by H. T. Night
“I will,” I said. “But I have one more question.”
“Yes, my child?”
“How is it possible that she is even pregnant? Regardless of prophecy and the supernatural overtones? Tell me scientifically, how could she possibly be pregnant?”
The Deity looked at me and said, “It’s simple, Josiah; you both are not 100 percent Mani.”
I took a step back and felt extremely confused. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“Because you were Lena’s final bite that turned her, she is forever a part of you.”
“Okay, still...” I persisted. “What does that mean?”
“You are both still human,” the Deity answered.
“What?” Lena and I both belted out.
The Deity smiled and said, “Both of you are equally human as well as Mani.”
“We are half breeds?” I asked.
“Not half,” the Deity said. “You have all the characteristics of both races. You are full breeds, as you would say, of both races. That is why you are immortal as well as fertile. You are the first strand of Mani that will be able to reproduce. You’re our Adam and Eve, as it were.”
Holy crap! This was a lot to take in.
I looked at Lena and she seemed to have a peace come over her. She looked up at me and said, “I always knew, Josiah. In my heart, I always knew this to be true. Everything that has been said tonight, I have always known deep down in my soul. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, but now that it’s been revealed I now know what it was.”
“Those are your maternal instincts, child,” the Deity said to Lena.
“Your holiness,” I said. “Thank you. Thank you for giving us the wisdom of ourselves that we most desperately needed to find.”
“You have many things you need to settle, Josiah. Go and be the leader we all know you can be.”
I took Lena’s hand and as I stepped to the door, I stopped and turned around. “Will it be okay for her to transition?”
“She must not change after the second month. Josiah, the life that’s inside Lena will be human. It will grow and have a human’s life.”
With that, we left and I took the mother of my two future children home.
Chapter Twenty-three
I took Lena into my room and held her. We had received a lot of intense information tonight and we would need time to process the new knowledge. I lay there on our bed and closed my eyes. I was dozing off when I heard Lena say, “Jo?”
“Yes,” I said, waking up.
“Are you concerned?”
“Of course I am. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around everything. What I do know, sweetheart, is that everything in my life has been turned upside down since the very first day I protected you at that frat party. And I’ve been able to handle anything that has come my way and this will be no different. It does make me nervous to think about the kind of world we’re bringing them into.” I looked at Lena and smiled. “But in my eyes, these two lives that are inside you are a celebration. All the things I once worried about don’t seem to be important at all anymore.”
“I thought you didn’t worry,” Lena said, smiling at me.
“No... I worry. I just don’t allow it to manifest itself into full-blown fear.”
“I love you, Josiah Reign.”
“I love you, too. Forever and always.”
With that, I closed my eyes, and was out like a light. Suddenly, I was awakened by a rushing wind. I opened my eyes and I was lying in front of a beautiful creek. There were trees all around and even a water snake at the rim of the creek eating a fish.
Yes, I was having another vision.
There was a rock at the back of the creek and the hot sun was out and it didn’t appear to bother me. I sat on the rock and stared out into the water.
This was my kind of vision. It was a little bit of Utopia right here in my mind.
Then I heard a voice that knocked me off the rock. “Son,” a man’s voice said.
I turned around and nearly passed out on the spot. I was face to face with my father. I didn’t know how to react. I knew this was a vision, but here he was... right in front of me. It had been years since I’d seen his face.
I jumped up from off the ground and went to him. “Dad!” I said, as choked up as I had ever said his name in my life.
“Hello, Josiah,” he said, as he reached his arms out to me and I ran into them. I hugged him tightly. He even smelled like himself, a combination of Old Spice and soap.
“Are you real?” I asked.
“I’m real to you. That’s all that matters.”
“I missed you so much,” I said.
“I have missed you too, son. Your mother says hi.”
“Mom? Is she here?”
“No, son. I was the only one allowed to come.”
“Do you know about me?” I asked. “Do you know what I’ve become?”
“Son, you haven’t become anything you weren’t already. Some of us gain weight, some of us go bald. But deep in you, you are the same incredible man I raised you to be.”
“But Dad, I’m a vampire.”
“That may be so, son. But at the end of the day, you’re everything I raised you to be and more. You can’t be summed up by one term. You’re loyal and forgiving. You have an amazing sensibility to fight for what is right and what is good in the world.” He paused, and then looked at me with a giant smile and said, “And now, you will be a father.”
Tears dripped from my eyes. “I don’t know, Dad. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“None of us think we can do it, but the great thing about fatherhood is that it’s forgiving. And as long as you’re honest with yourself, to your partner, and to your children, you will always be able to do what is right. It may take you a couple of times to get it done. But you will.”
“Dad...”
“Yes, son?”
“This has been so hard. Doing all of this alone has taken a toll on me.” I sat back on the rock and stared at the creek.
As I sat staring at the water my father walked over to me and put his arm around me. “I know, son. You have been asked to take on a tremendous burden. The thing is that you don’t have to do it alone. Others have been given a similar calling and so will your two boys.”
“I just feel like...” I continued to say. Then, suddenly, I no longer felt my father’s hand on my shoulder. I turned around and he was gone. Then, in an instant, I woke up.
I sat up and looked around the room. My heart was heavy, but in many ways, I felt some of the burden had been lifted off me. I looked over and watched Lena while she slept. I had a new fire in my belly to get things done. I could thank my father for that.
Chapter Twenty-four
It was time for me to have my first fight to help erase my debt and Tommy’s debt.
Although fighting in this underground fighting club was something not in the initial plan, I felt in my heart that I needed to do this. I wasn’t sure exactly how this played into the bigger picture, all I knew was, I was being drawn to finish the task. I had been relying on my gut feeling up to this point, so this was no different.
Romero had been in contact with me through text messaging. I was going to be having my first fight this upcoming Saturday night. My fight was going to be the main event and I was fighting an undefeated werewolf named Cooper. He let me know Cooper had a following similar to Tommy’s and to expect the crowd to despise me. I was going to be the ‘heel’ apparently. I’d make sure the crowd was on my side before the night was over.
I didn’t think much about the fight. I was pretty sure I’d be able to work over any opponent. I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell Lena what I was doing. The way I looked at it, it served no good purpose to let her in on how I got mixed up in trying to free Tommy from the economic clutches of Romero.
I arrived at the arena thirty minutes before my fight. Romero told me I was going to be entering the arena to some speed metal music similar to Tommy’s. I
let Romero know I would never reveal the eagle to the crowd. He agreed that it wasn’t necessary, being that I could fly in my human form.
He told me to not knock Cooper out in the first three minutes, but make it look like it was a battle. I told him I couldn’t promise anything. If this werewolf was as tough as Romero said he was, I was going to want to knock him out the first chance I had.
I caught a glimpse of Cooper before the fight. He was an all-black werewolf and he was quite large.
I went into the holding area. I kept to myself while all the other fighters eyeballed me. I was a sight to behold on this particular evening. I decided to vampire up my wardrobe for effect. I decided to go with the ‘Atticai’ look. My hair was a little longer these days, so I oiled it down to make it look wet. I also decided to put some black mascara on my eyelashes to give the whole rock and roll image going. I wore a long black trench coat that didn’t restrict my movement. I had to admit the coat made me look pretty badass. My outfit was topped off with a black T-shirt and black slacks; I definitely had the dark Gothic color scheme going. And no Gothic wardrobe would be complete without a nice pair of black Dr. Martens boots, which alone, were pretty kick-ass all by themselves.
I was told I’d be introduced first because I was the challenger. I was surprised that Romero didn’t come into the holding area and see me off in my first fight, but then again, he was a pretty unpredictable cat.
A bearded man came to the door and said, “Josiah, it’s time.”
I walked out into the hallway from the holding area. All that was separating me from the crowd were the two black double doors I had seen many times from the flip side. I could hear some Suicidal Tendencies blaring in the arena. I had to admit my adrenaline was going a hundred miles an hour. This was going to be fun. In the end, I love to fight and that was exactly what I was getting myself into tonight.
I stood behind the black double doors and waited to be introduced.
Suddenly, I heard the announcer scream, “Josiah Reign!” So much for keeping my name discreet; the world now knew I was a vampire. Well, the very rich part of the world.
The doors opened and I heard a ton of boos. I’d never been booed before, and to be honest, it kind of sucked. I walked out and even had a drink hit me in the face. So much for classy billionaires. Why did these people hate vampires so much?
“Show us the black raven!” One guy yelled.
I smiled. It would blow their freaking mind if I was to transition to the great white eagle. But this jacked-up group of people didn’t deserve to see that kind of show.
They continued to shout, “Show us the black raven!” I ignored everyone and made my way to the caged ring. The cage door to the ring was opened for me to walk inside and I entered the cage. I looked around the crowd and the boos were deafening. I began to feed off of it. At first, it kind of hurt hearing so many people hate you when they knew nothing about you. On this night, I was playing the role of the villain, and I was going to embrace it. In this underground, immortal fight club, vampires were the bad guys. If this crowd wanted a bad guy, then a bad guy they were going to get. I turned to the audience and double-birded them. That’s right, I straight flipped off the richest people in the world, and you know what? I fucking loved it.
The boos grew louder and louder. Oh, this crowd hated me and they hadn’t even seen me fight. I circled the ring and just let the noise consume me. Then the lights turned off and some lame techno music started blaring over the loudspeaker. It sounded like bad house music that you would hear at a wedding reception.
The black double doors opened and Cooper was being wheeled in to me. He was introduced by the speaker.
Damn! He was big! He was at least twice my size in weight. I was going to have my hands full. All right, Triat. Give me one more favor.
Cooper’s cage was connected and locked into the center ring’s cage. All that was separating us was his cage door that could easily be lifted up by the goons outside that wheeled him in.
Here goes nothing. They lifted Cooper’s cage door up. And this outrageous beast came at me like I was a steak dinner. I floated up off the ground in my Mani form so I could look at the beast below.
I heard someone yell from the crowd, “Did you see that? That vampire can fly.”
I flew over Cooper and landed behind him. The confused beast had no idea where I had gone. Too bad for him; I high-kicked the wolf in the back of its head, sending him into the side of the cage. I jumped on his back and rode him like a bull. The crowd went nuts. They loved it. Wow, they were a fickle group.
“Ride him, Josiah!” one guy yelled. So ride him, I did. I rode his back and just stayed with him like he was a mechanical bull in a country bar and was trying to stay on to win a basket of barbecue chicken wings. He tried knocking me off, but I was too strong. I covered his eyes, much to the delight of the crowd. In a matter of seconds, I had won this crowd over, at least some of them.
Another group began chanting, “Cooper! Cooper! Cooper!”
But another was chanting, “Reign! Reign! Reign!” I had to admit, I loved that second chant a lot better.
Damn, it felt good!
From Cooper’s back, I grabbed him around the waist and rolled him over in a Greco-Roman spin move. I tilted him over, making sure his snapping, ferocious mouth wouldn’t bite me. The crowd went nuts. They probably had never seen a vampire willing to be this close to one of these beasts. Well, they had never seen me, and I was going to give them a show for the ages.
I let Cooper go and taunted him by flying around the ring. He tried chasing me, biting at me, clawing at me. I was having a good time. I figure at least five minutes had gone by and it was time to punish this wolf.
I elevated ten feet over the beast. I dove down feet first and drop-kicked him in the face with a force that was as brutal a kick as I had ever delivered.
I heard the poor wolf yelp. He was disoriented and I took advantage of it. I did an eight-punch combination, with my last one being a cross between an uppercut and a hay maker.
The wolf fell backward. The crowd went berserk, chanting my name. Cooper was done. He tried to get back up. But fell down. The medics dove into the ring and cuffed the beast and carried him off in his cage.
I watched and felt the noise of the crowd. “Reign, Reign, Reign.” I had easily given that werewolf its first loss in a manner of minutes. I had arrived in a big way.
I walked out of the ring and gave a high-five to some of the richest people in the world. As I reached the door, one of Romero’s bodyguards said, “Romero wants to see you.”
I figured he would. I had just given a show for the ages.
When I arrived at Romero’s suite, he was alone. I guess he knew the score by now. If I hadn’t tried to kill him by now, I wasn’t going to do it anytime soon.
“Impressive,” Romero said.
“I thought so,” I said. “I have six more of these fights and then Tommy’s match?”
“Yes,” then, if you’re willing... we can renegotiate.”
“For more fights?”
“Why not? You seemed to be in your element out there.”
I smiled. “Maybe.”
“You loved it, didn’t you?” Romero grinned.
“It was a good time. I’ll just leave it at that. When is the next one?”
“In two weeks. I’ll work on finding you a more worthy opponent.”
“I’ll see you in two weeks.” I left his suite and signed a couple of autographs on the way out.
Yeah, this was fun.
Chapter Twenty-five
Over the next three months, life was interesting, to say the least.
Lena had reached the point where she couldn’t transition. It would put her and the lives inside her at risk and under no circumstances would I allow her to do any type of risky behavior.
I had finished my seven fights and each one was even more epic than the next. I was a huge fan favorite, and yes, I loved it.
I had checked in
with Tommy and his injuries had healed and he was training like a mutha. That was good. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fight Tommy. I knew if it looked choreographed, it could negate the whole deal we had with Romero. I was a man of many secrets these days. Tommy had no idea I was going to be his final fight on his epic night. I figured it was best not to tell him. I had done a lot for him and he was just going to have to trust me once we were in the ring.
The other secret I was keeping was that Lena had no idea I had been sneaking off being king of some underground, billionaire, immortal fight club. I knew I needed to tell her. I just couldn’t figure out the best way to do it.
Her pregnancy wasn’t going well. She was sick all the time. It was hard on a Mani woman to be carrying two human babies. It was doing a number on her body’s chemistry.
I had defeated four werewolves and three vampires in the ring over the past twelve weeks. My vampire matches were seriously one-sided. None of them had a chance against me. In my third Mani fight, my opponent looked so terrified I put him out of his misery quickly by knocking him out in fifteen seconds. Romero didn’t like it, but all my fights couldn’t be world class. One thing was for sure, the weekend belonged to me.
Weekdays, on the other hand, were the time I was putting together my army, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, I had a weak batch of Mani men who were willing to fight the good fight. They had heart, and in the end, heart wins battles. But warriors also win battles, and I didn’t have many of those.
I put together a training regimen that would make an MMA fighter exhausted. If they didn’t have natural instincts as fighters, they would at least be the best-conditioned ones. My crew was slowly coming around, but I knew it was going to be a while until they could take on the likes of Krull’s men.
It was a week until Tommy’s “Night of the Seven Deadly Sins” fight. In each fight, Tommy’s opponent would represent one of the deadly sins, just like Romero and I had discussed. I knew it was very ‘Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman’ but it was a damn good marketing strategy. I heard he was selling tickets at $500,000 a head for that night. Why anyone would pay that kind of money was beyond me, but then again, I wasn’t a billionaire who had money to burn.