Authors: J. R. Rain
Vampire Games (20 page)
Also available:
Ghost Fire
by Eve Paludan,
edited by Scott Nicholson and J.R. Rain
The Fourth Sunrise
An epic love story by my brother, H.T. Night
And coming soon:
Lost Valley
The Complete Serial Novel
A lost world in a remote valley in Alaska yields an unexpected scientific discovery
—
and inescapable horror.
by J.T. Cross
King’s Blood
The Complete Series Novel
One vampire is about to discover that his bloodline is worth a king’s ransom. Now, on the run for his immortal life, he will uncover deadly secrets that stretch down through the millenniums.
by P.J. Day
Temple of the Jaguar
An adventurer and antiquities thief is hired to search for
Ciudad Blanca
, the lost white city. But others are searching for it, too. Others who are willing to kill to keep its secrets
—
and treasures
—
for themselves.
By J.R. Rain and Aiden James
Burning
(Brotherhood of the Blade #1)
Rand the Vampire Hunter is on the hunt for those who killed his wife and kids
—
deadly immortals with an agenda of their own. The first of a trilogy featuring Rand from
Moon Dance
.
By J.R. Rain and Eve Paludan
Available now in ebookstores everywhere:
Beach Angel
by Summer Lee
(read on for a sample)
It was a dry, hot June afternoon in Southern California, and I was bored. Unlike some of my friends, I didn’t have a girlfriend to hang out with. At least not yet. I was planning on changing that someday soon. Either way, I was alone now, my chores were done, the house was empty, and I was bored senseless.
I dropped in front of the TV, flicked it on, scanned through the channels, and then turned it off in frustration. There was nothing worth watching. I drummed my fingers on the coffee table, which I had just polished. My fingertips mucked up the newly waxed surface. I didn’t care. It was just going to get mucked up again anyway, right?
I called my best friend, Alex Martinez, a kid I had known virtually all my life. Alex was always a little bigger and a little better than me at everything. And I was already pretty good, anyway. Which meant that Alex was always the star, and always got the girls. But Alex, to his credit, never rubbed it in or even seemed to acknowledge his superiority in just about everything. One of the reasons we were friends.
“
What’s up?” he asked.
“
Nothing, I’m pretty bored,” I answered back.
“
Me too. Let’s shoot some hoops at the school. I’ll help you with your crossover dribble.”
“
It really needs work?”
“
It’s like watching a dying seagull.”
“
Not all of us have been blessed with freakish ability like yourself.”
“
That’s why I want to give back. You know, to the little people.”
“
Ha ha, very funny Alex. Don’t forget I was taller than you when we were in the fifth grade.”
“
What happened?”
“
Genetics, I guess.”
“
My dad is five feet seven and my mom is five feet.”
“
Well maybe Shaq is a distant cousin or something.”
“
You want to play or not?”
“
Yeah,” I said, grinning. “That would be fine.”
The club tryouts were soon and I wanted to start on my team. I was a good shooter, but Alex, of course, was much better and I needed him to trust me on the court. Because he would be the point guard and I need my touches.
“
Meet me out front,” he said.
I stuffed my cell phone in my pocket and got my basketball out of the closet. I then went outside to wait for Alex. It wouldn’t take him long to get to my house. He only lived two blocks away.
As I dribbled the ball on the sidewalk, I thought about Alex and all the fun we had playing basketball together when we were young. We both always made the teams through grade school, and again last year in the seventh grade. Most games were played on outdoor courtyards.
We both went to an after school program at a local church called Integrity Boys Club. They played a lot of sports against clubs in other cities, especially basketball. Now we were getting ready for a winter league.
The Integrity Club was planning a basketball camp for this summer, to further develop our skills. Alex and I both planned to go. That would be cool. I hoped to get more of the fundamentals down so that I could play more competitively in the eighth grade at school. Our parents thought alike and said it would be a good experience for us. As my mom says, “An after school sport would keep you boys busy.”
Only one person could interfere with my having a great life at Buena Vista Junior High. That was public enemy number one, Chopper Cruz. I knew that Chopper had been after me ever since I took him on last year. I stuck up for my little buddy, Tim Ho, when Chopper punched him. I attempted to kick Chopper’s butt for that.
But that wasn’t the only time I tried to teach him a lesson. I bloodied his nose last spring when he was pushing some girls around. When they called out for help, I had to defend them.
Word was out that he now planned to smash my face in. He was a bully who picked on small boys and helpless girls. I was tired of fighting with him, but if he started something, I’d finish it. I hadn’t decided yet what I’d do to him. I couldn’t let him get away with that kind of talk. I had a reputation to defend, after all.
Respect was big in our junior high. You respected a person stronger than you. I had a feeling that before the year was over I was going to face off with Chopper. One of us would then learn the meaning of the word respect. I preferred it to be him, rather than me.
I lifted weights to build up my biceps, but at gut level I knew I was not yet as strong as Chopper. He was six inches taller than me, and outweighed me by forty pounds. But I was determined to never tell a soul that I was scared; instead, I decided to work hard at getting stronger.
My cell phone rang. It was Alex again. “How about going to the Buena Park Mall instead?”
“
Why?”
“
My mom just got home and said she’d drive us.”
“
What’s to do there?”
“
We’ll eat, maybe find some girls. Wanna go?”
“
Sure. Why not?” I tossed the ball into the garage.
A few minutes later, I saw Alex’s mom’s little blue car come around the corner for me.
* * *
Once in the mall, we headed for the food court. Going around the corner we ran smack dab into three girls.
“
Hey Alex,” said a cute freckled one, immediately hugging him. Tightly. “What are you doing here?”
“
Nothing much,” said my friend, always Mr. Cool. “Just getting something to eat.”
Her friends giggled as if that had been funny, and then they stood smiling at each other for awhile. Finally, the freckled girl asked, “Want to hang out with us?”
Alex looked questioningly at me. I nodded. The girls were cute.
“
Sure,” he said. “Why not?”
We headed out through the mall. I walked on one side of Alex, while the freckled girl walked on the other. Her two friends trailed behind, exchanging goofy looks. I had never seen any of them before.
“
So how do you two know each other?” I asked.
“
We met at the beach a couple of weeks ago,” Alex said.
“
So then introduce me,” I said.
Alex rolled his eyes. “Lilly,” he said dramatically, “meet my pushy friend, Brett Buyer.”
“
Hi,” she said, smiling brightly.
I said hi and asked, “So where’re you from?”
“
Huntington Beach,” she said. “I go to a small private school there called Hope. Actually, all three of us go there.”
I looked back at the other two girls. I didn’t have a girlfriend but was hoping to find one before fall and the eighth grade. Most of the cute girls at Buena Vista Junior High were already taken. Maybe I could get one from the private school.
Twenty minutes later, we had worked our way, inevitably to the downstairs food court, which was painted brightly in shades of green, yellow and orange.
“
So how did you meet?” I asked, as we strolled in front of the rows of restaurants. I was often curious how boys and girls my age met. I was always looking for some universal rule of thumb that I could apply in my own life.
“
We were both surfing,” said Lilly. “Alex cut me off. I cussed him out, and he came back to apologize.”
I turned to Alex.
“
Since when do you surf?” I asked, surprised. We were friends and I didn’t know he surfed.
“
I’m learning,” he said, smiling at Lilly. “I rent a board at the beach. But, you know, it’s hard getting down there. We don’t exactly live by the beach.”
In fact, we didn’t. Although we lived in Orange County, which was famous for its beaches, we lived about twenty-five miles inland. And, until we got licenses and cars, we were at the mercy of buses and parents.
“
All the guys in my school surf,” Lilly announced proudly.
“
The cool guys,” chimed the other two girls, nearly in unison, which produced more giggling.
I was getting the impression that Lilly and her friends thought the guys at her school were a little bit better than us, and that bugged me. We had surfers at our school, too. And there were other ways to being cool, right? Surfing wasn’t the only way. Did grownups worry about who was cool and who wasn’t?
“
What kind of food should we order?” Alex asked the group.
“
I prefer Mexican,” Lilly said. “Let’s get a platter of nachos.”
The other girls agreed that was a good choice. I said fine, although I was eyeballing the corn dogs over at Hot Dog On A Stick. What boys will do for girls.
Alex ordered a huge plate of nachos with cheese and jalapenos. He put the whole messy concoction in the middle of the table for all to share. Drinks in hand, we sat around the nachos. Lilly introduced the other two girls as Brenda Marcelli and Sandy Smith. I said hi. Brenda had dark hair and Sandy was blond, and both were petite and dang cute.
I might have been staring a little too long, because Sandy suddenly looked away, turning red. Embarrassed, I quickly looked up, and in doing so, saw our friend, Mark Martin, walking toward us.
He slapped me hard on the back, showing off a little for the girls.
“
What are you guys doing here?” he asked.
“
Just hanging out,” said Alex.
Have a seat,” I said, nearly rubbing where he had slapped me, but deciding that wouldn’t be very cool.
Mark plunked down next to the girls, grinning broadly and introducing himself. Afterward, when all the hellos were said, it got awkward having three girls and three guys together, most of us strangers, and most of us awkward. That is, everyone but Alex, who smiled easily and seemed about as comfortable as could be.
With six people sitting at one table, I ended up squished between Mark and Brenda. Sitting close to a girl was nice. More than nice. I love the way girls smell, and Brenda was no different, a touch of perfume and shampoo and something else. Something almost magical. I smiled at her and she smiled back. We could be friends.
The three girls were really quite pretty. Alex knew how to pick them, that’s for sure. Sandy wore a pink blouse that looked good with her reddish-blond hair, and Lilly was kind of cute in her blue jeans and red plaid shirt, but I didn’t think either girl was half as pretty as Brenda Marcelli in her purple shirt.