The Immortal Warriors Boxed Set: Books 1-11

by H. T. Night

  I flew across the sky, holding Yomaida close. After a while, she trusted what was happening and she seemed to be enjoying her flight. I decided to land us in Temecula, California. There is an isolated area over by Pechanga Casino and I knew we’d be okay. We landed off of Highway 79, near a wine vineyard.

  After I safely landed, I led Yomaida to a bench in front of the vineyard and we sat down.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. She was pretty awestruck.

  “I’m dreaming,” she said, closing her eyes.

  “No, this is real.”

  “Josiah, who are you?”

  “I can’t tell you that. Just know I’m going to bring you back to your family.”

  “Really?” Yomaida still seemed shocked that I didn’t want anything from her.

  “You’re going to see your parents soon,” I said.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this for me.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I have trusted the wrong people for so long.”

  “You’re safe now.” She reached her hand over to mine and held it. She squeezed my hand hard and leaned her head into my chest.

  “Why did you help me?” she asked.

  “It’s a funny thing. I wasn’t planning on helping you tonight, but once I saw you and then heard your story, I knew it was what I had to do. I needed to protect you from that place and especially that awful man you were with. I wanted to return you to your father. You deserve to be reunited with your family after all you’ve been through.”

  Tears dripped from Yomaida’s eyes. “I just can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m going to see my father.”

  “You can see him right now if you like. I could get you to Anaheim in about 10 minutes.”

  “Would you?” she asked.

  “There’s nothing more I want to do.”

  “You are a good man.” Yomaida leaned in and kissed me gently on my lips. I touched her cheek and tenderly kissed her back on her forehead.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Right now?” she asked.

  “Right now,” I confirmed.

  I stood up and grabbed her by the waist once again and hoisted myself back into the air.

  “How can you fly?” she asked as we ascended higher into the sky.

  “Oh, you’d be amazed at all the things I can do.” I blazed through the sky and the morning air felt a bit chilled, but I was determined to help her make it to Anaheim quickly.

  Within minutes, I could see Disneyland and Yomaida guided me to a house near Ball and Euclid Street.

  She pointed to a bright yellow house at the west end of a cul-de-sac. “That is the one.” She began crying. “That is my home! That’s my dad’s black work truck out front and my mom’s white car! They still have the same cars!” she yelled out, with a celebratory glee.

  We landed in the front yard.

  We composed ourselves and Yomaida hugged me tightly. “I’m nervous. I haven’t seen them in over a year.”

  “Why didn’t you ever contact them from Mexico?” I asked.

  “Miguel wouldn’t let me. He never left me alone or had any kind of telephone access.”

  “Do they know you’re alive?”

  “I don’t know. They must know something.”

  Yomaida leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Sweet Josiah, you might not say you’re an angel, but you are my guardian angel.”

  “I’m just a guy,” I said.

  “You’re an amazing one at that.” She turned around and held her breath, then walked over to the door and knocked.

  I watched from the driveway; I didn’t want her dad to think I had anything to do with her disappearance.

  “Papa!” Yomaida yelled, as a burly, old Hispanic man wearing a white, wife beater tank top and boxers answered the door.

  “Yomaida!” he flung the door opened and hugged his daughter. They were both crying and sobbing joyfully. Soon the whole house was up and made their way to the door. They were all speaking Spanish, so I had a hard time understanding.

  Yomaida was talking to her father and then he stepped over and looked to where I was standing. He made his way over to me.

  “Josiah,” he said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “My daughter says you are kind and you helped her return. She said you never asked for anything in return. She says that you are a wonderful man. I want to thank you with all my heart for bringing her back to me.”

  “It was my pleasure, sir. You have a very special daughter. Always protect her.”

  “I will never let her leave the house alone again,” he laughed.

  “For the meantime, that’s probably a good idea.”

  “You are always welcome in my home. Please come back soon so we can celebrate.”

  “I’d like that, sir.”

  “Where is your car?” he asked, looking down the street.

  “I don’t have one.”

  “You two walked?”

  “You can say that.” Cloud walking.

  Yomaida walked over to us and hugged me tightly. She was a beautiful woman and now she was home.

  “Come back to me, Josiah. I know you need to do whatever you do. But, come back and see me.”

  I kissed her cheek and said, “Goodbye, Yomaida. It was a pleasure meeting you.” I turned around and walked down the street.

  “Son!” Yomaida’s father yelled to me.

  I turned around and Yomaida’s father kissed his fist and raised it up in celebratory fashion and I returned the gesture.

  Son? It’s been a long time since I’d been called son. Yeah, I would definitely be coming back.

  Chapter Ten

  I went around the corner and when the coast was clear, I flew up into the sky and made my way back to Tijuana. I felt good about how everything went down tonight.

  I needed to go back to the hotel room before the sun came up. I arrived at Hotel Ticuan and made my way up to see Wyatt and get some rest.

  I knocked on the door.

  “What’s the password?” Wyatt joked from inside the room.

  “Carni are worthless dogs,” I said, as exhausted as I had felt in some time.

  “That works for me,” Wyatt laughed. He opened the door and I saw that he had sun-proofed the room pretty well with some duct tape and cardboard.”

  “Where did you find the cardboard?”

  “Where else? There is a Dumpster outside.”

  “What have you been doing all night?” I asked.

  “Watching soccer. It seems to be what they like to watch around here.”

  “I think I read somewhere,” I said, sarcastically, “that the Mexican people are pretty fond of the sport.”

  “What about you?” Wyatt asked.

  “What about me?” I asked.

  “Did you save the girl?”

  “Don’t I always?” I winked and lay on the bed.

  “Yes, you do. You definitely have the biggest hero complex of anyone I ever met.”

  “I just do what’s right.”

  “You and Spider-Man.”

  “Spider-Man has nothing on me. What’s his super power? Spinning a web?”

  “As I recall, he’s a pretty good fighter,” Wyatt said.

  “I can kick Spider-Man’s ass any day of the week,” I said with certainty.

  “I wouldn’t doubt you could, Josiah. Hey, that guy from last night said he’d meet us around midnight. Hopefully, he found her.”

  “He did seem to have an idea of who we were talking about.”

  I leaned back on the bed and, I had to admit, the bed was pretty damn comfortable. Within minutes, I was out.

  I slept a good nine hours, as did Wyatt. The room was pitch-black all day and we turned on the air conditioner. I was awakened by a knock on the door. I popped up and looked through the peephole.

  Dammit, it was the gray-haired fellow from the limo. How the hell did he know where I was staying?

  I looked through the peephole to see if I co
uld see police with him, but as far as I could tell, he was alone. “May I help you?” I asked, from behind the door. I spoke with a weird accent that was a cross between Irish and Arabic.

  “Pardon me, sir,” the man said. “May I speak with the young blond gentleman?”

  Shit, he knows I’m in the room.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “A friend.”

  “A friend? I don’t know you.”

  “I promise you, all I want to do is talk. I have a proposition for you.”

  “A proposition? I don’t need any propositions!” I yelled from behind the door.

  “I have the answers you are looking for.”

  How the hell did he know what I was looking for?

  “Like?” I asked.

  “I know how to find the Deity,” he said in a calm manner.

  Now I was listening. I opened the door. I looked at the man and he was alone. I looked behind him and saw that there was no one in the hall.

  “There’s my man,” he said, excited to see me.

  “Who are you?” I asked. “For the record, I’m not comfortable being anybody’s man. How can I help you?”

  “Actually, it’s how we can help each other. I would like to speak to you, but not here.”

  “Where then?”

  “There’s a conference room downstairs we can go to. We’ll have more privacy.”

  I looked back in the room and Wyatt was still out like a light. “Okay, let’s go.”

  I followed the man downstairs and he seemed familiar with the hotel. We took the elevator down and as far as I could tell, he was Tandra. I tried to read his mind, but it sounded like he was only thinking in Spanish, so I had no idea what he was thinking.

  “What is your name?” I asked, as the man led me into the conference room. The conference room had a couple of top-of-the-line desks in each corner and a long gorgeous conference table in the middle of the room.

  “My name is Romero.” He pulled out a seat for me to sit down. I decided to trust his hospitality and I sat down. Unless he had a silver nail in his pocket there was no way this fifty-ish man could take me, even if I wasn’t a vampire.

  He sat down next to me. “Do you like money, Josiah?”

  “How do you know my name?” I asked, surprised. I didn’t like surprises and I had a feeling this guy was going to be full of them.

  “I know lots of things, but if you could oblige me, would you answer the question?”

  “Who doesn’t? But I’m not into the crime business.”

  “Crime business?” Romero laughed. “You have this all wrong. Let me ask you another question. Do you miss competition?”

  “You mean fighting?”

  “Yes.”

  “Not really. Believe it or not, I’ve been okay in that department.” It seemed like all I’d been doing was fighting ever since I left mixed martial arts. “Okay, you know my name and you know I used to be a fighter.”

  “And I know you’re a vampire.”

  I stood up. I was right. This guy was full of surprises.

  “Please sit down. I’m not here to blackmail you or challenge you. I want to tell you who I am.”

  Like I said, I didn’t like surprises, and this guy seemed to be getting off telling me all he knows about me. I’ve seen enough to know when someone wants something from me. This guy was ready to sell me on something. “What do you want, Romero?”

  “I think you and I can be very successful together.”

  “How so?”

  “Josiah, I run the most lucrative, underground, paranormal, supreme fighting league ever organized.”

  What was the guy talking about? A paranormal, underground fighting league? I had never heard of such a thing. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “You are aware of vampires and you have an organization that exploits them?”

  “No one is exploited. Everyone wants to be a part of it. It’s not some circus freak show where people come and watch lions eat Christians. This is top of the line badass, motherf-ing fighting on a level that no one has ever seen before. Guess what? Billionaires and millionaires love it. They want to see the toughest people in the world fight, regardless of the mortality or immortality. We have fights where the winner wins sometimes up to a million dollars.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “So, now I have your attention.”

  “A million dollars can usually do that. It’s sort of my favorite number.”

  “I saw you last night. I own that massage business. I watched what you did on my surveillance camera and when the police came in I hid the camera, so they couldn’t see who it was. I also convinced all the others it was a redheaded man who destroyed my place.”

  “So, you are blackmailing me?”

  “Do you think for one second that I think you’re scared of authorities? There’s not a jailhouse that can hold you. You need to see that all I want is to work with you. I have seen some of the greatest Mani fight and there is no one like you.”

  “You have that right.”

  “You’re cocky. I like that. My rich and powerful friends would put up big money to see someone of your caliber fight.”

  “What are you saying? You will lead me to the Deity in exchange for a fight? There was a guy last night that was willing to lead us to her for just $500.”

  “Good luck with any street hustler following through on finding the Deity. That guy hasn’t put two thoughts into finding her today. He doesn’t know if he’ll see you again.”

  Great. We would have just wasted our time trying to find that guy again.

  “Why me?” I asked, trying to see if he’d give any ‘tell’ about his true intentions.

  “Look, we can help each other and make a lot of money. You would be extremely marketable in my league.”

  “I’m not into getting my face on cereal boxes.”

  “It wouldn’t be like that. We are a secret society. We have everyone paid off that would even remotely try to stop us, from police officers to law officials. It’s win-win for everyone involved. I think you’d be extremely successful.”

  “So, I have to have one of these fights before I can meet her?” I asked.

  “No, not at all. I’ll bring you to see her right now if you want to. The way I see it, you’re an investment. I’ll bring you to the Deity and then, later on, I’ll take you to see one of our fights tonight.”

  I looked Romero over and my gut didn’t quite trust him. But I was a gambler when it came to stuff like this. “Okay,” I said, “Take me to the Deity.”

  “I have my car parked out front.”

  “You have your limousine out front?” I asked.

  “No, I brought my red Ferrari. I like to be less presumptuous when I’m meeting someone for the first time,” Romero smiled. He was making a joke. It was actually pretty funny. “You know, Josiah, you and I could just go,” Romero continued. “We don’t even need to bother with your friend.”

  “No, I’d better tell him what’s up and give him the option of going with us. Let me shower up, and I’ll meet you back down here in twenty minutes, with or without my friend.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I took a hot shower and dried myself off, then went into our room and woke Wyatt up.

  I told him about Romero’s offer and he insisted on coming with me for my protection. I assured him that I was fairly confident that Romero was exactly who he said he was. But, nonetheless, Wyatt got ready and the two of us met Romero downstairs.

  I introduced Romero to Wyatt in the lobby and then we went to the parking garage and found Romero’s red 2+2 Ferrari and took off. It was a little weird riding around in Tijuana in a red sports car. It was like eating a bowl of Cheerios with a gold spoon.

  I looked up into the sky from the passenger side of the car. And I noticed the moon was out in full effect. It was the first night of the full moon, so Romero’s little paranormal fight club would be at full throttle on this night
. As we pulled onto Avenida Revolucion, I asked Romero where he was taking us.

  “Where else would a 4,000-year-old vampire woman want to spend her time?” he asked, as if we already knew the answer.

  “If I knew the answer to that question, we wouldn’t have needed you to take us,” I said.

  Romero looked over at me and smiled. “The Deity is a Mother Teresa in her own right. She runs an orphanage for abused and neglected children on the outskirts of town.”

  That actually made a lot of sense. “Is it a cover?” I asked.

  “A cover?” Romero laughed. “Why would she need a cover?

  “I don’t know. She has been around a long time. She must have made some enemies along the way.”

  “Trust me, the Deity is the most loved Mani on the planet. She has no enemies.”

  “I figured she was pretty important,” I said. “I had no idea that it was like that.”

  “You’ll see what I mean. Just being in her presence will renew your faith in humanity.”

  “Is that what you’re about? Humanity?” I asked. “You run an underground death match league where you make a buck off the backs of others.”

  Romero looked at me and was surprised I had come at him so hard for no reason. He obviously wasn’t used to anyone challenging his ethics. I shoot people between the eyes. I know he’s all about the cash. Every decision a man like this makes is only a means to an end, and that ‘means’ is a bundle of cash at the end of every rainbow. I knew that was all he was looking at this situation as. I didn’t need to hear his bullshit about humanity.

  “My fighters almost never die in the ring. Does it happen? Sometimes, but we don’t encourage it.”

  “You don’t encourage it because you’re losing your product?” I said.

  Romero smiled. “You think you have me all figured out. You think I’m the Don King fight promoter of the underworld.”

  “I think you’re very good at what you do. What I can’t figure out is why you’re still a Tandra?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because a man like you must crave immortality.”

  “Who says I don’t already have it?”

  “You’re not a Mani or a Carni. So, unless you’re the devil, I’m pretty sure you’re waiting for the right time to change.”