H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (121 page)

“Dave let me in on a little bit, but I can’t
wait to hear it from you,” I said. “The specifics. Let’s get the
ball rolling. What is your offer?”

“I want to sponsor you to fight. Pay for
training and make sure you’re set up nicely.”

“That’s very generous of you. What’s in it
for you?” I asked.

“You win when I tell you to win and…”

“Lose when you tell me to lose,” I said
finishing his sentence. “There’s a problem with that plan. I don’t
lose.”

“That’s why, when it happens, it will be
such a huge payday for everyone involved. Even yourself.”

I looked at Marcos and his two bald thugs to
either side of him and thought to myself, Is this guy for real?

“Look Marcos, there are a lot of problems
with your plan, the main problem being that I’m retired from
MMA.”

“But I thought you said you don’t lose! How
can you not lose if you don’t fight?” Marcos said, baiting me.

“For the time being, I’m retired.” I didn’t
want to tell him why I was retired, because this sick fuck might go
after Maya. “Marcos,” I said. “I don’t plan on fighting in the near
future, but when I do. I’ll be sure to let you know. Because it’s a
sure bet to always bet on me ... Winning, that is.”

“Why did you even come here?” Marcos asked.
“You knew what I wanted. So why get up in my face to just tell me
no?”

“I wanted to make sure that my man here is
okay. I’m not saying I won’t ever fight again, but I’m not going to
do it anytime soon. I want you to lower the heat on Dave. He’s a
good guy. Loyal.”

“There’s no heat on Dave,” Marcos said
unconvincingly.

“From what I hear, his underwear is on fire
and you are the one with the gasoline can.”

“If you think you’re going to fight again,
then everything is going to be fine,” Marcos said. “If not…” He
gave me a genuine smile and delivered an even brighter one to
Dave.

I stared at Marcos, trying to get a read on
him. I wasn’t sure how much he was telling the truth, but what did
I know?

I stood up and shook his hand. “I’ll let you
know when I’m ready to fight. I’ve got to clear my schedule and
take care of some things first.”

Marcos smiled and nodded his head. Dave and
I exited the office and out the room and eventually, left the bar
completely.

“Do you trust him?” I asked Dave.

“Not at all,” Dave said.

“Tommy?” Dave asked.

“What?”

“Can I...”

“Yes, you can come home with me. I don’t
want Maya to be worried, so I’m not going to tell her about
this.”

“Just make sure you don’t leave me alone,
and I’ll be fine. Also, we need to stop by the pier and pick up my
car. You can follow me.”

I shook my head and couldn’t believe that I
was taking in another stray werewolf.

* * *

To say that Maya wasn’t too happy with my
good Samaritan move with Dave was an understatement. But to her
credit, she hadn’t complained much. Dave was real respectful, but
he did follow me around like a puppy dog like he said he would. He
was afraid to be out of my sight. He even waited outside the
bathroom door for me. And he slept on a blanket on the floor
outside my bedroom. I put up with it because he was possibly the
last original werewolf remaining from 500 years ago. He was a
cultural treasure, a jewel. There was no way I would let anything
happen to him.

But it made it hard on dates with Maya
because we always brought him along as the third wheel. It put a
crimp in my love life with Maya, even to the point of having really
quiet sex, but I reminded myself that he was probably the last
standing werewolf from the Renaissance era – it pretty much blew me
away what Dave must have experienced. I hoped this bodyguard duty
wouldn’t last much longer but I wanted to know more of what he
knew. Dave had to be a fount of info on werewolf society. Little by
little, I was drawing things out from Dave as we grew to trust each
other. I was hoping that Marcos would eventually look to other
options on how he needed to get out of the gambling hole he had dug
for himself.

It was the day before the first full moon.
Dave and I were packing up my Mustang for the monthly road trip up
North. I had already dropped off Maya earlier in the day at her
parents’ house. It would take about six hours to drive north at
about 8:30 p.m.

So, we decided we would head out around
noon. Dave and I had a rare separation, in which he needed to go
home and grab some things for the weekend. He wanted me to come
with him, but I thought it would be a good idea for him to start
doing some things alone and maybe he could wean off his need for me
to be around him 24/7. It seemed fairly safe to let him just go do
some errands on his own.

At about 11:00 a.m., Dave drove his car to
his house, which was just up the street a ways. He needed to grab
his clothes and wanted to get his video game system. He told me he
had been jonesing for his Xbox ever since he moved in. I had a PS3
and don’t get me started on the two game systems. Xbox owners
seemed to think they have the perfect machine. Don’t get me wrong,
it’s a great system. I just think PlayStation 3 has a higher
caliber of game that’s only exclusive to their product.

So Dave took off, and I waited for him to
get back. Soon noon rolled around and no sign of Dave. Then one
o’clock rolled around and now I was worried. A prickle of fear ran
down my spine and the hairs raised on the back of my neck. I was
about to call him when I got a text from him. It read, ‘Hey Tommy,
I got caught up going through some mail. I’m sorry. Why don’t we
just take separate cars this time? I need to pay a couple of bills.
I’ll see you up at the ranch later this evening.’

Considering Dave mentioned paying bills
before he left, I thought nothing about the text. Dave was a quirky
guy and his text didn’t surprise me.

So I got in my car and headed up the 5
north. I called Maya and we took most of the way up. We had the
ability to talk for hours all the time. I think that is when you
know you have found the right person. In the movie, Pulp Fiction,
there is a line where Uma Thurman says to John Travolta, ‘You know
you found the right person when you can just shut the fuck up and
have comfortable silences.’ I think the opposite. I think you have
found the right person when you never want to shut the fuck up. You
always want to share and learn about the person you’re with.

I stopped once for gas and I arrived at the
ranch around 7:00 p.m. I saw the gang and they all asked me about
Dave. I assured them he was coming, but we only had about 90
minutes until the full moon. Eventually, that time ran out and
there was still no sign of Dave. I decided to text him. “Where the
hell are you? Text me back. Now!”

I got no response. We were running out of
time and me and my other four buddies needed to get outside before
the full moon hit.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Evan asked. Evan
was one of the twins who seemed to be very close to Dave.

“I hope so,” I said, my dread growing.
“Let’s cross our fingers, and hope for the best.” I didn’t tell
them about Marcos. I didn’t want to worry everyone just moments
before we were all about to turn. The others seemed concerned,
though.

Steve said, “Dave has shown up at the ranch
every month for three years straight. He never misses a full
moon.”

In my gut, I knew this wasn’t good. I had a
sick feeling something really bad had happened to Dave.

But the moon was out and I had turned. I had
no memory. I woke up in the morning underneath a tree, surrounded
by my four friends.

We all relieved ourselves in the woods, and
met back at the house.

“This wasn’t like Dave,” Eli said.

“Should we go look for him?” Albert
asked.

“What do you guys think?” I asked. “You guys
have known him for an awfully long time.”

“I haven’t a clue,” Steve said.

I decided to come clean myself. I told the
guys exactly what happened with Marcos and everyone was certain
that Marcos had something to do with Dave not showing up for the
full moon. The Six Pack was minus a wolf and we were all upset
about it.

I decided that I had enough time to get
back. If I had to, I would go to my cage in Running Springs at my
grandmother’s cabin. I told the guys I was going to take off and
look for him. They all insisted on coming with me. I told them that
my cage wasn’t big enough for all of us. But we agreed that the
most important thing was to find Dave and make sure he was okay.
So, five of the ‘Six Pack’ went to go find one of their own.

* * *

I had a sinking feeling that something
horrific might have happened to Dave. My hunches were usually
50/50, so this one could go either way, too. I felt a sense of
urgency that began to pump my adrenaline through my body, getting
me ready for whatever I might find out.

I knew Marcos and the crew were at the
junkyard. He was certainly resting nicely on the outskirts of town
in the industrial district in his luxury kennel.

Although, I had the pack with me, and time
was of the essence, I felt I needed to give Maya the heads up. Oh,
who was I kidding? I wanted to see if Maya was safe. Dave was
missing and my heart immediately got a stab of fear for her, too. I
needed to see her and reassure myself that she was okay, too. I
knew she wouldn’t like it, but I had no choice. I had to find out
what happened to my friend. And I had to see if my girlfriend was
okay, too.

We took two cars down to southern
California. I drove my black Mustang and Albert drove his red
low-rider truck. I stopped in at Maya’s parents’ house, and I had
the guys wait in the cars.

I knocked on the door and Margaret, Maya’s
mom, answered the door. “Tommy, oh my, you’re back early.”

“Just for a little while. I need to get back
on duty, but can I speak to Maya for a few?”

“Sure, come in. She’s in her bedroom.”

Even though Maya lived with me, she still
had a room at her parents’ house. I think that was a common
occurrence with girls Maya’s age who had moved out with their
boyfriends without a ring on their fingers to keep a backup plan:
their old rooms.

I stepped into the house and no one was in
the kitchen or living room. I headed down the hall and knocked
lightly on Maya’s door.

“Come in,” she said from inside.

That was pretty trusting. I guess she had
nothing to be afraid of in her own house, with her dad there. I
slowly peeked my head and said, “Hey there, beautiful!”

“Tommy!” Maya jumped up from her bed, ran
over to me and gave me a hug. She acted like she hadn’t seen me in
years. I guess that’s why I love her so much.

“What are you doing here?”

“We have a little problem.”

“We do? As in you and I?” Maya asked.

“No, I have a problem, as in, Dave and
I.”

“What happened to Dave?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. He went to
his apartment to grab some items and he texted me that he was
running behind and would just drive up himself.”

“He never showed up?”

“Nope.”

“Did you think anything was weird when he
texted you that he’d drive himself up?”

“I did, Maya. But it made more sense that
there wasn’t a problem.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“No, he isn’t answering his phone or text
messages.”

“What do you think happened?”

I was quiet because I had kept the reason
that Dave had been staying with us the last couple of weeks a
secret. “Dave had been hanging around me for the last couple of
weeks for a specific reason.”

“Why?”

“He needed me to protect him, if
needed.”

“Protect him, from what?”

“From that guy I told you about a few months
ago. Marcos Fausto. The owner of that bar I visited. He wanted Dave
to talk me into fighting again.”

“What? Why would the owner of that werewolf
bar care if you fought professionally or not?” Maya asked. “What
business is it of his what you do?”

“It was exactly what you were afraid of. He
wanted to control my win-loss record and bet on me
accordingly.”

“He wanted you to throw fights?”

I nodded. “Dave refused to give me up to the
scheme. When Marcos found out that I had no intentions to fight
again, he threatened Dave.”

“Threatened him? How?”

“He threatened to kill him if I wouldn’t
agree to fight.”

“Oh great! So you brought Dave here to
babysit him from Marcos? You had me sleep underneath the same roof
as him?”

“It made sense, Maya. I knew if I had you
both close to me that I could protect both of you. I lost Patrick
and Sasha recently, and I didn’t want to lose another good
friend.”

“I can’t believe you did this, Tommy. And
further, you kept it a secret from me what the hell was going on
behind the scenes for the new stray werewolf you dragged home.
Again. Is it always going to be like this? That the werewolf clan
comes first, before me?”

“It’s a pack. Not a clan.”

“Whatever!” she said. “This is not okay with
me, Tommy. You don’t get it. I want an ‘us’ and you want to drag
home every werewolf home is in trouble and protect them. First
Sasha, now Dave. We are not an animal shelter!”

I winced and she noticed but said, “When is
this going to end, Tommy? When?!”

“Look, Maya, you need to understand. I don’t
see any danger if I’m in the vicinity of a given problem. I am
always certain I can protect myself and anyone else I choose to
protect. Including you.”

“It must be nice to have that kind of
confidence. I don’t have that kind of bravado.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew you
would be safe, and that was all there was to it.” I paused. “You
should be safe here as long as Josiah’s here. Where is he now?”