by Night, H. T.
“Why didn’t Atticai fly over there and clean house?”
“That was what we were afraid of. Atticai taking it to such an extreme that it would have caused a human and Mani war. The American Tandra are already so entrenched in Iran issues that it could create an international incident if Atticai went over there and killed people to save her. Which he would. So, we told him that something else happened to her. It is one of the few lies I have told that I have never regretted.”
“You told him that she was killed.”
“Yes.”
“And he believed you because you’re the Deity.”
“Yes, Josiah. Sometimes deceit saves lives. Atticai would have started World War III there in Iran. He would have exposed our race to humans. In the history of the world, no man has ever loved a woman more. Atticai’s love for Donya was something to behold.”
“So, that was it? You told him that she was dead, and that was it?”
“No, Atticai went to Europe and checked things out, but he didn’t find out anything. The radicals were in and out of Europe. And he didn’t have any Tandra intelligence at his ready disposal. On his own in Europe, he tried to inquire after her, but the Iranian intel was just not available. We knew it wouldn’t be.”
I pressed my lips together. “Where did they take her?”
“Eventually, they took her to a prison camp for traders.”
“They obviously killed her there.”
“No, Josiah, she is still alive.”
“In the prison camp?”
“Yes.”
“In Iran? Where in Iran?”
“No, the prison camp is off an island just south of the Philippines. Josiah, please don’t do anything stupid. Things have only gotten worse since then. You might be a Mani, but you’re still an American citizen. If you go down there, all hell will break loose. You can’t just waltz in there and take what you want.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” The Deity smiled at me. “Anything else, Josiah?”
“No, that’s a lot to take in. I just found out about my own immortality. Not to mention learning about Atticai’s one true love.”
I took a hold of the Deity’s hand and kissed the top of it. “Thank you for telling me all of this. You are very dear to me, your Holiness. I feel extremely close to you.”
“As do I, Josiah.”
I kissed the Deity on the forehead and stood up. I said my goodbyes and I was off.
As I flew home, I wrestled with myself about going straight to Atticai and teaming up with him to go get Donya the hell out of the prison camp. The two of us could kick ass. Hell, we could get all the oppressed women out of that prison! Hell, we could get all the women out of all of the prisons! I face-palmed myself as I flew. Because then I thought about unleashing World War III to save one Tandra woman, and exposing the Mani to the entire Tandra world, including the far-reaching tentacles of Iran’s power, all the way to that horrible island prison and all the way to the Twin Towers in New York. I thought about what America had just gone through with 9/11 and with Iraq, how many people had died, on both sides. And how long it had taken to get everyone home, too many of them in body bags.
Every piece of information mingled in my head and I asked myself the question: If I was really immortal and not about to become a father, would I go get Atticai and then we’d go get Donya?
And the answer I came up with was: hell yes.
Why didn’t I go after Donya myself? I wasn’t immortal, I was about to become a father, and I wasn’t ready to fight Krull, let alone start another big war that would quickly spread from the Philippines to the Middle East and back to the States. The horror of 9/11 was so uppermost in my mind that I could barely sleep that night. I didn’t want to start a conflict that would end that way.
So, that night, despite being torn at the news of Donya’s terrible and unjust life, and Atticai’s loss, I just went home to Lena and my two little baby boys in her womb. While she slept soundly, I talked to her belly and told the boys how much I loved them.
Chapter Eleven
When I got back, I knew the first person I needed to talk to about my mortality was with Lena. After all, we were both in the same boat. She needed to know this information as much as I did.
I came into and she was sitting up watching Pulp Fiction on the TV set that was in the bedroom. “I have no idea why Tommy and you love this movie so much,” Lena said. “All the scenes are out of order.”
“That’s is what makes it a masterpiece. That and it re-launched John Travolta’s career.”
“He will always be Danny Zuko to me,” Lena said smiling. “So, what’s up?”
“Why do you think something is up?”
“Because I know you and you just visited the holy mother. I can only imagine what new information she sprung on you. What is it this time? Did she tell you that our sons are going to be born green or something?”
“Didn’t get that bizarre, but she told me something bizarre nonetheless.” I looked at Lena and didn’t want to worry her, but I had no choice but to tell her. Especially with the fact she was delivering any day now. She needed to know the seriousness of her health.
I needed to just come out and say it. “Lena we’re not like the others.”
“I’m aware of that. We eat steak well done and can only lick it when it’s rare.”
“It’s on a much bigger scale than that.”
“Okay, then tell me what it is.”
“Lena, you and are going to age.”
“Come again?” Lena didn’t quite understand.
“We are mortal. We can die, we can get diseases. We are not going to live forever.”
Lena was puzzled. She turned off the TV and stared at the wall. “Are you sure?”
“As sure as much that I trust The Deity. So far, everything she has said has come to pass.”
Lena was quiet.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked.
“I’m glad,” she said. “I’m happy that I get to experience the circle of life. It was the one thing about being Mani I wasn’t completely on board with.”
“So, you’re okay with it?”
“I’m actually excited about it. It’s funny how it seems that living forever is a perfect concept until you believe it to be true. Then you see how imperfect it is. That life was meant to be lived and it’s also meant to be celebrated in death. Did she say what will happen to us when we die?”
“Nope, it will be a mystery to us, as much as everyone else.” I crawled up next to Lena and wrapped my arms around her. “It looks like we are more normal than we thought.”
“Trust me, there is nothing normal about either one of us.”
“Amen, sister.”
* * *
A couple of days later, Tommy and Yomaida returned to the house. I knew they had been up to something. Tommy was as transparent and as predictable as the weather in southern California: Sunny with a chance of beach boy. In Tommy’s case, he’d do whatever it took to make the ladies happy. And, not consciously, but yeah, he wanted to get next to them. That lady at the moment was Yomaida. He tried to play things off as casual, but I knew the guy. It didn’t take a genius to know what Tommy did. I just had so much on my mind. I couldn’t worry about it. It was obvious that Tommy had tried to werewolf whisper Yomaida. Tommy was his own man and even though I had said ‘no’ to her, that would mean very little to him if he thought it was important enough for her to have that skill. What could I say? Tommy was a free-thinking lone wolf…literally.
I knew in my gut what they were up to. When they came home from wherever they went, I was going to have to confront the situation.
I was right in the middle of a bowl of Life cereal with milk and watching Jimmy Kimmel Live when the two of them came home. They both decided to come into the living room and stand next to me while I devoured my bowl of cereal. I knew something had gone down. By the looks of Tommy’s face
, he was dying to tell me what had happened.
I looked up from my cereal and Tommy and Yomaida both were staring down at me quietly, standing no further than a foot away. They were giving off a strong couple vibe and were just hot to give me some news. They were either going to tell me that it worked, and Yomaida was now able to transition at will, or that they ran off and went to Las Vegas and got married for the pure hell of it.
“What’s up, guys?” I asked, as I clicked off the television show with my remote control. I didn’t want to. Jimmy Kimmel Live was my favorite show, and it had been a while since I could just collapse on the couch and take in an episode. But, I knew they had some news. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to hear it. I had a strong feeling I wasn’t going to like it.
Tommy looked down at me with a big, goofy grin and then they both walked over and sat next to each other on the other couch. “I have something to tell you, and you have got to promise not to be mad at us?” Tommy said hopefully.
I looked up at Yomaida, and she seemed a bit more bashful about the information that was about to be dropped on my lap. I decided to let them both off the hook because Tommy was a grown man and I wasn’t going to be able to control him. If he wanted a little playmate, who had the ability to be the type of werewolf that he was, I couldn’t stop that.
“It’s okay, guys, I know what you did.”
“And you’re not mad?” Tommy asked.
“Depends. Did it work?” I looked down for a split second, and when I looked up, both Tommy and Yomaida had transitioned in their werewolf forms. They were both gigantic werewolves, hanging off the couch. Tommy was in his usual gray coat, but Yomaida looked bad ass. She had slick, black fur that gave her a panther-like presence.
“Transition back to your Carni forms,” I said to the two wolves. “We just cleaned the furniture and we are fresh out of cans of Resolve.”
Both of them transitioned back.
“You have a nice coat, Yomaida,” I said. “You’re undeniably more intimidating than Tommy with your black hair. Tommy looks like an old man when he becomes a werewolf.”
Yomaida laughed. “I think Tommy is very sexy as the gray wolf. He is almost invisible in the moonlight.”
I smiled at Yomaida. She was under Tommy’s spell. At one time or another, it seems all women got taken by his charm. The guy had game, that’s for sure. “So, what’s the deal with you too? Are you all coupled up?”
“Not at all,” Yomaida insisted. “Tommy is a lot of fun.”
“We’re just going with it, Josiah. No labels.”
I laughed. “Whatever floats your boat, you two. It’s amusing to know how little that people listen to me around here. I can’t even get my best friend to do what I ask. Which was not to share the knowledge of how to transition at will and be trained.”
“You know how I roll, Josiah. I could give a shit if you’re the Chosen. I fight next to you and have your back because of who you are in my life. Not because of what some voodoo force thinks of you.”
“Is that how you refer to the Triat now? As a voodoo force?” I asked.
“Look, I know you have a hard-on for the Triat because they dubbed you savior of your people, but my life has been a little less glamorous. I take my pleasure where I can find it, and I do it without permission, and without giving anyone a say-so about what I do. I am my own wolf. I own my pleasure and I own my mistakes.”
I looked at Tommy and was extremely surprised at his disdain and disrespect for something that was obviously protecting him and giving him favor.
“Well, not everything is what it appears to be. I’m discovering realities about myself every day.” I looked across at Yomaida and Tommy. “Apparently, I’m a lot less tough than I thought.”
“How so?” Yomaida asked.
I stopped myself from continuing in this line of conversation. Although, I wanted to share about my mortality with Tommy, I just wanted to wait until he and I were alone. Tommy might have trusted her, but my lack of immortality is a bit of information that I only planned on sharing with Tommy and Lena alone. “It’s nothing,” I said. “Just that every day as the Chosen One is a big learning experience.”
Tommy gave me a long, slow stare. It’s a look he gives me when he knows I’m 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 got a bug up my ass to do something extraordinary… just like what happened in Mexico with Yomaida. I got 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, 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. Yari 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 got killed many years ago by Irania
n 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 traders. 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 very bad. It’s like their own Guantanamo Bay.”