H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (77 page)

“Okay, let’s talk numbers,” Romero said.

“It’s pretty basic math, Romero. Tommy
doesn’t get paid enough per fight. “

“I can bump it to $33,000.”

“That’s not good enough. I want
$60,000.”

“You and I both know that’s a ridiculous
number, Josiah.”

“Why? You offered me a million,” I said,
reminding Romero the number he spouted to me weeks ago.

“Tommy is about volume,” Romero said,
plainly. “Although he’s a fan favorite, he fights all the time and
he’s a tad overdone. People are rooting for him because he has
never lost. The second that happens, it will decrease his value in
half.”

Romero was bringing up pretty good business
counters, but I had one more trick left up my sleeve. “Okay, let’s
say as long as he never loses, you go up two grand a fight until
it’s paid off.”

“Two grand? That’s it?” Romero asked.

“Yeah.”

I did the math in my head. That was about 40
more fights. I at least cut his fights in half.

Romero thought about my proposal and then
said, “Okay, as long as he stays undefeated, I’ll do it on one
other condition.”

“What condition is that?” I asked.

“You owe me one ‘super fight,’” Romero
stated.

“Just one?”

“Just one.” Romero smiled. “That’s it.”

“When?”

“Well, it’s got to be really good, so I’ll
keep you posted.”

“If we make this super fight in the next
couple of months,” I said, “I’ll do it.”

“It’s a deal, Josiah.” Romero and I stood up
and shook hands.

“Where’s Tommy at?” I asked.

“He fights first and last tonight.”

“Two fights?”

“We started giving him a Twinkie in the
opening fight of the night and the crowd has really responded to
it. Tommy’s a great opening act. He really gets the crowd
going.”

“When does this thing start?”

“Any second now. You might want to sit down.
Tommy’s entrance puts Pro Wrestling entrances to shame. It’s pretty
fucking cool.” Romero almost sounded like a ten-year-old kid with
his enthusiasm.

Suddenly, all the lights went out in the
arena. Then a bright spotlight hit the middle ring in a giant blaze
of light. The two black double doors opened and a black raven flew
into the arena over the crowd and circled it. The crowd booed and
screamed as the raven passed each section of the crowd.

Damn, these crowds hate vampires!

The raven landed in the middle of the ring
and transitioned into a bulky six foot two, semi-overweight,
doughy-looking young vampire. Romero was right. That kid out there
was the definition of a Twinkie fighter. Tommy was going to rip
this poor kid’s head off. He looked not a day older than sixteen
years old.

“How old is he?” I asked.

“Like 200 years old,” Romero answered.

I chuckled. “Oh yeah, he must have turned
into a vampire young. He looks like a tween.”

“He’s young in body, but not in heart.”

“Still,” I said. “Tommy is going to mop the
floor with that kid.”

“That’s the whole point, Josiah.”

I looked back out into the arena and once
again all the lights went out. Then I saw something that gave me
chills. It was one of coolest things I had ever witnessed. The
entire crowd stood on their feet and exploded in applause when they
heard the sound of speed metal beginning to play over the
loudspeaker.

The crowd chanted, ‘Tommy! Tommy!
Tommy!’

I looked over at Romero and he had a giant
grin on his face. “I told you, your boy is loved.”

“Where’s the cage?” I asked.

“Tommy doesn’t need one. He can control
himself, so there is no need for a cage. It’s actually quite
nice.”

Then lights and lasers shot across the arena
in every direction. Oh, this was a show for the ages. A huge spot
of light from the spotlight appeared in front of the double doors.
I hadn’t seen that before in one of Romero’s entrances. They were
really giving the crowd their money’s worth. Tommy was about to
enter at any moment. This was insane. I had to admit, my adrenaline
was going.

This was pretty damn cool.

Suddenly both doors flew open. And a
shirtless Tommy appeared, walking in barefooted, wearing just a
pair of tiny white shorts. The crowd went berserk shouting and
chanting his name. Tommy looked up into the crowd and just pointed
straight ahead toward the ring. As he walked, the entire arena was
thumping.

Oh, he was eating this up! Tommy was
completely in his element!

Suddenly Tommy began to jog toward the
stage, then his jog became a full sprint and as he jumped into the
ring he transitioned from man to werewolf. The Mani boy jumped out
of the ring. The crowd absolutely went berserk. Tommy circled the
ring as the great gray werewolf. He howled at the top of his lungs.
He owned the crowd and this was his moment of absolute glory.

Then I remembered that I could communicate
with him telepathically when he is in his werewolf form. So that
was exactly what I did. “Tommy!” I yelled, in my mind.

“Josiah?” he answered and looked around the
crowd.

“I’m in your head!” I said.

“Where are you?”

“I’m with Romero in his suite. Hey, you
never told Romero we can communicate like this have you?” I asked.
I definitely did not want Romero to have any idea Tommy and I had
this ability.

“No, you?”

“Nope, I did some good negotiating up here
tonight for you. I’ll tell you later. Kick this kid’s ass and we’ll
talk when you’re done.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tommy motioned with his
paw for the Mani to enter the ring. Tommy let the kid get in and
they circled each other.

“Don’t hurt him too bad,” I said.

“I never do,” Tommy answered.

The Mani leaped on Tommy and they rolled
around the ring. Tommy was playing with him. It was like watching
someone trying to wrestle a washing machine. That kid was not
moving Tommy in any direction.

Tommy grabbed the kid and threw him out of
the ring onto the concrete floor. He crashed onto the floor into a
table and just crumpled. Tommy jumped on top of him from the inside
of the ring and bit down onto his neck to grip him but didn’t hurt
him. Tommy was dragging him around the outside of the ring like a
play toy.

The crowd laughed and cheered. Tommy could
do no wrong. Tommy held the kid up with one paw and back-handed him
with his other. The kid flew face first back inside the ring. He
tried to get up. But he was in a lot of pain. He really was a cream
puff. He gave Tommy no challenge at all.

Tommy climbed up on top of the ropes on the
corner turnbuckle. He then turned and faced the audience. He raised
both his paws.

“This is his big moment,” Romero said, to
me. “He calls it the ‘Tommy Twizzler.’ He spins in the air and
smashes his opponent on the mat.”

And that was exactly what Tommy did. With
his back to the kid, he dove backward, spinning, like a propeller
and landed on the kid, completely knocking the wind out of him.
Tommy quickly transitioned back into his human form. Well, so much
for it being a secret that he could transition whenever he felt
like it. He just did it in front of the world, twice.

Tommy motioned for the paramedics to attend
to his knocked-out opponent. Tommy stepped out of the ring to the
enjoyment of the crowd.

I looked at Romero. “That was pretty
awesome.”

“You’re telling me. Tommy is gold,” Romero
said, shaking his head at the spectacle Tommy just delivered.

“Remember that,” I said, reminding Romero of
the hot commodity he had in Tommy. “I’ll keep in touch with you.
I’m going to let Tommy know about the new deal. I’m going to tell
him everything, except that I’m going to have to fight. So I’d
appreciate it if you don’t tell him.”

“Whatever floats your boat, Josiah.” Romero
turned and looked into the crowd. I could almost see dollar signs
in his eyeballs like you can in a cartoon. Tommy was making him
rich and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

I left Romero’s suite and headed out to
where the fights adjourn. I spotted Tommy and went over to him.
“Nice fight, Tom!”

Tommy wasn’t too impressed with himself. “He
was a fish,” Tommy said, playing it down.

“He was definitely a flounder, but hell, at
least they don’t make you bust your ass twice in a night.”

“True.” Tommy barely looked like he even
broke a sweat.

“Just to let you know, Tom. I reduced your
fights from a hundred to a little more than forty.”

“Seriously? How the hell did you pull that
off?”

“There’s a catch,” I said.

“What’s the catch?” Tommy asked.

“You can’t lose.”

“Not ever?”

“Not even once. Think about it, you have
never lost in the ring. You could even beat me back in the
day.”

“Could even beat you? That’s cute,
Josiah.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just a little full of yourself as of
late,” Tommy said, looking at me the way an older brother does.

“Look dude, if you don’t appreciate what I
worked out for you, I’m pretty sure Romero would be more than happy
to go back to your old deal.”

Tommy grinned at me with his classic cocky
smile and said, “Nah, I appreciate it, Josiah. You’re a good
man.”

I nodded. “Nice entrance out there. All it
was missing was fireworks!”

“We’re working on mixing some in for future
matches,” Tommy grinned, “You liked that?”

“It’s a little over the top, but I wouldn’t
have expected anything less from you. You have some following with
the crowd. They seem to really love you.”

“At least someone does. I know I’m just the
flavor of the month,” Tommy snickered. He couldn’t fool me. I knew
he loved the adoration.

“I do have a question for you,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’s safe that you exposed
your ability to transition from man to werewolf?”

“Does it matter? How could anyone ever use
it against me? Plus, it shows the crowd that I’m for real.”

Tommy did have a point. If anyone knew
anything about Carni, they would know he couldn’t possibly
transition without a full moon. They probably think it was just
some great make-up job. Doing the transition in front of the crowd
gave credibility to it. I guess there wasn’t any way to use the
move against him. It just made him more lethal.

“Well, Tom, you did great tonight, amazing.
You put on a hell of a show.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it, coming from
you.”

I nodded my head and said, “I’m going to
take off.”

“You’re not going to see my next fight?”
Tommy seemed real disappointed.

“I need to take care of some other things.”
I really had nothing else to do. I just didn’t want to be in this
place longer than I had to. There was something about the arena
that didn’t sit right with me. “I figure you should be released
from your debt in two months,” I said, changing the subject. “Just
don’t lose.”

“I don’t know how that’s even possible when
you’re as gifted as I am,” Tommy said, with his Hollywood
smile.

“Keep thinking that way. It’s what is going
to save your ass.” I looked at Tommy. I wanted to give him a hug or
at least a handshake, but I couldn’t. We just nodded at each other.
I turned around and left the arena.

Chapter Eighteen

A few weeks went by and I hadn’t had any
word from Tommy, so I figured he must have kept winning. He had a
couple weeks left and he should have a clean slate with Romero. For
that to happen in its entirety, I was going to have to have my
‘super fight.’

During the last few weeks, I had been
piecing together my Mani army. I read the Art of War by Sun Tzu. I
downloaded the book onto my Kindle. I also read a book written by
General Patton on leadership during a crisis. Both books got my
mind right.

I knew a Mani war wouldn’t be anything like
a military one. But there is a psychological mindset about leading
a group of people into a battle that could potentially kill them
that weighs on your soul. We had over 250 Mani committed to our
cause. Cyrus told me that Krull’s army was over a thousand. We had
a long way to go in the recruitment process. All we had from this
point was word of mouth. I heard that there was close to five
thousand Mani who were believed to be roaming the earth. Finding
Mani willing to fight for a cause bigger than themselves was a
tough task. Once a week, we would throw a giant party that always
turned into a weird vampire pep rally and every week, our numbers
grew. I was becoming quite the motivational speaker for the cause.
I wasn’t sure when Krull was going to strike and I just needed to
make sure these guys were ready. I was having a lot of misgivings
about the caliber of fighter that was showing up. I had my work cut
out for me in the training department, to say the very least.

It was a Saturday night, a night after one
of our huge Mani parties. I had felt pretty overwhelmed by this
whole process and it was obviously weighing on my mind. Lena and I
tried cuddling up and watching a romantic comedy on the couch in
the living room, but I was too restless. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
just weren’t going to cut it on this evening.

“What’s wrong, Josiah? Lena asked.

“I have a lot on my mind.”

“About what?”

“I have a feeling something is about to go
down.”

“You mean with Krull?”

“Yeah, sometimes I feel like he’s watching
me and he’s laughing at how puny my army is. He’s amused that all I
could recruit are out-of-shape Mani misfits who had a better chance
of winning a dance contest than a street fight.”

“You’re doing all you can,” Lena said,
trying to give me the encouragement I so desperately needed. “There
isn’t a manual for all of this.”

“Trust me, I know.” I stood up from the
couch. “I think I just need to go for a fly and clear my head.”