"Dis is de life, guys." Etienne commented, leaning back in his chair and taking a swig of his beer. He, Theoren, Remy and Emil were sitting at one of the many round tables in the new club. They were in one of the corners, out of everyone's way; they liked to keep an eye on the rest of the club. "Not one single person in California has any knowledge of zydeco."
"You t'ink de others will show up?" Theoren asked.
Remy nodded. "If dey go back to Tante's house, dey might. I asked her to tell dem where we are." He saw that Emil wasn't paying attention. "What's up, Red?"
Emil nodded his head towards the entrance of the club. "Look who jus' walked in."
Theoren, Remy and Etienne followed their friend's gaze and when they saw who Emil was talking about, Remy groaned and Theoren sank down in his chair and put his head in his hands.
"Oh, wonderful. Jus' wonderful." Theoren muttered.
Etienne was confused. "What is it?" he asked.
"See dose three men dat jus' walked in an' sat down?" Emil replied. Etienne nodded. "Dey're assassins. Names are Gris-Gris, Fifolet an' Questa."
"I t'ought de two Guilds were unified now…" Etienne said, trying to make sense of everything.
"Dey are." Remy told him. "But jus' b'cause dey are, doesn' mean de two groups get along."
The door of the club opened again. Claude, Genard, Rory and Dani walked in, searching the club for their friends. Emil chuckled when he saw Claude and Genard stiffen at the sight of the three assassins. Theoren waved the four over, and as they pulled chairs around the table and sat down, Genard asked,
"What are dey doin' here?"
"It's a free country, Genard." Remy replied.
"Is it?" Claude grumbled. "Could've fooled me."
Across the room, the assassins had decided to kick up a little ruckus in the club. There were plenty of people around they could hassle. They knew some of the thieves were there, with three people they didn't recognize, but they didn't care. They had no idea that the three strangers could give them some serious problems if given the right opportunity.
Gris-Gris got up from his chair, having picked out their intended target, a young man sitting at the bar nursing a beer. Fifolet and Questa followed his lead, and together, the three assassins headed over to the bar.
"What do you s'pose dey're up to?" Theoren asked his companions.
"No good, what else?" Emil replied, frowning.
"Should we interfere, Remy?" Genard asked.
The frown on Remy's face matched the one on Emil's. He wanted to tell his friends to go ahead and stop the assassins from doing whatever it was they intended to do. But he knew that if they did interfere, the already unimaginable tension between the Guild members would get a hundred times worse. The thieves and assassins, in spite of the unification, did not get along with each other, no matter how hard some of them tried to make things peaceful.
"Non, Genard." Remy finally answered. "Two reasons. If we did, dey'd never let us live it down when we got away from here. An' if de cops are called, it would be much better for us to not be involved."
Etienne, Rory and Dani glanced at Remy sharply when he said the word cops, but they remained silent. They'd had no idea they would be faced with this kind of situation so soon into their trip. They watched in silence with the thieves as Gris-Gris tapped the targeted man on the shoulder. Fifolet and Questa were standing, one on either side of Gris but slightly behind, waiting.
Gris asked the man at the bar a question and frowned evilly when the man gave his reply. With a quick motion, he grabbed the man and hauled him off the barstool. Gris then punched the man in the stomach, making him double over in pain. In seconds, Fifolet and Questa were helping him and tearing up the bar, throwing tables at the men who tried to stop them.
Dani and Rory sat there and watched the scene unfolding in front of them. They glanced at each other quickly so no one would notice. They were both itching to pull out their badges and break up the fight, but they didn't, being restrained by the thought that their brothers might reject them if they knew the truth.
Etienne sensed his friends' desire to do something about the fight. However, he didn't feel the same urge himself. Having spent the first thirteen years of his life being trained in Guild ways, he was content to sit there with the other thieves and watch. He had only been back for less than a day, but he already felt like he had never left, and he was starting to think he didn't want to leave again.
Within minutes, the door burst open and police officers ran in, guns ready.
"Dat's our cue." Theoren said quietly. He and the other thieves, Etienne included, got to their feet and quickly but quietly made for the exit. The girls stayed in their seats, looking at Etienne curiously.
"Et?" Rory asked.
"C'mon. We're getting outta here b'fore de police recognize someone." He replied.
Unsure but not willing to be left behind, Dani and Rory got up and followed their brothers and friends out of the club into the crisp night air. Once outside, the girls noticed that the thieves quickly hid themselves in the shadows, trying to blend into the darkness. They did the same, keeping close to Etienne, because he was the only one who could tell them what was going on and what to do.
"Etienne? Can we talk?" Dani asked, knocking lightly on Etienne's bedroom door. The three friends were back at Tante Mattie's house after their night out at the club. Rory was already asleep, as was Mattie, but Dani couldn't shake something from her mind and wanted to discuss it with her friend.
"Sure, come on in." Etienne replied, putting down the book he was reading.
Dani sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. "We haven't even been here for twenty-four hours and already you don't want to leave, do you?"
Etienne glanced at her and then looked quickly away. "I'm comfortable here, Dani. Dese people are my fam'ly. I'd been away from here so long I started to forget who I really am. True, in Los Angeles, I'm a cop. But dat's my life dere. It isn' here. Here, I'm…a t'ief. I may not be able to join de Guild officially, but in my heart, I'm a t'ief an' always have been. I've missed dis life so much…an' no, I don' want to go back."
"I guess the real question is, are you going to go back?"
"I…I don' know…" Etienne faltered. At this point, he didn't want to go back, but he wasn't sure what he was really going to do. He hoped that by the end of the two weeks, he'd have a better answer. "Why didn' you an' Rory do anyt'ing 'bout de fight?"
It was Dani's turn to look away. "We didn' want to."
"Yeah, right." Etienne grinned. "Don' lie, Dan."
"Okay, okay. We were scared. Not of the assassins…we've seen worse fights, and even worse people in Los Angeles…but of the idea that if we showed we were cops, if we did something about it, Claude and Genard would reject us. Now that we have them in our lives finally, we don't want to jeopardize it." Dani admitted.
"Well," Etienne said, putting a hand on hers. "It sounds to me like you guys are gon' have a decision to make too, when de time comes."