H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (108 page)

“How can I ask anyone to join my Brotherhood
when he doesn’t even know who I am?”

“Get over it, Kermie,” I said. “I’m not
exactly keen to your world! It’s nothing personal. Why don’t you
let Maya go; she has nothing to do with this.”

“We plan on letting her go in due time, but
first, you and I need to have a little chat.” This guy was really
feminine. It was really throwing me off.

“Just let her go. It’s not personal!” I
insisted.

“When you say that this isn’t personal,
that’s where you’re wrong. This whole meeting is personal. We have
your girl and your friend. If we didn’t make this personal, then we
didn’t do our job.” He grinned evilly, his fangs exposed. I had the
creeps. Big time. Fear prickled up and down my spine.

If I wanted Maya back safely, I knew I
needed to play ball with this guy. “What do want to chat about?” I
asked.

“You’re our number one draft pick. We’re
here to make sure you sign with us.”

“I don’t even know who you are!”

“We’re the Notre Dame of the paranormal
world. Everyone wants to sign with us. We’re the best.”

“You have an interesting way of trying to
persuade me, by kidnapping my girlfriend and taking my friend,” I
said. “And you can’t convince me you aren’t evil by using football
metaphors!” I yelled. “There’s a place in hell for guys like you,
but you’re so evil, you can’t even get in there because the devil
would be jealous!”

“We do have a case of the dramatics, don’t
we? But I guess it’s par for the course for a Theater Arts grad.”
He turned around and laughed at his own joke with his Mani
henchmen. The others saw him laughing and joined in. Yep, henchmen.
Followers. I knew that if I brought Green Hair down, the others
would be easier.

“So, tell me exactly, what do you want from
me?” I asked, looking over at Maya as I asked my question. In my
mind, this wasn’t about him or me. This was only about keeping Maya
safe.

“We want you to join our Brotherhood!” the
green-haired man said.

I looked at everyone. “Is everyone here part
of the Brotherhood?”

“I’m not,” the super tall guy said. “I heard
that you were some kind of stud and I came to see for myself.”

“Nice,” I said. “Now, that you see me, what
do you think?”

“I’m not impressed.”

“Sorry, I don’t meet your approval, but then
again, you’re built like a beanstalk, so what do you know?”

This obviously pissed off the walking bean
pole. He said, “Everyone that is not a Mani, you need to leave
now!” They all looked at each other and didn’t move.

Then the green-haired one said, “You heard
him! All Tandra leave. Now!”

“It’s good to know your group respects their
elders,” the tall guy said. He was clearly disgusted that no one
listened to him.

“You know kids these days, Atticai. They
have no respect.”

“Well, they better learn some, or I’m going
to start making my presence known with your people, Timo. You
better get your crew together and get them on the right page.”

Timo, the green-haired guy, looked worried.
He obviously feared Atticai something fierce. He yelled, “You heard
him! All humans leave! Except the girl, she stays.”

“She better be staying or we have nothing to
talk about,” I said.

About three carloads of people took off out
of the parking lot. There were only six Mani left standing, seven
if you counted Patrick: Atticai, Timo, Monty, the two Mani holding
Patrick, and the red-headed girl who was in the car with Maya.

“Okay,” I said. “Let Maya out of the car. I
want to make sure she’s unharmed. If you’ve turned her into a Mani,
I don’t want her back.”

Timo snapped his fingers and the car door
opened. The red-headed woman walked out with Maya. She looked
frightened to death.

“So, do we have a deal?” Timo said. “Her
life for yours?”

“Not so fast, Timo. Let her go, and then
we’ll talk,” I said.

Timo continued to speak, this was obviously
his deal and Atticai was just observing. He was apparently above
Timo in whatever vampire hierarchy they had going on.

Timo smiled with a devious smile of evil
glee, one that looked through me, rather than at me. “We will let
you two love birds get reunited when you agree to join us in the
Brotherhood.”

“So, if I do this, you will let her and
Patrick go?”

“Patrick?” Timo laughed. “No, Patrick is
going to die. We thought that he could be your first task in the
Brotherhood. You know, help kill our dead weight. He’s weak. It’ll
be an easy initiation kill for you. Every member of the Brotherhood
has an initiation kill.”

“That isn’t going to happen, Greenie. There
is no way I’m laying a finger on Patrick.”

“Don’t tell me that this weakling Mani is
going to be the deal breaker for releasing your squeeze?” Timo
said, all giddy and clearly mocking me.

“Say what you want, but that’s the only way
I’ll do it,” I said.

“You’re not going to let this half pint
dictate the terms,” Atticai said to Timo, insulted.

“Half pint?” I yelled at Atticai. “Everyone
is a half pint to your freakish ass, you giant blight on dark
creature society.”

“You better watch your mouth.” Then Atticai
walked toward me. I was ready to fight his stringy ass at a
moment’s notice. Timo yelled at Atticai, “Please calm down. This
isn’t about you.”

“You’re damn right this isn’t about me,
because if it was, this bearded idiot would be dead.” Atticai
pointed his finger directly at me.

I had obviously pissed him off. I glanced
over at Maya and she looked absolutely petrified. “Maya are you
okay?” I yelled over to her.

“I’m okay,” she answered back.

“Have they hurt you? In any way?” My heart
was jumping. If they had touched her…

“No, not at all.” She knew what I meant.

“Hurt her?” Timo said shocked. “She got the
spa treatment today.”

“She better have. If I ever find out that
any of you pigs laid a finger on her, there will be hell to
pay!”

“I know, I know,” Timo said, bored and
antsy. “You’ll kick all our asses. Send us to Hades in a hand
basket. Blah, blah, blah. Do we really need to play this
melodramatic macho Tandra bullshit? Look, you in, or are you
out?”

“No one is going to hurt Patrick,” I
repeated myself. “I mean it!”

“Damn, you really fell for Patrick, didn’t
you? Are you sure he isn’t the one you’re in love with?” Atticai
laughed.

“He’s my friend,” I said.

“Hell, we all have friends,” Atticai
said.

“Maybe. I choose mine more carefully.”

“Okay, that is really sweet,” Timo said,
returning to the conversation. “But the deal that’s on the table
isn’t Patrick. The only reason we kept him alive was for you to
show loyalty to us by killing him.”

“Well, then you underestimated my loyalty to
my friends,” I said.

“Are you for real, dude?” Timo looked like
he was about to lose his mind with all of this negotiation..

Suddenly I heard some commotion coming from
down the street. I turned around and saw a giant white dually truck
come flying up the gravel trek. The guy in the truck was dragging
an animal behind his truck by a chain. What the fuck is going on? I
looked closely and that’s when I saw it wasn’t just any animal, it
was a black werewolf. It was Sasha. She was all beaten down and
mangled from being dragged on the road.

“What the fuck?” I yelled. “What the hell
are you guys doing? She had no quarrel with you!”

“Don’t tell me you love werewolves, too?”
Timo pleaded sarcastically, then looked at the remaining vampires
and said, “This guy really isn’t cut out to be a Mani.”

“Let the werewolf go!” I said. My heart was
going full ramming speed now, and I tasted the blood of revenge in
my own mouth as I bit my own lip.

Timo had had enough. “You know what? I’m
tired of this. You’re going to need to show some loyalty here.” He
looked at the driver who was also a Mani and said, “Moses, let the
wolf go. I want to see what kind of fighter this guy is.”

“You want me to fight an injured werewolf?”
I said, flabbergasted.

“It’s not ideal, but I’m in the mood to kill
a werewolf and this seems like the most fun. To make you do it
while we watch.”

I looked at everyone and all the Mani seemed
highly entertained by the prospect of a human and werewolf
tussle.

“You’re crazy,” I said. “It’s not even a
fair fight. You dragged her with a pickup truck.”

“Just leveling the playing field by
providing a handicap to your outmatched human frailty. Then you
will win easily over the werewolf,” Timo said. “You will show some
loyalty to us, or I’m going kill you right now.” Timo controlled
himself and then said, “You need to despise the very sight of these
primitive creatures. Kill the werewolf! Kill the werewolf!”

All of the Mani began to take up his
chant.

I looked over at poor Sasha and then I
looked at Maya. She was shaking her head for me not to do it. Then
I looked at Patrick, and he mouthed to me, “Don’t let her die,
Tommy.”

“All right,” I said over the chanting. “Let
her go. I’ll kill her.”

The chanting stopped.

“Please don’t!” Maya yelled.

“I have to! I’m sorry!” I took off my shirt.
“Everyone back up,” I said. Moses took off the chain that was
wrapped around Sasha’s neck. When the second the chain came off,
Sasha tried to run to the woods. Whatever survival mechanism that
was in a werewolf’s DNA was on overload right now because she knew
she was in danger and did not want to stick around and fight me.
For sport and for the Mani’s pleasure. She was in luck. Neither did
I. Sasha turned tail, put it between her legs and ran.

I ran after Sasha and jumped on top of her
back before she got to the woods. We rolled on the rocks and I
landed on top of her, pinning her wolf head back so she wouldn’t
take a chomp out of my face. I held her neck back tightly with both
of my hands so she couldn’t lunge forward and bite my neck
either.

“Kill the beast!” Timo yelled out,
laughing.

Sasha took a swipe at my neck with her
claws. That was definitely not the place I wanted her to get me, so
I flipped her over and kicked her off me and she flew five feet in
the air.

“Yes, that’s what I’m talking about,” Timo
yelled. “Hey, Beard boy, you’re going to need this!” He threw me a
silver stake from where he was standing. I caught the cold metal
spike and dropped it on the ground. It was heavy like silver. It
would kill her if I used it.

Sasha and I were now squared off. I figured
the best spot for her to bite me was my lower back. I had a lot of
muscle back there and I would still be able to be flexible after
she injured me by taking some of my flesh in her mouth. I jumped
into her and turned my back, practically giving her my backside as
an offering. She bit down into my lower back and from that moment,
I blacked out.

Later, I was told that this is what
happened…

Sasha bit down into my back and I dove off
of her. She saw she had injured me and took off into the woods. She
was able to get away. I was laying on the rocky ground and within
seconds, hair protruded out of my body from every part of me. My
body grew bigger in mass to the point that I ripped into my pants
like some kind of Hulk.

I turned to the Mani and howled at them at
the top of my lungs. The red-headed girl and Atticai transitioned
into their bird form and flew away, wanting no part of my rage. It
was apparently not what they had signed up for.

There were five Mani men left with Patrick
and Maya. Maya ran to my car with Patrick. They locked the doors,
so I couldn’t get in. I hope I wouldn’t have harmed them, but I was
a crazed werewolf in search of revenge against everything with two
legs. At that point, I don’t think I could have figured out the
good guys from the bad guys.

The five Mani men surrounded me and began to
transition, periodically spearing me with their raven beaks that
they used like swords.

I swiped Monty out of midair when he became
a raven and he fell to the ground. I dove on top of him and bit
through his neck, killing him instantly. He vanished into thin
air.

Two other Mani saw what I had done and
transitioned and flew off, afraid. Apparently Patrick wasn’t the
only Mani who didn’t have the stomach for fighting.

All that was left was Timo and Moses. Both
deserved to die on this night.

They decided that transitioning into ravens
wasn’t the way to go. Timo ran over and grabbed the silver stake
that he had thrown to me earlier. I flung my body at Moses. He
apparently round-housed me and caught me in the head. I rolled
across the gravel and then he jumped on my back.

I rolled and reversed him, so apparently my
MMA instincts were in effect, even when I was a transitioned
werewolf. I bit down into his collarbone. I bit down strongly,
crushing his bone.

I was told that Timo came barreling from
behind me and tried to stab the silver stake into my back. At the
exact moment that he slammed the stake forward, I jumped off of
Moses, who was below me and Timo accidentally speared Moses right
into his neck with the silver stake. It went completely through his
neck and Moses also disappeared.

All that was left of the terrible Mani was
Timo. Timo against a werewolf named Kyro. It was a mismatch, even
if I was in my human form. But it had been a hell of an unfair
fight, now that I was a werewolf.

Timo still had the stake in his hand and we
circled each other—periodically, he would lunge at me with the
stake.

One of those times, he lunged too far, and
his arm was too vulnerable. I bit into it and snapped it like a
twig. He cried out in pain, and then I jumped on top of him, and
well… I wasn’t told exactly how I killed him. But I was told it was
pretty gruesome.