H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (119 page)

Josiah and I started training four times a
week. Two of the times were early morning before he was supposedly
going to go to school. I wasn’t the kid’s truant officer, so if he
went to school or not, it wasn’t my business. His parents never
seemed to give him a hard time about school. The other two training
sessions were gym workouts at my gym in Anaheim Hills.

Josiah had sick instincts when it came to
fighting. The problem with the kid was that his instincts were
lethal. I had to tone him down or he was going to kill every guy in
the gym, just in the workouts. MMA is an interesting sport because
it is virtually impossible to fight at a 100% unless you’re in a
real match against a human opponent. I had to teach Josiah to spar,
not terminate life.

Every guy in my gym agreed that no one
wanted to go toe to toe with him, mainly because it was highly
unsafe. Josiah didn’t know how to tone it down during sparring. He
would try to rip every guy’s head off. The problem with Josiah
wasn’t in making him aggressive. The issues we were dealing with
were how did we keep his aggression under wraps and have him only
let it out at the right time? In the ring only? In competition?

We had a great workout in my gym. I decided
to take Josiah to a juice bar and get some vitamins in us. We
ordered our drinks and sat at a table. We both had showered at the
gym and were a little tired and worn out from the workout.

“How good are those guys back at the gym?”
Josiah asked.

“They are the best southern California has
to offer,” I said. “Why?”

Josiah smiled at me. “Just curious.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just know I can beat any of them.”

“You do, huh?” Josiah cracked me up. He was
six feet tall, and weighed 170 pounds with almost zero muscularity.
The guys at my gym would eat him for breakfast in a real match.

“You know no one fights you in the gym at
100 percent, right?” I said.

“Well, neither do I,” Josiah said. “I was
holding back.”

“They aren’t even fighting you at 50
percent,” I pressed. He needed to know the reality of the
situation.

“So, what are you saying, Tommy? You think
I’d lose to those guys back at the gym?”

“There might be one or two you could beat
right now. It’s not personal. Most of those guys are extremely
seasoned fighters. They humored us by fighting you at a 50% spar
level, out of respect for me. And because of your age and lack of
experience.”

“Wait, wait. Humored me?” Josiah sounded
pissed. “No one humors me. They keep on their toes because they
know if they let their guard down for one second, I will lay them
out like cordwood.”

“That’s the whole point, Jo. You’re not
supposed to lay anyone out unless you’re in the ring. They are on
their toes against you because you’re not used to sparring and they
are afraid they might take one on the chin. Nobody wants to take
one on the chin when they’re just working out.”

“You really think I’m a pansy, don’t
you?”

“A pansy? Hell no. You’re the toughest
16-year-old kid in the world. Those guys are in their mid-twenties
at the top of their game. You need to keep things in perspective.
You aren’t even done growing yet, bro. You probably have a couple
inches in height and another 30 pounds to pack on before you win a
title.”

Josiah nodded. I could tell he wasn’t buying
it, but all I could was give it to him straight. “I have a question
for you,” Josiah said.

“Go for it.”

What do you think about me trying out for
football next year?”

“Football? You mean at your high
school?”

“No, for the Oakland Raiders. Of course, my
high school. I’m going to be a senior and I know I’m tougher than
all those guys.”

“Football isn’t about hand-to-hand combat.
It’s about colliding into your opponent at full speed. And it’s a
team sport. MMA is about the individual.”

“I’ll figure out, and when I do, I’ll be the
best at it.”

“Well, if you’re excited about it, I say go
for it. You’re going to have to get your grades up and start going
to school every day. They are really strict about that.”

“I’ll do what I have to do.”

“What position do you want to play?”

“Linebacker or running back.”

I looked at Josiah’s tall, lanky body and
said, “You’ll need to pack on like forty pounds, but I think you’d
be great.”

“I’d be more than great.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I paused and
took a long gulp of my wheat grass and lime drink. It tasted like
ass. “How’s your drink?”

“It tastes like what you imagine Flintstone
vitamins would taste like if you blended them up in a blender with
some juice and bits of pieces of human ass.”

“Yeah. I’m with you there. All I know is,
it’s good for you.”

“So they say. Wouldn’t it be something if 20
years from now they figured out that vitamin drinks like this were
the leading cause to cancer and diabetes?”

“That’s pretty morbid!” I looked at Josiah
and he was a really handsome kid. Girls and women often checked him
out and he was oblivious to it. “Hey, Jo, do you have a
girlfriend?”

“I was asked by a couple of different girls
to my school’s Sadie Hawkins dance but I said no.”

“You said no to a three-way?” I joked.

“Not a three-way, two different girls asked
me to go to the dance at different times.”

“Just playing around, kid. Don’t get your
panties in a bundle.”

“Do you love my sister?” Josiah asked.

His question threw me because I wasn’t ready
for it. I laughed out loud when he asked that.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked. “It’s not
that funny of a question, she really cares about you Tommy, and if
you don’t feel the same way, you better not hurt her. Cause if you
hurt her, I’ll kick your—”

“Hold your horses, Teen Spirit. I’m very
much in love with your sister.”

“You are?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? She’s hot. ”

“Is she? I can’t tell. She’s my sister. She
hogs the bathroom because she’s always in the shower. She bakes
stuff. She teases me. She smells funny.”

“No she doesn’t. Trust me. Your sister is a
ten.”

“A ten, even!”

“Her personality makes her off the chart.
She’s the best human being I have ever known. And she smells like
heaven to me.”

“That’s good to know you feel that way. I’ll
be sure to pass it along to my parents.”

“Okay, hold back the smell part from your
parents. But why pass it on to them? Don’t your parents think I
love her?”

“They worry about her. She’s ‘all in’ with
you. They both think you’re an awesome guy. But, you kind of are a
wild card at times.”

“What makes me a wild card?” I was always on
my best behavior around Maya’s parents.

“Your personality,” Josiah said.

“What do you know about my personality?”

“You’re a little aloof and unpredictable.
You have got to admit, you’re a pretty mysterious guy.”

I chuckled at Josiah’s statements. “I guess
I am, kid.”

“Well, I wonder where you really go off to,
once a month, to God knows where, to do God knows what.”

“Hey, I told you, I’m in the military, an
elite force. Anytime, anywhere, they can call me and I have to
go.”

“I know. So you said. Hey, can I ask a favor
from you?” Josiah asked.

“Go for it.”

“Quit calling me kid. It makes me want to
kick your ass every time you say it.”

“Kick my ass, huh?” I asked, amused. “You
really think you can?”

Josiah just smiled.

Damn the kid was cockier than I was. No
wondered I thought the world of him.

* * *

I got a strange call from Dave. “Kyro,
what’s up?” Dave said.

“What’s up, my man? You know, you don’t have
to call me Kyro. I just like for the others to do it.”

“Trust me. Today, you’re all about being
Kyro. I need to meet with you and I need to come clean on some
stuff.”

“Come clean? What the fuck does that
mean?”

“Let’s meet up. I don’t want to do this over
the phone.”

This was extremely bizarre, but I knew Dave
needed to talk face to face. “Where do you want to meet?”

“It’s got to be somewhere really private.
I’ll meet you at the beach.”

“The beach?” Damn, he really did want to do
this privately. “Which one?”

“The pier in Huntington. Right off Pacific
Coast Highway. There’s a fishing store on the pier. I’ll meet you
right in front of it.”

“Seriously, I have to go all the way out
there? That’s not exactly the next city over.”

“Just do it, Kyro. Trust me. You’ll
understand when we talk.”

“All right, brother. I’ll be there in an
hour.” I hung up the phone and just stared at the living room wall.
I really needed to clean this front room. It was a mess. I had a
cage in here for months and I never quite made it look nice since I
moved it. I think I was expecting Maya to do it. Isn’t that what
women do when they move in. Nest? The only nesting Maya did was in
my medicine cabinet and closet space, as she shoved in her makeup,
fragrances, leg-waxing stuff, jeans, tops, a few dresses, and
dozens of pairs of shoes, boots, and sandals. She must have had a
hundred pairs of footwear.

“Who was that?” Maya asked walking into the
living room from our bedroom. She was running a brush through her
long blonde hair. What a turn-on that was to me, to watch her draw
the bristles through the yard of blonde silk shimmering from her
head.

“It was Dave.”

“What did he want?” She saw me looking at
her hair and brushed her hair more seductively, giving me the eye
for a moment.

I grinned a bit at her flirting, trying to
keep on track. “It’s important. He needs to talk.”

“Talk to you further than he did with you on
the phone?”

“Yeah, he didn’t say what it was about. He
wants me to meet him at the beach.”

“It’s nighttime. Does he want to go on a
moonlight walk along the coast?”

“I think it’s the furthest thing from that.
I’m not sure if I want to leave you alone here. I don’t have a good
feeling about this. I’m going to drive you over to your parents.
I’ll tell Dave I’ll be a little longer.”

“Is it that serious?” Maya asked. She threw
her hairbrush on the coffee table, annoyed. No more flirting from
her in the next few minutes, I knew.

“We are dealing with werewolves. God only
knows what it could be about.”

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, her
big blue eyes filled with true concern.

“I’ll be fine. The pier where we are meeting
is out in the open, so I’m pretty sure he’s not setting me up.”

“Do you think he’s capable of that?” Maya
asked.

“My gut says ‘no.’ But we’re dealing with
immortal dogs. I don’t know what stirs inside some of these guys. I
trust Dave, and that’s all I know.”

So, Maya got ready and I took her home to
her parents. I gave her a giant hug and kiss goodbye, and then made
my way to Huntington Beach. I took the 91 freeway to the 55
freeway. Then I jumped on the 22 Freeway, and turned left on Beach
Boulevard to Pacific Coast Highway. It took a while to find
parking. But I managed to get a spot near the pier.

As I walked to the pier, I passed
restaurants and shops that draped the beachside area. I loved the
way the air smelled when I got this close to the beach at night –
the salt air was fresh and invigorating and I inhaled, sucking in
the scent of the ocean and everything and everyone on the
pier—women’s perfume, men’s sweat, fish bait smells, sexual arousal
of couples, and the occasional brown pelican with dead-fishy breath
dozing on the railing. The pier overlooked the Pacific Ocean. It
was around 9:00 p.m. and the ebony velvet night sky was painted
liberally with stars. It was so romantic, so magnificent, that I
almost wished I had brought Maya with me. Almost. It could be
dangerous and my senses were sharp and aware of everything around
me. But yeah, this was a happening date night place.

I spotted Dave right in front of a fishing
shop, right at the end of the pier. Dave saw me and waved me over.
He had blue jeans on with a large brown coat. I wasn’t as smart as
Dave with my wardrobe. I only wore a long sleeved black T-shirt
with blue jeans. It was getting chilly, but the curiosity was
killing the cat, and I desperately needed to know what Dave wanted
to talk to me about. My cold body would have to wait.

I walked up to Dave, and he and I shook
hands and nodded at each other. There was a bench to the right of
the pier that faced the water. We both walked over to it and sat
down.

I sat there and stared straight ahead at the
black ocean. “What’s up, Dave? You got me out here. So speak.”

“Tommy…”

“So, you’re calling me Tommy now?”

“Yes. This is serious. You know I’m legit,
right?”

“Define legit?” I asked.

“You know I’m a real dude. I’m not full of
shit.”

“I’m pretty good at reading bullshit, but
every once in a while a great bull-shitter gets one by me. Are you
a great bull-shitter, Dave?” I still had no clue what he was
talking about.

“I became your friend,” Dave continued,
“because I generally liked you. I have seen a lot of people come in
and out of my life since I’ve been on this earth, and you are
definitely a unique and fascinating individual.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere. Go
on.”

“I’m saying this to you because you have to
know I didn’t have anything to gain being friends with you.”

“At first?” I said leading.

“Huh?”

“You’re saying at first you had nothing to
gain. You basically want me to know that your original friendship
was legit. But, somewhere along the way, someone or something
changed that.”

“Someone tried to,” Dave said.

“Okay. Now we’re on to something,” I said.
“Who is the someone?”