H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (60 page)

It was getting closer to 5 a.m. and I knew
it wouldn’t matter what state I was flying in, the sun was coming
up no matter what. I decided to transition into my eagle form just
to be safe and I dropped my elevation to just above the clouds; the
morning scenery was majestic with the sun peeking through. It was
absolutely amazing how clouds look when flying directly above them.
It almost appeared that someone might just be able to walk on top
of them. It made me smile to imagine myself cloud surfing.

As I flew, I could see a snowy mountain in
the distance. It was Mount Rainer. It was about the most beautiful
thing I had ever seen. The snow-capped mountain looked like
something one would see in a J.R.R. Tolkien film.

I decided to fly down so I could stand at
the peak of the mountain and just take in my entire surroundings. I
needed to rest and what better place to do so? I had been flying
for about four hours straight. Yes, faster than a speeding
bullet.

So, I descended down to the peak of the
mountain. The closer I got to the mighty landscape, the colder I
felt underneath my feathers. Eagles were pretty resilient, but cold
is cold.

I landed and stood on top of the beautiful,
magnificent mountain and took in everything that the view had to
offer me. It was absolutely spectacular. I had a moment of
self-reflection. I had never felt more alone than I did at that
very moment. I wondered what Helen, the fake duchess, was doing. I
didn’t know why, but I felt like she might be the only person in
the world who could possibly understand what I was feeling.

This was starting to be a very painful
existence and the numbness I had been feeling was transferring into
large amounts of pain and loss. I was tired of feeling sorry for
myself. I was tired of trusting and loving the wrong people. I
looked up into the sky and decided it was time to go back to
Victorville and face everything head on. It was time to follow my
true destiny and leave all of this nonsense behind.

I flew up and headed south and made my way
back to southern California. I got back to the house and I knew I
didn’t want to see Lena. I was sick and tired of allowing her to
affect me the way she did. This situation was ridiculous. I felt
like I was trapped in an episode of 90210, but with vampires and
werewolves. I was tired of wasting my time on this.

I was beginning to wonder exactly what my
calling was. Up to this point, I’d been waiting for some type of
divine intervention to fall into my lap, even though I was
supposedly the divine intervention. Who did a Chosen One even pray
to? In many ways, it had on a consistent basis, waiting for a
divine sign of the right things to do for an entire species and
their society. The one thing I had been waiting for was really the
only question I had up to this point.

How the hell was I supposed to save the Mani
race and what did that mean, exactly?

I knew the best person to speak to on this
subject was Helen or Atticai. I had no clue how to reach Helen and,
after last night, Atticai was the last person I ever wanted to
speak to—he had his own interests and agenda and I no longer
trusted him in any way. I needed to know answers. Truth be told, up
until now I had been afraid to know the truth of my calling,
because of its magnitude and impact on so many people. If I knew
the truth, then I had to do something about it. I hadn’t been sure
I was ready until…right now.

I had one more loose end to tie up, to get
to the bottom of. Then I knew I’d be ready to take on whatever was
expected of me. I flew through the trap door that led to my room. I
transitioned as I landed on the bed.

I left my room and went to Yari’s bedroom. I
opened the door without knocking, which was a mistake; she was
lying naked on her bed above the covers. All I could say is… ‘Wow’!
I grabbed a blanket and put it over her. “Sorry,” I said
softly.

“Thank you, Josiah,” Yari said.

“You’re awake?”

“Yes, and I’m glad I was. Did you enjoy the
peep show?”

I grinned. “Your body is pretty perfect, but
that wasn’t the reason why I came in here.”

“I wouldn’t think it was.” Yari pinched my
thigh and I gave her a look that put her quickly in her place.

“Sorry, if I’m not in a playful mood,” I
said. “Everything is spiraling down when it should be spiraling
up.”

“These days Josiah, I can’t remember the
last time I’ve seen you happy, let alone playful.”

“Things have been pretty weird, Yari. What
can I say?”

“I know, sweetie. It’s not every day that
someone with your status gets rejected publicly like that.”

I sat on Yari’s bed and laid on my back at
the foot of her mattress. Yari sat up and was still naked. She
tried to keep herself covered, but one thing, Yari wasn’t was
modest. “Can I ask you a question, Josiah?”

“Sure,” I said, in a tone that was more like
a groan.

“Why Lena?” Yari asked.

“Why not?”

“I’m being very serious. Why her? I mean,
she’s cute in a kitten kind of way, but look at you. You’re a Greek
God. These days, you might as well be a subject of Greek mythology,
but yet, you’re chasing a woman who obviously has no clue what she
has. She’s so clueless that her beauty is a handicap to her
existence. She relies on that and that only, and she couldn’t
decide her way out of a wet paper bag.”

“Do you really think all those mean things?”
I asked.

She snorted. “I’m a woman. Of course I do!
Female society is based on our judgment of other women. Weren’t you
even aware that every woman at the party last night thought you
were the sexiest man they had ever seen?”

“Really?” I said, surprised.

“Holy shit, Josiah. Are you kidding me?
Don’t you see what looks back at you in the mirror?”

I was quiet. I wasn’t really in the mood to
hear how hot I was when the one person I cared about rejected me.
“Love is something you can’t really put your finger on. I fell in
love with Lena in the midst of this crazy journey I’ve been on. I
never planned on caring about her the way I do. Now that I feel
this way, I need closure. I need to know what she has been thinking
this whole time. I need to know why she did what she did when I was
away getting trained by Goshi. When she knew that…I loved her.”

“Josiah. Your grotesque fondness for this
woman is really nauseating. At the end of the day, you need to be
true to yourself.”

I wanted Yari to understand how truly
screwed up the situation actually was. How Lena and I had actually
slept together the night before. “There’s more to the story,
Yari.”

“More? How?” Yari asked.

“Yari, Lena lost her virginity to me the
night before my birthday.”

Yari was quiet. I couldn’t tell if she was
jealous or in deep thought about what I had just said.

“You two had sex?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh my! That does change things, doesn’t it?
And you know she was a virgin?”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“I guess not.”

“But, as far as I can tell, she was. She
seemed pretty new to everything.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. Lena got herself a
vampire’s love on one night, and then wanted a werewolf’s love a
day later. I have to say, I’m impressed. Apparently you unleashed
the passion in that cold ice princess. There is hope for that
little prude.”

“She’s no prude, trust me on that.”

Yari smiled at me. “Was it good?”

“I don’t want to talk about the details, but
it was extremely spiritual.”

“Oh, please! Give it a rest. Spiritual? It
was sex! That’s all. Trust me when I tell you this, Josiah. The
more sex you have, the less you will see it for the romanticism.
Sex is about two people being very selfish. They are both trying to
gain physical and emotional pleasure by using the other person.
There is nothing special or supernatural about it. It’s just
individuals getting their rocks off.”

I shook my head at Yari. “Well, I don’t
believe that.”

“You’re cute, Josiah.”

“I’m not trying to be cute.” I sighed and
said, “Can you tell me where Lena might be?”

“She’s here.”

“In the house?”

“She was, as of three hours ago. I let her
stay in one of the rooms downstairs…”

“She came back here? Why?”

“What did you think she was going to do? She
knew that she had hurt you and made a huge mistake in the eyes of
her friends. She knew that in some people’s eyes, what she did was
unforgivable. She chose the werewolf. Unthinkable. And then the
werewolf ran away with his tail literally tucked between his legs.
Where the hell would Lena go but here? By choosing Tommy, the
werewolf, she made herself into a laughingstock of the Mani women,
and amongst the Mani men, well, let’s just put it this way, no one
is going to want her because she is now marked that she has a thing
for Carni packages. Even though she didn’t sleep with Carni, she
took a public stand and now is considered…tainted.”

I did a face-palm. “She doesn’t have to stay
for me. I’ll see to it that no Mani ever gives her grief for what
she did tonight. She went with her heart and her heart isn’t with
me.”

“But it is, Josiah. She loves you; she loves
you the same as you do her. She’s scared. She chose Tommy tonight
because she’s the kind of person who’s there for the underdog.
Tommy had everyone against him. It is in her core to do what she
did. She went to Tommy because he needed her more than you
did.”

An inkling of realization spread through me
about Lena’s motivation for publicly choosing Tommy.

“Ah, I see you begin to understand,” Yari
said. “You have Mani women falling at your feet to be the squeeze
of The Chosen One. Tommy stood alone and he was brave and pathetic.
Lena went with her gut instinct, which I believe was based on
compassion, even pity, but not love. Not romantic love,
anyway.”

What Yari was saying made a lot of sense,
but I still needed to hear it from Lena. “Wow. Thanks for the talk,
Yari. I think you make a good case for what happened last night. I
couldn’t figure it out to save my life.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime. That’s what
friends are for, and I am your friend. You should talk to me
more.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m grateful.”

“Josiah?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s time for you to get tough.”

“You don’t think I’m tough?”

“When it comes to fighting, you’re a beast.
When it comes to love, you’re a ‘grade A’ pussy.”

“A pussy? Wow, tell me what you really
think, Yari. Damn.”

“Am I wrong? You’ve been wandering around
aimlessly lovesick these past couple of months. It’s time to grow a
pair of Mani Chosen One balls and start preparing to face off
against Krull.”

“Is Krull on our radar now?”

“I’m afraid so. It might not happen today,
but it’s coming. Krull is gathering his troops, getting ready to
strike at a moment’s notice. You can’t afford to remain stagnant
any longer, or to get distracted by this love stuff. With some of
your best Mani fighters siding with Atticai, we’re currently
screwed. If we had to fight Krull right now, it would be a massacre
of the Mani.”

I shook my head and looked at Yari.

“Why are you shaking your head, Josiah?”

“When it comes to this face-off, or battle,
that everyone speaks about, I don’t know what I’m supposed to
do.”

“You’ll know when it’s time. All I can tell
you is to keep seeking answers. Keep gathering your allies. Keep
training, not just you, but everyone. Get your head out of your
ass, Josiah. This isn’t about love. It’s about war.”

Chapter Three

I walked downstairs and peeked inside the
bedroom that was closest to the kitchen. I figured that was where
Lena was because no one had been sleeping in that room up until
today. I looked in and saw her lying on the bed. She was on her
back completely covered with just her head sticking out. It was in
complete contrast to what I had just experienced with Yari.

I wasn’t sure if I should wake her up,
considering how peaceful she looked. But I also didn’t think it was
a good idea to stand at the door, looking in at her like a scorned,
heartbroken ex-lover. I decided to whisper her name loudly.

“Lena,” I said, into the room. Lena didn’t
respond so I spoke louder. “Lena!” I repeated. No response, I
figured I’d give it one more shot, “Lena!” The last one was a cross
between a yell and a moan.

She opened her eyes, “Josiah.” She seemed a
bit confused as if she forgot where she was. She sat up and looked
around the room. She was still wearing the black blouse she had on
from the night before.

“I think we should talk,” I said, and
entered the room.

Lena nodded and patted the bed in an
invitation for me to sit. I walked over a little further down the
bed than where she wanted me to sit. I couldn’t give in to her
right out of the gate.

“Last night was pretty intense,” I said.

“Yeah, to say the least.” Lena didn’t say
anything else; she just left it at that. I wasn’t sure what I
wanted her to say, but I needed for her to give me something
back.

“What do you think about Atticai being
back?” I asked.

“It’s pretty weird,” she said and again
didn’t elaborate on anything else.

“Just weird? You have nothing else to
say?”

“Well, there was a piece of me that knew he
was still alive. It was almost as if I could feel his presence at
times.”

“Well, I wish you would’ve given me a head’s
up, because I was pretty thrown back by the whole situation.”

“I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.”
Lena finally started to open up.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I did neither. I was in awe like everyone
else.”

“I was a little more than ‘in awe.’ That
asshole duped me something awful. He duped everyone.”