H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (5 page)

Wyatt suddenly turned the van hard to the
right and hit the brakes. “We’re here.”

Atticai leaped into motion, his long limbs
unfurling in a blink like some weird alien life form awakened from
a space travel stasis slumber. He threw open the bay door, and he
and Lena jumped out. I slowly followed with my bandage around my
wrist and no doubt, a damn big hickey on my neck, compliments of
Wyatt.

The Flatlands was a giant gravel parking lot
that was surrounded by trees. We were obviously in the heart of the
San Bernardino Mountains. The sky was lit up by stars that you just
couldn’t see in the city, due to light pollution. There were
several trucks and cars parked throughout the gravel area. Beyond
the cars were fires and voices that belonged to many dark-clad
figures. It appeared to be a giant party, a rave of some sort,
except that everyone was dressed in black.

A freak convention, I thought. Of epic goth
proportions.

There were bonfires everywhere and the
sounds of old-school Suicidal Tendencies blaring. A quick scan and
guestimate told me that there were at least a hundred or so of
these “emo” characters in the gathering. I shivered, deprived of
blood and still pretty shocky.

I was led over to one of the bonfires.
Atticai still had his arm around Lena. He was still giving off this
protective vibe when it came to her. It was surreal, to say the
least.

Anyway, as we walked up, there was no doubt
who was the alpha male in this group. A swath opened for him in the
pressing crowd of black-clad bizarros, and he walked down the
middle of it like a freaking king at his coronation. Everyone
seemed to turn and watch him. I stopped at the edge of the fire
with Yari and watched as Atticai took off his trench coat and then
his T-shirt. He was pretty ripped. He was damn pale, granted, but
the dude had some serious game in the abs department. His stomach
looked as if it was carved out of alabaster by Michelangelo
himself. No wonder Lena liked this guy. Even though he was a
colossal freak, he was a man among pale, skinny boys in this
adoring crowd. As he turned his back to me, I saw that he had a
pretty strange tattoo covering the upper half of his back. It was,
in fact, writing. Big, black Old English font letters spelled out
the acronym, “C.O.N.”

Okay, whatever.

One of the guys at the party walked up to
Atticai and handed him a wooden jug that looked like something out
of 1800s. Atticai grabbed the jug and immediately jumped on the
hood of one of the trucks and took a long drink from whatever was
in the container.

He shuddered briefly then turned and looked
straight at me. “Hey, Josiah! Want a swig?”

“What is it?” I asked from the other side of
the fire.

“A little of everything. Tastes like shit,
but that’s not the point.”

I was about to ask what the point was, but I
decided I didn’t want to know. It was probably laced with
God-knows-what. Whatever it was, I know I didn’t want it in my
body. Not with my big fight coming up.

“I’ll pass,” I said. “I’m in training.”

“Training?” Atticai laughed. “Training for
what?”

“For a fight I’m having next month. I’m a
professional fighter.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

“No wonder you kicked so much ass tonight. I
didn’t realize I was in the presence of Muhammad Ali.”

“I’m not a boxer. I’m a mixed martial arts
fighter.”

“You mean that crazy Royce Gracie crap?”

“It’s evolved since him, but, yeah. That is
exactly the sport I’m in.”

Everyone at the party was now looking at me.
They seemed impressed that Atticai was taking a liking to me. As if
we were old friends or something. I still wasn’t sure what I
thought about all this.

I was just about to relax a tad when someone
shoved me hard in the back, my bat-beaten back. Again with the pain
of great magnitude. I took a couple steps toward the fire and
turned around and immediately dropped into a fighter position.
Standing there was a bleached-blonde idiot about my size, staring
at me.

“You think you’re a badass?” the guy
asked.

You have got to be kidding me. Was I
seriously about to have another scuffle?

This dude looked ridiculous. This guy wore a
Danzig shirt and had several piercings in his face. One punch to
his face would tear him to shreds, not to mention ruin about five
hundred dollars’ worth of jewelry.

“No,” I said. “I’m just hanging around like
everyone else.”

The bleached-blonde guy got up in my face.
“I don’t like you.”

“Back the hell off, Rubidoux!” Atticai
shouted.

“Why? If this guy is so tough, then let’s
have him prove it.”

“Rubidoux, you’re tanked. Trust me, you
don’t want anything to do with this guy,” Atticai insisted.

But Rubidoux didn’t listen. He took a swing
at me, and I instinctively ducked. When you fight, you always go by
instinct. You also have to account for your surroundings, and
especially friends who might have your back. Hopefully, have your
back. I had Lena, a friend. But a mere girl. As far as these other
hinky guys, who knew if they would be friend or foe in a fight?

In this case, I knew that I couldn’t strike
this guy or I might have dozens of guys on me. Punching out friends
always has a way of getting other friends riled up. But friends
will let a fight play out if it goes to the ground. Of course, what
happens after that is anyone’s guess. I had many fights under my
belt, street and pro, to know that until someone is down and
doesn’t come up again, and the friends walk away in closure, the
fight isn’t over.

Time to meet the challenger. I knelt down
and shot my shoulders straight into his legs. In one smooth motion,
I picked him up and threw him hard to his shoulders, pinning him
down on his back, while holding down both his arms.

A perfect take-down.

I was particularly careful not to touch his
face. Had we been alone, he would already have been knocked
out.

“I don’t know you!” I said to Rubidoux. “I
have no problem with you! You need to calm down!”

“All right, man, get the fuck off me.”

“Are you going to be cool?” I insisted.

Then, without warning, Rubidoux turned his
head and puked all over the rocks. I jumped back as the dumbass
wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

As I stood back, Atticai did a whooping
warrior-scream at the top of his lungs. When he was done acting
like a crazy man, he pointed at me and shouted, “I knew this guy
wouldn’t disappoint!”

Everyone yelled and cheered and many
mimicked his ear-splitting rebel yell. I was apparently caught up
in a Goth pep rally, in my honor.

“On second thought,” I said to Atticai.
“Give me some of that.”

I walked around the fire and over to him. He
grinned and handed me the wooden container. I sniffed the contents
and almost lost my own lunch and dinner. It smelled like dead fish
and dead everything else. But it was too late to turn back.
Everyone was watching me. Holding my breath, I downed the
disgusting contents as if it was water.

Yeah, it was the worst thing I had ever
drunk.

I tried not to puke. But I was fired up. As
I pulled away from the wooden jug, I yelled at the top of my
lungs—the same Braveheart warrior yell that Atticai seemed to
prefer—and everyone immediately cheered.

And as they bellowed and whooped and
hollered, I could only think: What the hell have I gotten myself
into?

Chapter Six

Everyone went back to partying.

The music got cranked up louder, and
insanity seemed to fill the air. I went and sat on a giant log next
to the bonfire. I looked over at Lena, who was still standing with
Atticai. For once, he didn’t have his arms around her. She caught
me looking at her, and gave me a look that suggested I had somehow
been accepted.

Did I even want to be accepted by these
people?

That putrid drink was pretty powerful. I had
a buzz going almost instantly. Redheaded Yari walked over to me.
Damn, she looked terrific. Her black lace dress looked pretty
spectacular on her, too. That Rubidoux character had gotten my
testosterone raging and now Yari’s outfit was sending my hormones
through the roof.

“You had quite a night,” she said, sitting
next to me. She sipped a bluish drink in a clear glass.

“Whatcha drinking?” I asked. My voice, I
noticed was slightly slurred. It also sounded distant, too, as if I
had spoken from about ten feet away. Weird, I know.

“Oh, it’s my own peculiar blend. I call it
‘Sex On the Beach and Everywhere Else, Too.”

“Is that a joke?”

“If you want it to be.”

I looked at her. God, she was a bright light
in all this Goth doom and gloom. She smiled at me. I smiled back. I
wanted to kiss her, until I reminded myself that earlier tonight I
had watched her drink from some guy’s neck. I said. “You know, you
guys are going to have to give me back. Kidnapping is illegal in
this state. And all other states, for that matter.”

“I’ll take you back any time you want. Do
you want to leave?”

I thought about that. The party was raging
around me. Bodies dancing around the massive bonfires. There was a
sense of excitement, of freedom, of hungry passion. The hungry
part, admittedly, made me a little nervous, but other than that,
this was a pretty cool party.

“I guess not,” I said, shrugging. “At least,
not yet.”

She smiled knowingly, as if she already knew
what my answer would be. She said, “We figured those guys would
have thrown you under the bus once the cops came. You were probably
looking at about ten counts of attempted murder. No joke.” She was
probably right.

“Luckily, none of those assholes even knew
my name.” I guessed I should be more grateful that the Addams
Family here took a liking to me. “I guess I’ll stick around for a
while, as long as no one tries to eat me.”

She laughed. “Cool. Let’s go for a walk.”
Yari took my hand and led me off the Flatlands lot and into the
woods.

I was quiet for a bit. I felt safe with her.
I don’t think I had ever met a girl who could kick as much ass as
me. “Who are you guys?” I finally asked. “Are you all part of a
band or something?”

“Why do you say that?”

“It makes sense. I thought maybe your band’s
name was Con?”

“Con?” Yari laughed.

“The letters that are written across
Atticai’s back.”

“Those are initials. It’s an acronym for
Children of the Night.”

“And what—or who—is that?”

“Us. Our clan. Our group.”

“All those people back there?”

“No, just mainly the ones who kidnapped
you.” Yari smiled at me again.

“So, what are you guys, then? A club?”

“Something like that. We’re just some people
who have one or two things in common.”

I guess biting into people’s flesh and
thinking you were vampires were the things they had in common, but
I decided to keep that to myself. Instead, I said, “Are any of
those guys back there your boyfriend?”

Yari smiled at me. “Do you think if I had a
boyfriend back there that I would be out here in the woods with you
now?”

“Probably not.”

“Besides,” she added, “I don’t do the
boyfriend thing. Too much drama.” I could feel her eyes on me.
“What about you? Got yourself a girlfriend?”

“It’s been awhile since I had one.”

“And why is that?”

“I don’t have the time. And, like you, I’m
not into all the games.”

“I guess we have something in common, then.”
Yari handed me her drink.

“I guess we do.” I took a sip. “That tastes
pretty decent. Granted, that’s not saying much, but I think
anything would taste better than the crap Atticai gave me.”

She smiled. “Well, despite popular opinion,
I’m still very much a girl, and I like girlie drinks.”

“Trust me, you are very much all girl—or all
woman— from where I stand.”

“Are you flirting with me, Josiah?”

“Maybe,” I said.

We stopped walking, and I leaned up against
a tree. Yari sat on a giant rock next to me. I looked down at
Yari—and decided that we needed to get real. “So, what the hell is
all of this, Yari? And please be honest with me.”

“What is what?”

“You know, the ‘Hellbanger’s Ball’ back
there. How many more guys like Rubidoux are going to want a piece
of me before the night is through?”

Yari stood up and walked over to me. She was
pretty tall for a girl, just a couple inches shorter than me, which
put her at about 5’8”. She looked directly into my eyes. Damn, she
was gorgeous. “Well, I can’t tell you everything; at least, not
yet.” She then reached out with her left hand and started to play
with my bangs. “But you do have that blond, surfer-boy thing going
on. I guess you stick out here.”

“You think?” I said, trying to sound casual
and confident. I had to admit. She made me nervous in more ways
than one. “I don’t exactly blend in. I might be the most tanned
dude at this party.”

Now she began to stroke my longish hair. Her
red-painted nails scratched my cheeks lightly as she did so.
“You’re very cute, Josiah.”

“Thank you.” I said completely thrown off my
game. “You’re pretty cute yourself.”

“Cute, huh? Like a kitten?”

“Cute like a lioness.”

Yari laughed, but remained in control. “A
lioness, huh? I just might devour you, watch out.” Yari leaned her
body up against me.

“Please, no more biting.”

“I promise.” Now Yari ran her hand up my
thigh. “So, is it fair to say that you like me, Josiah?” She was
pressing all of her weight up against me now.

I swallowed.

“Oh, my,” she continued. “I think you do
like me, Josiah. I can feel you.”

Yari’s hip had now pinned mine up against
the tree. I stood my ground and instinctively licked my lips.