by Night, H. T.
I quietly recognized who they were. These were Brock’s men. I was pretty sure each of these guys was on his payroll.
I was not sure what their intentions were, but one thing I knew for sure was that I loved fighting someone who was on a payroll. I wanted to see to it personally that it was a bad investment by their boss to send them to harass me. Something I had learned in my vampire superhero days was that to declare yourself sometimes thinned out the ranks of the enemy and I watched to see which of them would flee, or transform back to ravens and fly away.
So, declare myself, I would. Even as my muscles coiled in readiness, there would be words first. Oh, yes, there would be words.
Brock’s main henchman, Rake, was right in the front of the ten Mani group.
I transitioned slowly from my Eagle form to human form. “Is there something you need here?” I said as I stared each one of them in their face, smelling their fear individually.
Rake looked at me and said, “Brock wants you to reconsider allowing your boy to heal his son.”
I almost told them it wasn’t my decision—it was Jason’s, but I didn’t want to throw my own son under the bus. I wanted them to think it was my decision alone. I needed to protect my son. They needed to think I ultimately ran the show. I still did. Jason just had more say these days. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“It just didn’t happen. There was too much risk and I was not going to put my son in danger.” I wasn’t sure what I thought I was saying, but it sounded good when it came out.
Rake looked at me and said, “Brock sent us here to tell you that you need to convince Jason otherwise.”
“I don’t see that happening,” I said. “And by the way, how dare you come here and make this threat?”
“Those are pretty bold words, considering that we are ten against one.”
“Ten ravens against one Eagle. In chess, ten pawns and one king.”
“The king needs an army. He needs his protectors,” Rake said.
“This king is his own army. Do you not know who I am? I’d say you guys are pretty outnumbered.”
A couple of them squirmed, so I continued in that vein.
“Others have learned the hard way. In days of old, I fought tooth and nail, and without regard for my own self-preservation, but I did it for a cause, for the Mani people. And indeed, you are my people, too, and would not be enjoying the freedoms that you do had I not fought for your freedom, not just my own.”
A couple more of them squirmed. I was starting to make headway, so I pressed on like Mel Gibson in that vintage movie, Braveheart, when he gave his big freedom speech with confidence.
“You are mercenaries and are paid by a rich man. This is my island. I order you to stand down and go peacefully. You have money on your side. But I have power that comes from doing the right thing. I advise you not to cross the Triat by acting as minions of evil. Leave now.”
“Or what?” Rake retorted.
“Where are your thirty pieces of silver, Rake? Where?”
“You’re crazy,” he replied.
“Are where are your thirty pieces? And yours, and yours?” I looked at each man in turn.
“This is not about that,” another man said and stood uncertainly next to Rake.
“Isn’t it? Look at the big picture, Mani fighters. How much blood money does it take to get a decent Mani to turn against the one who Krull put on a mechanical cross and yet, I lived to tell about it?” I paused. “I say again, do you not know who I am and what I have done for you?”
“That’s enough of your theology spiel!” Rake said.
I looked at the group of Mani men.
“No, it’s not enough. Twenty years ago, all of you men would have followed me, and maybe even you, too, Rake. Instead, I’ve been a family man and guys like Brock have been able to build gangs with guys like you who would do just about anything for cash. Even fight me. And even let the last shreds of their morals go to worship the almighty buck.”
“This is not twenty years ago, and you can’t ride on your own coattails forever, Josiah!” Rake said. “You think you’re right, you think you’re brave, and most of all, you think that because of who you are, that you are untouchable. I think we need to teach you a lesson in humility.”
I raised my hand to stay him. “Fighting groups of opponents is nothing new to me, but I have been a man of peace for some years and I would like to keep it that way!” I said bravely. “Stand down and leave this island! This is your last warning. I don’t want to hurt you all.”
“Been a couple of years since you’ve had to do this, Josiah?” Rake threatened. “Or are you just unnerved at not having your stinkin’ big-ass werewolf bodyguard covering your sorry Mani ass?”
That was it for me, that he brought Tommy into it and there was no turning back now. Rake had crossed the line with me, with that crack about my best friend, Tommy. And he’d meant to cross the line.
My opponents advanced slightly, with Rake at the lead.
The hair on the back of my neck went up and I took a couple of steps back. Brock definitely had a burly group. I might have been intimidated, if I wasn’t Josiah Reign. I knew what I was capable of, and instead of being rusty, my skills and strategies came back in a rush of less than a second. I was ready for them. All ten of them.
Believe it or not, the best way to fight a group of guys was to go right smack dab in the middle. You just couldn’t let them get a hold of you. Stay in the middle. Stick and move. Stick and move.
So, that’s what I did. I flew up in the air in my human form because I knew they couldn’t, unless they turned to ravens, and I planted myself right smack in the middle of the circle.
One by one, they attacked me, which was unwise of them. If they had all attacked me at once, that would have been harder. I toyed with them for a while, but in the end, I was going to make sure every single one of them would get a nice ass-kicking by me. I would spare their lives for now, but if this continued, I wasn’t sure how far I would have to take this stand. I didn’t want to take it to the death, because, in truth, they were my people and I was their leader, even though they did not respect nor acknowledge that.
For the next ten minutes, I kicked, punched, even bit my way through the men and tossed aside all of them, including Rake, until they had nothing left in them to fight for.
All of the men were lying on the ground, moaning and gingerly doing damage checks on themselves.
I walked over to Rake and stood on his neck.
He squirmed under me. “Ow!”
“But for my unwavering sense of right and wrong, I would have slayed every one of you tonight.”
His angry, pleading eyes looked up at me. “In the name of the Triat, get off my neck, Josiah Reign. You’re shutting off the blood to my brain.”
“Oh, now you whimper for the Triat?” I moved my foot off his neck and he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tonight, all of you, along with your black eyes, your busted teeth, and your broken ribs, I want you to take a bruised and beaten message to the governor of the island of Attica.”
I took in a deep breath. And now, they waited without protest.
“Tell Brock that nothing intimidates me. Not even ten of you at once. He better stay away from me and my family. Now get off my island, all of you!”
One by one, they turned to ravens and flew off crying their beaten-up raven cries into the night while I watched them from the highest pinnacle of M1.
I let out a roar of might and rage after them, one that echoed in the night and bounced back at me from the sea. I was pretty sure that I bloodied my throat screaming like that.
I made sure all those thugs left my island before I returned home, flying in my Mani form, which they could not.
Chapter Twenty-one
When I got home, bruised and bloody, but still the victor of the battle, my adrenaline was up and I knew I couldn’t wake up Lena, so I decided to call Tommy. We were ahead of him by a good ten hours,
so he should be up by now. I called Tommy’s number three times until he finally answered.
“Hello?” he said. He sounded like he’d just awakened.
“Tommy! It’s Josiah. Wake up!”
“I wasn’t asleep, brother. I was meditating.”
“Is that what you’re calling it now? Meditation?”
“Alone time is alone time. Don’t judge. Why’re you calling me? You never call me. If you want to know how your kids are doing, they are at the dorms at their school.”
“Tommy...I know the kids are at the dorms. I just needed someone to talk to. No, not just anyone. You, specifically.”
Tommy could tell my tone was serious, so he changed gears rather quickly. “What’s going on, Josiah?”
“I got into a little scuffle tonight with a few of Brock’s guys.”
“How many guys? Ten?”
“Yes. Ten. How did you know?”
“A lucky guess. He only sent ten guys after you? Man, they must think you have gotten old. Back in the day, they knew twenty guys couldn’t take you.”
“Well, it was ten. I could have exaggerated the number...but why?”
“Who knows? Maybe ten is your exaggeration,” Tommy joked. “Maybe the number was really three.”
“I was fighting three guys at a time in junior high,” I said, defending myself.
“Did you kill any of them?”
“No!” I said, horrified. “After Krull, we Mani were supposed to be united. At least on the two islands.”
“Yeah, so much for the prime directive. That never worked on Star Trek, either.”
“Not funny, Tommy.”
“How did they fight you? I mean, what’s their style?” Tommy asked, and I heard him open the fridge at his house.
“One at a time. I fought them one on one.”
“Fools! If you said it was ten at once who attacked you, then I’d believe you were the old Josiah Reign—that it was ten opponents thrust into instant dirt naps by the greatest warrior who ever lived, besides me.”
“Ha,” I replied. “We’ve had this conversation before. In the battles between Mani and werewolves—”
“Yeah, yeah, same old argument,” Tommy said. “But fighting ten guys, Josiah, one at a time, is just like beating the hell out of the same piss ant, ten times in a row. Piece of cake.”
“You’re really an asshole sometimes, Tommy,” I said.
“That’s why you love me. I’m the yin to your yang. We are like a Greek tragedy. We complete each other.”
“Are you done?” I asked.
“Mocking you?” he tormented me.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“It’s not easy tonight.” I had to stop talking because my voice cracked.
“What’s going on, bro? Why are you being so sensitive?”
“Sensitive? I just fought ten vampires tonight. I’m looking for a little...”
“...rubby-tuggy as a reward-y?”
“Oh, you’re sick.”
“Again, that’s why you love me.”
“Tommy, seriously, Brock is moving in close and I need you to be my eyes and ears when the boys are down there at school.”
“Of course, brother. You know I would never let anything happen to them. They’re my heart, man!”
“I know I can count on you. I’m just giving you the heads up that something is definitely afoot. I don’t think he plans on kidnapping a seventeen-year-old, but after tonight, I don’t put much past him on the intimidation side. Next time, he’ll send twenty Mani thugs and they will all rush me at once.”
“Doesn’t he know you and I can’t be intimidated?”
“He knows now. I gave a strong ass-kicking to his guys. Hopefully, they will give him the message. Not a one of them will be working tomorrow.”
“How about you?” Tommy asked.
“You know me. Twenty minutes of ice on a bruise and I’m good to go again tomorrow.”
“I just hope you don’t have to.” Tommy sighed. “I could come down there, bro, stand up for you, and with you.”
“Aww, Tommy, you’re the best, but no. I think I need to do this on my own.”
“All right, bro. You just say the word and I will gather my workout gear and come to you.”
“Like I need a trainer,” I replied.
“A little refresher sparring wouldn’t hurt ya.”
“No, stay close to the boys.”
“Will do.”
After about twenty minutes of bullshit ranging from how good we thought the Lakers would be this season to who was hotter, back in the day, Jessica Alba or Alyssa Milano, we started running out of stuff to say. Eventually, I hung up the phone.
I didn’t sleep for the next 36 hours. I needed to protect my home. Once I felt it was calm on the home front and I had my security upgraded, I ached for rest, wondering if Lena was still mad as hell at me.
I tried the doorknob of our bedroom and was so glad that she’d unlocked it.
Chapter Twenty-two
Things settled down on my island after that encounter with the ten Mani thugs that Brock had sent.
Time passed and I tried to get to the place where Lena and I were in synch again, but we sometimes still struggled to communicate. We spent a lot of time flying back and forth to the boys’ sporting events and awards ceremonies.
The boys were now ending their senior year and would be returning to Helena until they decided on their next step. Lena was still in mother mode, wanting them to go to college, but I knew the boys’ destiny was grander than getting a full ride to UCLA. But when did I know it was time to have them stop parading around in normalcy and accept their destiny, as I had, when I was about their age. This was actually something I hadn’t figured out yet. I didn’t think I ever would truly know until it happened.
Joshua still had a new girlfriend every time I spoke to him, but the way it sounded, these brief romances were just mild flirtations. At least that’s what a dad tells himself, so he can sleep at night.
Jason was a different cat. He took pleasure in learning about science and math and we got news that not too many parents truly plan to receive. Jason was the valedictorian of his school’s graduating class.
They both got scholarships to play baseball at a small school in Northern California. Neither child seemed too excited about their free ride. Not to say they didn’t appreciate it, but neither kid acted like college was in their future. It was like they had an innate sense that something else was supposed to happen to them, but they weren’t sure what. None of us were.
I totally understood on some level where Brock was coming from as a man, protecting his own family. This was his only son we were talking about. And he was getting closer to death, from the rumors we occasionally heard on our island.
All I could say was that I believed Jason knew what he was doing on that day when he refused to heal Pierce because he was so evil that it threatened the world. These were his rules. I would never question him. I was humbly coming to terms that his calling was greater than mine. It was quite an eye opener.
Throughout the last eighteen years, it became quite apparent that the Triat had blessed Jason’s life more than mine. They had blessed Joshua’s life, too. It was just different than how they had blessed either Joshua or me. Jason was coming into his own as a supreme power, or he would, when the time was right, as far as the Triat knew. What kind of power he had remained to be seen. It appeared he was taking a more inquisitive approach, but keeping his thoughts close to his vest. Jason did not ask for my advice.
After that night on top of M1 Mountain where I had stood up to ten ravens, I hadn’t even heard from Brock. It had been months. I figured he had just backed off. I had a guy on the inside who was letting me know the health of Brock’s son. Apparently, it was not going so good. That concerned me. How would this person I perceived to be a madman snap when that day happened, when his boy died? It kept me up at night and I was always on high alert. It made Lena nuts that ou
r security was so tight that I did constant perimeter checks and installed security cameras.
She was under the impression that I might be overreacting, but I kept one important detail absolutely secret from everyone but Tommy. Lena never knew I got jumped that night on M1. It would have taken away the security she felt on this island. As far as I was concerned, if I was in the house, that was all the security she needed. So, to say she wasn’t as alarmed as me was an understatement. She was starting to think I was becoming a bit paranoid. That was understandable since she did not have the complete information of just how dangerous Brock had become, that he was sending thugs to trounce me.
It was hard juggling the emotions of an entire family, but I was doing the best job I could. I was responsible for many lives. Not just the ones in my home. Until I got that under control, I was a fool to believe I could do otherwise.
The boys graduated high school when they were still seventeen. It was a proud moment. Maybe my proudest moment was when I watched my two sons receive diplomas from St. Michael’s High School, a top-ten school in California.
I had to honestly admit that the proudest moment was watching my son Jason deliver his valedictorian speech. It was inspiring and deep and touched many people in the audience. He was an amazing boy who was well on his way to becoming a fine man.
Chapter Twenty-three
It was now the holiday season, which meant two things: Christmas and the boys’ birthday. My sons hated having their birthday on Christmas because everyone always gave them just one present for both their birthday and for Christmas. It was like they had been cheated out of a birthday, as far as they were concerned.
They had been six months out of high school and they were turning eighteen. I let them throw a party. A big one.
We decided to throw it at the old house in Victorville, so the boys could invite some friends from school, and so Uncle Tommy’s new house wouldn’t get destroyed by a big blowout. Not too many of my sons’ friends could fly out to our island, so, having the party in Southern California made perfect sense.
