H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (78 page)

Lena smiled and said, “Go for it, babe. Just
promise me we’ll finish the movie when you get back?”

“I promise, spoiler alert,” I said. “I’m
pretty sure Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan get together by the end of the
movie.” I kissed Lena goodbye and went back to my room.

I took a quick shower and then jumped out of
the trap door in my bedroom and transitioned into the eagle and
darted across the sky. It felt good to just glide and not have to
fly with any purpose. I headed north and made my way toward Orange
County.

As I peacefully flew across the night, a
sudden terror came over my body. I looked to my left and about
twenty black ravens were coming at me. I looked to my right and
there was another twenty or so black ravens coming at me. It was
Krull and his minion army.

CRAP! Seriously? Right here? Right now? This
isn’t how this is supposed to go down.

I dropped my elevation and flew toward the
ground. I looked behind me and all forty birds were hot on my
trail.

“Help!” I said, in my head as loud as I
could. “Anyone there!” I repeated.

I knew I could telepathically talk to both
Helen and Tommy if need be, as long as they were being perceptive
to it. In Tommy’s case, he needed to be in his werewolf form.

I could see the beach up ahead and the
Huntington Beach Pier. I bolted toward it.

“Help!” I repeated, again in my head.

Then I heard, “Josiah.”

It was Helen!

“Helen! Where are you? I’m being
attacked!”

“Near Los Angeles,” she answered.

“I’m near the Huntington Beach Pier and
Krull and his guys are after me.”

“Hold them off! I’ll get there as fast as I
can,” Helen said.

“I’ll try.” I flew up the coast and circled
back. “Tommy!” I yelled, in my head. “Help!”

“Josiah?” It was Tommy.

Thank God.

“I’m being attacked by Krull,” I
screamed.

“I’m about to fight at the arena.” Tommy
said “Where are you?”

“I’m in Huntington Beach,” I answered.

“How am I supposed to get there? I can’t
fly.”

Dammit! Tommy was right. I forgot he was
grounded. I always seem to forget that.

“Helen.” I yelled, again in my head.

“Yes.”

“Change of plans. I’m heading for Tijuana.
There’s a gang of vampires down there that might help me.”

“Why not fly back to your house?” Helen
asked.

“There’s not enough help,” I answered. “All
my friends will get slaughtered by these guys.”

“Okay, Josiah,” Helen said. “I’ll get there
as fast as I can.”

“Tommy,” I said. “Gather up anyone you can!
Tell them it’s an old-school street fight and meet me up the way in
the open field.”

“I have to fight first,” Tommy said. “I’m
actually fighting the guy as we speak.”

“Well, kick his ass and meet me about half a
mile up in the fields by the main city.”

“All right, brother.” Tommy was gone. He
must have transitioned to his human form.

I switched my flight direction and was now
bolting south toward Mexico. I was flying at a velocity that I had
yet to endure. The wind was slamming into my face. I was really
having a hard time outrunning the ravens who were hot on my tail. I
wondered if transitioning to my human form would give me a boost. I
looked behind me and I had a good 500 yards on the nearest black
raven that was gunning for me.

I decided to transition to my Mani form. Boy
was that a mistake, it was as if I hit the brakes! My flight speed
nearly cut in half. Within seconds all the ravens were on my tail.
Some even rammed their beaks into my legs and arms.

This was not good.

I quickly transitioned back to the eagle and
this time I hauled ass as if my wings were on fire.

“I’m gaining on you,” Helen’s voice said, in
my head.

“Huh?” Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m five minutes from San Diego.”

“Well, I just passed San Diego. At the speed
you’re going, Helen, in a few minutes you’re going to come up on
Krull and his crew. Be careful.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, sexy.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.” In a few minutes, I
flew over the border. “Tommy, you done?” I asked, in my head.

“Just about. I’m trying to knock him out
without hurting him too bad.”

“Just choke him out,” I said.

“It’s hard to do a safe choke hold when you
have claws like daggers.”

“I’m going to be just east of the arena. Get
there and again bring anyone who wants some to get into it.”

“I know a few guys that this is just their
‘kind of party.’ Are wolves okay?”

“If they’re down to fight… I don’t care if
you bring fucking fairies.”

“Oh, these boys will be down, Josiah. No
worries about that.

“Just knock the guy out and please get there
quick,” I pleaded.

“I’m done, Josiah. I just knocked him out
with the ‘Twizzler.’ I’ll be there in five.”

Once I hit the area that I figured was as
good as place as any to fight in, I decided I needed to buy more
time. So, with all the ravens still coming at me, I ascended up as
high as I could. I needed a few more minutes for Helen and Tommy
and whomever he was able to grab to get there.

I flew as high as I could. I kept ascending
higher and higher. I looked below me and I only had a handful of
ravens still following me. One of them was Krull. He was bigger
than the rest, and he was leading the charge.

After about five minutes, I decided to
change my flight direction and completely do a 180-degree reversal
of flight and go south in the direction that the birds were chasing
me in. I torpedoed downward and spiked into the ravens like a
bowling ball. As I came up on the ravens, they didn’t know what to
make of me. Instead of me drilling them like a bunch of bowling
pins, they scattered out of the way like a bunch of
cockroaches.

They actually made it real easy to fly past
them. As I continued my way toward the ground, I could see Tommy
coming up in the distance with about twenty-five men who appeared
to be both Mani and Carni.

This should be interesting.

I landed on the dirt area that was flat for
a good 1000 yards. This would be as good a spot as any to ‘throw
down.’ I looked up and a beautiful white hawk came toward me. It
was Helen. She landed next to me. She transitioned and stood there
in her beautiful Mani form. She looked incredible, like something
from the cover of a romance novel. Her blond hair flowed in the
wind.

“Thanks, Helen,” I said.

“It looks like you have a good crew behind
you, Josiah.”

I looked at Helen and I knew I didn’t want
her to fight in this battle. I might have been sexist, but I was
also being protective. She was, in her own right, Mani royalty as
far as I was concerned, and this was something I didn’t want her to
get hurt doing.

“Helen, I think Tommy brought enough guys
and we’ll be okay. Why don’t you pull back and be safe.”

“You sure?” Helen asked. “Like I said, I’m
here to fight.”

“Why don’t you watch from a distance,” I
said. “And if need be, join in. If not, you can pull back.”

Tommy’s guys had now surrounded me. I looked
out to the ‘beat-up’ and ‘broken-down’ fighters and said, “I’m not
sure what Tommy promised you to get you to come out, but I’m sure
glad you’re here.”

“He said you’re not a bad guy to have in our
corner if we ever need it,” a Carni man yelled out.

I nodded my head. “Do me right, and I’ll do
you right. That’s the motto I live by.”

“Then let’s kick some ass,” said a muscular
Mani man.

There were about fifteen Carni and ten Mani.
I nodded at my Mani brothers and said, “If anyone has ever had a
beef with Krull, this is the time you can pay him back.”

“Krull?” One yelled out, terrified, “No one
said this was going to be Krull’s crew.”

“Is there a problem?” I yelled out.

A couple of Mani looked at each other,
transitioned and got the hell out of there, like, well, bats outta
hell.

“Anyone want to leave now that you know what
you’re in for?” I yelled out to the others.

“I have nothing to lose,” one Mani said to
me.

Another one said, “I don’t even own my own
life.” That was an odd comment, but I didn’t have time to dissect
it.

Suddenly, a rush of ravens came upon us from
above. I guess they had regrouped up in the air. I was glad they
did because it gave me time to settle in with these guys.

Krull and his followers all landed about 200
yards to the left of us. In unison, they all transitioned and stood
like a fierce group of warriors ready for battle. These were
top-of-the-line fighters, but thank God I had fighters who were
tried and battle tested, too. In front of the pack was Krull. Damn!
He was scary to look at! He looked like Genghis Khan on
steroids!

Why the hell were they here?

I decided to get this thing going the best
way I knew how…with my mouth. I walked out to the front of my group
and eyeballed Krull. “I didn’t take you for a punk, Krull!” I
yelled out.

“Which one of you is Josiah?” he asked.

“You know who I am, you Samurai turd,” I
said. “At last, you know my size thirteen feet that tattooed your
face.”

“Oh yes, Mr. Blindside. Very nice,” he
said.

“So what’s the deal, Jackie Chan,” I
continued to yell out. “Why are you chasing me when I’m all alone?
I thought you fought with more honor than that.”

“Honor, there’s no honor in a quarrel, you
petulant child.” Krull turned to his fighters and they all
laughed.

“Good to know the moral code you live
by.”

“The only moral code I live by is one of
death and destruction,” Krull yelled out.

“I have one question for you,” I said. “And
I need you to wrap your little brain around it to try to answer it
to the best of your pathetic ability: Why tonight?”

“Why not?” Krull yelled. “I know you think
we are going to have an Armageddon showdown of epic proportions.
The way I figure it, why go through all that unnecessary bloodshed
when I can just destroy you by myself?”

“By yourself? You did bring forty of your
best fighters.”

“They’re just here to look pretty. This
fight is between you and me. I figured I’d just kill you and be
done with it. For all I know, it might take the Triat another
10,000 years to produce another one like you.”

“Is that what you want?” I yelled. “A
one-on-one fight?”

“The only thing I want is to kill you. So,
however that happens, it doesn’t really matter to me.”

Then something happened that moved me, and
reminded me, in the end when all the cards were on the table, who
always had my back, when it really mattered. Tommy walked over to
me and yelled out, “No one is going to touch Josiah. If you came
here tonight to try to kill him, I’m afraid that was your first
mistake.”

Krull looked at Tommy with disgust, “Please
tell me, wolf-boy, what is our second mistake?”

“Not knowing who his friends are.” Tommy
raised his hands, transitioned into the great gray wolf and charged
Krull. He leaped on top of him and tackled him to the ground. Krull
had no idea what to make of it. Tommy was laying a pretty good beat
down on him, but even I knew that wasn’t going to last long with
someone as tough as Krull.

Within seconds, an all-out war was on.

All of the Carni men, except for Tommy, had
to fight in their human forms. But that didn’t seem to matter
because these were some tough-as-nails fighters. Fights were
breaking out all over the place. There was bloodshed of epic
proportions. Everywhere I looked, there was a fight going on. This
was some serious stuff. Mani and Carni were dying out here. These
guys that Tommy brought were fighting like they had nothing to
lose. I loved that, because ever since I was seven years old, that
is how I approached every fight I had ever been in.

More than once, I got my hands dirty. Most
of these guys were avoiding me. They knew they didn’t want to get
into it with me. Every chance I got, I put a pretty serious beat
down on a guy. There was only one guy I wanted and Tommy was doing
a pretty good job fighting him.

But in the end, Krull was too seasoned and
too tough. He was able to get a hold of Tommy and he nearly broke
his leg in half. He chucked Tommy’s body forty feet in the air and
Tommy landed on the ground dismantled and Krull went flying after
him. Krull unloaded a sea of punches onto Tommy’s face.

That was not going to continue. I launched
myself into Krull and just leveled him with a kick to the side of
his head. Krull went stumbling to the ground.

He got up and it was a face-off between him
and me. This was what he wanted and this was what I knew had to be
done. We exchanged punches and kicks and we were damn even on every
level. We both got a couple of shots in, but nothing serious. We
were two highly trained fighters that seemed to be perfectly
matched. We fought for what felt like to be an hour. We completely
exhausted ourselves. Finally, Krull gave up. He whistled to his men
and they all took off. Before he left, he said, “I see you have
been trained by Atticai. Tell him, well done.” Then Krull and his
Mani all transitioned and got out of there. It was over…just like
that.

Chapter Nineteen

When the dust cleared, I could see Helen in
the distance. “You okay, my friend?” she asked, in my mind.

“I’m doing all right,” I answered.

“I will see you soon,” she said, with a look
of pride in her eyes. Then Helen took off in the opposite direction
that Krull and his men had gone.

I ran over to Tommy, he was holding his
leg.

“Is it broken?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It really hurts. I screwed it
up pretty bad.” His leg was a bloody mess. We needed to clean it
off and see what kind of injury we were dealing with.