H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (16 page)

“Who knows? Maybe the maid. I’m not sure how
familiar the staff is at this bed and breakfast.”

I did my business. Luckily, she couldn’t
hear it above the drone of the rushing water. When done, I started
walking out the door. “Where are you going?”

“Outside. To give you some privacy.”

“Aren’t you dirty? Do you need a
shower?”

“Yeah, I’ll take one when you’re done.”

“There’s plenty of room in here.”

I paused. “Seriously?”

“If you’re shy, I understand.”

“I’m not that shy.”

“Well, you better hurry up. I would hate to
use up all the hot water.”

Oh, she was good. I looked at her silhouette
one more time. That’s all I needed to see. My boxers and T-shirt
were off in seconds. I walked over to the sliding glass shower
door. I took a deep breath, as if I was about to enter a swimming
pool. I pulled open the glass door. I looked in, and Yari faced me.
Her body was perfect. The wispy shower steam did little to hide her
curves. I tried not to stare, but the truth is, I haven’t seen that
many women naked before—and the ones I had seen naked were nowhere
near Yari’s jaw-dropping perfection.

Oh, my God.

Her skin was milky white. Her body as curvy
and hard and smooth as anything I had ever seen. Her wet hair hung
over her shoulder, and she put a long-fingered hand on one hip.

“You getting an eyeful, mister?”

So much for not staring.

“Uh, sorry,” I said. At least, that’s what I
think I said. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I had any control of my
mouth or my voice at that moment. My hormones were somewhere in
orbit at the moment.

“Come over here, silly. I’m not lying about
the hot water getting used up. This is a private bed and breakfast,
not a Sheraton.”

I stepped into the hot shower, and she
backed up underneath the shower head. The water flowed over her,
accentuating her curves. I went straight to her like a moth to the
flame, and into the epicenter of the water flow.

At first, the hot water shocked me and then
it felt incredible. Yari turned my body around and began lathering
my back and shoulders with a bar of soap. As she did so, she gently
massaged my skin and muscles. Oh, dear Lord. She next guided my
head so that the water sprayed directly onto my scalp, and then
poured some shampoo into my hair. Now she was massaging my scalp,
and I think I died and went to heaven. I tried to turn around, but
she stopped me.

“Hold on,” she said. “I have to wash out the
shampoo.” She rinsed my hair thoroughly. I relished the feeling of
her gentle fingers on my scalp. I couldn’t take all this sensuality
much longer. My passion was burning, and I was going to
explode.

I turned around and switched spots with her
so that now she was underneath the flow of water. I ran my fingers
through her thick, black hair and pulled her toward me. She came
willingly. I kissed her passionately, and soon we were pressed up
against the side wall, kissing hungrily. I had never kissed any
woman in my life with this much intention. I wanted her to know how
much I appreciated her and wanted her. Needed her. I pulled back
and looked at her intensely. Then I leaned in and kissed her again
and again. It was the first time I had ever felt in complete
control in her presence. Everything up to now, she had dictated. I
sensed that releasing control was somehow turning her on—more so
than I had ever seen before in my life.

Stumbling and slipping, I led her out of the
shower and into the bedroom. I threw her on the bed softly and
proceeded to kiss every square inch of her body. I was in the midst
of kissing her belly button when she reached around me and grabbed
my buttocks and pressed me up against her. Then she wrapped her
arms around me and just held me close.

I look down at her, gasping. “Are you
okay?”

“I’m okay, Josiah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Josiah, I...”

“You what?”

“Josiah, I...”

“You what?” I was anticipating her saying
that she loved me, which would have floored me. To be honest, I
wanted her to say it. So, I pressed again. “What? Please tell
me.”

“Josiah, I... have to kill you.”

“What?!” I jumped off of her.

“I know I have to do it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Josiah, the Triat led me to you. I never
understood why. I thought it was because it would have something to
do with Tommy. But I think the Triat led me to you because you were
going to ultimately mess up the prophecy.”

“The prophecy? What the fuck are you talking
about?”

“The Children of the Night’s prophecy.”

I got up and put my jeans back on. Having
someone tell you they were going to kill you sort of dampened the
mood. “Sure, of course. That makes a tremendous amount of sense.
Look, I was about to make love to you, and now I’m seriously
thinking I have to stick an entirely different kind of stake in
you. Start talking fast, or tonight’s about to get real ugly.”

I glanced around. I didn’t have a stake.
Would a toothbrush do?

God, listen to me. I’m going nuts.

“Atticai, Hector, Wyatt, and I were all
given the same prophetic dream. The four of us didn’t meet by
chance. The Triat brought us together through dreams.”

“This just gets better and better. What was
the dream?”

“The four of us were given the same vision
in our dreams. This was fifteen years ago. We all had the same
dream to meet on April 18, 1995, at midnight. We were to meet and
form a clan called Children of the Night.”

“So you’ve known Atticai for almost
seventeen years now?”

“Not quite. In the mid-1800s, Atticai and I
were in a giant clan on the east coast. So, I met him first during
the Civil War.”

“The Civil War?”

“Yes, Josiah.”

“You have got to be kidding.”

“Josiah, I was born October 18th, 1673.”

“You need to give me a moment here. You are
over three hundred years old?”

“I look pretty good, huh?”

“I’ll say. Okay, so you and Atticai were in
some giant Mani vampire clan during the Civil War? Just saying that
out loud makes me think I’m crazy.”

“You’re not crazy, Josiah.”

“Says the girl who calls herself a vampire.
Go on.”

“Not a vampire. A Mani.”

“Somehow that sounds even crazier. Anyway,
go on.”

“Atticai was the head of our clan. There was
a Mani named Krull who didn’t like the way Atticai ran things.
Believe it or not, Atticai is not about death and destruction. He
defends and protects the will of the Triat, but ultimately, he is a
mediator.”

“Sure, he seemed real peaceful when he
sicced half the rattlesnakes in California on my ass.”

“I can see how you would think that, but the
will of the Triat is what makes him a killer. Mani, such as Krull,
are the real killers. Such Mani are the reason why we often get
referred to as vampires—and why so many Tandra—humans—have died
over the years.” She paused and sat back on the bed.

God, I still wanted her. Did she just say
she was going to have to kill me? Even that statement didn’t kill
my desire for Yari.

She went on, “Krull and others like him want
the Tandra to discover our world because then they have a license
to kill. Atticai knew that’s what Krull and those who followed him
were doing. Atticai put a stop to this, until Krull’s legions rose
up over Atticai’s clan, and Atticai—and many others—were forced to
flee.”

She paused and studied me a moment longer.
Her eyes were so damn hard to read. “Josiah, there is a whole world
of Mani out there that want to destroy all Tandra.”

“Where do werewolves—the Carni—come into
it?” I discreetly moved over to my bag, where I had packed a
pocketknife. I wasn’t going down without a fight. Even if I had to
fight a female vampire.

Yari said, “The Carni are their own species
and are equally protected by the Triat, although they have their
own set of rules. The Carni have not as many rules to live by and
are in constant opposition of the Triat.”

“Why doesn’t the Triat just have them killed
off?”

“It doesn’t work that way. The Triat works
through us and the only way the Carni will be destroyed is by the
Mani.”

“Okay, that’s pretty heavy.”

“And that’s where the Children of the Night
come in. For hundreds of years, there has been a prophecy. A Mani
that will be so powerful, so pure, that he will restore order to
the orderless. It is said that he will bring beauty back to us all
so that we can live in peace.”

I nodded, not really understanding. Not
wanting to, either. Because if I understood, then I would have to
accept things.

Yari continued, “After Atticai, Hector, and
Wyatt, and I all received our visions, we were told to form a
four-person clan, or a cell. Once done, the next step would be
revealed to us in further dreams.”

“And was it?”

“Yes.”

I nodded, guessing this part. “You dreamed
of Atticai being the Chosen One.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps. There is no face to
the Chosen One. At least, not yet.” Her eyes narrowed as she
studied me. “Why do you think it’s Atticai?”

“It makes sense. He fights for humans—well,
for the most part—and he’s a Mani.”

Yari continued studying me, then finally
said, “Unfortunately, there’s nothing pure and beautiful about
Atticai.”

“So you don’t think it’s him?”

“It does not matter what I think, Josiah. I
am an extremely small fish in a much bigger pond. Anyway, most
people think it’s going to be Atticai. Already he is prepping to
harvest a virgin on her twentieth birthday. When he does so, he
will, according to legend, transform into the white eagle.”

“White eagle?”

“As you know by now, all male Mani
transition into ravens and the Mani women into hawks. The Chosen
One, however, will transition into a white eagle.”

“Err, what exactly do you mean by
harvest?”

“A Mani will drain all the life-blood of a
Tandra—or Carni, for that matter.”

“Yeah, Atticai’s a real saint,” I said
sarcastically, shaking my head. “So who’s this virgin that
Atticai’s supposedly going to harvest?”

Yari was quiet.

I pressed. “There’s not too many virginal
twenty-year-olds out there. Is he going to pluck a nun from a
nunnery?”

“No. Our dreams were acutely specific on who
the virgin is supposed to be.”

Confused, I looked at Yari and then it hit
me. Everything now made perfect, twisted sense.

The virgin was Lena.

Chapter Twenty-five

“You’re talking about Lena, aren’t you?” I
said. “Shit! Wasn’t it going to be her birthday any day now?”

“We all had the same dream and the same
vision, Josiah. In each of them, Lena fits the image of the
twenty-year-old virgin exactly. And as her twentieth birthday has
come closer, the dreams have been out of control for us. Now we
dream about what is to happen nearly every night. And just
recently, there has been something else added to the dream. A new
twist, so to speak.”

“And what is that?” I asked.

“There is this strong presence of evil. In
the dream, Atticai is freeing us all by receiving the necessary
blood. But there is an evil presence interfering that we can’t
quite make out. We’re not sure if it is a fallen Mani or Carni. But
there is something there, and it is exceedingly evil, and we are
all on guard because of it.”

“Does Lena know any of this?”

“She knows only that, on that special night,
she and Atticai will be joined together throughout all
eternity.”

“But in reality, she’s not. In reality,
Atticai is going to kill her.”

“Atticai is going to fulfill the prophecy,
Josiah. He will then save the Mani. He will fly in as a white
eagle. It has been prophesied for thousands of years. Do you
understand how lucky each of us is to be asked to be a part of
it?”

“About as lucky as a heart attack. And what
if the virgin sacrifice doesn’t go according to plan? What
then?”

“It has to come to plan, Josiah. Everything
needs to come to pass. Every detail all the way down to whatever
evil that needs to be taken care of.”

“Are you still planning on killing me?”

Yari stood up and came over to me. I slipped
my hand in my bag and grabbed the knife. Woman or not, she was a
Mani, and I knew these things were tough as hell.

She said, “If I was, I wouldn’t have told
you everything.”

“Maybe you told me everything, so it would
make it easier to kill me.”

Yari’s eyes burned through me. I knew then
she was in absolute love with me. Her love for me, I knew, was the
only thing keeping her from attacking me, from fulfilling her
obligations to the Triat. Still, I kept the knife in my palm.

“There’s nothing in this world that could
make me harm you, Josiah.” She touched my cheek, and I sensed
genuine emotion from her.

I knew I needed to save Lena. But I needed
more information. Everything I knew about how to defeat a vampire
was from novels and movies. And, from what I was gathering, they
had gotten things wrong. Dead wrong.

There was no doubt I cared for Lena. I
wanted to save her from this crazy shit. I could give a damn if the
Mani and Carni lived in peace or not. It was not my fight. But what
could I do? The only thing I knew to do was to make sure that there
was no way that Atticai became the Chosen One. Because if he did,
Lena would have to die to make that happen. What was I thinking?
These people were crazy, all of them. There was no way I was going
to let Lena become a victim of their agenda, real or not.

I slipped the knife in my back pocket,
leaned in, and put my hands around Yari’s waist. I pulled her in
close and looked her in the eye. “But what if I wanted to harm you
though?”