Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6)

by Night, H. T.

  She nodded back. Her eyes pleaded with me for a scrap of my heart, the tiniest piece. I did love Yari, but, out of necessity, I was careful to keep her in this valiant and pure place in my head. She was still very beautiful. And so was her heart. I was not completely immune. But Lena and the boys were very grounding for me. They were the only semblance of normalcy in an otherwise remarkable existence.

  “Don’t stop talking to me, Yari,” I said carefully. “Just because you are leaving doesn’t mean you have to end our friendship. We have history, much of it very good.”

  Yari gently kissed me on the side of the cheek. “I’ll keep in touch.” Then she left my life for a while. I caught up with her a couple of years later. We had seen each other a few times over the years, but nothing was ever like when we had all lived together in Victorville.

  Over the years, my faithful sidekicks Wyatt and Hector did the same as Yari. They, too, had passed out of my life, and except for my family, at times, I felt very alone. They didn’t declare their love for me on the way out, not the way Yari had, but they were emotional goodbyes to say the least.

  Wyatt and Hector were my comrades, my brothers in arms, not to mention that Hector was my benefactor. Hector assured me that I would never have to worry about money. I believed him because no one had been more diligent about making sure his dear friends were taken care of. Hector was a great man. Wyatt was just a great guy, too. He was there for my family when I needed it most, back in the day. I would always owe him a debt of gratitude.

  Chapter Seven

  Here I was, many years later, preparing myself for just about anything to go down tomorrow. I finally decided to get up. I very slowly got out of bed so as not to wake up Lena. I left my wife in the room alone. I was certain of my wife’s safety. No one would dare enter my castle. Not unless they had a death wish.

  My reputation, by this point, was that most people would think it was in their best interest to leave me alone. I headed down the hallway and went downstairs. I headed to Joshua’s room to check on him. It was close to four in the morning and both boys were sound asleep.

  Like I said, we lived in a sixteenth-century castle and we tried to set up the inside to look like a normal home, even if the outside looked like there should be a moat out front.

  I looked in on Joshua. He was lying in his queen-size bed. He was already over six feet tall with blond hair and blue eyes like his dad. His hair was darker than mine, thanks to his mother’s Goth jet-black hair gene.

  It had been an amazing sixteen years, both for my family and the Mani people. Yet, nothing had gone the way I thought it would.

  At first, there had been a wonderful time of peace for a few years among the Mani people. Then, like most things in my life, that changed. It changed in the hearts of other Mani and even I got impatient and decided to take on all the bad people of the world. That included anyone who fell in that category.

  Some Mani, the ones who chose to come and to stay on the islands, had experienced a peace and a harmony that was something we would have never been able to attain, unless we went through what we went through.

  Unfortunately, as with all good things, a backlash broke out among different Mani mini-sects inside our own society. One thing I didn’t take into account was that most vampires weren’t going to want to settle for peace. It was not in their DNA. It was just the old tired-out ones who just wanted to go somewhere and retire. Like their vampire Florida retirement communities where they could play shuffle board all day. Most new Mani wanted to fight and get something going. Mix it up with bad guys. It’s just the way it was.

  I was as guilty as anyone. Once I had the Deity’s approval, I had become a regular Lone Ranger. Sion was my Tonto. We were a good team. Batman and Alfred could eat their hearts out. This was my cause, but after a couple of years of living the good life, I started to miss the not-so-good life. I started to help people all over the world in any way I saw fit. That’s what I did. I started helping those who couldn’t help themselves. Luckily, I could, even though my time away doing vampire superhero things weighed on Lena’s tolerance.

  As a family, we had had our own ups and downs. It was apparent that the two boys had night and day personalities. All Joshua wanted to do was show off and be a man’s man, and all Jason wanted to do was be left alone by everyone, especially me, his dad. Jason was the most reliable kid I had ever seen. If he had ever lied, it wasn’t to me. If he had stolen anything, it wasn’t mine. I had never seen this kid act out, not once. Did he make mistakes? Yes, once in a while. I corrected it and he never made the same mistakes again.

  This was the life I know I lived: I was a superhero and a dad. I had no more complaints. There wasn’t time to be selfish. I had given all I could to this cause and it looked it would be the detriment at least one of my sons. I was taken from my pretty screwed-up world in my own right, and then shoved into a world that was unlike anything I had ever known to be true. Detriment or not, I would die making sure my sons were safe. Prophecy or not, this had become a new ball game. Now it was about family.

  I remembered the first time when it became apparent to me that my family was all in this together. We had two incidents within three months of each other, incidents in which both boys showed amazing abilities. They were different abilities, but equally impressive.

  The boys were barely five years old when they discovered the joy of climbing. They climbed everything: houses, trees, hills, rocks, even bookcases. Climbing was one of the few times I had seen the boys be competitive with one another. Each boy always wanted to go higher than his brother. Most often, Jason won. But Joshua had out-climbed him a few times. But if you asked me, Jason had let him because that’s just the kind of kid that he was.

  Once, we were spending the weekend at Uncle Tommy’s house in Anaheim Hills. I wanted the boys to look at Tommy as a legitimate uncle, because he would have been if he would have had the opportunity to marry my sister, Maya.

  Lena usually didn’t make these trips because she viewed them as “guys’ weekends,” even though we were taking care of two five year olds.

  The boys loved Tommy. He was funny and playful and knew how to take the role as fair and funny uncle.

  It was a typical Saturday night at Tommy’s. We had ordered pizza and wings. We were all having a good time just being guys, watching cartoons and any movie or show that was rated G. Tommy was a good sport about the fact we needed to accommodate the boys and they would want us to watch at least one movie with them. After one movie, if Tommy and were lucky, we went in his den to get some video games in as the boys fell asleep to the second movie, but this wasn’t one of those nights. This was going to be an active evening.

  There was still a good hour of sunlight left. “Can we climb Tommy’s eucalyptus tree, Dad?” Joshua asked.

  “I’m impressed that you can say the word ‘eucalyptus,’” I said.

  “I’m just impressed that either of your kids can talk,” Tommy joked.

  I gave Tommy a sharp look to be nice, but that’s the way he was. It didn’t matter who you were—a guy at the bar or my five year old son—Tommy would find a way to get under your skin and tease you. It was his way, one of the reasons why I loved him. Just keep my five year olds out of it.

  On to what happened...

  Tommy had an exceptionally huge tree that I hadn’t yet allowed the boys to climb. But because they were both getting pretty good at climbing, I decided to let them give it a shot.

  After the sun went down, the four of us went into the back yard. Tommy and I each had a beer in our hands, watching my two sons climb a tree, as if we were watching the Super Bowl of tree climbing.

  “So, what’s the deal with your little monkeys?” Tommy asked. “Are they so bored on that island that they turned primitive and now want to hunt and gather?”

  “You watch, Tom. They are going to climb the biggest of the trees.”

  “I don’t doubt it. What’s a kid to do on an island except climb palm trees for cocon
uts?”

  “We don’t have palm trees or coconuts on our island.”

  “That’s too bad. Coconut crème pie is so good. You know, I have some chocolate mousse in the fridge?”

  “You wouldn’t lie to a father of two five-year-old boys would you?”

  “I never joke about pie.”

  I grinned at my best friend and then we both watched my boys prepare to climb Tommy’s gigantic eucalyptus tree. It was at least thirty-five feet high.

  Both boys were tall for their age.

  Before we knew it, Jason hopped up and began climbing. Joshua was right behind him. Jason climbed to the left side of the eucalyptus tree and Joshua climbed to the right.

  They were both showing off for their dad and uncle, and I should have been wiser about the scenario. It was the old competitor in me that craved to see competition, even with my own boys. It seemed like harmless entertainment. At first...

  “My money is on Joshua,” Tommy said.

  “I’m not going to pick sides, but watch how slick Jason moves up the tree. The good money is on him.”

  “Put your money where your mouth is,” Tommy laughed.

  “I don’t want to encourage your gambling and it’s not right for a dad to pick sides by betting on his kids.”

  “Man, you’re no fun anymore,” Tommy scoffed.

  “I’m plenty of fun. Just grounded,” I said indignantly.

  “Unless I make the headlines breaking the law, I’m not going to see my friend in action.”

  “What kind of action do you want to see? If it’s a strip tease, I just might do it if you promise to tip well.”

  “You know what I’m saying. You are no longer a recluse.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I miss the old Josiah who used to kick ass with me.”

  “He had to grow up.” I paused at the irony of our conversation. “You could always team up with me.”

  “To do your little crime-fighting stunt as a superhero?”

  “Stunt? It’s no stunt. I have helped a lot of people who needed it.”

  “I know you always make sure you pour every detail of your adventure to that blogger.”

  “I don’t do that,” I said half honestly. I never actually did it. But Sion was the blogger in question. He was sort of my public relations guy along with everything else he did for me.

  “Check it out, Josiah. It looks like Jason is about to reach the top. Those branches don’t look too sturdy. He should probably start coming down.”

  I looked up into the eucalyptus tree. Man! The boys were fast climbers. Just like Tommy had said, Jason had reached the top.

  I was about to yell, ‘it’s time to start climbing down and you’re too high’ when the unthinkable happened. It happened so fast, I couldn’t even react in time.

  My heart sank as Jason lost his footing and fell from thirty feet up, knocking down Joshua. As my two five-year old boys both fell from the tree, I tried to react but I couldn’t move fast enough. Both my little angels landed on the ground right at my feet. It happened so fast, I couldn’t even comprehend or fathom it happening the way it did. I nearly threw up as I witnessed this horrible tragedy.

  I was just about to reach in my pocket and call 911 when Jason, who fell from the highest point, sat up and started laughing as if he was told a funny joke. My jaw fell open. He wasn’t hurt at all. He didn’t have a scratch on him. He got to his feet and cracked his back and that was the extent of his injuries. He hadn’t seen his brother yet and I knew that would cause some waterworks. Joshua, however, was a mess. I felt horrible. He was moaning, crying and bleeding from several places. What the hell do I do? The Triat didn’t allow me to heal my own family...that was apparent the night my sons were born.

  I looked at Jason and I knew he had yet to discover this about himself...but he seriously needed to heal his brother. His brother was in a lot of pain. He was probably suffering serious internal injuries, if not broken bones.

  I couldn’t think straight as I looked down at my young son, who had just fallen thirty feet to his back after being clobbered by his brother on the way down.

  I knew I couldn’t heal him, but hopefully Jason could. “Jason, lay your hands on Joshua.”

  “Why, Dad?” Jason seemed confused. I needed for him to focus.

  “I want you to concentrate on healing your brother’s body.”

  Jason looked at me, confused. “What do you mean? You want me to pray for him?”

  “I want you to let your mind go blank and just concentrate on healing all the injuries in your brother’s body. Can you do that, son?”

  “Yes, Dad.” Then Jason reluctantly placed both hands over Joshua’s chest.

  I looked over at Tommy, and he looked like he was going to have a heart attack. I looked back at Jason who had placed his hands firmly on his brother’s bloody shirt over his body.

  Then Jason pulled his hands away quickly. “What happened?” I asked. “What’s wrong, Jason?”

  “I see things. I see his life,” Jason said in his little five-year-old voice.

  “Fight it off, and focus on healing his body.” I couldn’t believe I was saying this to a five year old. But I knew we had little time left.

  Jason took a deep breath and placed his hands back on his brother’s chest. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Before we knew it, Joshua’s broken body had healed. God only knew the extent of his injuries, but his brother came through and healed him.

  Joshua sat up and coughed and then started laughing, just like his brother had. Man, I had weird kids. Then Joshua said, “I don’t hurt anymore. What happened?” Joshua looked at me and then he looked at his brother.

  “A miracle happened, son. I’ll tell you more about it some other time.” Then I picked up my son and held him in my arms. Tommy grabbed Jason and the four of us went inside and finished the pizza and started the movies. I think Tommy and I will have no problem watching both G-rated movies tonight. That was as scary as it gets for a parent. I couldn’t get the image of watching my two sons fall thirty feet to the earth out of my head, but I did my best not to show it.

  When it was all over, I told Jason to keep it a secret that he had healed his brother. I told him we would tell his mother, but that would be the extent of people knowing what he did. I did let him know he had a gift, but that because he was so young, he needed my approval to use it. I didn’t want him running around healing road kill and insects.

  Chapter Eight

  I shut Joshua’s door quietly, being sure not to wake him, and walked down the hall looking at the pictures on the wall. I sure enjoyed being a dad. I stared at the wall of a photo of my boys when they were about five. They were such a handful. It had been hard. Both boys had always been there for the other. Jason wasn’t the only one with an amazing gift.

  Like I said, we had two incidents about three months apart. In the second situation, Joshua came out the hero, maybe not as impressive as his brother, in terms of magnitude, but in terms of family unity, it was just as important and showed just as much love.

  Joshua may not have had the type of abilities that Jason has, but what he does have is a spiritual connection to his brother. They were connected in a way that was even tighter than the bond Tommy and I have. Well, it should be, considering they were biological twins.

  It wasn’t long after Jason healed his brother from falling out of the tree that Joshua stepped up in his own right.

  The family had visited Tommy once again in Southern California. We had to lay down the no climbing of trees rule, especially because this time, Lena was with us. To be honest, it was her rule. No one was going to dispute it after what happened last time. Lena was still not over what I had to tell her that happened three months before.

  We were getting ready to come back home after visiting Tommy and I decided to take the boys to the Rain Forest Café in the Ontario Mills Mall. I figured the boys would enjoy it.

  As I suspected, the
boys had the time of their lives and I even saw Lena smile a couple of times, too. She still thought she was pretty Goth when it came to stuff like this and tried to show little emotion, but I knew when she was having fun. She couldn’t fool me. She was digging the animatronic apes.

  But one of my biggest nightmare happened after we finished eating and we decided to walk over to the food court to get a dessert. I was a big believer in eating your dessert in a different location than where you ate your main course. It added intrigue to your evening and I loved chocolate-dipped vanilla ice cream cones that you could only get at the food court.

  The four of us were walking through the mall and Lena and I got sidetracked talking about the music that was coming out of the window of a music box store.

  We had stopped at the window were discussing the quality of music that comes out of the music boxes themselves. I was under the impression that the sound is horrible and all you’re really buying is a pretty box. I felt very strongly about my opinion, as I did all my opinions. Lena was under the impression that it wasn’t about the sound quality; it was about the elegance. Once again, our arguments made no sense.

  After about two minutes of bantering, we turned around. And, to our horror, we were one boy short. Jason was missing.

  I looked at Lena and she looked at me. We both had the same terrified look on each other’s faces.

  We both scanned the area as quickly as we could.

  “Jason?” Lena called out.

  There was no sign of Jason anywhere. I left Joshua with Lena and I went in and out of every store within a ten-store proximity.

  I walked back to Lena and Joshua and saw no sign of Jason.

  “How far could he have gone?” I asked Lena.

  “Joshua, did you see your brother walk away?” I asked.

  “No, Dad. I was looking at the music boxes with you and Mom.”