by Night, H. T.
I knelt down and Tommy licked my face. I laughed out loud as his long tongue tickled my nose and cheeks. I hugged him in a way a seven year old would hug his brand-new puppy on Christmas morning. This wolf, this six-foot-tall, 250-pound werewolf was loving on me, and I was loving on him.
“Tommy,” I said. “Are you aware that I’m Josiah?”
The wolf looked at me strangely.
“I’m Josiah,” I repeated. “Do you know me?”
Tommy once again licked my face.
If he didn’t know me as Josiah, his friend, he definitely knew me as Josiah, his master. “Are you hungry, boy?” It was funny calling Tommy boy, but it seemed like the most natural way to talk to him in this state. I had prepared a couple of steaks for Tommy earlier in the evening and went out of the cage and closed the cage door, but didn’t lock it. I mean after all, he was still chained in. Baby steps, I thought.
I came back and threw both steaks in the cage. Tommy went to town on them and enjoyed those steaks more than any human ever could.
The rest of the night Tommy and I played in his cage. He was still chained in, but at no point did I ever feel I was in danger. This was once again becoming an extremely productive night. This just might work.
The sun was about to come up, and I was very curious to watch Tommy transform back to his Carni form, as I had slept through it the night before. Tommy had put his head down and rested. I wasn’t sure if he was asleep, but I decided to unlock his chains. If he was going to attack me he would had done it by now. I unlocked all the chains that were tightly placed around his elbow and ankles and chest.
Tommy didn’t wake up and was completely still. I walked out of the cage and instinctively locked the door behind me. I stopped, and decided to unlock the cage. Not only did I unlock the cage, I left the door open. I was going to trust Tommy one hundred and ten percent. Tommy the werewolf and Tommy the man were no longer two separate things and were becoming one. I sat down outside the cage and rested against the wall. Tommy was snoring away. What a night! I was exhausted.
The sun was peeking over the horizon, so I decided to study the werewolf as he slept. Tommy startled himself awake, within a second, he went from werewolf to man. I almost didn’t catch it. It was a much quicker transformation than when he had turned into a werewolf. He laid there in his boxers completely soaked from head to toe. He looked up at me. “Josiah,” he said, “I remember everything.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tommy and I agreed we would talk after we both rested. Tommy showered and went up to his room to sleep. I went to the guest room, crashed on the couch and pondered the night—wondering what it all meant.
What was all this for? Would this give me an advantage against Krull? Or was I saving Tommy from himself? I didn’t know. Was Tommy ‘the werewolf’ and Tommy ‘the man” becoming one? If this was true, there might be a chance that Tommy may be able to transition the way Mani can. Who knew what could happen then?
I had dozed off and unless I had a vision, I didn’t dream.
“Josiah.”
I opened my eyes.
It was Tommy. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Want to talk about last night?”
“Definitely, Tom.” I sat up, stretched my arms, and wiped my eyes.
“Damn Josiah, you’re paler than I have ever seen you.”
“Not seeing sunlight in six weeks can do that to a person.” I laughed.
“So, what do you think?” Tommy looked at me intently as if I was given details by the Triat personally.
“I have a lot of thoughts,” I answered. “I’m just not sure if any of them are valid.”
“Valid or not, let me hear them.”
I got up and walked to the kitchen. Tommy followed. I poured myself a glass of water, and then sat at the table with Tommy across from me.
“It’s like this,” I said. “How many immortal species do you know of? I mean is it only Mani and Carni?”
“There are rumors of other species, but the only ones I know for sure are the Mani and the Carni.”
“Okay, let’s assume we are the only ones. We are both immortal right? So whatever DNA—or whatever it is that’s inside us—that keeps is from dying from old age is similar to one another. It has to be.”
“Okay.” Tommy was interested.
“What if the Mani is just a more evolved species?”
“Like you’re smarter than us?” Tommy said, insulted.
“Not necessarily smarter; it’s more like the Mani just know themselves better because they have been around so damn long.”
Tommy stared at me. He was slightly put off, but Tommy was a smart guy. I just needed to explain myself better.
“It’s like this,” I said. “The internet wasn’t invented in a day. First, there was electricity—then telephones—then computers—then the World Wide Web! What if the Mani are in the internet stage of the evolution and the Carni are still at the Franklin kite-in-the-sky electricity stage? Benjamin Franklin was one of the most brilliant men that ever lived; he would crap his pants if he knew what we could do with electricity now.”
“What if the Carni haven’t figured out how to transition at will, the way Mani can? What if the Carni had always had the ability but they had just been slaves to the full moon? What if they could resist the full moon and turn into a werewolf whenever they felt like it the way Mani can? What if you could control it by transitioning back to a Carni form when it’s a full moon and transition back to a werewolf during the day?!”
“Wow, I never thought of it that way.”
“We have broken huge ground in just 48 hours. I took your chains off and let the door open and you just slept peacefully.”
“I know. I was calm. I remember feeling safe, like I was home.”
“That is because of our bond.” I paused and looked at Tommy. “I have a question for you?”
“Okay.”
“You remembered everything from last night, right?”
Tommy was hesitant, “Yeah, I think so.”
“You’re aware that you were licking me like I was a 50/50 bar.”
Tommy laughed. “Yeah, about that,” Tommy stammered a bit, “all I can tell you is that it’s instinctive. I can’t high-five you or even give you a bro hug. When I’m in that state, licking seems perfectly OK.”
“As long as you only do the licking as a werewolf, we’re cool.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, pretty boy.” Tommy knew that calling me pretty boy pissed me off. “Are we done with that?” Tommy said, a little embarrassed.
“Yeah, we’re done, sloppy kisser,” I said with a chuckle.
Tommy shot me a look that pretty much said, ‘quit it, dude.’
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Now I’m done.”
“Josiah, there is one more full moon left. Do you think we can accomplish what we need to in one more night?”
“I hope so.”
Tommy nodded and went upstairs to take and a nap.
I decided to watch a Scorsese marathon on the tube. Raging Bull followed by The Departed. Damn, he was an intense director. I loved me some Marty.
Tommy came downstairs as The Departed ended. I looked up at Tommy and said, “How Mark Walberg didn’t win the Oscar for that movie I don’t know.”
Tommy ignored my sentiments for Marky Mark and had other things on his mind. “Yari called me,” he said. “She said they will come back tomorrow.”
“She called you? Are you guys like best friends now?”
“Relax, Josiah; you can’t put a claim on every woman in this house.”
I laughed. “I’m not jealous, Tom.”
“Then what are you?”
“I don’t know what I am,” I said.
“Look, I know you two slept together. I know she followed you for two years, but it’s obvious that you have feelings for Lena.”
“Huh?” I said, acting surprised.
“Jo, you have serious feelings for Lena. Anyone can see that.”
“I’ve never ever said anything to lead you after that conclusion.”
“Josiah, I’ve known you for a long time. You have the same look in your eye you had for Krista Gregory. And you had it bad for Krista Gregory.”
He was right, I was crazy about Lena. I cared for her in a way I didn’t completely understand. Every time I think about her, I got exhausted with the longing in my heart. “Yeah, I guess so, Tom,” I said.
“You guess so?” Tommy answered back.
“What do you want me to say?”
“You don’t have to say anything. I get it.”
“My sister?”
Tommy nodded his head and stared off. I knew he loved my sister deeply. “After I lost to Atticai and Goliath had beaten me further and left me for dead, I was lying there in a pool of my own blood. I had inner peace inside me, I figured I was done and I was about to go to the ever after. Then something extraordinary happened. I saw your sister. She was reaching out to me. I was dying and knew the end was near. I knew I was moments away from being with her.” Tommy stopped talking.
I waited patiently, giving him time to get himself together.
He tried to speak again but he was too choked up to do so. This was hard for him. Hell, it was hard for me to hear. “I could see her face, Josiah. I could see your sister’s face. She was reaching out her hand to me. She was there to take me with her. It was the most wonderful feeling I ever felt. I reached out my hand and she took it.”
“She took your hand?”
“I thought it was hers, but it wasn’t. It was Yari’s. Yari took my hand and wiped the blood from my eyes. I reached out for your sister, but Yari was the one there. Jo, Yari saved my life. I was left for dead. She risked everything to get me out of there.” Tommy stopped talking. “It was like your sister acted through her. Her touch was Yari’s touch.”
“Wow,” I said.
“I still can’t believe that seven-foot beanpole kicked my ass.”
“Atticai did look like a beanpole, but that was where it ended. He was the strongest man I have ever fought.”
“Stronger than Krull?”
I thought about it. “Yeah, definitely. Krull seemed more seasoned. Atticai had the heart of a lion.”
“All I know is that heart of a lion, scarecrow-looking, motherfucker kicked the shit out of me,” Tommy said, disgusted. He stared at me and didn’t say anything.
“What?” I asked.
“How were you able to kill him?”
“I was able to kill him only because I had become ‘the eagle.’ Man vs. vampire, he would have manhandled me. I don’t know if I could take him even now.”
Tommy’s expression was one of disgrace and confusion. He stood up from the table. “Anyway, so what’s the plan for tonight?”
“There is less of a plan for tonight and more of a plan for today.”
“Okay?”
“I just think we should just hang out today.”
“Just hang out?” Tommy repeated slowly.
“I’m thinking we just hang out together and forget about the sun going down. We just spend quality time together. I want to see if the bond we have right now can easily translate as you become a werewolf. I think if there is no change in your reaction we will be on to something.”
“You sure, Josiah? What if things don’t go as smoothly as they did last night? What if I don’t respond to you? Then it’s ‘Josiah vs. Werewolf,’ Part 1.
“I am going with my gut again on this one. This is going to work.”
Tommy was definitely unsure about my decision but he went along with it anyway. “All right. What do you want to do?”
“I thought we could either do some old school MMA training, or I could kick your ass in Scrabble.”
“You didn’t just lay down the gauntlet?” Tommy grinned from ear to ear. Tommy and I have had some epic Scrabble matches in the past.
“You have a board?” I asked.
“What do you think? It was the first thing I bought when I got the place.”
“Okay, Tommy boy. It’s time to triple letter your ass.”
“Triple letter? Son, I’m going to triple word your face into submission.”
Tommy and I loved to play our Scrabble. Tommy went to get out the board. It was 6:00 p.m. There was two hours until sunset.
Tommy laid out the board on the living room floor and we took our pieces to begin the match. I went first. I got double points; I spelled “rhythm.” There was no way Tommy could get a good word off of that. Tommy took his time and then got a familiar gleam in his eyes. Oh no, he was going to get major points, I could feel it. Tommy used my ‘y’ in ‘rhythm’ and made the word ‘oxygen’ going down and played the ‘x’ on the triple letter.
“Look, who just got his ass triple lettered,” Tommy said, as cocky a man could get playing a game of Scrabble. “That’s 32 points, son. Shabam!”
The challenge was on! Tommy and I were going to have another epic match. We played a long time and it came down to the wire once again with the score being ‘312 to 317’ with Tommy ahead. I had a letter ‘Q’ left and was down by five. There was an ‘A’ and a ‘T’ in the far right corner of the board. ‘QAT’ was a Scrabble word. I had no idea what the word meant, but I recalled seeing the word in the Scrabble dictionary. I was staring at the ‘Q’ with deep thought and had my head down. I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment. Should I put it down? If I was wrong, I know Tommy would challenge it. I opened my eyes and said, “Okay, Tom, you’ll probably challenge this but I got to do it.” I was expecting Tommy to say, ‘challenge.’ But, there was a problem, Tommy wasn’t in the room. I got up and looked for him in the cage room, and sure enough, there he was. He had turned into a werewolf and I didn’t even know. I was too busy pondering the ‘Q’.
Tommy once again stared out the window crying to the moon. It was less of a cry this night and more of a plea. What was making him so sad?
I hadn’t interacted with Tommy during his howling out phase, but this time I needed to. I needed to bond with him immediately. I slowly and tentatively walked over to the giant, gray wolf. His beautiful mane encircled his huge head. I knelt down next to him and Tommy turned his head toward me and rested it on my shoulder. Whatever he was feeling inside, somehow my presence was comforting him.
Tommy walked on all fours out of the room. He continued upstairs and I followed him. He went up to his room and was looking under the bed. I walked over to him, and his nose was nuzzled under the bed. I looked under the bed to see what he was looking for and saw an envelope with pictures. I reached under the bed and picked up the envelope and sat on his bed. I opened the envelope to look at the pictures: it was pictures of us, pictures of my parents, pictures of Tommy and my sister.
Tommy jumped on the bed and sat next to me. I slowly went through each picture with him, tears burning my eyes. I hadn’t taken time to reflect on my family in a very long time. My family was Tommy’s family, and their death affected him the same way it did me. He loved my parents and they loved him. He and my sister’s love was one for the ages. I wondered why it took him to become a werewolf to properly mourn. He and I had never really talked about the day they all died in the car crash. We just went on with our lives and used mixed martial arts as a way to escape.
I put the pictures down and lay back on the bed and Tommy yawned and put his head on the bed. I decided to talk to him, not like a wolf, but as man. “I miss them, Tommy,” I said, “I miss them a lot.”
Tommy looked up at me.
I continued, “That day is a blur to me. When you called and told me they were in the hospital—I went into shock. I convinced myself they were dead even before I got to the hospital. That was the only way I could deal with it. It’s morbid, but it’s what I had to do. I don’t know how you dealt with it, Tom. You were in the room when my sister died.”
Tommy moaned. He laid his head on my chest. I quit talking. We both laid there in silence. This was the first time Tommy and I
mourned together for my family.
Chapter Fifteen
After a while Tommy fell asleep on the bed. I got up quietly; left the room and walked downstairs. I decided to go outside; it had been three days since I had some fresh air. After a while I decided to go for a light run in the midnight air. I jogged uphill on a winding road. Running uphill always made me feel alive. The air is a lot thinner up in the mountains, so I didn’t push it. I wanted to feel the night.
I ended up at the all night 7-Eleven store, two miles up. I decided to go in and grab some hot dogs for Tommy and me. I went to the back where they kept basic items in the freezer. I grabbed a pack of dogs and a pack of buns from the shelf. I went to the condiment aisle and got some Gulden’s mustard. Neither Tommy nor I liked ketchup.
I walked up to the front counter to pay and scanned the magazines while I waited for the guy in front to me to pick out some lottery tickets. I looked at the tabloid magazines and newspapers. One cover read, “Real Vampires Wreak Havoc on Dracula’s Castle.” I laughed. Real vampires, my ass! I’d show you a fucking real life vampire! There was a picture of Dracula’s Castle on the cover of the magazine. As I stared at the cover, I dropped the hot dogs, buns and mustard.
There it was: a white castle with exactly the same building structure as the one in my vision, complete with hill and distinct-colored brush. Holy shit! It was the castle to a “T.” Was I supposed to go to Dracula’s castle? Was that little blue man supposed to train me at Dracula’s castle? Where the hell was Dracula’s castle located? I skimmed the article. Transylvania, Romania. Are you fucking kidding me? Could this get any weirder?
* * *
I got back and put the hot dogs and buns in the refrigerator and went upstairs to check on Tommy. When I got to his room, something was horribly wrong; he wasn’t there. My heart fell to the floor. Tommy was out of his cage! I totally forgot that he was still a werewolf. A werewolf that was capable of killing anything or anyone in a blink of an eye.
