H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (116 page)

So, I left my apartment and locked it up
really well. I hopped into Dave’s Mazda and he drove us a total of
.2 miles to Che’s coffee shop.

We parked and headed into the fancy coffee
shop. Che’s coffee shop was a typical establishment out here. The
owners tried so hard to be cool and hip that they usually miss the
mark completely. We both ordered a cappuccino and sat down in the
very back far away from the other patrons so no one could hear our
conversation.

“So what’s up, Kyro? You do want to be
called Kyro correct?”

“Yes. For now, that is the name I want to go
by when I’m among Carni company.”

When I said the name Carni, Dave eyes lit up
and he smiled.

“Was that your first reach out?” Dave
asked.

“Reach out? Hey man, I didn’t do anything
with anyone,” I said jokingly. “I would especially know if I going
around giving reach outs.”

Dave looked at me as if he wasn’t sure if I
was kidding or if I was really that stupid. The funny part is I had
no idea what he meant by reach out. So I said, “What exactly is a
reach-out?”

“It’s when a newly made werewolf looks to
meet up with his or her own kind for the first time. We gave it a
name awhile back because everyone does it as some point in their
Carni journey. It’s like your coming-out party.”

“Again, with the gay references. I’m
beginning to think Carni and gay are equally exclusive.”

“We have our gay werewolves as does any
subculture, but Carnis tend to attract all types, races, and
classes. We’re just as gay as any other group.”

“Good to know. You never know when your
wanting to take up a bat for the other team.”

Again, Dave how no idea of what to make of
my humor. I was keeping him rattled and that was the way I liked
it. Why I liked it that way? I had no clue. I decided to cut Dave
some slack and just answer his damn question. “It was a reach out
in the classical sense.”

“Okay, good. Then I’m glad we talked. It’s
kind of my thing to help newbies along.”

“Can I ask you a question Dave? Did I have a
neon sign on my back that read ‘American Werewolf’?”

“American werewolf?” Dave laughed. “No,
there was no neon sign.”

Note to self, ‘American Werewolf” is a
badass name. I looked across the table at Dave in this suburban
coffee shop and asked the obvious question that was on my mind.
“How did you know I was a Carni?”

“It’s not that hard, Kyro. When you have
been one as long as I have been, it’s not that hard to do.”

“As long as you? How old are you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,”
Dave said.

“Try me?” I answered eagerly waiting his
response.

“505 years old.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I wish I was. But sadly it is true. I’ve
seen it all. I was one of the first back in the day.”

“One of the first? How did it start?”

“No one knows for sure, but the consensus is
a lot of things went wrong or right at the same moment to create
such a species.”

“So no one knows for sure. That’s our
history? A blank fucking page?”

“Tommy, our species is young. There aren’t
even a thousand of us worldwide. We’re still making our own
history. Who know? You might even become the George Washington of
the Carni race?”

“No thanks, he was a slave owner. I’d much
rather be Abraham Lincoln.”

“Fine, you can be our honest Abe. Right
there on the Carni Mount Rushmore will be your grill years from
now.”

I laughed. It actually wasn’t that bad of an
idea. I kept studying Dave’s face closely.

“Why are you looking at me so funny?” Dave
asked.

“I’m just pretty blown away right now. It’s
not every day you meet someone who is over 500 years old.

“I’m the same as everyone else.”

“It’s just when you put your my pants on,
you’re sticking 500-year-old legs through the pants, one leg at a
time.”

“You never stop, do you?”

“The problem is when I stop that is when the
world grows cold.”

“So you’re ornery for the good of
mankind?”

“I do what I can?” I kept staring at Dave’s
face and laughing. “I’m telling you that you look fresh. It’s as if
someone just opened you up out of a 21-year-old man package.”

“I was 21 when I turned. Very good, Kyro. Do
you have any other hidden skills?”

“That’s why I’m here talking to you. I want
to know if I do or not...have, as you say, hidden skills. I have a
lot of questions about what I have become.”

Dave switched gears and got a little more
serious. “I bet you do. Imagine how I felt, discovering everything
for the first time all by myself.”

“Tell me everything you’ve learned in 500
years.”

“I can’t exactly tell you everything off the
top of my head. Why don’t you ask me questions and we can go from
there?”

I stared at Dave and my first burning
question was the following: “What do I give off that makes it
obvious that I am a werewolf?” I asked.

“It’s not a smell or even an attitude you
possess. It’s purely sociological. The bar last night is designed
to be pretty uninteresting. So unless you’re a drunk, and the
verdict is still out on that with all the double shots of tequila
that you had last night. But the only reason like a guy like you
would stick around last night with all those dull and uninteresting
people were that you were seeking to find some answers.

“Well, I guess I gave that off because I
didn’t know where to begin and last night was my first reach
out.”

“I know it was. Your cherry was visible a
hundred feet across the bar.”

“My cherry.”

“Your reach out werewolf cherry, Kyro. Is
that too visual for the guy who has made it a point to try to shock
me at every turn in this conversation?”

“Touché, Dave. No one at the table talked
about being a werewolf.”

“What’s there to talk about? Eventually, you
run out of things to talk about. It’s like everything else. We
don’t need to put you or ourselves on blast volume about it. God
only knows who is in the bar at any given moment.”

“You say ‘we’ as if you’re in on the inside
with those guys?”

“I am. But it isn’t guys. It’s one guy.
Marcos is the only person you needed to meet last night.”

“You’re turning out to be a pretty valuable
commodity.”

“You’re not aware of it, Kyro,” Dave
continued. “You came into Daniel’s Den of Lions last night.
Everyone who is anyone in the werewolf community was at that big
table last night.”

“But you just said that Marcos was the only
important person?”

“That is exactly my point. The most
important person was gushing over you all night. What happened last
night was priceless. You couldn’t earn that much Carni equity if
you kicked a different Mani’s ass every day of the week for a
year.”

I laughed. “Sounds intriguing. A lone
werewolf versus 365 vampires in a year. I’d need a bigger ego for
that kind of challenge. And a lot more health insurance.” And
boyfriend equity with Maya, to pull that one off, without her
freaking out on me.

Dave smiled, as if he had heard my thought.
“The boss labeled you a bad ass. Of course you will have some
haters, but most of us are impressed.”

“Impressed. There’s nothing to be impressed
about.”

“You’re an MMA fighter. That’s as good as it
gets for a Tandra. Now, throw in that you are one of us. A Carni?
Well, that is the cat’s meow.”

“Cat’s meow? You are old school, aren’t
you?”

“I’m telling you, it’s rough. Sayings and
slogans come and go, and I remember them all. The other day, I said
‘Where’s the beef?’ in a fast food restaurant and everyone looked
at me like I was crazy.”

“Where’s the what?” I asked.

“Oh, my God. That was just 1984!” Dave
laughed out loud.

I looked at Dave and I had 101 questions for
him. I decided to give him the biggest one first. “Dave, what are
the advantage, other than immortality, to being a werewolf?”

“You’re about 15 percent stronger in your
human form.”

“Fifteen percent,” I asked. “That’s a weird
number. Who came up with that?”

“No one did. It’s more than 10 percent and
not quite 20 percent. So we came up with 15 percent. We didn’t put
NASA’s mathematicians to work on the equation. It’s just
information we have gathered through our lifetimes.”

“Are there other things we can do?”

“What do you want to do?” Dave asked,
curious.

“It’s just seems that vampires have it
really good. They turn into birds and can fly. I’d seen some fly
even when they aren’t birds. They seem a lot quicker and stronger
than we are.”

“I guess it’s the law of the Triat. Vampires
have no part of the day. They can’t function on any level during
sunlight. Could you imagine how bad that would suck?”

“I know firsthand how bad that sucks. I had
a good friend who was one.”

“Was one?”

“Well, he still is. He went away. He was
pretty ostracized by his own kind.”

“That’s the way they are. They are savages.
They call us dogs and beasts, but we are still human except for
three nights in a month. Even then, we have no clue what happens to
us.”

“That never changes?” I asked. “I was hoping
the more I turn that eventually I’ll start remembering things that
I did on four legs.”

“You’ll start to remember more things as
time goes by. You see things in your human form that remind you of
something you experienced as a Carni. That is always evolving. It
actually gives me hope that someday we will have cognitive
thought.

I had more questions for Dave so I threw him
another one. “This is my biggest question,” I said. “How come no
one knows about us?”

“Regular folks know about us. Why do you
think their folklore is so accurate? They have some facts wrong,
but they sure as hell can draw us and even act like us if
necessary. Look at Hollywood. They got some of it right,
anyway.”

“Carni are commonly seen?”

“I wouldn’t say commonly. We only turn at
night, so more often than not people think their eyes are just
playing games with them. But, they have seen us. Have you noticed
that all Bigfoot sightings are in the wilderness?”

I looked at Dave and had no idea what he
meant by that. “What are you saying?”

“We are Bigfoot,” Dave said plainly.

“Holy shit. We’re Bigfoot? Werewolves are?
Are you kidding me?”

“Nope. All of the Bigfoot sightings have
been werewolves.”

“How come the pictures look more
ape-like?”

“Because only the sightings are at night. We
often contradict the actual eyewitness original story. After one of
us is done telling about what we fictitiously saw, we have the guy
8 feet tall and a friend of Tarzan.”

“Wow. I’ve seen some folks be pretty adamant
on those discovery channel shows,” I said.

“Luckily, most of the sightings are by
people who aren’t the brightest or the most sober when they have
seen us. When that happens, we let the crazies have at it. They see
a blur and for some reason, they think something that large
creature has more human qualities and the closest thing to human is
an ape. So they say they saw an ape creature. And werewolf becomes
Bigfoot in their minds.”

“You said there are almost a thousand of us.
Where does everyone stay?”

“Marcos’s other business is a luxury Carni
kennel. It’s really high priced, but he has some really rich folks
who make their monthly pilgrimage to Anaheim and camp in his
junkyard.”

“His high-class luxury kennel is a
junkyard?”

“It’s the best cover. On the outside it
looks like a dirty garbage dump. On the inside, it’s a Carni
paradise.”

“Is that where you stay?”

“I can’t afford that place. I’m not working,
just living on savings right now.”

“He doesn’t give you a deal?”

“You obviously don’t know Marcos. That man
and the word ‘deal’ have no business in the same sentence.”

“He seemed pretty generous last night.”

“That’s his thing. It appears he is, but he
was serving us the cheapest alcohol he had.”

“Very classy, and I say that with dripping
sarcasm. It tasted like Patrón. Oh well. So what do you do?”

“In what regard?”

“When you turn? Where do you go? I need a
better set up than the one I have.”

“I have place up north where I go. In a
couple of weeks, I’ll take you up there on the next full moon.
There’s a Carni-friendly rancher who allows a few of us to roam his
property. It’s actually quite nice being able to run free all
night. He has no livestock to kill so we just roam the forest and
run under the moon, free as, well, wolves.”

Wow. No cage. The thought gave me a thrill.
“I have one last question.”

“Go for it, Kyro.”

“Do you have a girl at home?”

“Oh, you’re wondering if I dig women? The
answer is yes, but at the present moment I do not have a woman at
home. I’m flying single.”

“Up until a year ago, that was the only way
I knew how to fly, too, but I met an amazing woman. I have just
made the mistake of not getting that kind of thing out in the open
in the beginning of a friendship.”

“What happened?” Dave asked.

“He was very confused when I came out to
him,” I said with a smirk on my face.

“You should do stand-up comedy.”

“I once did an open mic night and completely
froze.”

“I would have paid big money to have seen
that.”

* * *

The truth of the matter was that I had no
idea how to live without either thinking about or preparing to be a
mixed martial arts fighter. Putting MMA out of my life was hard.
Josiah seemed heartbroken that I was giving it up for now. He even
called his sister a dream wrecker and they had words. I told the
kid to back off because it was my decision at the end of the day.
He wasn’t buying it. He and I were cut from the same cloth. It was
what I had to do to allow my girlfriend to be safe. And keep her
happy with me. In my mind, I was confident that this is the right
decision. For now.