by Night, H. T.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Check it out.” Tommy walked over to a room next to the living room. He went to the doorway and turned on the lights. I peeked in and saw a giant steel cage with bars as thick as 4x4’s.
“What the hell is that?” I asked Tommy.
“Sometimes I put myself in there.” Tommy walked inside the room and made his way to the cage. He opened the door of the cage and walked in. There were five lengths of thick metal chains complete with wrist and ankle holsters at the back of the cage. This is the type of cage I would have imagined they put ‘Hannibal Lechter’ in. The cage was big enough to house ten gorillas. “These metal bars are what keep me from being a killer.” Tommy was obviously referring to when he becomes a werewolf.
“Did you build this?” I asked.
“I got it from a zoo.”
“That must have been an interesting conversation.”
“The guys thought I was some sicko serial killer.”
“He sold it to you anyway,” I said, pointing out the obvious.
“Two thousand dollars cold cash has a way of allowing people to see things your way. For all I know, when I become a werewolf, I just might be a serial killer.”
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“Most Carni have no recollection when they become a werewolf. Some of the stronger ones can lead packs of werewolves and still have little recollection of the details of their night. Sometimes, I look at police reports to see if there is ever a file that fits my description.”
“What description is that?”
“Apparently when I turn, I become a six-foot-two gray werewolf.”
“A gray werewolf?” I laughed. “I knew you were older than what you admitted.”
“It has nothing to do with age. Look at Hector, he’s one of the palest guys I have ever seen, yet he becomes a black raven when he transitions.”
I looked over at Tommy and shrugged. “Can you believe all this? How the hell did we get thrown into the middle of this?”
“Sometimes I wonder what any of this means. Sometimes I feel each of us is just a pawn in the Triat’s twisted game.”
I paused and leaned against the wall staring at the odd visual of my best friend standing inside of a steel cage. “Thank you, Tommy,” I said.
“For what?”
“Coming to help me, and trying to take on 200 Mani vampires by yourself.”
“Yeah, I was a big help,” Tommy said sarcastically.
“It doesn’t matter. You risked your life for me.”
Tommy paused and smiled. “All right, Josiah. Don’t get all misty-eyed on me. You were the one who came back and got me.”
“You would have done the same if you could fly.”
Tommy nodded. “Let’s go out to the others.”
Tommy and I left the strange room and headed toward the kitchen. The kitchen was in the back of the cabin. Wyatt and Hector sat at the kitchen table while Lena and Yari looked through the cabinets.
“What are you guys doing?” I asked.
Lena looked over her shoulder and said, “I’m seeing what supplies we have if all Armageddon breaks out.”
“I don’t think we’re going to fight off a Mani army with pots, pans and a Sunbeam popcorn popper,” I said.
Tommy walked over to Yari and whispered something in her ear. Yari nodded.
What was that about?
“So, is this what we’ve been reduced to?” I announced. “We’re hiding out like fugitives. I refuse to live this way.”
“Look Josiah,” Wyatt spoke up. “You are not ready to fight Krull.”
“Huh?” I said to Wyatt. “Where did that come from, Wyatt?”
“None of us are ready to wage war against him and you sure as hell aren’t. Krull is the most powerful Mani ever. He possesses more Mani gifts than any Mani before him or since. You pegged him right. He is the Genghis Khan of the Mani.”
“Well, I’ve been doing some crazy shit, too, over the past two days. I just might have him beat.”
“Like what?” Yari asked, adding to the conversation.
“A lot of things,” I said. “What kind of gifts did Atticai have that you all knew about?”
“He had every gift that Krull does. They were pretty much equal except we all thought Atticai was The Chosen.”
I asked again. “What gifts did Atticai have that Krull still has?”
Hector who never says anything said, “They both can fly.”
“All of you can fly!” Tommy interjected.
“Not as a bird, but as a vampire,” Wyatt clarified.
“You’re telling me that seven-foot bean pole that kicked my ass could fly?” Tommy asked.
Wyatt grinned, “He had all the other Mani gifts as well. The only thing Atticai couldn’t do was see in the future. If he could have, he would have known he wasn’t the Chosen.”
“What if he did know?” I asked. “Maybe that’s why he left me for dead to be bitten by all of those snakes?”
“There is always a chance he did,” Yari said. “But I don’t think so. There was a lot of good in Atticai. He chose not to follow Krull. He and Krull had the ability to take over the world if they would have joined forces. Atticai refused.”
Tommy added, “Do you think it was in the Triat’s will that Josiah killed him?”
All of the other Mani looked at each other as if to say they didn’t know.
“You all look disappointed that ‘The Chosen’ wasn’t Atticai,” I remarked.
“We’re not disappointed,” Yari said. “We just had no idea it was going to be you.”
“The word isn’t disappointed,” Wyatt said. “We were just fucking surprised as hell. Then when you refused to talk to us for weeks, we wondered if it was all a mistake.”
“Do you guys think it was a mistake now?” I glanced at all of them. Lena and Yari both shook their heads. Hector and Wyatt however looked at me blankly. “Are you and Hector completely on board, Wyatt? I need to know. Because if you’re not, I completely understand and would hold no resentment toward you—if you wanted out.”
Wyatt paused and looked at Hector. “We don’t want out, Josiah. We just want to make sure when all of this is over and when we prevail over Krull that you don’t plan on killing us.”
“What?” I asked surprised.
“Why wouldn’t you, Josiah?” Wyatt continued. “We both tried to kill you. We’re two of the three reasons you became a Mani unwillingly.”
“All of that may be true, Wyatt. But that isn’t who I am. I respect that you were loyal to Atticai. You were only doing what you felt the Triat wanted you to do. I can’t be any angrier at you than I am at Tommy for kicking my ass in the ring a month back. He only fought me because the Commission told him he had to.”
“So, we’re cool?” Hector came out and asked.
I smiled at Hector and Wyatt. “We’re cool, guys. As long as I know from here on out that I can trust you, all is forgiven.”
My eyes went to an older needlepoint picture hanging on the cabin wall. The words seemed to fit the current mood in the room and I nodded at it, so that Hector and Wyatt would read it, too: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’
Hector and Wyatt let out relieved sighs.
I looked at Yari. “So, what’s the deal with Krull? Is he going to hunt me down until he kills me?”
“Or until you kill him,” Yari answered. “Krull is a prideful son-of-a-bitch. Atticai was the only person who ever matched up with him. Since you laid him out, he now looks at you like a greater challenge. He had no idea what hit him.”
“Only because I sucker-punched him,” I stated.
“In a Mani-on-Mani fight, everything goes. You were well inside the rules. Krull won’t forget. But neither should you.”
“I almost wish we still had Atticai. It would be one more body.”
“Atticai would have never yielded to you,” Lena interrupted. “What happened to
him that night was his destiny. The Triat knew he would never accept anyone else to lead us, no matter how much any of us cared for him. You did what you were supposed to do. You did the right thing.”
Wow, I was getting mixed signals from Lena. Was she happy or sad that I was now in charge?
“Okay,” I said. “If Krull is going to come after me, then that means he is coming after us. If this is too much for anyone and you want out—let it be known now.”
I looked at Hector.
“I’m in,” he said.
“Hey, I got Hector to talk again,” I joked. “This is an epic night.” Hector smiled. I looked over at Wyatt. “You in, Teethie?”
Wyatt laughed. “I told you that night that I didn’t know you weren’t one of those frat douchebags.”
“Did I at least taste good?”
“Oh, you taste good,” Yari responded. Yari had been my second bite when she sucked the snake venom out of me.
I looked at Yari. “You in?”
“I’ve been in for two years with you, Josiah.”
I nodded and looked at Lena. “What about you? You don’t have to be part of this.”
Lena shrugged. “You’re joking right? Josiah, this thing that we all are part of—is the only thing that matters now.” I nodded at Lena. I was afraid for her. She was barely five feet tall and maybe 100 pounds. This wasn’t going to be easy.
I looked over at Tommy, who by now, was making himself a sandwich. “How about you, werewolf boy? You want to stand and fight with a bunch of vampires?”
Tommy looked around the group. “Well considering none of you has tried to kill me yet, that’s what I plan on doing. I don’t really have too many options, anyway.”
“All right,” I said. “I need to know two more things. First, what is our money situation? Do you guys have jobs? How do you pay for stuff?”
Everyone laughed.
“We don’t need jobs, Josiah,” Yari answered.
“What? Do you all steal?” I asked.
“None of us are thieves. We all have our own money for different reasons.”
“Do you have bank accounts?”
“Swiss bank accounts,” Wyatt laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
Wyatt looked over to Hector and Hector gave him a nod as if to say it was okay to tell me.”
“Hector used to be a prince.”
“Hector? A prince? You’re screwing with me, right?”
“Serious as a heart attack, Josiah.”
“Prince Hector?” I looked over at Hector and he grinned.
“Yeah, so he’s set,” Wyatt continued. “I’m set because of some great real estate ventures I made in the 90’s when the market was good. And Yari—”
Yari interrupted Wyatt and said, “I had a few ‘friends’ along the way that have allowed me to live comfortably for quite some time.”
“So, you’re a gold digger?” I asked.
“Not a gold digger. I like pretty things and men seem to like to provide me with that.”
“This is why I never cared to ask about your money situations,” I said. “I was scared to know.”
“Josiah, there is a combined wealth among the three of us that approaches Donald Trump.”
I looked over at Lena. “Don’t look at me. I’ve been sponging off my parents and these guys for the last couple years.”
“Well,” I said. “I still have a lot of inheritance left, so I guess money is the least of our worries.” I knew that Tommy had some money from his MMA winnings. “So, my next question is what Mani gifts does each of you have?”
“Don’t look at me,” Tommy goofed. “I can only bite people once a month when the moon is full.”
“What about you, Hector?”
“I can transition and sometimes see the future.”
“Wyatt?”
“The same,” Wyatt answered.
“Lena, what can you do?” I asked.
“I can erase thoughts and transition. I might have more. I don’t know.”
“Yari, what about you?”
Yari was quiet. “Yari?” I repeated.
“I can do everything, but fly in Mani form,” she said plainly.
“You serious?” Tommy said, nearly choking on his sandwich. He seemed impressed.
“I’ve been around a long time. You pick up skills along the way.”
“Then you’re going to be as valuable as hell,” I said, pleased.
“I’m not sure how valuable I’m going to be to the cause,” Yari said. “Mind reading and memory erasing only work on the very weakest Mani and Carni. My skills will be limited against Krull’s crew.”
Then something dawned on me. Yari said she had every skill except flying. That means she could see into the future. She must have known that I was The Chosen. I didn’t want to say it in front of everyone. But it all made sense now. The reason she saved me, and why she let me know how to defeat Atticai. I thought she did all that because she was in love with me. Apparently, she was only doing the will of the Triat.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Yari. The reason why I’m alive is because of you.”
Yari seemed pleased that had I said that. “I can tell you this, Josiah. Krull will not come for you here. You are going to battle Krull at another time. It won’t be here, and it won’t be anytime soon.”
“You know that for sure?” I asked Yari.
“As far as Krull and his minions are concerned, we will be safe here.”
“What about you, Josiah?” Tommy came out and asked. “What gifts do you have?
“I’m not exactly sure.”
“You said earlier that you could do some weird shit now,” Tommy added.
“I’m not completely sure what I can do.” I said again.
“You must know something.” Tommy persisted. “What things can you do differently? Are you faster? Are you stronger?”
“Well, I can change into the white eagle and…”
“Tell them, Josiah,” Lena said bluntly.
“Tell us what, Josiah?” Yari said. “What aren’t you telling us?”
I hesitated. Why didn’t I want to tell them the truth? Maybe I was scared that if they knew all I could do, they’d expect me to be some kind of Christ-like figure. I wasn’t ready to tell them. I looked across at Lena.
Lena said in a soft voice. “You need to tell them.”
I exhaled and said, “I can fly, too.”
“As a Mani?” Wyatt asked.
“Yes, I can fly even when I’m not the eagle. But I can’t control it very well. And I don’t know exactly how to start it.”
“Holy shit!” Hector spouted.
We all laughed.
“Anything else?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, there is one more thing. But I have less control with this than I do flying.”
“What is it?” Yari stared at me intently.
“Tommy,” I said. “Do you have a Styrofoam cup somewhere?”
“Yeah.” Tommy opened the cabinet directly behind where he was standing in the kitchen. He grabbed a bag that had Styrofoam cups inside. “Do you need just one?” he asked
“One will be fine; you can put it on the table.”
Tommy placed the Styrofoam cup at the center of the table. “Everyone step back and stand next to me and look at the cup.”
Everyone walked over and surrounded me. The table was about 5 feet away.
“All right, watch!” I stared at the cup. Once I felt a connection, and a bond with it, I closed my eyes, turned my head, and opened my eyes, staring at the left wall. And, with a sudden boost of energy, the cup shot off the table and hit the ceiling.
“What the hell?” Tommy shouted. “You can move stuff with your mind?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I have never heard of a Mani being able to do that,” Yari said.
“Me neither.” Wyatt continued. “That must be a specific gift given only to Josiah. How heavy of an object can you move?”
“Can you control it precisely?” Yari asked.
“Not even close,” I said. “Just right now I tried to make the cup hit the left wall and it hit the ceiling instead.”
“So, you tried to move it in one direction,” Lena asked, “and the cup went in another?”
“I can move it, but not control it.”
“Do you have any control over it, whatsoever?” Tommy asked.
“I am able to connect with an object almost on a spiritual level; other than that, not really. Once I have the connection, the object moves whatever direction it wants.”
“Just like any skill, Josiah,” Yari said. “You’re going to have to master it.”
I was tired and once again had had an exhausting night. “All right, guys. I’m beat. I’m going to find a bedroom and get some rest.”
Chapter Nine
I found a room in the far west corner of the house that was some kind of guest room. It appeared to be a room that had been added onto the cabin after it was built. The room only had a couch and a very old TV. I flopped on the couch and stared at the ceiling remembering my vision from the night before. ‘Tame the wolf,’ I thought. I had very little experience, if any, with the species. Other than those Neanderthals at the bar, the only other wolf I knew was Tommy. Was Tommy the wolf that needed to be tamed? Was I to train him? Tommy was already a great fighter. If anyone needed training, it was me. I knew nothing about being a werewolf. How was I supposed to train him? I laid there pondering this and then it hit me! I jumped up and went back to the kitchen. Everyone was still sitting around shooting the shit.
“Hey, Tommy, I have a couple questions for you.”
“Yeah?” Tommy answered. All eyes were on me.
“Why exactly do you lock yourself in a cage when you become a werewolf? What are you afraid of?”
Tommy didn’t hesitate to answer my question. “I’m afraid of hurting someone,” he said, “or doing something that might cause someone to want to hurt or even kill me.”
“Do you have any recollection after you come out of your werewolf state?” I asked.
“I don’t have a stream of memory. I remember glimpses—or random moments.”