by H. T. Night
I decided to make a literal U-turn in midair. I could have transitioned back to the eagle at that point, but I wasn’t ready to do that yet. There was something incredibly liberating when I flew in my human form. I felt less restricted. Right now, if I felt trapped in any way, I might lose my mind.
It was getting closer to 5 a.m. and I knew it wouldn’t matter what state I was flying in, the sun was coming up no matter what. I decided to transition into my eagle form just to be safe and I dropped my elevation to just above the clouds; the morning scenery was majestic with the sun peeking through. It was absolutely amazing how clouds look when flying directly above them. It almost appeared that someone might just be able to walk on top of them. It made me smile to imagine myself cloud surfing.
As I flew, I could see a snowy mountain in the distance. It was Mount Rainer. It was about the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The snow-capped mountain looked like something one would see in a J.R.R. Tolkien film.
I decided to fly down so I could stand at the peak of the mountain and just take in my entire surroundings. I needed to rest and what better place to do so? I had been flying for about four hours straight. Yes, faster than a speeding bullet.
So, I descended down to the peak of the mountain. The closer I got to the mighty landscape, the colder I felt underneath my feathers. Eagles were pretty resilient, but cold is cold.
I landed and stood on top of the beautiful, magnificent mountain and took in everything that the view had to offer me. It was absolutely spectacular. I had a moment of self-reflection. I had never felt more alone than I did at that very moment. I wondered what Helen, the fake duchess, was doing. I didn’t know why, but I felt like she might be the only person in the world who could possibly understand what I was feeling.
This was starting to be a very painful existence and the numbness I had been feeling was transferring into large amounts of pain and loss. I was tired of feeling sorry for myself. I was tired of trusting and loving the wrong people. I looked up into the sky and decided it was time to go back to Victorville and face everything head on. It was time to follow my true destiny and leave all of this nonsense behind.
I flew up and headed south and made my way back to southern California. I got back to the house and I knew I didn’t want to see Lena. I was sick and tired of allowing her to affect me the way she did. This situation was ridiculous. I felt like I was trapped in an episode of 90210, but with vampires and werewolves. I was tired of wasting my time on this.
I was beginning to wonder exactly what my calling was. Up to this point, I’d been waiting for some type of divine intervention to fall into my lap, even though I was supposedly the divine intervention. Who did a Chosen One even pray to? In many ways, it had on a consistent basis, waiting for a divine sign of the right things to do for an entire species and their society. The one thing I had been waiting for was really the only question I had up to this point.
How the hell was I supposed to save the Mani race and what did that mean, exactly?
I knew the best person to speak to on this subject was Helen or Atticai. I had no clue how to reach Helen and, after last night, Atticai was the last person I ever wanted to speak to—he had his own interests and agenda and I no longer trusted him in any way. I needed to know answers. Truth be told, up until now I had been afraid to know the truth of my calling, because of its magnitude and impact on so many people. If I knew the truth, then I had to do something about it. I hadn’t been sure I was ready until…right now.
I had one more loose end to tie up, to get to the bottom of. Then I knew I’d be ready to take on whatever was expected of me. I flew through the trap door that led to my room. I transitioned as I landed on the bed.
I left my room and went to Yari’s bedroom. I opened the door without knocking, which was a mistake; she was lying naked on her bed above the covers. All I could say is… ‘Wow’! I grabbed a blanket and put it over her. “Sorry,” I said softly.
“Thank you, Josiah,” Yari said.
“You’re awake?”
“Yes, and I’m glad I was. Did you enjoy the peep show?”
I grinned. “Your body is pretty perfect, but that wasn’t the reason why I came in here.”
“I wouldn’t think it was.” Yari pinched my thigh and I gave her a look that put her quickly in her place.
“Sorry, if I’m not in a playful mood,” I said. “Everything is spiraling down when it should be spiraling up.”
“These days Josiah, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you happy, let alone playful.”
“Things have been pretty weird, Yari. What can I say?”
“I know, sweetie. It’s not every day that someone with your status gets rejected publicly like that.”
I sat on Yari’s bed and laid on my back at the foot of her mattress. Yari sat up and was still naked. She tried to keep herself covered, but one thing, Yari wasn’t was modest. “Can I ask you a question, Josiah?”
“Sure,” I said, in a tone that was more like a groan.
“Why Lena?” Yari asked.
“Why not?”
“I’m being very serious. Why her? I mean, she’s cute in a kitten kind of way, but look at you. You’re a Greek God. These days, you might as well be a subject of Greek mythology, but yet, you’re chasing a woman who obviously has no clue what she has. She’s so clueless that her beauty is a handicap to her existence. She relies on that and that only, and she couldn’t decide her way out of a wet paper bag.”
“Do you really think all those mean things?” I asked.
She snorted. “I’m a woman. Of course I do! Female society is based on our judgment of other women. Weren’t you even aware that every woman at the party last night thought you were the sexiest man they had ever seen?”
“Really?” I said, surprised.
“Holy shit, Josiah. Are you kidding me? Don’t you see what looks back at you in the mirror?”
I was quiet. I wasn’t really in the mood to hear how hot I was when the one person I cared about rejected me. “Love is something you can’t really put your finger on. I fell in love with Lena in the midst of this crazy journey I’ve been on. I never planned on caring about her the way I do. Now that I feel this way, I need closure. I need to know what she has been thinking this whole time. I need to know why she did what she did when I was away getting trained by Goshi. When she knew that…I loved her.”
“Josiah. Your grotesque fondness for this woman is really nauseating. At the end of the day, you need to be true to yourself.”
I wanted Yari to understand how truly screwed up the situation actually was. How Lena and I had actually slept together the night before. “There’s more to the story, Yari.”
“More? How?” Yari asked.
“Yari, Lena lost her virginity to me the night before my birthday.”
Yari was quiet. I couldn’t tell if she was jealous or in deep thought about what I had just said.
“You two had sex?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh my! That does change things, doesn’t it? And you know she was a virgin?”
“Does it matter?” I asked.
“I guess not.”
“But, as far as I can tell, she was. She seemed pretty new to everything.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. Lena got herself a vampire’s love on one night, and then wanted a werewolf’s love a day later. I have to say, I’m impressed. Apparently you unleashed the passion in that cold ice princess. There is hope for that little prude.”
“She’s no prude, trust me on that.”
Yari smiled at me. “Was it good?”
“I don’t want to talk about the details, but it was extremely spiritual.”
“Oh, please! Give it a rest. Spiritual? It was sex! That’s all. Trust me when I tell you this, Josiah. The more sex you have, the less you will see it for the romanticism. Sex is about two people being very selfish. They are both trying to gain physical and emotional pleasure by using the other person.
There is nothing special or supernatural about it. It’s just individuals getting their rocks off.”
I shook my head at Yari. “Well, I don’t believe that.”
“You’re cute, Josiah.”
“I’m not trying to be cute.” I sighed and said, “Can you tell me where Lena might be?”
“She’s here.”
“In the house?”
“She was, as of three hours ago. I let her stay in one of the rooms downstairs…”
“She came back here? Why?”
“What did you think she was going to do? She knew that she had hurt you and made a huge mistake in the eyes of her friends. She knew that in some people’s eyes, what she did was unforgivable. She chose the werewolf. Unthinkable. And then the werewolf ran away with his tail literally tucked between his legs. Where the hell would Lena go but here? By choosing Tommy, the werewolf, she made herself into a laughingstock of the Mani women, and amongst the Mani men, well, let’s just put it this way, no one is going to want her because she is now marked that she has a thing for Carni packages. Even though she didn’t sleep with Carni, she took a public stand and now is considered…tainted.”
I did a face-palm. “She doesn’t have to stay for me. I’ll see to it that no Mani ever gives her grief for what she did tonight. She went with her heart and her heart isn’t with me.”
“But it is, Josiah. She loves you; she loves you the same as you do her. She’s scared. She chose Tommy tonight because she’s the kind of person who’s there for the underdog. Tommy had everyone against him. It is in her core to do what she did. She went to Tommy because he needed her more than you did.”
An inkling of realization spread through me about Lena’s motivation for publicly choosing Tommy.
“Ah, I see you begin to understand,” Yari said. “You have Mani women falling at your feet to be the squeeze of The Chosen One. Tommy stood alone and he was brave and pathetic. Lena went with her gut instinct, which I believe was based on compassion, even pity, but not love. Not romantic love, anyway.”
What Yari was saying made a lot of sense, but I still needed to hear it from Lena. “Wow. Thanks for the talk, Yari. I think you make a good case for what happened last night. I couldn’t figure it out to save my life.”
“You’re welcome. Anytime. That’s what friends are for, and I am your friend. You should talk to me more.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m grateful.”
“Josiah?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s time for you to get tough.”
“You don’t think I’m tough?”
“When it comes to fighting, you’re a beast. When it comes to love, you’re a ‘grade A’ pussy.”
“A pussy? Wow, tell me what you really think, Yari. Damn.”
“Am I wrong? You’ve been wandering around aimlessly lovesick these past couple of months. It’s time to grow a pair of Mani Chosen One balls and start preparing to face off against Krull.”
“Is Krull on our radar now?”
“I’m afraid so. It might not happen today, but it’s coming. Krull is gathering his troops, getting ready to strike at a moment’s notice. You can’t afford to remain stagnant any longer, or to get distracted by this love stuff. With some of your best Mani fighters siding with Atticai, we’re currently screwed. If we had to fight Krull right now, it would be a massacre of the Mani.”
I shook my head and looked at Yari.
“Why are you shaking your head, Josiah?”
“When it comes to this face-off, or battle, that everyone speaks about, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“You’ll know when it’s time. All I can tell you is to keep seeking answers. Keep gathering your allies. Keep training, not just you, but everyone. Get your head out of your ass, Josiah. This isn’t about love. It’s about war.”
Chapter Three
I walked downstairs and peeked inside the bedroom that was closest to the kitchen. I figured that was where Lena was because no one had been sleeping in that room up until today. I looked in and saw her lying on the bed. She was on her back completely covered with just her head sticking out. It was in complete contrast to what I had just experienced with Yari.
I wasn’t sure if I should wake her up, considering how peaceful she looked. But I also didn’t think it was a good idea to stand at the door, looking in at her like a scorned, heartbroken ex-lover. I decided to whisper her name loudly.
“Lena,” I said, into the room. Lena didn’t respond so I spoke louder. “Lena!” I repeated. No response, I figured I’d give it one more shot, “Lena!” The last one was a cross between a yell and a moan.
She opened her eyes, “Josiah.” She seemed a bit confused as if she forgot where she was. She sat up and looked around the room. She was still wearing the black blouse she had on from the night before.
“I think we should talk,” I said, and entered the room.
Lena nodded and patted the bed in an invitation for me to sit. I walked over a little further down the bed than where she wanted me to sit. I couldn’t give in to her right out of the gate.
“Last night was pretty intense,” I said.
“Yeah, to say the least.” Lena didn’t say anything else; she just left it at that. I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to say, but I needed for her to give me something back.
“What do you think about Atticai being back?” I asked.
“It’s pretty weird,” she said and again didn’t elaborate on anything else.
“Just weird? You have nothing else to say?”
“Well, there was a piece of me that knew he was still alive. It was almost as if I could feel his presence at times.”
“Well, I wish you would’ve given me a head’s up, because I was pretty thrown back by the whole situation.”
“I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry.” Lena finally started to open up.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I did neither. I was in awe like everyone else.”
“I was a little more than ‘in awe.’ That asshole duped me something awful. He duped everyone.”
Lena looked over at me and with a very serious tone in her voice she said, “You don’t think for one second that I ever considered going with him?”
I smiled as if to say, ‘I hadn’t had much of a clue.’
“You know that, right, Josiah? I didn’t consider him for one second.”
“I don’t think it really matters. Last night wasn’t about you choosing Atticai. You made your feelings known.”
“Known? How would that be possible? I didn’t even know what my feelings were myself.”
“Exactly. They definitely weren’t for me.”
“Is that what you think?” Lena looked at me in a way that made my heart feel like it was going to come out of my chest.
“Look, it must have been a big turn on to be the object of three different men’s affection. But after what we had experienced together the night before, I thought I had the slight edge.”
“If you recall, I didn’t leave with Tommy.”
“Only because he told you to stay. And then he ran off without you!” I was shocked. Was she really going to say it was her choice?
“Josiah, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing, but I wasn’t going to leave with Tommy.”
“That’s easy to say, now that he has rejected your sentiment.”
“Rejected my sentiment? What are you trying to say?”
I was beside myself. “Tommy asked you to go with him. You did everything but audibly say the words ‘yes.’ Then in typical Tommy fashion, he rejected it because he got what he wanted.”
“Which was what?”
“A victory,” I said, almost yelling.
“A victory? Is that what it was to all of you? A competition?”
“Don’t turn this around, Lena. I left my heart out there at Flatlands. You not only rejected it, you never once went in my direction. Even after Tommy told you to stay.”
“How could I? I was so confused. Tommy was being completely outcast by everyone, including you.”
“I didn’t outcast him. I knew it was a bad idea for him to fight a vampire in front of a sea of vampires. It was a suicide wish for Tommy. He could not have won that fight that almost happened and he knew it. He was going for broke, Lena!”
Lena stared at me, tears dripping from her eyes. “You need to know, Josiah. I didn’t walk over to him because I was planning on leaving with him. I went to him because he stood all alone.”
“But you chose him and that is all everyone saw. Tommy left with something far more valuable than you actually leaving with him.”
“Which was what?” Lena asked.
“Tommy left with your heart. He left knowing that you wanted to choose him. You can’t deny that, Lena.”
Lena was quiet.
“And you know what, Lena?”
“What?” She completely expected me to continue to piss and moan about the situation, but I wasn’t going to. I was done with the whole thing. Yari had given me a reality check, tough love, and I knew it was true. I had to stop thinking of myself, my love life, and serve the Mani people. We had a war about to erupt and that was bigger than what my heart needed. My head was now in charge.
“You can have him,” I said. “You can go to wherever Tommy is and be with him. I’m okay with it. I seriously need to turn this page. The Josiah and Lena love story has reached its end. This is a broken record that’s playing some pretty awful music. I’m not about to waste any more nights flying around aimlessly trying to figure us out.”
“There is nothing to figure out, Josiah. I love you.”
“Maybe you do, but I’m not the only one who has your heart.”
Again, Lena was quiet. Too quiet.
“I only have one question to ask you. If you love Tommy too, why did you sleep with me?”
“Because I only love you. Josiah, I don’t love Tommy the way I love you.”
“But you love him, nonetheless. That’s way too much for me to handle.”
“It’s not the same. You need to understand that. Tommy fascinates me, and in the end, I care for him deeply, but he’s not the one.”
