New Title 3

by H. T. Night

  I kept running as fast as I could. Cars swerved around into the next lane. Horns honked everywhere. Tires screeched. And still I ran. Now a car was coming directly for me. I refused to move over. It screeched to a stop, smoke billowing up around its tires. But I didn’t slow or swerve. Instead, I ran up onto its hood and ignored the shocked expression of the middle-aged driver. I ran over the roof and down the trunk, leaving massive footprints in the sheet metal. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything.

  Eventually I turned a corner and found myself in a dirt parking lot. Some cars followed me in. I dropped to my knees, sucking air, trying to breathe, trying to die. Whatever came first, I didn’t care.

  A guy in a big, black Ford truck got out of his vehicle and began yelling at me. “What the hell were you doing you stupid asshole!”

  I ignored him, barely saw him. He was just background noise.

  Another guy jumped out of a white Mazda. An overweight Asian dude. “You stupid piece of shit...what the hell were you trying to do?”

  God, I was in so much pain. I didn’t care if these two guys wanted to kick my ass or not. I was going to let them do it if they wanted to. I dropped my chin against my chest. My heart was racing so fast. Finally, I just let out a long, bellowing wail.

  One of the guys asked me if I needed help, but I didn’t respond. Eventually, they both got in their vehicles and drove off. From above, I heard the beat of Daphne’s wings and an occasional squawk. I don’t know what it was about that bird, but she was attached to me. The morning sun beat down on my neck. Its heat comforted me.

  Eventually, I made it back to my truck and drove home. I opened the door and went straight into Tommy’s room. He kept his room meticulous, just as he did everything else in his life. He still had pictures of himself and my sister on his dresser, even though she had been dead for three years. Pictures of them at Disneyland and at her senior prom.

  On top of the dresser was a picture of Tommy and me with our arms around each other after my first MMA fight. I had knocked the guy out in one minute, so Tommy and I were sporting the number one sign. We looked so happy. This picture was about a year old, which would have been two years after my family’s accident. Tommy and I knew without ever talking about it that we were bonded for life. Now...he was gone. He had gone to heaven. Now I have my pops, mom, sis, and Tommy all looking after me.

  I sat on his bed and lay back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling.

  “So what am I supposed to do now guys?” I yelled out loud. “You guys really think I can do this alone? Well I have news for all of you...I can’t.” I rolled over and I got up and looked at myself in Tommy’s mirror above his dresser. “But it looks like I have no choice.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I felt lost. I really didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to get out of here. Go somewhere far away. I needed to talk to someone. I needed to talk to someone I trusted. I needed to talk to Lena.

  I got in my truck and drove over to her house. She answered the door immediately.

  “Josiah,” Lena said, surprised. “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not.” I said. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

  “Sure.” She grabbed her coat and we both got in my truck. I drove around the corner and parked in a church parking lot. I suddenly found speaking very difficult. I collected myself and, with her concerned eyes on me, I blurted out, “Tommy is dead.”

  “How do you know?” she asked.

  Her question was completely out of left field. “What do you mean how do I know? I was at the hospital when he died.”

  “Oh, no. This can’t be happening.” Lena covered her face and looked away.

  Okay, either this girl has no clue how to console someone hurting, or something else was going on. “What can’t be happening? Lena, do you know something?”

  She looked back at me. Yeah, something was wrong. “What is it, Lena? Please.”

  “You’re not going to believe what happened.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Let’s go for a ride.”

  So we rode. I pulled out of the church driveway and soon we were cruising on a mostly empty freeway going nowhere in particular. Lena turned in her seat and looked at me.

  “Josiah, how well did you know Tommy?”

  “I knew him like a brother.”

  “Then perhaps even brothers keep secrets.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Tommy had a secret, Josiah. A big secret.”

  I was in no mood, and, quite frankly, she was beginning to irritate me. I needed to be consoled, not presented with riddles. It took all my effort to bite my tongue, and simply growl, “How the hell would you know about Tommy’s secrets? You barely knew him.”

  “Josiah, this might be hard for you to understand. This will be hard for you to understand.” she took a deep breath, touched my hand tentatively, then retracted her hand.

  “Just say it, Lena.”

  She nodded. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. This night was just getting weirder and weirder. “Josiah, Tommy is what’s called a Carni.”

  “What the hell is a Carni?”

  She was staring at me again. Even in my peripheral vision, I could see her lower lip shaking.

  “Please talk to me, Lena. I’m seriously confused. What’s a Carni?”

  “They’re werewolves.”

  I looked at her and she was dead serious. She didn’t even blink. She was looking right through me.

  “Tommy’s real name is Kyro. He’s one of the most notorious werewolves in the area.”

  “Lena, listen to me. And listen to me good. You are freaking crazy. Atticai, Yari, Wyatt, Hector, all of you idiots are stone cold nut jobs. Tommy was as normal as anyone I’d ever known. I was with him every day. I’ve never once seen him become a...” I couldn’t even say it. This was all so insane.

  I got off the freeway and got back on, going the other direction. I wanted Lena out of my car. She was only making a shitty night worse.

  “You never saw it, Josiah, because he can control it. Tommy is an advanced Carni. The only time they can’t control it is during a full moon.”

  “What?”

  “Think about, Josiah. Did Tommy mysteriously leave every month for about 48 hours?”

  “That’s silly. Tommy was in the reserves. Of course he would leave.”

  “Other than his word, did you ever see proof that he was in the reserves?”

  “In my world, someone’s word is pretty much enough.”

  “Josiah, the last thing I want to do is wreck your world. But you are going to have to open your eyes. Everything you know to be true is upside down. There is a whole world of Carni and Mani all around us. And by their mercy they don’t kill the Tandra.”

  “Tandra?”

  “Yes. We are the Tandra...the mortals.”

  I couldn’t wrap my mind around any of this. “How do you know so much?”

  “Because they let me in. I don’t know exactly why, but Atticai says on my twentieth birthday next week everything will be clear to me.”

  “So who—or what—killed Tommy? That’s even if I believe this, which I don’t.”

  Lena was quiet.

  “Who killed Tommy, Lena, since you know so fucking much?”

  “Atticai confronted him after the fight in the parking lot.”

  “What?”

  “Atticai approached him and Tommy, of course, knows exactly what Atticai is. They got into a heated discussion. Atticai was defending you, saying a Carni had no business competing in Tandra sports and that Tommy was testing the Triat and if he, Tommy, continued it would be to his demise.”

  “What the fuck are you smoking, girl? What the hell is the Triat?”

  “The Triat is the unbinding force that allows the Carni and Mani to live in peace along with the Tandra.”

  “You have fucking lost your mind, Lena.”

  “Please—”

  “Tell me what they did to Tommy!
” I screamed, sounding as if I had lost my mind, as well.

  Lena shrank against the passenger side door. “Tommy challenged Atticai.”

  “Where and how?”

  “They went to old Rogue Field over by Wasserman. They knew they wouldn’t be seen and only Carni and Mani were invited.”

  I heard myself breathing. I heard my heart beating loudly in my ears. What the fuck was going on?

  “Were you there?” I asked.

  “Yes, I was.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Atticai and Tommy battled.”

  “You’re lying. You’re crazy.”

  She went on, ignoring me. “Your friend battled bravely but Atticai has too much power.”

  “Atticai killed him?”

  Again Lena got quiet.

  “Did Atticai kill him?”

  “In the Carni tradition, once a Carni loses to a Mani in a public fight, all the observing Carni mangles the remainder of the body.”

  Honestly, how the hell was I supposed to respond to that? I decided to keep to the facts. “Who drove him down to the hospital? He was alive when he was dropped off at the door.”

  “I don’t know who dropped him off, Josiah. He was left for dead.”

  “But someone drove him to the hospital. Who?”

  “I don’t know. Everyone left late in the morning. When we left, Tommy’s body was still out there.”

  “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of this. Atticai killed Tommy because he’s a crazy, delusional, Goth-crazed psychopath.”

  I exited the freeway.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to the Flatlands. I’m going to find Atticai.”

  “Josiah, if you go there—and if you tell them you know anything—they will kill you. Your ignorance of them is what keeps you alive. It’s what keeps all Tandra alive, by decree of the Triat—”

  “Please just shut your mouth.”

  “Drop me off at my house. I don’t want to be a part of this.”

  “But you were willing to be a part of it last night when Tommy got killed.”

  She didn’t answer that, which was just as well. The more she opened her mouth, the more I started not liking her. After I stopped in front of her house, Lena got out and walked over to my window.

  “Don’t go, Josiah. Please. For me. Try to forget all of this and just go back to your normal life.”

  “What life, Lena? Tommy was the last of my family and your family killed him.”

  She shook her head and stepped back away from my truck. I reversed out of her drive, tires squealing, and headed to Arrowhead Mountains. I was going to find and hurt Atticai.

  My mind raced as I drove. What if on any level any of this was true? But how could it be? This wasn’t freaking Groovy Goolies Saturday morning cartoon show where vampires and werewolves are the norm. This was real life.

  My head hurt. My heart hurt. Everything hurt.

  And one way or another, Atticai was going to hurt, too.

  Bad.

  Chapter Twelve

  My truck bounded onto the rocks at the Flatlands, where I soon skidded to a halt.

  There was a small party going on out here, maybe about twenty guys total. But they were sort of scattered around, more casual than the other night. I jumped out of my truck and looked around for Atticai. Everyone was looking at me. I stalked toward them. There he was. The tall goon was standing by himself near a bonfire.

  “Josiah,” he said, and turned to face me. The firelight highlighted his gaunt feature. His striking nose, his small eyes. He said, “You might want to watch your every move from this point on.”

  “Why? You going to claim I’m a werewolf and kill me, too?”

  Atticai’s dark eyes, reflecting the firelight, focused on mine. “Josiah, you will turn around and leave.”

  “Are you seriously trying mind-control on me?”

  I continued forward. Atticai, amazingly, seemed a little confused. Did he really think he could mind-control me? The depths of his delusion was bottomless. I cracked my neck. Atticai was going to get the beating of his life. I said, “Did you kill Tommy, Atticai?”

  He didn’t answer me.

  I kept moving, stalking through the low grass of the clearing. “Did you kill my best fucking friend, you worthless piece of shit?”

  Atticai snapped his fingers. Suddenly, those people who were scattered throughout the Flatlands turned silently and left, getting into their various vehicles and leaving. I stopped in my tracks and watched them leave one after another. All because Atticai snapped his fingers. Seriously, what the hell? Only Wyatt and about five others were left. The five guys walked over to the bonfire, which now separated Atticai and I.

  “Only Mani are left?” Atticai asked Wyatt. Wyatt nodded. Atticai seemed pleased. “Josiah, what exactly are you intending to do here all by yourself?”

  I got into a fighter’s position. That should be answer enough.

  “You really think you’re going to fight all of us? We all saw what one Carni could do to you. I’d say you don’t have much of a chance.”

  “I don’t want to fight everyone, Atticai. Just you, you disillusioned vampire fuck.”

  “A disillusioned vampire fuck is it?” Attic repeated, laughing. “Wow, I have been called a lot of strange things over the last three hundred years, but that is one of the most amusing.”

  “Three hundred years, my ass.”

  “I’m glad you’re not a believer, Josiah, because that just might be what saves your life.”

  “Because the supposed Triat will spare me?”

  “Ah. So you know about the Triat. Your dog faced friend, Tommy, either let you in on his secret or you’ve been talking to someone else. And since Yari knows better than to do that, well, that means you must have had been talking to Lena. Alone, no doubt.”

  Atticai ran at me in a millisecond. He open-hand punched me with more force than I had ever felt in life. I flew back about ten feet.

  “Did you put your grimy Tandra hands on her?” Atticai yelled at me as I rolled on the rocks. Man, that was painful.

  I got to my feet. “I haven’t touch Lena.” Atticai stared at me like a crazed animal. I didn’t know what to do. Atticai was the strongest human being I had ever felt strike me. I stared at his position. I needed for him to run at me again. If he did, I could drop my body to the left and use his momentum against him. It was a classic move, one that would allow me to get a good choke hold in.

  Atticai came at me again. Fast—hell, perhaps even faster than last time. But I was ready for him this time. Or, at least, as ready as I could be. He was reckless, cocky, confident, and I used that against him.

  As he raised his fist, no doubt to deliver a hell of a killer blow, I dropped, caught his arm and flipped him. In a practiced motion, I rolled with him, getting my other arm around his neck in a perfect choke hold.

  Fuck this piece of shit.

  I locked in tight and hard. He kicked, struggling, fighting, gasping. I felt something warm spill over my forearm. Blood. Good. I squeezed even harder.

  “Transition!” Wyatt yelled frantically.

  Atticai was weakening. Did vampires need air? I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. Atticai should have been out by now. Hell, he should have been dead by now, but he was still fighting me, still struggling.

  And that’s when something mind boggling happened.

  Suddenly, I was holding nothing. Suddenly, where Atticai had just been struggling for air, a battered bird flew away. It was a black raven.

  I didn’t have time to react. Everything was happening so fast. Dreams happen fast, too, or slow.

  Before I could fully comprehend that Atticai seemed to have turned into a giant raven, Wyatt slammed into me hard from the side, tackling me to the ground. The collision rocked me, rattling my brain and teeth. It was all I could do to focus my eyes before Wyatt unleashed a ferocious pummeling, his fists moving faster than I could react. I must have tak
en ten or fifteen full shots to the face before he finally let up. I’ve been hit before, and I’ve been hit hard. No way was this fucker going to take me down. The moment he let up, I buckled hard. He lost his balance and now I was scrambling to my feet.

  The world spun. Blood gushed from multiple cuts around my eyes and forehead. I needed just a minute to get my bearings, to clear my head, and then that fucker Wyatt was next.

  He continued backing off. Good, I caught my breath. My eyes and head cleared slowly. Wyatt was strong as hell, too, and his punches had done some damage. And that’s when the battered raven flew back, alighting on the ground next to Wyatt.

  A moment later, the raven began to sort of stretch out, to elongate. I was certain my head was still spinning. Perhaps my eyes hadn’t fully adjusted. I watched as each wing and spindly leg continued to stretch and reform and fill-out. Perhaps ten seconds later, the wounded Raven was Atticai.

  My mouth dropped open. Blood spilled from my mouth, and there was a good chance Wyatt had knocked loose a tooth. Still, none of that concerned me. All that concerned me was that I was certain I was losing my mind.

  Atticai straightened out his neck and spit out some blood of his own. “You can close your mouth, Josiah. It’s all true. Everything you might have heard. And you nearly killed me, too, which was a bad move for you, bro. Too bad, too, I liked you. ”

  Now I was certain I was dreaming. I mean, c’mon. Yes, that made a lot of sense. Perfect sense. It made the only sense. I was dreaming and Tommy was still alive and Atticai most certainly didn’t just turn into a raven—and then back again.

  I stood before the four of them, too stunned to speak, waiting to wake up, willing myself to wake up. So far, my tortured brain felt it necessary to continue this bizarre dream.