by Night, H. T.
“I don’t need to answer to you!”
He may not have needed to answer to me but I continued firing questions at him. “Do you seriously believe that the evil in the vision that everyone was seeing was someone else? Or did you always know deep down in your cold, black heart that ‘the evil’ was always you in the visions?”
Atticai had no idea how to respond. He tried to say about five different comments and stopped himself. Finally, he said, “You have some pretty big stones to come here and confront me on my intentions and my agenda.”
“Maybe I do. But there is one thing I want you to think about. The Triat brought you back to live, if this is indeed living, for a reason. For redemption. It’s on you if you intend to accept that redemption and take your place in our Mani society as loyal to me or live here isolated from the rest of the world, like some little blue troll underneath a bridge.”
“Bad call to say that about Goshi. It’s time for you to leave, Josiah.”
I nodded at Atticai and said one last statement: “I would be honored if you found it in your heart to give Lena a legitimate marriage in the eyes of the Triat. And my sons. I don’t want them to be illegitimate bastards in any culture, either Mani or Tandra. I need to make sure that no one ever calls Lena a name either. When she brings our children into the world, we will be the Mani First Family. This is huge, Atticai! To our entire race! The only one who can perform the marriage ceremony is you or Krull. I chose you because you have shreds of decency in you. Anyway, I thought you did. Goodbye, Atticai, my once-friend. I wish you only peace. Fare well!”
I left Atticai’s house and launched my body into the night sky. Okay, that went a lot worse than I thought it would. What the hell was that guy’s problem? Didn’t he see the truth staring him in the face? I had no idea what I could do to change his mind about anything. I don’t know why I believed deep, deep down that he was a good person who has been suffocated by the pain of this world. But, it was what I believed to be true, and somehow I would get through to that guy.
I flew around the night sky, trying to gather my thoughts. Why was everything so hard? I find that the more I got swallowed up by the Mani life I now led, the more I liked the Tandra man I used to be. These days, I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. I now had purpose, family, and friendship. Before my Mani life, I was one thing. I was the MMA fighter. I didn’t live for much more than that.
I thought about the nightmares I had been having lately. In each dream, I’d see Krull winning the battle. Why? What was the Triat trying to tell me? What was I doing wrong? I was sitting around waiting, but nothing was happening to advance the dream.
I took my dreams seriously. I knew I still had powers and abilities out of the realm of common sense. I purposely resisted reading people’s minds, seeing into the future, and healing, because it was a bit too Christ-like for me. But maybe that’s where I had been going wrong with all of this. I hadn’t maximized all that I am, or could be.
It was a responsibility that I couldn’t even quite fathom, but was beginning to see where I might go with my powers, thanks to the simulations in Sion’s “V-Day” game, thanks to Tommy’s common-sense, no-bullshit opinions, and thanks to Atticai, when he was Goshi, a little blue troll who had kicked me in the balls to teach me the meaning of trust. One thing was apparent to me. Being the Chosen One with a pregnant girlfriend and my enemy gathering his army, just as I was, was extremely overwhelming. I knew in my heart of hearts that the Krull’s showdown was terribly near, Lena was about to pop, and if I died in battle, that the future of our race was at stake and my sons would be fatherless.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea that killing Mani was good for the Mani race. If Krull and I had an all-out war, the Mani casualties would be off the charts. From what I gathered, this prophetic battle was inevitable. It was our very own prophesied Mani Armageddon. It’s almost as if none of us had a choice in the matter. And they all looked to me for answers. Damn it.
Chapter Nine
We were a week away from Christmas, and our house has turned into something out of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Seeing all these pale faces getting ready for Christmas was comical.
My Mani and Carni family had become extremely pertinent to me. I can’t help but feel like the captain of the ship. It was a title instilled in me by a power greater than any of us. Everyone knew I had been given the keys to the kingdom. What I did with those keys was entirely up to me. I felt as if there was a path that I was supposed to be on, according to the Triat’s will and that as long as I stayed on that path, everything would fall into place. Once I got sidetracked, I would fall off that path. That’s when all hell would break loose, and pain and despair would rain on me in a cloud of chaos that would increase to a Mani Armageddon.
Tommy and Yomaida had both disappeared a couple of days ago. The full moon went into effect tonight and I wondered if Tommy, in his werewolf form, would try to train her, as he was trained by me. I shook my head. Nah, too much control was needed for that, and in his werewolf form, Tommy needed guidance himself. I hoped they’d return soon, so we could keep Yomaida safe, in a cage.
I had had an overwhelming feeling to go see the Deity. I had questions about some pending issues. Plus, I got comfort and renewal when I was in her presence.
It was three in the morning, and I couldn’t sleep. Lena was passed out again on our bed, exhausted from being pregnant with warring twins inside of her. I decided it was as good a time as any to go see the Deity.
I walked upstairs and crept into the bedroom. Lena was lying on her back. She was all stomach: one, giant, beautiful stomach.
I walked over to her, and she had her eyes closed. Lena slept pretty lightly, so I knew it the second I sat next to her on the bed that she probably would wake up.
I gently sat next to her and kissed her stomach. She was wearing a white maternity nightgown, and the covers had fallen off of her stomach. I could see them moving under her skin, jockeying for space, poking her in the ribs with a hand, sticking a small foot against the skin of her belly. My boys, I thought. I placed the covers nice and snug over her, over my sons. I tucked her in and began to feel an anxiety that I hadn’t felt before. Okay, I definitely needed to go see the Deity. I didn’t like feeling this way, so I decided to take a couple of deep breaths and pat Lena’s stomach. “Hey guys,” I said to my twin boys in her belly. “Your dad has a lot on his mind tonight.”
Lena opened her eyes and smiled. “My Josiah, you came to me.”
“I will always come to you, baby.”
“Apparently the boys do, too. The twins are particularly active tonight. They might be ready to see their daddy.”
“Seriously?” I asked. Okay, this wasn’t helping my anxiety.
“I don’t know. Maybe.” Lena took my hand and kissed it.
I took her hand that was resting on top of her belly and brought it up to my face. And just held it tenderly against my cheek.
“I love you, Josiah.”
“Ditto.” I got up and went to the dresser. On top of the dresser was Lena’s smart phone. I brought it over to her.
“I’m not exactly in the mood to play Angry Birds right now,” Lena smiled.
“I want you to have your phone close. I need to take off for a couple of hours.”
Her eyebrows lifted in worry. “Whenever you leave at this time of night, nothing good ever comes of it, Josiah.”
That was about as accurate of a statement as I ever heard. But I was not going to be looking for trouble, and I doubt trouble would find me. “I’ll be okay,” I said comforting her.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to see the Deity. I have some questions. I have a lot on my mind, and I think she can help.”
“She seriously has turned into your little therapist, hasn’t she?”
Lena seemed a bit jealous. She shouldn’t have been. There was nothing to be jealous of. Lena was the love of my life. My one true love. The Deity was just my
comfort and guiding spiritual light. Okay, I guess I could see why she was jealous. “You have nothing to worry about, Lena.”
“I’m not worried. What! You think I’m jealous of a 4,000-year-old vampire who looks as if she is young enough to be on the Mickey Mouse Club?”
I laughed. Lena has gotten funny since the pregnancy. Her hormones sometimes made her a bit irritable. But damn, she’d been giving out zingers lately. “Lena, if you don’t want me to go, I won’t go. I just need a couple of answers.”
“No, Josiah. Please go. I’m just being silly.”
“Lena, listen, you’re it. There is no one above you. I’ll be back before sunrise.”
“Of course,” she replied.
I kissed her on the cheek, and I was off to Mexico, the starry darkness a comfort and a navigational tool.
Chapter Ten
I was led down the hallway inside the Deity’s bunker. I liked her bunker a lot. We tried to emulate the way she designed her bunkers, but it was tough. Hector had hired a top company to build them. Ours resembled more of a fraternity house set-up, and the Deity’s bunker had more of a gothic edge to it, one that reminded me of the underworld in the Beauty and the Beast TV series with Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman.
When I walked into the Deity’s room, she was sitting in a chair next to the furnace keeping herself warm. She was covered in a blanket. She looked up at me and said, “Josiah, Merry Christmas.”
I was never sure how she recognized me so fast, as she was blind, but I didn’t pretend to understand her gifts, especially the one of discernment. “Merry Christmas to you. I hope the kids liked their presents.”
“They loved them. That was so kind of you and your friend to put that together for them.”
“It is the very least we could do for them. We had fun that day, dressed like Santa and elf.” I walked over to her, and she took my hand.
“Please sit, my child. Enjoy the heat with me.”
I sat next to the Deity and let out an uncharacteristic sigh. There was something about being in her presence that gave me permission to be myself.
“What’s the matter, Josiah? Your heart is heavy. I know Lena will be with child, or should I say children, frightfully soon.”
“She’s as big as a house. Enormous. She can hardly move. She has to pee all the time, too.”
“How has her health been?”
“There have been good days and bad days. More bad than good.”
“It will be tough, real tough. But, she will get through it. Your blood is a precious brew, and there are no limits to its power.”
My blood? Did she mean my children? I was confused about what she meant. But I decided to talk about what I came here for. “I didn’t come here to speak about my children, although I have a feeling they are going to be a bigger task than I ever imagined.”
The Deity looked at me and slowly nodded her head. “You carry around the weight of an entire people. That cannot be easy.”
“I just don’t understand what’s ever going on in my own body.”
“How so?”
“I’m not like the others. Am I a vampire or a human?”
“Josiah, you are both. You have all the characteristics of both.”
“How am I immortal?” I asked. The Deity looked in my direction and then turned her head. It was an odd gesture, even for someone as divine as her. She didn’t say anything. Not one word. So, I repeated the question: “If I am both Tandra and Mani, how am I even immortal?”
The Deity exhaled and said, “You’re not immortal, Josiah.”
“Huh?” I was flabbergasted.
“You will age, Josiah. Both you and Lena will. It will be a much slower aging then the average human. But you will age and eventually die of old age or something else.”
“Something else? This is impossible. I have to be immortal. I have lived through too much! I thought I was going to live forever, unless Krull kills me.”
“You have lived through a lot. You have taken the punishment of ten men and are still left standing. That doesn’t mean you’re immortal. It means you’re gifted and supremely lucky.”
“That’s impossible. Goliath would have killed me if I wasn’t immortal.”
“No, Josiah. The Triat only made you stronger on that night. You were still very mortal.”
I couldn’t believe it. “That’s impossible.”
“Josiah, feel your heart.”
I placed my hand over my heart and could feel it beat. “Okay,” I said.
“Josiah, vampires don’t have heartbeats, you do. You are very human.”
“So, you’re telling me that I can die just like anyone else? I can get cancer or some other life-threatening disease and die? Or I could eat a bad fast-food burger and just poof, dead from E. coli?”
“Josiah, the last thing I wanted was this to be revealed to you too soon.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because you are going to fight in a great war for the Mani people. Krull thinks you’re immortal. It will be to your advantage if he keeps thinking that.”
“How is that to my advantage?”
“He will not do an easy kill-strike on you, one that could kill the average human. If he knew that all that could kill you is a stab in the heart, or a gunshot in the back, then he’d do it and be done with you. Krull thinks that you are on the same level playing field as he is. He has no idea...that you are fallible and that he is…” The Deity stopped herself. So, I finished her sentence.
“Krull has no idea how much more powerful he is than me. It’s like I’m going in there with one arm tied behind my back.”
“That is where you’re wrong, young Josiah. He has an enormous advantage, but you have abilities that no Mani before you have ever possessed. You haven’t even scratched the surface of what you can do.”
“I have the ability to fly, ability to heal, read minds, and see the future. Anything else?”
“You can spit fire.”
“Are you being serious?”
“No, I’m just kidding. Even I have a sense of humor, once in a while.”
She got me. That was pretty good. I laughed. “Too bad, I wanted to be a dragon, too.”
“Josiah, you have all those abilities you mentioned. And no, you can’t turn into a dragon. But, you have yet to scratch the surface of them. Why is that?”
“With all due respect, your Holiness, I’ve been pretty busy. I haven’t had too much alone time to start making all of these tests for myself.”
“As you train your army, you also need to train yourself. Krull doesn’t possess all of your abilities. The more you master them, the better you will lead and will have a higher likelihood of defeating Krull and his army.”
“I hate thinking about this doomsday fight. I want to wish or pray for peace, just because it is easier than this freaking civil war. Is this battle inevitable?”
The Deity smiled and said, “Unfortunately, it is. It is the only way Krull will be stopped. You have been chosen for a reason. It isn’t because the Triat believed that you are bloodthirsty and would take pleasure in the destruction of his own people. They knew you would do it correctly, because of your heart.”
I looked at the Deity and sighed loudly. “That is a lot to take in and embrace. It’s a huge responsibility.”
“I know it is. But you will prevail. If you listen to your heart. I promise you will come out on the other side.”
“Can I ask you a completely different question?”
“Of course.”
“Why do I have an overwhelming need to have Atticai on my side?”
The Deity smiled and said, “Because you have an amazing soul and a tender heart. You realize Atticai was done wrong, and it’s your nature to make it right. The Triat used him and you always stick up for the underdog. You have a sense of justice that is unsurpassed among the Mani.”
I looked over at the Deity and scoffed.
“What is it, child?”
“I don’t g
et Atticai. I want to. He’s one of the toughest fighters I have ever seen. I would love to have him fight alongside me. Is there any way to get through to him?”
“Ever since he lost his one true love, he has never been the same.”
“Lena is not Atticai’s one true love?” I said, as indignant and angry of a tone I have ever used with the Deity.
“Not Lena, child. Atticai’s true love is from a long time ago.”
“His wife and kids that were killed?”
“Atticai loved his wife, but that was when he was in his human form. Many years later, Atticai met his soul mate. A woman who changed him forever.”
“Who was she?”
An Iranian woman named Donya.”
“Really?” I was shocked. This was the first time I ever heard of her. “Donya? Huh? What happened to her?”
“As far as Atticai knows, she’s dead.”
“She’s not a vampire?” I asked.
“No, she is human. Atticai loved her too much to make her a vampire.”
I put my hand on my chest, digesting this information. “I knew he was good to the core. He’s hiding it from me, though. To sacrifice a love and let her stay human, and watch her age and die, that is truly selfless.”
“As the Chosen One, your powers of discernment are rising, I see.”
“I’m working on it.” I leaned toward the Deity. “You said as far as Atticai knows, she’s dead. Is she really still alive?”
The Deity nodded her head. “In 1965, Donya came over to California on a work visa. She was an actress who made an extremely political movie here in the States. She was a beautiful and talented woman and Atticai was smitten with her the second he laid eyes on her. For three years, he lived a normal life with her as his one true love. He was willing to marry her and say to hell with ‘The chosen prophecy.’”
“What happened?”
“Her country is what happened. When she was over here, she made a damaging film about the conditions of Iran. She showed how awful women were treated in her country. She was way beyond her time with the concepts of women’s rights in a Muslim country. When she finished filming, she did some press for it and went abroad to Europe to speak at a world women’s conference. Atticai warned her not to go. Iranian radicals kidnapped her and brought her back to Iran.”