The Immortal Warriors Boxed Set: Books 1-11

by H. T. Night

  “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 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 it was pissing me off. “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 leave and he took Wyatt and me back to the hotel in the Ferrari.

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

  “The money and the thrill of the crowd are 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 make it back 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 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 a while 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 has you fooled, too.” Yari had been drinking and when she drank, she could 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 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 slipped 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, 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 slipped 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 stepped out and dried off. After a moment, the two of them said goodnight and went inside, too. That left Yari and me alone in the Jacuzzi area.

  “You 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 redheaded vixen, especially when she and Cyrus had been hooking up as of late, but I think I just wanted to take my clothes 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 put 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 being 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 being 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 regard 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 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 don’t like her much do you?” I asked.

  “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.

  “Where’s Cyrus?” I asked.

  “He went to bed.”

  “How are things going with that?”

  “I don’t know. He’s serviceable. He’s has a big one. So that’s a definite plus.”

  “Anyway,” I said, cutting her off.

  “He’s a good guy, too good for someone like me. I need a bad boy.” Her hand slipped up my thigh to my mid-region. I gave her a look that pretty much said, ‘Go for it.’ And go for it she did. She placed both her hands about an inch from my package.

  “It’s like a drug,” I said, referring to her hands that were close enough to do some pretty serious damage.

  “It’s too bad you’re still in love with Lena,” Yari said, as she took her hands off of my lap. I stared at Yari and smiled at the power a woman had over me when her hands are touching my midsection. She could have convinced me to do just about anything in that previous moment. Now that her hands were off of my thighs and stomach, I could think a bit more clearly.

  “Is that what you think?” I asked. “That I’m still in love with Lena?”

  “It’s what I know, Josiah. You’re a guy, and I know you’re feeling a little feisty at the moment, and I would love to have amazing balls-to-the-wall sex with you. But, in the end, you’d hate yourself because you’re not over Lena and she’s not over you. So then, I’d have two of my closest friends mad at me.”

  “Wow, you just called Lena a close friend.”

  Yari smiled. “She is, and so are you. Plus, it would break Cyrus’s puppy dog heart.”

  “So, what makes you so certain she’s still in love with me?” I asked.

  “You don’t see the kind of things I’ve seen and not know something as basic as that.”

  “Give me one thing you see that I don’t,” I said, hoping she’d give me a good reason.

  “Well, Tommy contacts her all the time and gives her an open invitation to come see him at his cabin and she doesn’t take it.”

  “Really? Tommy keeps asking her to his cabin? What a dick.”

  “He asks her daily. Apparently, it’s just to talk. He’s lonely, but Lena doesn’t take him up on it because she doesn’t want to hurt you any more than she already has.”

  I didn’t know what to think about this bit of information. Was I supposed to feel bad for a guy who was blatantly pursuing a woman he knew I had fallen in love with? He had some nerve. “Is that where he’s at?” I asked.

  “He moves around. He has a lot of enemies.”

  “I know he does. Almost as many as I do.”

  “But you have all of us. Tommy doesn’t
have anyone.”

  “Whose fault is that?”

  “It’s his. But if Lena truly loved him more than you—why hasn’t she gone to him? What you need to understand is there’s very little difference between yourself and Tommy. You’re practically the same guy. You look completely different. But once you strip down all the superficial bullshit, you couldn’t be more alike. When all is said and done, both you boys are good to the core. Lena can’t go wrong with either one of you.”

  “That’s exactly my point. We’re so similar and that’s why she chose him at Flatlands.”

  “She only went to him because Tommy had no one on his side. You had a whole Mani army behind you. Tommy was all by himself. Tommy reached out to her, but then retreated. He told her to stay because he knew it was for her own good.” Yari paused, and then continued, “But I believe there is another reason why he told her to stay.”

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “He knew she truly loves you and not him.”

  I took everything Yari said to heart. Yari didn’t have to say anything, but she felt the need to talk to me about all of it, and that meant a lot to me. “You gave me some things to think about.”

  “Josiah, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to look deep into your heart and give me the most honest answer you can give.”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you love Lena?”

  I paused and took the question in. I let the question consume me and then I closed my eyes. After a moment, I opened my eyes and stared at Yari and said, “I love Lena with every bit of me.”

  “Really?” A voice from behind me said. I turned around and Lena was standing by the pool wearing a long black gown. I wasn’t sure how long she had been listening.

  “Is that how it is with you two?” I asked, embarrassed. “One asks me a personal question while the other listens?”

  “I walked out when Yari was talking. I had no idea she was going to ask you that,” Lena said.

  I looked at Yari. “I knew she was there,” Yari said, “and I also knew what your answer was going to be.”

  “Is it true, Josiah?” Lena asked. “Do you still feel that way?”

  I didn’t know what to say. Of course, it was true. But I didn’t go around loving people who didn’t love me back. I stepped out of the Jacuzzi. I forgot I was wearing my tighty-whities.