The Fourth Sunrise: A Love Story Read online

  I mouthed out loud what I was supposedly texting to give the illusion I was really interested in my make-believe text. I had to play it like I was completely unaware of the hot brunette that I was standing next to me in the parking lot. This kind of move hardly ever works, but it was worth a shot.

  I took my time and eventually looked over at her to see that the brown-haired beauty and me were about fifteen feet apart. She caught me looking in her direction and I gave my sincerest, warmest smile. Her eyes locked in on me. Bingo! She was interested.

  “Do I know you?” she asked.

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “Why?”

  “I don’t know, maybe it was just the way you were looking at me.”

  “How was I looking at you?” I said, laughing.

  “I don’t know. You looked at me like you recognized me.”

  “Sorry, I was just texting a friend and you caught my eye.”

  She nodded her head like a woman who hears that kind of thing all the time. She stopped texting and looked up at me and said, “Why is the bar so dead?”

  “It’s usually pretty active. It is New Year’s Day.”

  “Oh yeah, it is. That’s funny, I was up until noon last night, I took and nap and then came here. So, it feels like the next day. Even though it’s the same day.”

  “That would do it to you. Sleeping during the day always messes up my internal body clock.”

  Then something odd happened. She looked at me with a concerned, puzzled look. I looked at her and then she motioned toward her nose. You know, that motion people do when you have a booger. Are you kidding me? Really? I have a big booger hanging out of my nose? Apparently, not just a small one, she looked at it like there was an asteroid hanging out of my nostril. I was horrified.

  She continued to stare right at my nostril and now her face went from moderate concern to absolute horror. How big was this booger? I finally reached toward my face and as I did I felt a drip fall from my nose to the ground below. Holy shit, my nose was bleeding.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, rushing over to me.

  I tilted back my head and the young lady pulled some tissue out of her purse.

  “Don’t put your head back you’ll choke on your own blood,” she said. “You need to lean forward and pinch your nose.” She grabbed my hand and led me back inside the bar. She walked me across the bar to the restroom area.

  “It only took you five minutes for her to punch you in the face, Tommy.” Megan yelled out, laughing, as I was being swept off by my new brown-haired friend.

  She took me into the ladies’ room. She was still holding my hand while she opened the door to the bathroom. The first thing I noticed was that there were no urinals and all of the stalls had doors. There was even a little table with a plant on top. Are you kidding me? The men’s bathroom was disgusting, and this bathroom looked like a room at the Hilton.

  “Lean over the sink,” she said. “Why is your nose bleeding? Did you get into a fight?”

  I pinched my nose and leaned over the sink. I looked at myself in the mirror. Damn! Even their mirror was bigger! The blood flow seemed to be slowing.

  “You have a name, bleeder?” the woman asked wiping my nose for me. She leaned in and wow, she smelled incredible. She smelled like vanilla and I liked vanilla a lot.

  “My name is Tommy.”

  “Tommy? Is it short for Thomas?”

  “No, and that wouldn’t be short. The two names are almost just as long.” I counted the letters in my head.

  “Okay, smartass. You never answered me. Is there a reason why you’re bleeding all over me?”

  I owed her an explanation; I mean after all, she had brought me into the women’s bathroom. “I’m a professional mixed martial arts fighter and sometimes my nose just unexpectedly bleeds. It has to do with the fact I’m constantly losing weight.”

  “A professional fighter?” her eyes lit up. “Nice. That is about the most interesting thing I’ve heard all day.”

  “Is it more interesting than a guy bleeding in front of you, seconds after meeting him?”

  “No, that definitely was more interesting. You’re two for two in the intrigue department.”

  “What about you, Florence Nightingale? Do you have a name?

  “Yes, I do.” She continued to wipe my face.

  “Well...”

  “My name is Sasha.”

  “Sasha?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I know it sounds like a stripper name, but it was the name I was born with. I’m Argentinean and my parents were trying to be more American.”

  “Bambi or Bubbles wasn’t on your parent’s radar?”

  She laughed. “I guess there are worse stripper names. I should be thankful.”

  “I don’t think it sounds like a stripper, more like a villain in Batman.”

  “There you go. I could be Catwoman’s twin sister.”

  I finally took over and wiped my nose. “Not too many American girls would do the whole hot-nurse bit routine. So, I do have to give it up to Argentina.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all American, I was born here. My parents are from Argentina.”

  “Well, be sure to thank them for me. They raised an outstanding young lady.”

  “Wow, you lay it on thick, don’t you?”

  “In any other case, that would be an accurate statement, but in this case, I couldn’t be any more serious.”

  “You’re sweet.” And then she finally did it. She gave me the ‘I think you’re hot too’ look.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” I asked. It was the least I could do.

  Sasha looked at me in a way a girl does right before she makes the ‘I’ll hang with you for the next couple hours’ look. “Sure,” she said. “And you’re in luck. The bleeding has stopped.”

  “That’s good. It would give a whole new meaning to a Bloody Mary.”

  “Now, that’s just gross.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who got intimate with my nose, minutes after meeting me.”

  Sasha shook her and laughed and swung open the door. I looked at my nose in the mirror and it was bright red. Nice, I look like Rudolph.

  Sasha stepped outside the bathroom and took a seat at one of the many empty tables in the bar. I followed her and yelled out, “Megan, two more shots of Patron.” I decided to look at Sasha to see if tequila was okay.

  “Patron sounds good,” Sasha said, “and a beer chaser would be great. I only like imported beer; I’m girlie like that.”

  “Okay, green bottle it is,” I shouted one more time to Megan. “Make those two shots and 2 green bottles.”

  “Wow! Fancy, Tommy. She must have cleaned you up real good!” Megan winked at me.

  I ignored the comment.

  Megan made the drinks and brought them over and Sasha and I talked and laughed for the next couple of hours until Megan yelled out ‘last call.’

  Sasha told me she was a waitress at a coffee shop in Brea. She had gone to nursing school, but had to quit, due to lack of funds. We joked and laughed and made fun of just about everything we could think of. She was my kind of chick; she could dish it out and seemed to be up for anything.

  The bar closed down and I walked Sasha out to her car. I hadn’t drunk any alcohol since the first shot when we first sat down. I knew I had plenty of time for the alcohol to make its way through me. I could pass a breathalyzer test any day of the week. Sasha, on the other hand, was a buck fifteen at the most, and she followed her shot and beer with about three more beers and two more shots.

  “You okay to drive?” I asked

  “Oh, is this your big ‘don’t drink and drive’ move, where you convince little old me to sleep over and you’ll give me the bed and you’ll sleep on the couch?”

  “Who said I would be the one sleeping on the couch?”

  “Oh, confident, are we?”

  “Not confident. I just have my dates take the couch. I find it’s the right thing to do once I’m completely done with the sedu
ction aspect of the evening.”

  “Seduction? A girl should be so lucky!”

  “Honestly, I thought I’d take you to Denny’s to get some coffee. I don’t make it a habit to take girls to my place right after I first meet them.”

  “Oh, you live with your parents!” Sasha began laughing hysterically. “I knew your charm came with a price.”

  “No. I live alone in a two-bedroom apartment by myself. And, I don’t remember my parents. I was raised by my grandparents. My grandma mostly.”

  “Aww.” Sasha was really buzzed. She began touching my face in a way that wasn’t the least bit sexy. “That explains your Southern charm.”

  “Southern charm?” Maybe Southern California charm. There is nothing Southern about me.”

  “Trust me; I’ve spent a lot of time in the South. You would fit right in. They’re all corn-fed like you.” Sasha then began feeling my muscles. “Damn, you’re really muscular. How many hours a day do you work out?” She felt my entire upper body. I eventually stopped her hands before she got to my legs and put them by her side.

  “Look, let’s go to Denny’s. You’re drunker than I thought. We’ll hang out there until you can think clearly.”

  Sasha had taken out her keys when we first left the bar, but now she was putting them back in her purse. “I guess I could use some coffee. Coffee would sober me up.”

  “That’s my Mustang over there.” I pointed across the parking lot at my bad boy.

  “Nice, like I said, very Southern. All it’s missing is a Dale Earnhardt for President sticker on the bumper.”

  I walked her over to my vehicle. I opened the door and helped her in the passenger side. I shut the door and walked behind the car and watched as Sasha looked at my door and noticed it was locked, she leaned her drunk body over and unlocked my door. One more for Argentina! I loved it when a girl did that. It shows she’s thinking outside herself. Sasha was drunk and she still pulled it off. Bravo!

  Werewolf Love Story: Part One

  is available at:

  Amazon Kindle

  ~~~~~

  Available now

  VAMPIRE SUPERHERO

  Volume One

  by H.T. Night

  (read on for a sample)

  Chapter One

  I was on my way to spend a couple of days with Tommy, my closest and dearest friend. Referring to Tommy as my best friend sometimes wasn’t enough. There were times when I felt we were closer than brothers. We had both risen to glory in mixed martial arts and had an unprecedented history in pro fighting. And in vampire-werewolf fighting, too. We just naturally had each other’s backs through the years. That usually meant we got into a lot of fights outside the ring, too.

  Tommy had been engaged to my sister, but Maya and our parents had died in a tragic car accident, a few years ago. The tragic event bonded us for life. Since then, Tommy and I had had a very unusual connection. Sometimes, we were on opposite sides of an issue, but most of the time, Tommy and I saw eye to eye. One thing I’d learned over the years was that no one had my back more than him. I had his back, too. Sometimes, we felt like it was us against the world. And sometimes, it really was.

  Tonight, I was going to see my old friend. In my eagle form, I spread my large wingspan across the sky. It felt great to be the great white eagle. I flew away from my island of Helena and made my way toward California. It was a long, healthy flight that took three to four hours, and was three times faster than a jet.

  When I said my island, I did mean my island. I owned the damn thing and the one next to it, too. The islands had been given to me by my dear friend, Helen, right before the great battle with Krull.

  About twice a month, my wife Lena allowed me to get away and spend some “bro time” with Tommy. As a werewolf, Tommy didn’t feel comfortable living on an island with a bunch of vampires and he was firmly rooted in Southern California, where he grew up. Where we both had.

  Tommy trusted me and my vampire crew, to a point, but that was as far as his trust went toward everyday Mani. Visiting Tommy every couple of weeks gave me a nice break from raising two-year-old twins. Yes, we had twin boys, Jason and Joshua, and they were our life…Lena’s and mine.

  Though I loved my family deeply, I missed my best friend so much and I missed our deep camaraderie. I was still young and loved to hang out with Tommy and just eat pizza and watch sports. It was nice to get away from the madness. We often re-watched Pulp Fiction on DVD—Tommy and I could recite nearly every word. We were dorks…tough-as-nails dorks…but dorks, nonetheless.

  Like I’d said, Tommy didn’t like to visit the island too much, mainly because he was grounded…I could fly, but he couldn’t. Werewolves were more like Tandra than Mani were. Tommy had to take a private jet or plane to get here and it was costly and time consuming.

  I, however, was not grounded. I could fly in two forms. I could fly in my vampire body, which was very similar to humans except I had sharp incisors, I could read weak minds, move objects telepathically, and sometimes heal. Flying was the main thing, though. It was freeing and powerful, a dream come true for anyone.

  My other form was a big, giant white eagle with a large beautiful wingspan. My environment was pretty surreal whenever I took on that form. I had to admit I think that it was the coolest of all my abilities. I could become the great white eagle whenever I saw fit.

  The eagle form had its advantages because I could fly much faster as the eagle. Also, I could be out in daylight, something I could not do in my Mani form. That was why I always transitioned to my favorite species whenever I traveled away from the island. That was, if I wasn’t using my island’s private jet or helicopter.

  Tonight, I was in my eagle form soaring through the night sky, heading toward Tommy’s house in Anaheim Hills, California. I often flew at such high altitudes that sometimes it was hard for me to breathe. I needed to fly high, so I would not be seen by the Tandra—the humans—in their airplanes. I often flew lower at night because it was harder to see me and I didn’t worry so much about cell phone cameras and ending up on the Internet as a viral video. I could breathe a whole lot easier at lower altitudes and also enjoyed the scenery a lot more.

  Tonight would be a little different. Actually, it was shaping up to be a lot different.

  Vampire Superhero

  is available at:

  Amazon Kindle

  ~~~~~

  WINNING SARAH’S HEART

  A Young Adult Series

  by H.T. Night

  Amazon Kindle

  ~~~~~

  GETTING YOURS

  A Romantic Comedy Screenplay

  by H.T. Night

  Amazon Kindle

  ~~~~~

  About the Author:

  H.T. Night is the #1 bestselling author of Vampire Love Story, Werewolf Whisperer, Forever and Always, Vampires vs. Werewolves, Werewolf Love Story, Getting Yours, The Rise of Kyro, Romeo & Juliet: A Vampire and Werewolf Love Story and H.T. Night’s Everlasting Love (a collection of poems). Please visit him at www.htnight.com.