Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6) (3 page)

I thought about Sion.
“Sion has shown a lot of loyalty, still standing by my side
whenever I was in need. He lives in a gigantic cottage, about 500
yards from my castle grounds.”

“
Whenever you need me,
speak to him. He’s never that far away and is always eager to speak
with me.”

“
He’s definitely my go-to
person. Without him, I could not have found you in
Pahrump.”

“
He’s a good investigator.
Luckily, he’s on our side,” she said.

My time with the Deity was
winding down. I had gotten the answers I was looking for. Except
for one. Lena. “I have one more question for you?”

“
Of course, my child. Ask
away.”

“
I want to be a good man
to Lena and I often fall short by pursuing my own endeavors. She
often feels this loss of closeness and craves my attention. And
then I feel a little resentful when I have to give up time with my
pursuits to reassure her. How do I balance the two?”

“
In your heart of hearts,
do you think you have been a good husband?”

“
Husband? I know I’ve been
a great dad.”

“
Well, therein lies your
problem. Lena feels she is second fiddle. Allow her to be just as
important and sometimes, even more important than the boys. She
deserves it. She has been through a lot.”

“
We all have.”

“
Yes, but she done a lot
of it from the sidelines and she feels a tad inadequate because of
that. Assure her daily that she is important and that you will have
a great relationship. And just remember that children grow up and
go away. She will always be there for you, waiting for you at the
end of the day. Honor that by being there for her.”

“
Thank you for that. I
needed to hear that,” I said as honest as a statement could be. I
remembered that we talked for another hour. I thanked the Deity for
her hospitality and told her I had a long flight ahead of me back
to my family and that I wanted to get back soon.

We hugged and I promised
her that I would take everything she told me to heart. She told me
that she knew I would. She’s a great woman. A great Deity. I felt
like her door was always open.

Chapter Four

I sat at the foot of our bed in our
great castle and just took in the night. There was a gift of gothic
poetry about our castle in the middle of the night. I like taking
it in, even if it was my bedroom.

Lena leaned up. I guess I woke her.
“You still up sweetheart? What’s going on?”

“
Not sure what I’m getting
Jason into tomorrow.”

“
Well. You know how I feel
about the situation. You don’t owe Brock Houston anything. You have
done so much good over your lifetime that you can take one day
off.”

“
I told you, Sweetie, I
gave my word. Go back to bed.” Before the words came out of my
mouth, I could hear her squeaky snore. Lena always says what she
feels and does things her own way. I remembered what she said when
I got back from the Deity.

After I said goodbye to
the Deity, I had quite a fly ahead of me. I transitioned to the
Great White Eagle and made my way back to the island. I was
planning on flying double-time and risking a direct shot over the
ocean to save some time. I just wouldn’t tell Lena I did that. She
liked me taking the routes that planes used.

I remember thinking about
my discussion with the Deity on the whole fly home. I was glad to
know that I just needed to trust my instincts as a father, and I
was very pleased with her response to me about seeking new
adventures out in the real world. Meeting with the Deity on that
night gave me the courage to be what the Tandra called me: Vampire
Superhero. I spent the next ten years fighting crime around the
world. I helped everyone. Humans, vampires, werewolves, and other
creatures of the night. Where’s my comic book? Where are my action
figures?

When I got back to the
island, I was exhausted. I remembered all I wanted to do was crawl
up in my bed and grab a long sleep. Of course, that didn’t happen,
because I had a wife who was always interested in what I was up to,
and her curiosity never wavered nor could be put on a pause
button.

Lena was eager to find out
what the Deity had to say about our boys, but secretly she wanted
to know what the Deity thought about my desire of wanting some
superhero action outside in the real world. I got home in the early
morning and Lena was still up.

I made my way into our
bedroom and began taking off my jeans. I had boxer shorts
underneath.

“
Put those is the hamper,
they must stink.”

“
My jeans?” I laughed.
“They were hardly exposed. I flew as the white eagle all
night.”

“
Still, I plan on doing
some laundry tomorrow so put them in the hamper.”

I got up off the bed and
put my jeans in the hamper to make my wife happy.

“
How was her Holiness?” So
here was the real reason behind the jeans and the hamper. She was
waiting to hear about the Deity.

“
She was wonderful. Like
she always is.”

“
Is she still
blind?”

“
You mean did she have
laser surgery since the last time we saw her? I’m pretty sure what
is wrong with her eyes cannot be fixed by surgery. So, what’s your
real question?”

“
Did you get your
answers?” Lena asked.

“
I got a few. Was there
one that you were more interested in?”

“
What did she say about
the boys?”

“
Not much.”

“
Not much?”

“
Not really.”

“
Isn’t that was why you
went? To find out if we are raising the boys right?”

“
That was certainly one of
the questions I asked her.”

“
But you had others that
were equally important.”

“
I’m sorry, but yeah, I
did. I have a lot on my plate.”

“
So, what did you ask
her?”

“
In regard to the kids, I
wanted to know when was a good time to let them know they have
special abilities.”

“
You mean Jason has
special abilities?”

“
She was very clear that
Joshua’s blood was equally as divine as Jason’s and that he just
had a different path with different abilities.”

“
I was really hoping to
have one normal kid,” Lena said in a manner that I wasn’t sure if
she was teasing or not.

“
We have great kids,” I
said.

“
I know we do,” Lena
agreed.

“
I asked the Deity a lot
of things.”

“
You surely asked her
about your need to want to go out and save the world and be a
vampire hero?”

“
I did because it is very
important to me. In the grand scheme of things, I asked her all the
important questions that were on my heart.”

“
Did she say anything else
about the kids?” Lena asked.

“
She told us to trust our
instincts. That’s all I needed to hear. Our instincts have gotten
both of us this far, right, babe?”

Lena smiled at me. She
liked it when I included her in my reasoning. But then she changed
her tune real fast. “What did she say about the other
thing?”

“
You mean about me saving
the world?”

“
Whatever you’re calling
your crusade. Josiah, you’re gonna do what you wanna do and I don’t
even think the Deity could have stopped you, but if she blessed it,
then, oh boy, there will be no stopping you now.”

I smiled and nodded my
head. “She blessed it.”

“
Lord have mercy. The
world is in trouble.”

“
Au contraire. Because of
me, I will save the world from trouble.”

“
And get yourself into
it.”

“
She gave me the okay on
helping people as long as...”

“
As long as what?” Lena
said.

“
As long as I don’t
neglect my family. My family comes first.”

“
I always told you I
thought the Deity was wise.”

“
Just five minutes ago,
you weren’t exactly being supportive.”

“
Don’t get me wrong,
Josiah. I am very supportive in anything you do. I just have to
come to terms that your spiritual advisor is a woman.”

“
Who is two thousand years
old and looks like she could pass for a member of an MTV
nation.”

“
I just wish we had some
of the answers that you seek inside ourselves.”

“
It had been almost four
years since I last saw her.”

“
She gave us pretty dark
news on that day, telling us we would have twins, but one of them
will be martyred. It’s not her I don’t like, it’s that she is a
bearer of bad news. Every time.”

“
Don’t shoot the
messenger.”

“
Never. She is the voice
of the Triat. I told her no one will ever touch Jason, over my dead
body, and she pretty much told me that destiny is undeniable, but
that I will always do what I ultimately want.”

“
Do you think she really
said you will be able to save him?”

I kissed Lena on the lips,
instead of answering her tough question. It had been a while since
we made love. And all the flying had gotten my juices going, in
more ways than one.

I walked over and lay on
top of Lena while she was lying in the bed. She liked it when I did
that. I smothered her with my body in a giant super hug.

“
Oh my, I see someone is
up!” Lena said, referring to the abrupt way my body always reacts
to her sexy body.

I slipped off her
nightgown and took off my clothes, starting with my black shirt and
then stripping all the way down, until my boxer shorts laid in a
crumpled pile on the floor and then I offered her myself. I didn’t
offer her the Chosen One. I didn’t offer her the leader of a
people. I didn’t offer her a vigilante superhero, or a governor of
an island, or a vampire or a great white eagle. I offered her
Josiah, the young man who had saved her from frat boys and changed
her life.

Lena and I made love. It
had been a few days, so I was ready. I hoped that she knew, deep
down, that it was the old Josiah who offered himself up in love. I
finally understood what she needed and I gave it to her, with all
of my heart.

Present Day Helena

That all took place some time ago and
those fights seemed to be so innocent in regard to what we were
dealing with in the present. I was exhausted, but my mind was
racing. I decided to give it one more try. I threw off my shirt and
slowly crawled into bed with Lena. Finally, the stiller I laid, the
sleepier I got.

Chapter Five

Where is my
Utopia?

The thought woke me, as if spoken by
someone else in my head, someone younger, and fighting for
something he believed in: a race of immortals, an ideal, and a
profound righteousness of belief, word and deed. That striking
thought of “Utopia” came from the “me” of my honor days gone
by...that old me occasionally reared up with a thought that was
part dream, part truth, and part challenge.

I am Josiah Reign and I am
a Mani vampire.
My voice within was strong
tonight, reasserting itself about my identity and my
purpose.

Sixteen years ago, I had led a
revolution like no other. I had done it for a race of immortals,
and also, for my sons. I had taken out the evil Krull and his men,
only with the help of many friends and much bloodshed, sacrifice,
loss, and eventual triumph. Krull had been a vicious and cruel Mani
vampire who had led his followers down a path of death and
destruction. They had been hoping to take over the world, the human
one, too, using intimidation and force. I had been chosen by the
Triat to stop him.

And therein, lies the bygone tale of
destiny, of murder, of mayhem, of blood, and of triumph over
adversity and termination of the most evil and diabolical villain
the world had ever known. Krull was gone now, and peace reigned. I
was still amazed by what we had done and how we had defeated him
and his army.

The facts remained: Somehow, my
rag-tag group of Mani and Carni misfits took out an army three
times their size. We did it not by numbers, nor by superior
weapons, but by intelligence, planning, and a collaborative belief
that utter goodness and mercy on the meek would and should prevail.
Defeating the army of Krull was one of my many moments in the sun,
but perhaps the greatest of my—of our—accomplishments as a
race.

After the dust and blood drops settled
from the great fight for justice and freedom, the Mani people were
given two islands just south of New Zealand. The islands were given
to me in deeds, legally placed in my name. It sounded crazy that I
owned two islands, but I did. I ran one island as governor, and I
tried to adhere to the democracy of my formerly only-human origins.
I had a sense of fairness and integrity that I vowed I would never
depart from.