H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set

by Night, H. T.

  “Josiah Reign,” Lena said, with a hint of playfulness in her voice. “Are you flirting with me?”

  “I might have a little crush. I’ll let you know how it develops throughout the night.” I started up the truck and we were off.

  We made our way to the freeway and I took the 15 freeway to the 10. The 10 freeway is a direct shot right into Los Angeles. I had made reservations at a restaurant near the theater, which keeps their kitchen open till one in the morning.

  “So what are we seeing?” Lena asked.

  “The Sharks vs. the Jets,” I said.

  “We’re watching a football game?” Lena asked, disappointed.

  “No dear,” I said. “Have you ever seen West Side Story?”

  “The movie?”

  “No, the cooking show on Bravo,” I said, jokingly. “Of course I’m talking about the movie, or musical for that matter.”

  “Yes, I’ve seen the movie. I saw it in the ninth grade.”

  “So did I,” I said excitedly. “Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how old the movie was when I watched it. It was in color and I thought it came out in the 80s.”

  “No, it’s much older than that.”

  “I know that now. I saw it in my ninth-grade English class and absolutely fell in love with Natalie Wood, you know, the actress that plays Maria in the movie. For some reason, it didn’t dawn on me that I might have a problem professing my newfound love to her. I went home and thought out exactly how I was going to tell her how I fell head over heels for her. I get on my computer and try to find a Natalie Wood website fan page. I was pretty saddened to find out she had died nearly 30 years earlier by drowning in a boating accident. I was heartbroken.”

  “You poor baby,” Lena said, as honest and sincere as anyone could, considering how pathetic the true tale was. “That makes me so sad.”

  “Why does it make you sad?” I asked.

  “Your first love died thirty years before you even knew she existed.”

  “She was definitely not my first love.”

  “Oh, she wasn’t?”

  “Nope, Christina Martinez was my first love,” I said.

  “How old were you?”

  “Five,” I said, proudly.

  “Five?”

  “She lived across the street. She used to play with her Barbies in the front yard while I pretended to play with my monster trucks across the street.”

  “I can’t even remember one thing about being five years old, let alone liking a boy.”

  “I had a crush on at least one girl every year from kindergarten till my senior year.”

  “Josiah, you are the definition of girl crazy.”

  “What can I say, I have always been very fond of the opposite sex. How about you? When and who was your first boyfriend?”

  “Junior high. His name was Garret Kennedy!”

  “Garret Kennedy? Seriously? That guy was your first boyfriend?”

  “You knew him?”

  “Of course I knew him, you and I went to the same junior high and high school. That guy was totally weird.”

  “He was my kind of weird.”

  “That guy used to draw pentagrams on his school folders.”

  “He was just being creative.”

  “Wow, even then you were into the dark weirdos.”

  “Now, I just like the blonde weirdos,” Lena joked. “How old were you, Josiah, when you had your first grown-up kiss.”

  “You mean tongue?”

  “That does qualify as a grown-up kiss.”

  “Tilly Ramirez, eighth grade.”

  “Wow, you sure like the Latinas.”

  “It was the demographic of where we lived. It was on the eighth-grade graduation trip to Disneyland. We were riding on ‘It’s a Small World.’”

  Lena laughed out loud.

  “You’ve seen the goods, lady,” I said, referring to my package. “Obviously, the ride had no symbolic reference to what I’m packing.”

  “Easy, tiger,” Lena continued laughing. “Knowing that your first kiss was on a kids’ ride is pretty hysterical.”

  “All we did was make out on the ride and nothing more.”

  “Didn’t the song repeating over and over on the ride kill the mood?”

  “It happened at the end of the ride. She was nudging me and I turned my head, and there she was, sticking her tongue down my throat.”

  “She stuck her tongue down your throat? You’re not sure it wasn’t the other way around?”

  “No, it was definitely her. She actually screwed me up in the kissing department for a couple of years.”

  “How so?”

  “For the longest time, I thought that was the way people were supposed to kiss. You shove your tongue deep in someone’s mouth and just slosh it around.”

  “How did you figure it out?” Lena asked.

  “I had a friend of mine ask an old girlfriend if I was a good kisser.”

  “She said ‘no’?”

  “Not only did she say I wasn’t a good kisser, she proceeded to give a detailed account of how horrible it was to be kissed by me. She compared it to a mouth assault.”

  “Really? That is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying my traumatic high school youth.”

  “Well, you obviously fixed the problem. I think you’re a fantastic kisser.”

  “Really? Fantastic?”

  “Yes. At least in my top three,” Lena winked at me.

  “Top three even. I don’t even want to know who the other two are.”

  “It’s not who you think. To be fair, Tommy didn’t really have a chance to prove himself, and Atticai never kissed me like that.”

  “Word is.... Tommy is a good kisser,” I said. “My sister was pretty impressed.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Lena assured me. “So, how did you turn your kissing woes around?” Lena asked, purposely changing the subject away from Tommy and I knew it.

  “Promise not to laugh?”

  “Oh, this is going to be good.”

  “It’s more than good.”

  “Okay, I promise not to laugh,” Lena swore.

  “My sister was a huge Archie comics fan. So, I would read them as a kid and I began to really like reading the comics myself.”

  “You liked reading Archie comic books?”

  “What’s so weird about that?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. Everything about it is,” Lena stated, teasingly.

  “Anyway, one Christmas my sister got me this life-size Archie head. It was like a puppet. She got it for me as a joke because she knew I would sneak around, reading her comic books. The life-size head was made out of rubber and if you put your fingers in the back of the head, you could control his mouth.”

  “You didn’t?” Lena laughed.

  “I did. I made out with Archie until I damn well got great at kissing.”

  Lena began laughing hysterically.

  “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

  “That’s not fair. That is the funniest thing I ever heard. How long did that go on?”

  “I kept that puppet around all through high school. Whenever I felt my game needed a little pick me up, Archie would be there.”

  “I’m surprised it didn’t make you gay.”

  “Not gay. Just tolerant. I figured if I could practice kissing on a checkered, red-headed guy, then I needed to be cool about other people’s life choices.”

  “You’re so funny! Well, be sure to thank Archie for me the next time you two have a session.”

  “When my family died, I set fire to a lot of things that stirred up too many memories and unfortunately Archie was one of them.”

  Lena smiled uncomfortably and looked outside. I sure knew how to kill a fun conversation by bringing up death. I probably shouldn’t have brought that part of the story up ‘cause Lena didn’t know how to respond. We were having fun and the reality of life always seemed to remind us of how painful things had been
for both of us.

  Lena reached out her left palm and I held it with my right hand. I gave her a loving wink and we made our way to the Ahmanson Theater.

  The musical was great and I saw why Tommy liked them so much. It’s just a whole lot of fun.

  When it was over, I took Lena to a restaurant called Shapiro’s. It was a real classy joint down the street from the theater. It had dim lighting and I’d heard the food was fantastic. Lena didn’t have the ability to eat like me, but she was able to eat meat that was rare with virtually no problem.

  Our table was near the back and there weren’t that many people in the restaurant. The table was candlelit and there was a three-piece band playing easy listening jazz at the front of the restaurant.

  I ordered the Chicken Alfredo, and Lena had a 12-ounce steak served very rare. One thing that all vampires had the ability to do, and thank god we did, was drink like sailors. Lena and I were throwing back our wine pretty good throughout our meal.

  “I think we should do this kind of thing more often,” I said. I had a nice wine buzz going and for my money, a wine buzz was the best alcohol buzz to have.

  “You look incredibly handsome, Josiah.”

  “You think?”

  “The lighting makes you look like an angel in here,” Lena said, in a very seductive and flirtatious manner.

  “A demon maybe, but not an angel.”

  “Is that your opinion of us, that we are inherently evil?” she asked.

  “I don’t like to think about it, but there are times I think I am evil. I have hurt and even killed so many people in such a short period of time that it’s hard not to feel that way. It’s hard to think there is much good left in me.”

  “Josiah, you’re as good as they come.”

  “I’m not sure if I believe that. Killing does something to a person. Killing takes a piece of you with it when it happens.”

  “You have never killed anyone who wasn’t attacking you first, right?” Lena asked.

  I thought about the werewolf that was on the lookout at Tommy’s cabin a few months back. That killing had never sat well with me.

  Lena could tell I was in deep thought. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

  “There was once I attacked and killed a werewolf before he had a chance to attack me.”

  “You must have thought you needed to do it for your own safety.”

  “I did,” I said. “I didn’t try to kill him either. It just happened. It has always bothered me because I saw his face right before he died.”

  “There you go, Josiah, in our world there are going to be casualties. It should only bother you if innocent people get killed.”

  “It just all sounds so callous. Life and death should have a higher significance.”

  “And it does with the Tandra. Most humans are innocent bystanders in this war that has been raged in the underworld. Carni and Mani know the stakes. Most of us chose this life; it’s all we ever wanted.”

  “I didn’t choose it. I never wanted it. Even when I knew it existed, the last thing I wanted was to be a part of it.”

  “I know.” Lena reached her hand across the table and placed it on top of my hand. “But now that it’s here, you have embraced it. And you know what, Josiah? There is no one better at it than you. You are the most perfect person to lead this charge. The Triat knew what they were doing. They chose a great man.”

  Every once in a while, words that are spoken minister to my heart and that comment by Lena was such a thing. What she said touched me in a way she’d never know.

  “I love you, Lena.”

  “I love you, Josiah.”

  The waitress walked over and placed our food in front of us. We continued to talk and eat till we helped close down the joint at 2:00 in the morning

  On the way home, Lena fell asleep on my shoulder. For the first time in my entire life, I felt the feeling of union. This was my girl. I was her man. Together, I was pretty certain we could do anything.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A few weeks went by and Lena and I were really building something very special and the closer I got to her, the more complete I felt. It was during our most intimate moments that I felt the kind of connection I had always longed for. Making love to Lena was a life-changing experience regardless of what anyone thought. When you truly love someone and you share that kind of intimate detail, it’s the most powerful bond two people can have. I was becoming a better person just by loving her each day.

  I was in the bathroom finishing my shower when I heard my cell phone go off. It was giving me the signal that I had a text message. I stepped out of the shower to see who it was because I hardly ever had anyone text me. I went over to my phone that I left near the sink.

  The text read, ‘It’s Tommy. We need to talk. You owe me that.’

  I owed him that? Was he for real? The balls on that guy.

  I texted him back, ‘Where?’

  He responded, ‘My cabin.’

  I texted, ‘When?’

  Then he texted in big, bold letters, ‘ASAP.’

  ‘Fine, I’m coming now.’ I sent the text and went into my bedroom.

  What the hell did he need to see me about?

  I sat on my bed completely nude and just sighed. Who was I kidding? I wanted to see him. I missed him. I just didn’t know what I was going to say to him.

  I stood up and went to my closet and put on a pair of jeans, a black-t-shirt and my black boots. I left my room and went downstairs to Lena’s room. We had been sleeping every night together and taking turns in each other’s beds. I opened Lena’s door and there she was on her bed listening to her MP3 player.

  “What’s up, girlie?” I said.

  “Hey sexy, whatcha doing?” she answered.

  “I just got a call from a mutual acquaintance.”

  “Tommy?” Lena asked, trying her hardest not to sound interested, but I knew better.

  “That would be him.”

  “He’s more than a mutual acquaintance,” she said, shutting off her music.

  “I’d say… for the both of us.”

  “So, what did he want?” Again, Lena was trying her hardest to ask questions and sound uninterested.

  “It’s okay that you’re curious about him, Lena. How could you not be? It’s been weeks since we’ve heard from him.”

  Lena nodded her head. “I know. It’s just a tough subject for the both of us,”

  “I know,” I agreed. “It doesn’t have to be.”

  “I know, Lena said. “Anyway, what did he have to say?”

  “He actually texted me.”

  “He texted you?”

  “Yes, and he wants me to meet up with him at his cabin. He made it sound pretty urgent.”

  “Do you think he’s in trouble?”

  “Who knows? Trouble seems to find that guy.”

  “I think I know another person trouble seems to find,” Lena said, implying that I didn’t have much room to talk. “You can fight it all you want, but you and Tommy are cut from the same cloth. You’re so alike it’s scary.”

  I nodded knowingly, but I also knew Tommy and I needed to have a long, serious talk before anything would ever be mended.

  I kissed Lena goodbye. I knew she cared for Tommy. It was hard not to, the guy is pretty infectious. I left through the front door. I didn’t transition; I flew up into the sky in my Mani form. Victorville is such a dead community, that I knew I could get away with it.

  I made my way up the back part of the San Bernardino Mountains and found myself once again at Tommy’s cabin in Running Springs. I decided to land in his yard and look ahead at his giant cabin. I had a lot of memories of this place. This was going to be harder than I thought.

  I knocked on the door and there was no answer. I eventually just opened the door and went in. Tommy wasn’t in his front room, but I could hear something in the room where he kept his cage. I walked up to the doorway and looked in. Tommy was in the middle of his cage, sitting cross-legged, drinkin
g what looked to be an entire bottle of vodka.

  I stood outside the doorway and just looked in. A part of me wanted to leave and never let him know I was there. I thought better of it, but it bothered me that he was just lying on his back, wasted. I should have known he was drunk. Why else would he contact me? Tommy was a very sad drunk sometimes, especially when he drank alone. At a party, he was a madman when he drank, but alone, nothing good usually came of it. He had drunk himself into a suicidal dark place more than once and this was one of his darkest secrets of the ones I knew. This looked like one of those times. His head and face were sweaty and I could tell he had been crying.

  Poor guy.

  “You okay?” I asked, from the door.

  Tommy sat up a little surprised. “I’m divine, Josiah, nice of you to ask.”

  “You look it,” I said, with an obvious condescending tone.

  “Come in, so I can see you, brother.”

  “I’m okay, right here,” I said. The room was barely lit and it seemed Tommy was really going for serious dramatics.

  “What are you afraid of?” Tommy asked.

  “You know me better than that by now, Tommy. I’m not afraid of anything.”

  “I know one thing you’re afraid of…”

  Okay, apparently Tommy wanted to verbally insult me, so I let him play his game. “Please tell me, what would that be?”

  “Yourself.”

  “Myself?”

  “Did I stutter?” Tommy rolled over and knocked over his bottle. He grabbed it before too much had spilled out.

  “Actually, you did,” I said, laughing. “It was more of a slur than a stutter.”

  “Cute, Josiah,” Tommy composed himself and poured himself a drink. “Just admit it, Josiah, you’re afraid of you.”

  “Me? I don’t think that I am.”

  “You’re afraid of what’s inside you. You’re afraid of what you’ve become.”

  Great, he wanted to get all philosophical. “Tommy, look! Is there something specifically you needed to talk about, or were you hoping for some bro time?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself!” Tommy spouted.

  “Okay, then what is it you want to talk about?” I asked.

  Tommy took another sip of his vodka. “I got a business offer from a friend of yours.”

  “Huh?” I was now confused.