Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6) (14 page)

“
I agree,” Jason said. “No
more of that, ever.” My son was coming of age, and resetting
boundaries to make sure that Joshua was not excluded from his life.
I was so proud of him at that moment, that he took a
stand.

So, that’s what happened. The fear of
us having a serious family meeting in Jason’s bedroom had ended in
the boys getting their own way. Joshua would now be included in our
meetings with Jason about his gifts. I knew there would be many
meetings about it, after this night.

Jason still hadn’t said a word. He was
sitting up against his bed headboard and was staring straight ahead
with little expression.

Finally, in his usual nonchalant
voice, Jason said, “Brock’s son, Pierce, has a bad heart and his
muscles don’t work right.”

“
He’s sick?” I
asked.

“
No, Dad. It looks like
that on the surface, but looks can be deceiving, He is very evil
and the evilness is what is causing the illness. In fact, the
illness
is
the
evil. I saw the future and what it would be if I healed him. He
would have caused wars, not just among Mani vampires like the ones
you fought in, but he would even hurt those who are like Uncle
Tommy.”

Lena and I exchanged glances.
Apparently, Jason knew that Tommy was a werewolf.

“
Yes, I know what he is.
Joshua and I both know.”

“
What else?” Lena asked
gently, ever the peacemaker, the best talker in our
family.

“
Pierce was going to do a
lot of bad things to a lot of good people. He would have been one
of the worst dictators of all time. Not a governor.”

“
You saw all that, son?” I
asked.

Jason nodded. “When I lay hands on
someone, I can always see the future, the good, the bad and the
ugly of each person I heal. In Pierce’s case, there was no good in
him at all. Just a lot of bad and ugly things. That’s putting it
mildly. What I saw was catastrophic. Dad, I have seen some weird
things in my life, both in reality and in visions. What I saw when
I laid hands on that young man tonight, that would have been the
end of all of us, if I had healed him.”

“
Seriously?” I asked. I
remembered what happened between Cyrus and me. That didn’t end well
for Cyrus and I had never quite been the same after that. I didn’t
trust too many people.

Jason nodded. “Seriously, Dad. If I
healed Pierce, he would have gone down in the history books as one
of the most evil human beings in a hundred years.” He looked at
Lena. “I don’t know if we would have gotten out of there except
that Uncle Tommy was with us, riding shotgun. Brock Houston wanted
to keep us there.”

Lena’s hand rose to her throat. “So
now what? Brock wants revenge on us for not healing his
boy?”

“
Something like that,” I
replied.

“
I would have kicked ass
and taken names with Uncle Tommy and Dad,” Joshua said. “I should
have been there for you, bro,” he said to Jason.

The boys bumped fists in
solidarity.

Jason turned his eyes onto me. “Also,
Dad, you should know something else that is real important,” Jason
said.

I nodded for him to go on.

“
Brock is not a good man,
either. He is nothing close to what his son would have become, in
terms of evilness, but he also walks a line that isn’t exactly
straight.”

I had had my suspicions about Brock
ever since Atticai left him in charge.

“
I still own that island.
Brock Houston is governing at the mercy of my will. So, if I have
to, I will remove him from his post. He was appointed by Atticai,
but he can just as well be...deposed.”

Lena pressed her lips together and her
eyes were intent on me. “Josiah, I have a sick feeling that none of
this will be easy.”

“
Nobody said any of this
would be easy. And, it’s not just that Jason refused to heal his
son, Pierce, but the fact remains that Brock knows that Jason can
heal.”

“
Not only does Brock know
that I can heal, but there was this undercurrent that I felt that
if I healed Pierce, that he would have somehow tried to suck out
more than just healing from me. He was after my power, Mom and Dad.
I don’t know how else to say it.”

“
Could he have done that?”
I asked, incredulous.

“
If I had healed him, he
might have used some dark powers to reap further strength from me
in order to rise up into this horrible, future oppressor of the
meek and the good.”

On the verge of tears, Lena
breathlessly blurted out, “I’m scared! I think it might be time to
get the boys outta here.”

“
What do you mean?” I
asked. “This is where we live, and if there is trouble, we will
make a stand.”

“
There is a great private
high school down the street from Tommy’s new house in Anaheim
Hills,” Jason offered. “I saw it from the road the last time that
we went to visit and go to his housewarming. They had a really nice
football stadium.”

I knew that, sooner or later, it would
come to this, that my boys would crave life in the States, instead
of our isolated life in a castle on an island in the Tasman Sea
between Australia and New Zealand.

“
America?” Lena asked. “We
would all move?”

I shook my head. “We can’t, Lena. At
least, I can’t. I have a responsibility to the people on these two
islands. And, further, we don’t exactly have a private school on
the island,” I said.

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I feel
so torn.”

I put my arm around her. She was about
to bust out in sobs.

“
How long, Josiah? How
long would we be apart from the boys?”

“
It would likely be for
two years.”

“
Two years?” Her voice
raised an octave, the prelude to tears.

“
I like the idea, Mom,”
Joshua said. “I would love to play some real sports for a real high
school.”

Joshua had begged me to go to school
off the island for years, and he had been waiting for me to come
around and allow him to go to a real school.

“
I don’t like the idea of
the family being separated,” Lena said.

“
Why not?” I asked. “And
it was your idea to get the boys out of here.”

“
I know, but I was
just...panicked. At least here, we can protect the boys. I’m not
going to let Brock intimidate me to the point that I move my
children away.”

“
It wouldn’t be permanent,
sweetie. It would be just for school. I’ll take the jet to go pick
them up every Friday.”

“
And take them ten hours
away every weekend?”

“
We will probably have to
work on that, later. Maybe half the time they could stay with
Tommy.”

“
With Tommy?” Lena was
beside herself. “Tommy can barely take care of himself! He takes
being a bachelor to a whole other level.”

“
You know he is a grown
man and quite protective. He’d be wonderful taking care of the
boys.”

“
Joshua is too much like
him,” Lena pleaded. “There has got to be another way.”

“
I can’t see any other
way.”

“
Please, Mom,” Joshua
said. “Let us at least try it. I’m dying to know what it’s like to
go to a real school.”

“
You just want to see all
the California girls,” Lena said to Joshua.

“
Exactly.” Joshua stated.
“And, I’d like to surf without great white sharks chasing me, like
they do here.”

Lena looked like she would faint. She
paused and then looked at Jason and said, “Let’s be honest, the
most sensible one out of all of us is Jason. Jason, what do you
think?”

Jason said very quietly, “I think we
should try the new school in Anaheim Hills. And when you can come
to get us with the island jet for the weekends, that would be
great. Other times, I am sure Uncle Tommy cannot only house us on
the weekends, but he’s a good protector. He can smell the bad guys
coming.”

Lena looked at her two boys and said,
“I guess starting in September, you will start your new
school.”

“
That’s only a month away.
And this is pending the results of entrance exams, I’m sure,” I
added.

“
We’ll study together,”
Joshua said.

Lena shook her head and said, “How
will I ever win any discussion when I’m outnumbered, three boys to
one?”

I said, “It’s not about winning a
discussion. It’s about the boys spreading their wings. This island
has held them back, sheltered them, and become their prison,
disguised as a paradise.”

The boys both nodded.

“
It’s true,” Jason
said.

I looked at my wife and continued, “If
our boys are to become fine men, we have to let them grow. And if
letting them grow means letting them go, we need to do that, Lena.
It’s time.”

Lena finally let go with the
waterworks that I knew were coming. The three of us who loved her
gathered around her and hugged her while she wept.

Chapter
Nineteen

The next two years weren’t as easy as
I had hoped they would be. There were no quick fixes in trying to
solve problems for two sons who were half a world apart from Lena
and me.

All I knew was, I wanted as little
control of the situation as possible—I was trying to let our boys
test their wings and see how they flew without my constant
guidance. But I missed them. In our empty nest, there was no
wrestling, no guy stuff to share, no male bonding time, no boys at
home. I was secretly bereft without their company, but I would
never admit it to Lena, that sometimes, she was just not
enough.

After sixteen years of family life, I
was left alone with Lena, and everything was different with the
boys at school in California. The family dynamic was absent and it
was like having a girlfriend again, one who wanted all of my
attention and who had nobody but me to divert her own.

It should have been the best time of
our lives, mine and Lena’s, but things on the island came to the
forefront and now, in a household without the boys, I had no stress
release. Even joy seemed to evade me, no matter how hard Lena tried
to be entertaining and engage me in “couple” activities.

But, as best as I could, I pushed that
stress to the back burner and began to focus on my duties and
difficulties of governing Helena Island. What had been my new
reality and what was staring at me in my face every single day and
what was looming, was waiting for Pierce to die. I was just hoping
that he kept holding on, so peace would prevail between our two
islands.

I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of
evil Jason had seen in Pierce. Jason didn’t push the panic button
ever. But once he put his hands on Pierce, he knew something wasn’t
going to be right.

I’m not sure why it happened the way
it did. All I knew was that Brock was becoming very powerful among
the Mani. The Mani were a fickle group. I had learned the hard way,
this was true. It was disheartening that some Mani felt that I
wasn’t enough and they were still searching to find someone to
follow—maybe I’d been selfish in all this, not looking out for my
fellow man and being more concerned about my family and myself than
worried about the greater good.

Brock Houston was rich and had a lot
of resources; that was usually an easy way to make friends. I had
had so many years of protecting others that my instincts were to
send Jason and Joshua as far away from Brock as possible. I wasn’t
afraid of the man. I was afraid of the kind of cause he could stir
up and there’s no greater cause than your son’s life.

We got the boys settled in quickly to
their new school in California and I began to feel relief,
especially knowing that Tommy was like their guardian angel. Joshua
loved the ladies and the ladies loved Joshua. Apparently, he had a
new girlfriend every month that he went to St.
Michael’s.

Jason, on the other hand, had no
interest in the ladies, other than pure politeness. The obvious
response was that the kid was gay, but not in his case. I’d love
him regardless of what he was, but I thought his sexuality was
truly and firmly asexual. He did not flirt or show any interest in
anything sexual, in either the opposite sex, or his own. He was the
best-behaved teenage boy I had ever known.

I could tell right off the bat that
this school was going to be a great experience for both of them.
They had both wanted to play sports for so long, and now they would
get their chance. To my surprise, I couldn’t believe how skilled
they were at the sports they chose to play. Joshua chose to play
football, wrestling and baseball, and Jason chose to play
basketball, baseball and football. They were both three-sports
lettermen—baseball and football games were especially exciting for
the school with both Reign boys playing for the team.

My dad would have had a great time
seeing them play if he would have been alive. It was hard not to
think about my father when I thought of my sons. The idea that my
sons would never know my father was what saddened me. He would’ve
thought that Joshua was a hoot and I could only imagine the kind of
conversations he and Jason would’ve had, the two philosophers
butting heads.