The Immortal Warriors Boxed Set: Books 1-11

by H. T. Night

  Goliath charged into me holding his silver stake. He swiped at me and missed, leaving the back of his hand wide open. I chomped down on his hand, causing him to drop the stake, and in the process, breaking nearly every bone in his hand.

  Then Goliath and I fought like warriors. He was still larger than I was, even though he was in his non-werewolf form. Neither one of us had weapons at this point and we were wrestling for our lives. I used every MMA grappling technique I could to hold this beast back. No matter what I did, he was just bigger than my werewolf body. It was like trying to wrestle a two-ton refrigerator.

  Goliath was now getting the better of me and this wasn’t going the way I had hoped. I took a big bite out of Goliath’s shoulder and he let me go. I rolled over to my stomach but the moose rolled with me. He stabbed down with his silver stake and barely missed my heart, hitting me in the right shoulder instead.

  Damn! That freaking hurt!

  I fell backward and Goliath removed the stake from my shoulder and was aiming once again for my heart.

  Something miraculous happened. Someone’s foot kicked his hand. And I think it was Josiah’s.

  How was that possible? Josiah was just a heap of broken bones only seconds ago.

  That didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Josiah had turned into the greatest fighter in the world. Josiah kicked the living hell out of Goliath. He somehow rammed Goliath’s own silver stake through his heart. And that was the end of Goliath.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I woke up this morning feeling a bit empty and just plain confused.

  My best friend, Josiah, had decided to up and leave the country. His destination? Dracula’s castle, of all places.

  How had our lives turned into this supernatural insanity? Together, he and I had defeated the biggest, baddest of all werewolves in this area. By himself, the kid had taken out the toughest of all vampires: Atticai. Now, the son of a bitch felt the need to take a trip to Romania and spend time at a place that was reputed to be Dracula’s castle. I wasn’t even sure if Dracula existed or not.

  Something didn’t seem right about Josiah’s trip. It was too sudden. For the record, when something hadn’t felt right to me over the past five years, my instincts had usually been correct.

  The vampires in Josiah’s posse were staying at some vampire-proof condo in Hollywood. I felt bad because I was the only immortal besides Josiah who could eat plates and plates of food. He was gone and now, I felt the stares of the others whenever I ate a snack in front of them. These weren’t my people and at any moment, I felt they could turn on me. So, I decided I would spare my new vampire friends the sight of seeing me eat. I went back to San Bernardino to the home I’d shared with Josiah.

  These days, Josiah had become his own person. I’d always wanted that for him. But, as I watched it play out, it was pretty fucking scary to think that all of this time, Josiah had a bigger purpose for some vampire race.

  Josiah was turning into something I couldn’t even imagine. His strength and quickness had reached a level that I couldn’t even fathom. This was terrifying to me. I had no clue what the hell these desperate Mani leeches needed from him. He was capable of annihilating just about any opponent that fate put in front of him. Someday, there was going to be a showdown, and we were going to be at the center of it.

  Although Josiah had surpassed me in power, I was okay with that, as long as he still respected me as his brother. But now, this pinhead was off, landing on some Romanian tarmac. It was hard to wrap my brain around what he was doing and why. At the end of the day, I had his back, no matter what the hell came for him. But since Josiah had turned into a vampire, my enemy count had risen from around five to 500. So, my life had become slightly more complicated.

  Josiah and many others believed that he was some important “chosen” vampire. Now, he felt the need to go on a pilgrimage. In many ways, this didn’t feel right to me, but I tried to stop obsessing over Josiah. It was too early in the morning for that.

  It was time for me to get out of bed and start my day. To do what? I had no idea. I slowly stood up from my bed, stretched, and grabbed my cell phone from the dresser. My phone’s screen showed me that I had one missed call from Lena.

  Hmm... What was that about?

  Thumbing through my contacts, I decided to call her back.

  Lena picked up on the third ring. “Hello,” she said in my ear.

  “Hey, Lena, I see you called,” I said. “Is something the matter?”

  “No,” she said, “nothing is wrong. I was just wondering if you wanted some breakfast. I needed to pick up some clothes at my home in San Bernardino and figured while I was down there, I would stop by and see if you needed anything.”

  “Breakfast? What time is it?” I asked.

  “3:23 a.m.”

  “Perfect! Breakfast hours.” My stomach growled in approval.

  “I was thinking I would pick up some food and bring it over to your house. You guys have your house vampire-proofed better than Yari’s place. I keep getting burnt when sunlight peeks into the house. If I get there by 5:00 a.m., I shouldn’t have to deal with any sunlight.”

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked. If Yari caught wind of this, she would be right up both of our asses.

  “Why?” Lena asked. “We are friends, are we not?”

  “Well, regardless of all that, I said. “Yari is a pistol. So we need to tread lightly.”

  “Gosh, Tommy! I was just bringing you some breakfast. Is that okay?”

  I laughed. “Of course, it is.”

  “What do you want to eat? I’m hitting up Del Taco for breakfast.”

  “Yum,” I said sarcastically.

  “It’s actually pretty good if you’re not in the mood for anything sweet. I’ll pick you up some food that I’m sure you’ll like. Is that okay?”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “All right, I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” Lena clicked off the phone.

  Wow, no goodbye. She was a tad intense.

  I have thirty minutes?

  Shit, I stunk and I needed to use the bathroom. I hurried to the bathroom and took care of business. Then I jumped in the shower. Usually, I preferred to take my time and take long, slow showers. Allow the hot water to run down my body and soothe each of my muscles. But today, I needed to hurry. My shower lasted about three minutes and I was off to my bedroom. I put on a white T-shirt that had Quicksilver, from the Marvel Universe, printed on the back.

  Great. I was the werewolf surfer.

  Well, I shouldn’t have the shirt if I didn’t want people to think I surfed. Honestly, I found the concept silly and humorous. I slipped on my black Vans, put on my best deodorant, and followed it all up with a spritz of my favorite cologne, Bleu de Chanel. Why I went with Josiah’s best stuff was obvious to me—I was trying to show Lena I wasn’t a slob.

  I heard the honk of a car horn out front. It was her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  As I waited for Lena to arrive at my front door, it was difficult not to think of Maya, the love of my life. Maya and I had spent many hours in my room just listening to old records and loving each other. But this was not Maya coming over. Nowhere close. Lena was Josiah’s girl.

  So, why was I feeling so nervous and excited about her coming over? These emotions about her were not good.

  The sun wasn’t in the sky yet, so I decided to walk outside and greet Lena at her vehicle.

  Lena stepped out of her car and busted up laughing. “Oh, my God, Tommy, could you throw a little more swagger into your step?”

  “What? I wasn’t swaggering,” I said, feigning offense. “It’s how I walk.”

  “If you would have swaggered any more, you might be mistaken for a pimp.” Lena was openly laughing out loud.

  What the hell was wrong with my walk?

  “A pimp?” I laughed. “Maybe if I had a wolf-head cane and a jaunty fur-trimmed hat.” I looked at Lena and grinned. “You know, if I was mistaken for a pimp, th
en you might be mistaken as Pimp Daddy’s number-one girl.”

  “Eww,” Lena cried out and smacked my arm.

  “You started it, Lena.” I took the bags of food and walked to the front door.

  “You just called me a prostitute!” she called out from behind me.

  “Not technically. I said you were my number-one girl. That could mean a thousand different things.”

  “For your sake, I will take it as one of the other 999 things.”

  “For my sake?” We were both in the house and I shut, locked and sealed the door. Lena sat at the kitchen table and gently put her backpack on top of it. “What does that exactly mean? For my sake?” I repeated. She’d better not be insinuating that I feared Josiah’s retaliation.

  “It means I can kick your ass and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it.” Lena winked at me and began taking out blood bags and three giant flasks out of her backpack. All containing blood.

  The way she’d said those words to me turned me on. I couldn’t help it. What was wrong with me?

  Luckily, Lena moved on from a potential flirting disaster. “I brought you three egg supreme burritos, Pimp Daddy. I can only stomach the salsa. I have some of Orange County’s top-grade blood.” Lena began putting the flasks and bags of blood in my refrigerator. It seemed that Lena had brought an incredibly large amount of blood just to come by for breakfast. Was she planning on staying here, too? If that happened, no doubt, Yari would throw the biggest fit of her life.

  “Think you brought enough blood?” I asked her.

  “I was going to give it to Josiah,” Lena explained. “But he left so fast. If someone doesn’t drink it soon, it’ll spoil. But I won’t let it go to waste.”

  “I get it. Have you talked to Josiah yet?” I asked her.

  “No, he’s going through England first. Before he left, he told me he had a layover in the United Kingdom and that he would call me when he arrived. That might be anytime in the next three days.”

  “He told you he would call just you? No one else?”

  “Is someone peanut butter and jelly?” Lena teased.

  “Shut up! I’m not jealous. At the end of the day, I’m the one who watches over him. He might be evolving into something greater than any of us could have ever imagined, but I’m still his big brother.”

  “I feel better knowing you are watching over Josiah,” Lena admitted.

  “I love the kid.”

  “I know you do.” Lena smiled.

  “Even pimps have feelings.”

  She grinned and said, “So, where are we going to eat?”

  “The great thing about the bachelor life, Lena, is that we can eat wherever the hell we want.”

  Then Lena’s phone rang. I could see from where I was standing that it was Josiah calling her. I was relieved to see the kid was still alive.

  Lena went to the far end of the couch to answer it. She was apparently trying for some type of privacy.

  “Hello,” Lena said. She waited and then laughed. “I know who it is, no one else calls me.”

  I smiled.

  “So, you should be boarding the plane to Romania anytime soon, right?” Lena gave me a look from the couch. “What kind of change?”

  Lena nodded her head and said, “It’s nice to hear yours, too. I miss you terribly, Josiah. It’s only been a few hours, but it feels like an eternity.” She paused. “Okay, now tell me about the change of plans.”

  Lena stood up and walked into the kitchen, talking into her phone. Curious about the conversation, I followed her. “Why?” Lena asked Josiah. “What are you talking about? By who?” Lena sat at the dinner table and had the most confused look on her face. “Hold up! A royal princess invited you to some ball? Where? Westminster Abbey?”

  Now, I was utterly confused. What the hell was Lena talking about? When did Josiah find time to do this? I went to the refrigerator and poured Lena some blood and grabbed some orange juice for myself.

  “Who invited you?” Lena continued into the phone. She paused and then said, “Helen?”

  I eavesdropped boldly.

  “Helen, the Duchess of Windsor?” she continued. “The duchess who is dating Mario Moses? She was only on the cover of every tabloid magazine last year.” Then Lena laughed at Josiah.

  “Do you live under a rock, Josiah? There are some things you can’t avoid.”

  Lena listened for a moment and then said, “So, let me get this straight, Josiah. I saw you not even fifteen hours ago, and in that time, you’ve met Helen, the Duchess of Windsor, and she invited you to a party that will have Paul ‘freaking’ McCartney at it? So, you just charmed her so well that she invited you to some royal bash? What are you even going to wear? I’ve never even seen you in a necktie.”

  Lena sounded pretty tense. She took a deep breath and then asked the question that I was waiting for her to ask. “Well, is she interested in you?”

  Uh-oh. I decided I had eavesdropped on this phone call a tad too long. This was boyfriend-girlfriend drama that didn’t involve me. I left the kitchen and walked to the hallway and waited for her to finish the call.

  When she was done talking to Josiah, we both walked into the living room and sat down.

  “That has to be the weirdest phone call I could have ever imagined from Josiah.” Lena looked shaken.

  I was worried. “Sounded pretty bizarre. Are you okay?”

  “I trust him. The boy is a Boy Scout through and through.” She laughed, but it was not a carefree laugh. It was kind of a pissed-off laugh.

  “He loves you and wouldn’t mess this up for anything,” I said.

  Lena looked at me and sighed. “Are you sure about that?”

  “I’m sure.”

  At least, I hoped I was.

  Chapter Sixteen

  At about 8 p.m., Lena and I were suffering from cabin fever. We’d watched movies all day and napped.

  “Let’s go out and do something,” Lena said, when the credits for Shawshank Redemption began rolling. It was our fifth time seeing that movie. It never got old.

  Lena decided she was going to take us out for a drive. She said she didn’t care where the hell we went, as long as it was out.

  I changed my outfit to a gray shirt and blue jeans. I had my black boots with my best leather jacket. I was a leather jacket connoisseur these days. I was up to five now.

  Lena went to the restroom and fixed her makeup. She only had the outfit she’d worn over here, but she found a pink shirt of hers in Josiah’s room. She wore that with the white jacket she had on from this morning. She looked very pretty, and I would make sure that I would not be telling her that this evening. It would start to make things odd if I gave her a compliment of that nature. So, I just told her she looked nice. Safe and sweet.

  Once Lena and I were situated in her vehicle, she turned the key in the ignition and we were off.

  Lena’s car was a cute little vehicle. It wasn’t exactly the most intimidating car on the highway. We drove down the 91 Freeway all the way to Orange County. She was right, she did need to get out.

  “Want to get an ice cream at this shop I know off Harbor Street?” Lena asked.

  “Sure,” I said. “Is there any ice cream you can enjoy?”

  “Nothing with milk in it,” Lena replied. “ICEEs seem to be okay as long as I don’t drink more than eight ounces. This place I’m taking you to has traditional ice cream and ICEEs. We will both be taken care of.”

  Lena pulled into the parking lot of a giant ice cream shop called Farrell’s. She found a parking space reasonably close to the entrance.

  It took us about ten minutes to get inside. There was a long line, but to their credit, the employees moved it along quickly. Our greeter sat us in a small booth that was clearly intended for two normal-sized people. I was a muscular guy who might or might not need to lose ten pounds. So, this booth wasn’t exactly comfortable.

  “An ice cream shop with waitresses and waiters... how chic,” I said.

  “I’m sorr
y, Tommy,” Lena said, referring to the fact I had half a leg sticking out of the booth. It was a sexy, muscular leg, but it was sticking out nonetheless. “I guess they’re busy.”

  “Yeah, I think I can fit one entire ass cheek on the seat here.”

  Lena laughed. “Poor thing.”

  “If I suck in my gut, I can actually fit my entire body in here. I am pretty amazed.”

  “Stop, Tommy,” Lena replied a little too flirty for my taste. “Your stomach is tight.”

  ‘Tight?’ That was interesting. Now, was I supposed to comment on her body, too? Was that what you did? She was my best friend’s girlfriend. I decided I needed to leave it alone.

  So, I gave her a logical response. “Your tiny body has no problem fitting in this booth,” I said. She was small, so it shouldn’t be a compliment.

  Lena blushed. “Tiny? Thank you.”

  Shit. Of course, calling any girl ‘tiny’ was a compliment.

  I decided to move forward on our dessert outing. I grabbed a menu and began quickly scanning the pages.

  “What looks good?” Lena asked.

  “I’m getting the triple-scoop chocolate sundae. What about you?”

  “I’m getting a blueberry Slushie.”

  “Why not red raspberry?” I asked, looking at their choices on the menu.

  “I try to mix it up since the color red is the primary color I stick in my mouth.”

  I nodded and saw her logic.

  The waitress came over and we both ordered. It was a hungry-for-sweets evening for the both of us. However, we both ordered water as our beverage. I figured I needed to save myself some calories somewhere. Lena didn’t have to worry about that. She was in perfect shape. Note to self: don’t ever tell her that. Apparently, she liked compliments. I was pretty sure Josiah wouldn’t appreciate me doing that.

  I looked at Lena across the table and she gave me a full smile with all her teeth. Did she understand how beautiful she was? This wasn’t fair.

  The waitress brought us our glasses and a carafe full of water, and left them on the table.