H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (101 page)

“Are you sick?” Maya asked, extremely
concerned.

“No, it’s nothing like that. I have never
been healthier.”

“Okay, then what is it?”

“Look, just know that…” I stopped myself
from speaking and stared at the moon.

“Look, Tommy. I don’t need to know
everything right now. I like you and I want to learn more about
you.”

“I like you, too, Maya. That’s why I think
you should know.”

“Well, you’re obviously not ready to tell me
and I’m okay with that. Let’s just allow things to continue to
happen according to the fate of the Triat.”

“Huh?” I nearly fell to the floor.

“What?” she asked, clueless.

“You said ‘fate of the Triat!’”

“It’s just a saying my grandfather used to
say to me when I was younger.”

“The fate of the Triat? He used those exact
words?”

“Yeah, I asked him what it meant when I was
younger and he told me it was the force that allows love to exist
in each of us.” Maya smiled at me not knowing how enormous her
words were to me.

Holy shit! Her grandfather knew about this
world. I needed to know more about her grandfather. “Is he still
alive?”

“No, he actually had something awful happen
to him.”

“What happened?”

“Well, they never really found his body, all
they found were his things. He was one of those older guys that
were seventy but looked forty. He was athletic and loved the
outdoors and one weekend he went camping by himself and never
returned. They found his things torn up and shredded by a campfire.
We could only imagine what kind of wild animal got to him.”

“Wow, that’s insane. I’m sorry to hear that.
How old were you when this happened?”

“It was about eight years ago.” Maya’s eyes
began to water, so I pulled her close to me.

“It’s okay,” I said, wiping the tears from
her eyes. “I shouldn’t have asked for more.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad I told you about my
grandfather.”

We continue to stare at the ocean together
until the tide reached our feet. We decided to head back to the
car. I walked with my arm around Maya to keep her warm and I just
took in the whole night. There were a couple of amazing things I
found out tonight. One, I had definitely fallen for this girl. And
two, her grandfather definitely was—or is—a vampire or a
werewolf.

Chapter Four

I got Maya home at fifteen minutes before
one. I was pretty pleased with myself getting her home by the time
her father asked. I walked her up to the door and then we stopped
in front of it.

“I had an amazing time tonight, Tommy,” Maya
said, grabbing my hands.

“So did I, Maya.”

“You’re going to call me, right!”

I looked down at this confident, young lady
and she was showing me a bit of vulnerability that I’m sure most
girls feel after a first date. I wrapped my arms around her and
pulled her close. “We don’t need to ever talk like that. Games are
out the door, when it comes to us.”

Maya pulled back, “Are they?”

“They never started.”

Maya looked deep into my eyes. “I believe
you.”

I leaned in and kissed her softly on her
lips and again on her cheek.

“You’re a great guy, Tommy.”

“And you’re an amazing girl, Maya.” I winked
at her and trotted off to my car. She waved me off and went inside.
I looked up at the moon and said out loud, “I’m in deep.”

When I got back to my apartment, Patrick and
Sasha were up playing a game of Clue at the kitchen table.

“Seriously,” I said, as I entered my
apartment. “A vampire and a werewolf are trying to figure out if
Colonel Mustard killed someone in the conservatory with the
candlestick?”

“Hey, don’t give it away, Tommy. I’m
crushing Patrick. This is the first time he has ever played.” Sasha
rolled her dice and moved her red game piece into the kitchen. It
figured the vixen would choose Miss Scarlet.

“So, how did your date go, player?” Patrick
asked.

“Date? I didn’t write on the note I was
going on a date.”

“You didn’t have to,” Sasha responded. “It
was the fact that you even wrote a note. You were lining up your
ducks in a row, my friend. Leaving a note definitely meant you had
the night under control. Therefore, I could only conclude you were
on a date.”

“Wow, Sherlock, you’re off the charts. You
better watch out Patrick, you’re playing Clue with Matlock.”

“So, it was a date!” Sasha said.

“Yeah, it was a date,” I said. “Probably the
best date I ever had.”

“Ever had?” Sasha laughed out loud. “Wow,
you are a putz!” Now, her claws were out.

“A putz? What is that supposed to mean?” I
walked over and poured myself a glass of milk from the
refrigerator.

“It means you’re a sap, and you are probably
getting played,” Sasha stated, as if she had the entire world
figured out.

“Look, Sasha, not every girl has a boyfriend
when they have a date with me.” I was obviously referring to the
night we first met.

“To be fair, Tommy, we weren’t exactly on an
official date. It was more of a hook-up.”

“Exactly, and you played me like a fiddle.
Just because that is something you’re capable of doing, doesn’t
mean everyone else is like that.”

“Ouch!” Patrick chimed in, loudly.

“Wow,” Sasha continued. “You must have gone
on a date with Mother Teresa.”

“Don’t act like this, Sasha. When I came
home earlier, you and Patrick were all cuddled up on my bed.”

They both looked at each other, shocked.

“No, we weren’t,” Patrick said.

“Trust me! Your lips were inches apart. You
were inhaling each other’s exhales.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

“Look, Sasha, I like this girl and I don’t
want you to mess it up.”

“Why would I mess it up?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Ever since I met
you, my life has sort have been in disarray.” I looked at the cage
in my living room and pointed at it. “Case in point.”

“Tommy, you have been real good to me, and
if you need to have a girl or two break your heart along the way,
that’s your business. I’m just here to warn you about them because
we’re friends.”

“Thanks for looking out for me,” I said,
rolling my eyes to Patrick.

“What are friends for?” Sasha replied.

“You two go and figure out who killed Mr.
Body, and I’m going to go to bed,” I said, and began to walk down
the hall. I stopped and turned around. “Unless you two need my bed
for later, and finish up where you left off?”

“Please, just go to bed, lover boy,” Sasha
mocked.

Patrick seemed to like the fact I was
implied he had a shot with Sasha. He had a silly grin on his face.
I saluted my friends and went to my room and fell asleep in matter
of minutes.

The next couple of weeks were pretty
amazing. I spent every day with Maya, and we did everything from
going to the mall to having picnics in the park. Josiah and I
started training three times a week. I took him down to my gym, and
all the trainers were floored at his ability, for being as young as
he is. I was having the time of my life; I was a part of two
different families. I had my vampire and werewolf dysfunctional
threesome family, but even better, I was being accepted by the
Reign household. They had invited me over for family night, and I
had been spending a lot of quality time with Daniel. He was very
wise and I had never had a father figure in my life. He was always
throwing out little nuggets of wisdom, and he had no idea how much
it meant to me.

The interesting part about everything was
that Maya and I had very little time alone. Meaning, we hadn’t
slept together yet. We actually hadn’t even gotten close to doing
the horizontal Rumba, and I totally didn’t care. She had become an
extension of me, and I had never felt this way about anyone in my
life.

It had rained during the week, and I invited
Maya to spend the night at my grandmother’s cabin in Running
Springs. She didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes.’ We knew we would have
the whole weekend to be close. Because it had rained, that meant
there will be a lot of good snow. Also, this was the weekend that
the full moon would invoke its full effect on my supernatural
chemistry. I thought this might be as good of time as any to let
her in on my little secret.

Josiah wanted to come with us to the cabin,
but I really wanted to be alone with Maya. I didn’t let him know
that my family actually owned the cabin. I told him I had to be
respectful to the people who owned it and could only have one
guest. Poor guy didn’t take the news well.

But, nonetheless, Maya and I packed our
things and headed up to the San Bernardino Mountains.

Patrick agreed to look after Sasha, and make
sure she wouldn’t be let out of her cage during the full moon. The
two of them were really getting tight, and I couldn’t tell if it
was platonic or something more.

Chapter Five

Maya and I headed to the mountains on Friday
afternoon. There was almost no traffic, and I knew this was going
to be a very special weekend. The higher we got, the more snow we
could see on the side of the road. I knew Running Springs would
have lots of good snow even though the sun was out. It takes a few
days before the snow melts and as far as I was concerned, it was
better when there was sun.

When we got to the cabin, I gave Maya the
tour of the place. I showed her the downstairs, which consisted of
two bedrooms a living room and a kitchen. Then I gave her the
upstairs tour, which consisted of just one gigantic bedroom with a
bathroom.

“So, this is my room when I stay here,” I
said.

“Where’s my room?” she asked,
innocently.

“You can sleep on the floor if you’re good,”
I said, teasingly.

“And if I’m bad?”

“Then you can sleep on the bed with me.” I
crossed my fingers and closed my eyes. “Please be bad! Please be
bad!” Maya smacked my arm and I winked at her.

“Does this place have cable?” she asked.

“Yeah, sort of. It has the Dish Network so
when it snows, it runs into problems.”

“Well it’s not snowing any more this
weekend, so it should be fine.”

I looked at Maya and asked, “So, you came up
to a cabin that is covered in snow and you’re hoping to watch
TV?”

“What do you want to do?” Maya asked.

I sat on my bed and took off my shoes. They
were wet from the snow outside. “Well, first I’m going to put on a
couple pairs of socks and then I thought we could cook dinner
together, and who knows…maybe have some wine. We really haven’t had
a night like this since our first date.”

Maya nodded. “Remember, you’re the one who
likes to come over to my house and hang out with my family.”

“So, what are you saying?” I asked,
pretending to be hurt.

“I’m saying that,” Maya hesitated before
speaking. “I’m saying that… I have wanted some alone time with you,
too, for quite some time.”

I looked up at her standing over me. “Come
here,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist. I hugged her and
rested my head on her stomach. She put her hands around my head and
massaged my scalp. “Well, we’re here now.”

“I know,” she said. “What are we to do?”

“First,” I said, “we should go
downstairs.”

I got up and led her to the living room and
we sat on the couch. She looked exquisite; she seemed to be more
beautiful each day that I’d known her. I got up and put on some
music on the stereo. I found a station that played slow songs.

I walked over to the lights and turned them
off. I then walked around the living room and began lighting every
candle. This was a major Don Juan move, and normally, this was my
ace in the hole to get laid. But tonight, this maneuver was
different. I was going to take whatever came my way, do whatever
felt natural. I have had plenty of sex in my time, and tonight was
not going to be about that. If it came to that... then hot damn,
but my first intention was to show her I’m all about her
tonight.

When the entire living room was lit with
candles, I walked over and took Maya by the hand. I brought her to
the middle of the living room floor. It was nice not having a
2,000-pound cage in the middle of this living room.

I knew that tomorrow’s first full moon was
going to cause all types of new conversations between Maya and me.
I wanted tonight to be as normal as it could be. I had never been a
romantic, and this kind of thing was only in my arsenal as a means
to an end. But tonight, it was coming from my heart.

The stereo played Dan Hill’s crooning, “I
want to hold you till I die.”

“I love this song,” she said. I pulled her
close to me and we began slow dancing. We swayed our bodies and
pressed up against each other. Maya looked up at me and said, “I
feel so safe with you.”

“You should,” I smiled. “I’m one badass
motherfucker.”

“No, I’m serious.”

I looked down at this phenomenal woman and
smiled, “I know you are. I know this isn’t going to make much
sense, but I feel safe with you, too.

“It makes perfect sense,” she said, holding
me tighter. “We have something beyond this room, beyond this
mountain. We have found each other, Tommy.” Maya paused and then
smiled, shyly. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For assuming.”

“For assuming what?” I said,
indignantly.

Maya’s eyes began to water as the music
played behind her. “I’m sorry for assuming that you might think
about me as much as I think about you.”

Tears began rolling down her face and I
wiped them off. I looked deep into her eyes. “Maya, in such a short
time, you have become my ‘everything.’ I think about you, and yearn
to be with you every waking moment. What you need to understand is
that this isn’t what I’m usually about. I have never had a serious
girlfriend, or thought for one second that anyone, let alone a
female, could understand my very being as you do. You see things in
me that I haven’t even discovered about myself. Each moment I’m
with you surpasses the previous one. When it comes to you, all bets
are off. I throw out every inhibition I have ever had, and I just
let you see me.” Maya looked up at me in a way no person ever has.
She looked at me in a way I wouldn’t even dare to dream. “Maya,” I
said.