by H. T. Night
Donya seemed excited and nervous. I motioned for her to get out of the truck. Very slowly, she got out of the passenger side. She walked over to Atticai, who was still paralyzed with shock. She stood in front of him. She was so tiny compared to this seven-foot man.
“You’re even more beautiful than I remember,” Atticai said.
“I’m grayer,” she said. “And you look exactly the same.”
“I don’t really have a say in the matter.” Atticai reached out his hands and wrapped his long arms around Donya’s petite body. Donya collapsed in his arms. That was when I couldn’t take it. Tears dripped from my own eyes. I looked at Lena and motioned for her to join me. Lena jumped out and walked over to me, and she was crying, too.
We looked on for what must have been an hour and watched as Atticai and Donya hugged and kissed and just experienced one another’s presence.
Finally, Atticai looked at me and said, “How?”
“I found out about her. I found out about what she meant to you. So, I put my best man on the case. We did some research and found her.”
“The information was just available?” Atticai asked.
“When she disappeared in the 60s, there was no internet, and few supercomputers, the likes of which we have surpassed by magnitudes. I have an amazing computer expert on my crew who was able to locate her. He found her location, and Yari, Hector, Wyatt and I went and rescued her.”
“Josiah did all the heavy lifting,” Donya said.
“It was a team effort,” I said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Atticai asked, confused. “I would have gone with you.”
“It needed to be an unemotional rescue. We weren’t sure what would happen. And if something went wrong, I couldn’t do that to you. I couldn’t let you go through losing her again.”
“I don’t know if I should be pissed or grateful that you blasted in there without me.”
“Atticai, just be thankful,” Lena spoke up. “You have a lot of people who care about you, regardless of what you think you’ve become. We all care about you. More than you will ever know. This was our gift to you.”
Well said, Lena.
I looked at Lena and smiled. “I think we should let these two be alone.”
“I think we should.”
I walked over and gave Donya a huge hug. “If you need anything, ever, don’t hesitate to call us.”
Donya kissed me on my cheek. “You are an angel, young man. You are surely a gift from the gods.”
“Nope, just your everyday vampire.” I looked at Atticai and said, “You need to come by the house and see the twins.”
Atticai smiled. “I will. How are they doing?”
“You know 48-hour-olds,” I said jokingly. “Always testing the waters. Speaking of which, we need to get back to them.”
Lena and I went into my truck and slowly drove off, waving at the newly reunited couple. That went about as well as I could have asked for. I looked at my future wife and said, “Let’s go see the boys.”
Chapter Twenty
When we arrived back, we checked on the boys and Lena’s eyelids were heavy. I knew our kids were in good hands with Linda, the nurse, so I took Lena to bed.
“That was something tonight,” I said.
“I never thought I’d see Atticai so happy. I always knew he was holding back when we were together. I thought it was because he was always preoccupied with being the Chosen One. Now, I realize he had been living with a broken heart for so many years.”
“Life is funny. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense as they are happening, but if you just persevere long enough, sometimes something amazing comes of it.”
“Like?” Lena looked at me. She began taking off her clothes and changing into her pajamas. She put on a pink nightgown that was a lot more on the sexy side than it was on the comfy side. I knew what that meant. Girlfriend was in the mood.
I gave her an excited look because it had been nearly a month since we last were intimate. “Are you sure? You just gave birth to twins two days ago.”
She nodded, and smiled mischievously. “One of the perks of being Mani, I’m all healed.”
I felt like a kid in a candy store. I was about to kick off my clothes when I heard a knock on my door. Who the hell was that?
“Yeah?” I called out from inside my bedroom.
“Josiah? It’s Wyatt, we need to talk.”
“Now?” I asked. I looked at Lena.
“It must be serious, Josiah,” Lena said to me. “Wyatt has never disturbed us before.”
I was so exhausted I couldn’t even put two thoughts together, but one thing was for sure. I was ready for some loving from Lena.
“Okay, hold on.” I still had my clothes on and I went to the door and opened it. I stuck my head out the door and saw Sion, Yari, Hector, Wyatt, and Tommy all were outside my bedroom.
“Josiah, this is serious. We need to talk to you,” Tommy said. That was all I needed to hear. If Tommy thought it was serious, then it must have been.
I stuck my head back into the room and told Lena I would be just a minute. My immediate feeling was something had happened to Jason and Joshua.
“Are the boys okay?” I asked as I shut the door behind me.
“The boys are fine,” Yari said. “This is something completely different.” Yari paused and said, “Krull has been here.”
My heart leaped in fear for my boys. “He’s here right now?” I asked.
“No, he came by when you went to see Atticai,” Wyatt said.
“Here? At this house? He just showed up?”
“He didn’t come to the house. He went to the bunkers,” Sion said.
“Oh no! What did he do?” I asked.
“He recruited,” Tommy said.
“My men? He got to my men?” I asked.
“Yes, almost a third of them left,” Hector said.
I looked at Tommy and said, “Where the fuck were you?”
“I was in my room sleeping with Yomaida. I never knew he was even here.”
“We were inside, too, Josiah,” Hector said. “He knew better than to try to recruit Yari, Wyatt and me.”
I looked at Hector and nodded. That guy hardly talked and when he did it usually carried a lot of weight. I looked at the rest of the guys in the hallway and said, “A third of my guys left? Are you fucking kidding me? Why?” I began to walk downstairs and then outside, with everyone following me. I continued talking as I walked to the bunkers. “So, guys I have been training for the last six months just left? Krull just came in here and simply plucked them up?” I stopped in my tracks and looked at my friends, completely sick to my stomach. “So, who was there?”
“I was there,” Sion said.
“How many men stayed?”
“Close to 100,” Sion answered.
“Are they still in the bunkers?”
“Well, they don’t have anywhere else to go,” Sion said. “As of now, you are either with us or with Krull. There aren’t too many indie Mani left. People started choosing up sides two years ago.”
“What did Krull do?” I continued to grill Sion. “Bang some pots and pans outside and everyone came out to see him?”
“No, he sent one of his guys in to talk to Cyrus. When the guy asked for Cyrus, I knew something was up. They didn’t know he was dead,” Sion said.
I stood right outside the bunkers in the field that separated them from the house.” “Okay, so then what happened after that?”
“All the men came outside and Krull gave us a speech,” Sion said.
“A speech? Are you kidding me? Who the hell does he think he is, Braveheart? What did he say?”
Sion paused and was afraid to look me in the eye.
“Look, Sion,” I said. “I know you’re a good dude. You don’t need to be afraid of me. I killed Cyrus because I had no choice. His betrayal would have ended a lot of our lives. Please, Sion, tell me everything that happened. I won’t shoot the messenger.”
>
Sion exhaled and said, “He stood out here with about 500 of his men behind him.”
My heart raced.
“He came with 500 men and didn’t attack?”
“Well, I am assuming he isn’t ready for battle either, hence the recruiting and not attacking. It was pretty intimidating that he just waltzed in here with 500 guys and asked for recruits. With such a show of power, it was almost an old-fashioned ship shanghai. And they might have slain us all without you, Hector, Wyatt, Tommy and... Atticai, if I may include him as a possible ass-kicking resource. All of his army looked hungry and eager to kill.”
“That’s probably because he starves them and they wish they were dead,” I said. “Go on.”
Sion continued, “He asked the group if they wanted to live in harmony. He began mocking the concept, saying vampires were bred to rule, not pick berries. He asked us if we wanted to live apart from the world like what you’re offering, or if they wanted to rule the world. He promised each man that was to follow him that he would see it that they would be given their own part of the globe. He said they would be kings of their own land. Listen, Josiah, he was speaking to guys who share bunker rooms with three other people. Being a king of your own land sounded pretty good.”
“Even to you?” I asked.
Sion was quiet. “Yes... even to me. I was surprised more men didn’t follow him. He is divvying up the world like mafia turf and making each man who joins him a dictator of his own private sector. In the end, it was about greed more than it was about who was the better leader, you or Krull.”
“It kind of makes you see how Hitler was able to manipulate so many people,” I said.
“Josiah, it is truly a testament to your leadership and goodness that so many guys stayed. I know it’s not that comforting to hear, but it’s the truth. The men who stayed are loyal to you and you now know that under any circumstance, they are here for the cause. They would have died before they would have switched sides.”
“All Krull did was weed out the weak links,” Tommy said.
“Anyone noteworthy go with him?” I asked.
“No, no one.”
“Did any Carni leave?”
“No Carni even went outside. They were afraid and stayed in the bunkers.”
“Who could blame them? Krull brought an army with him. They probably thought they came for them to cut off their heads.”
I had Sion go in and get all the remaining Mani and also, my loyal Carni. In a few minutes, all my men were outside and stood in formation in front of me. There were blank places in the ranks where men had left.
“Fill in the gaps!” I yelled out. I began pacing back and forth in front of the men in front of me, gathering my thoughts and what words I would say to them. “The Bible is filled with stories where outnumbered armies defeated much larger ones. You men are the few that have shown me more loyalty than I could have ever asked for. Sion has told me all that has happened and I want to thank you for your courageous loyalty when faced with an army of 500 led by Krull. That none of you defected shows me what you are made of.” I stopped in my tracks and just stared at my men in their eyes. “My promise to you men is the following!” I took a deep breath and yelled into the cold night sky. “You are now my brothers. Each of you is now my family. I will lay my life down for any one of you without a second thought. Those who have left will only make Krull’s army weaker. Krull has an army where his soldiers are running around scared. You never have to worry about that.”
“What about Cyrus?” a young Mani teenage boy yelled from the back.
“Who said that?” I asked, knowing exactly who it was. I wanted him to stand behind his words. The young man stepped forward. “Come to me,” I said. He slowly walked over to me with his head up and looked me in the eye, the entire walk. “Your name is Samuel, correct?”
“Yes it is, sir.”
“Samuel, what do you know about what happen to Cyrus?”
“I know that you killed him because you believed he was going to betray us.”
“That is exactly what happened. But what you need to know is that I did what I had to do, not because I thought it would happen, but because I knew 100 percent that it would. Cyrus was going to betray us in a way that would have led to all of our deaths. Do you understand, Samuel? I killed him for you?”
“So you say,” Samuel answered.
“Were you close to Cyrus?”
“I thought he was a good and kind man.”
“So did I!” I grabbed Samuel’s head and, just like what I did with Yari, I allowed him to see Cyrus’s betrayal. I felt he deserved it. He heard Krull’s speech and stayed by my side. I showed him all that I saw a couple of weeks earlier. When I was done, I let go of Samuel’s head.
“I’m so sorry, Josiah,” Samuel said. “It was awful, what Cyrus did.” Samuel turned to the other men and yelled, “Josiah did the right thing. Trust me when I tell you that!”
“If any of you question what I had to do, I will show to you the same vision I just gave Samuel, so you can see, too, how Cyrus had already betrayed me and how he would have been our weak link that would have let Krull slay all of us. I need you to trust me 1,000 percent from this moment forward. So, if any of you need assurance, step forward!”
No one came forward. I guess it was good enough for them to see Samuel do a 180-degree turn.
I looked at the others. “If any of you question my leadership, then I beg you to leave now. If any of you think for one second that you will be the Judas in the group, then your fate will be like Cyrus’s. This isn’t a threat. This is a statement of fact. We’re dealing with war here! All of our lives are on the line. I will protect all of you, but from here on out, if you’re not with me... then you’re against me and my family. If that sounds harsh, then let it be exactly that. Let these words drive you daily. This isn’t tiddlywinks here. We’re trying to change all that we are. So, I will ask you now, from here on out: Are you with me?”
All the men yelled out in confirmation. I looked at my crew, who were standing to the side. I stared at Yari, Wyatt, Sion, Tommy, Yomaida and Hector. “Are you with me?”
They all yelled, “Yes,” in confirmation.
I turned back to the men in formation and said, “I say this now. I have seen the future. Our time to fight for what we hold dear is near. Krull’s army operates in fear. That can be effective. But we are going to operate in something far greater. We will operate in trust and in hope. Mainly, we will operate in love. Every one of us is prepared to die. Not just for me, but for each other.”
Then I yelled out our army cry: “ONE LOVE!”
Then everyone, including my friends yelled back to me, “ONE LOVE!”
Lastly, I said to everyone: “We are ‘one’ from here on out. This is the calling for each of us. This is our destiny!”
Then I did something I have never done. I walked up to each man and embraced him individually. After we embraced, I place my hand over their heart and I assured them individually that I would lay my life for him at any given moment.
We might have been small. But we were strong.
Chapter Twenty-one
I thought about removing my kids and Lena from the house. Especially now that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Krull knew where we lived. But I stayed put for the time being. He had avoided my family and I was confident it would stay that way.
One thing was on my mind, however, that didn’t have to do with my sons. I hadn’t shared with anyone the secret about my ability to turn into a werewolf. I had asked all people who were there that night to keep that information to themselves. I had a lot of questions about it, but I had far too many responsibilities to be worrying about it. Especially just days after my sons were born. I had a fierce sense of parental protection.
This thing was now inside me and I needed to control it. The full moon was going to be here in a couple of weeks and I needed to let Tommy in on the secret. That I was both a vampire and a werewolf.
&n
bsp; I slipped away to Tommy’s bedroom downstairs. Yomaida and he moved back in there since Donya went to go live with Atticai. They seemed to really be happy. They might have even been in love. Which was bizarre for me, considering the circumstances I met her in.
“Hey Tom, let’s go for a walk,” I said as I peeked my head into his room. Tommy and Yomaida were lying on his bed watching Chelsea Lately. Tommy loved that show. He has a thing where he doesn’t think women comedians are funny, but thinks Chelsea Handler is hilarious.
It was 11:00 p.m. and it was a nice night to go for a moonlit walk with my bro, and Tommy never missed a beat nor a chance to make a joke. “Can we take a hayride when we’re done and spoon in the moonlight?”
“Sure, dude,” I said. “I just need to talk to you about a couple of things.”
“Just remember it takes a lot more than a moonlit walk and a hayride to get into my pants.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said.
Yomaida laughed. She said, “All it takes is for you to be awake, and even then, you find a way to cop a feel, even if you’re sleeping.”
“Trust me, Yomaida. He’s not sleeping. He’s doing the ‘see if you’re awake by massaging your tender parts’ move. It’s vintage Tommy. Page five of his dating handbook.”
“Wow, there’s a whole technique devoted to it and a book to go with it? Here I was thinking he had wandering, sleeping hands.”
“Don’t give away all my secrets, Josiah. You’re making it hard for pimp to do his pimping.” Tommy jumped up and put on a pair of sandals.
“I’ll have him back before midnight,” I said to Yomaida. Tommy and I left the room and eventually made our way outside. There was a nice walking trail that is a good mile that wraps around the house. So, that’s what we did. We began hiking the trail.
“So, what’s the word, turd?” Tommy asked.
“What’s up?” I said. “It’s been a while since we have talked.”
“You have been a little busy.”
“That I have.”
“I know you didn’t call me out here to go over pleasantries. So, what’s up?”
I exhaled and said, “Something happened that night when we saved Donya from the prison camp. It wasn’t exactly a smooth transaction.”