by H. T. Night
“It’s okay, Yari,” I said. “No one here wants to pay to know that kind of information.”
“Spoken by the man who obviously has the smaller wang!” Tommy laughed.
“Oh, it’s on, Chachi!” I circled Tommy. I looked up at the stairwell and now the whole house was watching. Hector, Wyatt and Cyrus had joined Yari on the stairwell. “I guess we have an audience.”
“I don’t need an audience,” Tommy said. “As I recall, the last time we did this, you saw stars.”
“Damn, those are fighting words,” I said back to Tommy. “Don’t forget I was still a Tandra when we fought that night. And remember, you were most definitely a Carni, so you had a slight advantage.”
“Doesn’t erase the fact that I beat you in front of the world on Pay-Per-View, does it?”
“It needs an asterisk.”
“The only asterisk is going to happen is me kicking your asterisk-ass.”
“All talk and no bite. Oh wait you do bite… and howl… and bark.”
“Cute Josiah, I see you can still talk some shit. Any rules, Golden Boy?”
“Rules, hell when did we ever have rules?”
“We don’t want to kill each other. Let’s say no punching above the neck, we both look too pretty.”
I felt my chiseled jaw. “Agreed,” I said.
“And you can’t use any of your wizard shit,” Tommy added, staring me down.
“Wizard shit? Damn! Is that is what you think of me?”
“God knows what you can do now. You could probably say Hocus pocus and turn my penis into Chapstick.”
“I don’t have to say Hocus Pocus to do that!” I said, with an exclamation point.
“That was too easy.”
“You’re the one lobbing me up softballs. Don’t get mad when I hit them out of the park.”
Tommy nodded and we continued to circle each other. “Anyway, no Mani bullshit,” Tommy stated, “Just straight MMA, with no punching in the face.”
“I guess there’s only one thing to say, Tommy boy. ‘Let’s get it on’!”
Tommy and I circled each other for about another minute, sizing each other up, both of us waiting for just the right opening.
“Please don’t break anything!” Yari yelled.
As I circled, I looked Tommy in the eyes. I began thinking about how bad he messed things up with Lena and I. I felt a slow rage grow inside of me. I tried to shake it off, but I couldn’t. It was building to the point that it was boiling over. Eventually, I quit looking at Tommy as a friend I was having fun wrestling with in the living room. I was looking at him as the guy who gave me pain. He consciously put the moves on Lena, knowing full well how I felt about her. It was time for him to pay.
I lowered my body level, and shot my body in between Tommy’s legs and caught his right hamstring with both my hands and picked him up. I did this at a speed that I had never experienced while wrestling before. Within milliseconds, Tommy was being lifted off the ground and I was carrying him in my arms around the living room like a sack of potatoes. He was punching my shoulders and chest trying to break free. But I wasn’t letting go for anything. I jumped up and slammed Tommy to the carpet. I knocked the wind out of him. I could hear him gasping for air.
I was holding Tommy down with my body, and controlling him with my legs. Something had become quite apparent since the last time Tommy and I had fought, I had now become a lot stronger than him. A hell of a lot stronger and he knew it. He could feel my grip around his body. I could sense the uncertainty in the way he was breathing. I should have had empathy. I shouldn’t have felt the way I did. I was thriving off his misery.
While I was on top of him, I whispered in his ear, “This isn’t a fair fight, Tom. You need to be a werewolf to even have a chance. I’m controlling you like an infant. Come on, Tommy, Mr. Superstar Wrestler, get out of my hold.”
“Fuck you, Josiah.” Tommy tried to spin forward to get out of my grip but had no chance.
“Aw, don’t be that way, my little Chihuahua!” Now I was being relentless. “It’s hard to handle, isn’t it?” I said as I tightened up my grip on the body. I was controlling his every movement. I was riding him like a steed. “The young boy you trained can now kick your ass!”
With that, I let him go and he got to his feet. I came up at him and delivered an eight-punch combination hitting his shoulders, ribs and stomach. I pulled back and Tommy was completely hunched over. He was badly hurt. I normally would have stopped, because he was through. But not today, not after what he had done.
I stepped toward him and something snapped in my head. I don’t even quite remember doing it, but I was highly aware it happened. I cocked my right fist back and I threw a ferocious uppercut and landed it directly underneath his chin and completely flattened him out. I broke the rule and I knew it. I didn’t care that I had punched him above the neck.
“What the fuck was that,” Josiah?” Yari yelled, as she came running down the stairs to Tommy’s aide.
I walked over to Tommy and his eyes were rolled back. I slapped him on the cheek to bring him around. “Tommy, you okay?” Tommy eyes focused and he looked at me and said, “You hit my face.”
“I know. Now we’re even.” I turned around and walked outside the house and sat on the porch. It was dark now and I took a giant breath. I wasn’t proud of myself, but I felt it needed to be done. I looked up into the starlit sky and I transitioned into the eagle and flew upwards. I flew into the sky at a wicked speed and I nearly rammed into another bird. As I swished past it, I realized it was a red hawk. She was one of our own.
I turned my head around, to make sure the hawk was okay. I kept going once I realized that the bird was fine. I continued to blaze across the sky. Then I heard a squawk behind me. I turned around to see what it was. The bird that I nearly hit was now following me. One might even say chasing me.
I glided up higher in the air and the bird continued to follow behind. She was not letting up. The bird was definitely trying to get my attention. I allowed the red hawk to catch up with me, and as she did I saw the hawk’s eyes and knew who it was. It was Lena!
Chapter Eighteen
My stomach was in knots and I didn’t quite know what to do. I looked at the gorgeous bird and decided to fly downward and land on the ground to see what she wanted. I landed on the side of a dirt road near the 15 freeway. Lena landed next to me and transitioned immediately. She was gorgeous. She was wearing a white tank top with white Capri pants. She looked really good in white. I looked across the street and noticed that there was a park with a playground at the front of it. I sighed and then transitioned to my Mani form.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m okay.” Lena answered, quietly. I could tell she was really emotional. I looked in her eyes, and they were fiery red. She had obviously been crying all day.
“You don’t look okay,” I said.
Lena stared at me. There was so much pain behind her stare.
“What’s wrong Lena?” I asked again.
“I miss you, Josiah. I miss you a lot.”
That was exactly what I needed to hear. It was as if a giant weight had just been lifted off of me. “Really?” I asked.
“I wanted to come back so many times, but I was afraid of what you thought of me.”
“Why did you leave, Lena?”
“What was I to do?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know what to think anymore.” I was choked up. “I hadn’t seen you in weeks.”
“I couldn’t look you in the eye. You were so hurt, and I thought I was doing the right thing by giving you your space. I didn’t want to come between you and Tommy.”
“Lena, the last thing I expected when I came back from Romania was to be shoved into the middle of a love triangle.”
“I know. It was so unfair to you. This whole thing got complicated fast.”
“Is it really that complicated?”
“You don’t think so?”
; “It doesn’t have to be. It only is if you truly love Tommy.”
Lena was quiet.
“Do you love Tommy?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Josiah.”
This was really hard to hear and I wasn’t sure why she came for me if she still thought she was in love with Tommy.
“Then why are you here?”
Lena looked at me and tears rolled down her face. “Because I know that I love you.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I love you so much, Josiah.”
I looked across the street and began walking over to the playground.
“Where are you going?”
“I want to swing.” I said, as I continued to walk over to the sandy playground. There was a swing set next to some monkey bars. The swing set had three separate swings attached to it. I sat on the one in the middle and began swinging.
Lena came over and sat on the swing to the right of me and started swinging herself. We sat there and swung for a couple of minutes and then I stopped. “So what do you want?” I asked.
“Josiah, do you love me?”
I didn’t want to answer that question. It was too painful to say out loud. I looked over at Lena and she waited me to answer.
“You can’t answer that question, Josiah? It’s that hard of a question?”
“No, it’s not a hard question to answer. It’s a hard question to live inside.”
Lena got up off the swing set and stood right in front of me. “Do you love me?”
“Yes, I do,” I said. “I love you, and only you.”
“Why do you love me?”
“Why?”
“Yes, why?”
“What is there not to love? Sometimes in life you are moving along and love sneaks up on you. You never expected it to happen, so you fall deeper. It’s more intense because you weren’t looking for it. It was as if you were given a gift out of nowhere. One day, Lena, you just magically appeared in front of me. And I fell for you hard.”
“What do you want to do? You asked me what I want. I’m asking you what you want.”
“I don’t know. You say you love me, yet in the same breath you say you’re not sure how you feel about Tommy. How is that supposed to make me feel?”
“That’s the thing, Josiah. What I feel for Tommy has nothing to do with you. It’s a whole separate feeling and an entirely different situation. So, I can’t control how that makes you feel, I can only be honest about what I’m feeling.”
I stared at Lena and just felt lost about the whole situation. “Why did you come back?”
“I came back for you.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I flew over the house and I heard you and Tommy fighting. I peeked through one of the trap doors and I saw you punch him in the face and leave the house. I went after you and then you nearly flew me over.”
“No, you nearly flew me over.”
“Either way, we almost had a collision.”
I looked at Lena and said, “Well, I’m here, right now.”
“I know you are.” Lena reached out her hand to me. I took her hand and sat her on my lap while I was still on the swing. I wrapped my arms around her and held her as close as I ever had before. As she sat on my lap, I felt a release come over my body. I can’t explain why I feel the way I feel toward her. But having her here with me, at this moment, was the only thing I cared about. It was the only thing I truly wanted. In Lena, I was home. In her, I was safe.
“I don’t want this to go away,” I whispered in her ear.
“It doesn’t have to.”
She turned her head and faced me. I leaned in and kissed her tenderly. It was a soft gentle kiss that seemed to last forever.
“All I want is this,” I said. “This right here. Everything else is trivial. Everything else doesn’t matter.”
“You have this, Josiah. But you also have a higher calling.”
“Tonight, all I want is you.”
“Well, you have me.” Lena sat on my lap on the swing and we kissed and held each other for about an hour.
“So, what now?” I asked.
“Follow me.” Lena got off my lap and stood up.
“Follow you?”
“Yes.” Lena transitioned into the red hawk and flew up into the sky. I transitioned and flew after her. She was heading toward San Bernardino. It appeared she was going to my house that was by the college. She circled above my home and landed in my front yard.
I flew down and joined her and we both transitioned. I turned over the plant and grabbed the key and we entered my front door. “I don’t know if we will be safe here,” I said. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows I live here by now.”
“For once, Josiah, shut your mouth.” Lena pushed me up against my hallway wall and we knocked down a bunch of picture frames. She kissed me hard and passionately. She kissed me in a way she never had done before. I kissed her back with all I had. I had waited for this moment for two months. I was going to give her all my passion. She began taking my shirt off and my testosterone was in overdrive. I decided not to think and to just experience whatever she was giving me.
She shoved me into my room and pushed me on my bed. Our hands were caressing each other’s bodies as we kissed each other, all over my bed. I was on top of her, kissing her neck.
Lena stopped and looked at me. “I want you, Josiah.”
I looked down at Lena and I wasn’t exactly sure what she was saying. “Are you sure?” I asked.
“I want to experience all that you are. I want you to be my first.”
“Are you certain?”
“I’ve never been more certain about anything in my entire life.”
I kissed Lena and now took control of the situation. I laid her down and kissed her entire body I started with her neck, and made my way down to her breasts, I slipped her dress off and she laid on my bed in just her bra and panties. I kissed her stomach, her ribs, and her belly button. I made my way down lower to her inner thighs. I was experiencing every inch of her. I wanted every part of her body to feel loved.
Lena caressed me back and loved me thoroughly. This was a moment unlike any other. This was an experience for the ages. We kissed and held each other for hours and then at the perfect time ‘we made love.’ It was passionate and tender! It was everything I imagined it to be. When we were done, we rested on the bed naked. I had never shown a woman more love in my life. I was now completely in love with her. And I was scared to death.
We both slept through the night which wasn’t ideal for a couple of vampires. I woke up around six in the morning and rolled over. “Good morning.”
Lena opened her eyes looked at me and then rolled back over.
“Excuse me, young lady?”
“Yes?”
“Today is a wonderful day.”
“I guess it is.”
“I mean today is the kind of day that most men remember forever.”
“Wow, having sex with me was that good?” Lena giggled.
I smiled at Lena and said, “No.”
“Sex wasn’t good?”
“No, sex was great. Experiencing you last night was amazing.”
Lena smiled and said, “Good, but first things first. I need you to go to the kitchen.”
“Huh?”
“Just shut up and go to the kitchen.”
I got up, stretched, put on a pair of basketball shorts, and went to the kitchen. My mouth dropped when I saw what Lena had done. She had made me a cake in the middle of the night.
“When did you get up?”
“How did you know I got up and made it?”
I looked at all the pots and pans in the sink. The kitchen was a complete mess. “It’s a hunch.” I said, laughing. I looked down at the cake. It was a chocolate cake done in a circle that read. ‘My Josiah’s 21st birthday.’
“Your Josiah, huh? Am I back to being yours?”
“You were always mine.”
“That’s good, because you’re comi
ng to my party at the mansion tonight.”
Lena did not look like she was into that idea.
“You have to go, Lena. Every Mani from here to Seattle will be there.”
“I know all about your party. Yari texted me about it days ago, but I don’t know if I should go.”
“Why? Because Tommy is going to be there?”
“It might be weird.”
“It shouldn’t. I think Tommy liking you was more about me than it was about you.”
Whoops!
Lena did not like that comment. She didn’t like the thought of being used. “I don’t want to argue about it with you because it would only hurt your feelings, but I know Tommy was in it for more than to just best you.”
“Well, Tommy is going to be there. Tommy is always going to be there. That can’t be the reason why you do or don’t do things.”
“I guess you’re right. Is Tommy okay that he’ll be the only Carni?”
“Tommy is practically a Mani himself,” I said. “The Carni would crucify him if he tried to go back.”
“I tell you what,” Lena said. “You go back and help Yari get the party started and I’ll see you tonight.”
“You promise you’re coming?”
“Of course I am!”
“All right.” I kissed Lena on the lips. “So we’re good, right? You’re not going to give me a pen or anything?”
“A pen?”
“You know, so that later I have come back here and blast ‘In Your Eyes’ by Peter Gabriel, at the window with a ghetto blaster.”
“You’re a dork, Josiah.”
“You know, that movie is a classic.”
“I’ll see you tonight.”
I began quoting John Cusack. “I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen.”
“Okay, Say Anything. Leave, and I’ll see you tonight.”
Chapter Nineteen
It was now daytime, so I had transitioned to the eagle on my way back to the mansion.