by H. T. Night
The good news was, we’d made up. We were brothers again. The bad news was, his party would start in a few hours.
I started drinking at 6 p.m. and by 11 p.m., I was pretty damn blitzed. I was sitting at a table with the only vampires I knew at this oddball birthday party.
I hadn’t seen Josiah all night but he decided to come outside and say hi to the folks in the backyard by the pool. He walked out dressed rather nicely and I decided to let him have it before he could even walk to our table.
“Look, guys!” I bellowed. “He honors us with his presence!” Then I gave Josiah the best salute I could muster.
“At ease, soldier,” Josiah said. “Have you been behaving around all these vampires?”
“Why is it that whenever any of you Mani dick-holes talk to me,” I said, “you find it necessary to always point out that I’m a werewolf?”
“Sorry, brother.” Josiah winked at me. “I wasn’t aware that you didn’t want me to recognize.”
“Oh, you’d best recognize, homey!” I laughed.
“Trust me, I always do.” Josiah pulled a seat up to the table. “Are you guys having a good time?” Josiah asked everyone.
“There’s a lot of hot Mani ass here,” Cyrus said.
“You better not let Yari hear you talk like that,” Wyatt said to Cyrus. “She already pissed her circle around you.”
“Is that why none of these hotties are even looking at me?” Cyrus asked, looking relieved.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Josiah laughed. “Yari can be possessive.”
Then we all started talking women and other nonsense. I was mad at Josiah for not taking my needs seriously. He was starting to blow me off as if I was his weird friend.
Josiah motioned to some vampire guy to come over and join us. I recognized him but never learned his name.
They greeted each other and then the vampire guy said, “Hey, there was some weird-looking guy outside looking for you.”
“Where?” Josiah looked confused.
“Right outside,” the vampire answered.
Then Yari came to the top of the backyard stairs. “May I have your attention! This is Josiah’s twenty-first birthday!” Yari was yelling at the top of her lungs. “And I bought him a cake.” She held out a small plate with a single-person cake. It was bigger than a cupcake, but only slightly.
I laughed at the size of the cake. Did she make it in her Easy-Bake oven? “Way to go all out on the cake, Yari!”
“Well, considering you and Josiah are the only two that can eat it, why splurge?”
“True,” I conceded. She had a valid point.
“All right, everyone! Let’s give Josiah our Mani birthday chant!”
Then the vampires started doing some birthday chant that made me extremely uncomfortable. Josiah was talking to the vampire guy, but I couldn’t hear him over the creepy chanting.
Suddenly, Josiah sprinted out of the backyard and through the house. What the hell was happening?
I stood and ran after Josiah. I just managed to see him run through the front door and into the front yard. I followed him out the door.
“Goshi!” Josiah yelled at the strangest-looking fella I had ever seen. He was three feet tall, completely blue and wearing a white robe. Apparently, this was the weird alien thing that had trained Josiah while he had been in Europe.
Josiah and the creature exchanged pleasantries and at one point, Josiah announced to the people who had wandered outside that this creature, Goshi, was the toughest Mani he knew. I didn’t know if Josiah had lost his mind, but this blue splotch was no vampire.
“You want a drink?” Josiah asked Goshi.
“I’m sorry, Josiah, this meeting isn’t of the hospitality nature,” he, or it, answered.
“Oh, it’s not?” Josiah looked confused.
“It’s time,” the creature said.
“Right now?” Josiah seemed even more shocked than the rest of us.
Then the creature explained that Josiah’s final test would take place at the Flatlands. How the hell did this blue thing know about the Flatlands?
And before I knew it, Josiah had the entire party moved to the Flatlands.
Chapter Thirty-One
Since I was the only werewolf at this party, Josiah, Hector, and Wyatt all carried me in the air in their bird forms. It was probably the single most horrifying experience of my life. More than once, I was certain they were going to drop me. A part of me felt like Josiah was enjoying this torturous impromptu flight. This was getting old.
When we reached the Flatlands, the guys flew low and let me go. I tucked and rolled up onto my feet. Yes, a wolf can land on his feet as nimbly as a cat. The white stony surface of the Flatlands didn’t exactly make for a comfortable landing, but I managed. Josiah, Hector and Wyatt all transitioned back into their human forms and landed on their feet with ease.
Most of the party had already arrived because they weren’t carrying a full-grown man. There were easily 150 Mani milling about the Flatlands tonight and not a single car to be found. As the only Carni out here, I was feeling a little exposed.
Then to my surprise, a red hawk landed toward the back of the Flatlands. It was Lena. Josiah walked over to her and they talked. I couldn’t hear what they said over all the voices and people moving around on the rocky ground.
Goshi was clearly growing impatient. “Come back to me, Josiah,” Goshi ordered.
Everyone turned their focus on this little blue creature who was supposed to be some sort of Mani version of Yoda.
“Like I was saying,” Goshi said to Josiah, “you and I are going to battle.”
“Battle?” Josiah questioned, tilting his head in confusion.
“Yes,” he answered.
Then the blue creature said something that shocked everyone. He said that he and Josiah would fight to the death.
Oh hell, no! Now, I stepped forward. I stood as close as I could to Josiah without invading his space.
Josiah asked one last time, “Are you going to try to kill me?”
“Yes. I will be trying to kill you.” Goshi flew off the ground and into Josiah and began kicking him in the face.
The two of them proceeded to fight at a speed I couldn’t even fathom.
“Okay, Goshi,” Josiah said. “This is where I earn my stripes.”
Then Josiah proceeded to fight Goshi with an intensity I had never witnessed from my friend. It made the beatdown I took the other night look like a love tap. In what seemed like no time at all, Goshi was on the ground with Josiah yelling at him.
“You need to kill me, Josiah,” the blue creature said.
“I can’t do it, Goshi. Please don’t make me.” Josiah did not want to do this. “It’s wrong. It can’t be the will of the Triat for a student to kill his beloved teacher.”
“You need to kill me, Josiah. If you don’t, I promise you, I will kill you first.” Then Goshi flew up off the ground and kicked Josiah square in the stomach.
As I watched these two warriors fight, I began to wonder what the hell I was doing here this evening. What if Josiah lost? What would these savages do to me? Would Hector, Yari and Wyatt and possibly Lena be enough to save me? Would they even bother?
How had this happened? Who the hell was this blue gnome?
“Kill me, Josiah.” Goshi was bleeding all over the ground.
Again, Josiah refused.
“Kill me! Now!” Goshi screamed. Then the little blue prick took a cheap shot and kicked Josiah in the nuts.
Apparently, it was that vicious kick that pushed Josiah over the edge. “Throw me a silver stake,” Josiah yelled.
“Here!” said the strange vampire I recognized from the party. He tossed Josiah a silver stake that he pulled out of a pocket.
Josiah proceeded to press the stake into the blue creature’s neck. Then, the unthinkable happened.
Goshi began changing form. First, the blue pigment receded from his entire body, leaving him as pale as a ghost. Then his body be
gan to expand and elongate.
“What are you?” Josiah shouted.
I watched in fascination and disbelief with 150 vampires as this little freak’s body contorted and grew into a more recognizable person.
My mind was spinning and I felt like I was going to throw up.
It was Atticai.
“What’s the matter, my Mani friends? Are you not happy to see me?” Atticai yelled like he was a rock star standing center stage at his concert and we were all his adoring fans.
“I don’t understand. I killed you, Atticai,” Josiah said. Then the two of them proceeded to go down some odd memory lane. What I knew was I hated this motherfucker with every fiber of my being.
“Fuck this bullshit!” I stepped right up to Atticai and looked him in his eyes. I had to look up, but I wasn’t afraid of this asshole.
“Tommy! Go sit down!” Josiah yelled. “This doesn’t concern you.”
I turned to Josiah and said, “This doesn’t concern me? Are you kidding? This guy fought me at full strength and nearly killed me! He didn’t have the balls to wait for me to be a werewolf.” I stared down Atticai and would gladly have killed him at that very moment. One wrong move from him and that was exactly what I would do.
Atticai must have seen the rage in my eyes.
“Josiah, please control your dog!” Atticai yelled, not breaking eye contact with me.
“Tommy, you need to go back with the others.” Josiah was now pleading with me. “This situation is bigger than that.”
“Bigger than my life?” I was appalled. “He left me for dead!”
Then Atticai said some bullshit to me and I answered in the best way I knew how. “Fuck you, you piece of shit.”
“Must we associate with this uncivilized animal?” Atticai wouldn’t shut up.
Now, I saw red. This guy was going to get a beating. I transitioned into my werewolf form and I jumped on Atticai. I tackled him into the hard rocks. Atticai kicked me in my stomach. I jumped off his body to catch my breath.
I looked at Josiah and said in my head to him, “Josiah, it is my right to kill him.”
“Tommy, you can’t!” he yelled out loud to me, throwing me under the bus in front of all these people.
“It is my right! And my honor,” I thought to Josiah. “You are the Chosen One and he has come back to try to reclaim what is not even rightfully his. Not your crown as Chosen One. But your life! You want to talk about loyalty? Let’s talk about a lifetime friendship.”
“Tommy, not now. Not tonight!” Josiah yelled out again. Why the hell was I talking to him in his mind if he was just going to answer me out loud for all to hear?
“Fuck you, Josiah. This is my fight.” Then I spouted out a bunch of shit about loyalty.
I decided enough was enough and still in my werewolf form, I jumped on top of Atticai and scratched his upper body. I shredded his shirt like a piece of paper.
“Josiah, you can’t allow a Carni to kill one of our own,” yelled the vampire from the party.
Other vampires chimed in with even more vigor.
I had Atticai pinned on his back and I was about to finish him off when suddenly, someone tackled me off of Atticai.
Only Josiah had that much power.
“Fuck you, Josiah!” I said in my head, taking a swipe at him.
“I’m not going to just stand back and let Atticai take your life,” Josiah thought to me. “Let me do this. For you!” Then he yelled, “Stand down, Tommy!”
“Fuck that.” I tried to jump on Atticai one more time, but Josiah blocked me and we rolled. I ended up on top of him in my werewolf form. “You need to choose, Josiah,” I said, in my head.
“I already did, Tommy!” Josiah yelled. He reversed me to my back and had complete control of my body. “Tommy! I don’t want to hurt you, but you’re going to have to stop!” He was still yelling out loud for all to hear.
“You’re going to have to kill me!” I thought in my head. Josiah had his choke hold deep and I began losing consciousness.
“Transition!” Josiah yelled, tightening his grip. I couldn’t breathe any longer and I released my body and Josiah let go of my neck. I rolled over and gasped for air. This had turned into a giant mess.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Lena broke through the crowd and ran over to me.
“What are you doing, Lena?” Josiah yelled.
“You nearly killed him,” she yelled back at Josiah and stood between us.
Lena was sticking up for me against Josiah? I didn’t need her protection and I was in no mood to accept her pity either. I shrugged Lena off of me and stood up in my human form.
Then Josiah and Atticai began discussing good and evil. It was quite the discussion, but I had to butt in. “This is all well and good, Josiah,” I said. “You and string bean here can have a pow-wow about the good times in Eastern Europe later, but you and I now have a problem. You should have never put your hands on me.”
“Relax, Tommy,” Josiah said. Then Josiah gave me a look that said, ‘If I didn’t pull you off of him, this entire mob and their mob mentality would have torn you to shreds.’
“Of course, they would,” I said out loud for each of these vampires to hear. “They would stand by this guy, even though he tried to kill their Chosen Savior. They would rather deal with this kind of evil, the evil that you know, rather than face what they are, survivors with an almost racist mentality. They would rather kill a good Carni than an evil Mani of their own kind.”
Josiah listened for a change and let me talk now.
I continued, “They do not choose good over evil, but instead, they choose what genetic makeup shall prevail in a fight. It is the evil song of the ages, that in a battle, you strive to preserve your own kind, no matter how evil it is at the core. You aren’t fighting for a cause, you are fighting for your future as a species.”
Josiah looked at me and then turned to Atticai. “From the mouth of a wolf comes the truth about Mani, and Carni. He is right. We are evil. In battle, we do not look at hearts, or even good versus evil. We look at whose team someone is on. The evil of this is within us all and we must choose not to give it power. Stop this madness now, Atticai! You can turn from this evil and work with me to save our races, both Mani and Carni, from utter destruction. We will work together from the inside out.”
“Evil, shmevil. Seriously, you to need to step away from the hero manual. Nobody needs or wants your Narnia-esque mentality.” Atticai was acting as smug as ever.
Josiah, however, wasn’t going to have it. He would tell Atticai the way it was. “The Carni, the werewolf. It is part of the prophecy coming to fruition. Now what? What will we do, Atticai? How will we choose our path that will affect the Mani and the Carni and even the Tandra—until some asteroid comes to destroy the earth and ends it in disgust, for what we are, and for what we could have been had we simply made a thoughtful choice for the long run, instead of the short run.”
“Are you trying to save Tommy? What are you asking me for? He’s your pet.” I wanted to kill Atticai. If there weren’t so many people, I would just end his pathetic renewed life now.
“I’m not referring to Tommy. I’m talking about you and me. I am talking about all of this, the big picture.” Josiah was now getting extremely emotional.
“There isn’t a you and me!” Atticai was such an ass.
“That’s too bad, Atticai. Because if you’re not with me, you’re against me!” Holy shit, Josiah is quoting the Bible. The balls have shifted.
“Trust me, Josiah. I will always be against you.” Atticai stared Josiah down. “I am my own Mani. I call my own shots.”
“Then you will be doing it from the sidelines.”
How did I get here? My head began spinning and spinning. This was not the life I wanted. Why was I knee-deep in it? Why was Josiah so involved?
It all went back to the night Josiah had gone jogging. I’d warned him. I’d known something was coming. Why didn’t I stop him from going out that ni
ght? He would have never met Lena and all of this would not be happening.
If only I could go back to that night.
The two of them continued to spout off against one another. I knew there was a bigger good here. It would take both Josiah and Atticai to take down Krull. They just couldn’t see it.
Atticai then decided to come at me verbally. “And for you, you mangy dog, you are lucky I’m feeling generous tonight, I should end your pathetic existence right now, but I’m going to let your ignorance slide and just chalk it up to your low Carni IQ.”
“I’m lucky?” I laughed in his face. “You’re lucky Josiah stopped me.”
“Oh, that is where you’re wrong. The only life that was saved tonight was yours.” Atticai stared at me, daring me to attack him again.
Josiah had enough of Atticai and me. “You two can do whatever the hell you want. You want to kill each other, go right ahead. I’m leaving. I’m not going to be part of a three-person stand-down.”
Lena walked halfway toward Josiah.
And then, Atticai said something horrific to Lena. “Lena, you know deep in your heart… I am your first and only true love.”
I nearly puked when he said that!
Josiah and Lena looked at each other. She was clearly confused and it must have been breaking Josiah’s heart. I knew it was breaking mine that she was this messed up.
“Lena,” Josiah pleaded.
Lena looked at Josiah and then turned around and looked at me, her eyes full of tears of love… and agony. And then she turned and looked at Atticai with the same expression frozen on her face. What the hell?
Lena was clearly comparing the three of us, all of whom had spoken for her heart. And none of whom could possibly claim her at this moment because… it was her call and she was in a tough spot. She could not choose between us at the moment. That much was obvious.
“Lena, there is no decision here,” Josiah said. “Let’s go.”
Oh, shit. Josiah should have known better than to speak to her like that. Lena was not the kind of woman you could boss around like that. No way.
Atticai was in full asshole mode. He was just egging on the situation.