by H. T. Night
We were headed toward a beautiful rocky mountain that seemed to be something Rocky Balboa would have run up in one of his ‘training montages’. At the peak of the mountain was a plateau and it seemed like a safe enough spot to land on level ground.
The hawk glided down and landed in poetic fashion. I watched from above and was unsure what I should do. The hawk squawked as if to say, ‘Join me.’
I wisped down and landed about ten feet away from her. Was this hawk a Mani woman? I waited for her to transition, but she didn’t. She waddled her way over to me and gently pressed her head against my breast. It was a gentle move, almost tender. I nuzzled back, and we just stood there on top of this beautiful rocky mountain, cuddling in a way only two birds of our magnitude could do. I felt safe and peaceful.
This was a strange vision.
Suddenly, the hawk rose up, squawked, and flew away at the speed of light. Her speed indicated that she did not want me to follow.
***
Instantly, I awoke on the plane to find myself in the middle of the worst turbulence I had ever experienced in my life. Helen reached out her hand to me and I held it. “What the hell is going on?” I said.
“Your guess is as good as mine. This is pretty bad turbulence.” Helen didn’t seem as concerned as I was.
I didn’t fly that much, especially across the world. Hopefully it would settle down, and sure enough, it did. When all was calm, Helen let go of my hand. “My hero,” she said.
I knew she was teasing or even mocking me. I smiled at her with a sense of relief.
You have no idea what kind of hero I actually am, I thought.
Chapter Two
I looked around the plane and noticed all of the window panels were closed. That was odd, considering that before I napped, they were all open.
“Excuse me!” I called to the flight attendant.
She stood up from her molded employee’s seat near the bathroom and walked over to me. “Yes, would you like that drink now?” she asked.
“Actually, yes. Could I have a vodka and Coke?”
“No, problem, sir.”
“One more thing,” I asked. “Is it still dark outside?”
“No, it’s not. We are about six hours in and the morning sun is out now. We apologize, there seems to be a problem with the windows. They have all locked down, so if you were planning on looking outside, you’re not going to be able to.”
“No sunlight can get in here?” I asked, almost giddy.
“I guess you can say that.”
“And the windows are definitely stuck?” I pressed.
“That’s what I said,” she said, almost condescendingly.
What a break!
I wondered if the Triat had something to do with it. I sat back in my seat and smiled.
“This has been an odd flight,” Helen said, leaning over to me.
“Oh, you have no idea!” I said, laughing. I looked over at Helen and noticed she was wearing a completely different outfit than she had on earlier. She was now wearing a colorful blue and orange sundress with her legs nicely on display. She had nice stems, shapely, and a little bit of golden tan that showed she was careful to use sunscreen. Either that, or she loved her a salon spray-on tan. She must have changed in the bathroom while I was sleeping. Speaking of which, it is about that time for me also.
“Excuse me,” I said to Helen. I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up out of my seat. I made my way around Helen and noticed a strange scratch on the back of her neck. I thought it was odd. “Wow, that’s some scratch!” I said.
Helen felt the back of her neck and smiled. “I have a pretty frisky kitty.”
“I bet you do,” I said, not sure if she meant anything sexual by her statement.
I went to the bathroom area of the plane.
Damn, it was cramped.
I took care of business and then checked my hair in the mirror. It was pretty messy. My hair was in serious need of a good haircut.
I decided to turn on the water faucet and put my entire head in the tiny sink by rotating it back and forth. It’s a quick trick I do to get my hair in order fast. I took off my leather jacket and dumped my head into the tiny sink. I used paper towels to dry off my hair. I slicked back my hair using my fingers.
Why was I doing this? Was I trying to impress Helen?
She definitely seemed interested in me, but that was the last thing I needed to worry about. I had enough on my plate, just trying to get to Romania in one piece. Not to mention the whole I’m-in-love-with-Lena part.
Lena wasn’t officially my girlfriend or anything, but she did tell me she loved me. I was pretty damn sure I loved her. But, there was something intriguing and sexy about Helen. But that was as far as I was going to take it.
So, there I was, primping in the mirror trying to look good for a woman for whom I knew nothing was going to come of our brief acquaintance, just two random people, in random seats on a plane to Heathrow. It could have been anyone next to me, but I was glad it was her.
My blonde hair curled over with a little Superman twist that would have made Christopher Reeve jealous. My eyes were looking especially blue. It must have been the lighting. My face was remarkably mark-free, which was a miracle, considering how many life-altering fights I’d been in over the last few months. My black shirt was wrinkled from sleeping in the seat. I did my best to straighten it over my blue jeans.
I am a sexy beast, I thought.
I stepped out of the restroom, holding my leather jacket and walked back to my seat. The flight attendant caught my attention and asked, “Would you like your meal now? You were asleep when I passed them out.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“You have a choice between meatloaf and chicken.”
“And what if I’m a vegan?”
“Then we can double up your sides.”
“Lucky for me, I’m not a vegan. I’ll take the chicken.” The waitress shook her head and was not amused with my antics.
I stepped into my row and in front of Helen. She was listening to her MP3 player and just scooted aside as I walked in front of her.
I sat back in my seat and flipped down the movie thingamajig in front of me. Bridget Jones’s Diary 1 and 2? Are you kidding me? I am not a chick-flick dude; Tommy was into movies like Fried Green Tomatoes and Prince of Tides. I swore I saw him crying during both films.
I flipped through the movie list. I ticked them off in my head as I searched in vain for Never Back Down, Rocky, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, even a Jackie Chan movie. Nada.
Weren’t there any action flicks? Hell, I was an action movie all by myself. Someone should write my story and put it on the big screen. Maybe someday, I would.
I flipped through each movie. All they had were Adam Sandler flicks and British titles that I didn’t even recognize. I sat back and sighed. All I wanted was a good gangster movie or at least Daniel Craig film. No 007? I was going to England, for crying out loud. Not even the Welshman, Sean Connery.
“Nothing good?” Helen said to me.
“Nope! You have the right idea by listening to music.”
Helen took her earplugs out of her ears and looked over at me. “We should be in London in a couple of hours.”
“It appears to be that way.” I smiled at her.
“So, Josiah, what is a young man like yourself going to a country like Romania for?”
I looked at Helen and I give her credit; she did seem really interested in me. I have always liked that trait in a woman. “You could say I’m going there on business.”
“What business is that?”
I grinned. “I’m in the business of kicking ass.”
Helen expected me to laugh or say I was kidding. She sat and waited for me to make another statement. “Oh, you’re being serious. What the hell do you do?”
So, this is the part where I now needed to lie to people. I haven’t had to do this yet, so I wasn’t even sure if it was going to sound good. “I’m a fighter,” I said. “I
’m going there for training. I’m meeting up with a world-class trainer.”
Okay, so far that is the total truth.
“A fighter? Like a boxer?” she asked.
“Yes, I box. I also do other things.”
“What kind of other things.”
“I kick.”
“You’re a kickboxer?”
“No, I’m a mixed martial arts fighter.” I still wasn’t lying. I was technically still in the Commission. I wasn’t sure what they think happened to me since I hadn’t shown up for training for a while, let alone a fight.
“Oh, okay,” she said, nodding her head. “That is very interesting.”
“That’s me,” I said. “I’m Mr. Interesting.”
Mr. Interesting? Are you kidding me? Why was I being such a tool?
Then I smiled like a total dork does after he knows he said something completely moronic. To her credit, she held in a giggle. I could see it.
“Do you have a girlfriend, Josiah?”
I looked at Helen and wasn’t sure how to answer the question. So, I said, “That’s the billion-dollar question!”
“A billion dollars?” Helen asked. “Not a million? Damn, it must be complicated.”
“Not so much... complicated,” I said. “There has just been a lot of drama fast.”
“Do you like the drama?”
“Not exactly. No one could be prepared for the kind of drama I’ve seen.” That was about as honest of a statement as I had ever delivered.
“Why don’t you get out of the relationship?” Helen asked.
Helen had it completely wrong.
“The drama isn’t about her. She’s not the one creating it.”
“Then who is creating it?”
Here is where I wanted to say, the Triat, werewolves, vampires, something like that. But, I didn’t want her to think I should be in a mental institution, so I thought I would better say, “An ex-boyfriend.”
“Does she still love him?”
I paused. “That I don’t know for sure. I suppose she does. But he isn’t exactly with us any longer.”
“He died?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, I get it.” Helen had the look people do when finally, something makes sense. “And she still cares about him?”
“I don’t think that kind of thing just goes away. The whole thing smacks of hero worship, something he didn’t deserve.”
“Well, that isn’t good.” Helen seemed to be pouncing on the fact that Lena might still have feelings for Atticai. She didn’t know that Atticai was a psychopathic vampire who tried to drain her blood for some weird purpose that only he seemed to understand.
“There’s a lot about the entire situation that I can’t really explain.”
“Try me.” Helen turned her entire body toward me and looked me in the eye.
I was hesitant to tell Helen exactly how I felt about Lena. I guess this was the test of my loyalty to her. “Something is constantly drawing me to her. Sometimes, I feel like it’s beyond this world.”
“Something supernatural?” she asked.
“Actually, that’s exactly what I think it is.”
“Wow! You’re a romantic!”
I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing with her. “I’m not a romantic,” I said. “Trust me! I’m the farthest thing from that, but when something keeps staring you in the face, you eventually give in to it and consider it might be a higher power that has brought you together.”
“Look, Josiah. You might not want to think you’re a romantic, but I have a good read on people and that is exactly what you are. Unless the reason you feel that way is because you’re a religious fanatic.”
“I’m not a religious fanatic in the slightest. I will say this though, anyone who is a humanist and thinks this world is the beginning, middle, and end is greatly mistaken.”
“And how does Josiah know that it’s not?” she asked.
I looked at Helen and smirked. I liked it that she talked about me, to me, in the third person. It was sort of classy.
She looked at me expectantly.
I wasn’t planning on getting into such a deep conversation with her. I was actually surprised that we were having such philosophical dialogue so quickly. I don’t know why, but I think I trusted her. Maybe, it was because when we talked, she constantly made eye contact with me. Or maybe it was the fact that she was even interested at all, a woman who didn’t think that the earth revolved around her. What I do know is that I can’t reveal too much to a random record producer who I just met on an airplane. So, I decided to change the subject. I gave a little shrug, by way of apology for my nondisclosure.
“So, Helen,” I said. “What’s your story? A rock star boyfriend?”
“My story isn’t quite that interesting. I have no boyfriend and I haven’t quite figured out the meaning of our existence, like some people.” Helen winked at me.
Damn, she was cute. Stop it, Josiah! Think of Lena. Remember her? You know, the girl who laid her body on top of you, while a seven-foot werewolf was trying to kill you.
I decided to reel in the conversation and back it up and keep it light. She was getting much too close to asking pointed questions. Still, I found it easy to talk to her, almost as if we were talking over the phone. We talked for the next couple of hours about movies, politics, and current events. It was shocking how we had practically the same opinion on most subjects. She was a news and pop culture hound, like me. We both seemed to like the same things. It was effortless talking to her; almost like we had known each other forever. She was cute as hell, but my heart was with Lena.
Then the pilot’s voice came over the speaker: “We’re on the approach to Heathrow. We’ll be landing shortly. I hope you had a pleasant flight. You’ll be going through Customs before you get your next connection, and to those of you who are staying in London, don’t miss the Tower of London tour. It’s 900 years old and was built by William the Conqueror.”
My eyebrows went up. Did I have time for that tour? Nah. Focus, Josiah.
“Wow!” Helen said. “That was the fastest eleven-hour flight that I have ever been on.”
“It did go by fairly quick, didn’t it?”
“Good conversation tends to do that.”
“Yes, it does,” I agreed.
“You know what we did, don’t you?” Helen looked at me intently.
“What did we do?” I said, concerned.
“We had the all-night-talk,” she said plainly.
“What’s that?”
“You know when you first meet someone and hit it off, you spend all night talking to them on the phone. That’s what we had. We talked about everything.”
“It was fun talking to you,” I said.
Helen started to say something and then stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“I have this stupid dinner tonight, and it’s a couples’ thing, and I don’t have anyone to go with.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you won’t have a hard time finding a date.” I knew she was insinuating that we should go together, but I didn’t feel right about it. I knew I was attracted to her and that was not a good situation to put myself in. Lena. Her name was like a little heartbeat inside of me.
Helen was quiet.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I don’t want to find a date. I want to go with you,” she said, with an amazing, giant beautiful smile.
Even though I knew that was where she was leading, but I was afraid to hear the answer. The weird part was that I didn’t know why I was scared. Was it because I thought she didn’t want to go with me, or was it that it would put me in a weird predicament with Lena?
“My flight to Romania is in five hours,” I told her.
“Do you have a set time you are to meet your trainer?”
I thought about it for a moment. I didn’t have a set time for anything. The gnome was waiting for me, regardless. Helen could tell by my expression that I w
as considering it.
“Listen,” she said. “I know the guy who runs the Claridge’s Hotel. He’ll put you up in his best suite. It’s like $5,000 a night.”
“I don’t have that kind of money,” I said, shocked.
“Don’t worry. He owes me a favor.”
Damn, just to stay in a suite that’s $5,000 a night would be worth it.
“It’s the Davies Penthouse,” she continued. “It is immaculate.”
“You have that kind of influence?” I asked.
Helen laughed, “Oh Josie, you have no idea.”
I sat back and thought for a moment. I very much wanted to do this. After all the crap I’ve been through, this sounded like a blast.
“Okay, two things,” I said. “One, you need to know that I am extremely serious about how I feel toward Lena and I would be escorting you only as a friend.”
“No problem. I just want to spend a little bit more time with you. You’re a pretty cool guy, Josiah. What’s the second thing?”
“Never call me Josie ever again.”
“You got it Jo-Jo.”
I shot her a dirty look and we both buckled our seatbelts before the flight landed.
Chapter Three
I knew the second I was off the plane that I was going to need a specific plan in regard to the sun. As I had nothing to show Customs except for my leather jacket, they gave me a funny look and waved me through. I was about to embark on a lot of pain if I wasn’t quick and precise in how I left the airport.
Helen told me she has a limo picking us up out front. I could avoid the sun until I knew the limousine was there.
Helen and I walked through Heathrow terminal and, luckily, it was a windowless airport. As we approached the front entrance, I knew I was bound to see glass doors and windows. Sure enough, as we rounded the corner there they were, like blades of gamma rays attacking my skin.
Holy shit! It felt like I was on the sun.
I looked over at Helen and she was walking exceptionally fast and that was a good thing. She was wearing a rather large hat and a rather long fur coat. That was her third outfit! She must spend hours a day picking outfits and changing them, like a human Barbie doll.