H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (95 page)

We left the room; I peeked my head in the
room one more time and just sighed.

We began to walk down the stairs to get to
the front desk.

“Oh, yeah,” I said.

“I’m taking you to my place, and I have a
visitor.”

“A visitor? Who?” Sasha asked

“A vampire,” I said. “And he thinks my name
is Kyro.”

Chapter Nine

The Radisson staff didn’t quite know what to
make of the room. They were more worried that we’d be the ones
suing them because a wild animal had gotten into the room so they
just made sure we were okay and left it at that. Thank God.

We arrived back at my apartment. I checked
up on Patrick. He was in the exact same position I had left him.
Sasha had some nurse training. I thought when he woke up that she
could check on him. I felt like a turd for not taking him to the
hospital. I still considered it, but first I needed to process this
and as far as I could tell, he was breathing fine. If he was
suffering some internal life-threatening injuries, that remained to
be seen.

I walked out into my living room and Sasha
was sitting on my couch.

“Thanks, Tommy.”

I just stared at her, perplexed.

I didn’t even know how to respond to that
statement. Thanks? I wanted to say, You’re not welcome. Since
meeting you my entire life has spun out of control. But I held my
tongue.

“We need to get you a cage,” I said.

“A cage?”

“Yeah, I’m putting this werewolf thing to
the test, and sticking your rabid ass in a cage tonight is the only
thing I can come up with.”

“I don’t have rabies. Where will you find a
cage to hold a werewolf?”

“Where you find everything you need,
Craigslist.” I went on my computer that was on a desk in my living
room.

I got onto the site and went on Orange
County and its surrounding areas.

I typed in. “Large animal cage.”

“Wow,” I said out loud. “There’s a page full
of cages here. What kind of cage do you want?”

“You’re really going to put me in a
cage?”

“I saw what you did to that room. I just
recently got new furniture.”

“Look here,” I read out loud. “It says,
‘large cage—used to hold a gorilla—strong bars—nothing gets in or
out.’ Damn! $2,500!”

“$2,500?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s way too much.”

“It is,” I said. “But I’m looking at these
other cages and I do not trust how small they are. The expensive
cage is gigantic!”

“Do you have $2,500?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. I knew she
was a con artist. So she didn’t have to know anything about my
income. I just recently had $80,000 given to me when my grandfather
died and there was no way in hell she was going to find out that
information.

I called the number and the guy said I could
have it for two thousand if I picked it up in San Diego. How in the
world was I going to get to San Diego and haul a two-ton cage 100
miles before tonight? I had to do it but I needed to go down there
and rent a U-Haul.

“We’re taking a trip to San Diego, girly
girl,” I announced.

“Can we stop by the store?” Sasha asked. “I
need some girl items.”

I looked at her with zero expression and
said, “All right, I don’t need to know any more.”

We stopped in at Walgreen’s and then we
headed down to San Diego and got ourselves a cage big enough to
hold a mountain lion. I drove the U-Haul back to O.C. while Sasha
drove my Mustang. I called ahead and got some movers to meet me at
the apartment to get the thing inside my apartment.

After the movers helped me get the gigantic
cage into my living room, they gave me a look like ‘why do you have
a ten-foot cage in your apartment?’ I told them Sasha was kinky and
I tipped them well. I also told them to keep it on the down-low
that I had a cage.

So, now it was just time to wait for the
full moon to come out.

I checked on Patrick. He was still sleeping
and looked awful. I asked Sasha to check him out. She actually
didn’t want to look at him because he was a vampire. I pointed out
to her that she didn’t have a choice. She saw it my way.

My bites from the night before were killing
me. My shoulder ached. I was pretty jacked up. I was sitting in my
living room, staring at the cage, wondering how strong Sasha was
when she turned. Could she knock over that cage? I couldn’t even
believe that I was having these kinds of thoughts. I kept reminding
myself, ‘go with it, gain control of it, and then all of this might
make sense.’

Sasha came back out of the room after
looking at Patrick. “He’s pretty messed up.”

“Did he wake up?” I asked.

“Not really. He definitely didn’t know a
werewolf was checking on him. He needs a doctor and if he is a
vampire, a lot of red flags will go off.”

“Like what?”

“There is a reason why the Triat has our
bodies disappear when we die.”

“The Triat?” I asked. “What the hell is a
Triat?”

“The Triat is everything.”

“You mean God?”

“No. More like the heart of God.”

“Look, spare me this tale. If you truly turn
into a werewolf, you can give me all the paranormal history you
want. But as of right now, let’s take care of tonight. I’m thinking
I also need to chain you.”

“Chain me?” Sasha did not like that.

“Yeah, you might be really strong. Also,
where will you go to the bathroom? I’m going to put some cardboard
in there.”

So, we left again and went to Home Depot and
I bought the strongest chains they had. When we got back, I locked
the chains from inside the cage, I had no idea what I was doing and
the more I was taking this seriously, the more I was convinced that
I was in some alternate universe where truth and love have been
replaced by werewolves and vampires.

I stepped out of the cage and realized this
damn thing took up my entire living room. It took almost the entire
open floor that separated the TV from the couch.

I looked outside and said to Sasha, “Well,
how does it usually happen? The whole turning from human to
werewolf thing.”

“I really don’t know. I have almost no
recollection when I become a werewolf.”

“Of course you don’t,” I said,
sarcastically. “Seriously, that would be too easy. What I don’t
understand is, if there are werewolves running around, why aren’t
there more instances of attacks?”

“There’s a strict code the Carni live by. We
drive off to remote areas that are far away from the Tandra.”

“And Tandra is what you call humans?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why are you here and not in some
remote area?”

“I don’t really have anywhere to go. I’m
pretty much an ostracized werewolf. A lone wolf, you might
say.”

I looked at her and just thought, of course
she is.

“And what about my little vampire friend in
the bedroom? He referred to himself as a Mani.”

“Mani are vampires,” Sasha said plainly, as
if she was saying something you hear every day.

“Okay.” I shook my head trying to wrap my
mind around all of this crazy information. “He didn’t become a bat
either,” I said. “He actually became a black bird.”

“A raven.” Sasha corrected me. “Mani
transition into black ravens and red hawks.”

“Red hawks?” I asked.

“Yeah, men become black ravens and women
become red hawks.”

“What do Carni become?”

She laughed. “We become werewolves.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that part. But you can’t
control it, but vampires can?”

“Yeah, it’s not fair, but that’s the hand we
were dealt.”

“How does someone become a werewolf?”

“They get bitten by a Carni when it’s a
werewolf and survive the bite.”

I thought about the other night. “Hey, those
three guys I fought on the street. Were they Carni?”

Sasha was quiet. “Um.”

“Were they?” I persisted.

“Yes.”

“Were you ever going to tell me that?”

“How could I? You didn’t even know I was one
until today.”

“So the one that bit my shoulder was a
full-blown werewolf?” I asked.

“He wasn’t when he bit you.”

“So, what happens when one of these freaks
bite you and he or she isn’t a werewolf?”

“I don’t really know. I never heard of that
happening before, especially the kind of bite you got.”

“Great, I’m a trailblazer,” I said,
sarcastically. I sat down on my couch and had to put my feet up so
they wouldn’t smack the cage. “Sasha, some weird crap has been
happening to me the last couple of days.”

“Like what?”

“Like at times, my hearing is off the
charts.”

“Really.”

“Yeah. I could hear car alarms that
are—”

“—blocks away.” Sasha finished what I
said.

“Holy shit!” I continued. “I also had an
extreme amount of facial hair last night and then it went away in
the morning.”

“What about your eyes? Did you notice they
were yellow?”

“I didn’t even look at my eyes.” I sat there
dumbfounded. “What do you make of it?”

Sasha shook her head and said, “It’s like
you’re in some weird werewolf purgatory. It’s like you’re not fully
a werewolf, but you have the potential to become one.”

“You’re fucking kidding me. I don’t want to
be a freaking werewolf. How do you reverse it?”

“You can’t reverse it, Tommy.”

“What does that mean?” I shouted.

“It means that you are becoming immortal and
there is no secret antidote!”

I began sweating. I could feel my heart rate
go up. The room began spinning. Holy shit! I’m was having a heart
attack! My chest felt tight. I fell to the floor and blacked
out.

The next thing I remember was that Sasha was
sitting me up on the couch and giving me some water.

“Tommy? Tommy?” she asked. “You all
right?”

I put my hand on my chest. “I don’t know. I
think I had a heart attack.”

“I doubt that. You wouldn’t be able to
breathe. You had a panic attack.”

“A panic attack?” Who was I? Tony Soprano? I
don’t have panic attacks.

“It’s to be expected. I just told you that
there’s a good chance that you’re in some kind of werewolf limbo
phase.”

I looked at Sasha and just wanted to scream
at her at the top of my lungs. Why did I go to Shiners that night?
And why did I go outside to talk to her? This was crazy. Maybe she
was crazy. Maybe none of this is true.

I sighed and got up. “I better get you in
the cage,” I said. “I’m not going to put chains on you, but if you
get out of hand, I might.”

“You think you can put chains on me once I
become a werewolf? Good luck!”

“What are you? A buck-ten?”

“When I become a werewolf, I’m bigger, my
clothes become a part of me and I become heavier and larger.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“It might not make sense, but that’s what
happens.”

“Get in the cage,” I said, with as much
authority I could muster. This woman walked into my life and
screwed it up in so many ways. Look at me. I was completely fucked
up. I had insane bites all over my body. I had a vampire sleeping
in my bedroom and now an almost-werewolf in my living room, in
fact, she was moments away from transition to a werewolf. All I
could do was continue to play this out. “How you doing in there?” I
asked.

“I’m all right. You better lock the
door.”

“Oh yeah, what was I thinking?” I got up and
locked the door and I sat on the couch facing the cage. The sun was
setting and I looked on, staring at Sasha. And even though I was
pissed, she was damn sexy. She looked good in her little white
shorts. It’s been awhile since I fired one off, so to say I was
horny was an understatement.

Sasha caught me looking at her with my big
bad intentions.

“What?” she said, in a sexy way only a woman
as hot as her could pull off.

“I’m hoping you don’t turn! And you’re full
of shit.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to go in there and rip
your clothes off and make passionate, animal cage love to you.”

Sasha stepped up to the cage bars. I stood
up and reached in. I grabbed her from her waist and pressed her
body up against mine with the cage bars separating us.

We both tilted our heads just right and were
able to kiss through the bars. Her breath smelled amazing. She was
oozing with estrogen. I wanted her so badly that I nearly stripped
off my clothes. I had no idea why I was turned on at this moment
but I was.

I kissed her passionately and cupped her
buttocks with my left hand. I pressed her hard against me. I looked
her in the eyes. “You know,” I said. “This whole thing is foolish.
You and I both know there is no way you’re a—”

Suddenly, Sasha’s blue eyes turned bright
yellow. She looked like a damn demon. I jumped back onto the couch
and let go of her. I hopped onto the floor and scurried away from
the cage. There was at least ten feet separating me from the
cage.

Sasha dropped to the ground and began to
roll. She looked like she was having a seizure. Hair began
protruding out of her body everywhere. It was like watching a
fast-motion film where you watch a flower grow in at hyper speed.
But this was actually happening. Within seconds, she had enlarged a
foot in height, had black hair, and her head went from a gorgeous
brunette to a sleek wolf.

She stared at the window where she could see
the full moon and howled.

“Shhh,” I yelled. I couldn’t believe what I
was doing. I was shushing a damn wolf.

She must not have known I was in the room.
Because her head turned to me and she growled and barked at me as
if I was a hundred miles away. She began scratching the carpet and
ramming her body into the cage. Thank God, the cage was holding up.
But damn, she was louder than hell. The neighbors weren’t too far
away. How the hell was I going to calm her down?