by H. T. Night
I suddenly understood what kind of bar I was in as realization dawned with a cutting edge.
“Let me get this straight. This entire bar is filled with gay vampires?”
“Ding! You got it in one. We’re everywhere. Get used to it, wolf man.”
“I’m pro-gay. I’m just not pro-Mani.”
“Mani? Not many know our real name and live to tell about it. So, you know who we are. What do you want to do here, Tommy Jenkins? Kick some ass and go home and congratulate yourself as you flex in the mirror?”
Shit, he knew my real name. Where the hell did I find this place? Of all the freaking bars to step into, I go to a gay vampire bar?
“That was not my intention when I walked in. Just wanted some… company. I recently lost my fiancée and I’m kind of… searching for her essence in the nooks and crannies of unlikely gin joints. And maybe, at the bottom of a glass or five of rotgut house tequila. She… died.”
He half-growled, half-sighed. “Sorry for your pain. Truly.”
“Thank you. So, what are we doing here, Mr. Vampire? Are you stalling me out back so some of your tougher guys can get here and you actually have a shot at taking me out?”
“I don’t work like that. If I wanted to hurt you, the boys inside would be more than capable of slowly dismembering your body if we chose to do so. I’m more of a peacemaker. A mediator. If I see trouble brewing, I give a guy who seems nice enough a chance to get the fuck out of here before some of the more intolerant vampires inside decide to take Mani law into their own hands.”
“You’re serious. They’d kill me just for setting foot in here?”
“Don’t even try and fight us, Jenkins. You are far outnumbered and you could hurt us, maybe even kill some of us, but not all of us. So, werewolf without a cause, as Michael Jackson once sang: beat it.”
I nodded at the guy and I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to blab anything to the papers. It didn’t seem like his way. He was giving me a head start to get the hell out of here.
“You’re a good guy. Thank you,” I said. “I hope that someday I can tell someone to get lost as gracefully as you have. Instead of, you know, punching their lights out.”
“Damn, you’re hot. Now get the fuck out of here before I hit on you and make a cross-species leap of faith.”
I laughed and then I quickly left the bar. I was pretty outnumbered. It could get real ugly. I walked back inside the bar so I wouldn’t be going through the dark parking lot all the way from the back to the front.
Everyone was looking at me as I passed through. Now they looked at me? I hurried out the front door. I made my way back to Barstow and it was now morning. The sun was coming up and I knew I had less than 13 hours to find a safe haven for this month’s full moon.
But first, I was going to sleep.
I found myself a decent hotel in Barstow, and slept a good nine hours. Three more hours until the full moon.
I was turning into a werewolf tonight and I made no plans for my safety. That’s where my brain was right now. I was way too far away to get to Northern California in time. I mean, I could if I took a plane, but what a hassle that would be.
Some people might have said I was screwed. I said I liked the challenge.
If this was the night I decided not to care about safety, I might as well get drunk.
Since becoming a werewolf, I had found out there were a lot of werewolf-friendly bars. And Barstow was no different. There were two of them there.
I had also learned that the deadest time for a werewolf bar was on the nights of the full moon because four-legged plans took priority. I didn’t care. I wanted to drink. I drove into the dead parking lot and parked my bike.
I’m a lone wolf tonight.
I went inside and the bartender recognized that I was a werewolf, and said, “Bro, you all right?”
“I’m all right. I have time,” I said
“What do you have time for?” the bartender answered back angrily.
I looked at the bartender and laughed. “Look at you,” I said. “You don’t seem worried.”
“I’m not a werewolf,” the bartender shouted.
“Well, maybe I’m not either,” I said.
“Are you kidding? You’re Kyro from down south. Everyone knows about you up here.”
“Why?”
“There is a lot of debate about your MMA fighting.”
“Why the hell are they discussing my MMA fighting over here?”
“Purists say you shouldn’t be doing it. They think it’s not fair to the Tandra. The second you become a werewolf, you become significantly stronger in your human body.”
“What do they others say?” I asked.
“They are the younger generation, the ones who actually like watching MMA. Werewolf or not, they all think you have the right to fight. You were a fighter before you turned. It’s for your anonymity to remain in your job. Your job just happens to be beating other men to a pulp on pay-per-view TV.”
“Look, I want to drink for the next hour, and then I’ll decide what to do. Maybe I’ll find a nice place out in that god-awful desert out there.”
“Listen, Kyro, what you need is a safe haven. I can make some calls.”
“I don’t want one,” I said.
“You’d better get one. You know what happens to werewolves who choose to be free and not go to a safe place to turn.”
“We either hurt them so bad they wouldn’t dream of doing it again.”
“Or you kill them.”
“Yup,” I said.
“Look, Kyro. Everyone knows you’re Tommy Jenkins in our world. Outside our world, no one would dare expose you. Once one of us is exposed, we are all exposed.”
I looked at the bartender and he didn’t seem like an immortal. He definitely didn’t have a Mani or Carni vibe.
“Are you a vampire?” I asked.
“I’m something like that.” That was the first time I’d ever heard someone answer that question like that. I had no idea what he was saying to me.
“Something like that?” I repeated. “What else is there besides Mani or Carni?”
“You guys police your own,” the bartender said, waving a hand dismissively at my question. “You do it better than any agency ever could.”
“Agency?” I repeated.
“Is there an echo in here?” The bartender looked me in the eye and said, “I know what happened to you. Most people do. Other werewolves and Tandra who are kind to us will let you take shelter nearby. You just need to get to one of the safe havens in town.”
I recognized that the bartender speaking to me was probably placed in my life by the Triat to get me to do the right thing, but I couldn’t do the right thing.
I thanked the guy and took off into the night.
Chapter Sixteen
I started to drive my bike back toward San Bernardino. Then I’d head deep into the desert. I had driven twenty miles out when I could see the sun dipping fast. I turned to the left. There was nothing but desert. I drove my bike five miles in. I was afraid I’d turn into a werewolf while I was riding. I was pretty sure a werewolf would crash my bike. After all, he had no thumbs. I got off my bike and I sat about twenty-five feet away from it.
That was the last thing I remembered.
A lot of time passed, but I had no recollection of anything.
I woke up right smack in the middle of the street. It wasn’t on an actual asphalt street. It was quite the dusty dirt road. I had no fucking idea where I was, or why the hell I was here. This was crazier than when I woke up on the streets of Las Vegas.
Now, cars were honking at me. I had no idea how many people had seen me turn from wolf to man. I looked up and there was a morning fog that sort of cloaked me in its mist. Maybe no one had seen me transition back to a man. I scurried to the sidewalk on my hands and knees, then, with a laugh, stood up.
When I stood up, I got my bearings by looking at the surrounding landscape. I could see I was near the 15 freeway
near Victorville. That would be exactly 30 miles away from my bike. Fuck, I hoped it was still there. I needed to train my wolf mind to not roam so far away from my transportation. How I would do that, I had no clue.
A lot of things had happened last night to get me out here. I’d probably never find out. I did feel a little bite in my step. I thought I must have gotten out a lot of aggression last night. I hope I hadn’t killed anybody.
I was sitting on a bus stop bench that had shade. Why was every place I went made of hot sunshine?
I closed my eyes and just sat there quietly, reminding myself that I was without my perfect angel. I reclined on the bench. I did deep breathing exercises for about 20 minutes, trying to get myself into some zen state of mind. Where was my peace? Then I closed my eyes and I dozed off a tad, then jerked awake. I needed to get out of here. I needed to go find my bike in the hot, remote desert.
I realized that I needed Josiah.
I called Josiah. Luckily, my cell was still in my pants when I transitioned back. Sometimes, some stuff in my pockets didn’t return. All my body parts returned, just not all the items in my pockets. A couple of times, my keys hadn’t made it back. That’s why I’d made ten copies the last time I was at the Key Center in the mall.
Josiah answered the phone on the first ring. “You alive?” he said instead of hello.
“Barely,” I said.
“You at the base?”
“Not exactly, Josiah.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m not too far away from you. I need for you to do me a favor. I’m sitting on a bench in Victorville. I’m off the Apple Valley exit ramp.” I could see the name of the street from where I was sitting.
“Are you kidding? You didn’t go to the reserves?”
“Not this time,” I said. Why the hell did Josiah care? Last month, he was telling me not to go.
“I hope you won’t get in trouble.”
“Like you said, I needed some bereavement days.”
“I’m pretty sure that part of that is letting them know that you’re requesting bereavement days.”
I groaned. “How do you know I didn’t?”
“I know you. I know you’re going through hell right now. So much so that you were drunk during an MMA match. I’m not betting that you did the responsible thing and let your commanding officer know that you weren’t going to make it.”
“Josiah? Are you going to come and get me or not?”
“I’m coming. I’m dead tired. So, let me down a couple of Red Bulls and I’ll be there in 45 minutes.”
“I’m sitting on a bench of Apple Valley off-ramp.”
“Of course you are. And yes, you said that. You knocked out a guy in 13 seconds, two nights ago. Why wouldn’t you be sitting on a bench in Victorville? AWOL from the military. Do you know how much trouble you are probably in, Tommy?”
“Yeah, yeah, trouble is my middle name. Can you just get here and save the lecture for another time?”
“I’m leaving now.”
“What about the Red Bulls?”
“I have two in the refrigerator.”
“Of course you do. Can I have one?”
“Yes.”
We both got off the phone and I leaned back and just let out a loud moan.
I looked over to my left and I couldn’t believe what I saw.
I looked out in the distance and recognized the woman who was walking toward me through the shimmering heat… like a mirage manifesting itself into flesh. It was a good friend of mine. Sasha.
“I see you’re okay?” she said as she stepped up to me.
“You knew I was here?” I asked, surprised.
“I just received the 411 from my friends. My friends were the ones who found you and made sure no Tandra saw you.”
“Your friends?” I asked.
“My vampire friends are good people.”
“They stuck me in the middle of the street,” I protested.
“No… seconds before the sun came out, they said you ran into the middle of the street and lay down of your own accord. They couldn’t help you because they needed to get inside because the sun was up.”
“Where were you?”
“In a safe haven down the street.”
“Mani and Carni get along out here?” I asked, surprised as hell to hear it.
“In Victorville? Sure. It’s nice out here. There is a lot of tolerance on both sides.”
“Vampires are assholes,” I said straight out, remembering every experience I’ve ever had with the species, aside from the friendship I’d had with Patrick. He was only cool with me because he was trying to flee.
“Well, Tommy, about four assholes took care of you for hours last night, making sure you were safe and everyone else was safe from you.”
“Did they fight me?”
“Never. They comforted you. They fed you and gave you water.”
“What did they feed me? There’s a weird taste in my mouth. It’s gritty.”
“I think it was a box of Milk Bones from the 7-Eleven.”
I shuddered and spit out the mealy taste from my mouth. “Milk Bones! If you tell anyone I scarfed a box of dog biscuits, I’ll have to kill you.”
She laughed. “I’m telling you, it’s different out here.” Sasha gave me a warm smile. It was the first warm smile I’d received in days.
“I’m glad that you found a place where you feel accepted. But let me guess, does a guy have anything to do with it?”
“You know me. First of all, it’s never just one man. It’s men.” Sasha paused and then she became real serious. “I heard what happened to Maya and her parents. I cried for 48 hours straight when I heard. I wanted to talk to you. Make sure you were okay. But we hadn’t talked in so long I wasn’t sure how you thought of me. I didn’t want to impose myself on your life if I wasn’t going to be invited.”
“Sasha,” I said. “You are always going to be my friend. But I’m exhausted.”
“How so?”
“My heart. It’s shredded. I don’t know what to do. I’m lost.”
“You’re in Victorville.”
“I know that. I’m talking about everything else.” I wasn’t sure why I was opening up so fast to Sasha when I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years. Some friends, you could just return to the place where you left off. I guessed that was the case with Sasha and me.
“Is there a bar open?” I asked.
“It’s six o’clock in the morning,” Sasha said, half-laughing and half-giving me pity. I hated pity. Pity was the worst form of weakness.
“So, that’s a no,” I said. “Well, tell your friends thank you and I owe them one.”
“I’ll be sure to do that.”
“And next time, if there is a next time, can I have teriyaki jerky instead of dog biscuits?”
“I’ll tell them. Can I ask you a question?” Sasha asked. “How the hell did you even get out here? Where is your transportation?”
“I don’t know how I arrived here. Ran on four legs, I assume. And once Josiah gets here, he’ll take me to the place I left the motorcycle in the desert.”
“Josiah is coming to get you?”
“Yes.”
“Tommy, you know you fucked up big time.”
I looked at Sasha and I knew what she meant, but I asked her anyway. “How so?” I said.
“You know, Tommy. You have been a werewolf for two years.”
“Who knows what I did?” I asked.
“Just my vampire friends. But there could be a problem. They know the predicament you’re in. So, in a weird way, they will always have something on you.”
“They fed and comforted me? You said they were okay guys.”
“They are, but everybody gets desperate at one time or another.”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked. I was starting to catch on to what she was saying.
“You might need to eliminate them from the situation permanently.”
“These are f
riends you’re talking about? I thought you said everyone lived in harmony out here?”
“They do.”
“You think I should kill these guys you’re talking about just because they have something on me? Are you crazy? I’m not a serial killer. I’m just going to let the dice roll where they may.”
“And not do anything?”
“Yes, these vampires that you are trying to con me into killing. I’m going to trust that they weren’t the ones who helped me. They are another group of vampires that are giving you a hard time and killing them off would make your life easier.”
“Am I that predictable?” Sasha said, knowing that she was caught. “You should be a detective, Tommy. You figured that out pretty freaking fast.”
“Quit buttering me up, Sasha. You actually tried to con me? You did it seconds after we met up again. We haven’t seen each other in two years. And this is my welcome back from you? A ruse?”
Sasha smiled. She was now embarrassed.
“Look, whoever actually did help me,” I said. “If it was humans or vampires, let them know I said thank you.”
“I will,” Sasha said.
“I thought you were going to the East Coast?” I said, still annoyed by her stunt earlier.
“I did,” Sasha answered. “I decided I missed Cali. I came back and met up with some friends. I can stay in one place only so long until I want to have brand-new experiences all over again.”
“Where are you at with Victorville?” I asked.
“I’m still in the honeymoon phase. I haven’t been here too long.”
“It’s good to see you, Sasha,” I said.
“How’s Maya’s brother?”
“Josiah is taking it one day at a time.”
“Yeah, Josiah. He was a cutie.”
“He’s eighteen now and you may not go anywhere near him. I want him to concentrate on MMA, not women.”
“Very funny.” Sasha knew I was kidding. We always had this kind of playful friendship. “Are you two close?” she asked.
“Josiah and me?”
“Yeah.”
“We now live together. We are both working through it.”
Sasha looked at me and smiled. She knew I was hurting and she wanted to stop my pain.
