H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (59 page)

Chapter One

“Lena,” I said. “Let’s go. We don’t need to
be a part of this.”

Lena just stared at me with zero expression
on her face.

“Seriously,” I continued. “After last night,
please don’t do this. Let’s get out of here. We don’t need to be a
part of this.”

Lena’s eyes softened as she looked at me. I
didn’t know why she wasn’t moving. What could she possibly be
considering?

Atticai saw an opening and decided to take
it. “Lena,” he said. “You know, deep down, who your soul mate will
always be. You and I have something that is eternal. He might have
been inside of your body, but all this time, I was in your
head.”

What the fuck? Atticai was seriously making
a play for Lena?

I looked at Lena with a look that said,
‘There is no way you’re considering leaving with that animal!’

Then the situation got even more weird.

“Lena,” Tommy said. “You don’t want to be
part of any of this. Neither do I. I know you care for me. In my
heart, I know that you love me. Let’s leave all of this behind us.
You and I can go somewhere far from here and share a life
together.”

Lena looked over at Tommy, and I could see
she was having a hard time with this decision. She was surrounded
by three guys, each of whom had an emotional investment in her. But
I didn’t have an evil agenda and really, neither did Tommy. Atticai
did. Oh yes, he did!

Like the showdown shootout with Clint
Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This was Lena’s
three-way stand-off. She looked at us three males, from one to the
other, then swiveled her head back and forth between Tommy and I
and then between Atticai and me. Lena’s mouth opened, but no sound
came out. She was utterly stumped.

What the hell was going on? How could she
possibly even consider either one of these two other guys?

Again, Atticai made his case, “Lena, you
know deep in your heart that I am your first and only true
love.”

I looked at Lena and she looked at me. She
was clearly confused. You have got to be kidding me. “Lena,” I
said. “After last night…”

Lena looked at me and then completely turned
around and looked at each of us.

What the hell was she doing?

She stopped and looked at Tommy, and then
she turned and looked at Atticai.

What in the world could she be
considering?

She looked at me and I could see the love in
her eyes.

“Lena, there is no decision here,” I said.
“Let’s go.”

Lena closed her eyes and then she opened
them. She exhaled and walked in the direction of Tommy.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lena walked in
the direction of my best friend and not me. Tommy seemed as shocked
as I was. Atticai could have cared less. All of this was just a
game to him. He was very amused that she didn’t choose me. He was
almost giddy with malicious glee. Tommy looked down at Lena, smiled
and asked, “Are you sure?”

Lena was quiet. So, Tommy repeated his
question. Finally Lena said, “I don’t know if I’m sure, Tommy. What
I do know is, I’m standing in front of you.”

Tommy nodded. “We don’t need any of this,”
he said, trying to soothe her.

“I know,” she said. “But I need to need know
something, Tommy. Do you love me? Or is this something you’re
clinging to because you’ve run out of options?”

Tommy was quiet. His face showed a large
amount of empathy and compassion for Lena. I knew Tommy. I knew
Tommy better than he knew himself. At this very moment in time, he
wasn’t sure what he was doing. He was impulsive and competitive and
this was the kind of thing that was right up his alley. It spilled
over with drama and intrigue and Tommy lived for that shit.

One thing I did know for sure…Tommy was as
confused about Lena’s behavior as the rest of us. He looked into
Lena’s eyes and then looked over her shoulder at me. I looked on as
if I was witnessing a car accident where I was the victim of a hit
and run. Unable to hide my devastation, my face must have showed my
bewilderment and despair and I couldn’t stomach much more of this.
I felt numb, yet tears burned my eyes and I couldn’t have held them
back for pride, ego, or anything. I gave Tommy a look as if to say,
‘Why? Why would you do this to me?’

He looked me in the eye and said something
under his breath. It was hard to hear him but I read his lips. He
said, “I have nothing. You have everything.” Then he turned to Lena
and did something that surprised even me. It was a selfless act
from a person who, over the past month, had only demonstrated large
displays of selfishness.

“You should stay,” he said, to Lena. “These
are your people and this is where you should be.”

Lena looked confused, but most of all, she
seemed very overwhelmed by everything around her. She put it all
out on the line for him. Her reputation and her friendships, but
most of all, she risked me. She sighed with a small amount of
relief. She knew this was a decision she might never be able to
live down. And, perhaps, she wouldn’t be able to.

Tommy stared deep into her eyes and said,
“Make no mistake about the fact that I love you. I might not be
your destiny, but I love you.” Tommy kissed Lena’s forehead and
then turned to me and the crowd behind me. With indignation and
froth in his voice he said in a large, grand manner, “I could never
be one of you. But I was willing to fight for you. I would have
laid down my life for any of you. Tonight, you all rejected me, not
because of my character, but because of what I am. That is
unforgivable to me.”

Tommy paused and then looked over at Atticai
who seemed to be enjoying the three-ring circus that he had
started. “Most of you would defend this piece of crap over me in
two seconds just because he drinks blood for the same reason you
do. But, the reality is, he would never lift a hand to help you
even if you were dying in the street. I was a fool to think that
any of you, especially my dearest friend, would have my back. I was
a damn fool! In the end, your loyalty is with your own, even when
he’s a piece of shit like this man.”

Tommy, in an act of pure defiance, walked
toward the mob. A mob that was ready to kill him without remorse.
Tommy approached them anyway because he could care less. Tommy then
spit in Atticai’s direction. “Atticai lied and deceived everyone…”
Tommy turned and faced me, “especially you, Josiah. Yet you defend
him. Why? Because he’s a vampire? A fucking vampire? Something that
you didn’t even know existed a year ago.” Tommy spit again at the
ground, and this time it was in my direction. I was stung.

“Tommy!—” I shouted.

“No, Josiah! Loyalty means nothing to you,
so why should it mean anything to me?” Tommy stared through me with
disgust and intolerance. “Good bye, brother.” Then he spit a third
time for good measure. I think that one was for anyone who wanted
it. He then transitioned into the great gray werewolf and ran off
of Flatlands in a blaze of glory.

A couple of vampires transitioned quickly
into ravens and started to go after him. I yelled, “LET HIM BE! OUR
FIGHT IS NOT WITH HIM!” The transitioned Mani turned back and stood
down. It was good to know they still listened to me. After all, I
was their Chosen One.

Lena stepped out and watched as Tommy ran
off the grounds in one last display of absolute disloyalty to me. I
was embarrassed and humiliated by the entire night, but most of
all, my heart had been broken to the point of numbness.

I looked at Atticai and he began to clap in
my direction. First a slow clap, and then he clapped with ferocious
applause. “Excellent job, Josiah! You managed to lose your best
friend and your girl in the same moment.”

I have had enough of this cruel piece of
crap. “Why shouldn’t I kill you, right here and now?” I said, as
viciously as I have ever spoken to a person in my life. But this
wasn’t a person. This was a very bitter and evil man who was
delighting in my pain.

“You’re welcome to try to kill me, Josiah.
But I don’t see what good that will do. You have a 50 percent
chance of succeeding and it still won’t erase the fact that the
love of your life would rather lie with a dog than with you.”

“Atticai,” I said. “At the end of the day,
nothing you say or think matters. You don’t matter to anyone. You
never mattered to the Triat and, especially, you don’t matter to
the cause I’m fighting for. Twice the Triat used you to just get me
further in my training as The Chosen One. So, if that is something
you want to hang your hat on, by all means, go right ahead. You did
a damn good job as Goshi, but that task is complete. Now, if you
choose to take your place in our society, you will serve the good
of the cause, not your own interests. You’re a fine fighter. You
could always be the Robin to my Batman.”

That definitely got under Atticai’s skin.
Atticai wanted to attack me, but he also knew it wasn’t a smart
decision. His body language was resigned, acquiescing, which showed
me that he was standing down.

“I see that inside of you is a man who is
not willing to serve the Mani for the greater good. We can be
changed from man to Mani, but we cannot change our core sense of
who we are. You believe you were born to be a leader and you do not
follow well, even when you know it is the right thing to do.”

I saw a glimmer of acknowledgment in
Atticai’s eyes. He agreed, though he would not admit it aloud. To
do so, he would have had to collapse his entire value system and
crush his own monstrous ego. I knew that he never would.

I smiled at the man who used to be my
friend, Goshi, and I knew that deep inside that incredibly twisted
head was a good person trying to find his way back.

So I said, “I’m going to let you live,
Atticai. But, mark my words, there is no you and I after tonight.
This was once your cause, but it is not any longer.”

I then turned to the crowd. “If any of you
want to change your allegiance and stand with Atticai, who will try
to overthrow the destiny and prophecy of me, The Chosen One, this
is the time to do so, but know this...if you follow Atticai against
me, it begins a civil war which will divide us and weaken us as a
species, as a race, and as a supernatural community. If you choose
to follow me, then you will have no part with this man. He is no
longer a friend to the cause.” I looked out onto the crowd, and to
be completely honest, I fully expected everyone to walk over and
join Atticai. Loyalty didn’t mean much of anything at this very
moment in time.

“Don’t be shy,” I said. “This cause is
bigger than our own lives. And know this; I will not come after you
if you decide to leave with Atticai, the traitor and now, the
pariah. All who join him will be outcasts, following the cause of a
man who pretended to be The Chosen One, even though he knew all
along that he was not.” I waited and watched as twenty vampires
left the mob and stood with Atticai, one of them being Rubidoux,
and I wasn’t too surprised.

“You’re a good man, Josiah,” Rubidoux said,
as he walked by me. “But I can’t stand behind a man who associates
with Carni. I just can’t do it.”

“No hard feelings, Ruby. You’ve got to do
what you feel.” Over a hundred Mani stayed on my side. We
outnumbered Atticai’s group at least six to one.

I turned to my group and said, “Be ready,
because our fight is near. Not today, but soon.”

I desperately needed to get the hell out of
here. I felt as if I would break down at any moment. I transitioned
into the great white eagle and flew up in the air. I circled the
group and looked down at my precious Lena. Once again, she broke my
heart. I loved her and I was a fool for doing so.

Never again.

I squawked as loud as I could and flew high
up into the air.

Chapter Two

I flew off into the night sky, not having a
clue about what had just transpired. The whole night was extremely
overwhelming and exhausting. I really didn’t know where to go or
what to do.

After I was out of sight of the group, in
midair, I transformed to my Mani form, my Superman-ish form of a
man flying with arms in front of him. It was effortless, not like
my eagle wings, which sometimes tired after long flights.

I knew that in every situation, choices
weren’t black and white. At the end of the day, Lena had made her
choice. She had chosen Tommy. And then, Tommy, even though he loved
Lena, said he rejected her because he felt that he was not her
destiny.

I was reeling from the double-whammy of
emotional shocks. I needed a fresh outlook, a new venue, in order
to prepare for the weeks ahead as the leader of the Mani. I decided
not to go home to Victorville. As a matter of fact, I wanted to
escape in a way that I had never done before. So, I kept flying. I
flew north and just kept going. I flew for hours; below me I saw
Northern California, then Oregon, then Washington State. I made my
way through Canada. I kept going and didn’t stop. I wanted to fly
until I felt something in my core. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t feel
a damn thing.

I eventually reached Alaska. An odd thing
started happening ahead of me. I could see the sun peeking up on
the horizon. Almost as if I was flying into a sunrise. It made no
sense because it was three in the morning. Then it occurred to me
that it was summer time and the more north one traveled, the longer
the sun was out. One could actually hit parts of Alaska where it’s
sunlit, twenty-four hours a day. That was not an ideal situation
for a vampire. As a matter of fact, that would be a vampire’s
nightmare.

I decided to make a literal U-turn in
midair. I could have transitioned back to the eagle at that point,
but I wasn’t ready to do that yet. There was something incredibly
liberating when I flew in my human form. I felt less restricted.
Right now, if I felt trapped in any way, I might lose my mind.