H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (64 page)

I looked at the guys and said, “I’m going to
need the three of you by my side. I’m going to need you to lead,
are you ready to do that?”

Again, all three nodded.

“Okay, now I need to figure out how this is
going to go down. Cyrus, I’m going to see Atticai. I want you to
come with me. You have fought beside Krull and know him intimately.
And if I can get any kind of answers out of Atticai, I think it
will be valuable for you to be there.”

Cyrus nodded. I looked over at Hector and
Wyatt. “So that lets the two of you off the hook. I have a feeling
Atticai isn’t too happy with either of you two for not going with
him.”

“We appreciate that, “Wyatt said, “So, what
now, Josiah?”

“I need more answers. I’ll keep you posted.”
I got up and left the room.

Chapter Five

I decided that I needed to clear my head. I
needed to put everything in the right perspective. This thing that
I am sometimes gets a life of its own, and I can’t even breathe or
think clearly.

Unfortunately, the person I needed to talk
to the most was Atticai, but he hates me. I took the one thing in
this world that he wanted the most. The sad part about it is I
never asked for it or even knew what it was. I didn’t even want it.
But now that it’s here, I have no choice but to accept it.

It was a little past midnight and I knew I
needed to go for a fly. Not some reckless fly where I’m tearing
through the sky at a rapid pace, but one that was on more of the
calmer side, the equivalent to a nice Sunday drive.

I opened the trap door in my room that led
to the outside, I dropped down and then took flight in my Mani
form. The stars were out and they seemed to be lighting up the sky
more than usual on this night. I now live where there’s little smog
and stars are definitely clearer than in Orange County and most
parts of the Inland Empire. I took in my surroundings as I made my
way across the sky at a much slower rate than I was accustomed to.
I’ve noticed that there are times when I soar across the sky, and
it really doesn’t matter what speed I’m going, my senses are
ignited and I see and feel things on a whole different level.

I was exhausted emotionally and worn out
physically. I needed a spiritual tune-up and, truth be told, I
missed my best friend and my family. This life that I was living in
seemed to run on its own energy. I seemed to have very little say
about what was happening to me. It was time to stop resisting it. I
need to complete whatever task the Triat had for me. I needed to
follow through on my calling. This ‘Chosen One’ title was getting
old.

Atticai had followed this dream for years.
He knew better than anyone the truth of its purpose. It was as
simple as the night was dark; I needed to speak with him.

I decided to turn around and head back to
the house after a few minutes of just enjoying the silence; the
amazing sounds of nothing that the night air provides. I eventually
made my way back to the house and picked up Cyrus and then we
headed to Flatlands.

The last couple of times I had been to
Flatlands, I had been greeted with open arms, but I wasn’t sure
about tonight. This was Atticai’s old hangout and the likelihood of
him being there was high. Even if he wasn’t, these were the
vampires that believed so little in me that they would rather
follow a guy I had already killed. So, I had reason to be nervous
about my being welcome.

Cyrus and I circled the Flatlands parking
lot, and there were a lot of people down in the rocky area. Was
Atticai’s army getting bigger or were some of my people just
hanging out with these guys? Were all of these people Mani?

I could see Rubidoux from the sky with his
platinum blonde hair.

I couldn’t see Atticai. It’s kind of hard to
miss a seven-foot vampire who looked like Russell Brand. I decided
to transition into my Mani form and head down, with Cyrus following
suit.

Rubidoux look up at me as I landed.
“Josiah,” he said. “Have you come here to do some recruiting?”

“Why? You want back in?” I said, knowing
perfectly well he didn’t.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

“You know, it can be both,” I said, winking
at him.

“Maybe, but I’m not into suicide missions.”
Rubidoux was drunk so I knew he would be speaking freely and I
wouldn’t hold it against him.

“Is that what you’re thinking? It’s a
suicide mission?”

“It sure isn’t a fight that you’re favored
to win.”

“Why is that?” I asked, sincerely wanting to
know.

Rubidoux looked at me and was making sure I
was cool about what he was saying. Once he trusted that I wasn’t
here to kick his ass, he began to once again speak freely. “Josiah,
Krull lives for this shit. I wouldn’t be surprised if right at this
moment he has his crew running drills, like in those Middle Eastern
terrorist camp videos they show on the news. You’re up against a
disillusioned madman who doesn’t care about prophecies, or the
Triat, and especially the good of his people.”

“I already fought him once,” I said.

“I heard you sucker-punched him real good
and ran like a coward.”

“A coward!” I said, in a manner that
Rubidoux could tell I was not too pleased with his statement.

“Did you run? Yes or no?” Rubidoux
asked.

“We were outnumbered about 500 to 1.”

Rubidoux smiled at me. “And do you think
that’s going to change?”

“I don’t know. I think we can get some good
Mani to join our side.”

“He already has them all, Josiah, or at
least the ones that want to lay their life down for a cause. His
cause.” Rubidoux seemed to know a lot about this subject.

I looked at Cyrus, “Is this true?”

Cyrus nodded and said, “I’ve seen both of
you fight at your peak forms. I think you can fight straight up,
Josiah. He’s very seasoned, but there has never been anyone like
you.”

“Look, if this was just a fight between
Josiah and Krull, I’d say Josiah would have fifty-fifty odds, but
it’s not. The fight isn’t going to come down with the two of them
fighting in some Armageddon Christ-versus-Satan battle. This fight
is going to have thousands of Mani laying down their lives. You
want to talk about recruitment, Josiah? Krull has been recruiting
the toughest Mani for hundreds of years. Do you really think that
rag-tag group that stayed behind with you has any chance in hell of
living through a battle with his evil minions?”

Rubidoux was definitely not making me feel
comfortable, but I wasn’t discouraged. I looked Rubidoux and Cyrus
both in the eyes and said, “One thing I know is a fighter’s heart.
Every battle is won by soldiers. And if I could convince Mani to
fight with the kind of heart that drives me then I think it’s
possible for us to succeed.” Then I just looked at Cyrus and asked,
“Does he have the toughest Mani on his side?”

“In some ways, yeah. It’s only because he’s
recruited bitter motherfuckers who live and stew in their own
hate.”

“Well, I guess that’s why I’m here then,” I
said. “I am recruiting. Are all of these guys like you?” I asked
Rubidoux.

“Like me, how?” he asked.

“With Atticai?”

“I’m not with Atticai,” Rubidoux
scoffed.

“Then what do you call it?”

“I’m like France, neutral. I don’t want you
to kill me and I don’t want Krull to kill me. Most of these people
feel the same way. We aren’t with Atticai, we just agree with his
philosophy. Atticai isn’t trying to build an army to take over the
world.”

“Is that what you think I’m doing? Trying to
build an army to take over the world before Krull does?” I
asked.

“You’re building an army, aren’t you?”

“Not to take over the world.”

“Well, then, good luck convincing any Mani
to join you. Mani are fed up with Tandra and Carni! It’s very easy
for Krull to recruit because most Mani are sick and tired of being
second-class citizens.”

“Where’s Atticai?” Cyrus blurted out.
Apparently, he was done listening to Rubidoux’s opinion. I actually
liked that he did it. It was a side of Cyrus I hadn’t seen yet.
Ballsy.

Rubidoux looked at Cyrus and smirked as if
to say ‘whose this guy?’

“Where’s Atticai?” I calmly asked
Rubidoux.

“He doesn’t come around here often.”

“What has he been doing?”

“Probably wreaking havoc around town. He
needs to make up for lost time.”

“I don’t believe that,” I said, indignantly.
“Atticai isn’t a savage. He’s refined. The guy plays the piano like
Mozart.”

“True, but he does need to feed and no one
feeds like Atticai.”

“He kills when he feeds?” I asked.

“Of course he does,” Rubidoux answered. “Not
everyone has your moral compass, Josiah. Sometimes, some of us like
to get down and get our grub on.”

I tried to ignore Rubidoux’s statement. For
his sake, I hoped he was kidding. “So, is that where he is tonight?
Getting his grub on?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t doubt it.”

I looked at Rubidoux and I needed to ask him
one more thing. “I want to speak to him. Can you arrange that?”

“You want to meet with Atticai?” Rubidoux
seemed amused.

“Why does that amuse you?”

“You should bring someone along and record
it for YouTube.”

“I doubt it would get too many hits,” I
said.

“You’d be surprised. Two egomaniacs trying
to have a civil conversation would be entertaining, if you ask
me.”

“I’m not an egomaniac,” I protested. I
looked at Cyrus for assurance and didn’t get any. “What? You think
I’m an egomaniac, too, Cyrus?”

“You’re pretty impressed with yourself,”
Cyrus answered.

“Look, Josiah, I could probably arrange a
meeting with you and Atticai. I need to know if I do this, what
will you do for me?”

“What do you want?”

Rubidoux smiled. “A favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“I’ll let you know when I need it. I just
need to know it’s there.”

“All right,” I said. “Take down my number.
Get hold of Atticai and let him know that I want to meet with him
tomorrow at midnight.”

“Where?” Rubidoux asked.

“Wherever he wants. I just need to talk to
him. Not fight. Talk.”

“Remember, this is Atticai we’re talking
about. I can’t make any promises.” Rubidoux now seemed unsure if
Atticai would see me.

“If you can get a meeting, Rubidoux, you can
have your favor.”

I decided not to stick around. Cyrus and I
transitioned and took off and made our way back home. Now, I just
needed to wait. The ball was in Atticai’s court.

Chapter Six

The next day, I got a text from Rubidoux
around 6 pm. All it said was ‘Mills Ranch, midnight.’ Mills Ranch?
Where is Mills Ranch? Ten minutes later, I got another text from
Rubidoux that read. ‘Be alone, he’ll be alone.’

Great, was he baiting me into an ambush? At
this point, all I can say is ‘It is what it is.’ This was one of
those times that I really needed Tommy to have my back. That was a
pipe dream at this point.

I was glad I had spoken to Rubidoux the
night before. Picking his brain turned out to be pretty helpful.
Trying to get a grasp on what I’m supposed to do was becoming a
pretty complicated thing. This thing that I’m part of had to be
more than a good-versus-evil power play.

In life, nothing was broken down to be that
simple. I didn’t subscribe to any theory that one side was always
right and the other was always wrong, or that one side was
necessarily good and another was evil. Life was about individuals
and the choices they made.

Was I saying there is good in Krull? Yeah, I
was. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t going to be your Luke
Skywalker trying to find the good in Darth Vader crap. What it was,
though, was me trying to get a grasp on what it all meant. For
Krull and I to have an all-out war isn’t going to change the minds
of all Mani. No matter what, one side would lose. There needed to
be a way to bring everyone together. How? At this point I had no
freaking idea.

Up to this point, my gut feeling had served
me well and brought me this far and I still need to trust it. I
believe that Atticai had some answers that I was looking for.

I showered up and put on a pair of black
jeans with a black t-shirt. I looked very vampirey with my black
attire. I liked wearing the color black even before I had become a
Mani. Now that I had become one, it was a good enough excuse to
drape my entire wardrobe in the color. Seriously, what other color
could I possibly wear? Could you imagine ‘The Chosen One’ showing
up at a meeting wearing a bright yellow tank top and purple surfer
shorts?

I asked Wyatt before I left where Mills
Ranch was and he showed me on the GPS on my phone where I was
supposed to go. I left through the front door of the house to go
see Atticai. I decided to not be so dramatic by flying out the trap
door of my room. Sometimes, it was nice to do things normally, like
when I was a Tandra. When I reached outside, the cold air felt good
on my face. I didn’t walk outside too often. Flying had made me
pretty lazy in that department.

I was really nervous about meeting with
Atticai. It felt like I had a meeting with an underboss, in one of
the five mob families. In many ways, this was exactly what it was.
But Atticai didn’t pet a cat and speak like a guy with marbles in
his mouth. But Atticai had the respect of the people. And respect
went a long way with these folks. He was already legendary, and
now, because of me, he had beat death. He beat a Mani’s death. I
had no idea how rare that was. All I did know was that I respected
him. Maybe, I did a little more because he was Goshi.

Mills Ranch was in Hesperia, the town right
next to Victorville. I decided to take flight and head over there.
Mills Ranch was very much like the house I lived in over in
Victorville. It was the only house or place within ten miles of
anything else. It wasn’t hard to miss. But unlike my house, this
place looked like something out of the Addams Family. It was really
creepy looking. I was expecting a severed hand to walk out at any
moment.