H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (10 page)

“All right. I drank it,” I said. “So, now
what?”

“Now, here’s where the fun starts.”

Yari took me by the hand and led me out of
the room, and back to the living room, where partygoers were
kissing so deeply and rhythmically, that I suspected some of them
were doing the dirty right then and there. But then again, with the
absence of any real light, it was hard to tell.

Yari scanned the room, looking for
something. And then she found it. A beautiful blond girl who was
sitting close to an equally beautiful brunette. Yari took the blond
girl’s hand, who rose from the couch without hesitation or
question. The blond, I could see, was lean and supremely sexy. She
smiled at me shyly.

As Yari held our hands, she continued
leading us through the undulating party, where we stopped this time
in front of a sexy Latina woman who was probably in her early
thirties. The blond girl nodded and reached out her own hand. There
was a chain reaction going on here that I wasn’t fully getting. The
Latina simply nodded and took the proffered hand. Once done, Yari
led the three of us back into the same bedroom with the mattress on
the floor and locked the door behind us.

I heard Tommy’s voice in my head, mocking me
not to have sex while in training for a big fight.

I think this is where I swallowed. Hard.
What the hell was going on?

Yari led me to the bed. I went, to say the
least, willingly. Without asking or hesitation, the Latina woman
took off my shirt, and now the blond girl began kissing my chest. I
don’t know what happened to my jeans, but suddenly, they were gone
and took my boxers with them.

That’s when the room started spinning.

Or maybe it in was my head. But everything
kept on spinning until I couldn’t see anything at all. It was a
blur. I suspected I had been drugged, but I didn’t care, not with
three women swarming around me, touching, kissing, licking.
Sucking! All I could do was feel. And feeling was enough. Hands
roamed all over me. My entire body was groped and kissed. Caressed.
Teased.

“I have one rule, girls,” I heard myself say
from somewhere seemingly outside my body. “No biting. Everything
else is fair game.”

The next two hours were the greatest two
hours of my adult male life.

Chapter Thirteen

At some point, I either passed out or fell
asleep.

I opened my eyes and, as my eyes adjusted, I
could finally see. I was alone in the room. I pulled out my cell
from my pocket. The lighted display read 2:12 a.m. Four hours of my
life had just vanished. I got up, and my legs felt wobbly. It had
not been an Partylite candle party. It had been a party of the
other type.

What the hell had been in that drink?

I slowly got dressed and weeble-wobbled to
the bedroom door and then made my way to the living room. There
were still a lot of couples making out. Smoke from the many candles
hung suspended in the air. The whole scene was surreal and bizarre,
and now I was a part of it. I needed fresh air. With my legs
feeling a little stronger, I headed out the front door.

I stood on the brick steps and took in a lot
of fresh air, which did wonders to clear my head. And that’s when I
heard the sounds of crying. Off to the right, in a small patch of
grass near the side of the house, was a swing hanging from the
thick branch of a tree. Lena was sitting alone and crying softly,
the sounds of her muffled sobs reaching me in the quiet night air.
I walked over to her.

“Hey,” I said.

Lena looked up at me. “Hi, Josiah.” She
wiped her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem as if it’s nothing,” I
said. “What’s going on? Where’s Atticai?”

“Atticai left with a couple of his
friends.”

I looked over and noticed the van was still
in the driveway.

“The van is still here. Is he coming
back?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t like to tell me
what he does.”

I paused. “That’s a pretty weird party going
on in there.” I didn’t mention the foursome I had, although thanks
to the power of that witchy potion I had drank, I was beginning to
remember less and less of it. Which was a damn shame.

“You have no idea,” she said. “Did you go
upstairs?”

“For a moment, but Yari found me and said I
shouldn’t be up there.”

“Be glad that she did, they might not have
known.”

“Not know what?” I asked.

Lena looked at me. “You have no idea what
they were doing up there?”

“I’m not stupid,” I said. “I assume they
were doing drugs.”

“Drugs? You think that’s what this party is
about? A drug free for all? Are you honestly that clueless?”

“What are you saying?”

“Open your eyes, Josiah!”

“This all comes back to what your freaky
friends did at the frat party, sucking on everyone’s neck and
wrists. Do these people truly think they are vampires?”

Lena gave me a withering look that seemed to
imply I was the world’s biggest idiot. Maybe I was. “Josiah, they
were feeding up there!”

“Feeding? Like eating?”

She shook her head violently, and she kept
shaking her head.

“Feeding on what, Lena?” My voice growing
higher, perhaps with panic. “What were they feeding on?
People?”

“No, not people’s flesh, but
people’s...”

“Blood? Is that even sanitary?”

“It is when you’re a vampire.” Lena stared
at me with utter amazement. But I had better critical thinking
skills than to believe that because people drank blood, it
obviously led to actually becoming a vampire. People do stupid
things for all sorts of reasons, even drink blood. To me, there was
nothing magical about blood drinking. It was almost some kind of a
sexual fetish.

I shook my head at her. No, this could not
be! I would believe in vampires on the same day that I believed in
fairies. Which would be never. One thing that I did believe in was
mental illness and drug addiction; I thought this party was a sure
sign of both.

I said, “Vampires? You have got to be
kidding me.”

She wouldn’t look at me. “I don’t know why
Yari brought you here. But now that you’re here you need to start
opening your eyes. This isn’t a Halloween party. These people—or
things—are truly real.”

“The only thing that is real about them is
that they are delusional. If they are truly drinking people’s blood
against someone’s will, then they are also committing a serious
crime.”

“It’s not a crime if no one is alive to
press charges.”

“Are you saying they’re killing people
upstairs? You’re telling me vampires—real vampires—are running wild
in the city of Victorville?”

Lena just stared at me. Above, I heard more
birds flapping. The beating rush of their wings was powerfully loud
in the silent night. I felt as if I was being watched, but I didn’t
know by whom. Mostly, I heard the dull thumping of my heart in my
ears and my own harsh breathing.

This was crazy talk, of course. I mean,
c’mon. How could anyone believe in something so crazy? Worse yet,
if she was telling the truth—at least about the killings—then I was
stranded here with a bunch of psychos.

“Lena,” I said, trying again, “just because
some people have a fetish for” —and I couldn’t believe I was about
to say this— “drinking blood, that doesn’t make someone something
they’re not.”

“You think all those people in there just
have a fetish?”

My mind was spinning. I was still feeling
the effects of whatever it was in Yari’s flask. “Of course. What
else could it be?”

“We shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not safe for either one of
us.” Lena looked away, pausing. “Josiah, I have seen things.”

“What? The biting? Please! Just because
someone can puncture flesh with filed-down teeth, doesn’t make them
a vampire.”

“Do you seriously think all those people in
there are playing games?”

“Of course they’re playing games. And
someday they’re all going to have to grow up and get real jobs and
let the fantasy go.”

Lena seemed pretty upset. I thought she was
going to storm off, and maybe that would have been for the best. I
felt sorry for anyone who believed this crap, and Lena obviously
did. She seemed like a reasonable person. Everything pointed to her
not being delusional, but then again, I hadn’t spent a lot of time
with her, either.

“You really believe this, don’t you?” I
said.

“It’s not a matter of believing. Believing
is what a kid does in Santa Claus. This isn’t faith. Faith and
believing are what you do with the unknown. This is extremely
real.”

I knew I’d better drop it. She looked
particularly vulnerable. I took her hand. “Let’s go for a ride,” I
said.

“But where’s Yari?” Lena asked, her round
eyes meeting mine. A spark of jealousy flickered in her pupils.

“I have no idea. We don’t need to worry
about Yari.”

“She’s pretty possessive.”

“Well, she is nowhere near being my
girlfriend, so I wouldn’t worry about her.” Any girl that drugs me
and brings in two other women was certainly not the possessive
type, and certainly not girlfriend material.

Lena stared at me and then looked down at
our hands. I could tell she wanted to go with me, but something
held her back. She pushed through it and finally said, ”Okay, I
would like that. Let’s get out of here for a bit.”

“Cool.”

Chapter Fourteen

Lena and I walked over to my truck. I opened
the door for her, and she jumped into the passenger side. Lena
smelled incredible, and she looked fantastic in her usual black
attire.

I got into my side and keyed the ignition
and reversed out of the house of horror’s driveway. I found my way
back to the same road that I used to get here, and I just
drove.

Just to lighten the mood, I said, “Even
though it’s dark, I feel at peace out here.”

“Well, you are in excellent company.
Everyone around these parts likes the dark; it’s what they’re all
about.”

“Still on the vampire kick, eh?” But before
she could answer, and we could get into another argument about the
undead, I quickly added: “So, what are you about, Lena?”

“I like the dark. It makes me think of
death.”

“You make it sound as if that’s a good
thing.”

“Death, for some, is a good thing.”

I shuddered a little. Geez, dark girl. I
said, “I have too much living to do to think much about death.”

We lapsed into silence after that rather
lively exchange. If she continued to talk like that, then I was
better off sitting in silence. Who likes to talk about death?

A few minutes later, I asked Lena, “So do
you still live with your parents?”

“Unfortunately, I do. I have been hoping
that Atticai and I could get a place.”

“Are you two pretty serious?”

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean?”

“Emotionally, we are pretty serious. The
physical aspect of us is a whole other story.”

“Physically? I’m confused.” I pulled the
truck into a field and parked. “Explain yourself, young lady.”

“Young lady?” She laughed a little. “Okay,
well, Atticai and I have never....” Her voice trailed off.

“Never what?” I asked eagerly.

“Never... had sex.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.”

“Not one time?”

“We haven’t even been to second base.” Lena
looked at me with almost of sense of irony.

“Whoa,” I was shocked. By the way, these two
acted together, I would have thought there wasn’t a place in San
Bernardino they hadn’t done it.

She said, “It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?”

“It’s insane.” I couldn’t hide my surprise.
Lena was extremely hot, and any guy would jump at the chance. “Is
it you? Or is him?” I asked.

“It’s all him. I mean...yes, I’m a virgin,
but I was ready to have sex with him a year ago.”

“So, what’s the hold up?”

“He keeps telling me that he wants to
preserve my innocence.”

“What a crock of shit.”

“Atticai cares about me, Josiah. He told me
that things will change in a couple of weeks when it’s my birthday.
I guess it freaks him out that I’m still in my teens.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s old. His physical body is about
twenty-eight.”

“His physical body?” I sputtered. What the
hell did that mean?

Lena gave me a knowing look, one that seemed
to imply I should already know the answer.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. He’s
Dracula.” How could someone who seems to be so honest with herself
be so clueless?

“I guess it’s a good thing you still don’t
believe. It’s probably the thing that’s saving your life.”

“Saving my life? What are you talking
about?”

“Never mind. Anyway, so what about you? Do
you still live with your parents?”

I was still wrapping my brain around the
‘It’s probably the only thing saving your life’ comment she made. I
made a mental effort to switch gears and answer her question. “No,
I don’t,” I said distractedly. “I live with my best friend.”

“Do your parents still live in San
Bernardino?”

I was quiet.

“Did you hear me?” Lena asked.

“Yeah, I heard you,” I said.

“Well, where do your parents live?”

I got out of my truck and walked over to the
front of my hood. Lena got out and stood next to me.

“The moon’s pretty bright tonight,” I said.
“Even though it’s only a half moon.”

But she wasn’t looking at the moon. She was
staring at me. “I’m sorry if talking about your parents upsets you,
Josiah. God only knows that I have a crappy relationship with
mine.”

We were silent. I kept looking up at the
moon. She kept looking at me. Finally, I said, “They passed away,
back when I was in high school.”