Vampire Reflections

  VAMPIRE REFLECTIONS

  by

  H.T. Night

  Immortal Warriors #24

  Vampire Reflections

  Published by H.T. Night

  Copyright © 2020 by H.T. Night

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to my sisters, Becky, Valerie and Elaine.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Other Books by H.T. Night

  About the Author

  Vampire Reflections

  Prologue

  The year was 1955; the world was its own special place. I was a senior at Lincoln High in Brentwood, California. It was a cool January afternoon, and the coach had all the varsity wrestlers running laps all the way around the school. We knew better than to goof off because if he found out about it we would be running drills until midnight. In those days, coaches could do stuff like that and get away with it without any complaints.

  I was the fastest wrestler on my team and I wanted our coaching staff to know it every time we did any type of running drill. So I was flying ahead of the pack around the school. The Administration building was on the exact opposite side of the school’s gym. Our wrestling team took turns trading gym time with the basketball teams. We had the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. All other days we would practice outside on mats.

  On this day, passing those Administration buildings was more than just the halfway point. I passed a girl so captivatingly beautiful, I literately ran into a tree.

  I hit the tree and fell backward as if someone had shot me. I fell to the grass wearing my practice singlet. My wrestling singlet was very revealing and tight. I looked like a trapeze artist without the glitter.

  I nearly passed out, then I heard the voice of an angel.

  “Are you okay? Your head is bleeding.”

  I looked up and a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl was looking down at me with concern on her face. Her skin was milky white and smooth. She didn’t have a blemish anywhere on her face. Unlike me, who had a cut running through my eyebrow. She smelled of vanilla and maple syrup. I looked down at her feet and she was wearing a black pair of patent leather Mary Jane shoes with white knee-high socks. I raised my eyes higher, and she was wearing a simple black skirt to her knees and a white button-down blouse tucked neatly into her skirt. I met her bright blue eyes again, and I slowly stood up and dusted myself off.

  “Don’t move too fast. This isn’t a race,” the young lady warned.

  “Actually, it is a race. And I was winning.” I looked up as my pack of teammates passed me, shaking their heads at me. A couple of those guys would probably tell on me the second they got back. But I was going to risk the consequences. I needed to know more about this blond, blue-eyed angel.

  She reached into a small bag she was carrying on her arm. It wasn’t a purse or a backpack. Somewhere in between. She took out a hankie and dabbed at the wound on my head. The second she touched me, every muscle in my body shivered. I started breathing fast, and my heart began to race. She wiped my forehead and even used her own spit to remove the rest of the blood. I was now truly in love.

  “You clean up pretty nice,” the girl said.

  “I have good genes, I guess.” I shrugged.

  “That makes absolutely no sense. Biology is my thing.”

  I smiled at her. “I thought it would be chemistry.”

  “Are you flirting with me or are you being serious?” she smiled at me again.

  “I truly think it’s both.”

  “You’re cute,” she said. “Are you the big stud on campus?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. I did run into a tree after all.” The young lady laughed and continued to press her handkerchief to the wound on my head. Each time she touched my skin, it sent shivers up and down my body. “So, is there a reason why you’re at the front of a high school at 4 pm on a Wednesday?”

  “I enrolled today. I moved out here from Arkansas.”

  “Arkansas?” I asked.

  “Go Razorbacks!” she smiled, and my heart melted again. She needed to quit smiling at me. I was going to have a heart attack.

  “I have never met anyone from Arkansas. You don’t have much of a southern accent.”

  “If you never met anyone from the South, how would you know?” she quipped.

  “I didn’t mean that as an insult. I actually am very fond of your voice. It’s quite pretty.”

  “My voice is?” she asked.

  “No one has ever told you that?”

  “Actually... no. But thanks... uh. I'm sorry, don’t know your name.” she lifted her hankie and checked my wound. It must have stopped bleeding because she nodded and stuffed her hankie back into her bag.

  “It’s Todd. What is yours?” I said, feeling a bit disappointed that she had pulled away from me.

  “Marlene.”

  I smiled at her and nodded.

  “It’s my middle name. My birth name is Agnus.”

  “I think Marlene is much prettier,” I said, foolishly, feeling awkward.

  “So you think Agnus is an unattractive name?”

  “Not at all. I just think they're both pretty names.” I was trying to take my foot out of my mouth.

  “I’m teasing you, Todd,” she winked.

  I laughed. “You got me.”

  Tearing my eyes from the goddess before me, I noticed there weren't any of my teammates anywhere in sight. I needed to go back to practice, or I was going to be in big trouble. But something kept my feet plastered to the cement in front of this beautiful woman. I wanted to know more about this new person in my life. I knew I couldn’t just turn around and run away. I couldn’t assume we would see each other in our daily lives at high school. She was a new girl, a knockout and every single junior and senior would be making a run at her. Probably a few brave sophomores and freshmen too.

  This was my chance. This beautiful girl was giving me her undivided attention. “Practice is over,” I said to Marlene, lying through my teeth. “Would you like to go somewhere and grab a burger? I'm starving.” It was a casual date offer. Nothing fancy, but clearly I asked her out.

  “You sure your practice is over? Where are your regular clothes? Do you need to go back to the locker room and change?” She asked looking at my outfit, which was a blue t-shirt over a wrestling singlet.

  Lucky for me I had my Ford truck sitting in the nearby parking lot. It was my parent's old vehicle, and they had given it to me when they upgraded. “We can stop by my house and I can change. My truck is right over there.” I pointed to the white Ford truck in the school's parking lot.

  “Okay,” Marlene said with a wide grin.

  ***

  My wife and I had about the craziest first date in the history of the world.

  So, Marlene and I pulled into the burger joint and the first thing we noticed was that it was fairly busy. It was teaming with people.

  It was 6:00 pm, and the sun had already gone down. It was dark in Orange Cou
nty because it was January. I didn’t see any students from school, so that was a plus. I had high hopes this was going to be a drama free date. Marlene got us a table while I grabbed some clothes I had in the truck and used the restroom to change.

  We ordered our food: hamburgers, fries and chocolate shakes. Marlene didn't order any fries, but she kept swiping mine. I didn't mind at all. We had some great conversation about our lives and what brought Marlene here. I told her about my parents and promised to introduce her to them as soon as possible. She was one of the most beautiful people on the planet, but at the same time, I felt comfortable with her. Like she was one of the guys, who just happened to be a lady. I was perfectly at ease with her.

  We continued to talk for the next hour, and it was absolute heaven. Marlene ate like a normal person, unlike some of my past dates who picked at their food only to have the waitress throw it away later. Unfortunately, the door of the diner opened, three greasers from our rival school Savannah walked in and brought hell with them. Two of them were wearing sweatshirts with hoods over their heads. In high school, it was all about numbers. I probably could have taken any one of the guys individually in a fistfight, but there were three of them and I was alone on a date.

  Tony Santino was their leader, and he was a mean son of a bitch. He was well known for being a bully. Santino looked at me and we made eye contact. That was all the prodding someone like him needed to raise hell with somebody. He motioned to his friends to follow him over to our booth.

  “Aren’t you a football player for Brentwood High?” Santino asked me as if it was a threat to his manhood.

  “No,” I said, trying to keep my cool. “I'm on the wrestling team, though.” Santino started focusing on his switchblade and I knew this wasn't going to end well.

  When Santino made a rude comment to Marlene, I stood up and put my body between the two of them. That's when the other two greasers came around and grabbed my arms. Then Santino took out his switchblade and before I realized it was happening, he stabbed me in the stomach three times. Initially, I didn't feel any pain. It was just a feeling of intense pressure in my stomach.

  Then my stomach was burning, and I thought I was dead or dying. When I looked up all three greasers were running out of the diner like a bunch of cowards. Marlene was yelling for someone to call the police, her eyes filled with tears. Her hands were pressed down on my stomach trying to prevent me from bleeding out.

  What a great first date.

  ***

  Marlene had stayed by my side until about five in the morning the night I was stabbed. Eventually, she needed to get home because she was concerned about her family.

  After she left the room, I closed my eyes intending to rest, but I was woken by a strange man followed by two even odder men all of them were wearing black from head to toe. All three looked like modern-day rock stars and I was highly confused as to why they were wearing such strange attire and what they were doing in my hospital room.

  The lead man had a look of recognition on his face—it was as if he knew me—but he didn’t ring any bells for me. I expected him to introduce himself but instead, he simply said, “You want revenge, don’t you?” He was obviously the leader.

  “Revenge?” I muttered. “Do I know you?”

  “Shhhh. Don’t speak too loudly. This is a secret house call,” He chuckled and said, “Well, secret hospital bed call.” His voice did sound familiar, and it certainly helped soothe my emotions. He grabbed a chair and pulled it up right next to the head of my hospital bed.

  “Revenge is an ugly thing,” he whispered in my ear. “Those three idiots punked you in front of your girl and left you to die. Why? What the hell did you do? We are here to heal you.”

  “Heal me?” I asked, confused. “The doctor patched me up with 47 stitches. It’s going to take time to heal.”

  “I can heal the wounds that were given to you by that lunatic right now.”

  “You’re going to heal my stab wounds?” I was beginning to wonder if the three of them had walked off of the Mental Ward when someone wasn’t paying attention.

  “Well, actually we all are.” he motioned to the other two men who flanked him.

  “You all are? How?” I asked, thinking it would be good to keep them talking until a doctor or a nurse walked by and made them leave.

  “Do you want me to heal you? Do you want this gift?” He put his hand on my shoulder, “Don’t make this decision lightly, boy.”

  “How are you going to heal me?” I asked him again.

  He shook his head, “No, this gift is only given. It cannot be explained. Once you have the knowledge, well, then you only have two choices and I don’t think you would like those choices.”

  I thought about the pain I was currently feeling because the morphine was beginning to wear off and how I would love to be at full strength when I made Santino pay for stabbing me. I paused for a very long time and then the words abruptly came out of me, “Do it. Heal me.” It could have been the morphine talking because I had no idea what these three could do that the doctor couldn't.

  The tallest of the three came to the head of my bed, as the other two pinned my arms down. He actually bent down and bit my neck and began sucking like a newborn drinking milk from its mother's breast. I was so out of it because of the morphine in my system, that I just lay there in shock. Then one of the other men traded places with him and he bit and sucked the other side of my neck. Then the ring leader leaned over my bed and we were face to face. He was so close I thought he was going to kiss me. He opened his mouth, and for the first time, I saw his incisors. They were long and pointed. They looked out of place on a human face and seemed as if they would be better on a wolf or a large cat. Definitely more fitting on a predatory animal than on a human. Before I could say anything or react, he bit down into my neck. At first, I fought him off, then my entire body went into shock as this man drank blood from my neck.

  It was intoxicating. Both pleasureful and painful. I wanted to shove him off me in disgust and pull him closer at the same time.

  Suddenly, he stopped. He stood up and gave me a bloodstained grin. That was my blood all over his mouth! My blood was all over all three of their mouths. Then the grinning man took one long pointed nail and cut his wrist open. What came out could only be described as coagulated blood. I was light-headed and thought I was going to throw up. Positive that I would rip my stitches open with the action. Though that option was taken from me when he grabbed the back of my head and forced his bleeding wrist over my mouth. I tried to protest, but I only succeeded in opening my mouth and helping the assault. It was cold, gelatinous and tasted of dirty pennies. As disgusted as I was I felt myself improving the more I drank from his wrist. Eventually, I stopped trying to push his wrist away from my face and I began to hold it to my face. I needed it like I needed nothing else in my life. Soon, too soon, he pulled his wrist away from me and the three of them walked out as if they had never even been there.

  I remember looking at the clock and it read 6:08 am. I have never forgotten those two numbers. They have haunted me since. The number six and the number eight.

  That night started my life as an immortal. I remember thinking at the time that my life was over, but in reality, it was when my life first began.

  Chapter One

  Modern Day

  Everyone was asleep in the house except for me. They were all disciplined warriors who knew to be in their sleeping spots a half-hour before sunrise. It was my turn to take the first shift in the crow's nest. It's not an actual crow's nest, but a security system in which we control eight monitors overlooking the entire property. It was a humongous ranch. It didn't go on for days, but there were a lot of places hidden by brush where we had to stick cameras in to optimize our safety.

  We needed to make sure that nobody could attack us stealthily by ground or air. Were we paranoid? Not in the slightest. There were over 10 million dollars in bounties on the heads of the people in this house.

  I
was in a room full of immortals. There were eight vampires including myself and one werewolf named Tommy who was capable of kicking the ass of every super in the room except the leader. The leader of this crew was Josiah Reign. He was kind and just. His heart was only bigger than his sword. And Josiah Reign carried a mighty sword. He created a family who understands trust and loyalty go a long way in this new world we all live in.

  Sleeping in a room with eight other people was a far cry from what my life had been just six months ago. Six months ago, I was sleeping in a motel running out of money fast. The two people closest to me were gone, and I was trying to make it in this new paranormal world.

  I was in the right place at the right time and witnessed some injustice go down. I watched five men and one woman take out on 300 vampires who tried to kill them for their bounties. I watched it from a distance and was incredibly impressed with the vigor and strength these six had. Fighting for your life brings something out of a man that is more lethal than a money payday. And these six had shown it that night. Not only fighting for their own lives, but looking out for each other too. They had my respect immediately.

  So, when the time was right, I made my presence known and helped Josiah and his crew defeat the Mani bastards looking to cash in on all their bounties. Josiah was distracted defending someone and didn't see the blades coming his way. I ran and tackled him out of the way. Like I said, the folks I currently live with have the highest bounties of anyone I ever heard of. This was shocking because when you speak to each one individually you realize these were just regular people trying to survive in a maddening world.

  Although I helped them that night, I was told by Sion, the MIT graduate of the group, that a bounty had yet to be placed on my head. Probably due to the fact that no one knew who I was when I started fighting alongside Josiah and his crew. I was the mysterious stranger.