H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (72 page)

“Are you kidding?”

“Not to you, I’m not.”

I didn’t realize the information I was
offering up, and I was too drunk to care. Then I looked out into
the arena; by now the wolf and the vampire were trading blows to
the pleasure of the crowd.

“WOLF! WOLF! WOLF!” the crowd shouted then
the great, white wolf got a hold of Vengeance and bit into his neck
and shoulder. Vengeances’ body went completely limp.

Suddenly, the four original men who led the
wolf into the cage began lassoing the wolf’s legs like it was a
rodeo. Once they had a hold of her, they yanked and pulled her back
into her original cage. She resisted and broke the rope. One of the
guys had a gun and shot the wolf and she fell over instantly. I
looked at Romero, shocked.

“Don’t worry, Josiah. It’s just a
tranquilizer dart that hit her. She’ll be okay after her little
nap. Sometimes, we have to do that or the wolves would kill all of
our Mani and, like I said, we don’t encourage that.”

They wheeled ‘Wolf’ out of the arena and the
crowd chanted her name in unison. I had mixed feelings. I was
rooting for her to win, but the fact the crowd was so anti-Mani
really bothered me. They have Mani all wrong. I looked out to the
middle of the ring and Vengeance was still lying out there.

“Is someone going to help him,” I asked.

“Our paramedic guy likes to wait for the
wolves to be completely out of the arena before he enters.”

Meanwhile, Vengeance laid in the middle of
the ring. The crowd screamed at him to get up. They were calling
him every name in the book. This crowd hated vampires. That was
obvious. And that was making me very pissed. “Fuck the crowd,” I
said.

Romero laughed. “Make up your mind, Josiah.
Are you for the Wolf or not?”

“I’m definitely not a fan of Vengeance. He
just looked like a hyperactive asshole, but he doesn’t deserve to
be ridiculed by a bunch of idiots either.”

“Well, those idiots paid for the right to
act any way they want. As long as they don’t interfere with the
fight, they can say and do whatever they like.”

“It’s your club,” I said. One thing I had to
give to Romero was that the fight was highly entertaining. He knew
how to put on a show.

Chapter Thirteen

I told Romero that I was ready to get going
and he took Wyatt and I back to the hotel in the Ferrari.

“There you go,” Romero said to me, while we
were driving back. “You just got a taste of the entertainment I
provide. What do you think?”

“The money and the thrill of the crowd are
very tempting. But, for right now, I’m going to have to pass on the
whole fighting-for-cash offer.”

Romero pulled into the parking structure at
the hotel we were staying at and parked. Wyatt was in the back
completely passed out sleeping. “Just promise me, Josiah, that you
will listen to an offer at a future date?”

“I’ll always listen to offers,” I said.

“Sounds good.” Romero dropped us off and he
left. With that, my night with the most interesting man I had ever
met ended. I told him we’d stay in touch and Wyatt and I went into
the hotel and checked out.

We decided to take off back to Victorville
before morning. We figured we could get in around 5:00 a.m. So
that’s what we did. We both transitioned and got the hell out of
Dodge, or TJ, as it were.

Wyatt and I arrived in Victorville rather
quickly. As we flew over the house I noticed a few people were in
the backyard, swimming. The early morning, before the sun comes up,
is like late afternoon for vampires. Lena, Yari, Hector, and some
girl I’d never seen before were all sitting in the Jacuzzi.

We both landed in the backyard and
transitioned to our Mani forms. Wyatt said goodnight and went
upstairs and went to bed. I had come to the conclusion that having
Wyatt around in Mexico was good for moral support, but he really
wasn’t much help.

I walked to the others over by the Jacuzzi.
Yari was wearing a red, two-piece bikini that showed off her
well-endowed bosom. Lena wasn’t as big as Yari in that department
but hers had some nice perks to them. It’d been awhile since I’d
had any sexual release and, to be completely honest, both girls
looked sexy as hell and I was feeling a bit randy. Wouldn’t that be
something? A ménage à trois with Yari and Lena? Not in this
lifetime, but I’d definitely put that idea in my mental ‘go to’
vault for the next time I had some alone time.

Now, who was this girl sitting right close
to my boy Hector? She looked to be about twenty in her human body.
I was pretty sure she was a Mani if for no other reason than guilt
by association.

I walked over to them and, to my surprise,
none of them seemed too interested in me. “Hello,” I said, a bit
insulted by the lack of friendliness.

Yari smiled at me. “Nice of you to visit
us.”

“You’re not going to be catty, are you?” I
asked.

“Who’s being catty? You’re the one that had
to go see the ‘Deity,’ as if she knows more than the rest of
us.”

Now I understood. Yari was jealous.

“She is called the ‘Deity,’” I said,
pointing out the obvious.

“She is just like anyone else,” Yari
continued. “Most of her mystique is just legend. She thinks she’s
flipping Mother Teresa and Nostradamus all rolled up in one.”

“She kind of is,” I said, defending her.

“Oh my, she’s got you fooled, too.” Yari had
been drinking and when she drinks she can be a bit sassy, to say
the least.

“I take it you have run into her in the
past,” I said.

“I met her once or twice,” Yari said. “She’s
a judgmental little twit.”

“Now I see how it is.”

“What do you see, Josiah? Please enlighten
me.”

“She probably gave you some advice on how to
better your life.” I knew someone like Yari who lived life to the
fullest would resent someone like the “Deity’ who is as selfless as
they come. Yari didn’t have to be jealous of her or resent her.
Yari was a real good person who looked out for those she cared
about.

“So, Josiah. What great bit of insight did
she give you?” Yari continued with her badgering.

“Are you drunk?” I asked.

“A little drunk, a little high. There’s not
much to do around here.” Yari giggled.

I looked over at Lena and she was just
pleasantly smiling at me. “What about you?” I said.

“I’m not high,” Lena said, laughing.

“Great, is everyone drunk?”

Hector raised his hand. “Guilty as charged,
and as far as I know, so is Samantha.”

“Samantha?” I said, looking at the new girl.
“I take it that is your name. How are you? My name is Josiah.”

“I know who you are,” she said, shyly. “It’s
very nice to finally meet you.”

“That’s kind of you to say,” I said. “Are
you the reason why Hector sneaks off at night?”

She smiled even more shyly at me. She seemed
a bit star-struck. I gave her an unassuming smile to let her know I
was a pretty decent person and she could be herself. “Had a few
tonight?” I asked, teasing her, too.

“I had a couple,” she giggled.

“What about you, Josiah? What have you been
doing the last couple of nights?” Yari asked.

“I had a pretty interesting experience south
of the border, to say the least. The Deity was pretty insightful,
regardless of what you think, Yari.”

“I’m glad she was,” Yari replied. “Someone
needed to light a fire up your ass. You sure as hell aren’t
advancing us forward,” she said.

“Who’s us?” I asked.

“Mani,” Yari answered.

“I guess it’s all on me?” I said,
annoyed.

“Josiah, we need a leader. You need to lead.
It’s that simple.” Yari got out of the water and sat on the edge of
the Jacuzzi with her feet dangling in the water.

I wanted to argue, but in a way she was
right. I hadn’t a clue how to lead other than by example, and the
example I was giving was kicking as much ass as I could whenever I
had to. The truth was I still wasn’t sure what I needed to do. I
needed to fix my relationships, that part was clear after my visit
with the ‘Deity.’ I had decided I’d start with Lena, but Yari had a
bug up her ass about something tonight, so she was going to go
first. I walked over and leaned in and said to Yari, “Can we
talk?”

She looked up at me and smiled and said,
“Sure, when and where?”

“How about right now and we can talk inside
the house,” I answered.

“No worries, Josiah. We’ll leave you two
alone,” Hector said, highly aware of our conversation.

Lena looked up at me. “I was going to bed
anyway.” Lena seemed a bit jealous and she didn’t have to be. She
was the person I needed to talk to the most.

“I want to talk to you too, okay?” I said,
to Lena.

“Yes, captain, my captain,” she said,
laughing.

“It’s not like that. I just need to talk to
you about a couple of things.”

Lena nodded and got out of the Jacuzzi. She
was wearing a white bathing suit. Her skin was milky white and her
body was perfection. She didn’t have an ounce of fat on her except
in the one place it mattered. She had a little junk in the trunk. I
was a bit excited, watching her dry off.

Yari caught me lusting after my
ex-girlfriend and nodded her head knowingly looking at my
groin.

“Stop it,” I whispered to Yari.

“You’re the one perving on Snow White, not
me,” she whispered back.

“Good night, guys,” Lena said. She then left
and went inside the house. Hector and Samantha also got out and
dried off. After a moment, the two of them said goodnight and went
inside, too. That left Yari and I alone in the Jacuzzi area.

“You really know how to ruin a party,” Yari
said, sarcastically.

“I wanted to talk to you alone,” I said.

“Well at least come in the Jacuzzi.”

“I’m fully clothed.”

“You can come in your boxers, I won’t perv
on you the way you did Lena a minute ago.”

“Hey, I was checking you out earlier, too,
but you didn’t see me.”

“I saw you and, trust me, you should. I look
hot in this bathing suit.”

I had no comment. “I’m wearing
tighty-whities,” I said, going back to my bathing suit
situation.

“Even better,” she said, winking at me.

“Come on, just get in.” Yari was always
persuasive. I was also horny as hell. Not that I was intending to
engage in some hot tub fun with the red-headed vixen, especially
when her and Cyrus had been hooking up as of late, but I think I
just wanted to take off my pants off for exhibitionist reasons. I
peeled off my shirt and kicked off my shoes. I slipped off my pants
and I stood there in just my underwear.

“You are hot, Josiah. Damn!”

“Stop it,” I said, as I slowly went into the
hot water. Once I got my whole body in except for my head, I
decided to go to the other side of the Jacuzzi.

“So, what’s up?” Yari said.

“What’s up with you? You seemed a bit bitter
at me for whatever reason.”

“I’m just giving you a hard time.”

“Is that all?” I asked.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves, Josiah.
What are all of us doing here at this big gigantic house? This sure
isn’t some fucked-up version of the real world where cameras are
following us around. We’re all waiting around to do something. And
you’re the only one who can call us to arms.”

“Call who, though, Yari? I know we have
followers, but can they fight?”

“We have some studs on our side, Josiah.
There’s a lot of Mani ready to lay their lives down for the cause.
If you’re afraid of Krull’s army with the men and women you have,
then you need to get on the ball and train them to fit your
standards.”

I nodded my head and sighed.

“You’re a fucking warrior,” Yari continued.
“What you have endured and learned in six months has taken Krull a
lifetime to learn. Plus, you have an advantage over a guy like
Krull and his thugs.”

“What’s that?”

“You are always the one getting attacked.
There’s one thing I’ve learned in all the years I’ve been alive;
fighters become more lethal when they are fighting for their
lives.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Think about it, Josiah. When you’re
attacking someone, it doesn’t necessarily make you a better fighter
in the long run. There is very little room for improvement. You’re
relying on your previous knowledge. But, when you’re the one
getting attacked, you are forced to learn on the fly. You have to
dig deep inside yourself and discover things about your abilities
you may have never known even existed.”

“That’s a good point,” I said, surprised as
hell that Yari had put so much thought into this. I smiled at
Yari.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing, I just think it’s cool that you
put so much thought into it. It makes me feel good that I have
someone like you on my side.”

“Trust me, these days, it’s all I think
about.”

“What else have you thought about?”

“In regards to you, a lot.”

“Like…”

“Like this. Not only have you learned from
being attacked so many damn times. You destroy your opponent in
every way possible. You need to take all that knowledge that you
have learned in all the fights that you have had and teach it to
your followers. You have men and women willing to lay their lives
down for you.”

Again, I was very impressed with Yari.
“Damn, Yari. That was the exact thing I needed to hear.”

“See, you just needed to talk to me. You
didn’t have to travel across the border to talk to the paranormal
version of the Psychic Friends Network.”

“You really don’t like her,” I said.

“Is it that obvious?” Yari snickered.

“Just a tad.”

“She’s 75 percent hype.”

“What’s the other 25 percent?” I asked.

“She’s a lucky guesser.”

I laughed. Yari made her way over to me. She
was about a foot away from me in the Jacuzzi. Her hand made its way
to my thighs. I should have stopped her but I just let her
tease.