The Immortal Warriors Boxed Set: Books 1-11

by H. T. Night

  Tommy gave me a long, slow stare. I was a look he gave me when he knew I was holding something back. He was smart enough to know I wanted to tell him something, but needed to wait when Yomaida wasn’t in earshot.

  “Well, we’re beat,” Tommy said. “We’re going to head to my room. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Josiah.”

  With that, Tommy took Yomaida by her hand and led her to what I guess was now their bedroom. The guy was smooth.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next day, I woke up with an unbelievable desire to do something quite extraordinary.

  Every once in a while, a hero surge came over my body, and I had to act on it. This time was no different. I woke up and with a very clear goal, though it dawned on me what I needed to do. I wanted to save Donya, Atticai’s one true love. I couldn’t drag Atticai into it because if I failed, he would have lost her again. I couldn’t do that to him, even though he considered himself my enemy right now.

  Sometimes, I have a bug up my ass to do something extraordinary... just like what happened in Mexico with Yomaida. I have this unbelievable, overwhelming need to do what was right. I remembered the feeling that I had when I saved her, just because it was the right thing to do, with no selfishness. It was a feeling like no other. Selfless, goodness, justice.

  But I wasn’t going to tell Atticai, and I knew I couldn’t succeed alone. I decided to call a meeting with my immediate crew. I had them all meet me in the study. Wyatt, Hector, Cyrus, Tommy, and Yari were sitting around the large conference table alongside the two newly-acquired members of my inner circle, Yomaida, and our resident genius, Sion.

  I never did this type of thing: call a meeting. So, the guys knew it was crucial. I thought about calling a couple of the tougher vampires that were in the barracks, but I figured I’d see if my most loyal group of guys and gals were up for the task.

  “So, what is up, Josiah?” Yari asked. “Why isn’t Lena in here? Does she get a pass because she’s pregnant, or because you’re sleeping with her?”

  “Both,” I said, smiling at Yari. She always tried to get under my skin, in regard to Lena. I knew there was a part of her that was jealous about Lena and me. I also knew that she understood that it was part of the Triat’s plan. So, she accepted it. But in a bitchy, condescending way.

  Everyone else looked up at me with ‘the respect’ I had hopefully earned up to this point. These were the captains and generals in my army. So, all news went through them first. I looked at Yomaida and grinned. “So, I see Tommy has brought you into the inner circle?”

  “Josiah,” Yomaida answered. “Regardless of how I feel about Tommy, I will follow you anywhere. You gave me my life back.”

  “That’s good to know.” I believed her statement. Didn’t mean she would follow through on it when push came to shove. But... I unequivocally believed the sincerity of her statement.

  “Is Krull on the prowl?” Cyrus asked.

  “Is he breathing down your neck?” Wyatt added immediately.

  “Actually, guys,” I said, “this isn’t about Krull and what seems to be our inevitable showdown. That is on the horizon. But... that isn’t the mission I’m about to present to you.”

  “Wow, mission,” Tommy laughed. “When did this outfit become like Mission Impossible?”

  I shook my head at Tommy and stared at the group. I took a moment and then said, “Does anyone know who Donya is?”

  “Donya. Is she the heroine in Donkey Kong that Mario is trying to save?” Tommy snickered.

  “No, Tommy. She is not,” I said, as sternly as I could. He needed to give it a rest.

  “How do you know about Donya?” Yari asked.

  “I have my ways,” I answered

  “Who’s Donya?” Yomaida asked.

  “Donya was Atticai’s girlfriend who was killed many years ago by Iranian rebels,” Hector said calmly. Hector obviously had met her.

  I looked at Yari and asked, “Did you ever meet her?”

  Yari nodded. “A couple of times. Atticai and I weren’t that close in those days. They dated for about three years. It was horrible what happened to her.”

  “What do you know exactly? In regard to what happened to her?” I asked Yari.

  “I know she went missing in London about 1968. Atticai searched for her for five years and nearly made himself loony tunes in the process. Finally, he came to the conclusion that she was killed by Iranian radicals, and accepted that he would never find out the truth of how she died or who exactly did it or where.”

  I looked at Yari and said, “What if I told you that she is still alive?”

  Yari’s face was terribly confused. “Where is she?”

  “She’s in a prison camp run by rebels. It’s off an island just south of the Philippines.”

  “How do you know all of this?” Yari asked.

  “The Deity told me that she was alive. I met with Sion a day ago, and he found out some key information.” I looked at the group and realized that everyone might not have known who Sion was. “Does everyone know Sion?” I asked the group. “Sion, stand up and introduce yourself to the group.”

  “We all know who Sion is,” Tommy said. “He’s the next Bill Gates. The creator of ‘V-Day.’ We all play it like a religion.”

  “Yes, we do. And we’re lucky to have him. Sion, tell the group what you told me yesterday.”

  Sion stood up. He was incredibly bony and wasn’t the most confident speaker in the world. “To put it in layman’s terms, I hacked into a few international files and figured out her location. The Iranian government has a secret prison camp where they keep their own country’s traitors. They keep them alive for whatever reason and don’t plan to kill them in the immediate future. Every once in a while, they try to extract information from them. The conditions are extremely bad. It’s like their own Guantanamo Bay.”

  “How bad are these people if terrorists are keeping them in prison camps?” Tommy asked.

  “First off, this isn’t a terrorist group that is keeping them captive,” Sion said. “It’s a radical political one. They operate on a completely different level.”

  “What’s the difference?” Yomaida asked.

  “The difference is this: one is persuaded by money, and the other is persuaded by what they feel is the need of Allah or God,” Sion answered.

  “So, we are dealing with a political organization?” Yari asked.

  “Trust me,” I said. “It doesn’t make them any less dangerous. The only difference between them and the terrorists is that they are rich.”

  “Hold on,” Wyatt said. “Let me get this straight before we all risk our lives to save this woman. You found out about her from the Deity?”

  “Yeah, I did,” I said. “But, she asked me not to do anything about it.”

  “But she told you, a guy with the biggest superhero complex?” Wyatt said cynically.

  “You think she wants me to do something about it?” I asked.

  “She knows you can’t help yourself,” Tommy said. “Especially, she knows how you want to please Atticai.”

  “I don’t want to please Atticai!” I said indignantly.

  “Pleeeease!” the entire room exploded and yelled in my direction.

  Wow, was it that obvious that for whatever reason that I wanted to be accepted by him? I backed down and admitted it. “Well,” I said. “I want to help because I think it’s the right thing to do. A woman is in a prison and the guy who loves her has become a Mani asshole because he thinks she’s dead. If we rescue Donya, I think we can save Atticai.”

  “And...” Yari asked, leading.

  “Come on! The poor woman has been a prison camp for over forty years.”

  “And...” Wyatt said.

  “And if I do this and deliver her to Atticai, he might get out of his funk.”

  “And?” the whole room asked.

  “And... he might marry Lena and me—he’s really the only one who can do it right now and Lena’s belly is ticking like a time bomb�
��I want my boys to be legitimate and have my name. I want Atticai to get his faith back in the Mani, that we help each other, no matter what. And maybe he will join us in the fight against Krull, be by our side in battle with his amazing skill and history of kicking ass.”

  “Oh my God,” said Tommy, always my biggest critic as well, as my best friend. “Josiah, you have gone completely bananas with this superhero complex. You’re out of control. You ain’t no superhero, so don’t try to make yourself into one. Didn’t one man already die a horrible death for all this stuff? Don’t even think you are a hero in that league.”

  I replied, “I don’t! Come on, Tommy! Okay, here’s the thing: I want to save Donya and use her to gain Atticai as an ally in the fight against Krull. It still doesn’t erase the fact that it’s the right thing to do and that it is about justice and mercy. And what are you talking about, Tommy? I can’t help myself? Well, neither can you. If I have a Superman complex, then you have a Batman complex.”

  “That’s why we’re besties, Josiah. You complete me.” Tommy gave me a grin. “Oh, shit, in for a penny, in for a pound. It looks like we are going to go get Donya.”

  “You want to break into a prison camp that has numerous guards with machine guns and save her?” Hector asked.

  “Yes,” I said, answering Hector’s question. “But I have one problem. That is why I need your help.” The room was now quiet because I never ask for help. I usually just get up and do things. “What I’m about to tell you is so top secret that it’s a matter of life and death. In fact, my life and death. So, if you can indulge me. I need to have you each come up and stand next to me.”

  “Stand next to you? Why?” Yari asked.

  I knew this was where I was going to sound like a complete diva, but I couldn’t take any chances and I needed to know who had my back. “One by one,” I said. “I need to look into your heart. I need to see if you’ll ever betray me.”

  “What kind of Houdini bullshit is this?” Tommy said, laughing.

  “Look, this is very huge what I’m going to allow the group in on. You need to swear to me and to our alliance that you will keep this ‘in-house.’”

  “And you can see the future? What are you? A prophet?” Yomaida asked.

  “I’m a lot of things, Yomaida. But what I can do is see things that no one else can. It might be a little mystical and weird, but it’s all I have and if I can do it. Then this is the best time to do this skill because all of our lives will depend on it.”

  “You’re going to touch us and see if we have any plans to betray your trust?” Wyatt asked.

  “Yes. I mean this with all due respect to each of you. I am much more powerful than any of you. I will be able to see right through you.”

  “No argument from me,” Wyatt said. “I’ll go first. What do I do?”

  I looked at Wyatt and said, “Come and stand in front of me.” Wyatt stood up and walked over to me. He stood right in front of me. I took both my hands and cupped his face.

  “If I would have known this was going to so homoerotic I would have oiled up and put on a Speedo,” Tommy said, laughing from his side of the room.

  “Shut up, Tommy!” I said.

  I continued to cup Wyatt’s face, and then I placed my right hand over his heart. I looked him in the eye and asked him the first question. “Wyatt, are you loyal to me?”

  “Yes,” Wyatt answered. He was telling the truth. I could see it.

  “Do you ever plan on betraying me?”

  “Never,” Wyatt answered. He was telling the truth.

  “Will you ever repeat the inside information I’m about to tell, even in death to our enemies?”

  “I will never repeat it.” I stared into Wyatt’s eyes and felt his truth. He was clean.

  “Holy shit, Batman. When did Josiah become the male Deity?” Tommy laughed.

  “Quiet, Tommy,” Yari said. “This is obviously extremely important or Josiah wouldn’t see the need to do this. Obviously, Josiah has something major to tell us. You don’t always have to be a comedian. Just grow up.”

  “Okay, Tommy, come here,” I said. “Let’s get you out of the way.” Tommy came over to me and Wyatt sat down. “Please try to be serious.”

  “Do you really have to do this after all we been through?” Tommy asked.

  “Probably not. But it’s only fair to the others,” I said.

  “Okay, ask away.” I asked Tommy the same questions and he passed with flying colors, as did Yari and Hector. That left the three newbies. These were the three I was most concerned about.

  Yomaida was next, and she answered honestly. In my heart, I knew she would pass. And when she did, I was relieved for Tommy’s sake.

  Then it was my little man, Sion. This one made me really nervous because I had given Sion a lot of inside information. Sometimes, in life, you have to trust someone on instinct. Sion seemed to have nothing to gain by showing up here and helping me. He knew he was doing the right thing, and was being led by something positive in his life. When Sion passed, a giant relief came over my body.

  That left Cyrus. Cyrus was a vampire I’d met at Griffith Observatory who’d changed teams. Whenever someone changed sides, it always put a cloud of suspicion over them. If they changed sides once, what would make them not want to change sides again?

  I called Cyrus up, and he came up to me and stood still. He had an uneasiness that didn’t feel right, even before I touched his body.

  Cyrus stood in front of me, and I asked him the first question after I cupped his face and placed my right hand on top of his heart. He looked to the left when I asked the first question. “Are you loyal to me?”

  He looked to the left and then into my eyes. Cyrus said, “Yes, I am very loyal, Josiah.”

  Then something overtook my body. All I could see is a black cloud of deceit. So, I repeated the question again, and he answered in the same way.

  He wasn’t telling the truth.

  I decided to ask him the second question. This time, it was worse. When I asked him if he ever planned on betraying me and he answered, ‘no,’ I received visions of several times he had betrayed me past, present and future. This was not good. This was downright despicable. I tried not to let on to the others that Cyrus was failing miserably.

  Then I asked the third question, “Will you ever tell our enemies what I’m about to tell you? Even in death?”

  “No, I won’t,” Cyrus answered.

  Then I saw a vision. I could see Cyrus kneeling before Krull, offering up all of our information gladly and even with glee. Then I saw something that made me weak in the knees. I saw everyone in the room dying. But the worst part is, I saw Lena and my children being killed by his deceit. This was the ultimate betrayal. I looked around the room, and there was a long metal sword in the corner of the room. It was an ornament for the room that was never planned on being put to use. Oh, it was about to be used.

  “Cyrus,” I said. “Go grab the sword in the corner of the room.”

  Cyrus looked at me, shocked. “Why?”

  “Just do it,” I said coldly.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “You should. It looks remarkably sturdy.”

  “What are you talking about, Josiah? That sword is from the tenth century. It’s one of the most expensive items in this house. Why would I want to use it?”

  I never took my eyes off of Cyrus. It was starting to grow apparent to the rest of the room that Cyrus had failed. Tommy stood up, ready for anything.

  And in a fit of anger, I summoned the sword with my hand telepathically. The sword flew across the room and landed in my hand. “Here you go, Cyrus! Take the sword!” I said.

  “I don’t want the sword. Please, Josiah.”

  “It needs to be a fair fight,” I said in a slow, malicious tone.

  “I don’t want to fight you. Josiah, I swear to God, I’ll never betray you.”

  Again, he was lying. I could see it. I never allowed myself to seriously take Cyrus in befor
e. What the hell was I doing, allowing such a Judas inside this group? But unlike Judas, Cyrus wouldn’t follow through on his betrayal. He had already been approached by Krull. I could see it. God knows how long he had been sharing our information to Krull’s side and weakening our cause. He had put myself, my family and my friends all in jeopardy. His fate was inevitable.

  “If you don’t take the sword, then I can rest, knowing that I gave you a chance,” I said, staring into Cyrus’s eyes.

  “Josiah, what are you doing?” Wyatt yelled out. Everyone stood up then, knocking over chairs and getting the hell out of the way of that sword that I wielded with the ruthless efficiency of my dark task.

  I jumped on top of Cyrus with the sword in my hand and before he could say another word, I stuck it directly through his neck. It was a clean vampire kill shot.

  Cyrus had no time to respond. His body vanished. I turned around and said to the group, “His betrayal would have killed us all. It needed to be done. You’re just going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”

  The room was silent. It was the first time I had not killed out of self-defense during a fair fight. I didn’t like the hollow anguish afterward, nor did I find any comfort in the fear that misted the eyes of my trusted supporters, that I had murdered Cyrus in cold blood in front of them, based on a feeling I had that they themselves could not even comprehend.

  I stood there, panting and looking at the horror on my friends’ faces. The Triat, in making me the Chosen One, had also made me judge, jury, and executioner. I was not enjoying my rising powers of discernment. In fact, it took all the power that I had inside of me just not to throw up.

  For the first time ever, I saw Yari cry. Hector put his arm around her and patted her shoulder as she wept silently, her on-again, off-again lover a traitor and slain before her eyes by the Chosen One.

  I made no apology to her. Or anyone else, for that matter.

  His usual jovial self locked down tight, Tommy shouted, “Josiah, just what the hell kind of secret do you have?!”