods, I hate Weasels!" I growled and carefully headed back to the table. The crowd was deadly silent, but slowly started up again, like a machine winding back up into gear after a sudden unexpected halt. I grabbed a chair and sat back down and started licking my wounds. Those I could easily reach at least.
    "You killed him!" Sil gasped.
    "No shit," stated Shotoon. "How long 'til the police show?"
    "They won't, they could care less."
    I finished checking myself out. I had a few bad cuts and a couple of sore ribs, nothing major. I looked up and noticed that the body was blocked from view by the crowd. If it was even still there. The three side kicks were gone too, maybe they took it.
    I looked over at Sil, wondering if I should hit on her or not. Azelett was looking daggers at me, and Sil seemed a little nervous.
    "Come here," I said quietly.
    She hesitated a second, then came over. I gently pulled her down onto my lap, and gave her a small kiss.
    "I'm sorry if I upset you," I smiled weakly. "But I am not a nice person."
    She started to look very nervous then.
    "Now would you please bring us some more beer?" I smiled again and let her go.
    "Sure, just a sec!" And she was gone in a flash.
    "Would somebody please give me a hand with these cuts?" I asked pointedly looking at Azelett.
    "No." She growled.
    "What's got into you?" I asked taken a back.
    "Not you!"
    "Excuse me?" I said looking at Shotoon and Rieselle, no help from either of those two corners.
    "What in the universe do you think you're doing?" she growled.
    "Oh come on, I'm just flirting with the girl," I sighed.
    "Not that!" she hissed. "I'm talking about that Weasel you just murdered."
    "Hey, he asked for it! And besides, he was only a Weasel anyway. You know how I feel about them!" I growled back. This was really beginning to bug me. Plus two of those cuts were pretty deep and still bleeding.
    "You're not at the Palace now Jotun. You're supposed to be on leave! You just can't behave like that!"
    I looked at the other two, "You tell her!"
    "You know he didn't stand a chance Jotun,"