by H. T. Night
The bartender turned around and he, too, had a goatee for days. He looked at me, slowly shook his head, and then turned back around.
“Excuse me,” I repeated. “I’d like a Vodka Coke.”
The bartender turned around again and motioned for me to lean in so he could speak in my ear. I obliged.
He whispered in my ear. “Get the fuck out of here you piece of shit. I don’t serve your kind.” And then he took a step back and smiled as if he had told me good wishes.
“My kind?” I said, shocked. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re both white males in our twenties. Except that you need a shave and a bath, we’re practically the same guy.”
“Listen, you Mani fuck, I can have about ten Carni over here in two seconds. So, you either leave peacefully, or we can all have some fun tonight at your expense.”
I was completely surprised by the bartender’s comment. He knew I was a Mani? How could he tell? “How do you know?” I asked.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I need to know. How could you tell?”
The bartender stared at me with utter amazement. “I can smell the filth on you. You reek.”
“Is that because you are a Carni?”
“Are you fucking for real, man?” The bartender was not having any more of my questions.
I didn’t care. I persisted, I needed to know. “Are you Carni? Is that why?”
“You have five seconds to leave.”
“Tell me and I’ll go.”
The bartender whistled across the bar. That was my cue to leave; he wasn’t playing games. Dammit, I didn’t even have a fucking drink.
I turned around and headed for the door. I could feel every eye in the place on me. My senses were tingling. This wasn’t good. I hurried out the front door and did not turn around. I passed the doorman. Was he a Carni? Did he set me up?
I was now in the parking lot and I could hear people behind me.
I made my way to my truck and reached into my pocket to grab the keys. I dropped them and leaned over to pick them up. Why was I so nervous? I unlocked my door and slid into my truck.
How the hell was I supposed to know this was a werewolf bar? Was there such a thing? Was I going to be running into this all the time? Had I been going to werewolf bars and clubs for a while now and never even known it?
I slid my key into the ignition. I put my truck in reverse, and began pulling out of the parking lot. Without warning, a man jumped on the hood of my truck like a wild animal. I slammed the brakes, the man leaped over my windshield and into the bed of my truck.
I jumped out of my vehicle. I guess this was going to go down. Dammit! Why the hell did things always have to go down with me?
“What the hell, man?” I yelled at the idiot in the bed of my truck. I turned around and there were five guys coming up behind me; one of them was that seven-foot monster. Fucking great!
“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” I yelled to the men approaching me.
“You asked for it, you Mani scum, the moment you set foot in our bar,” the smallest of the men called out. That was usually the case. The runt of the group always seemed to be the loudest.
I had no idea what I was up against if they all decided to jump me. How did I defeat werewolves? I was pretty sure all these guys were Carni; I had no idea how strong they could be. I knew that Mani strength was off the charts. But head to head, Mani versus Carni? I was in uncharted territory.
“Look,” I said, “this is all kind of new to me. So, let’s just call it a mistake and I’ll go on my way.”
“Ha ha. He’s a newbie,” the runt yelled out again. “Poor bastard. He’s just trying to find his way.”
“Exactly,” I replied, knowing full well I was being mocked by the little shit.
“Well, just to let you know, rookie,” the little man continued, “when we have a dispute, we don’t settle it in bar parking lots. We have specific locations where we settle our scores. That way the Tandra don’t have to be involved in our business.”
“I don’t have a score to settle with any of you. I made a big mistake coming here. I’ll just leave.”
“This pretty boy is breaking my heart,” the guy in the bed of my truck said. “You almost want to just kill him here and put him out of his misery.”
“Is that what you think?” I asked. “That I’m a pretty boy?” Now my blood, or whatever runs through my veins, was boiling. It didn’t matter if I was human or vampire. I was still going to have no respect because of how I looked. “Okay, so how does this work? Do I fight one of you, all of you, or do I just pick which of you has the least teeth and we go from there?”
“This is between you and me.” A voice came from the bar entrance. It was the bartender. He had made his way out to the parking lot. He was about my height and about thirty pounds heavier.
“You?” I asked. “Why, because I ordered a drink?”
“No, because this is my bar and you disrespected it by coming here, knowing full well you aren’t welcome.”
“For your information, I was just telling the boys from Deliverance here that I haven’t looked online yet at which Carni bars and restaurants I need to avoid. This is all kind of new to me.”
“Mistake or not, you fucked up. We’ll meet at 2:30 at Barnes Ranch in the hills.”
“Where the hell is that?” I moaned.
“Someone get this fucker a GPS system or a Thomas Guide. It’s up in Anaheim Hills. Take Imperial Highway as high as you can. You can’t miss it. It’s the last ranch you hit before the mountains. So, go round up your Mani cohorts and we’ll make it a party.”
I stared at the bartender. If he was a human, I knew I could kick his ass in seconds. But I had no idea how strong a werewolf was. Did they only become strong on a full moon? I had no idea what the hell I was up against. I sighed and asked, “Are we done here?”
“You better show up, blondie, or we’ll hunt you down.”
“Hunt me down? You serious?” The bartender glared back at me and I looked him in the eye. “I’ll be there, scruffy.”
The guy on the bed of my truck hopped off on cue. How did this happen? I wasn’t gone for an hour and I seemed to have pissed off all of the Carni Nation. My door was still open from when I jumped out. I got in slowly and started my engine. I closed my door. I eased out of the parking lot, making sure I didn’t hit any of those assholes. God knows I wanted to.
What the hell did I just get myself into? A fight? At some ranch? What is this? The Outsiders? I looked at the clock and it read 10 p.m. I had four and a half hours before this stupid fight. They wanted me to round up my Mani counterparts. Did I have Mani counterparts? I knew four Mani, and none of them would be eager to come with me to a slaughter.
Chapter Two
I decided it was time to go find Lena. I had ignored her long enough. I had enough time to find her before the fight, I just hoped she wasn’t too pissed at me for ignoring her.
I pulled into a Taco Bell parking lot. I figured I would transition into the eagle so I could make it to Lena’s home faster. I hadn’t transitioned from Mani to eagle that many times, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how to fully control it. It wasn’t like I could say something like “a la kazam” and presto, I was now an eagle.
I put my keys under my seat and left my door unlocked. I jumped out and walked behind a Dumpster so no one could see me. I closed my eyes and imagined I was turning into the white eagle. At first, nothing happened. How the hell did I do this before? I relaxed and concentrated. I felt a rush of wind come over my body, which is what happened the other times when I had transitioned.
In an instant, my eye level dropped three feet. I was no longer six feet in height. I was a three-foot-tall eagle. I tilted my head to look at my body and extended my wings. Something caught my eye across the street. My reflection in the glass of an office building was magnificent. Damn, I was beautiful. What a gorgeous creature. For a brief second, I forgot I was looking at myself. It
was like I was at a nature exhibit, staring at some rare, nearly extinct eagle. But I wasn’t. I was staring at myself. I was the white eagle. For the first time, the reality of me being this animal was extremely real to me. It was heartbreaking. I was no longer Josiah, the man. I was Josiah, the thing. I was a freak of nature, an unnatural beast-bird-man with a tragic path ahead of me, if the last two weeks were any indication of what I faced as The Chosen One. The body count alone was ripping up my heart and sometimes made me question who I really was now, and what I was. Was I good or was I evil? Was I a man or a creature? I didn’t have the answers yet. I didn’t know if I ever would. I teared up and shook my tears off my beak.
I looked around and saw no one near me, so I knew it would be safe to fly. I flew up awkwardly. Flying was surreal, and I didn’t quite know how to shift my weight just yet. I worked up some good momentum and flew high in the sky above the clouds so no one could see me. I still wasn’t fully comfortable with the whole flying aspect of all of this. It was terrifying at times. It was hard to judge my speed and landing was a total bitch.
I took off in the direction of Lena’s trailer park, hoping she would be there. The air felt amazing. Flying was a spectacular feeling. I’d had dreams that I could fly in the past and it definitely didn’t feel like this in my dreams. This had a sense of delicacy to it. It wasn’t a gliding feeling like I had imagined flying to be, it felt more like a sleek missile ready to barrel into anything in its way.
It only took about ten minutes to make it back to the Inland Empire. I decided to fly over a park across the street from Lena’s place. There was an old barn at the far east end of the park. And about two football fields’ worth of grass in front of it. I decided to land on the grass. I knew my landing was going to be rough; it always was. I made sure no one could see me. I circled the grass a couple of times. Damn, I was horrible at this. I aimed down to the ground and of course, went much faster than I wanted to. I slammed into the earth and rolled like a sack of potatoes falling out of a delivery truck. I decided to transition back to my Mani form immediately, so I wouldn’t break my wings.
I finally stopped rolling and I was face first in the dirt with a mouth full of mud. Yummy. I climbed to my feet, spit the mud out, and brushed myself off. Where did my clothes go when I transitioned? They were always back on my body when I returned to my human form. I couldn’t quite figure out why. Definitely something I need to ask about.
I jogged across the street over to Lena’s trailer park. I found her trailer and walked up to it. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked a couple more times and still, there was no answer. I was about to give up when I heard a squawk from above. A beautiful red hawk landed right in front of me. It appeared to be either Yari or Lena.
Chapter Three
The mesmerizing hawk stared at me intently.
I waited for it to change, to take on its human form. Instead, it stood perfectly still, staring me down. Minutes felt like hours when the bird finally bent down and transitioned into Lena. She still didn’t say anything. I could sense that she was not sure how to greet me. Quite frankly, I wasn’t sure how to greet her either.
“You look pale,” she said. Hmm, not exactly a hello.
“So do you,” I replied. But I thought, look who’s talking.
She glanced down at the concrete behind me. “I thought you had run off or something.” She then kicked a pebble across the asphalt.
“Run off? That’s not my way. I am sometimes just... incommunicado.” I watched her. She was beautiful. Her jet-black hair looked shorter than I remembered. She must have cut her hair since I’d last seen her. She was wearing a black tank top with black stretch pants. I stated the obvious. “You cut your hair.”
“Sure did.” She looked down and then back up at me. “Why didn’t you answer your phone calls or answer the door when I came by?”
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Do you think I do?” Lena was now visibly upset. “Remember, I’m this way because of you.”
“It was what you wanted, Lena.”
“It was what I wanted when Atticai was here. Now, I’m not sure. I’m not even sure what our purpose is.”
“Don’t look to me for answers. I’m completely in the dark. Literally and metaphorically.”
“Yeah, that makes two of us,” she murmured. Lena opened the door to her trailer. “Come in,” she said. “You know that’s a rule?”
“What is?”
“We can’t enter a human’s home unless we’re invited in.”
“Really?”
“It’s a stupid rule, but we need to live by it.”
“Silly me. I didn’t get my rule book when I joined up.”
I entered her trailer home and apparently, her parents weren’t there. I didn’t see any cars parked out front. “I don’t even know which is myth, and which is real.”
“Most of what you find on Wikipedia is myth, but there are some serious truths.”
“I figured out the sunlight one real fast.” I mentioned.
“Yeah, that one’s a bitch, and the only way I can get out of that is to transition.”
I sat down on the couch in the living room and asked, “What about the whole drinking blood part?”
“There are ways around that. Eventually, we do need blood, or we’ll weaken.”
“Are you able to eat other things?”
“Not really. I become extremely sick.”
“I haven’t gotten sick yet. I’m able to eat the same things I had before.”
“You’re lucky,” Lena said as she sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor. She was so much more beautiful than I remembered.
Lena caught me looking at her. I could tell it made her a bit uncomfortable. “Have you had any human blood?”
“Just yours.” I laughed awkwardly.
“I heard that once you drink blood, your stomach aches for more and your taste buds turn against human food. And then the desire hits you like a brick to your chest. You just gotta have it.”
“So, have you had human blood?”
Lena’s fidgety movements made me concerned. I wanted answers to my serious questions. “Yes, I have,” she whispered under her breath.
“Wow,” I said, flabbergasted. “You didn’t waste any time.”
“Don’t act so holier than thou, Josiah. You’ll get a craving and when it hits, you will have very few choices.”
“Who was it?” I probed.
“Remember our little frat buddies?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s just say Ron’s fat ass had enough blood for four Mani.”
“Did you kill him?”
“I let him live.”
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll say something to someone?”
“You do know we have a thing called mind control? The weak Tandra are receptive to it. It actually saves their lives. Otherwise, I would have killed him because he knew too much.”
“So, mind control is true?”
“Some of us have it, and some of us don’t. We are all given gifts from the Triat. It’s up to us to figure out what they are. Some are prophets, some can heal, some can control minds, and some can read minds. Atticai was able to read minds. That’s why he liked you.” Lena paused. A longing in her eyes made it clear that she wasn’t over Atticai.
“Where do you think he went? Do you think I killed him?”
“I don’t know, Josiah; you pierced his neck really good. Just like humans, none of us are entirely sure what happens to Mani when they die. The hereafter is all a big dark secret. There are theories but no proof.”
“So, no one knows where Mani go when they disappear?” I asked.
“There are rumors the same way there are with mortals. There are tales of an afterlife: Mani given a second chance, a rebirth, even a chance at being mortal again. But there are not enough facts about it. No one really knows what happens, not for sure.”
“So, when a vampire dies, they just disap
pear?”
“Yes. Otherwise, there would be dead vampires everywhere. By now, humans would have had a field day with the autopsies.”
“Is that what happened to Tommy? Is that what happens to the Carni?”
“Actually, no. The Carni are as close to humans as you can get, with a lot of the DNA threads similar to both. Mani history goes back as far as 10,000 years ago. While Carni history is just 500 years young.”
“How’s that?” I had been under the impression that werewolves and vampires were manifested at the same time.
“Mani believe that Carni are an inferior species. Werewolves believe in a lot of myth and untruths.”
“Why do they do that?”
“It’s a way to justify giant mistakes they have made so they can be at peace with their form, their destiny.” Lena’s soft voice filled the room. I could see her desperately trying to answer my questions when she had questions of her own.
“I know about wanting to feel a sense of peace. For two weeks, I’ve tried to find my inner peace. I shut myself away so that I could seek my own truths and separate it from the flood of pop culture about vampires, werewolves, and related creatures. Are there any other creatures? I sort of wanna know.”
Her lips twitched into a semi-smile. I listened and she continued, “The blurring lines of truth and fiction have forced Carni to live far outside the Triat’s will. Mani believe that Carni have forgotten what their purpose is, and they are no better than savages.”
“Purpose... I’ve been trying to figure that one out for two weeks. What is our purpose, Lena? Is it biological, ecological, spiritual? What must we do with what we have, what we are?”
“Well, you were chosen by the Triat even before you were a Mani. Josiah, there is something greater out there—something amazing.”
“What was amazing was my other life, my human life.”
“Yeah, but think about it this way: We are wiser than the average living species. We have a window to the world. People live and then die, and in the course of living, they know nothing. Perfect ignorant bliss.” She smiled at me.