by Night, H. T.
Tommy was quiet. Then he said, “Are you asking the Carni to win your Mani prophesized war?”
“No, not the war, just part of the battle. This war is for the betterment of all of us. By standing with us, you are one in our hearts. I’m asking the Carni to win the first battle. The one inside the barracks while they sleep. Don’t forget, I’m a werewolf, too, and I’ll be there with you. I’m not sure how many we’ll get; maybe half of them. We’re going to attack them right when the sun comes out. We’re going to send two waves of Carni into their barracks and push them out. Once they hit daylight, our Mani will team up on them and eliminate them from this earth. We will be getting them on both sides. In and right outside their bunker.”
“It’s a brilliant idea, “ Tommy said. “It will be very chaotic inside the bunker. Not to mention extremely dangerous.”
“I understand that and I would never ask any one of my soldiers to do something that I’m not willing to do myself. That is why I’ll be there in the wine cellars, kicking Krull’s men’s asses with you.”
“We’re going to do more than just kick their asses,” Tommy said.
“You better fucking believe it,” I said.
Tommy then did one of his classic grins and said, “I’m just not looking forward to the next three days. It kicked my ass training Yomaida.”
“We’re going to go over a way to do a mass training. These men that are still here are as loyal any of my Mani men. They have earned it. Especially, after all that has happened. Let’s go outside and tell them the news: They are going to be the point men, and women,” I nodded at Yomaida, “ in the battle against Krull.”
The three of us got up and left the study.
Chapter Thirty
The next seventy-two hours were as difficult and emotionally exhausting a task as I had ever done. But, by the time the third night was finished, we were able to give twenty-two Carni the gift of being able to transition at will.
At the end of the third day, I slipped into bed with Lena and slept for about sixteen hours straight.
When I woke up, I went and got Sion and went into the kitchen area of the bunker and mapped out our attack against Krull. We wrote pages and pages of notes. Sion had figured out that Krull had been staying in two separate locations. His lair is in the mountains near Ojai, but that wasn’t where he trained. His army had gotten so gigantic that he had to move to a bigger place. That is why he had taken over Helen’s vineyard. He needed the space.
It was time to bring Helen in on my plan. She was going to be a giant part of our attack and I needed to make sure she was ready. I got up from the table and went and grabbed Helen and asked her to meet me and Sion in the main house’s study. The three of us walked into the room, and I had laid the plans I had worked on all morning with Sion along the table. Helen had brought in a mysterious duffel bag with her. I went over each detail of what I wanted her to do, down to the very second.
“When is this going down?” Helen asked.
“Just let your men know to be ready at any given moment,” I said.
Helen stood up and started to walk out of the study, then she stopped at the door. “I think your plan is going to work. As a matter of fact, I know it is.” She then reached into her duffel bag and pulled out a document and handed it to me.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s a deed,” she answered.
“A deed to what?”
“A deed to two giant islands in the Atlantic. They are very discreet and they stand side by side.”
“Two islands? Where in the Atlantic?”
“Just south of Australia.”
I looked at Helen, very confused. “Why are you giving me this?”
“I’m giving these islands to all of us. If we prevail, this is the place that you and I have seen in our dreams. This is the place where we can finally see an end to the bloodshed, pain and terror. When all is said and done, I hope it will be your decision to have Mani who want to live in peace to move there.”
“I own these two islands?” I looked down and saw my name typed in on the documents.
“Yes you do.” Helen smiled at me with a warm smile.
“I can’t accept this.”
“You have no choice. I was told by the Triat to do this act in one of my dreams. As far as I see it, these two pieces of land have always been yours. I was just lucky enough to have the financial means to buy them. And now they’re yours to do with as you see fit, for all of us.” Helen gave me a hug and then left the study. I sat there in awe, staring at Sion.
“It takes a lot to make me feel this way.”
“What feeling is that?” Sion asked.
“Gratitude for material things.”
“What? You never wanted a Ferrari when you were a kid?” Sion asked.
“I was more of a Porsche man myself. But… an island? Are you kidding me?”
I patted Sion on the back and congratulated him for a job well done. His role in the military aspect to all of this was about to come to an end. I wasn’t quite ready to tell him just yet. I left the room by myself and went upstairs and shared the news with Lena.
Lena was more shocked than I was, but she quickly saw the value in the land. “So, when we’re married, they will be mine too?” Lena asked, teasing.
“They are yours now,” I said. “We don’t need a ceremony for that.”
I met with Sion night and day during the week following the full moon. Sion’s ability to find information was out of this world. Literally, they were of a supernatural nature. He and I piece together the perfect plan to give us the highest probability of success. I swear the kid is a genius. That word likes to get thrown around a lot, but Sion is the Real McCoy.
Chapter Thirty-one
We were inside 24 hours for my plan to go into effect. I had one small problem. Only Sion and I knew of the entire plan. I purposely kept the information from the others to give Krull as little chance to infiltrate my crew and get information.
Before I was to tell the others, I needed to run the entire plan by Helen. She had been given insight to the prophecy far beyond the time I had been a Mani. It was time to see what she thought.
Helen met me in the study at 8:00 p.m., Thursday night. From this point on, I was on a strict schedule designed by Sion.
I shut the door as Helen entered the study. I had her sit right next to me and I calmly began speaking to her. “You think we’re ready?” I asked.
“The time is now, isn’t it, Josiah?” Helen said.
“As far as I’m concerned, it is. But before I carry out the attack, I need to know a couple of things. If we attack Krull first, do you believe that is inside the will of the Triat?”
“Neither you nor I know their will a hundred percent, Josiah, Helen responded. “We can only lead with our hearts.”
“Then tell me this. In your visions and in your dreams, if we attack them before they get to us, will it meet the expectations of the prophecy?”
“What you need to understand is this: Krull doesn’t believe the prophecy,” Helen said plainly. “Therefore, he’ll never attack us unless he wants to recruit us. He doesn’t want us. He wants the world.”
“I understand that. I have been pussy-footing around, fighting other fights because I thought he would attack us first. I was waiting for a sign. I realize now if I continue to wait, he’ll be able to keep recruiting vampires and it will be impossible to ever defeat him. After he captured me and did the things he did to me, it made me realize that he doesn’t take the prophecy seriously. If he thought, for one second, that I was the reason why he wouldn’t succeed in his world domination, then there is no way he would have just tortured me. He was trying to break me, to have me join his side. If he knew the significance of who I truly am, he would have just killed me.”
“None of this is so black and white, Josiah. We are given visions and truths, and it is up to us to interpret them and follow our hearts. I believe you’re doing that.”
&nbs
p; I felt good that Helen and I were on the same page. I proceeded to tell her the plan. When I was done explaining how it was going to play out, I asked, “What about you? What is your ultimate role, Helen?”
Helen looked at me stone-faced and said, “When all of this is over, we will both have fulfilled our destiny.”
I nodded my head and began to get extremely pumped up as if I was about to have an MMA fight. Helen, on the other hand, didn’t seem as pumped as me. She looked solemn and stoic. To each their own, I guess.
After I met with Helen, I had Sion come into the study and meet with me. My crew was now at 700 Mani and Carni. We had 670 vampires and 30 werewolves with eight of those werewolves not at full transition ability. They were, however, bad-ass soldiers and that was going to come in handy. We needed every capable man and woman for this fight.
Sion figured out that Krull’s army was over 2,500 Mani strong. That left 1,800 vampires unaccounted for throughout the world. For whatever reason, they decided to leave this fight for the rest of us.
I explained to Sion that his skills were best served if he was left behind. He seemed relieved when I told him that he wasn’t going to have to fight. I had a much bigger job for him. He was going to swap places with Wyatt. I had grown incredibly fond of Sion. He was my little sidekick. I was Batman and he was my Robin. Actually, he was more like Alfred. You get the analogy. What I did know is that he wasn’t a good physical soldier. His contribution to this cause had almost been as valuable as mine. I let him know that. I thanked him and gave him a hug.
“You are going to take care of my family,” I said. “To me, that is greater than this fight.”
“It is my honor, Josiah. I won’t let you down.”
I told Sion he would be leaving very soon and to get packed. I went into my bedroom and Lena was sitting on her bed with tears dripping from her eyes. I had told her earlier in the evening that Sion would be taking her back to Amsterdam. I entered the room slowly and sat next to her. “You ready to go?” I said. I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me.
Lena tried to look me in the eye, but couldn’t. Finally, she said, “Josiah?”
“Yeah, babe.”
“Will you live?”
“Huh?”
“Will you die in this battle? You must know if you survive the battle. In your dreams and visions, you must have seen what is to happen. Do you live?”
I looked at Lena and held my breath. I let out the air and said, “I don’t know?”
Lena grabbed my face and stared me right in the eyes. “Don’t you fucking lie to me, I need to know right now. I can’t be told later on. Is this how it ends for you? Do you die for the cause?”
“Lena, I honestly don’t know. All I know is that I prepared my men to the best of my ability. I know I have been given a plan. I truly believe the Triat has guided me, thus far. They knew where I needed help, and that is why they sent Sion to me. All I can do is follow my heart.”
“I want to go,” Lena said. “With you.”
“There is not a chance in hell that is going to happen,” I said.
Lena then began to grow hysterical. “If your life ends in that battlefield, I have to be there. I have to see you before you disappear forever. You’ve got to hear me out! As long as I live, I’ll never forgive you if you don’t return to me!” This was as raw and candid as Lena had ever been to me. I appreciated her honesty, but there was no way in hell that she was going to be anywhere near that battlefield.
I took Lena’s hand and entwined my fingers with hers and said simply, “You have my word. This vampire love story does not end here.”
Lena stared at me. She didn’t know what else to say. She knew there wasn’t any chance I’d let her fight with us. Finally, she quietly said, “Okay.”
I got right up in her face, so she could see me. “Lena, you need to look me in the eye.” She wanted to look away, but her love for me kept her focused in. “This is the final stretch. I know it. Please trust me. I promise that I will come back for you.”
I held her in my arms tightly. I squeezed her for dear life. We sat there and held one another for a brief moment. When we were done, I said to her, “It is time for you to go with Sion. I can’t take you there this time. Krull might be following me and he’ll know that you left and could send people to follow you. I want you and Sion to take nothing but your passports and tickets. You two need to fly out of here.”
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. 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 white board 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 very 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 very 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.”
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 very 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 proceeded to go over the plan. The first battle would be an attack delivered by us to the vineyard. Everyone loved that we were taking Krull by surprise. “At Helen’s vineyard,” I said. “She has wine cellars that are very similar to our bunkers.” I pointed at a diagram of the underground cellars. Sion found information where Krull has cleared out all the wine and put in barracks. This is where all 2,500 of his men, including himself, most of the time sleep 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 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 had 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 are 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. 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.”
