H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (80 page)

“And who will he fight for Envy?” Romero
asked.

I smiled and said, “Me.”

“You? Oh, I do love this idea. “

“Trust me. Tommy is pretty envious of me.
And to be honest, in many ways I am also envious of him. So it’s a
perfect concept.”

“I do have one question for you,
Josiah?”

“Go for it,” I said.

“Don’t you think you’re setting up your best
friend to fail or even get killed?”

I thought about it and I knew in my heart
that Tommy could pull it off. Tommy was the greatest fighter I had
ever known, and when it got to me, we would work something out, but
Romero didn’t have to know that. This was the fastest way for us to
be rid of Romero so both of us could go on with our lives and no
longer be indebted to him.

“Tommy can handle himself. He’s the toughest
man on the planet as far as I’m concerned,” I said. “He’ll be
fine.”

Romero had a smile from ear to ear. He loved
the idea. Then he decided to go all ‘businessman’ one more time for
good measure. “That’s only fourteen fights,” he said.

“Each one of my ‘super fights’ will pay off
the debt of one of the fighters that died tonight. You could build
the fights up and bring in more cash from one of my fights than if
each of those guys fought a hundred times for you.”

Romero nodded. He knew I was giving him an
amazing offer. “I like that deal as far as you and I are concerned,
Josiah. But the deal Tommy and I had previously is off. He owes me
more than seven fights.”

“Why? He never lost. He got injured. Our
deal said nothing about an injury. Come on, Romero, you’re a smart,
savvy businessman. This plan is brilliant. Plus you can fight me
seven of the next twelve weeks.”

Romero smiled. He paused and then put out
his hand. “It’s a deal.” I shook his hand and I couldn’t believe
what I just agreed to do. Not only was I going to fight seven times
for this madman, I had agreed to fight an eighth one against my
best friend. I can’t even think about what I was going to put Tommy
through, but this had to be done.

This should be very interesting.

Chapter Twenty-one

Still questioning my own sanity, I went back
to the Gary’s training room. What the hell did I just get myself
into?

Tommy’s leg had been wrapped up by Gary, and
he was on crutches. “We’re good?” Tommy asked.

“We’re good, Tommy,” I said.

“What did you offer?”

“Pretty much both of our souls.”

“Seriously?” Tommy looked concerned.

“Not quite, but I did agree to do a couple
of free fights for him and he agreed to give you three months to
train and get healthy for a ‘super fight.’

“A super fight?” Tommy did not like the
sound of that.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Tommy. It’s
going to be the toughest thing you have ever done.”

“Am I going to fight more than twice in a
night?” Tommy asked.

“That’s an understatement.”

“What did you agree to, Josiah?”

“You’re going to fight seven guys back to
back.”

“Back to back? Seven? Are you kidding
me?”

“Nope.”

“They are going to be chumps at least,
right?”

“Not quite. It will be seven of the best
fighters he has. He’s calling it, ‘A Night of the Seven Deadly
Sins.’”

“I have to admit, that’s a pretty good
title,” Tommy grinned.

“I actually came up with it.”

“Nice.”

“Look Tommy, just worry about getting
better. I’m going to take you to Yari’s townhouse in Hollywood.
Take the next two months and get healthy. Do free weights but stay
off your leg.”

“What about you?” Tommy asked.

“I’m going to have to fight some beasts.
Carni, Mani, King Kong, whatever he wants to throw at me.”

“I can’t have you do that.” Tommy shook his
head at me and I could tell he was disgusted how deep he had me
into this.

“Tommy, you came through for me tonight in a
big way. I’m going to come through for you. When all this is said
and done we’ll have something to talk about in our old age. In our
case, our very, very old age.”

“Honestly, Josiah, most of this shit I
wouldn’t mind forgetting.”

“Me, too. Let’s get out of here.” With that,
Tommy and I took off out of the complex.

I transitioned into the eagle and flew high
enough so we couldn’t be seen. I carried Tommy in my talons. We had
a good system down where he was pretty comfortable. He would lie
flat and I would dig into his clothing and fly with him across the
sky.

I dropped Tommy off at Yari’s and left him
with about $3,000 in cash. “Get better,” I said.

“I will.”

I shook my friend’s hand and there was no
talk of Lena. It was better that way. I made my way back to
Victorville before morning. I was beat. I crawled into bed next to
Lena and held her as hard as I could without waking her.

“I love you,” I whispered. That was one
thing I knew for sure. I held Lena all night and day as the morning
came. My mind was pretty stimulated considering the outrageous
night I’d had.

Lena rolled over and said, “Good morning,
night flyer.”

“Good morning,” I answered.

“Should I even ask what happened last
night?”

“You can ask,” I answered her.

“Okay, how did a ‘30 minute I need to get
some air fly’ result into you stumbling in here at five o’clock in
the morning?”

“You want the Reader’s Digest version, or
the detailed story?”

“Just tell me what took you so long.”

“To make a long story short, I was attacked
by Krull and his crew.”

“Are you okay?” Lena was now very
concerned.

“I got through it.”

Lena waited for me to elaborate but I didn’t
want to talk about the fight and especially about Tommy. I had no
idea how she’d react to us seeing each other. I didn’t want to keep
the fact I was going to be prize fighting in Tijuana from her, but
I couldn’t quite figure out a good way of bringing it up. There are
some things that even the ‘love of your life’ is better off not
knowing.

Lena rubbed my stomach softly. “What’s it
like to constantly fight for your life? I can’t imagine the stress
you’re under.”

“We’re all under the same stress,” I said.
“I just take the brunt of the physical part for the entire group. I
didn’t sign up for it, but there is little I can do about it
now.”

Lena nodded and I could tell something was
weighing heavily on her mind. “Is something wrong?”

“Josiah, we need to talk.” Lena sounded
extremely serious. Great, she knows something’s up.

“Okay, what is it?” I asked.

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” she
continued.

Okay, this was serious. Lena never talks
like this. “What is it?” I asked, really not wanting to know.

“Josiah...”

“Yes...”

“This is so bizarre. I never thought I would
ever get to say this out loud.”

“Lena, what is it?”

“Josiah, I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Twenty-two

I stared at Lena blankly. My mind was going
a hundred miles an hour. I had a million questions. The main was
‘how’?

Everything I knew and had seen said that
once a woman became a Mani, she was infertile. There was no
possible way a Mani woman could get pregnant. Finally I said, “How
is that possible, that you are pregnant?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I know how I got
pregnant. I’m not sure how my body is able to be pregnant.”

“How do you know for sure?” I asked.

“I’ve taken seven pregnancy tests and they
all say I’m pregnant.”

“Are you sure you’re pregnant, maybe you
make the pregnancy test go haywire because you’re a vampire?”

“Josiah, I just know that I am.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it. I can feel my body changing.
Trust me; I have as many questions as you do. But one thing I know
for sure. At this very moment, I’m carrying our child.”

“Our child?” I asked.

“Who else’s child would it be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’re like Mary and
you had a miraculous conception!”

“No, Josiah. There is nothing miraculous
about this, other that I’m carrying your baby.”

“My baby…” I said, calmly.

“Yes. That’s whose baby this is.”

I looked at Lena’s stomach. I reached out
and touched it. Could this really be true? Could she be carrying my
baby?” How is it even possible that two vampires could conceive a
child?

I looked up at Lena and gave her a
comforting smile and said, “Lena, we will figure all this out.”

Lena looked back at me and I could tell she
needed me. She needed for me to tell her everything was going to be
okay. I exhaled and said, “If you are truly pregnant, then this is
a divine situation. You and I are going to be parents.”

“Aren’t you scared?” she asked.

“I don’t know what that feeling is anymore.
What I do know is that I love you and I ‘m going to love our child
with every bit of me.” I once again smiled at Lena. Lena nestled
her head into my chest. I leaned back and held her calmly. This was
an amazing twenty-four hour period. “Lena,” I said. “There is
someone we’ll need to speak to. I think there was someone who knew
this was going to happen.”

“The Deity?” Lena asked.

“Yes. She did everything but tell me
straight out that this would come to pass. Now her cryptic speech
makes perfect sense. I thought she was only talking about the Mani
people. I see now that she was also talking about our child.”

“When should we go see her?” Lena asked.

“Are you okay to transition?”

“I think so.”

“I don’t know if transitioning will be a
good thing,” I said, “especially as the baby grows.”

“Then we better see her quickly,” Lena
said.

I agreed that this was something we needed
to do ASAP. “We’ll go tonight when it gets dark.”

We both closed our eyes and just held each
other for a couple of hours. I eventually got up and went back to
my room to lie on my bed and think. For the rest of the day, I was
in a fog. I kept it quiet that Lena was pregnant and I told Lena
not to tell anyone. Unfortunately, we couldn’t trust anyone with
this kind of information. At least, until we understood it better
ourselves.

So that night, Lena and I both transitioned
and flew down to Mexico. We were off to go see the ‘the Deity.’ I
had a feeling she would be expecting us.

When we arrived at the orphanage, Lena and I
were led down into the underground bunker by a security guard. We
were led to the room where I had met the Deity the previous time.
Lena seemed to be holding up well. It was extremely muggy once we
were underground. It was a lot hotter than I remembered. We were
both sweating as if we had just gone for a jog in 100-degree
weather.

We walked into the Deity’s room and she was
sitting with two very small Mexican children on the floor. It
appeared they were dressing dolls and playing house. The Deity
looked even more stunning than I remembered. This time she was
wearing a long purple dress. She looked like an angel. There was a
glow about her that seemed to be more prevalent than the last time
we met.

“Hello,” I said.

“Josiah, you have brought a friend,” she
said.

“Yes, this is Lena,” I said.

“So she is.”

“Hello, Your Holiness,” Lena said. I had
asked Lena on the way up to address her that way.

“Sit with us. This is Michael and Felicia.
They are two of the best help I have.” The Deity looked at the
children and said, “Go children, I need to speak to the nice man
and his love.”

Both kids kissed the Deity on her cheek and
ran off.

“Cute kids,” I said.

“Their poor mother was murdered in broad
daylight.”

“That is harsh,” I said.

“Most of my kids have horrible realities,
but it’s my job to love them and take care of them so we can change
whatever unnecessary evils have been assigned to them.”

“How do you explain to them who you are?” I
asked.

“I don’t,” she said. “They will hear things
and eventually they will know on their own without any explanation
by me.” She paused. “So, Josiah, you now need guidance? Some new
counsel?”

“Yes,” I said, “to say the very least.”

“I can imagine. You must have lots of
questions.”

“I do,” I said. “We both do.”

Lena spoke up. “We need to understand what’s
happening to my body.”

The Deity smiled at Lena. “You are with
child.”

“Am I?” Lena asked.

“Oh, yes, sweet angel. In you is the key
that will save us all.”

“Save us all?” I asked.

“Yes, Josiah,” the Deity smiled, and then
turned to Lena. “In you, sweet child, is the seed of all men.
Josiah, your calling is one for the ages. But your child’s calling
is even bigger than what you will be asked to do.”

My heart sank. “How so?”

“Josiah, you will have a long, full
existence. Your child’s existence will not be so lucky. It will
almost be Christ-like.”

“Christ-like?” I asked.

“Yes, he will be martyred.”

“Martyred? What? You mean sacrificed?” I
asked.

“Not sacrificed. His death will be the final
act that will allow the Mani to live in peace for hundreds of
years. He will live an extraordinary life, but a very short one.
What you need to realize is, there isn’t just one infant in Lena;
there is also another.”

Now I was completely confused. I looked over
at Lena and she was glowing. “Josiah,” Lena said to me. “I’m
carrying twins.”

“Twins?” I looked to the Deity for an
answer.

“Yes,” she answered me. “And they will be on
opposite sides of the spectrum. One will be as pure as the driven
snow. The other will have a dark side, a very dark side.”