by H. T. Night
Yari and Lena had stepped aside. I looked up in the sky and I knew I was being blessed not by only the Triat, but by a higher power. My entire body had been healed. Then as fast as it happened, the light went away and I landed on the ground.
I stood up and felt taller, stronger, and more muscular than ever before. I felt like I could eat steel. I looked over at Goliath and Tommy. Goliath was manhandling Tommy and had gotten a hold of the silver stake again. He didn’t waste any time. He tried to stab Tommy in his chest, luckily he missed. He stabbed Tommy in his right shoulder. Tommy fell backwards and Goliath removed the stake from Tommy’s shoulder and raised the stake over his head to pierce Tommy’s heart.
That was not going to happen. In a blink of an eye, I flew over and kicked Goliath’s hand and the stake went flying. I looked over at Tommy and he was really hurt.
“Get Tommy out of here!” I yelled to Yari and Lena. Wyatt and Hector were still trapped inside the birdcages.
I jumped on top of Goliath and grabbed him with all my might. I held him with my hands and flew him up into the air. He was a giant beast, but I felt stronger than ever. Goliath punched me in the face in midair. I drop-kicked him and he fell to the ground from twenty feet up. The bastard was so fucking huge; he landed on his two feet.
I flew down to the ground and once again ate shit when I hit the earth. Damn, I needed to learn how to land. Goliath ran up to me and kicked me in the chest. I flew back five feet.
“All right, Goliath. Just you and me, no flying, no lead pipes. It’ll just be an old-fashioned street fight.”
“Are you serious? You will have no chance.” Goliath came at me with a haymaker and clocked me in my chin. I once again fell back, but didn’t fall to the ground and that seemed to really surprise the overgrown shithead.
I came back and kicked him in his chest. That was as high as my high kick would reach. He fell back a couple of steps.
“Screw it! Let’s box, motherfucker,” I said to Goliath and I stepped up and gave Goliath multiple five-punch combinations and landed nearly all of them. Goliath took each punch and seemed to love to get hit, he fed off it.
We then began trading punches. I would punch Goliath, and then his gigantic ass would punch me back. It was almost a test to see who could handle the better punch, who could withstand more pain. I was known for being able to take a punch, but this was ridiculous. His fists felt like lead pipes themselves.
We continued to battle. I hit his nose, he hit my right eye, I hit his mouth, he hit my chin. This went on for twenty minutes. Neither one of us would quit. This wasn’t going anywhere. This guy tried to kill me. He tried to kill Tommy. He hurt Lena. He deserved to die. I dug deep as I sensed Goliath finally tiring.
“Fuck the street fight!” Goliath said, tackling me with his enormous frame and I landed on my back, right next to the damn silver stake. Goliath jumped on top of me. I could see Wyatt and Hector charging him from about two hundred feet away. Goliath and I both grabbed for the silver stake at the same time. I got it first and rammed it directly into his heart. I struck him with all the remaining strength I had. His entire body landed on top of me. I pushed him off of me and he fell beside me. I rolled over and looked him right in the eyes and said, “Surprise, motherfucker!” It was he who would see my eyes with his last breath. As he took his last breath, he vanished as the others had before him. Hector and Wyatt came up on me. Hector leaned over and helped me up.
I walked over to Tommy. He was still a werewolf and bleeding badly. I placed my hand on my injured friend’s shoulder and simply said, “Please heal him, too.” Suddenly I felt a burst of heat leave my body and enter his. Tommy’s wound had been healed. Tommy instantly transitioned back to his Carni form.
“I should be pissed at you, Tommy,” I said. “But I think everything that happened tonight was according to plan.”
“You’re not the only one with visions, Josiah,” Tommy said.
“That’s what I figured.” I hugged my best friend.
Chapter Twenty
I was about to board my plane. I was at LAX Airport in Los Angeles.
“You sure this is what you’re supposed to do?” Tommy asked.
“I’m certain,” I said.
“Good luck, brother,” Tommy shook my hand. “You sure you don’t want me to go with you? What if the blue gnome turns out to be a weirdo?”
“I have to do this alone.”
Wyatt and Hector both came over to me and shook my hand.
“Hey,” I said to Wyatt and Hector, “you two look after my three favorite people in this world.” Wyatt and Hector both looked at me, sadly. “You two are definitely fourth and fifth,” I assured them and they both smiled. “Even though you both tried to kill me,” I laughed. “Kidding, I am just kidding.”
I grabbed my bag and Yari came over to me. “Hurry back, Josiah.”
“I will. I promise.” I gave Yari a giant hug. I looked behind her and saw Lena. She was looking at me with tears in her eyes. I dropped my bag and walked over to her. I smiled gently and said, “I’ll be back.” Lena looked up at me. I took my hand and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Be safe, Josiah.”
I leaned over and kissed her on the lips. I held her tight in my arms. I didn’t want to let her go, but I knew I had to. At the same time we both let go. I turned around and picked up my bag and began to board the plane.
“Josiah,” Lena called out. I turned around.
“I love you.”
I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face her.
“You’re my heart, Lena. Forever and always.”
I turned and boarded the plane for Transylvania.
The End
Forever and Always
(Vampire Love Story #3)
by
H.T. Night
Forever and Always
I walked onto the airplane without a single bag in my hand. It was going to be an eleven-hour, nonstop flight to London. I would then need to catch a connecting flight to Romania from London’s Heathrow Airport. I had never been out of the country before, and a part of me was nervous about spending a lot of hours on an airplane. I had to use a fast passport service on the internet to make this trip happen.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with the whole sunlight predicament, as that my skin isn’t exactly sunlight-friendly. I might have to spend a lot of time in the bathroom, pretending to be sick.
As I walked down the aisle of the plane, I couldn’t help but notice that the plane was unusually empty—especially toward the back. The first eight rows were jam-packed with passengers but there wasn’t a single person in the last ten rows.
That is weird, really weird.
My seat was 13-F and it was near the back of the plane. So that would mean I was going to be sitting all alone in an enormous airplane for eleven hours. I wasn’t a huge social butterfly, but I still craved some kind of human interaction. It made me feel connected to my origins.
As I walked past the crammed passengers at the front of the plane, it was apparent that all eyes were on me. Each face I looked at seemed to be asking, ‘who is the guy going solo to the back’?
The expression on my face must have read that I was equally as surprised they were to be the lone passenger in the back. As I got further down the aisle, I realized I wasn’t the only person with a seat in the back forty. In fact, there was a woman in her mid-twenties in my row.
Was I early? I could have sworn I was late boarding the plane.
I stepped inside the narrow seating area, and luckily, there was an empty seat separating us. I pulled in my legs so the young lady and I wouldn’t bump knees. I looked down at her face as I stepped in front of her to get to my seat. She never once looked up at me. Apparently, she wasn’t too happy that I was in her row.
I guess that was just too bad for her.
I sat in my seat and tried to get comfortable. It didn’t matter that I was only one of two people in the back of the plane; I was still h
aving a horrible time trying to get comfy in the ridiculously narrow rows. I adjusted my seat and centered myself in a way that would give me the most leg room. Finally, I was in the perfect position for maximum comfort.
“Excuse me, sir?” said a dark-haired flight attendant. “Would you like anything?”
“Like what?” I asked, surprised.
“Something to drink,” she said, giving me a pleasant frozen smile that had about as much sincere warmth as a prom queen accepting congratulations at a homecoming night crowning. Because it was expected to smile, not that she wanted to.
“A drink, already?” I asked. “Don’t you wait an hour or so after we leave?”
The stewardess stared blankly at me. Apparently, she didn’t like random questions.
“Come back in an hour and I’ll let you know if I get thirsty.” I winked at the flight attendant, and she didn’t seem too interested in my banter. I looked over at the woman sitting next to me and I expected some kind of reaction out of her, but there was nothing. She seemed incredibly uninterested, almost ‘put off’ in her demeanor.
The stewardess left. I looked around and noticed there was a movie screen on the back of the seat directly in front of me. It had headphones connected to it.
Thank God. I could at least watch some movies and play possibly play a game of ‘In-Flight Trivia.’
A male flight attendant stood in front of us and mumbled his spiel on ‘safety’ into a small microphone which he shoved up into the overhead ceiling when he was done.
I decided to lay back and enjoy the night. I was covered up with a great deal of clothing, considering that I had no idea when the sun would be coming up and peeking through the jet’s windows. I was wearing jeans with Doc Marten boots. I had a black t-shirt on underneath a black leather jacket. It was a lot of clothes for a summer evening, but there was really nothing I could do about it. I licked the inside of my teeth and could feel my incisors pointed out with my tongue. I hadn’t yet had a need to feed on blood, but I knew that would only be a matter of time.
Or was it?
It has been incredibly unusual that I hadn’t had the same desires and need for a bloodlust survival as my Mani counterparts. I guess I should have been happy that it hadn’t happened yet, but there was a part of me that felt uneasy about what had happened.
The flight attendant came by again and I stopped her with a polite index finger in the air. When she leaned in close and said “A drink, now, sir?” I said, “Actually, I would like a small blanket if you have one,” trying my best to be polite.
“A small one? We have large ones big enough for a boy as big as you,” she said, now trying to be cute.
“Actually, I’ll take a child-size blanket, if you have it?”
She gave me a strange look and said, “I’ll see what I can find.”
I wanted a small blanket so that I could put it over my head when the sun came out. The flight attendant didn’t know why I needed it.
“It’s crazy, huh?”
Did the woman next to me just speak to me or was she talking to herself?
I looked at the woman beside me and our eyes met. She had blonde hair and amazing blue eyes, just the color of the sea at Marina del Rey on a sunny day. She was wearing a light blue blouse with white leggings. Her hair was shoulder length and very sleek and pampered. She definitely had the kind of face you see on the cover of women’s fashion magazines.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” I asked.
She smiled pleasantly at me. “I said that it’s crazy we’re the only two back here.”
“I know. What’s the deal with that?”
“Apparently, some hot-shot billionaire bought the seats for his entourage and he never showed up.”
“Wow, that is crazy.”
Thank God she was talking to me.
I couldn’t imagine eleven hours next to some silent princess with an attitude.
“My name is Josiah.” I made a handshake gesture toward her. She shook my hand the way petite girls do, as more of a ‘limp hand wiggle’ than an actual handshake. I found it endearing, with her.
“My name is Helen.”
“I wouldn’t peg you for a Helen,” I said.
“Really? Why not?”
I looked at her closely and said, “You look more like a Heather or a Nicole.”
“No, I’m a Helen. I was named after my grandma and she was named after Helen of Troy.”
“Ah, Helen of Troy, the legendary face that launched a thousand ships.”
She smiled at me again, and this time she had the spark in her eyes that girls get when they’re now interested in you. “Josiah? That’s an unusual name.”
“I had unusual parents,” I said, laughing.
“Had?”
“Yeah, they passed away a couple years back.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I smiled. I didn’t need her to feel sorry for me. “I loved them but life goes on, you know?”
She gave me an awkward smile and nodded her head.
I paused and looked at her. She seemed very genuine. For a brief moment, I forgot about Lena. Lena was the young woman who had turned my life upside down. Before her, I didn’t believe in vampires, werewolves, or anything supernatural. Now, not only did I believe in it, I was thrown in the middle of all of it. In fact, I was apparently the main event in the forces of un-nature.
“Are you going to London?” I asked.
“That’s what the ticket says,” she said, winking at me.
“Are you connecting to another flight from London?” I clarified.
“No, I’m doing some business in London.”
“What business are you in?”
“What are you? A cop?”
I laughed. “No, I was just asking.”
“I’m kidding, Jo-Jo. Lighten up. I’m in the music business. I’m a producer for a little label in L.A.”
“Jo-Jo? I’m not sure you know me well enough to call me Jo-Jo,” I said, jokingly.
“Do you prefer Josie?”
“How about Josiah?”
“So, we’re not at the cute nickname phase in our relationship yet?” she asked.
“Is that what this is – a relationship?”
“There is definitely potential.” She was now putting her flirting gear in overdrive.
“Oh, is there?” I said laughing. “For potential crimes and misdemeanors?”
Who the hell was this woman? She was hilarious!
She turned her body and got comfortable. Her head was looking in my direction. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a nap. But feel free to lift the arm between us and spoon with me if you like. I mean, we’re all alone back here, just the two of us. Fate right?”
I just looked at her with a big, goofy grin. She was something else. She leaned her chair back and put her ear plugs in her ears and was suddenly out like a light.
I, on the other hand, had just been smacked over the head by Flirt-Girl 2000. I decided to take her lead and close my eyes ,too. It was nice to finally relax. But no spooning. Lena was a fleeting thought and then there was the business at hand.
I thought about what I was about to embark on. I was heading to Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania to meet some mysterious blue gnome from some visions I’ve had. You know, your typical vacation getaway…
I had been having a lot of visions of late. Visions were new to me and I wasn’t sure if I had been interpreting them correctly. For the most part, the visions had been pretty literal.
The images and ideas in my first visions encouraged me train my best friend, Tommy, to become a cognitive-thinking werewolf, rather than an instinctual reactionary to his current environment. He and I tapped into his human cognitive thinking, even when he was in his wolf form. I was exuberant that it had only taken one full-moon period. I was able to accomplish that feat rather quickly. As far as we know, he was the first werewolf to do so. I literally had the werewolf eating out of my and licking me, not tast
ing me, but giving me the respect and affection of a submissive to his master. When covered by fur anyway. Other than the werewolf transformation and my taming and training of him, in human-ish form, okay, in his Carni form, Tommy was still and always my best friend and we were equals. It was new to me, to tame the beast in someone I cared about. Maybe being a werewolf whisperer could be a commercial calling. I laughed to myself. That was the old All-American human way of thinking. I was a vampire now, with powers yet unknown. And headed to Transylvania to see what my visions would manifest in my destiny.
But visions weren’t the only things that were new to me. The last few months, I had been through the wringer. My life had been one of legends and nightmares. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I’ was actually playing it down. I had been given the keys to the Mani kingdom and I was still not sure exactly what to do with them. Mani are a vampire race that has been roaming the world for the last 10,000 years. From what I gathered, there were a lot of them, but they are very unorganized. They seem to be running wild and without a leader or any kind of vision. That’s where I come in. There has been ‘a prophecy’ since the beginning of the race, that a chosen vampire would come forward and unite the Mani and bring peace to all. As far as I knew, and with everything I had seen, I am that chosen vampire.
I know, lucky me.
I had the ability to transition into a great white eagle whenever my heart desires. As an eagle, I was able to fly all over, okay, not all the way to Transylvania, hence the airplane, but my powers didn’t stop there. I was also one of the rare Mani who could fly in my vampire form. My vampire form was what I called my human form. These days it was hard to remember which I actually am. I had lot of vampire characteristics, but I still have a lot of humanity, too. I often feel confused about my purpose. There wasn’t a Mani user’s manual or even a quick-start guide to this, and to be honest, I wish there were because I had to figure out situations on the fly.