Vampire Reflections

by H. T. Night

  As I closed my eyes, I could see Josiah at the Flatlands in the same car Tommy had been driving in the last vision. Josiah shoved a silver spike in his front pocket, took a deep breath, and stepped hard on the gas. He shot forward in the car like it was a laser. Josiah burned dust in front of what appears to be Atticai, Lena, Yari and a group of others I didn't recognize. Josiah screeched to a stop in front of all of them. He jumped out of the black Mustang he was driving and yelled out, “Surprise, motherfucker!”

  Atticai looked at Josiah in surprise and said, “You’re alive?”

  Apparently, Atticai thought Josiah should have been dead.

  “Lena, you don’t want to do this,” Josiah called out.

  Then the vampire who had attacked Josiah in my last vision stepped forward. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing, Josiah? This isn’t about us. This isn’t even about Lena. This is about—”

  “I know what this is about, Wyatt,” Josiah responded. “Killing Lena so that Atticai can become some super vampire to defeat the Carni and the fallen Mani. Yada-yada. And they all lived happily ever, except Lena.”

  Atticai responded to Josiah, “Oh my, I see someone was given a lesson in Mani prophecy. And since it’s not the Reader’s Digest version that we gave to Lena, that can only mean...” He turned to another black-clad figure, the smallest of the four. “Was he worth it, Yari?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Atticai,” she said.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he said. “Don’t you think that I know you’ve fallen for Josiah? Don’t you think that I know the only way Josiah’s even alive tonight is because you saved him from the snakes?”

  Snakes? This was something that Atticai thought should have killed Josiah. And obviously, it hadn't.

  “It’s not true, Atticai,” Yari begged.

  “Oh, it is true, but what I don’t understand is how the Triat has allowed it to happen.”

  “You’re wrong, Atticai,” Yari said. “He saved himself. He deserves your mercy.”

  “My mercy?” Atticai was ready to explode. “A Tandra who refused a chance to become a Mani deserves my mercy? What the hell has gotten into you?”

  “Please, Atticai, consider it.” Yari was doing everything she could for Josiah.

  Wyatt cut off Yari and said, “It’s almost time.”

  Atticai nodded. “But first things first.”

  Atticai grabbed Lena. Then two male vampires stepped in front of them, forming a wall between them and Josiah. Atticai walked behind Lena and looked at his watch, “Ten seconds,” he said.

  Lena looked scared. I had no idea what I was watching. This was absolute chaos.

  Josiah removed the silver spike from his pocket and ran at them. One of the vampires jumped up into the air and kicked Josiah in the face.

  Then absolute insanity occurred. Atticai opened his mouth and bit a willing Lena on her neck.

  Josiah jumped and was prepared to fight anyone in his path.

  The vampire they called Wyatt came at Josiah again. He tried the exact same move, but Josiah ducked beneath his kick, grabbed his leg and yanked him down to the ground. Then Josiah punched him hard in the face. Josiah then jumped back up and faced the other vampire who was coming at him from the other direction. The vampire clobbered Josiah, knocking him straight into a tree trunk.

  The two vampires transitioned into ravens. The two powerful ravens grabbed Josiah with their talons and flew Josiah in the air. Josiah dangled as he was lifted up above the treetops.

  Atticai continued to bite down on Lena's neck, draining her.

  The two ravens dropped Josiah on top of a cliff that overlooked everything below. Then the two ravens transitioned into their vampire selves. Josiah turned to the vampires and was clearly in for a fight for his life. He charged at them and hit the larger vampire in the face with his hand while he kicked Wyatt with his left leg right in his chest knocking him off the cliff. Wyatt transitioned instantly into a raven as he fell.

  Josiah was an amazing fighter. And he was doing his best against these vampires, but he was only human and they had supernatural speed and dexterity on their side.

  Now the larger vampire jumped on top of Josiah and bit into his neck, knocking him to his knees. Josiah tried to fight back, but that made the vampire latch onto him even stronger.

  Yari transitioned into her hawk form and flew up to the cliff's edge, transitioned back into her human form and tackled the large vampire off of Josiah, sending them both over the cliff. The two transitioned into a raven and a hawk before hitting the ground. They both landed just feet away from Atticai and Lena. Quickly, both birds transitioned into their vampire selves. Now the two male vampires were beating the crap out of Yari.

  Now, this was getting interesting.

  Josiah crawled to the edge of the cliff and he was bleeding like a stuck pig. He looked down at the two women in his life being killed and his face shown rage.

  Atticai was still sucking on Lena’s neck and she was in real danger of being drained completely dry. Lena was fighting back and she was struggling.

  The larger vampire removed a silver stake from the back of his jeans.

  Then both women yelled for Josiah. Who was still bleeding all over the edge of the cliff.

  Then something came over Josiah. He managed to stand himself up. He looked down at all the commotion and jumped.

  Josiah plummeted down, the wind whipped at his clothes as he fell to the earth but just as he was going to hit the ground he transitioned into a beautiful white eagle and swooped up, just missing the ground.

  Josiah flew up into the sky and cried out so loudly you could hear it for miles. Then he flew down, angling his body level to Atticai's seven foot frame. Josiah's long eagle beak slammed hard into Atticai, piercing his neck. The force of the impact was so great Atticai was thrown to the side off of Lena. Josiah's beak had gone in one side of his neck and out the other. It was and still is the only way to kill a Mani vampire. But Atticai wasn't dead, yet.

  Atticai rolled across the dirt, and Josiah still in his eagle form rolled with him, tucking in his wings. Atticai opened his mouth, gasping. Blood poured out of his nose and mouth, dripping down onto the white eagle. “I don’t understand,” he whispered to Josiah. “You...” gasped Atticai. “You were the one in the visions. I didn’t know. How could I have known? You were the Chosen One.” Atticai gasped for his last breath of air “I was the evil. I was the evil in the dream.”

  Atticai closed his eyes and then just disappeared.

  Josiah transitioned back into his vampire form.

  Everyone present was staring at Josiah, open-mouthed.

  “You’re the one, Josiah,” Yari said. “You’re the Chosen One. I can’t believe it.”

  “Never mind that; we need to help Lena,” Josiah yelled. He turned and spotted her lying on the ground. Blood dribbled from her neck, soaking into the dirt around her. Josiah ran to her and picked her up. She didn’t look as if she was breathing.

  “What do I do?” Josiah yelled. “Someone tell me what to do!”

  “There is only one thing you can do, Josiah,” said Yari.

  “What? Tell me!”

  They were all quiet.

  “Tell me, or I’ll rip all of your fucking hearts out!” Josiah screamed.

  “She is lost,” Yari said. “Unless...”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless you choose to turn her.”

  “What the devil are you talking about?”

  “To save Lena, you will need to turn her into a Mani.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Yari smiled at Josiah, “You are one of us, Josiah. You have been bitten three times by Mani. It takes three bites to turn her. You need to help her become a Mani, or she’ll die. She has lost too much blood.”

  “But you just said three bites...”

  “This will be her second bite.” Yari walked over, lifted Lena’s wrist and bit down into it, drawing
a small amount of blood.

  “Now, you, Josiah,” said Yari gently. “But you need to get her to regain consciousness.”

  “Why?”

  “Perhaps she should have some say in the matter?” Yari insisted.

  “Of course.” Josiah patted Lena's face gently. “Lena, wake up.”

  He repeated this a few more times until her eyelids fluttered and finally opened.

  “Josiah?” she whispered.

  He smiled down at her. She was still in Josiah's arms. “Yes. Lena, I need to know... do you seriously want to become a Mani?”

  Lena smiled. “Of course, Josiah. That’s all I ever wanted.”

  He looked at Yari. “Now what?”

  “Bite her anywhere,” Yari responded. “Allow your new teeth to pierce her deep enough so that her blood flows into your mouth. Drink her and swallow. It won’t have to be much. Just enough so that the bond is felt by the Triat.”

  “Okay.” Josiah paused, I assumed he was trying to figure where to bite her.

  “Hurry, Josiah,” yelled Lena.

  Even I could hear that Lena's heartbeat was dangerously slow.

  Josiah nodded, opened his mouth, leaned down, and sank his teeth deep into her neck, the opposite side where Atticai had bitten.

  After a moment, Lena looked up at Josiah and smiled.

  “You can set me down,” she said.

  Suddenly, my vision ended.

  It was one of the most intense visions I ever had. I didn't know quite what to feel. This glimpse into Josiah's past had been tumultuous and chaotic.

  I stood up and paced around the kitchen, trying to clear the cobwebs out of my head. I walked into the living room and looked at Josiah trying to sleep. No wonder this guy slept worse than anyone I had ever met. All I had witnessed was the beginning of his extraordinary life and I think I'm going to need therapy. I couldn't help but feel closer to the man.

  What bothered me most was wondering where Tommy had been during all of that. Again, that would be a question I would have to keep to myself until more was revealed to me.

  Chapter Nine

  Talking to Tommy and seeing his heartache reminded me of my own. It reminded of the night Marlene and I had shared our final anniversary. Well, it was one of the last nights we had while everything was normal. Well, normal for us. I closed my eyes and thought about that night.

  Marlene took a deep breath and continued, “We both know the city we grew up in was turned upside down over a series of unsolved murders.”

  I stood up from my chair and looked out the window. I looked up at the stars and thought about how my life had changed in an instant that night back in 1955. I took a deep breath. “Why now?” I asked. “Why tonight?”

  “I think it’s time for me to hear exactly what happened.”

  “You know what happened. You were there.”

  “Was I?” she asked. “Was I there for all of it?”

  I watched her while she sat. She was giving me one of her rare serious looks. As if to say, ‘I’m ready.’

  I nodded my head and said, “I am getting cold which means you must be freezing.” I stood up to walk over to our closet where we kept our extra comforters.

  Suddenly, I felt a buzz inside my pocket. It was a text message. It must be Zeke. I looked in the closet and asked Marlene which comforter she wanted.

  “Give me the long one,” she answered, “I like the colors.”

  “It’s orange and white,” I smiled. “It reminds me of sherbet ice cream.” I draped the orange and white comforter over Marlene and snugged her in with it.

  “Oh, I am getting the full comfort treatment?” she teased.

  “Trust me, you are going to need the full comfort treatment when I am finished telling you everything thing that happened that week.”

  “Todd, that was a long time ago. A very long time ago. I felt it was time for you to tell me about the part of that night that made me fall in love with you. Waiting by your side in the hospital, wondering if you were going to live or die. Watching your chest rise and fall with your ragged breathing. Afraid it would stop altogether.”

  “And all this time, I thought it was all the cute rapport we shared.”

  “It was a mixture of it all, Todd. But most of all, it was watching you sleep and holding your hand in the hospital bed. Praying I wouldn’t lose the opportunity to get to know you better.”

  “Anybody could have gotten stabbed by that crazy Santino character,” I said. “I did nothing heroic. It was the opposite, actually. I felt more like a coward at that point in the evening than I have ever felt.”

  “What do you mean at that point in the evening? Did you feel better later when you realized it was something you couldn’t have prevented?”

  “Was it?” I asked. “Couldn’t I have prevented it? I was a man, after all.”

  “Was? I don’t understand what you are saying.”

  “You know what I am saying. You know better than anyone and yet you never wanted to know the rest.”

  “The rest of what?” Marlene asked.

  “The rest of the evening. Why no one saw any of those greasers ever again.”

  “You didn’t have anything to do with that, Todd, did you?”

  “Didn’t I? You opened up this wound, Marlene. Let’s lay the truth out on the table and talk about what actually happened.”

  “Todd, stop.” Marlene furrowed her brows and squeezed her frail hands into fists.

  “We lived through this insanity and we act like none of it ever happened. You wanted to rip open part of the story without hearing the rest of it.”

  “I don’t want to know the rest of it,” she whispered.

  I nodded my head at Marlene. “Then I am going down to my bedroom in the basement. This conversation has exhausted me in ways I hadn’t planned on for this evening.” I needed some rest.

  “So this is what we’re doing?”

  “What Marlene?”

  “We are running away, once again, from the truth.”

  “Do you want to know the truth? Because you said you didn’t.” I said, raising my voice.

  Marlene looked at me, as frightened as I had ever seen her. “I don’t know, Todd. I just need to know more before I leave this world. I need to know what else happened. At the same time, I am scared to death to hear about it.”

  I nodded my head. “I’m going down to my room. If you want to talk, that’s where I will be.”

  “Todd, please, don’t go.” Marlene stood and motioned for me to sit in her recliner. She liked to sit on my lap and truth be told I enjoyed holding her close. Even after all these years, she still enjoyed cuddling up on my lap.

  Chapter Ten

  I exhaled and shook my head at Marlene. She had me wrapped around her little finger, even after all these years. There was no denying her. I walked over and sat on her recliner. Marlene sat her bony butt on my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck, and laid her head on my shoulder; the way she had for the last sixty years. My hands slipped around her silk laden body.

  The dress was one I had purchased for her in Paris years ago. She had seen it in a shop window while we were walking to a nearby restaurant and her eyes had lit up. While waiting for our dinner to arrive, I stepped away to use the restroom. What I actually did was run down the street at top speed, purchase the dress, and had them wrap it up in a box for me. I rushed back to the restaurant and asked our waiter to present it to her with dessert. Travel wasn't easy for me. I hid in an old travel trunk back then.

  With her head on my shoulder, we sat there holding one another for an untold amount of time. I closed my eyes and found comfort in her familiar scent. This was why I loved her after all these years. She took the moments needed to reconcile our differences by showing a tenderness that still melted my heart. Just as she had the first day we met when she held my hand that night in the hospital.

  “Someday, when we are wiser, we will figure all of this out,” I whispered in her ear.

  Ma
rlene laughed and gave me a kiss on my forehead. “I do want to know, Todd. I haven’t wanted to know anything more in my life. I am slowing down.”

  “Don’t say that,” I pulled her closer to me and breathed her in.

  “I am Todd. I am a very old lady now.”

  “So am I,” I said. “Well, not the lady part.”

  Marlene smiled and kissed me sweetly. She began studying my face, touching every inch of it with her fingers and leaving a trail of small kisses. She did this often. More so over the last few years. I wasn’t sure if it was the nostalgia of a time gone by or possible envy she may have because I didn’t age like her. The latter being something that she would be ashamed of admitting.

  “We don’t have to talk about it tonight,” I said, assuring her she could relax.

  “No, I’m ready. I have been thinking about it for a while now. I am ready to hear what happened. The truth.”

  “Right here. Right now, while you’re sitting in my lap?”

  “What better or safer place to tell me?”

  I took a deep breath. “Okay. Would you mind if I grabbed a drink first?”

  “Of course, but first...”

  Marlene stood up slowly. And I scooted out from underneath her and made my way to the kitchen.

  “Would you like some more wine?” I asked.

  “Yes please, I could use a glass of liquid courage.”

  Feeling the need for some liquid courage myself, I opened the cupboard above the sink, took out two wine glasses, and my favorite double shot glass from Sea World with Shamu the whale etched into it.

  My Patron was in the freezer, so I pulled it out and poured myself a double. It went down smoother than any other tequila in my book. Then I downed the double as if I were a fraternity kid trying to impress his peers. I poured Marlene’s wine and my type O negative and headed back to the living room carrying our two wine glasses.

  I gave her her wine glass. She was already sitting back in her recliner. I went back to my corner of the sofa. I gazed at Marlene and just nodded my head. I wasn’t sure when words would come out of my mouth and what those words would be but I knew this night was going to be a game changer. After sixty years, Marlene finally wanted to know what happened. The problem was I wasn’t sure if I was ready to tell her. Even after all these years.