H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (52 page)

“I’m here to stop you from doing something
stupid. I’m here to get you back on track. Love is a funny thing
and none of us can fight it. But vengeance is ugly and has no place
in a person’s life that has your kind of calling. Your friend was
only following his heart. He might have gone about it the wrong
way, but he didn’t intend to hurt you.”

“You really know everything, don’t you?”

“Someday, you will, too. You and I are very
powerful.”

“So, what does all this mean? In the big
picture?”

“That’s the fun part, none of us know. We’re
given visions and we act on them. That’s how I was led to you.
Because I’m richer than the pope, I have more resources in the
human realm. But in the Mani realm, you and I are equals.”

“Equals?”

“Well, you might be a tad stronger.”

“But you can do everything I can do?”

“Yep. Probably better because I’ve been
doing it longer.”

I grinned and we found a bench and sat down
and continued talking. She gave me insight on what to expect from
my gifts. She explained to me I needed to take time and let things
evolve and not rush into things. To not let my impulses take
control. She was very wise and I took everything she said to
heart.

We eventually parted ways and I wasn’t quite
sure why she showed up on this day, but I knew someone or something
was watching over me. Maybe it was to stop me from doing something
stupid. Maybe, it was just to slow me down so I could rethink my
next steps. One thing that was for sure; my Mani life just got a
lot more interesting.

Chapter Fifteen

Sonia. It fit her. After meeting with Sonia
I was able to put things in perspective. I decided to fly back up
the San Bernardino Mountains and this time I went to Tommy’s cabin.
I flew into Running Springs and spotted his cabin from the sky. I
flew down and landed in his front yard. When the coast was clear, I
transitioned from eagle to man.

Tommy’s entire property still looked
thrashed from the night Tommy and I defended ourselves against the
sea of werewolves. That was some night. We sure worked well
together. Tommy and I were a well-oiled machine. Taking on seven
werewolves was not an easy task, but we sure made it look that
way.

I didn’t bother knocking because I was
certain no one was home. I didn’t think Tommy would come back here
so soon and even if he did I wouldn’t mind running into him. The
door was unlocked, so I opened it and went in. I walked around the
cabin and made sure I was alone and didn’t have any unexpected
visitors. I wasn’t sure what I’d find scouring the place. For all I
knew, a family of raccoons could have taken up residency since that
night.

When all was clear, I decided to go
downstairs and walk inside the cage room where I trained Tommy. I
walked into the room and stared at the cage. I thought about every
detail of the weekend. That was a remarkable three days. We had no
idea what we were doing, but somehow, we managed to change the
Carni game forever.

I thought about my friend and all we had
been through together. Ever since that first day I’d first met him
in that alley there had never been a dull moment with that guy. I
loved him like family and I knew deep in my heart that I needed to
forgive him. All this heartache, over Lena. I couldn’t see my life
without my best friend. As much as I loved Lena, I know one true
thing: I loved Tommy more.

I care for him and that is why this hurt so
deeply. I stepped inside Tommy’s werewolf cage and closed the door.
If there was ever a physical symbol to how a man felt, I was a
living example of it at this very moment.

My heart ached as I sat in the cage. I laid
completely on my back and closed my eyes. And then it happened, for
the first time since I had become a Mani.

I cried.

Even when Goliath kicked the crap out of me,
I didn’t cry. But on this evening, in the middle of summer, in the
year 2011, I cried my eyes out.

* * *

I had forgotten how good it felt to cry.
It’s been years since I’d given myself permission to let my anguish
out.

I cried the night my parents and sister
died. I cried all night, and I remember thinking that morning that
I was done crying, and I would cry no more. Little did I know at
the time that I would fall in love with a woman, and the same
person who was there for me on that night, would be the same person
to cause me so much pain years later.

I walked outside to get some fresh air. It
was now dark so I stayed in my Mani form. I looked up at the stars
and took a giant, deep breath. I felt at peace for the first time
since I’d been back. It didn’t last for long.

“Josiah! It’s Tommy! Can you hear me?” Tommy
was speaking to me through my mind. “Josiah, help! I’m surrounded
by Mani.” He must have been in his werewolf form because I could
hear him.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Griffith Park!”

Shit, that is in downtown Los Angeles.
That’s at least fifteen minutes away even if I get there at
super-speed.

“I’m coming!” I said. “Try to hold them off
as long as you can.”

I transitioned and jetted across the sky. I
accelerated at a speed I didn’t even realize I was capable of. I
truly felt I was faster than a speeding bullet. I got to Griffith
Park in a matter of minutes.

I flew down and right into the middle of the
park, just east of the Observatory.

Shit! Tommy was surrounded by Krull and his
minions.

“Tommy, I’m here!” I said, in my mind so
Tommy could hear me.

“I’m exhausted.” Tommy answered. “They are
taking me to town. I’m fighting them off, but I’m injured pretty
badly.”

There weren’t nearly as many as there were a
month back when I fought Krull. In fact, it was just a fraction of
the mass herd that was there that night. There were twelve of them,
counting Krull. They had surrounded Tommy and seemed to just be
messing with him. Almost as if they were counting on him to contact
me. Krull was in full Samurai garb. He looked scary as hell; I
swear to God this guy used to be Genghis Kahn.

Krull saw me and laughed out loud. He nodded
his head, and then transitioned into a giant black raven and flew
away.

Huh? What was that about?

I didn’t have time to worry about it. Tommy
needed my help. I flew into the mob and transitioned as I landed. I
stood next to Tommy as we were surrounded by the remaining eleven
Mani.

I guess now is when I’m going to see what
kind of badass I’d become.

“Tommy, leave!” I said, out loud.

“Fuck no, I’m helping you.” Tommy remained
the werewolf and was still speaking to me through his mind.

“Leave, now! I don’t need your help!” I
yelled even louder.

“I’m staying, Josiah!”

“I thought you said you were hurt?”

“So what! These fuckers are going to pay for
hurting me.”

“Well, remain the werewolf. You’re a lot
stronger as the werewolf.”

Tommy leaped forward tackling one of them.
Leaving the remaining ten for yours truly. There were so many of
them that I knew I had to wait for them to attack me. This wasn’t
about ethics, it was about intelligence. There was only so much of
my body they could get a hold of.

I stood my ground and the remaining ten
surrounded me.

“Come and get me, fellas, I’ll make a great
trophy.”

I could tell all of them wanted to attack
me. Each one was waiting for their precise moment to lunge.

Suddenly, three of them charged me from all
sides.

I ascended up and all three of them ran into
each other like something out of a Three Stooges movie.

I looked over and Tommy had bitten into the
neck of the Mani he was fighting.

“Don’t kill him!” I yelled.

“Why? These guys were trying to kill me
before you got here,” he thought, as he stood over the injured
Mani.

“They weren’t trying to kill you,” I said.
“They used you to get to me,” I said, in my mind, to Tommy.

“So, what do I do, just cripple him? That’s
worse.”

“I don’t care what you do just don’t kill
him.” I was adamant about Tommy not killing the guy.

I looked down and the three guys that had
run into each other had gotten up. They were swiping at me as if I
was a piñata.

I floated above the men and decided the best
plan was to actually speak. “Why are you here?” I yelled down to
the men. No answer. They looked at each other with puzzled
expressions. “Why have you come here to fight us?” I yelled
again.

“We don’t answer to you!” One of them yelled
back.

“Well, you’d better because you’re going to
have one of two options.” I looked down at their faces and said,
“Stop this madness and leave and go back to Krull and tell him that
Mani on Mani attacks need to stop. Or if you continue to fight us,
I will take it as a threat on my life and my friends...” I stopped
myself from saying ‘friend’s life’. “I will take it as a threat on
mine and the werewolf’s life. I will have no choice but to see that
you don’t leave here alive.”

The Mani men now looked at one another.
There were weak ones among them and I could hear their thoughts.
Most were afraid and wanted to leave. But there were a couple that
were too powerful for me to read what they were thinking.

So, I said, from 20 feet in the air, “Those
of you who don’t want to be here, you need to leave. This skirmish
isn’t worth dying for. Krull has made you believe in a lie. He
knows his days are numbered and he is trying to take as many Mani
down with him before it’s over. This army of Mani men he has
assembled are never going to reign over this world. It’s a lie! So,
leave now and spare your life!”

Seven of them looked at each other and they
didn’t want any part of this. One by one, they transitioned into
ravens and flew off. I had no idea where they went, but I couldn’t
imagine they returned to Krull. Maybe I saved them from being
damned by the Triat.

But unfortunately, four of them remained,
and oddly enough, the one that was below Tommy had stayed.

“Tommy, ask him if he wants to leave.”

“Fuck you!” the guy on the ground yelled at
me.

Tommy in his werewolf form look at me and
thought, “Can I kill him now?”

“All right, you chose your destiny. Tommy,
do what you like!” I yelled out loud.

Tommy bit down into the Mani’s neck and
within seconds, he disappeared.

Three were left.

This will be too easy.

I lowered myself to the ground and said,
“I’ve given you plenty of warning. I have to do what I have to
do.”

I get into my warrior stance. It wasn’t an
MMA or boxing stance. Goshi taught me how I need to have my
momentum going up, because at any given moment I might need to fly.
Oddly enough, the stance keeps you more grounded. I almost wished I
had known about it when I was fighting MMA.

The three guys left were all different
shapes and sizes. They had surrounded me while Tommy approached
them from the back. They didn’t quite know what direction to go in.
I was on the inside and they had a giant werewolf to deal with on
the outside.

I gave Tommy instructions to attack the
first person that lunged toward me. The werewolf nodded and we both
waited. “Tommy,” I thought, in my mind. “Let’s treat this like a
game of Nation Ball.”

“All right, my face will be the ball,” Tommy
answered.

“That’s what I’m counting on.” The guy to
the left of me charged in toward me and Tommy leaped on him in a
blink of an eye. He tackled the Mani and shoved his face into the
mud. I saw Tommy open his giant jaw and I knew it would be a matter
of seconds until Tommy would end his pathetic Mani existence.

Two for me, I loved being outnumbered. Poor
guys had no clue that they were the ones that were outnumbered by
my epic ass. The guy from behind me swept his legs in and caught my
feet, and I fell forward. I rolled with amazing control like I was
a machine. I sprung up into the air off the ground and elevated
over the two Mani men. I looked down and one of the guys had bitten
into my calf before I was able to get completely above both of
them. His face was locked into my legs. It hurt, but it was a sad
attempt. I flew up fifty more feet and now the guy was dangling
from my leg. He let go of his vice bite and was hanging onto my leg
for dear life.

I reached down and grabbed him by his long
brown hair. I flipped him up and kicked him in the face from fifty
feet off the ground. He flew into the side of the observatory
crushing his skull. He laid there injured, I don’t know why
exactly, but I didn’t want him to suffer. I flew down beside him
and picked up a long jagged rock and lodged it into his neck
killing him instantly. I looked back and the remaining Mani was now
in a one on one fight with Tommy. A part of me wanted to watch
Tommy get his ass kicked a little bit, but I wasn’t sure how tough
this guy was.

“Hey, Sheep!” I yelled at the guy.

“Isn’t it time you quit dying for a guy who
could give a rat’s ass about you? The man stopped and turned to me.
Tommy was about to leap on him because his back was turned. I put
my hand up, and made a motion for Tommy not to do it. Tommy held
back.

“Follow me,” I said. “You are a strong Mani
man and we need you on our side. Fight alongside us and help me
preserve our race.”

He looked afraid. Who could blame him?

“You don’t want to fight for a guy who left
you here to die alone,” I said. “Where is he?”

“Look, Josiah.” The Mani man knew my name.
“I can’t follow a man who fights alongside Carni.”

“What is your name?”

The Mani man kept looking at Tommy. He
didn’t trust him and I needed to appeal to the guy’s
sensibilities.