by Night, H. T.
“Well,” I said. “I want to talk to you about the deal you gave Tommy.”
“Oh, you came here to talk business? I do wish you would have called ahead. The only business I like to do in this room is signing new talent.”
“Who knows?” I said, “Maybe that might be on the table.”
Romero’s eyes brightened. “Now you have my attention.” Romero cleared the room with a shrieking whistle from his lips. “Wanna drink?” he asked.
“Not tonight. I’m driving.”
“Seriously?”
“Not unless you call my twelve-foot wing span gliding across the sky driving. Plus the last time you got me intoxicated, I offered up some pretty private info.”
“It was lucky that you did. Once I realized who your friend was, it was the only thing that saved his life. And luckily, for him and me, you did let me know. He’s my biggest attraction. He’s the new fan favorite around this place. He has changed the face of the crowd. A lot more women have been showing up.”
“That’s Tommy for you,” I said. “The kid has more sex appeal in his pinky that most men have in a lifetime.”
Romero looked at me and smiled. “You’re telling me! Also, this used to be a three days out of the month operation. Now we do this every Thursday through Sunday.”
“And that’s why I’m here. I need to talk to you about your new product which happens to be a dear friend of mine.”
“You want to renegotiate on behalf of your friend?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly are we negotiating here?”
“Money, what else?”
“Money?” Romero’s eyes were glaring through me. “I’m sorry, Josiah. I think we’re done here!”
“Done? We haven’t even started talking.”
“Let me guess where this is going,” Romero said to me. “You want me to raise his per-fight fee to at least double of what it is. Then you want him to have some kind of ‘super fight’ where he can make at least $100,000 a fight.”
Romero did know business because that was the exact direction I was going in. “I was thinking more like a quarter of a million for the ‘super fight,’” I said, correcting Romero.
I could see that such a bold statement didn’t sit well with Romero. He wasn’t used to dealing with someone like me who wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him. “Do you know who you’re talking to, young man?” Romero stood up.
I was surprised at his tone. I came here to have a mellow conversation, not be bullied by a billionaire. So, I stood up, too. “No, the question is, do you have any fucking idea who you are talking to?” I stated, as clearly as I could. “I’m sorry, I think you have mistaken me for someone who gives a shit about what you’re worth.” Now I was pissed.
Suddenly, the door flew open. Romero raised his hand at his bodyguards to stop them before getting to me. I backed up and cleared a table out of the way. If they wanted to come for me, by all means they could write their own death sentences.
“Calm down, Josiah. I’m not going to let them get to you,” Romero said to me.
“I’m supposed to be impressed that you stopped your thugs from coming at me?” I said. “The only lives you saved were theirs.”
“You’re pretty damn confident aren’t you, Josiah?”
“It’s not confidence; It’s fact. The fact of the matter is, I’m being cordial with you and I don’t have to be. If I wanted to, I could take Tommy out of here at any point and there is very little you could do to stop me.”
Romero smiled at me. “You truly believe, even if I called on all my soldiers, you would still walk out of here alive?”
“I do,” I said, as sure as I ever said anything in my life.
Romero seemed shocked. Then he switched gears abruptly and mellowed out. “That is great.” Romero sat down. “Please sit, Josiah. Let’s continue this discussion in a more civil manner.”
“It would be more civil if we were alone,” I said, referring to his room full of guards who had their hands on their automatic weapons, just itching to pull them out and use them on me.
Romero snapped his fingers and his body guards all once again left the suite.
“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 n
eed 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.”