by H. T. Night
I didn’t bother knocking because I was certain no one was home. I didn’t think Tommy would come back here so soon and even if he did I wouldn’t mind running into him. The door was unlocked, so I opened it and went in. I walked around the cabin and made sure I was alone and didn’t have any unexpected visitors. I wasn’t sure what I’d find scouring the place. For all I knew, a family of raccoons could have taken up residency since that night.
When all was clear, I decided to go downstairs and walk inside the cage room where I trained Tommy. I walked into the room and stared at the cage. I thought about every detail of the weekend. That was a remarkable three days. We had no idea what we were doing, but somehow, we managed to change the Carni game forever.
I thought about my friend and all we had been through together. Ever since that first day I’d first met him in that alley there had never been a dull moment with that guy. I loved him like family and I knew deep in my heart that I needed to forgive him. All this heartache, over Lena. I couldn’t see my life without my best friend. As much as I loved Lena, I know one true thing: I loved Tommy more.
I care for him and that is why this hurt so deeply. I stepped inside Tommy’s werewolf cage and closed the door. If there was ever a physical symbol to how a man felt, I was a living example of it at this very moment.
My heart ached as I sat in the cage. I laid completely on my back and closed my eyes. And then it happened, for the first time since I had become a Mani.
I cried.
Even when Goliath kicked the crap out of me, I didn’t cry. But on this evening, in the middle of summer, in the year 2011, I cried my eyes out.
* * *
.
I had forgotten how good it felt to cry. It’s been years since I’d given myself permission to let my anguish out.
I cried the night my parents and sister died. I cried all night, and I remember thinking that morning that I was done crying, and I would cry no more. Little did I know at the time that I would fall in love with a woman, and the same person who was there for me on that night, would be the same person to cause me so much pain years later.
I walked outside to get some fresh air. It was now dark so I stayed in my Mani form. I looked up at the stars and took a giant, deep breath. I felt at peace for the first time since I’d been back. It didn’t last for long.
“Josiah! It’s Tommy! Can you hear me?” Tommy was speaking to me through my mind. “Josiah, help! I’m surrounded by Mani.” He must have been in his werewolf form because I could hear him.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Griffith Park!”
Shit, that is in downtown Los Angeles. That’s at least fifteen minutes away even if I get there at super-speed.
“I’m coming!” I said. “Try to hold them off as long as you can.”
I transitioned and jetted across the sky. I accelerated at a speed I didn’t even realize I was capable of. I truly felt I was faster than a speeding bullet. I got to Griffith Park in a matter of minutes.
I flew down and right into the middle of the park, just east of the Observatory.
Shit! Tommy was surrounded by Krull and his minions.
“Tommy, I’m here!” I said, in my mind so Tommy could hear me.
“I’m exhausted.” Tommy answered. “They are taking me to town. I’m fighting them off, but I’m injured pretty badly.”
There weren’t nearly as many as there were a month back when I fought Krull. In fact, it was just a fraction of the mass herd that was there that night. There were twelve of them, counting Krull. They had surrounded Tommy and seemed to just be messing with him. Almost as if they were counting on him to contact me. Krull was in full Samurai garb. He looked scary as hell; I swear to God this guy used to be Genghis Kahn.
Krull saw me and laughed out loud. He nodded his head, and then transitioned into a giant black raven and flew away.
Huh? What was that about?
I didn’t have time to worry about it. Tommy needed my help. I flew into the mob and transitioned as I landed. I stood next to Tommy as we were surrounded by the remaining eleven Mani.
I guess now is when I’m going to see what kind of badass I’d become.
“Tommy, leave!” I said, out loud.
“Fuck no, I’m helping you.” Tommy remained the werewolf and was still speaking to me through his mind.
“Leave, now! I don’t need your help!” I yelled even louder.
“I’m staying, Josiah!”
“I thought you said you were hurt?”
“So what! These fuckers are going to pay for hurting me.”
“Well, remain the werewolf. You’re a lot stronger as the werewolf.”
Tommy leaped forward tackling one of them. Leaving the remaining ten for yours truly. There were so many of them that I knew I had to wait for them to attack me. This wasn’t about ethics, it was about intelligence. There was only so much of my body they could get a hold of.
I stood my ground and the remaining ten surrounded me.
“Come and get me, fellas, I’ll make a great trophy.”
I could tell all of them wanted to attack me. Each one was waiting for their precise moment to lunge.
Suddenly, three of them charged me from all sides.
I ascended up and all three of them ran into each other like something out of a Three Stooges movie.
I looked over and Tommy had bitten into the neck of the Mani he was fighting.
“Don’t kill him!” I yelled.
“Why? These guys were trying to kill me before you got here,” he thought, as he stood over the injured Mani.
“They weren’t trying to kill you,” I said. “They used you to get to me,” I said, in my mind, to Tommy.
“So, what do I do, just cripple him? That’s worse.”
“I don’t care what you do just don’t kill him.” I was adamant about Tommy not killing the guy.
I looked down and the three guys that had run into each other had gotten up. They were swiping at me as if I was a piñata.
I floated above the men and decided the best plan was to actually speak. “Why are you here?” I yelled down to the men. No answer. They looked at each other with puzzled expressions. “Why have you come here to fight us?” I yelled again.
“We don’t answer to you!” One of them yelled back.
“Well, you’d better because you’re going to have one of two options.” I looked down at their faces and said, “Stop this madness and leave and go back to Krull and tell him that Mani on Mani attacks need to stop. Or if you continue to fight us, I will take it as a threat on my life and my friends...” I stopped myself from saying ‘friend’s life’. “I will take it as a threat on mine and the werewolf’s life. I will have no choice but to see that you don’t leave here alive.”
The Mani men now looked at one another. There were weak ones among them and I could hear their thoughts. Most were afraid and wanted to leave. But there were a couple that were too powerful for me to read what they were thinking.
So, I said, from 20 feet in the air, “Those of you who don’t want to be here, you need to leave. This skirmish isn’t worth dying for. Krull has made you believe in a lie. He knows his days are numbered and he is trying to take as many Mani down with him before it’s over. This army of Mani men he has assembled are never going to reign over this world. It’s a lie! So, leave now and spare your life!”
Seven of them looked at each other and they didn’t want any part of this. One by one, they transitioned into ravens and flew off. I had no idea where they went, but I couldn’t imagine they returned to Krull. Maybe I saved them from being damned by the Triat.
But unfortunately, four of them remained, and oddly enough, the one that was below Tommy had stayed.
“Tommy, ask him if he wants to leave.”
“Fuck you!” the guy on the ground yelled at me.
Tommy in his werewolf form look at me and thought, “Can I kill him now?”
“All right, you chose your
destiny. Tommy, do what you like!” I yelled out loud.
Tommy bit down into the Mani’s neck and within seconds, he disappeared.
Three were left.
This will be too easy.
I lowered myself to the ground and said, “I’ve given you plenty of warning. I have to do what I have to do.”
I get into my warrior stance. It wasn’t an MMA or boxing stance. Goshi taught me how I need to have my momentum going up, because at any given moment I might need to fly. Oddly enough, the stance keeps you more grounded. I almost wished I had known about it when I was fighting MMA.
The three guys left were all different shapes and sizes. They had surrounded me while Tommy approached them from the back. They didn’t quite know what direction to go in. I was on the inside and they had a giant werewolf to deal with on the outside.
I gave Tommy instructions to attack the first person that lunged toward me. The werewolf nodded and we both waited. “Tommy,” I thought, in my mind. “Let’s treat this like a game of Nation Ball.”
“All right, my face will be the ball,” Tommy answered.
“That’s what I’m counting on.” The guy to the left of me charged in toward me and Tommy leaped on him in a blink of an eye. He tackled the Mani and shoved his face into the mud. I saw Tommy open his giant jaw and I knew it would be a matter of seconds until Tommy would end his pathetic Mani existence.
Two for me, I loved being outnumbered. Poor guys had no clue that they were the ones that were outnumbered by my epic ass. The guy from behind me swept his legs in and caught my feet, and I fell forward. I rolled with amazing control like I was a machine. I sprung up into the air off the ground and elevated over the two Mani men. I looked down and one of the guys had bitten into my calf before I was able to get completely above both of them. His face was locked into my legs. It hurt, but it was a sad attempt. I flew up fifty more feet and now the guy was dangling from my leg. He let go of his vice bite and was hanging onto my leg for dear life.
I reached down and grabbed him by his long brown hair. I flipped him up and kicked him in the face from fifty feet off the ground. He flew into the side of the observatory crushing his skull. He laid there injured, I don’t know why exactly, but I didn’t want him to suffer. I flew down beside him and picked up a long jagged rock and lodged it into his neck killing him instantly. I looked back and the remaining Mani was now in a one on one fight with Tommy. A part of me wanted to watch Tommy get his ass kicked a little bit, but I wasn’t sure how tough this guy was.
“Hey, Sheep!” I yelled at the guy.
“Isn’t it time you quit dying for a guy who could give a rat’s ass about you? The man stopped and turned to me. Tommy was about to leap on him because his back was turned. I put my hand up, and made a motion for Tommy not to do it. Tommy held back.
“Follow me,” I said. “You are a strong Mani man and we need you on our side. Fight alongside us and help me preserve our race.”
He looked afraid. Who could blame him?
“You don’t want to fight for a guy who left you here to die alone,” I said. “Where is he?”
“Look, Josiah.” The Mani man knew my name. “I can’t follow a man who fights alongside Carni.”
“What is your name?”
The Mani man kept looking at Tommy. He didn’t trust him and I needed to appeal to the guy’s sensibilities.
“Tommy, stand down and walk over to me.”
Tommy looked at me as if to say, ‘you’re really going to save this guy?’
“Tommy, transition,” I said. Tommy sighed and eventually turned into his Carni form.
“What is your name?” I repeated.
“I am Cyrus.” Cyrus had dark brown hair and looked a lot like Tommy.
“Look at Tommy,” I said, to Cyrus.
“No.”
“Look at him!” I yelled.
Cyrus reluctantly looked at Tommy.
“What do you see?” I asked.
Cyrus paused. Then he said, “I see a man.”
“And?”
“I see a man, much like myself,” he said.
“You two could be brothers. Your ethnicity is Scottish, correct?” I asked.
“Scottish and Welsh,” he answered.
“Well, so is Tommy. Before you became a Mani and Tommy became a Carni, you were both Scotsmen. You guys were connected by heritage and tradition. You both bleed Scottish blood. You have allowed this thing, who all of us have become, to dictate sides. Why does it have to? Who says we need to be on one side or the other?”
“Carni killed my brothers!” Cyrus yelled loudly.
“Tommy didn’t kill your brothers. As a matter of fact, if Tommy was there he would have fought for what was right, even if it meant turning on his own. Don’t you see that this isn’t about Carni and Mani. This is about right and wrong.”
“What makes you the ones that are right?” he asked.
I looked at Cyrus and then at Tommy. “I hope we are. Cyrus, I think we’re right because we only react in “love.” We don’t seek revenge and we don’t randomly kill. We protect our own as well as other innocent people around us. If that isn’t right, then I guess I missed the point to all of this.”
“It’s hard to just let that go.”
“You’re going to have to. Vengeance has its time and place. It is not wasted on those who don’t deserve it. Tommy has never wronged you. He is just a representation of what you hate. You need to free yourself from that, and seek hope.”
Cyrus nodded his head.
“Will you join me?” I asked again.
“I can’t really go back now, can I?” Cyrus said.
“Sure you can. You can tell Krull you escaped my evil clutches. I want you to join us, but only if it’s in your heart.”
“You’re not what I expected,” Cyrus said to me.
“Honestly, Cyrus, I am not even what I expected.”
Cyrus looked at me and smiled. He walked over and shook my hand. He then walked over to Tommy. He stuck out his hand and Tommy shook it. Cyrus turned to me and said, “I’ll follow you, Josiah.”
Chapter Sixteen
The three of us walked to the highway and I told Tommy to take a taxi back to Yari’s townhouse. I asked Cyrus to come home with me. I knew he would be hunted down by Krull and his army because he switched sides. He was my responsibility now. I knew Yari’s place didn’t have any more room, but I had no other option. Cyrus and I transitioned and flew to Yari’s.
When we got in, it was nearly 2:00 in the morning. Yari, Hector, and Wyatt were all up in the living room doing God knows what. Honestly, the less I know about those three, the better.
We walked in and Yari instantly took a liking to Cyrus. I guess he was fresh meat. She was no better than a dude. “Hey, Josiah I see you were out making friends,” Yari said.
“I guess you could say that,” I answered. “Unfortunately, it came at a high price for some. Everyone, this is Cyrus.” Cyrus gave an awkward wave to the group. “He has joined our little cause.”
“Are we going to start taking in every stray Mani from here to San Jose?” Wyatt asked.
“He risked a lot joining us, and I will see to it that he is safe. This house is sunlight proof, so that’s a good place to start.”
“Well, it looks like we have two less visitors now anyway.” Yari stated. “So welcome Cyrus. I have a nice big bed if you’re interested.”
Cyrus had a nervous smile and I winked at him. “It’s okay, Cyrus, she bites,” I said, jokingly. I turned to Yari. “So, let me guess. Lena left?”
“Lena said she needed some time,” Yari said. “We gave her some money and she said she’d keep in touch. That’s all I knew to do.”
“You are a saint, Yari.” I said, sarcastically. I was extremely disappointed to hear that bit of information on many levels. But the main one was I really wanted to set things straight with her. “Who is the other person that left?” I asked, knowing full well she was referring to Tommy.
“That’s not exactly what happened. He kind of spazzed out and went flying through the window.”
“Without any help from you?” Yari asked.
“Do you really think I’d throw my best friend through a window?”
Yari smiled because she heard what I said. I still called Tommy my best friend.
“Well, don’t worry about him,” I said to the group. “He’s coming back and he should be here any minute.”
“Where is he?” Wyatt asked.
“Trust me, he’ll be here. There’s only two rooms, so we need to all be courteous to each other,” I said. “If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to take a moment.” I excused myself and walked down the hallway and went into the guest room and shut the door.
I started to feel really emotional. Now that Lena had officially left, I was going to really have to see this thing for what it was. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to. How can I lead those people if I feel the way I do? My heart ached.
Forever and Always? What had happened with that?
I laid on the bed and closed my eyes. I needed to lay down and recharge my batteries. This sure has been some kind of roller coaster since I’ve been back. I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse.
I laid there for about twenty minutes and then I heard a knock at the door. “Who is it?” I yelled out.
“It’s Tommy.”
Great! What the hell does he want? I knew we had just fought by each other’s side, but we really didn’t have much choice. We were pretty outnumbered. I wasn’t sure if I was up to talking with him, but he was at the door and I couldn’t tell him to leave.
“Come in,” I said.
The door slowly opened and Tommy poked his head through the door. “Can I come in? I feel a little out of place with all those vampires in the other room.”
