by H. T. Night
Lena began laughing hysterically.
“You said you wouldn’t laugh.”
“That’s not fair. That is the funniest thing I ever heard. How long did that go on?”
“I kept that puppet around all through high school. Whenever I felt my game needed a little pick me up, Archie would be there.”
“I’m surprised it didn’t make you gay.”
“Not gay. Just tolerant. I figured if I could practice kissing on a checkered-shirt, redheaded guy, then I needed to be cool about other people’s life choices.”
“You’re so funny! Well, be sure to thank Archie for me the next time you two have a session.”
“When my family died, I set fire to a lot of things that stirred up too many memories and unfortunately Archie was one of them.”
Lena smiled uncomfortably and looked outside. I sure knew how to kill a fun conversation by bringing up death. I probably shouldn’t have brought that part of the story up because Lena didn’t know how to respond. We were having fun and the reality of life always seemed to remind us of how painful things had been for both of us.
Lena reached out her left palm and I held it with my right hand. I gave her a loving wink and we made our way to the Ahmanson Theater.
The musical was great and I saw why Tommy liked them so much. It’s just a whole lot of fun.
When it was over, I took Lena to a restaurant called Shapiro’s. It was a classy joint down the street from the theater. It had dim lighting and I’d heard the food was fantastic. Lena didn’t have the ability to eat like me, but she was able to eat meat that was rare with virtually no problem.
Our table was near the back and there weren’t that many people in the restaurant. The table was candlelit and there was a three-piece band playing easy listening jazz at the front of the restaurant.
I ordered the Chicken Alfredo, and Lena had a 12-ounce steak served extremely rare. One thing that all vampires had the ability to do, and thank God we did, was drink like sailors. Lena and I were throwing back our wine pretty good throughout our meal.
“I think we should do this kind of thing more often,” I said. I had a nice wine buzz going and for my money, a wine buzz was the best alcohol buzz to have.
“You look incredibly handsome, Josiah.”
“You think?”
“The lighting makes you look like an angel in here,” Lena said, in a seductive and flirtatious manner.
“A demon maybe, but not an angel.”
“Is that your opinion of us, that we are inherently evil?” she asked.
“I don’t like to think about it, but there are times I think I am evil. I have hurt and even killed so many people in such a short period of time that it’s hard not to feel that way. It’s hard to think there is much good left in me.”
“Josiah, you’re as good as they come.”
“I’m not sure if I believe that. Killing does something to a person. Killing takes a piece of you with it when it happens.”
“You have never killed anyone who wasn’t attacking you first, right?” Lena asked.
I thought about the werewolf that was on the lookout at Tommy’s cabin a few months back. That killing had never sat well with me.
Lena could tell I was in deep thought. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“There was once I attacked and killed a werewolf before he had a chance to attack me.”
“You must have thought you needed to do it for your own safety.”
“I did,” I said. “I didn’t try to kill him either. It just happened. It has always bothered me because I saw his face right before he died.”
“There you go, Josiah. In our world, there are going to be casualties. It should only bother you if innocent people get killed.”
“It just all sounds so callous. Life and death should have a higher significance.”
“And it does with the Tandra. Most humans are innocent bystanders in this war that has been raged in the underworld. Carni and Mani know the stakes. Most of us chose this life; it’s all we ever wanted.”
“I didn’t choose it. I never wanted it. Even when I knew it existed, the last thing I wanted was to be a part of it.”
“I know.” Lena reached her hand across the table and placed it on top of my hand. “But now that it’s here, you have embraced it. And you know what, Josiah? There is no one better at it than you. You are the most perfect person to lead this charge. The Triat knew what they were doing. They chose a great man.”
Every once in a while, words that are spoken minister to my heart and that comment by Lena was such a thing. What she said touched me in a way she’d never know.
“I love you, Lena.”
“I love you, Josiah.”
The waitress walked over and placed our food in front of us. We continued to talk and eat till we helped close down the joint at 2:00 in the morning.
On the way home, Lena fell asleep on my shoulder. For the first time in my entire life, I felt the feeling of union. This was my girl. I was her man. Together, I was pretty certain we could do anything.
Chapter Fifteen
A few weeks went by. Lena and I were building something extremely special and the closer I was to her, the more complete I felt.
It was during our most intimate moments that I felt the kind of connection I had always longed for. Making love to Lena was a life-changing experience, regardless of what anyone thought. When you truly love someone, and you share that kind of intimate detail, it’s the most powerful bond two people can have. I was becoming a better person just by loving her each day.
I was in the bathroom finishing my shower when I heard my cell phone go off. It was giving me the signal that I had a text message. I stepped out of the shower to see who it was because I hardly ever had anyone text me. I went over to my phone that I left near the sink.
The text read, ‘It’s Tommy. We need to talk. You owe me that.’
I owed him that? Was he for real? The balls on that guy.
I texted him back. ‘Where?’
He responded, ‘My cabin.’
I texted, ‘When?’
Then he texted in big, bold letters, ‘ASAP.’
‘Fine, I’m coming now.’ I sent the text and went into my bedroom.
What the hell did he need to see me about?
I sat on my bed completely nude and just sighed. Who was I kidding? I wanted to see him. I missed him. I just didn’t know what I was going to say to him.
I stood up and went to my closet and put on a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt and my black boots. I left my room and went downstairs to Lena’s room. We had been sleeping together every night and taking turns in each other’s beds. I opened Lena’s door and there she was on her bed, listening to her MP3 player.
“What’s up, girlie?” I said.
“Hey sexy, whatcha doing?” she answered.
“I just need a call from a mutual acquaintance.”
“Tommy?” Lena asked, trying her hardest not to sound interested, but I knew better.
“That would be him.”
“He’s more than a mutual acquaintance,” she said, shutting off her music.
“I’d say... for the both of us.”
“So, what did he want?” Again, Lena was trying her hardest to ask questions and sound uninterested.
“It’s okay that you’re curious about him, Lena. How could you not be? It’s been weeks since we’ve heard from him.”
Lena nodded her head. “I know. It’s just a tough subject for the both of us.”
“I know,” I agreed. “It doesn’t have to be.”
“I know,” Lena said. “Anyway, what did he have to say?”
“He actually texted me.”
“He texted you?”
“Yes, and he wants me to meet up with him at his cabin. He made it sound pretty urgent.”
“Do you think he’s in trouble?”
“Who knows? Trouble seems to find that guy.”
“I think I know another person
trouble seems to find,” Lena said, implying that I didn’t have much room to talk. “You can fight it all you want, but you and Tommy are cut from the same cloth. You’re so alike it’s scary.”
I nodded knowingly, but I also knew Tommy and I needed to have a long, serious talk before anything would ever be mended.
I kissed Lena goodbye. I knew she cared for Tommy. It was hard not to, the guy is pretty infectious. I left through the front door. I didn’t transition; I flew up into the sky in my Mani form. Victorville is such a dead community that I knew I could get away with it.
I made my way up the back part of the San Bernardino Mountains and found myself once again at Tommy’s cabin in Running Springs. I decided to land in his yard and look ahead at his giant cabin. I had a lot of memories of this place. This was going to be harder than I thought.
I knocked on the door and there was no answer. I eventually just opened the door and went in. Tommy wasn’t in his front room, but I could hear something in the room where he kept his cage. I walked up to the doorway and looked in. Tommy was in the middle of his cage, sitting cross-legged, drinking what looked to be an entire bottle of vodka.
I stood outside the doorway and just looked in. A part of me wanted to leave and never let him know I was there. I thought better of it, but it bothered me that he was just lying on his back, wasted. I should have known he was drunk. Why else would he contact me? Tommy was an extremely sad drunk sometimes, especially when he drank alone. At a party, he was a madman when he drank, but alone, nothing good usually came of it. He had drunk himself into a suicidal dark place more than once and this was one of his darkest secrets of the ones I knew. This looked like one of those times. His head and face were sweaty and I could tell he had been crying.
Poor guy.
“You okay?” I asked from the door.
Tommy sat up a little surprised. “I’m divine, Josiah, nice of you to ask.”
“You look it,” I said, with an obvious condescending tone.
“Come in, so I can see you, brother.”
“I’m okay, right here,” I said. The room was barely lit and it seemed Tommy was seriously going for serious dramatics.
“What are you afraid of?” Tommy asked.
“You know me better than that by now, Tommy. I’m not afraid of anything.”
“I know one thing you’re afraid of...”
Okay, apparently Tommy wanted to verbally insult me, so I let him play his game. “Please tell me, what would that be?”
“Yourself.”
“Myself?”
“Did I stutter?” Tommy rolled over and knocked over his bottle. He grabbed it before too much had spilled out.
“Actually, you did,” I said, laughing. “It was more of a slur than a stutter.”
“Cute, Josiah,” Tommy composed himself and poured himself a drink. “Just admit it, Josiah, you’re afraid of you.”
“Me? I don’t think that I am.”
“You’re afraid of what’s inside you. You’re afraid of what you’ve become.”
Great, he wanted to be all philosophical. “Tommy, look! Is there something specific you needed to talk about, or were you hoping for some bro time?”
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Tommy spouted.
“Okay, then what is it you want to talk about?” I asked.
Tommy took another sip of his vodka. “I had a business offer from a friend of yours.”
“Huh?” I was now confused.
“You know, your billionaire Mexican amigo that you decided to tell all of our pinky promise secrets to.”
Shit! Romero found Tommy!
“You talked to Romero?” I asked.
“Yes, we had quite the conversation. It seems I ran into some trouble and, low and behold, your boy was there bailing me out. Well, he wasn’t actually bailing me out; he was mainly giving me mercy.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Well, after you cast me out of your Mani Kingdom, I took refuge in the city of sin.”
“Vegas?”
“No, Salt Lake City,” Tommy laughed. “Of course, Vegas. You know me, Josiah. When in Rome, I like to do what the Romans do.”
“Please don’t tell me you started gambling again. The last time you were stuck in it, it cost you all of your winnings.”
“Oh, it cost me a lot more than my winnings this time. I began doing some serious gambling. It made what I won into before child’s play. I actually was up pretty good, but you know how that goes. My luck only lasted so long. Eventually, I was in pretty deep with more than one guy.”
“How deep?”
Tommy was referring to how much money he owed bookies, cashiers, whomever.
“Seven figures.”
“What the hell? You owed a million dollars! How does that happen?”
“It was 3.3 million, to be exact.”
“Holy shit! Are you kidding me?”
“Like I said, I was up pretty big and about a month ago, I had a sure bet, it was a freaking lock, and I decided to put all my winnings, which was around 500 large, with six different bookies.”
“And you lost?”
“I sure as hell didn’t win.”
“You’re a werewolf. Screw them, split town. Who gives a shit about bookies?”
“You don’t think I thought about that. These guys aren’t dummies. They employ guys like us. If I tried to stiff any of them, I would have the whole immortal Mafia after me.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“You don’t even want to know the crazy shit that’s going on in Vegas. I met Doc Holliday!”
“Yeah?”
“He’s one of us.”
“Bullshit!”
“Or at least he’s one of you. The whole coughing-up blood routine is because he has a large appetite for blood. He’s no ‘lunger.’ That’s other people’s blood he was coughing up. He’s a notorious Mani who still resides in Vegas.”
“You’re trying to tell me that Doc Holliday, best friend to freaking Wyatt Earp, is after you?”
“Well, they’re not best friends any longer. Wyatt Earp has been dead for around a hundred years.”
“I could give a rat’s ass about Wyatt Freaking Earp! You’re telling me Doc Holliday, leader of the Immortal Mafia, is after you?”
“Him and others. Those guys don’t mess around.”
Was Tommy telling me the truth? I needed to know more. So, I asked, “How does Romero play into all of this?”
“He’s the head honcho. Doc Holliday reports to his ass! They were going to kill me until I brought you up.”
“Why did you bring me up?”
“I told them if they were going to kill me to let you know. You’re the only family I have since my Grandma passed a couple of months back.”
“So, you said my name? What happened after that?”
“Before I knew it, I was brought to Tijuana to some ranch to meet Romero. He made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse, so to speak.”
“Did you take it?” I asked.
“I had no choice.”
“How long will it take you to pay him off?”
“A long-ass time. He only gives me $25,000 a fight.”
I did the math in my head. Tommy was going to fight 130 times just to cover his debt.
“I’m a huge commodity,” Tommy continued, “because I can fight as a werewolf whenever he wants. Thanks to you, Romero is highly aware I have that ability.”
I noticed earlier that Tommy had some nicks and bruises on his face and arms and now I knew why. Apparently, this poor guy was fighting every chance he had. I felt like shit. This was all my fault.
“Couldn’t you have negotiated a higher per-fight fee?” I asked.
“I actually did. He originally wanted to only give me $20,000. I had him to go to $25,000, as long as I fight at least five times a week.”
“What happens if you are seriously injured?” I asked.
“I don’t know. We haven’t discussed that. I have
n’t lost yet. I usually dispose of my opponent in minutes. It pisses off Romero, but I’m not about to put on a show and risk getting hurt.”
“So, why did you contact me?”
“I need your help.”
“In what regard?”
“I need for you to talk to Romero. He seems pretty fond of you. I’m worn out. I have fought the last ten days in a row. He’s talking about having me fight multiple times in a night, so I can pay off the money faster.”
Romero was completely exploiting Tommy and it was my fault. Well, it was both of our faults. After all, he was the one down three and a half million dollars to bookies. “Can you handle fighting as much as he wants you to?” I asked, feeling guilty as hell to even ask the question.
“I don’t know, probably,” Tommy answered. “But I don’t want to.”
“What do you think I can do?” I asked. I hadn’t a clue how to fix this problem.
“I don’t know; help negotiate a higher per-fight take for me. Maybe ask him to cut what I owe him down. I just need for you to talk to him. Like I said, I’m worn out. I only have a quarter of a million of what I owe paid off. It’s taking a toll on me.”
“Maybe I’ll have a drink, too,” I said. I walked over to Tommy and he poured me a shot into the glass he was drinking from and I downed it. Tommy had the cheap stuff. It tasted like ass.
We sat and didn’t say anything to each other for a couple of minutes. Finally, Tommy broke the silence and said, “What have you been up to?”
“Getting my head straight,” I said.
“That could be dangerous,” he grinned.
“You’re telling me.”
“How are Lena and Yari?”
I smiled at Tommy. “They’re doing well.”
“That’s good.”
“How are things with you two? You and Lena?”
“Look, Tom. I’ll help you in regards to Romero, but let’s leave Lena out of it.”
“Still bitter, I take it.”
“Just drop it.”
“Fair enough.”
“When are you going back to TJ?” I asked.
“Tomorrow. I needed a night off. Romero didn’t even want to give me that.”
The more I was finding out how bad Romero was treating Tommy, the more it was pissing me off. “I’ll come down and talk with him this weekend. Just be sure not to lose or get hurt until then. And it probably won’t hurt you to put on a little show for the crowd every once in a while. It could only help your case when I talk to him. It’ll make you a higher commodity.”
