H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (7 page)

I laughed, which took my last bit of energy.
“Thanks and good night.”

As I stumbled down the hallway on my way to
my bedroom, Tommy called out after me: “It’s morning, jerk off, and
you never even asked me about my date!”

“You can tell me all about it when I wake
up.”

Once in my bedroom, I plugged my headphones
into my stereo and laid on my bed. I had a Queen CD in the deck.
Freddy Mercury seemed particularly fitting, considering the night I
had.

I closed my eyes, and I was out.

Chapter Eight

I didn’t sleep as soundly as I wanted
to.

I tossed and turned throughout my slumber.
Mostly, I kept dreaming about the surreal night I had. I dreamed
about Atticai, Yari, and Lena. I dreamed of kicking college punks’
asses. I dreamed of dark clearings and birds and long kisses. Some
of the dreams were extremely erotic. And other dreams were not so
much. Additionally, my body was painfully sore from the bat. It
was, in short, one of the worst sleeps I’ve ever had. I eventually
couldn’t take it anymore and just got up. I looked at my cell
phone. It was 2:00 p.m.

I got up, and my back was still killing me.
Not that I expected the pain to go away magically, but, damn, it
seemed even worse. I walked over to the bathroom and took the
longest shower of my life. Even the spray of water hurt my back.
Without looking at it in the mirror, I knew how big the bruise was
and what color it was today. While the hot water blasted me, I took
the bandage from my wrist and washed the wound, too. As I washed
it, I took a close look at it. It was truly one of the most bizarre
injuries I’d ever had. There were two perfect teeth marks on my
wrist. Wyatt feasted on my arm something fierce. What the hell
would possess a guy to do that?

I got out of the shower and was drying off
when I heard a kee-eeeee-arr squawk at the window. It was Daphne,
my little red hawk friend. She was peeking through the window.

“Hey, girl. You like what you see?” I did a
little dance for her.

Daphne gave a shrill chwirk. I laughed.
Apparently she liked my jig.

I went into my bedroom and looked at my cell
phone. I had a missed a call. I didn’t recognize the number. It was
local, so I called it back.

“Hello,” A girl’s voice said. A cute girl’s,
too, if I was any judge of voices.

“I got a call from this number—”

“Josiah? It’s Lena.”

“Oh, hello. What’s going on?”

“I got your number from Johnny Wade.” Johnny
Wade was an old partying buddy of mine that apparently Lena knew,
as well. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon and all that. Johnny Wade knew
everyone who knew someone that he knew. He was the real-life Kevin
Bacon connection in our city.

“No problem, Lena. What’s going on?”

“I need to talk to somebody and...I don’t
know... after last night, I thought I could talk to you.”

“I was about to head down to the gym, but I
guess I can talk.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, no problem. I had a pretty vigorous
workout last night.”

“The fight or the time you spent with Yari
in the woods?”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“Can we talk in person?”

“Sure, do you want me to pick you up?”

“That would be great. I’ll text you my
address.”

“Cool, I’ll be there in a half hour.”

I got off the phone and sat on my bed in my
towel. I looked at myself in the mirror. Tommy was right I had a
hickey the size of New Jersey on my neck. It was the most
impressive hickey ever. World class. Too bad it was from a guy. If
anyone of my friends, outside of Vampireville, ever found out, I
would never hear the end of it.

I got dressed and headed over to pick up
Lena, not bothering to cover up my world-class neck badge of
courage. I drove to the ghetto part of San Bernardino. And I do
mean ghetto. Her address led me to a rundown trailer park where a
horror movie could have been made, if someone wrote a script about
a haunted trailer park. It was broken-glass, trash-strewn
borderline epic. Just like everything connected with Lena was
epic.

I pulled the truck into the community, and
Lena was right at the front, waiting for me. She was wearing a
black tank top with short black skirt. She playfully stuck out her
thumb, pretending to be hitchhiking. I grinned and stopped my
truck. She jumped into the passenger side.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey, there. Nice neighborhood,” I
quipped.

“Don’t harsh my hood,” she bantered back.
“We’re getting a mini-golf course as soon as the meth factory pays
off big on the next batch.”

“Mad props, then,” I said sarcastically. I
flipped a sassy U-turn and pulled onto the main highway. I glanced
over at Lena. Her eyes stared straight ahead.

“So, what’s up, pretty girl?” I asked.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“I’m actually starving.” And she smiled for
a flash at the “pretty girl” compliment, as it registered with
her.

She offered, “We can go to this mom-and-pop
burger joint on the corner. We can talk inside.”

“You sure? We’re not going to get shot or
anything?”

“It’s not that terrible out here. People out
here are meth-heads, not gangbangers.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when a meth-head
slits my throat for the twenty dollars in my wallet.”

“Trust me, it’ll be okay. I’ll protect
you.”

“You’ll protect me?” I laughed.

“What’s so funny about that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re a
hundred pounds, dripping wet.”

“I can kick some serious butt if I have
to.”

I glanced at Lena’s petite body. “I
bet.”

“Pull over in there.” Lena pointed to a
little diner on the corner. It had a sign out front that read
“Burgers and Tacos.”

“Classy,” I said, pulling my truck into the
driveway.

“Don’t be so mean. It’s affordable. It’s
good. It’s a clean place. Nobody will bother us here.”

“So, what style of food do they serve here?”
I asked. “I just hate when the name of a place gives you little
idea what to expect. I mean, what if I want the prime rib but they
are out of it and they try and bait-and-switch me to the petite
filet mignon and offer A-1 Sauce with it? That would be a meat
tragedy.”

Her mouth twitched in amusement. “I think
they serve a little of everything. You might want to stay away from
their roast lamb and mint jelly, though. It might really be mutton,
you just never know.”

I laughed at our light banter and glanced at
Lena. Our eyes met, and I didn’t say anything.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “Or, well, I just think
you should smile more often.”

“If you were as funny as you think you are,
then maybe I would.”

“That so, huh? I didn’t realize Goth girls
liked to laugh.”

“Goth girl? Is that how you see me? You
think I’m some kind of ‘emo’ weirdo who cuts herself, starves
herself and longs for death?”

“In a ‘Suicide Girls’ sort of way, you do
wear a lot of black and your friends are pretty out there.”

“Black is an amazing color. Everyone could
use a little more black in their wardrobe,” Lena said, looking at
my colorful Ed Hardy T-shirt. “You might also want to let your legs
breathe, ‘cause those jeans are snug.”

“The chicks dig the snug. All the way up the
legs and to where they meet.”

“I’m pretty sure Yari digs your snug, too,”
she said, with more than a little bite.

“Wow, where did that come from, Lena? I
think you might be jealous.”

“Okay, now you’re getting funny.” Lena did a
whopping fake ha-ha-ha laugh.

“I’m not so sure...” I said, letting my
voice trail off.

“Why? Do you want me to be jealous?”

I once again stared at Lena. Her eyes were
asking me ‘Well?’ I thought about it for a second and decided to
leave the topic alone. After all, the last time I had seen her, she
had been pretty cozy with Atticai. Instead, I asked, “Are you
hungry?”

“Starving.”

We walked inside and gave our order to the
old man who ran the joint. He gave us a number, and we sat down at
a deep and comfy booth next to a window that overlooked the street.
We were both quiet. Lena stared morosely out the window.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked, genuinely
concerned.

After a moment, she turned and looked at me.
“You know, one thing was lost in the scuffle last night.”

“It was less of a scuffle and more of a
battlefield. But what was that lost item?” I asked.

“That those boys at the party tried to take
advantage of me.”

“It didn’t get lost on me. I have an aching
back to prove it.”

“I know. I’m sorry. How’s your back?”

“It hurts like hell, but I’m all right.
Nothing a bat to the chest wouldn’t set right,” I joked.

She nodded and reached out and patted my
forearm. She retracted her hand quickly.

“Thank you, again, but I just feel so
stupid.”

“Don’t feel stupid. That’s the last thing
you should feel. Those guys were Grade A douchebags. They got what
they deserved.”

“Did they?” Lena seemed upset.

“I’d say so. They got an ass kicking by me
and then your friends beat the crap out of them, too, not to
mention taking bites out of them in the process.”

“I’m just pissed that I let it happen.”

“Well, don’t be. We all make mistakes. Look
at me, I made the biggest mistake of all. I decided to go jogging
last night.”

“Very funny.”

“Hey, I almost stayed home. To slept the
sleep of the just. I almost ended up sleeping the sleep of angels.
A dirt nap, shall we say?”

Lena stared straight ahead. She had tears in
her eyes. I finally got up and sat next to her.

“Sometimes, I need to feel normal,” she
said. “Sometimes, I just want to be like everyone else.”

She wiped her tears with the back of her
hand and so I got up again and got her a napkin. I handed it to
her. She took it without comment and wiped her eyes.

“Look at me, I’m crying like a typical
chick.”

“I have news for you, sweetie: you are a
chick. And you’re human. You had an extremely traumatic thing
happen to you last night. Don’t be so hard on yourself for feeling
some aftermath.”

“Josiah, there is so much you don’t
know.”

“Like what? Tell me.”

“Stuff.” Lena looked out the window again,
this time up into the bright afternoon sky. I had at first thought
she was gazing absently into the sky, until I saw her eyes tracking
something. I turned and looked, too. There was nothing up there but
some birds. Crows, I think.

“What are you looking at?” I asked, not sure
why I suddenly cared if she was staring at the sky.

“Nothing.” She turned away and faced me
again.

I could tell something was weighing heavy on
her mind. So I decided to press, “Are you talking about Atticai and
his buddies? Have they done some pretty bad things?”

Lena’s eyes focused on the napkin in her
hand as she crumpled and uncrumpled it. I could tell she wanted to
tell me something—but was afraid to. “Lena, you can tell me
anything.”

“That’s the problem Josiah. I can’t. For
your own good. I can’t.”

“For my own good? What will happen to
me?”

“Josiah, let’s just change the subject.”

“Or what? Your wannabe vampire friends will
try to eat me again?”

Lena took a pen out from her purse. She
began writing on her wrinkled paper napkin. When she was done, she
handed it to me.

It read: They are not wannabes, Josiah. They
are real.

“Real what? Vampires?” I said out loud.
“Just because someone decides to dress up like it’s Halloween every
day doesn’t make them something that doesn’t exist.”

“Please stop talking about it, Josiah. You
have no idea what you are doing or saying.”

“Are you kidding me? Vampires do not exist.
For one thing, they were not sparkly in the least.”

“Josiah, please. Don’t even joke about that.
There’s so much you don’t know. Please trust me. Don’t talk about
it out loud. At all.”

“Why not?”

“Just don’t!”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what Mani want. They want
you to know.”

I was confused. “Who the hell are Mani?”

Lena had the kind of look on her face that
suggested she had just accidentally revealed the secret location of
the Holy Grail, and that despite what Dan Brown says, it’s most
certainly not under the Louvre in Paris. Her combination of horror
and surprise was almost comical.

“You’re afraid of these Mani people. You
better tell me what you are up against, so I can protect you. Help
you.”

“Josiah, please. I promise you that someday
I will tell you, but right now it’s not safe to talk about it.”

“Talk about what? I’m still lost.”

But Lena was as serious as a heart attack. I
couldn’t believe that she thought her friends were really vampires.
She was either delusional or on something. She shook her head, and
like a little kid, mimed zipping a zipper across her lips, locking
it at the corner with a twist and throwing away an invisible key.
At that moment, she had never looked so vulnerable. So pathetic. So
afraid.

“Okay. I’ll drop it.” For now, I told
myself.

“Thank you.”

Chapter Nine

I sat there quietly for a moment.
Unfortunately, my brain had a hard time dropping it. It kept
replaying the word vampire.

Finally, I said, “Well, tell me this. How
did you meet Atticai?”

Lena sighed, leaned back, and crossed her
arms just under her chest. “I was at a party in Riverside about two
years ago. A typical college party: stupid stunts, drunk assholes,
beer bongs, and I was pretty bored, to say the least. I was sitting
alone outside, having a smoke, when Atticai approached me. He
seemed more out of place at the party than I did. He sat next to
me, and we talked for hours. We ended up being the last two at the
party. He took me home, and the rest is history.”