by H. T. Night
As I passed the huge kitchen, I waved at our chef, who was blending up something that smelled almost good to me. I didn’t partake of the culinary delights of raw blood concoctions that the guys raved about, but they sure looked forward to their chow time. As well, in a separate smaller kitchen, we had a Carni chef who prepared regular Tandra-type food, a little heavier on the rare meat entrees than a purely human diet. A Mani nutritionist supervised both kitchens. Nobody here had to hunt for food, hold it down, or kill it. It was just a benefit for our growing army and one that I knew gave us terrific power over our enemies. We weren’t all divided by the daily quest for food. Now we could concentrate on the training for battle.
The guys had all been great. But why wouldn’t they be? They were entertained, they were housed, they were trained and exercised, and they were fed well. With all of the creature comforts supplied, we had very few problems. Aside from the constant musky smell of sweaty men who embraced being gym rats, it was as if we were all part of some paranormal fraternity. Which we were.
I made my way down to the game room where Sion was cleaning up, beating everyone at the game V-Day on the Xbox. A couple of months ago, Sion, a successful young game programmer, a genius at probability theory, and a relatively new Mani by our standards, had just shown up one day; he had become one of the most valuable members of my team. First off, he was built like Urkel from Family Matters and resembled him. A young African American male whose body must have been no older than fifteen, he had actually walked the earth for thirty years. Sion’s value wasn’t in his physical stature; it was his mind and ability to manipulate the paranormal world and bring the vision to Xbox and into the real world as well. He did it in a way that it played out like a science instead of random probable outcomes. He was my resident genius and extrapolator. If Stephen Hawking was smarter than this kid, I would have liked Dr. Hawking to prove it. When he wasn’t playing the game, Sion busied himself by creating many battle add-ons for the game, and he was both prolific and brilliant. He also made the game extremely addictive, not through any nefarious means; it was just that much fun to play it.
I wasn’t too good at video games, but I enjoyed the camaraderie with the guys. I often spent hours just hanging out and getting to know them. Lena complained that I spent too much time hanging out with the fellas, but I had a blast with the guys. I loved hearing their stories and working out with them in our world-class gym. In a weird way, it fulfilled a part of me that had been lacking for years.
On this night, the room had about twenty guys sitting around an incredibly large flat-screen TV, playing a multi-player combat strategy video game that most of them could now physically do in their sleep.
“Sion owning the room again?” I asked, laughing.
“You know it, Josiah,” one of the men said. “Those who can’t, play video games.”
“Maybe that is why I’m so bad at them,” I agreed. “Don’t give Sion a hard time just because he invented the game.”
Sion looked up at me and smiled. He was a good kid, and he knew his value to me. Sion even created all of the music and sound effects on the computer and the game was rich with lifelike detail and plausible supernatural battle scenarios. I let Sion know daily that I valued him. He even helped me put together a workout regimen and combat strategy that maximized all of our skill sets and incorporated the same elements into the simulation game, so that when the men weren’t physically practicing fighting, they were probably playing each other in the simulation, learning even more about defense and offense, strategy and even about Mani honor and ethics. Sion was as driven to make the game simulation a learning tool for us as I was driven to make physical fighters out of every Mani in the bunker. We were building something great. Together.
“Do you want a crack at me, Chosen One?” Sion asked, and another man stood up so I could take his place and play against Sion. I took a shot at the game and did as pathetically as I usually did, because I was more attuned to fighting in the flesh, but I was learning the game, day by day. I liked it and sometimes played until I was so exhausted that I had to go to bed. Also, I was currently playing against the inventor of the game—there was no finer opponent.
Suddenly, I had to pee. I looked at the time and saw that three hours had gone by while we played V-Day. It felt like minutes.
“What? You’re done for the night?” Sion said as he watched me give someone else a turn.
“Lena’s probably waiting up,” I said. Yawning, I said goodnight to the guys and made my way to the house to see my very pregnant girlfriend. I went to the bathroom, took a shower to get rid of the eau de bunker smell, and quietly crawled into bed beside her while she lay on her back. Lena was an exceptionally peaceful sleeper. I kissed her lightly on her cheek and whispered, “I love you.”
I was pretty sure she always heard me when I slipped into bed. She always nuzzled up to me, although she never seemed to wake up when I came to bed after a long day and night of being with the Mani men.
The following evening, I woke up and made Lena some breakfast. She didn’t like to eat the Tandra-ish food in the mess hall of the bunker because it meant eating with the Carni. I think she was a bit of an elitist that way. So we ate at home. Our own breakfast was scheduled during the time of most people’s dinner. That was the life of a vampire. Lena never was a large blood consumer. She had mentioned on more than one occasion that she didn’t have the cravings that others had. This was a good thing in my book because who wanted to kiss a girl with blood breath? It was odd how her normal Tandra appetite came back to her, the second that she had the babies in her.
“Good morning, sweetie,” I said, holding a tray with eggs, hash browns, and French toast.
“All that for me?” she asked.
“It sure isn’t for the other vampires. It’s bad enough they all mad dog me whenever I eat a burger. Now that you have become the same way, I swear they are plotting against us.”
“I doubt that.” Lena sat up, and I set the tray in her lap. “You have a loyal group that would follow you into hell if you needed it.”
“You’re probably right.”
Lena stretched her back as her giant belly balanced the tray of food. “My back hurts. Sleeping on my back all night wears on me. I also think I’ve developed sleep apnea. I feel like I’ve been snoring.”
“Not that I heard. If you have, that should go away once you lose the belly.”
“Who says I want to lose it? I might keep it around for a while.”
I unconsciously gave her a cross look.
“What was that look for? Are you telling me that you would have a hard time loving me if I remained fat?”
I chuckled and thought about the question. “I would love you even if I had to push you around in a wheelbarrow because of your obesity.”
“You’re so good to me,” she said with a wry grin.
“You better remember that, young lady.”
“Why? Do you need some equity on something you’ve done wrong?”
“I have done nothing yet, but when I do make a mistake I want you to remember that I will love you even when you outweigh me.”
“I don’t think I outweigh you yet. And thanks for that mental image.”
I winked at her and assured her that I still had her by fifty pounds. I was pushing two bills these days. It was solid muscle. I doubted if I had seven percent body fat, but still. Two hundred pounds is 200 pounds. Lena was nowhere close to that weight. I just liked to give her a hard time.
“Well, you can’t exactly sleep on your front,” I said, going back to her back pain comment. Lena was enormously pregnant. Her tiny frame could barely handle twins. From the back, you could barely tell she was pregnant. Her shapely legs and firm ass would give you no reason to suspect that this woman was packing at least 25 pounds of kids in front. When Lena turned around, the only words that come out of people’s mouths were, ‘Wow, you’re pregnant!’
“You came in late last night, again,” Lena said as she t
ook a bite of her eggs.
“I was hanging out with the guys in the bunker.”
“You guys are worse than a fraternity. All you need are the matching sweatshirts and paddleboards.”
“We are probably tighter than your average fraternity. No fraternity ever went through what we did in Mexico,” I said, smiling.
“There are a lot of good men out there...”
“But?”
“But, it’s the law of numbers that every one of them can’t have good intentions.”
“I’m highly aware of that. All I can say is the ones that don’t... have potential.”
“I’m just worried that there might be one or two bad apples in the group who are flying under your radar.” Lena seemed particularly concerned. Why shouldn’t she be? Any day now, she was bringing two children into the world. Our two children.
“Well, I have a lot of supernatural abilities. My ‘Spidey senses’ are always on high alert whenever I hang out with the guys. There is a lot of intense dude energy that seems to engulf every room we’re in. That’s just the way it is with guys like that.” Being an MMA fighter, this was nothing I wasn’t familiar with.
“That’s an understatement. Those guys make the movie Gladiator look like Daddy Daycare.”
“Very nice movie reference, Lena. I can see I’m rubbing off on you.”
“Well, that’s all a girl can do is watch movies all day when she has two bowling balls in her belly.”
“Those two bowling balls are going to be our kids. So, try to be less crass when referring to our offspring.”
“You try carrying these two squabbling gorillas in your stomach for nine months and see how fondly you refer to them.”
I laughed and kissed Lena’s stomach and rested my head on her lap. “I’m just glad I have my army.”
“I know you are, honey. Since the guys have been here, you seem supremely relaxed and in many ways, a lot more confident.”
Lena was right. What the guys did for me was take a lot of the burden off my shoulders. It was comforting, knowing I had 200 trained killers at my disposal if Krull wanted to act up. “How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?”
“No sickness. I just feel as if I’m going to pop!”
“Don’t pop just yet. At least wait until Christmas. I’d like to have some New Year’s babies.”
“Oh, you would, Mr. Reign. Maybe you might like to carry the next party of two in your stomach. You’re not the one carrying a moving brickyard in your belly.”
“I wonder how they are going to look.”
“They will probably have Tommy’s color hair,” Lena said.
I nearly fell off the bed. “What?”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, laughing. “I only meant Tommy’s hair is lighter than mine and darker than yours.”
I looked at Lena and smiled. I knew what she meant, but it still bothered me a tad that she had feelings for Tommy. I understand that was in the past, but I just don’t like to be reminded of it.
Tommy had proven himself tenfold when it came to me forgiving him. What he did seven months ago was off the charts. I loved him more than a brother, and I obviously loved Lena more than anything on this earth. At least, until our children were born. Then, they would come first.
“Josiah?” Lena asked.
“Yeah, babe.”
“Do you ever think about what the Deity said about the boys?”
“Every single day. It scares the blood outta me.”
“Do you think with what you are... you can prevent what is destined for one of their fates?”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I do. I will protect these boys until I have no breath left in me. Prophecy or not, it will be over my dead body if anyone moves to harm a hair on their heads.”
I heard the doorbell from downstairs. “Was that the doorbell?” I asked.
“Sounds like it. What else goes ding-dong in this house?”
“Who rings the doorbell around here?”
“No one,” Lena said. “It must be an outsider.”
“That’s never good.” I put my blue jeans on and threw on a black T-shirt. “I’m going to check it out.”
“All right, babe, I’ll be here... fat as ever.”
“You know, you’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“I love you, Josiah.”
“I love you, too.”
Chapter Three
I left our room and made my way to the upstairs hallway.
We lived in a giant house with too many rooms to count. It was the biggest house I had ever seen. I looked down and could see Tommy talking to what appeared to be a dark-haired woman in the doorway. She had a little bit of an accent. Tommy was in major flirt mode, so she must have been hot. Tommy saved his fifth-gear flirt shift for the sexiest of ladies.
I made my way to the stairs and had a closer look at the woman. My heart sank as I saw who it was. It was Yomaida, the young lady I rescued from a brothel in Mexico the first time I went there.
“Yomaida?” I said, excited and confused.
“Hello, Josiah,” she said, stepping through the doorway.
I hurried down the stairs, and I gave her a giant hug. She smelled incredible and looked even more beautiful than I remembered.
“A hug for Josiah? Wow. I can’t wait to be that familiar with you,” Tommy said, winking at Yomaida.
After Yomaida hugged me, she turned to Tommy and gave him a giant hug, too. As she did so, Tommy looked at me and smiled, as if to say, ‘I’ve still got it.’
That’s my Tommy. Always the opportunist.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Actually... a whole lot,” she said. “I have been trying to track you down for the last ten months.”
“Track me down?” I asked.
“Yes, I needed to know more about the guardian angel who saved me that night.” Yomaida looked at Tommy uncertainly, as if she was unsure if Tommy knew I had abilities like being able to fly.
I smiled and said, “You can say whatever you like here. Everyone here is aware of everyone’s special talents.”
“Everyone? Is everyone here like you?” Yomaida asked.
“Not like me, necessarily,” I paused. “But, they have their own thing going on. Was there a reason you needed to see me?”
“No, I just needed to see the man who saved my life. I just wanted to touch base with you one more time. It was weird. I was obsessed with finding you.”
“Why don’t you come in and have a seat on the couch? We don’t need to stand by the door while we talk. May I ask how you found me?”
The three of us walked into the living room and made our way to the couches. I sat on one couch while Tommy and Yomaida sat a couple of feet apart from each other on the other couch. There went Tommy, always near the girl. Damn, I loved him! He was as transparent as glass.
Yomaida began to answer my question. “How I found you? Well, it wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever done. I looked you up on the internet, and I discovered that you used to be an MMA fighter. Do you know there is a rumor that you died?”
I smiled. “I have read that. I’m as alive as I have ever been.”
Yomaida continued, “I knew you were special.”
“Special?” Tommy laughed. “We don’t use that word around here. We like to refer to Josiah as logically challenged.”
“You know what I mean. I mean, for God’s sake, you can fly. So, I began keeping my eyes wide open in public places. I began looking for pale-faced men who had an eerie presence about them.”
“Why did they remind you of me?” I laughed.
“That was my first impression of you. Obviously, that changed once you shared with me your intentions when we were in Mexico. I have to admit, when I first saw you on the elevator, I thought you were a bit creepy. Don’t get me wrong, I thought you were sexy, but also exceedingly odd.”
“Wow, sexy and odd,” Tommy said. “I get the creepy and odd part, but I have to disa
gree with the sexy part. Josiah’s clearly not bringing sexy back anytime soon.”
“Trust me, Wolfie, Josiah is very hot and extremely sexy.”
“Hold on, besides me disagreeing with your opinion on what is and isn’t sexy, how do you know I’m a werewolf?” Tommy asked.
“You’re Tommy, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Josiah and you are pretty legendary in the underground immortal world. And, by the way, it’s too bad you disagree with what I find to be sexy, because I think you’re sexy as hell.”
“Okay, one of two opinions on sexy isn’t that bad.”
“Shut up, Tommy. What she said concerns me.” I looked Yomaida in the eyes and asked, “How are Tommy and I well known?”
“You’re not serious?” Yomaida said. “You’re legends.”
“With all due respect, Yomaida, how does a Tandra or a human like yourself find this information out?”
Yomaida was quiet. Her energy regressed. Everything about her seemed to go inward.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I made the mistake of asking too many questions,” she said under her breath.
“What kind of mistake?” I said, pressing.
“I talked to the wrong guys about you.”
“What kind of guys were they?”
Yomaida spoke up and said, “I started hanging out with Carni at first; they didn’t let on that they were werewolves. I quickly found out on the night of the first full moon that I was dealing with a whole other part of the immortal world. I was attacked, and luckily, I wasn’t killed, but...”
“But... you have become a werewolf?” I said.
“Yeah.” Yomaida had tears in her eyes. “I’m a werewolf. I was caught up in their world and I was curious to see what happened during the full moon. I soon found out the hard way.”
I stood up and sat in between her and Tommy and put my arm around her to comfort her. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I know what it’s like to have your immortality surprisingly sprung on you. I was hoping that by bringing you back to your family, I would give you a better life. I should have warned you about the harsh world that I’m from. I had no idea that you would try to seek me out.”
