by H. T. Night
After a moment, Lena asked, “Are we leaving right now?”
“It looks that way.”
“It’s daytime. We are going to have to transition if we are going to Los Angeles.”
“I know. Tommy is going to drive separately. Put your things in my truck and Tommy will take them down.”
“All right. I’m going to take a shower.”
“Okay.” I stood up and headed back to the kitchen. Tommy, Yari, Hector and Wyatt were all in the kitchen talking.
“Lena is taking a shower,” I said to the group.
“And you didn’t join her?” Yari said with a smirk.
“No, I didn’t,” I replied with as little sense of humor as I had ever displayed in my life. “When she’s finished, we can all leave.”
“I’ll bring the truck up later today,” Tommy said as he stood up and went into the living room.
“Why later?” I asked.
“Cause I want to sleep.” Tommy said, lying on the couch and closing his eyes.
“You can sleep at Yari’s place.”
“Are you really going to make a big deal about this, Josiah?”
“I just want everyone to be safe.”
“I am a big boy, Josiah. I am going to be all right.”
“Fine, Tom. Do it your way.” It must have been bugging Tommy to death that I was calling the shots. I’d let him have this one.
I packed a suitcase and put it in my truck. Yari gave Tommy the directions. Soon after, we five Mani all transitioned into our bird forms and headed to Los Angeles. We flew as a group. I flew higher than the rest to be less visible. I didn’t feel like making the morning news. A white eagle sighting might cause traffic accidents. We made our way over Orange County and I could see Angel Stadium and Disneyland.
I looked down below me and Yari and Lena were flying next to one another. Yari’s feathers were a dark red with streaks of orange—the color of fire, while Lena’s feathers looked like the rocks from Sedona, Arizona—a pretty reddish-orange color that had streaks of black in it.
As we passed over Orange County, we made our way to Los Angeles. Yari flew ahead of us and squawked loudly—her famous squawk. I looked down and saw the Los Angeles skyline. It wasn’t like New York City’s skyline, but it wasn’t too shabby.
Now that we were in the big city, I was extremely cautious to not to be seen from the ground. Yari circled over us and motioned with her wings for us to fly down and land by the giant Hollywood sign. The five of us glided past Griffith Park and landed right in front of the giant letters. None of us transitioned because the sun would fry us like bacon. She apparently needed to rest. She squawked and aimed her beak north.
After we rested, Yari flew up again and we followed her, making our way toward West Hollywood. Yari squawked a final time and flew down for us to follow her into a nice gated townhouse community. Yari scanned the ground to make sure no Tandra were outside. When the coast was clear, we all headed down with her and landed. Yari quickly transitioned to her Mani form and turned over the doormat in front of a white and brown home. She grabbed a key that was under the mat and opened the door quickly so she wouldn’t be burned by the sunlight. We all went in the front door and transitioned alongside her.
“It’s just three rooms,” Yari said. “So, we will have to double up.”
“Hector and I don’t need a room. We barely sleep,” Wyatt said. “The living room will be fine for us.”
“I can barely keep my eyes open,” I commented. “I’m going to crash in the room with the biggest bed.”
“That would be mine,” Yari said. “It’s a California king.”
“Then I’ll take the one with the second biggest bed.”
“It’s okay, Josiah. You can sleep in my room.”
Lena’s eyes shot across the room. She was apparently not okay with me sleeping in Yari’s bed.
“No, I’ll be okay. Just give me any room that has a bed.”
“The guest room in the back has a queen,” Yari answered.
“That will be fine.” I headed to the back of the townhouse. I called out, “Wake me up when Tommy gets here.”
I entered the guest room. It was an interesting room. Apparently, Broadway musicals from the 1980s were the theme to this room. Giant posters of Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Miss Saigon wallpapered the room. I wasn’t a show tunes kind of guy but, interestingly enough, Tommy was.
There was a lock on the door, so I decided to lock myself in. I hadn’t rested or slept in more than 36 hours, and I really could use some sleep.
I looked at the clock. It was 11:00 am. Tommy should be here in a few hours. I closed my eyes and lay there for about 45 minutes and then heard a knock at my door.
“Is Tommy here?” I yelled out.
No one responded. Instead, I heard another light knock.
“Sheesh,” I stood up and went to the door and opened it. “Is Tommy—” It was Lena.
“Hey there,” I said. “Are you okay?”
“You want company? I’m not exactly Miss Popularity with these people.”
“Sure, come in.”
Lena entered the door and locked it behind her.
“Wow, you really don’t want to socialize with them,” I said, laughing at the fact she locked the door.
“I’ve spent the last three days with those people. I need a break. Wyatt is weird, and Hector is just plain creepy. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d think Yari is watching me when I sleep and imagines putting a silver stake through my heart.”
“Was it that bad?” I sat on my bed. Lena stayed standing. “Have a seat.” Lena sat at the end of my bed. I propped myself up so my back was leaning up against the headboard.
“So, what happened with Tommy?” Did your little experiment go the way you wanted?” Lena laid her entire body across the end of the bed. She was so tiny that she almost didn’t have her feet hanging off the width of the queen size bed.
“It actually went pretty well. We really connected. To what extent, I don’t know yet.”
“That’s great.” Lena seemed uncomfortable.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“This whole thing is nuts. I don’t even know what we’re running from. It’s becoming overwhelming.”
I looked straight ahead and nodded. “If I wanted to,” I said, “I could spend all day tripping out about all of this shit. But I can’t do that anymore. At some point, you have to accept that your life as you knew it is completely over. And now you need to make the most out of your new one.”
Lena reached her hand out to me.
I took her hand and held it. “You’re going to have to just let everything go, otherwise you will make yourself crazy. Everything that we have ever been taught is wrong. Our reality is what and how we are living today. We’re both 20 years old and have been given the keys to this world.”
“Have we?” Lena asked. “Have we been given the keys? Or did someone throw us in a cage and throw the keys away?”
“We have been given the truth, or at least what the truth is for us. People run around all their lives clinging to faith and hope. They never truly know if what they believe in is their true calling. They won’t know till they die. Not us. We get to live in our faith. We get to defend it.”
“I can’t believe you’re the same guy who questioned everything two months ago.”
“Well, turning into a vampire and needing those skills to save your life three times would make anyone a believer. I have to embrace all of this. It’s all I can do now. Otherwise, I’m fighting who I really am.”
Lena crawled over and lay down next to me. I put my arm around her back and she put her arm around my waist. We both let out a sigh at the exact same moment.
“I feel safe with you.” Lena tightened her grip around my waist. “I feel safer with you than anyone in my entire life.”
“Even Atticai?”
“Especially him.”
“Really?”
“I was alw
ays unsure of what he was doing. I thought I loved him, but in the end, I think that was why I cared about him. The mystery.”
“I get it. You spend all your time trying to figure a person out. Before you know it, you find yourself having intense feelings and you’re never quite sure when it started happening.” In a way, I was referring to Lena. My uncertainty had led me to a place in my heart I never knew existed.
Lena adjusted her head so her face was at the same level as mine. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might flutter out of my chest. This was the most intimacy we had ever shared. I looked deep into her eyes. My feelings for her were so intense. I didn’t know for sure how she truly felt about me and that was killing me inside.
“Josiah,” Lena paused.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Are you going to leave me?”
I took a deep breath. “Why would you ask that?”
“I need to know. When this is all over, do you plan on going away?”
“Lena, I will always be here for you.”
“Always?”
“Always,” I said.
“I believe you.”
“What are you afraid of?” I asked.
“You’re all I have, Josiah. I have no true friends, no more family.”
I nodded my head at her. “Lena,” I said, “we are forever bonded.”
“Is that all it is? A bond?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Are we only bonded by this experience?”
I calmly looked at her. “No, Lena. We’re not. I feel bonded with you by something way more powerful.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“So do I,” she said.
We were quiet. We had an amazing way of opening up to one another and then shutting down when it reached a certain point. Fuck it! I wasn’t letting it shut down this time. “You are becoming my world.”
“What about Yari?”
“I needed Yari and she needed me.”
Lena paused. “Why did you need her?”
“I needed her because she led me to you.”
We just stared at one another with a new kind of energy. It built up slowly and just held in the air like a bubble waiting to pop.
Lena leaned in and put her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.
“I might be falling for you, Josiah.” Lena looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I took my hand and gently wiped her eyes. I already knew I had fallen for her.
Chapter Twenty-two
We had both fallen asleep and Lena’s head was still on my chest.
As I slept, I could feel Lena gently touching me. She was touching my chest, my stomach, and my legs. It was like being brushed by an angel. This lasted for hours. I was going in and out of sleep each time feeling Lena’s touch. I’m not sure if she ever slept.
I looked at the clock on the dresser, it read 5:00 p.m. Tommy must have shown up by now. I didn’t want to leave the room. Lena was still gently rubbing my abdomen. I leaned up.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m great,” I said.
“Josiah,” Lena said.
“Yes.”
“Why haven’t you kissed me?”
I paused. I really didn’t have an answer.
“Do you want to kiss me?” Lena asked
“Very much so,” I whispered.
“Okay, then.” Lena smiled.
This was it. My heart was pounding. I turned my head, and leaned into her. In the dark, she looked like a pixie with her short black hair. I gently slipped my head closer to her mouth and softly kissed her lips. As our lips touched, I was overwhelmed by my senses. Every touch, every smell, seemed magnified. I took my right hand and placed it on the back of her head. She aggressively leaned forward, pinning me to my back. She was taking control and I was letting her do it.
She lay on top of me, kissing my face, my neck, and my lips. I could feel the fire burning from inside her. It was as if a tiger had been let out of her cage.
“Can I bite you?” she asked.
“Do whatever you want,” I whispered back.
Lena kissed the top of my forehead softly and made her way down kissing me inch by inch until reaching my neck. I was in complete ecstasy. She kissed my neck passionately. With each kiss, she tightened her lips more and more. Her kisses turned into nibbles and her nibbles turned into bites. She bit down and I let her. It was me giving myself back to her. She had trusted me and now I trusted her. The pain felt delightful. I wasn’t even sure what flowed through my veins now that I was a vampire. Whatever it was ignited her with passion. My entire body began to quiver. I was in complete submission to this woman. She had me; she had every inch of me. And I loved every second of it.
I had secretly longed for this moment for months. I never imagined that she’d be this daring, this adventurous. She stopped biting me and her mouth made its way back to my lips. My fluid was dripping from her mouth. I could feel whatever it was dripping on my chin. She then went back to kissing my mouth. I could taste my Mani blood inside her mouth. This was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced.
We continued kissing. I was mindful to allow her to control the pace. Every now and then, I would take a little bit of control and then release it back to her. Each time I had control, I held her tighter. I loved her deeper. Finally, I pulled her tightly to me. I gently flipped her over so now I was on top of her.
I kissed her chin, her cheek, her forehead. As she lay on her back, I kissed her neck and the top of her collarbone.
Lena once again took control. She took my shirt from the bottom position. She tore off her own tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Our upper bodies were bare, pressing up against one another; our skin sticking to each other. She kissed my neck, my face, my chest, she licked my stomach. As she did I tightened up my six pack, and that seemed to excite her. She began kissing every inch of my upper body. I just lay back and allowed her to discover me—to discover every bit of me—on her terms.
Her hand dropped and she cupped my groin. I was at full attention, and just the slightest touch put my entire body into an exhilarating euphoria that I had never experienced before.
I whispered, “Only do what you want to do.”
“Oh, Josiah. I’ve wanted to do this since high school.”
Lena slowly unbuttoned my 501 jeans and slid them off. She buried her face up against my boxers. Her hand slowly reached inside the peephole, and she grabbed a hold of me. She proceeded to pleasure me with her hand. She was gentle and attentive. I didn’t know if this was her first time experiencing a man, so I let her find her way. It was as if my body was her very own private amusement park. I was thrilled to be the main attraction.
She stopped before I could climax, and I didn’t care. I reached down and lifted her up, so she was lying completely on top of my body. We kissed and kissed—we held each other tight. We were here, we were in the moment—and we were alive.
Chapter Twenty-three
We lay there in each other’s arms.
Seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. I didn’t want to leave and nobody was going to force me. I wanted to lie there forever, and so did she. If there was a way to do it, we would have.
I had so much to say to her, but I had no idea how to tell her. All I could do is show her how much I cared for her until I was ready to share it out loud. She would know by my actions how I felt about her.
“You think we should get up?” Lena whispered. It was weird hearing her voice. Neither one of us had spoken in hours.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Almost six in the morning.”
“Wow, we have been lying here for a long time.”
“I know.” Lena stood up and put on her black tank top. I put on my white T-shirt. She turned on the light and it felt like someone flashed a spotlight on our faces.
“Come here,” I said softly to Lena. Lena walked over to me and I stood up and
hugged her. She pulled back and looked at my neck.
“Sorry about your neck. You have some hickey.”
I felt my neck and it was a tad tender. I smiled at Lena and said, “Next time I’ll have another taste.”
“Oh, you will?”
I grinned. “I’m going to see what Tommy is doing.”
“Okay.”
“Josiah?” Lena murmured.
“Yeah.”
“Can we keep this between us?”
“Sure. No problem. But the hickey is a big giveaway.”
Lena nodded and a part of me felt like maybe she was marking her territory as far as Yari was concerned. I opened the door and headed to the living room. Yari was duct taping the curtains and the doorways.
“Where’s Tommy?” I asked
“Your guess is as good as mine. He’s not answering his phone, and he should have been here a long time ago.”
“He never came over?”
“Nope.”
“Why didn’t you get me up?”
“The two of you seemed like you needed your rest.” Yari raised her eyebrows at my neck. “Apparently, there wasn’t much resting.”
I ignored her and continued about Tommy. “This isn’t good,” I said.
“Do you think he did something stupid?” Yari now appeared to be worried.
Hell, I was worried. “I wouldn’t put it past him. This sucks! It’s almost daylight and someone needs to go find him.”
“You can’t go,” Yari said. “You need to limit how many times you transition up here. This is a highly populated area. It isn’t like the Inland Empire. There are people everywhere up here. You’re not exactly discreet when you transition.”
“What should we do then?”
“I should go.” Yari was adamant about it. But Tommy was my best friend and if something had happened, I wanted to be the one to be there.
“He might have just gotten lost.”
“Or, he decided to take matters into his own hands with his old Carni counterparts.” Which was very much like Tommy.
“Lena should go with me,” Yari said.