by H. T. Night
I heard Marlene as she opened her bedroom door and walked down the stairs. She must have heard me fiddling around in the kitchen and decided to join me.
Marlene stepped into the living room wearing her cream-colored silk dress. Her long white hair was pulled up into a soft bun showing off her beautiful long neck and high cheekbones. She was as beautiful as ever and always a proper lady.
“Hello, Todd,” Marlene said when she saw me.
“Hello, Marlene. You look beautiful,” I said.
“You look handsome yourself,”, she said looking me up and down. Then she gasped and smiled, “Oh, I love your shoes. I have a handbag that matches.”
“I know, they reminded me of you, so I bought them. The food hasn’t arrived yet. Mama Coza’s will be delivering our food in about twenty minutes.” I said looking up at the clock.
“That sounds wonderful.” Marlene walked over and sat across from me at the kitchen table.
Then on cue, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” I said, jumping up. I walked over to the door and disarmed the alarm. I looked through the peek hole and saw a scrawny twenty-something kid with bags that read Mama Coza’s and a beautiful floral arrangement in a simple glass vase. I recognized the kid from previous deliveries.
I unlocked three locks and opened the door.
“Delivery for a, Todd Gorman?” he said.
“Hey, bud,” I said. “How’s the traffic tonight?”
“It’s pretty clear out there. Hey, you’re the guy that used to deliver pizzas for us, right?”
“Yeah, I did it awhile ago,” I answered.
“And you live here?” the young guy boldly asked.
“Yeah, I do. Like I said, it was a while ago. What do I owe you?”
“It is $48.76.”
I took out my wallet and grabbed three twenties. “I want to make sure you have everything. You have one large caesar salad?”
“Yes.”
“Two of your giant cheese ball appetizers?”
“Yup.”
“Chicken Parmesan for two?”
“Uh huh.”
“And one of your family order lava cakes?”
“Yes, and we added two of our signature cannolis, on the house. A five dollar value.”
“That sounds delightful.” Although, I wouldn't be eating any of it. Sometimes I like to live vicariously through Marlene's taste buds.
The kid handed me the bags, and the flowers. I handed him sixty dollars and told him, “Keep the rest for a tip, my man.”
“Cool. Thanks.” he grinned and walked back to his car which he had left running in the driveway behind my own car.
I shut the door and locked the latches and put the alarm back on. I turned around and headed towards my lovely wife Marlene.
Suddenly, I was taken out of my memory by a growling Tommy. Tommy growls in his sleep and sometimes he growls so loudly he wakes himself up. Everyone else refers to it as Tommy's special way of snoring. But, to me, it sounds like a lion's growl.
Tommy woke himself up.
I looked at the time on the clock in the kitchen and it was 3:00 p.m. Tommy could sleep anytime and wasn't affected by the sun like the rest of the crew. He stood up and groggily made his way to the bathroom.
Chapter Five
On the way back to his place on the couch, Tommy looked into the kitchen, saw me and smiled. He stopped in his tracks, stepped into the kitchen and whispered, “How're things going, buddy?”
“Not a peep anywhere,” I said referring to the monitors.
“That's what we like to hear.” Tommy yawned and opened the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of milk. He drank it in one gulp and gave a satisfied, “Ah!”
The man apparently liked his milk.
Tommy looked down at me and said, “How you fitting in here?”
“You guys make it easy to fit in. Everyone is very kind to me and are eager to help me understand the ins and out around here.”
Tommy sat down at the table and stretched. “Everyone here has been in your boat. Thank God we have Josiah to help us weed out the good guys from the bad.”
“Has he ever been wrong?”
Tommy nodded. I could tell he was going to choose his words carefully. “Josiah didn't always know he had this gift. And about twenty years ago we let someone in our crew who had bad intentions.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“At the time, there were about seven of us in Josiah's core group. Josiah and I recruited a guy named Cyrus. We met during a fight at Griffith Park. The guy came in and helped us defeat about twelve Mani. At the time, fighting on our side was all the proof Josiah needed to allow you to become one of us.”
“So, something happened?”
“Well. the guy ate, slept and fought with us for a few months. I think Yari even dated him for a while. That doesn't mean much. In days gone by, Yari dated a lot of people. But when it came to Cyrus, I always felt there was something off about the guy. But, let's face it, I think something's off about everyone we meet.” he shrugged.
“Really?” I laughed. “Do you think something's off about me?”
Tommy grinned. “Anybody who would drop his life and join this motley crew with the bounties we all have on our head must have a screw loose.”
“So you think I have a screw loose?” I grinned.
Tommy paused and stared into my eyes. “Shit, everyone here has a screw loose to do what we're doing day in and day out. In your case, I understand. Josiah says he sees a purity in you that he's never quite seen. So, that's good enough for me.”
I smiled at Tommy and it probably looked goofy, but this guys depth surprised me. “So what happened to Cyrus?”
“You're really not going to let that go, are you?”
“Nope,” I said.
“Like I said, this was twenty years ago. Josiah had just discovered he could see a person's past, present, and future by holding their head in the palms of his hands.” Tommy paused and squinted his eyes, thinking. I could tell this next bit of information was going to be a doozy. “We were preparing for a great war against Krull,” Tommy continued. “Josiah had a vision that one of us would betray him. So, he put us all in a room, and one by one he went to each person and gripped their head. We thought everything was going cool until he touched Cyrus.” Tommy was now taking his time with this next bit of information. “Josiah gripped Cyrus's face and about thirty seconds later Josiah whipped out one of the silver daggers he keeps on him at all times and swiped Cyrus' head clean off.”
“Wow!” I said. “Thank God he saw goodness in me.”
“Josiah doesn't mess around. He told us he saw Cyrus not only betraying us, but his betrayal was going to get all of us killed. Including his two sons.”
“Wow, that's intense.” I shook my head.
“Try being in the room. That day, Josiah established he was the one in charge. He didn't have to say anything, we all knew it.”
There was something I always wanted to know about Tommy. So I just came out and asked him. “Tommy, what about you and your life?”
“What about me and my life?” Tommy answered, appearing a little anxious.
“Is there a true love from your past?”
Tommy paused. “That, my friend, is a story for another day. But I will tell you this, her name was Maya and she was Josiah's older sister.”
“Seriously?” I responded.
“Yeah, seriously. She forever will be my one and only. I've dated since her, but...”
Tommy stopped talking.
“Let's just say you, Josiah and I have a lot in common in that department.”
Tommy spoke volumes without saying a word.
Tommy yawned and gave me a wink and went back to the living room to get a few more Z's. Like I said, he wasn't under the same rules as the vampires in the house, but I respected that he fell in line and slept when we slept. Not to say I hadn't seen him, through the window, taking a nap in the hammock outside during the day.
<
br /> Chapter Six
I sat back down at my post and began feeling light-headed. Crap, my aura was happening. All that could mean was I was going to have another vision about someone.
I'd been talking with Tommy so it had to be about him. I tried to calm myself down as the vision came over me.
It's daylight. Tommy was driving a black mustang, and the car was apparently running out of gas, judging by the needle dipping below the E line. His car sputtered to a stop and he went to his trunk and grabbed a gas container. I then watched as he jogged up the street.
After a bit, Tommy made a left into a back alley. Tommy heard some commotion and ducked behind a dumpster. There was a group of high school kids in a circle, all confronting a tall, skinny guy wearing a black hood.
The guy in the black hoodie was outnumbered four to one. “You seriously should just let me go,” the guy said. “I honestly don’t want any trouble. You have ten seconds to let me go through or I’m going to kick every one of your asses and not feel bad about it.”
The group of thugs looked at each other and just busted up laughing. Every single one of the other guys were taller and wider than the young man. But that didn’t stop the kid from giving them a countdown. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four… oh fuck it,” the black-hooded kid said, “Now, I will kick your asses!”
The black hooded kid attacked them all in a rage of fury. He was relentless; he beat them up individually, at first. Then he was being attacked in pairs and he seemed to thrive when more than one was attacking him. He used their attacks against them. Swerving out of the way just in time to have the fools attack each other. He made it look easy. In a matter of minutes, one guy was running down the street while the other three lay in the street unconscious.
When he was done kicking all their asses, he clapped his hands together like it was all in a day's work. Then the guy noticed Tommy, who by this point had stepped out from behind the dumpster. The black hooded individual smiled at Tommy.
“Hey,” Tommy called out to him, “What are you? Some kind of black-hooded superhero?”
“Who’s asking?” the guy tilted his head to the side.
“I am, you little shit,” Tommy said. Tommy didn't seem to be intimidated at all considering the guy just kicked the tar out of four guys who were older, taller and more muscular than he was.
“You have a name?” The kid with a black hood asked.
“Yeah, sure do. My name is Tommy. You’re about the baddest motherfucker I have ever seen fight. What’s your name?”
The kid pulled off his black hood and he had long, flowing blond hair. He smiled at Tommy with a hint of mischief in his eyes and said, “Well, Tommy, I’m glad you enjoyed the show. My name is Josiah.”
I was watching Josiah Reign kicking ass before he seemed to have even gone through puberty. He wasn't a vampire. Just a not-so-normal teenaged boy.
Suddenly, I snapped out of my vision and was staring at the kitchen table.
Some visions were quicker than others. This vision said a lot with very little.
Chapter Seven
I looked at the clock and it was 4:00 pm, two hours before sunset. I used to do my best work at night back in my old life, with my best friend Zeke who was a brother and my hero. He was my hero because he had saved my life more times than I could count and I was only able to repay him once. I loved him like a brother and we had some great times.
My mind began to drift to Marlene and the night of our anniversary back in 2010.
Marlene stood up from her chair and said, “It is getting chilly out here. I am going to pour myself some tea and sit in the recliner inside. You are welcome to sit next to me on the couch. I would love to hear more of the story.” Marlene turned around at the mess of food on the table. “I'll clean it later,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “I am feeling tired and you have a story you need to tell me.”
“I do,” I smiled at her playfulness.
“It’s time, Todd.”
“Tonight on our anniversary? You feel tonight is the time?”
“You are staying out later and later in the night.”
“I told you what I am doing is honorable.”
“I feel you are out risking your own life and you seem to have forgotten there is a woman who aches for you until you come home each morning.”
I smiled at my wife. I knew she loved me and cared for me. I had protected her all of her life from the dangerous world I knew the paranormal lifestyle could be. She never wanted to know. It made everything easier. But something had happened. On this night, she needed an answer. “I haven’t forgotten about how much you love me, Marlene. I know exactly why I do everything I do.”
“I’m afraid for you, Todd,” Marlene said, with an air of vulnerability she doesn’t often express.
“Don’t be afraid for my sake,” I said. “I always come out ahead.”
“What happens if one day you don’t. When someone played their cards better than you played yours, Todd. What happens when I get that phone call that my husband has oddly disappeared without a trace?”
Marlene walked into the living room from the outside. I followed close behind her and shut the door with its double latch behind me.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me. Just come out and say it. Once? Why not?”
Marlene stopped short of finishing her sentence. She then sat in her favorite recliner which was to the left of the sofa.
“Come out and say what, Marlene?” I asked.
“You know the event I am speaking of, Todd.”
“All the events?” I asked.
“I want to know, Todd. It has been far too long. When I was younger, I was too afraid to know. Then I just grew to understand that this was a part of our lives that we never talked about. But then you did what you did twenty-five years ago. And here we are now.”
“That week haunts me, Marlene.” I sat on the long white sofa that was to the right of my wife’s recliner. “Even after all these years.”
“You don’t think I know that, Todd,” Marlene said reaching out her left hand and holding might right hand. “I know you have kept a whole lot from me through the years. You would say it was better that I didn’t know. And you are probably right. But I want to know this. I want to know what happened all those years ago,” Marlene sighed. “Everything you did.”
“Everything I did, huh?”
“Everything, Todd.”
“Why now after all these years?”
“I need to understand the full circle of who we are. What has made you what you are and me what I am? I have a big gaping hole in the middle of my memory. And it is time for me to know everything. I am ready.”
“What has made you so ready?” I asked.
“I see you each day come back to me with either a defeated look or you have an exhilaration in your eyes. Trust me, when you have the exhilaration lighting your eyes I know I'm going to benefit greatly sexually. It has been so many years, Todd. I want to know the whole you. I have stood by your side every day for God knows how many years and I never asked about anything.” Marlene paused. “I’m sorry, I need to start asking. I need to know exactly everything you are. I need to know what happened that first week to make you the person you have been for so many years. You changed after that night. I need to know why. It’s time.”
“I have told you from the very beginning, I am one of the good guys,” I said.
“Who determines who the good guys are? You? Your partner? The weird guy who sponsors your jobs? What if one of the bad guys isn’t as bad as they appear?”
“Look, Marlene,” I said. “You are asking me a lot of questions here. Please, let me answer some of them. First and foremost, my partner and I take care of the monsters who prey on innocents. Not only are they killing innocent people, but they're putting people like me at risk. They risk exposing our kind to the world. Now, to understand the present is to understand the past. My world changed the moment I met you. It changed, even more, wh
en those greasers opened the door to the diner. The night of our first date.”
“Is that when everything changed for you?” Marlene asked.
“The greasers?” I asked. “Yes. It was a series of three events that changed my life forever.”
“Three events?” Marlene asked.
“Yes.”
“What was the first?”
“Meeting you.”
“Meeting me was first?”
“It began the chain reaction to everything that I am today.”
“Wow. No wonder you like just telling the sweet part of the night we met. It’s the best part.” Marlene seemed to have a light go on in her head as she said these words. “I want to know about the greasers, but what I really want to know, Todd, is about the one thing we have never uttered the words about to one another.”
“What's that?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“The murders,” she whispered.
***
I opened my eyes when I heard a thump in the living room. I looked in and saw Josiah had fallen off the couch.
He smiled at me and said, “These couches aren't the easiest things to sleep on.”
I smiled at Josiah and went back to my post.
Chapter Eight
I was getting tired, and that was no joke. I looked at Josiah sleeping. I was focused on him for so long that once again something took over my mind and I started to have another vision.
I hurried back to the kitchen table so I wouldn't fall down. My visions sometimes took over my body so completely they left me vulnerable to falling down.
