Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6) (20 page)

She let out a huge breath. “I know
your heart. I know you love them and are such an amazing father. I
know when push comes to shove, you would do what you’re doing right
now.”

“
Which is?”

“
Going insane until we
find our son. I know you, Josiah—you will not rest until he is
found and returned to our home.”

“
So, are you
okay?”

“
I’ll be okay when you
bring my little boy back to me.”

I grabbed Lena and held her tightly in
my arms. “You’re right. I won’t rest,” I whispered in her
ear.

“
Go out to your friends
and pick Sion’s brain until we figure out where he is. Or better
yet, ask Joshua if he can feel where his brother is.”

I kissed Lena gently on the forehead
and told her I loved her. She nodded her head basically to say,
“You know where I stand.” And where she stood was with me. She
loved me with all her heart. She showed me that every day in all
that she did for me. Together, we were one true heart.

“
I’ll bring our family
back together,” I said. “I swear it on everything that I have been,
that I am, and that I will be.”

Then I left the room to see my
friends. We needed to find Jason as soon as possible.

In my head, I was inside a big
hourglass. It had red sand pouring through a narrow tube of glass,
and the bottom of the hourglass was filling up, faster than I could
dig my way out.

Time was running out for
Jason.

Chapter
Twenty-six

I met my friends downstairs. We had a
library that was filled with children’s books and educational
books, mainly from the boys growing up. We had homeschooled them
until they were sixteen, then they had graduated from the
California private high school. We had taken pride in educating our
kids, so we had an extensive library. Books were knowledge and I
valued the good ones as much as I did any life
experience.

My entire group of friends followed me
into the library. This wasn’t any ordinary group of friends. They
were, as far as I was concerned, the toughest group of individuals
this world had to offer. And now, we had added someone new to the
inner circle: my son, Joshua.

I was not crazy about introducing my
son to the world of legends, Triat folklore or perhaps Triat truth,
and the good, the bad, and the ugly that came with all of that. But
I had to pull out all the stops to find Jason, and Joshua was my
secret weapon. And I’d never forget how Joshua had instinctively
known where Jason had wandered off to so many years ago, at the pet
store in the mall, when we had frantically searched for our lost
child. I was counting on Joshua pulling a rabbit out of his hat,
once again. But this time, the stakes were much, much higher. Jason
wasn’t lost—he was kidnapped.

This would be the most important task
that I had ever asked of Joshua. This wasn’t scoring a touchdown or
hitting a homerun. In real life, striking out at the plate usually
meant that someone died and you could have prevented it. Now Joshua
was dealing with real life, and, as he was only eighteen years old,
I needed to watch him closely to make sure the tasks and
responsibilities weren’t overwhelming for him.

One by one, all my compadres made
their way into the library. Those who could find chairs did, and
those who could not, stood silently, waiting. I was quiet, too,
purposely not saying a word. I just stared at my friends’ faces,
one by one. I showed them the pain in my eyes, for I could no
longer veil it. I was in agony that one of my son’s lives was in
danger. I needed to wait for the right moment to give them my plea
for assistance.

Except for Atticai—who probably didn’t
even get my text message, because hell, I had no idea if he even
had a phone anymore, or what continent he was on—all of my friends
were here: Yari, Hector, Wyatt, Sion, Tommy, and now, Joshua. There
would be no Yomaida here tonight. Those were the breaks. For
whatever reason, she didn’t show up for my sons’ birthday party.
Tommy probably knew the reason, but I didn’t have time to inquire
about the nuances of his on-again, off-again relationship with her.
I needed to get started on finding Jason and bringing him home
safely.

“
Like I said back in
Victorville yesterday, this is a highly unusual situation,” I
began. “The bottom line is, I’m certain Brock has Jason hidden
somewhere on the island of Attica. And it’s going to be up to us to
find him as soon as possible. Brock’s son is very ill. And he
assured me that he would kill Jason if his son dies.”

“
When the hell did you
talk to Brock?” Tommy yelled out.

“
I just got back from
dealing with Brock. I went straight to Attica before I came to
Helena.”

Yari asked, “And Brock admits to
having Jason?”

“
Yes, he did,” I said
plainly.

“
The balls of that
motherfucker!” Tommy yelled out.

I glanced over at Joshua to see how he
was reacting to our war-room talk. I was taken aback when I saw
him. His face showed a determination that was almost savage-like.
He wanted his brother returned and that was obvious. Then Joshua
yelled out after he had patiently waited his turn to speak, “If
anyone has hurt my brother, they will answer first to
me!”

My two sons had a pact that was
greater than most bonds I had ever known, perhaps even greater than
mine and Tommy’s, and that bond truly ran deep. In my eyes, it was
the single great male greatest quality about my sons: their undying
love for one another.

I looked over at my son,
Joshua, and thought,
oh
boy
. I knew he needed to separate some of
his emotions and get them under control, or he wouldn’t be able to
focus and find Jason with his supernatural locating powers. I was
really hoping for another miracle.

I looked up at everybody and said,
“Let’s split up and cover the island by day in our bird and other
immortal forms. I want to split us up into two groups. The first
group will be the Children of the Night: Yari, Hector and Wyatt.
The second group is going to be Tommy, Joshua and myself, with Sion
nearby.”

“
Nearby what?” Sion
asked.

“
Nearby in a helicopter at
night,” I answered. “During the day, you’ll be in close
communication with both teams.” I added, “You haven’t forgotten how
to operate a helicopter, have you?”

“
It’s like riding a bike,”
he answered. Sion had taken helicopter lessons a while back and had
gotten his license.

“
I want us to sweep the
island and regroup every two hours. Tommy and Joshua will be on
foot. I’ll be in my eagle form until night time. Joshua believes
that he can find Jason through their special connection. I’ve seen
it done before. So, that’s what I’m betting on. We have no time to
waste.”

I gazed at them and added, “If any of
you need to drink and power up—vampire style—this would be the time
to do it. Mani refreshments are waiting in the next room. Help
yourselves.”

Joshua raised his eyebrows. I did not
explain the ingredients, nor the preparation of the refreshments.
He knew, but this was the first time that I acknowledged that
nutritional necessity for most Mani.

I added, “Joshua and Tommy, there are
high-protein bars and electrolyte replenisher drinks on the
helicopter for you.”

Tommy nodded. “Thanks,
Josiah.”

“
Elite force, we have a
long day and night ahead of us, but we will fight for Jason on the
side of right, and victory will be ours when we bring him safely
home. We’re heading out in fifteen minutes. Those who can fly, meet
at the rooftop trap door to the north tower and we’ll turn to birds
inside, before we fly, so no sunlight touches your Mani form. All
others, head for the helipad.”

Joshua digested this information
quickly. He pulled aside Tommy and me and we went into one the
guest bedrooms. He was eager to say something to us. I was pretty
damn sure I knew what it was...

Chapter
Twenty-seven

Joshua confronted Tommy and me in the
guestroom as everybody else left the library. “Dad, can we go back
into the library so I can talk to you and Uncle Tommy?”

I looked at my son and he seemed as
determined to say whatever he needed to say. This was his twin
brother we were talking about. The love between twins must be off
the charts. “Make it quick, son. I want us to start looking for
Jason as soon as possible.”

Tommy, Joshua and I all went back into
the library, now that everyone had filed out of the
room.

Joshua shut the door behind and stood
there staring at us silently. I noticed that he stood tall and sure
of himself, not cocky, but mature, driven. The determination in his
stance was a prelude to something very serious.

“
What is it, son?” I
asked.

Then he slowly rolled up his right
leg. It was apparent and he had either allowed a Mani to bite him
or he was attacked.

“
How did
that
happen?” I asked. I
held back a groan of dismay.

“
It was my own decision. I
allowed the Mani, who will remain nameless, to bite me in my leg
for my first bite. I actually paid him to do it.”

“
How much?” Tommy
asked.

“
One hundred
bucks.”

“
You overpaid,” I said,
appalled. “Let me get this straight, you paid some mysterious Mani
man to bite you? What did you do? Put an ad in the paper that said,
“One Son of Chosen needs Mani to bite him.”

“
Once, I told a couple of
folks that I was interested in being bitten. It wasn’t hard to for
me to find takers.”

“
Even though your dad is
Josiah Reign, they dared.” I looked at Tommy and shook my head.
“Mani are biting my son for cash. You would think after eighteen
years that I would have earned more respect around here than for a
Mani to go behind my back and bite my son.”

“
Seeing how upset you have
gotten over one bite, I’m afraid to show you this,” Joshua said.
Joshua rolled up his other pants leg and sure enough, he had a
second bite. Dismay roiled in my belly. If my son turned into raven
and flew out of here, I would absolutely puke.

So, I asked my son the most obvious
question. “Why would you do that, son? Why?”

“
Because I want to be Mani
like you are. I know if you give me the third bite, I will become
exactly like you and Mom. A mortal vampire. The Deity called it ‘a
Son of Josiah.’ And that is exactly what I want to be.”

“
But why right now,
Joshua?”

“
Because, I know in my
heart I can help Jason better if I turn Mani, but not just any
Mani. A Son of Josiah.”

I looked at Tommy and he seemed as
flabbergasted as I was.

“
Let me get this straight,
Joshua,” Tommy asked. “You don’t have a third bite, correct? You
are hoping your father would give you the third bite?” Tommy looked
me in the eye and was basically asking me,
What are you going to do with this, bro?

The truth of the matter was, I’d never
intended for my kids to become Mani. I wanted to spare them from
that fate. It looked like fate wasn’t making it easy on
me.

I said, “So you think we can start a
new strain of vampire called Sons of Josiah?”

“
If you think about it,
Dad, you were Mom’s third bite. You weren’t married. You weren’t
related, but she became just like you, in terms of being a mortal
vampire after you bit her. Dad, it is my belief that a new band of
Mani needs to rise up. One that is not afraid to die for what we
believe in—fighting for the cause of goodness and harmony. Our new
breed, a hybrid Mani, will be stronger than you in physiology, and
wiser, because not only have we been raised in our culture, but we
chose the Mani way for a purposeful existence. A higher
one.”

“
Son,” I said, my eyes
tearing up. I had never been prouder of Joshua than at that
moment.

“
Let me finish,” Joshua
said. “Our new hybrid Mani are not random victims of a vampire’s
bite. We choose to serve and rise to our full potential to change
things for the better. To me, being Mani is not a debilitating
physiological condition that I would adapt to with a hopeless
attitude and self-pitying suffering because I am
different.”

I cringed a bit at that.

“
No,
Father
...I would embrace turning
Mani as an honor and a privilege of my birthright. It is the
optimal choice for utilizing the DNA that I have been blessed with
by the Triat, and by you and Mother.”

I looked at my son, and he had made a
damn convincing argument, but still, if we could get Jason back the
way I thought we could, then there would be no need for Joshua to
turn Mani.

I had one thought on my
mind and one thought only: “This is an irreversible decision.
Tommy, please go get Lena. She needs to be in this talk.” I looked
at Joshua. “You are
our
son. It is her right to know all that you have
told me.”