H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (120 page)

“The someone is Marcos.”

“Marcos, the bar owner? I should have
guessed.”

“Tommy, he is more than a bar owner.”

“How so?”

“He’s a shot caller.”

“Shot caller?”

“We have shot callers. Us, as in Carni. We
have guys that for whatever reason, makes important decision that
affect the rest of us.”

“That’s pretty ballsy. Who decides on who
gets to be a shot caller?” I asked.

“It’s either through strength or money, or
sometimes both. They become shot callers.”

“What shots, exactly, are they calling?”

“In regard to our Carni underground society,
we have to police our own. We need to figure out which fight suits
us best when it comes to the Mani. We are incredibly outnumbered in
that regard. So we need to choose our own battles
intelligently.”

“Why aren’t you a shot caller?”

“I’m neither strong nor rich. I am just old,
experienced.”

“But you said a key word in that last bit of
information you said to me. You said the word ‘intelligently.’ It
seems to me that neither strength nor wealth make someone
smart.”

“What are you saying?” Dave asked.

“I think you’re underplaying your role. I’m
not sure why… but you’re not letting on how important you are. I
see how others at the ranch up north revere you. Something tells me
you have a bigger role. You might not be a shot caller, but you
definitely have the ear of the shot caller.”

“Listen, Tommy. Do people listen to me? Of
course they do. They have no choice, but to listen for their own
survival. Otherwise, most of them would be dead by now.”

“Shit. I don’t like where this conversation
is going, but do go on,” I said. “I respect the hell out of you,
old man, but if you aren’t top gun, then who is?”

“Marcos is arguably the most important
Carni. His power is a whole ‘nother level of our hierarchy.”

“Marcos? Seriously?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“You’re saying that I happened to walk into
the one bar – the one that is owned by the most important Carni? On
the first night I did a ‘reach out’ I hit that kind of pay dirt?
How did that happen?”

“The Triat drives some of us differently.
The Triat wanted you to be there. That is why you were there, and
that is why you met him. Don’t take that lightly.”

“We still haven’t got to the heart of the
matter,” I said, “What exactly is Marcos trying to do?”

“He’s given me an ultimatum.”

“What kind of ultimatum?”

“He wants me to convince you to get back
into fighting.”

“Well, that isn’t going to happen. It’s a
decision I alone made.” I wasn’t sure what side Dave was on. There
was no way I was offering up Maya’s name here. As far as he knew,
it was 100 percent my decision. I’m glad I never told him the
truth, that I had quit for Maya. “What did he say he would if you
couldn’t convince me?”

“He said he would kill me.”

“Kill you? What the fuck?” I was angry now,
not angry at Dave, but at the way Marcos was trying to use Dave to
manipulate me. “He can’t just kill you.”

“Yes, he can. And he doesn’t mess
around.”

“Why does he give a shit about if I fight or
not? And how is it your life-or-death duty to convince me?”

“Because he wants to bet on you. He wants to
be able to bet for you and against you. So he made me his pawn. And
if I fail, that’s it. I’m history.”

“Against me, huh?” I said. “So, our
friendship somewhere along the way turned into a courtship? A
courtship where you try to get me to fight?”

“There hasn’t been any courtship. Have I
ever brought it up?”

“Not yet. You’re doing a good job bringing
it up now out here on a pier at the fucking beach.”

“Kyro, he has wanted me to do this for the
last three months. I have completely avoided it. Not one time have
I brought it up to you! I didn’t want to turn our friendship into
making deals with you. You gotta know this, at some level, that I
am forthright with you. You’re my packmate.”

I looked at Dave and I knew he was telling
the truth. “So why now?” I asked.

“Because…” Dave stopped talking and tears
burned his eyes. It was hard for him to talk to me freely because a
part of him felt like he was betraying Marcos. But he was telling
me the truth.

“So why here? Why now?” I repeated, trying
to get him to cough it up.

“Tonight’s the ultimatum.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“Tonight’s the final night. He plans on
killing me tonight if I don’t deliver you to him. Tonight.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? He plans on
killing you? Tonight? And you are here and not speeding out of
California in your car?”

“He’d find me. There is no hiding from him.
And Marcos has a lot of human debt. He owes a lot of rich people
money. He needs a guaranteed horse in this race. He thinks you’ll
be it.”

I shook my head at the absurdity of what was
being asked of me. “I’d rather you figured out who these guys are
that Marcos owes money to and we work for them. Fuck Marcos!”

“I knew you would feel that way.”

“So, what are you asking me to do? Why am I
out here?”

“Marcos plans on killing me, possibly
whether I get you on board or not. I have this feeling that he
wants to eliminate me, possibly the last of the old guard, the old
original werewolves from 500 years ago, so that he can get the wise
men out of the way, so to speak, and rewrite werewolf history his
way, like some fucking...mafia don I can’t ask you to fight pro
again, but what I can ask you to do is help me. I need for you to
protect me.”

Poor Dave. To ask another man for protection
was a pretty humble thing to do. I respected it because I respected
him. “Of course, I will protect you, Dave.”

“Okay, that’s it, then. I’ll move in with
you tonight.”

“Move in?”

“Yeah, the only way you can protect me if we
are sleeping underneath the same roof.”

“Are you being serious?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? If I’m alone, he’ll kill
me.”

“Okay, look, he’s not going to kill you. Why
don’t you and I go down to his bar and try to work something out
with him?”

“What could we possibly work out?”

“Look, he’s already in trouble with these
human thugs. What if I offer to help him? Help protect him.”

“Protect him? I don’t think it’ll work. They
want money and he owes it to them. If you kill their thugs, they
will just send more of them.”

“Hmmm. Maybe there is a combination of a
couple of things we can do that will help both of us. Let’s get out
of here. I’m freezing my ass off on this pier. Next time, can you
pick a heated pool at a hotel or something?”

He nodded. Dave and I walked back to my
Mustang in the parking structure.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Dave
asked as I started up the car and unlocked his door, then motioned
for him to get in.

“If it was up to me, I wouldn’t do anything,
Dave. You are the one who is so freaked out that this guy is going
to kill you, that you had me meet you on a pier. Like some scene
out of The Sopranos.”

“I just don’t know if you know what you’re
getting yourself into by agreeing to protect me. When Marcos is in
debt to someone, he becomes a whole new person. He’s not going to
be that same fun-loving owner of a bar that you met a few months
ago. He has gone seriously under since that night. And when I say
under, I mean that he’s been dealing in dangerous liaisons to
further his own agenda of power and control.”

“Fuck him. I’ll take my chances. I’m not
afraid of anyone.”

“There is something else you need to
know.”

“What?” I asked.

“Remember, when I told you that some Carni
rise to the top of the werewolf food chain because of either money
or strength?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Marcos is both. He is probably the
fiercest Carni fighter out there.”

I laughed. “I doubt that. I’ve had a look at
him. Take away his wallet and he doesn’t look like much.”

“Trust me when I tell you that he is.”

“If he was both those things, he wouldn’t be
so chicken shit about owing some guy some money. Does he have
money? Yes, he does. Can he fight pretty well? Probably. He
definitely was built like a fire plug. But, you described a fear of
being pushed around by the guys he owes money to. If a guy is tough
enough, not even that will scare him. He doesn’t know fear.”

“Do you know fear?”

“Barely, I know adrenaline. I know what it
feels like to fight for my life. There’s nothing on this Earth
that’s as big of a rush than when you’re standing toe to toe with a
guy and you’re not sure if he has you. Or if you have him.”

Dave looked at me and shook his head. “Well,
at least I brought the right guy with me. Now the question will be,
will we walk out of there alive?”

* * *

In about 45 minutes, we arrived in front of
the ‘Bottoms Up!’ bar.

“Let’s go through the front so Marcos can
see us coming,” Dave said.

“Don’t know any other way,” I said.

This time, we both just walked past the
large bouncer at the front door. “Bro!” I said by way of greeting
and we bumped knuckles. If things came down to a fight, it would be
nice not to have Tiny coming up behind me with a baseball bat or
something.

“Marcos was asking about you, Dave,” Tiny
said as we walked by him.

“I bet he did,” Dave said. Dave gave me a
look as if to say ‘Here goes some drama.’

Inside the bar, it didn’t look much
different than it did a couple of months ago. It was another big
Sausage Fest. But this time, there weren’t any scantily clad woman
hanging around. It must be terribly financially rough around here,
being that there were no women around. Those kind of woman are
attracted to loose money. They usually are the beneficiaries of
such cash. When men have money to burn, one of the things they like
to satisfy is the urge between their legs. And all of the arm candy
girls seemed to have evaporated.

“He’s in the back. He’s expecting you,” a
different bartender said to Dave. The bartender tonight was a tall,
lanky, white guy with a goatee.

“Thanks, Ryan,” Dave said. I nodded politely
at Ryan. He looked like a decent guy.

Dave led me to a room in the back. He
knocked and a bigger gentlemen answered the door. He peeked his
hairy head out and looked at us and said, “Get in here.”

We stepped in and now I was on ‘high alert.’
‘High alert’ is what I called it when I knew something could go
down at any moment.

Marcos was playing poker with a group of men
that made the Godfather crew look tame. Marcos saw me and smiled.
“Nice to see you, Tommy. You play poker?”

“A little bit,” I said. “Apparently, I need
to work on my etiquette.”

“Don’t we all? Why don’t you have a seat and
get in on a hand?” Marcos said.

“Actually, if I could speak to you for a
minute, I can get out of here and let you fellas finish your game.
I won’t take ten minutes of your time.”

“Well, which is it? One minute or ten?”
Marcos said.

I looked at Marcos and grinned with a smile
that I knew did not reach my eyes. It was my deadly smile, the one
I sometimes used just before I snapped and hit someone. This was
where he would start breaking me down, trying to make me fight for
him, and he would use Dave as a bargaining chip. “It will be closer
to ten minutes,” I said in my deadly soft voice.

“Why don’t you have a seat in my office?
I’ll be there when this hand is over.”

“Sounds good.” There was a little room to
the side of the card table that appeared to be his office. Dave and
I walked into his office, and Dave closed the door behind us.

Dave looked at me. “I know Marcos. This
isn’t good. He never cares that much about a poker hand. He’s
making us sweat.”

“He’s making you sweat. I’m perfectly
fine.”

“Why wouldn’t you be? Your life isn’t being
threatened.”

“Not yet,” I said. “I plan on that happening
very shortly. If Marcos is the kind of guy I think he is, he won’t
lead with that. Although, by the end of our conversation, I’m sure
that the threat of your death will be on the table. He isn’t going
to kill me. I’m his dog in the fight. And you’re with me, so trust
me. We’ll get this all straightened out with Marcos.”

Dave raised his eyebrows and sighed,
worried. I could smell his fear and it hurt me that he was that
scared of Marcos, that fucker.

In about ten minutes of sitting in silence,
the door opened and Marcos came in with two of his goons. Classic
intimidation. Where did he learn his business methods? From a James
Cagney movie? He had two guys about 6 feet 5 each, and packing the
power of 250 pounds on either side of him. Both had bald heads and
thick beards. Like I said, goons.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s get started.”

“Hold on, Tommy. I mean Kyro… I’ll say when
we start.”

“You can say whatever you like, but as far
as I’m concerned, we’re going to start,” I said, not allowing him
to intimidate me.

Marcos stared at me with bewilderment. I
think it had been a long time since someone had spoken to him like
that; especially in his own bar, in his very own office. I didn’t
take shit from anyone and I wasn’t about to start now.

Marcos sat behind his desk in his big office
chair and leaned back, staring at me. “I can’t determine if you’re
smart or stupid,” Marcos said to me.

“Try both. At least that’s what my
grandmother says,” I said, not flinching.

“I bet she does,” Marcos said. “I take it
that the reason why you’re here is that you want to discuss our
arrangement.”

“What arrangement is that? Never been clued
in on any arrangement.”

“I’m sure Dave has talked to you about what
I like to do,” Marcos said, glaring at Dave. Dave cowered when
Marcos looked in his direction. I gave Dave a look as if to say,
‘Man up.’ I knew things were going down shortly, very shortly.