H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (34 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Tommy and I agreed we would talk after we
both rested. Tommy showered and went up to his room to sleep. I
went to the guest room, crashed on the couch and pondered the
night—wondering what it all meant.

What was all this for? Would this give me an
advantage against Krull? Or was I saving Tommy from himself? I
didn’t know. Was Tommy ‘the werewolf’ and Tommy ‘the man” becoming
one? If this was true, there might be a chance that Tommy may be
able to transition the way Mani can. Who knew what could happen
then?

I had dozed off and unless I had a vision, I
didn’t dream.

“Josiah.”

I opened my eyes.

It was Tommy. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Want to talk about last night?”

“Definitely, Tom.” I sat up, stretched my
arms, and wiped my eyes.

“Damn Josiah, you’re paler than I have ever
seen you.”

“Not seeing sunlight in six weeks can do
that to a person.” I laughed.

“So, what do you think?” Tommy looked at me
intently as if I was given details by the Triat personally.

“I have a lot of thoughts,” I answered. “I’m
just not sure if any of them are valid.”

“Valid or not, let me hear them.”

I got up and walked to the kitchen. Tommy
followed. I poured myself a glass of water, and then sat at the
table with Tommy across from me.

“It’s like this,” I said. “How many immortal
species do you know of? I mean is it only Mani and Carni?”

“There are rumors of other species, but the
only ones I know for sure are the Mani and the Carni.”

“Okay, let’s assume we are the only ones. We
are both immortal right? So whatever DNA—or whatever it is that’s
inside us—that keeps is from dying from old age is similar to one
another. It has to be.”

“Okay.” Tommy was interested.

“What if the Mani is just a more evolved
species?”

“Like you’re smarter than us?” Tommy said,
insulted.

“Not necessarily smarter; it’s more like the
Mani just know themselves better because they have been around so
damn long.”

Tommy stared at me. He was slightly put off,
but Tommy was a smart guy. I just needed to explain myself
better.
“It’s like this,” I said. “The internet wasn’t invented in a day.
First, there was electricity—then telephones—then computers—then
the World Wide Web! What if the Mani are in the internet stage of
the evolution and the Carni are still at the Franklin
kite-in-the-sky electricity stage? Benjamin Franklin was one of the
most brilliant men that ever lived; he would crap his pants if he
knew what we could do with electricity now.”

“What if the Carni haven’t figured out how
to transition at will, the way Mani can? What if the Carni had
always had the ability but they had just been slaves to the full
moon? What if they could resist the full moon and turn into a
werewolf whenever they felt like it the way Mani can? What if you
could control it by transitioning back to a Carni form when it’s a
full moon and transition back to a werewolf during the day?!”

“Wow, I never thought of it that way.”

“We have broken huge ground in just 48
hours. I took your chains off and let the door open and you just
slept peacefully.”

“I know. I was calm. I remember feeling
safe, like I was home.”

“That is because of our bond.” I paused and
looked at Tommy. “I have a question for you?”

“Okay.”

“You remembered everything from last night,
right?”

Tommy was hesitant, “Yeah, I think so.”

“You’re aware that you were licking me like
I was a 50/50 bar.”

Tommy laughed. “Yeah, about that,” Tommy
stammered a bit, “all I can tell you is that it’s instinctive. I
can’t high-five you or even give you a bro hug. When I’m in that
state, licking seems perfectly OK.”

“As long as you only do the licking as a
werewolf, we’re cool.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, pretty boy.” Tommy
knew that calling me pretty boy pissed me off. “Are we done with
that?” Tommy said, a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, we’re done, sloppy kisser,” I said
with a chuckle.

Tommy shot me a look that pretty much said,
‘quit it, dude.’

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Now I’m done.”

“Josiah, there is one more full moon left.
Do you think we can accomplish what we need to in one more
night?”

“I hope so.”

Tommy nodded and went upstairs to take and a
nap.

I decided to watch a Scorsese marathon on
the tube. Raging Bull followed by The Departed. Damn, he was an
intense director. I loved me some Marty.

Tommy came downstairs as The Departed ended.
I looked up at Tommy and said, “How Mark Walberg didn’t win the
Oscar for that movie I don’t know.”

Tommy ignored my sentiments for Marky Mark
and had other things on his mind. “Yari called me,” he said. “She
said they will come back tomorrow.”

“She called you? Are you guys like best
friends now?”

“Relax, Josiah; you can’t put a claim on
every woman in this house.”

I laughed. “I’m not jealous, Tom.”

“Then what are you?”

“I don’t know what I am,” I said.

“Look, I know you two slept together. I know
she followed you for two years, but it’s obvious that you have
feelings for Lena.”

“Huh?” I said, acting surprised.

“Jo, you have serious feelings for Lena.
Anyone can see that.”

“I’ve never ever said anything to lead you
after that conclusion.”

“Josiah, I’ve known you for a long time. You
have the same look in your eye you had for Krista Gregory. And you
had it bad for Krista Gregory.”

He was right, I was crazy about Lena. I
cared for her in a way I didn’t completely understand. Every time I
think about her, I got exhausted with the longing in my heart.
“Yeah, I guess so, Tom,” I said.

“You guess so?” Tommy answered back.

“What do you want me to say?”

“You don’t have to say anything. I get
it.”

“My sister?”

Tommy nodded his head and stared off. I knew
he loved my sister deeply. “After I lost to Atticai and Goliath had
beaten me further and left me for dead, I was lying there in a pool
of my own blood. I had inner peace inside me, I figured I was done
and I was about to go to the ever after. Then something
extraordinary happened. I saw your sister. She was reaching out to
me. I was dying and knew the end was near. I knew I was moments
away from being with her.” Tommy stopped talking.

I waited patiently, giving him time to get
himself together.

He tried to speak again but he was too
choked up to do so. This was hard for him. Hell, it was hard for me
to hear. “I could see her face, Josiah. I could see your sister’s
face. She was reaching out her hand to me. She was there to take me
with her. It was the most wonderful feeling I ever felt. I reached
out my hand and she took it.”

“She took your hand?”

“I thought it was hers, but it wasn’t. It
was Yari’s. Yari took my hand and wiped the blood from my eyes. I
reached out for your sister, but Yari was the one there. Jo, Yari
saved my life. I was left for dead. She risked everything to get me
out of there.” Tommy stopped talking. “It was like your sister
acted through her. Her touch was Yari’s touch.”

“Wow,” I said.

“I still can’t believe that seven-foot
beanpole kicked my ass.”

“Atticai did look like a beanpole, but that
was where it ended. He was the strongest man I have ever
fought.”

“Stronger than Krull?”

I thought about it. “Yeah, definitely. Krull
seemed more seasoned. Atticai had the heart of a lion.”

“All I know is that heart of a lion,
scarecrow-looking, motherfucker kicked the shit out of me,” Tommy
said, disgusted. He stared at me and didn’t say anything.

“What?” I asked.

“How were you able to kill him?”

“I was able to kill him only because I had
become ‘the eagle.’ Man vs. vampire, he would have manhandled me. I
don’t know if I could take him even now.”

Tommy’s expression was one of disgrace and
confusion. He stood up from the table. “Anyway, so what’s the plan
for tonight?”

“There is less of a plan for tonight and
more of a plan for today.”

“Okay?”

“I just think we should just hang out
today.”

“Just hang out?” Tommy repeated slowly.

“I’m thinking we just hang out together and
forget about the sun going down. We just spend quality time
together. I want to see if the bond we have right now can easily
translate as you become a werewolf. I think if there is no change
in your reaction we will be on to something.”

“You sure, Josiah? What if things don’t go
as smoothly as they did last night? What if I don’t respond to you?
Then it’s ‘Josiah vs. Werewolf,’ Part 1.

“I am going with my gut again on this one.
This is going to work.”

Tommy was definitely unsure about my
decision but he went along with it anyway. “All right. What do you
want to do?”

“I thought we could either do some old
school MMA training, or I could kick your ass in Scrabble.”

“You didn’t just lay down the gauntlet?”
Tommy grinned from ear to ear. Tommy and I have had some epic
Scrabble matches in the past.

“You have a board?” I asked.

“What do you think? It was the first thing I
bought when I got the place.”

“Okay, Tommy boy. It’s time to triple letter
your ass.”

“Triple letter? Son, I’m going to triple
word your face into submission.”

Tommy and I loved to play our Scrabble.
Tommy went to get out the board. It was 6:00 p.m. There was two
hours until sunset.

Tommy laid out the board on the living room
floor and we took our pieces to begin the match. I went first. I
got double points; I spelled “rhythm.” There was no way Tommy could
get a good word off of that. Tommy took his time and then got a
familiar gleam in his eyes. Oh no, he was going to get major
points, I could feel it. Tommy used my ‘y’ in ‘rhythm’ and made the
word ‘oxygen’ going down and played the ‘x’ on the triple
letter.

“Look, who just got his ass triple
lettered,” Tommy said, as cocky a man could get playing a game of
Scrabble. “That’s 32 points, son. Shabam!”

The challenge was on! Tommy and I were going
to have another epic match. We played a long time and it came down
to the wire once again with the score being ‘312 to 317’ with Tommy
ahead. I had a letter ‘Q’ left and was down by five. There was an
‘A’ and a ‘T’ in the far right corner of the board. ‘QAT’ was a
Scrabble word. I had no idea what the word meant, but I recalled
seeing the word in the Scrabble dictionary. I was staring at the
‘Q’ with deep thought and had my head down. I closed my eyes and
thought about it for a moment. Should I put it down? If I was
wrong, I know Tommy would challenge it. I opened my eyes and said,
“Okay, Tom, you’ll probably challenge this but I got to do it.” I
was expecting Tommy to say, ‘challenge.’ But, there was a problem,
Tommy wasn’t in the room. I got up and looked for him in the cage
room, and sure enough, there he was. He had turned into a werewolf
and I didn’t even know. I was too busy pondering the ‘Q’.

Tommy once again stared out the window
crying to the moon. It was less of a cry this night and more of a
plea. What was making him so sad?

I hadn’t interacted with Tommy during his
howling out phase, but this time I needed to. I needed to bond with
him immediately. I slowly and tentatively walked over to the giant,
gray wolf. His beautiful mane encircled his huge head. I knelt down
next to him and Tommy turned his head toward me and rested it on my
shoulder. Whatever he was feeling inside, somehow my presence was
comforting him.

Tommy walked on all fours out of the room.
He continued upstairs and I followed him. He went up to his room
and was looking under the bed. I walked over to him, and his nose
was nuzzled under the bed. I looked under the bed to see what he
was looking for and saw an envelope with pictures. I reached under
the bed and picked up the envelope and sat on his bed. I opened the
envelope to look at the pictures: it was pictures of us, pictures
of my parents, pictures of Tommy and my sister.

Tommy jumped on the bed and sat next to me.
I slowly went through each picture with him, tears burning my eyes.
I hadn’t taken time to reflect on my family in a very long time. My
family was Tommy’s family, and their death affected him the same
way it did me. He loved my parents and they loved him. He and my
sister’s love was one for the ages. I wondered why it took him to
become a werewolf to properly mourn. He and I had never really
talked about the day they all died in the car crash. We just went
on with our lives and used mixed martial arts as a way to
escape.

I put the pictures down and lay back on the
bed and Tommy yawned and put his head on the bed. I decided to talk
to him, not like a wolf, but as man. “I miss them, Tommy,” I said,
“I miss them a lot.”

Tommy looked up at me.

I continued, “That day is a blur to me. When
you called and told me they were in the hospital—I went into shock.
I convinced myself they were dead even before I got to the
hospital. That was the only way I could deal with it. It’s morbid,
but it’s what I had to do. I don’t know how you dealt with it, Tom.
You were in the room when my sister died.”

Tommy moaned. He laid his head on my chest.
I quit talking. We both laid there in silence. This was the first
time Tommy and I mourned together for my family.

Chapter Fifteen

After a while Tommy fell asleep on the bed.
I got up quietly; left the room and walked downstairs. I decided to
go outside; it had been three days since I had some fresh air.
After a while I decided to go for a light run in the midnight air.
I jogged uphill on a winding road. Running uphill always made me
feel alive. The air is a lot thinner up in the mountains, so I
didn’t push it. I wanted to feel the night.