by H. T. Night
Sion came up to my room with his luggage. “On second thought, Sion,” I said, “don’t take anything. You’ll have everything you need when you arrive.”
I opened the trap door and gave Lena one final hug and said, “I promise.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
With that, Sion and Lena took off to the airport. This was the second time I had said goodbye to her in a matter of weeks. I hoped that it was the last time I ever had to do anything like this.
It was now 10:30 p.m. and it was time to meet with the rest of my crew. Tommy, Yomaida, Helen, Hector and Yari all met me in the study. Everyone came in and sat around the conference table. I had put a large whiteboard up on an easel to show everyone the plan. The board had not one, but two separate battlefields on it. One was the vineyard that Krull took over from Helen. The other battlefield was right outside our house.
As each person sat around the table, they looked at the details on the two boards that I had up on the display. The mood of the room suddenly became serious. Everyone was realizing that play time was over and our fight was now.
“As you can guess,” I said, “it’s show time.” I then proceeded to go over the plan. The first battle would be an attack delivered by us to the vineyard in Simi Valley. Everyone loved that we were taking Krull by surprise. “At Helen’s vineyard,” I said, “she has wine cellars that are eerily similar to our bunkers.” I pointed at a diagram of the underground cellars. “Sion found information where Krull had cleared out all the wine and put in barracks. This is where all 2,500 of his men, including himself, slept during the day.”
“What makes you think that it’s going to be the case today? That Krull will be sleeping in there?” Tommy asked.
“Tommy,” I said. “Sion explained to me that Krull has an insane military work ethic, and he makes his extra army be in the cellars by 5:00 in the morning for lights out. All 2,500 men sleep throughout the day. They leave the wine cellars at 7:00 p.m. when the sun goes down. Then he trains them all night.”
“What makes you think we can beat an army that has outnumbered us, three to one?” Hector asked.
“There are only two ways out of the cellar. It is a military strategist’s dream. The only reason why Krull would have them packed in like sardines and completely vulnerable is that he would never suspect in his wildest dreams that he would ever be attacked.”
“He’s betting on your good nature,” Yari stated plainly.
“Actually, Yari,” I said, “he’s not betting on anything. He doesn’t take our prophetic cause seriously. He made the mistake of capturing me and not killing me. He knew he had to go to great lengths to recruit me.”
“He was just trying to recruit you?” Yomaida asked.
“Think about it. If he thought for a second I was truly a threat, he would have killed me instantly. This is why he has no idea that we are capable of a sneak attack. He changed the rules once he put me in that device and began piercing my flesh. From here on out, there are no rules when it comes to killing them. There are no rules. This is a vampire war where we aren’t under our very own Mani law. We will scratch, bite and kill with no mercy. His men made their decision. Each Mani has been given a chance to follow the side that they were led to and 2,500 Mani men followed him.”
“Does he only have men?” Hector asked.
“As far as we know, yes. His message isn’t exactly woman-friendly. We all know Mani men outnumber the women five to one anyway.”
“Aren’t there at least 5,000 Mani?” Yomaida asked. “Where are the rest?”
“They are choosing not to fight. They are playing it neutral in our Mani war. They are the France, as it were. We are not going to worry about those who chose not to fight. Our only focus is on the ones who chose to fight on the side of evil.”
“Nothing is that simple, Josiah.” Yari jumped in. “Saying words like ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is too easy. Some Mani are just misguided.”
“I realize that,” I said. “I look at it like this: There are those who live according to the will of the Triat. They will prosper in this life because of that. Then there are the others that make a conscious choice to live outside of it.”
Helen then spoke up. “I understand that we are all trying to make sense of this, but trust me when I tell you that we are doing the right thing. Your rewards will be great for the stand you will make today.” Helen hardly ever spoke, but when she did, everyone listened.
There was a silence in the room and then I continued, “We will push them out of the cellar by pushing them forward.”
“We will or the Carni will?” Helen asked.
“Our werewolf brothers and sisters will be doing the grunt work by killing and pushing them out of the cellar.”
“Do you think it’s fair that we are asking Carni to have such a huge task when it’s our fight?” Yari asked.
I figured that was a good time to let everyone in on who I had become.
“I’ll be right behind Tommy with Yomaida.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Helen asked. “There are going to thousands of enemy Mani down there. Once they realize that you’re down there, you will get hundreds that will just attack you because they’ll figure they will have nothing to lose. If you are in your eagle form or your Mani form, you will be outnumbered.”
“They won’t know it’s me,” I said, smiling. Everyone in the room knew I had the ability to transition into a werewolf, except for Yomaida and Helen.
“You’re a blond-haired, blue-eyed vampire, or you’re a giant beautiful white eagle. Either way, you’d be a sitting duck inside an airless compound like that,” Helen said.
I grinned at Helen and said, “I’m also this.” Then I stepped away from the table and transitioned into the great white werewolf.
Helen looked at me, stunned. “So I see.”
I transitioned back. “I’m not exactly sure when I had the ability. But I discovered it in the Philippines. I will be going back and forth—each time I hit the outside, I will become the eagle. What you all need to understand is this: Once they leave the cellar on the other side, they will only be able to leave the cellar ten at a time.”
“They will be sitting ducks,” Yari said. “The plan sounds pretty solid. Why are there two battlefields?”
“Because these are the greatest fighters the world has ever known. We will be lucky to kill half of them off.”
“What are we going to do about the ones that make it through?” Tommy asked. “They aren’t going to be too happy.”
“You have that right,” I said. “They will be disorganized and not able to communicate because they will be outside and be forced by the sun to transition into raven form or fry. There will be a point where we will need to get everyone out of there and relocate back here.”
“What makes you think Krull will come here?” Yari asked.
“Hopefully, we won’t be dealing with Krull by that point. I’m praying we kill Krull in the first attack. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge. After we do the sneak attack, they will come for us. If it is Krull or someone else, he will be so angry and out for vengeance he won’t be able to help himself.”
I proceeded to show everyone how we were going to protect our compound. I went over each detail, and explained to them that our goal was to kill every last Krull man who continued to fight us. I did tell them that there might be a point where they would throw in the towel and we would grant mercy to those who surrendered. “Just know this,” I said. “Whoever chooses to fight against us at any time will be writing their death sentence.”
“What about Krull?” Yari asked. “All the strategy in the world is for shit if we have the terminator running around, wreaking havoc and killing our whole army off, one by one.”
“That is why we have a secret weapon. If Krull survives the first battle, and leads his remaining guys back here. We have someone whose sole job is to distract him in a fight so tempting... that not even Krull can resist it.�
��
“Who? You?” Tommy asked.
“Someone ever more intriguing.” I smiled at my group and said, “We have Atticai.”
“Are you kidding?” Tommy laughed. “You managed to get your ringer to come by?”
“He’s no ringer. He has an old score to settle,” I said.
“Krull and Atticai’s history goes back centuries,” Yari added. Yari was the first person to ever tell me about all of this.
“Why isn’t he here?” Tommy asked.
“His only job is to take Krull,” I said plainly. “He doesn’t need unnecessary information.” I played out the final battle for everyone to show where Hector, Yari, Helen, and eventually Wyatt, would protect us with their crews at all sides.
“When will Wyatt get here?” Hector asked.
“He’ll arrive at near dusk tomorrow. I’ll brief him when he gets in, once we are on the second level of the plan. We need to work all night and then rest for a couple of hours before we go. Good luck to all of you.”
Chapter Thirty-two
I had Tommy gather up all the werewolves and had them meet up with me in the study. This was the first time most of them had ever been inside the house. It wasn’t that I treated them like dogs. It was just that they respected the house was for my cause.
The thirty Carni men came into the study and I had them sit and stand around the room. There were twenty-five free-thinking werewolves, counting Yomaida, Tommy and me. I also asked the eight that weren’t able to turn to come in, too. I needed every man for this job, and I had a special task for them. The eight werewolves that weren’t able to transition at will would be protecting the compound, just in case any of Krull’s men returned early, but I didn’t anticipate that happening. These were the few that had no dog in this fight, but they stood with me, regardless.
This was also going to be the first time that most of these men would find out that I now walked among them, too. At least, a part of me did, as I could transition into a werewolf at will. “The character that all of you possess is something I can’t even put into words. After we taught you how to transition and have cognitive thought, you still stayed. You are all my brothers. In a few hours, I’m going to ask you to bear a burden that seems ridiculous to even ask, and if any of you want to leave now... Well, I will respect it.” I paused and waited.
No one moved; instead, they waited for instructions. They wanted this fight. This is what they lived for. These were ultimate fighters that were about two things: brotherhood and kicking ass.
I showed them all what their assignments would be on the whiteboard. I was specific about our intentions. It was killed or be killed. I decided this would be the moment that they would find out that I, too, had a little bit of Carni blood running through me.
“Today,” I said, “you find out that not only am I a Mani but I’m also one of you.” I transitioned into the great white wolf, and they all applauded. I transitioned back to Mani.
They were all taking the midnight train to Napa Valley. I told them they had thirty minutes to get to the train station. I gave them the only send-off I could: “One Love,” I said. They said it back to me, and my heart soared.
***
My body was about 95% healed.
I debated going to see Jason for a healing, but decided that I was going to fight this battle with what I was. I was the Mani that Krull made me to be. I wanted him to see my battled and bruised body that came from him. I wanted it to be a reminder to me, too, what he did to me. I needed to never forget what was out there and if you let your guard down for one second, what could happen.
The next order of business was getting Atticai over to the house. I sent a couple of my Mani men to tell him that the time was now and to be here by 3:00 a.m. A part of me wondered if he would really go through with this. He had always been a man of his word: good or bad. So, my money was on him showing up.
Sure enough, he showed, along with Rubidoux. I stuck Rubidoux in Helen’s crew and had Atticai meet with me privately. I took him into the study to give him a briefing. “It’s going down?” Atticai asked.
“In ten hours. We are going to do this.”
“Today? During the day?”
“Yep.”
“You want us all to have a bird fight?” Atticai was confused, so I needed to catch him up to speed.
“What we do during the day will be the first wave of our attack. Krull’s numbers are off the chart. We are heavily outnumbered. So, we will attack first, while he sleeps.”
Atticai smiled. It was devious enough that even he liked the plan. “Are you at peace with this decision?” Atticai asked me.
“To fight?”
“Putting all these lives on the line. You have 700 men and there’s a chance that none of us will survive this. If this mission fails, can you live with yourself?”
“I’m at peace. The five people that don’t need to be here are very far away. They are extremely safe somewhere else.” Of course, I was talking about my dear family.
“As is Donya. I had her go to a place where no one knows where she is. I don’t even know. Just in case something really goes wrong. We both know those who are dear to us are safe.”
“You got that right,” I said. “How about you, Atticai? Are you ready?”
Atticai stared straight ahead at the wall and didn’t answer.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “You don’t have to fight Krull all by yourself.”
Atticai looked at me and said, “You have no idea how many times I have fantasized about ripping Krull to shreds!”
“Krull is a beast,” I warned Atticai.
“So am I!” Atticai said, as definite I had ever heard him say anything.
“I know you are. Just know that if at any point that you need help, you need to let me know. I’m going to be like a sniper from above. I’ll take out his ass with pleasure.”
Atticai became extremely serious with me. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “Just do me a favor, Josiah. Allow me to finish him. No matter how long it takes.” Atticai was somewhat tranquil. Something cut extremely deep when it came to Krull and Atticai.
“No problem,” I said. “He’s all yours.”
Chapter Thirty-three
It was five in the morning and I had all the men meet me outside in front of the bunkers. They were all lined up in formation. I had my crew with me at the front.
Our goal was to get in there and eliminate as many of Krull’s army as we could during the day and then retreat. It was our belief that Krull would come back here to the house and our bunkers with his remaining men, and we would have our infamous final battle right out here, along the 15 freeway in the city of Victorville.
I stood in front of these men and this was going to be my final send-off before we headed up north to take care of the first strike, right at the crack of dawn.
“I stand before you today as one of you. I have seen a lot of pain and misery in the past couple of years. I have also seen joy and love. Today, we are going to fight a battle that not all of us will return from. The sacrifice that each of you is making is greater than anything that I have become. I am humbled by your service. I have never had a choice in this matter. I was plucked by the gods to be in this. But each of you made a conscious decision to be here to fight alongside of me in hope for a better life for each of us. You are well trained and I believe that we are ready.”
I looked over at Atticai and he stared forward with no expression. “We all know our roles,” I continued. “Let’s never forget the plan. We are outnumbered, and strategy is how we will prevail.” I paused and stared at my men. With tears dripping from my eyes, I said, “Today, fight not for me! Fight for your future! Fight for the future of the Mani race!”
All the men shouted and then we all transitioned. We made our way up north in one formation, with me at the head.
***
We all arrived just outside the vineyard. It was still dark, so all the Mani were able to transition.
It was 6:00 a.m. and we had about twenty minutes of darkness before the sun would be out in full scope.
I stood in front of my men and women and gave them one last run-through.
I transitioned into the eagle and flew above the sweeping 15-acre property. At the center of the property was a giant house. I was told by Sion that there would be a 50 percent chance that Krull would be in there with his top lieutenants. Although everyone slept in the wine cellars at some point, he and his top group of men often went over whatever a madman would go over with his high commanders.
My job was to watch the house with my ten werewolves and once Tommy’s first crew went in, I would make sure that Krull and his top lieutenants wouldn’t follow, once they heard the commotion. It would be a lot easier to fight off Krull as a bird, than in his Mani form.
To the south, the wine cellar spread one thousand yards in length and it was entirely underground. As it was a cellar, there wasn’t a lot of vertical room inside the actual cellar, in terms of maneuvering, and the space wasn’t one big room; it was highly compartmentalized, according to Helen, who said there were 50 mini-rooms or corridors. That would mean there would be 50 men per room. If Tommy and his werewolves went through each room from the front, then forward, he would only have to fight one man at a time. But the werewolves would have to do it quickly.
We figured that in the chaos, everyone’s first instincts would be to do whatever it took to get outside, away from the snapping jaws of the werewolves. Once outside, at the east side of the compound, they would be completely vulnerable and outnumbered, as long as we disposed of them quickly. The bloodshed that we were about to embark on did not come lightly to me. This was going to be a massacre, a massacre that I was in charge of. It would be extremely vital that we used quick and precise kills. This would be a numbers game, and if we were not careful, we could quickly be outnumbered outside. My men had mastered how to kill a Mani in his raven form in a matter of seconds. We would have a transitioned raven coming at them from three separate sides. We would attempt to puncture their necks from three different angles. We needed at least one of those punctures to be a kill shot.
