Page 4 of The Midnight Delivery

“Don’t be like that,Ariana,” he said and waved a hand towards the glass wall. “Look out there, and tell me what you see.”

“Fighters,” I quipped. I didn’t spend one second looking out the glass, but maintained my eye-contact with him.

“Funny girl. You know what I see? I see a lifestyle. A lifestyle that requires funds to maintain. If I make a losing bet by backing your brother, then I lose this lifestyle that’s taken me alifetimeto achieve.”

“I don’t want to hear that shit,” I stormed. I knew my face was red at this point, but I didn’t care. “You’ve been making losing bets for years. That’s the only reason you bet against Dustin, and won’t train him now. You’re in too deep with gambling debts.”

Alejandro’s eyes opened wide.

“Oh yes,Uncle. I did my research on you, too.”

Alejandro narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “Ha!” He burst. “I’d expect nothing less from my niece. You’re a real piece of work, just like your mother.”

“Don’t try to pull on my heartstrings,Alejandro.Youshould know better than that.”

And with that final word, I opened the door to the second-floor office and left. Dustin was somewhere below, and it was time to go. We’d overstayed our welcome.

#

IOPENED THE DOOR TOour hotel room, and tossed my clutch on the table closest to the window. The door clicked behind me as I took off my jacket and hung it in the closet, before I collapsed on the sofa. The Midnight Prize fight was rapidly approaching, and with it, either the end of our problems or the end of our lives.

The door clicked again as Dustin entered behind me and leaned his back on it as it shut behind him.

“What was that?” He asked with a furrowed brow.

I wanted to answer him, but the thoughts rolling in my head were too jumbled to get a coherent one out in response.

Dustin removed himself from his position as a human doorstop, and went to the small refrigerator in the middle of the wall separating my room from his, opened it and pulled out a small bottle of water. He twisted the cap, downed it in two swallows and threw the empty bottle to the trash can where it slammed into it with a crash so loud it jarred me from my thoughts and made me jump.

He stood perpendicular to me now, and called over his shoulder. “What’s going on, Ari? I can’t win, if I can’t train, and you haven’t said anything since we left.”

There was too much going on in my head, and he wasn’t making any of it better.

Dustin crossed the room, sat beside me on the couch and placed a hand on my knee. “What’s going on, Ari?”

“We can’t use him,” I answered in a lowered tone. “He bet against you, so he won’t train you.”

Dustin rotated his head around his shoulders, and looked at the trash can as it lay on its side. “Fine. Fuck it, and fuck him. I’ll beat this dude anyway, with or without his help.”

Dustin moved his hand from my knee and cupped it around mine. “I’m the Vampire, Ari. Don’t forget that. It’s what I do, it’s what I’m good at. I hunt and this dude is nothing but my next victim.”

With those final words, Dustin stood to his feet, nodded at me and disappeared out my door. When he left, the cloud that had settled over my mind went with him. I knew what I had to do.You may be the Vampire, my brother, but I’m the one on the hunt now.

#

THE TIME WAS RUNNINGshort, now. The moon had risen, the street lights were on, and the night crawlers were patrolling. The Midnight Prize fight would be on us in a matter of days, and though Dustin was confident he would win and set everything right, I knew we still needed something to tip the scales in our favor. Dustin hadn’t been watching like I had, and why should he. No one he fought even came close to him, but Damian Wolf was different. I’d left AJ’s gym the first time without his help, and forgot to investigate my second objective. There had to besomeonethere who could give us some information. I knew in my heart there was something in that sweatbox that would turn our fortunes around. Or, I prayed it. We’d survived the streets, and foster homes on the strength of my brother’s abilities, yet as good as my brother was, Damian was better. Without something to give us an edge, I feared the worst was yet to come.

I arrived at the gym a few minutes before closing, hoping to find the information I needed with the hardcore fighters. The ones that were the first to arrive and the last to leave. These were the ones I figured to have the best chance with, as they were the ones who lived and breathed the fight game and would surely know of a fighter as skilled as Damian. The lights were on, yet the gym was empty save for one person who was in the middle of the floor sweeping. I walked over to him, the sound of my three-inch heels echoing off the walls to announce my presence.

He stopped his cleaning, pivoted on his heels and watched as I covered the remaining distance patiently. It was the same trainer I’d seen earlier with Alejandro. He was dressed in an all-white pair of sweatpants and a matching black tee.

“We’re closing in a few minutes,” he said as he eyed me up and down.

He wasn’t bad looking, but I wasn’t interested. “I remember you from earlier. Your name is Derek, right?”

His eyebrow raised. “Yeah. You are?”

“I’m Ariana,” I answered and extended a hand. “I’m AJ’s niece.”

---