by H. T. Night
“Helen.” I yelled, again in my head.
“Yes.”
“Change of plans. I’m heading for Tijuana. There’s a gang of vampires down there that might help me.”
“Why not fly back to your house?” Helen asked.
“There’s not enough help,” I answered. “All my friends will get slaughtered by these guys.”
“Okay, Josiah,” Helen said. “I’ll get there as fast as I can.”
“Tommy,” I said. “Gather up anyone you can! Tell them it’s an old-school street fight and meet me up the way in the open field.”
“I have to fight first,” Tommy said. “I’m actually fighting the guy as we speak.”
“Well, kick his ass and meet me about half a mile up in the fields by the main city.”
“All right, brother.” Tommy was gone. He must have transitioned to his human form.
I switched my flight direction and was now bolting south toward Mexico. I was flying at a velocity that I had yet to endure. The wind was slamming into my face. I was really having a hard time outrunning the ravens who were hot on my tail. I wondered if transitioning to my human form would give me a boost. I looked behind me and I had a good 500 yards on the nearest black raven that was gunning for me.
I decided to transition to my Mani form. Boy was that a mistake, it was as if I hit the brakes! My flight speed nearly cut in half. Within seconds all the ravens were on my tail. Some even rammed their beaks into my legs and arms.
This was not good.
I quickly transitioned back to the eagle and this time I hauled ass as if my wings were on fire.
“I’m gaining on you,” Helen’s voice said, in my head.
“Huh?” Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m five minutes from San Diego.”
“Well, I just passed San Diego. At the speed you’re going, Helen, in a few minutes you’re going to come up on Krull and his crew. Be careful.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo, sexy.”
“I’m sure it isn’t.” In a few minutes, I flew over the border. “Tommy, you done?” I asked, in my head.
“Just about. I’m trying to knock him out without hurting him too bad.”
“Just choke him out,” I said.
“It’s hard to do a safe choke hold when you have claws like daggers.”
“I’m going to be just east of the arena. Get there and again bring anyone who wants some to get into it.”
“I know a few guys that this is just their ‘kind of party.’ Are wolves okay?”
“If they’re down to fight… I don’t care if you bring fucking fairies.”
“Oh, these boys will be down, Josiah. No worries about that.
“Just knock the guy out and please get there quick,” I pleaded.
“I’m done, Josiah. I just knocked him out with the ‘Twizzler.’ I’ll be there in five.”
Once I hit the area that I figured was as good as place as any to fight in, I decided I needed to buy more time. So, with all the ravens still coming at me, I ascended up as high as I could. I needed a few more minutes for Helen and Tommy and whomever he was able to grab to get there.
I flew as high as I could. I kept ascending higher and higher. I looked below me and I only had a handful of ravens still following me. One of them was Krull. He was bigger than the rest, and he was leading the charge.
After about five minutes, I decided to change my flight direction and completely do a 180-degree reversal of flight and go south in the direction that the birds were chasing me in. I torpedoed downward and spiked into the ravens like a bowling ball. As I came up on the ravens, they didn’t know what to make of me. Instead of me drilling them like a bunch of bowling pins, they scattered out of the way like a bunch of cockroaches.
They actually made it real easy to fly past them. As I continued my way toward the ground, I could see Tommy coming up in the distance with about twenty-five men who appeared to be both Mani and Carni.
This should be interesting.
I landed on the dirt area that was flat for a good 1000 yards. This would be as good a spot as any to ‘throw down.’ I looked up and a beautiful white hawk came toward me. It was Helen. She landed next to me. She transitioned and stood there in her beautiful Mani form. She looked incredible, like something from the cover of a romance novel. Her blond hair flowed in the wind.
“Thanks, Helen,” I said.
“It looks like you have a good crew behind you, Josiah.”
I looked at Helen and I knew I didn’t want her to fight in this battle. I might have been sexist, but I was also being protective. She was, in her own right, Mani royalty as far as I was concerned, and this was something I didn’t want her to get hurt doing.
“Helen, I think Tommy brought enough guys and we’ll be okay. Why don’t you pull back and be safe.”
“You sure?” Helen asked. “Like I said, I’m here to fight.”
“Why don’t you watch from a distance,” I said. “And if need be, join in. If not, you can pull back.”
Tommy’s guys had now surrounded me. I looked out to the ‘beat-up’ and ‘broken-down’ fighters and said, “I’m not sure what Tommy promised you to get you to come out, but I’m sure glad you’re here.”
“He said you’re not a bad guy to have in our corner if we ever need it,” a Carni man yelled out.
I nodded my head. “Do me right, and I’ll do you right. That’s the motto I live by.”
“Then let’s kick some ass,” said a muscular Mani man.
There were about fifteen Carni and ten Mani. I nodded at my Mani brothers and said, “If anyone has ever had a beef with Krull, this is the time you can pay him back.”
“Krull?” One yelled out, terrified, “No one said this was going to be Krull’s crew.”
“Is there a problem?” I yelled out.
A couple of Mani looked at each other, transitioned and got the hell out of there, like, well, bats outta hell.
“Anyone want to leave now that you know what you’re in for?” I yelled out to the others.
“I have nothing to lose,” one Mani said to me.
Another one said, “I don’t even own my own life.” That was an odd comment, but I didn’t have time to dissect it.
Suddenly, a rush of ravens came upon us from above. I guess they had regrouped up in the air. I was glad they did because it gave me time to settle in with these guys.
Krull and his followers all landed about 200 yards to the left of us. In unison, they all transitioned and stood like a fierce group of warriors ready for battle. These were top-of-the-line fighters, but thank God I had fighters who were tried and battle tested, too. In front of the pack was Krull. Damn! He was scary to look at! He looked like Genghis Khan on steroids!
Why the hell were they here?
I decided to get this thing going the best way I knew how…with my mouth. I walked out to the front of my group and eyeballed Krull. “I didn’t take you for a punk, Krull!” I yelled out.
“Which one of you is Josiah?” he asked.
“You know who I am, you Samurai turd,” I said. “At last, you know my size thirteen feet that tattooed your face.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Blindside. Very nice,” he said.
“So what’s the deal, Jackie Chan,” I continued to yell out. “Why are you chasing me when I’m all alone? I thought you fought with more honor than that.”
“Honor, there’s no honor in a quarrel, you petulant child.” Krull turned to his fighters and they all laughed.
“Good to know the moral code you live by.”
“The only moral code I live by is one of death and destruction,” Krull yelled out.
“I have one question for you,” I said. “And I need you to wrap your little brain around it to try to answer it to the best of your pathetic ability: Why tonight?”
“Why not?” Krull yelled. “I know you think we are going to have an Armageddon showdown of epic proportions. The way I figure it, why go through all that un
necessary bloodshed when I can just destroy you by myself?”
“By yourself? You did bring forty of your best fighters.”
“They’re just here to look pretty. This fight is between you and me. I figured I’d just kill you and be done with it. For all I know, it might take the Triat another 10,000 years to produce another one like you.”
“Is that what you want?” I yelled. “A one-on-one fight?”
“The only thing I want is to kill you. So, however that happens, it doesn’t really matter to me.”
Then something happened that moved me, and reminded me, in the end when all the cards were on the table, who always had my back, when it really mattered. Tommy walked over to me and yelled out, “No one is going to touch Josiah. If you came here tonight to try to kill him, I’m afraid that was your first mistake.”
Krull looked at Tommy with disgust, “Please tell me, wolf-boy, what is our second mistake?”
“Not knowing who his friends are.” Tommy raised his hands, transitioned into the great gray wolf and charged Krull. He leaped on top of him and tackled him to the ground. Krull had no idea what to make of it. Tommy was laying a pretty good beat down on him, but even I knew that wasn’t going to last long with someone as tough as Krull.
Within seconds, an all-out war was on.
All of the Carni men, except for Tommy, had to fight in their human forms. But that didn’t seem to matter because these were some tough-as-nails fighters. Fights were breaking out all over the place. There was bloodshed of epic proportions. Everywhere I looked, there was a fight going on. This was some serious stuff. Mani and Carni were dying out here. These guys that Tommy brought were fighting like they had nothing to lose. I loved that, because ever since I was seven years old, that is how I approached every fight I had ever been in.
More than once, I got my hands dirty. Most of these guys were avoiding me. They knew they didn’t want to get into it with me. Every chance I got, I put a pretty serious beat down on a guy. There was only one guy I wanted and Tommy was doing a pretty good job fighting him.
But in the end, Krull was too seasoned and too tough. He was able to get a hold of Tommy and he nearly broke his leg in half. He chucked Tommy’s body forty feet in the air and Tommy landed on the ground dismantled and Krull went flying after him. Krull unloaded a sea of punches onto Tommy’s face.
That was not going to continue. I launched myself into Krull and just leveled him with a kick to the side of his head. Krull went stumbling to the ground.
He got up and it was a face-off between him and me. This was what he wanted and this was what I knew had to be done. We exchanged punches and kicks and we were damn even on every level. We both got a couple of shots in, but nothing serious. We were two highly trained fighters that seemed to be perfectly matched. We fought for what felt like to be an hour. We completely exhausted ourselves. Finally, Krull gave up. He whistled to his men and they all took off. Before he left, he said, “I see you have been trained by Atticai. Tell him, well done.” Then Krull and his Mani all transitioned and got out of there. It was over…just like that.
Chapter Nineteen
When the dust cleared, I could see Helen in the distance. “You okay, my friend?” she asked, in my mind.
“I’m doing all right,” I answered.
“I will see you soon,” she said, with a look of pride in her eyes. Then Helen took off in the opposite direction that Krull and his men had gone.
I ran over to Tommy, he was holding his leg.
“Is it broken?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It really hurts. I screwed it up pretty bad.” His leg was a bloody mess. We needed to clean it off and see what kind of injury we were dealing with.
“Let’s head back to the arena so I can see one of the doctors,” Tommy said.
I looked down at my dear friend who went to battle for me and said, “Sounds like a plan.”
I put Tommy on my shoulder and walked back to the sixteen guys still standing that had fought alongside me. Seven of them laid down their life here today. I’m not sure why, but they did.
Why? Why would any of them fight this kind of fight if they didn’t have to?
I looked at all the men. They were bloodied and exhausted and I really didn’t know what to say. “Let’s take a moment for the guys who lost their lives tonight,” I said. I thought I would at least recognize the men who took their last breath out here on this night.
We all put our heads down and I said a little prayer. After a moment, I looked up to the men and said, “You all fought bravely. I’m not exactly sure why any of you would get mixed up in this, but I’m sure glad you did.”
“Why are you surprised, Josiah? We know who you are,” one of the Mani men yelled out.
“All I can say is thank you. You all risked the money you’re making with Romero to be here.”
“The money we’re making?” A Carni laughed out loud. Then everyone else laughed. “I’m not sure what you’ve been told, Josiah,” he continued. “None of us got paid. We’re all paying off debts!”
“Wait a second,” I asked. “None of you actually gets paid?”
“Technically, you can call it that. God knows Romero does. That guy pretty much owns our soul until our debts are paid off. And when it gets paid off, he could give two shits about you. There’s always another newbie that is going to be indebted to him. I heard he forces humans against their will to become Mani and Carni so they can fight here to pay off their debts.”
“That’s what happened to me,” the muscular Mani man said. “I was an up-and-coming mixed martial arts fighter just like you and refused to throw a fight that cost Romero a lot of money. He caught up to me and gave me an ultimatum. He was either going to kill me or I had to become a Mani and fight for him.”
That was one of the worst things I ever heard. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Militia,” he said.
“Your parents were creative in naming you,” I joked, knowing full well that was only his fighter name. I was utterly shocked. I could not believe the rosy picture Romero had painted to me about his little underground, mixed martial arts world. He was only making a huge profit off of all these guys. He wasn’t paying anyone. He was using them in a way that was Third World, to say the least.
We all got ourselves together and headed back to the arena. I still had Tommy on my shoulder. I thanked the guys one more time and took Tommy and headed to the back. The guards recognized us and let us through, but not without radioing something in. Obviously Romero was being told Tommy was hurt.
“Let’s go see Gary,” Tommy said. “He’ll keep my injury on the down low; he hates Romero as much as the fighters.”
I had no idea Romero was so hated by the fighters. I’m not sure if he was clueless about the fact, or doesn’t even care. My bet is a guy as rich and powerful as he is could give a rat’s ass what his employees thought about him.
We entered Gary’s training room and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head the second he saw how bashed up Tommy’s leg was.
“What the hell happened, Tommy?” Gary asked.
“You don’t want to know, Gary,” Tommy said.
He helped me get Tommy over to the table so he could lie down. Gary was really short and really bald. He was pushing seventy and clearly was an old-school trainer. God knows how long a guy like this had been doing this kind of thing.
Gary cleaned Tommy’s leg off with soap and water. Other than the large gash directly above his knee, Tommy seemed to be able to move it freely. I was pretty sure he hadn’t broken anything.
After about twenty minutes of Gary doing tests and taking x-rays, he came into the room and said, “There’s good and bad news. The good news is there is no permanent damage. The bad news, you won’t be able to fight again for another three months.”
“You sure, doc?” I asked. “This isn’t one of these cases where you say he won’t walk again and it gets better overnight?”
; “No, it’s the best case scenario. He could try to do some training in eight weeks, and then probably be able fight four weeks after that.”
Crap, Romero is going to kill both of us!
“How many fights do you have left?” I asked Tommy.
“Maybe seven,” he said gritting his teeth. He was obviously still in pain. “Hey, Gary, can you give me something for the pain?”
“No problem, Tommy. I’ll give you a month’s worth of pain killers.” Gary left the room to go get Tommy some medication.
“Dammit, this is all my fault, Tom. I shouldn’t have asked you to come help.”
“Josiah, I don’t give a shit. I would help you anyplace, anywhere. Romero can kiss my ass. I have made that asshole so much money.”
“Why would I want to kiss your ass, Tommy, especially after you broke my ‘no fighting unless it’s in the ring rule’?” Romero shouted behind us. He entered Gary’s training room, followed by at least eight body guards.
“Don’t worry, Romero. I can still fight. It’s just going to take a couple months,” Tommy said.
“That might be so, Wolfie, but the deal we had is off.”
“Fuck you! Richie Rich!” Tommy yelled, from the table. “I have busted my ass for you.”
“A deal is a deal, and if you can’t fight, there’s no deal. It’s that simple.” Romero then looked over to me with a look that said, ‘look what you did.’
“Relax, Tommy,” I said, trying my best to keep the situation under control. “Let me talk to Romero alone in the hallway.”
Romero looked at me like I was crazy. “I know you think you’re an important person in your little vampire world, Josiah. But after tonight, I have nothing to say to you. You nearly got one of my fighters killed tonight because of your little issues you have. As of right now, there’s seven fighters unaccounted for. That is seven debts you owe me.”
“I owe you?” I said, laughing. “I don’t owe you, or anyone else, shit.”
“Oh, I think you do,” Romero said. Now his bodyguards surrounded him and appeared to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
“We have bent over backwards for your little human trafficking operation here,” I said.