H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (87 page)

“Talk is cheap. Are you going to fight or
not?” Romero lifted his radio. “Cause all I have to do is say is
‘Nata la.’ And the mother of your children is dead.

“Okay, I have one request. If Tommy beats
me, you release her to him. His debt will be paid and you are done
exploiting him for your financial gain.”

“Fine,” Romero said. “But know this, Josiah.
One of you will die in that ring. That is the only chance you have
at saving Lena’s life.”

I nodded my head and could not believe what
the man Romero had ended up being.

I stood in front of the black double door
waiting for the announcer to make his way into middle of the ring
to introduce me.

After a moment, the announcer said,
“Envy.”

Now the crowd was realizing that the two
they just saw tag team the last opponent were now about to square
off against each other. They realized that we were both Envy.

I looked at the ring as I walked up to it.
Tommy’s face was barely recognizable. He was covered in blood. By
this point, most of it was his.

“Transition, Tommy!” I yelled out.

“Why?” he yelled down to me from the
ring.

“Transition, Tom,” I yelled. Some of the
crowd was chanting Tommy’s name and some were chanting my name. By
this point neither one of us gave a shit. The crowd was a prop in
this very tragic Greek play. This theatrical production was about
to get even more insane.

Tommy transitioned into the werewolf as I
entered the ring. We stared at each other like a good old fashioned
street fight about to commence, a real West Side Story.

“Tommy,” I said, in my mind. “We need to
sell this for a while. The only chance the two of us have to both
get out of here alive with Lena is we’re going to have to give them
a show until we figure out what to do.”

“You know me, Josiah,” Tommy said, in his
werewolf mind. “I love a good performance.” He could barely keep
himself up.

“That you do, my friend.” We circled each
other. “Do you have any idea where Lena could be?” I asked.

“No. All I know is she is in the arena
complex. That’s Romero’s style. He would want the situation to be
very close.”

“This is weird, Tom, whenever I’m in or near
the ring, I have the most overwhelming feeling that Lena is close.”
We continued to circle one another.

The seventh bell rang.

I jumped on top of Tommy. Even as the
werewolf, he was still bloodied. I picked him up over my head and
chucked him across the ring, much to the delight of the crowd. The
werewolf slid in between the ropes.

“You okay?” I asked, in my head.

“I’m far from okay. I think every bone in my
body is broken.”

I let Tommy compose himself. We once again
circled one another.

“Romero said the word ‘down’ when he
referred to where Lena was,” I said in my head to Tommy. I thought
if we kept talking that he wouldn’t lose consciousness. “Do you
know of any secret places in this place that are underground…like a
bunker?”

“There are no bunkers in this arena,” Tommy
answered. “The only thing that’s underground is actually right
below where we are standing. There is a storage room right
underneath the ring. It’s big enough for people to walk and store
things in.”

“Store things like a body! Tommy, do you
think there’s a chance they’re keeping her right below where we are
fighting?”

“It fits Romero’s sick profile,” Tommy said,
now he was coughing up blood. “It’s the kind of sick, twisted shit
he gets off on.”

“We need to tear through the floor!” I
said.

“How do you propose we do that?” Tommy
couldn’t even stand up straight, let alone rip into the ring
floor.

I looked around the arena and saw multiple
fire extinguishers at each exit of the arena. Next to each fire
extinguisher was an axe in a plastic case.

“Tommy, there are at least four axes in the
arena.”

“How do you suggest I pick up an ax with my
claws, Josiah?”

“Trust me, you and I need to sell this
fight. We will take turns beating each other up so it looks like we
have the leverage. We need to tear through the ring floor and get
to Lena. In my heart, I know she is underneath us. What is the
floor made of?”

“This whole place is made of wood. Romero is
too cheap to make it out of anything else.”

“We need to trade off taking the advantage.
I’m going to knock you down, go with it and just take my lead.” I
backed up and came at Tommy. I flew up in the air in my Mani form.
The crowd cheered, they loved it when I did that. I was about
twenty feet up and I shot my body into Tommy’s werewolf body, feet
first, absolutely laying him out. My contact was pretty ferocious.
Maybe too ferocious, I was trying to sell it, but I think I injured
a ‘battered’ Tommy even worse.

“Holy shit, Josiah that freaking hurt!”
Tommy said, as he laid in the middle of the ring.

“Just stay down,” I said.

I flew back up and circled the arena in the
air. At all four exits were a fire extinguisher and an ax. Only
Romero would leave a weapon like an ax out in the open in this
primitive, Third World arena. The more I thought about it, this
place was a piece of shit. It only gave the illusion of being an
upper world-class arena. I flew down and punched a hole in one of
the plastic cases that was holding an ax. I grabbed the ax from the
inside. I held the ax in my right hand. I flew to the other side of
the ring and did the same thing to grab a second ax.

Tommy wasn’t doing much of anything in the
middle of the ring. He was just lying there in absolute misery.
That poor guy was in a hell of a lot of pain. Hopefully, this would
soon be over. I flew back into ring with an ax in both hands. The
crowd roared and stood up. They were bloodthirsty. You would think
they had seen enough. But the nature of man is an animalistic one.
It is kill or be killed. And, unfortunately, there is something
spectacular about watching two men fight it out to the death.

I dropped one ax on one side of the ring.
“Okay, Tommy, move to the middle of the ring.” Tommy then rolled to
the center. “When I count to three, move out of the way! I’m going
to strike the ring floor with everything I have.”

“One, two, three…” I counted in my head and
Tommy rolled out of the way. I struck the ax as hard as I could
into the ring floor. The ax made a three-foot gash right smack-dab
down the center of the ring. I looked down at the damage and I
could only imagine that we would have to do this about thirty to
forty times between the two of us to make our way to Lena.

“You ready, Tom? You’re going to have to
transition to your Carni form and grab an ax. It’s time for us to
shred through this motherfucker floor and get to Lena!”

Tommy transitioned, to the delight of the
crowd. He went to the other side of the ring and grabbed his ax.
This must have looked like the most barbaric thing anyone had ever
seen. Two grown men having a good old-fashioned ax fight. Not
switchblades, but axes.

“Let’s take turns dominating,” I said.
“Let’s do the one, two, three, count.”

So, Tommy and I proceeded to take turns
dominating one another. We tore through that floor with everything
we had, each of us taking turns. We started in the center and
worked our way out. The crowd was going absolutely berserk with
excitement as we wrecked the place. It was a spectacle to behold.
We took turns beating each other up. We would pretend to be so hurt
we couldn’t get up, and then the other one would annihilate the
stage with the force of the ax. This went on for about twenty
minutes. I was exhausted. I could only imagine how insanely tired
Tommy must have been. He was reaching deep into a place that I
never knew he had. It was fight or flight, and my boy was fighting
to the bitter end.

Then, it finally happened. I whaled down so
hard with my ax that I cracked right through the ceiling of the
storage space and we both fell into the storage space, a couple of
feet from where Lena was being held.

There was one of Romero’s goons with a knife
to Lena’s neck. In a split second, I broke the goon’s neck. Tommy
and looked around and apparently, he was the only guard in the
storage space.

I then turned to Lena. She was tied down and
gagged. Tommy quickly transitioned to the werewolf and ripped
through her knots with his claws and got her free. She seemed real
weak, almost as if she didn’t understand what was happening to
her.

“Tommy, jump up,” I said, “Make it look like
you have the advantage over me, as far as the audience is
concerned.”

Tommy nodded and as the werewolf, he climbed
out slowly. He was absolutely exhausted.

I took the gag out of Lena’s mouth. She was
sweating and very dirty. She had bruises all over her arms and
legs. These guys are going to pay for what they have done to
her.

“Are you okay?” I asked. I held her in my
arms. I looked up at the ceiling and I could see Tommy in his
werewolf body parading around as if he had killed me.

“It’s been a rough couple of days, Josiah,”
Lena said, weakly. “I’m not going to lie.”

“Is everything okay? Regarding the
pregnancy?” I asked, holding my breath.

“I’m pretty sure everything is still okay,”
Lena answered. “I just need to get out of here.”

“I know you do, sweetheart. Listen, Tommy
knows this place better than I do. Stay here. Tommy will be back
down and he’s going to get you out safely.” I kissed her
forehead.

To everyone’s surprise, even Tommy’s, I flew
back up into the ring. Once they saw I was still alive, the
audience stopped chanting Tommy’s name.

“You couldn’t let me have my little moment,
could you? Josiah?” Tommy joked. Even in his painful state, he had
his sense of humor.

“You’re going to need to transition back to
your Carni form. I’m going to throw you back down to Lena and
you’re going to get Lena out of here. You’ve been through more than
enough tonight. This fight isn’t over. Romero and his men are going
to pay for what they have done. There’s a safe place near here. Get
Lena outside and she’ll take you there. Just tell Lena to take you
to the Deity.

Tommy nodded. “How do you want to kill me?
Let’s make this good!” Tommy said, always the showman, even in his
exhaustion.

“All right, just go with it,” I said.

Tommy transitioned back into his Carni form.
We were once again and for the last time, squared off. He and I
traded punches, allowing each other to land blow after blow at our
faces. I definitely took something off my punches, but Tommy was
letting me have it, full on.

“Now,” I said. I uppercut Tommy and he flew
back onto his back and played it like he was completely passed
out.

I went over to him and threw him through the
hole in the floor. I grabbed the ax and Tommy and Lena moved to the
side as I jumped in with the ax over my head and came down with a
furious chop. I slammed the ax in to the left of Tommy and Lena. It
made a frightening sound that could be heard all throughout the
arena. It appeared to the crowd that I had just obliterated Tommy.
I rose out of the hole in my Mani looking down, as if I had just
killed my friend and couldn’t stand the thought of it. The crowd
chanted my name as I pasted a sick and remorseful expression on my
face. As far as they were concerned, I was the victor.

Now, it was time for phase two of my
plan.

Chapter Thirty-two

I motioned to the announcer to bring the
microphone up to me. My name was being echoed throughout the arena.
I motioned for the audience to be quiet.

I looked around the arena and stared at all
four corners of the audience and said, “I want every person or
immortal to be out here to hear what I’m about to say. I need every
fighter in the holding area to come out here!” I yelled into the
microphone.

I looked around.

Where’s that piece of shit Romero?

Within a minute, the entire arena was filled
with members of the crowd, soldiers and fighters. I looked out to
everyone and I knew what I needed to say: “Tonight, some of you
spent a lot of money to watch people eliminate one another from
this earth. And others of you came down here out of curiosity. And
there are still others of you who had no choice. You had to be
here. The blood bath that you all witnessed was a primitive one. It
was no worse than purchasing a ticket to watch Christians get eaten
by lions.”

I paused and looked out to the crowd. I
looked at Romero’s soldiers and they seemed real jumpy. I knew I
had better say and do what I wanted to, and quickly!

I continued my speech: “I stand before all
of you tonight. Not victor of anything worth a damn. I defeated a
man who fought until he was bloodied to the point of his own
insanity. He was destroyed both physically and emotionally.”

I made my voice even more serious. “If any
of you are under the illusion that any fighter in this room got
paid tonight or any other night, you are sadly mistaken. No matter
what you have been told, no fighter has ever been paid in this
arena at any given time. Each one of us is paying off a debt. And
some of us have been told that our families would be killed if we
didn’t fight! I was one of them!”

Now, Romero’s men were scrambling around.
Guns were drawn, I knew they wouldn’t shoot. There would be no way
that Romero would give them the green light. I was more valuable to
him alive than dead. There were far too many important people in
the crowd. The soldiers began to spread out. They were anticipating
something would go haywire and they were damn right.

“Immortals! I am now speaking to you! You
may have owed a debt to Romero, to this underground society. I’m
telling you tonight, if you fought just one fight, you have paid
him back in full. He is making you pay him back pennies on the
dollar!”