Bayou Brawl

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Synopsis

As an officer with the New Orleans Police Department, Arianna Paris Laveau is stuck on hated coypu control duty, but she can't stop thinking about the rash of brutal murders that have recently taken place. Rumors abound that it might be aliens, but Arianna isn't sure if she believes the scuttlebutt. Therefore, after work, she goes to the Saints and Sinners Tavern, a favorite hang-out for the local supernaturals. There she asks her two lovers, Lamar, a werewolf, and Jacques, a vampire, what they think, and they confirm that it does appear to be extraterrestrials. Soon they're all embroiled in a battle with the alien creatures in the bayou.

Review

"Bayou Brawl" is, as far as I can tell, a stand-alone short story. Arianna works for the New Orleans Police Department, but she's anything but an ordinary woman. There has been a rash of brutal, seemingly ritualistic, murders, and rumors are flying that they may have been committed by aliens. Arianna isn't sure if she believes it, so she goes to her favorite supernatural hang-out to confer with her two lovers, Lamar, who is a werewolf, and Jacques, who is a vampire. They, too, have heard it's aliens, and soon all of them, along with groups of Fae and demon warriors, are fighting it out in the bayou with the little green men.

Although I didn't like it quite as well as a few other shorts I've read by L. A. Banks, this story was still a pretty respectable entry into the Blood Lite III: Aftertaste anthology where it's found. However, I couldn't help feeling like it was a little too short and also a bit too simplistic. The characters seemed interesting and I would have liked to read more about them. But after searching, I can't find any reference to this story being connected to any of the author's other works. So apparently what I learned of them in this short is all I'll ever know, hence the too short part. Then there's the denouement of the story that seemed to be over almost before it even started, hence the too simplistic. But overall, it was far better than many of the other stories in the anthology, so I did enjoy it.

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