Vampire Love Story (16 page)

Atticai crossed his long arms over his narrow chest. “Oh my, I see someone has been given a prophecy lesson. And since it’s not the
Reader’s Digest
version that we give 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, kid,” 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?”

“It’s not true, Atticai.”

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

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

“My mercy? This
Tandra
who refused a chance to become a Mani deserves my mercy?”

“Please, Atticai, consider it.”

Wyatt snapped open his cell phone and looked at the glowing faceplate. “It’s almost time,” he said.

Atticai nodded. “But first things first.”

He grabbed Lena. Although she didn’t make a sound, the confident girl I had seen just hours before was long gone. She looked terrified. I wondered if Atticai had her under some sort of spell, the same type of spell he had placed on the snakes. What the hell were these Mani?

Wyatt and Hector stepped in front of them forming a sort of wall between them and me. Atticai walked behind Lena and looked at his watch on his left hand. “Ten seconds,” he said.

Lena looked terrified. I didn’t blame her. Shit, she was surrounded by vampires and her death was just seconds away.

I did the only thing I could think of. I removed the iron spike and ran at them. Wyatt jumped up into the air, Karate Kid-like, and kicked me full in the face.
Motherfucker
, I hadn’t expected that. Actually, I hadn’t expected him to be that fast.

On the ground, I snapped my head around and watched as Atticai opened his mouth. Moonlight reflected off his elongated canines. He looked at me, smiled, and bit into Lena’s neck.

I jumped up and summoned all my fighting instincts. This was, after all, going to be the fight of my life. And Lena’s.

Wyatt came at me again. He tried the exact same move but I ducked beneath his kick, grabbed his leg and yanked him down to the ground. I punched him as hard as I could in the face. The blow rocked him enough that I jumped up and turned my attention to Hector, who was coming at me from the other direction. He hit me hard. So hard that I flew backwards and into something solid. A tree trunk. Air burst from my lungs as I sank to the ground. Good God, I felt as if I had been hit by a car.

And before I could fully clear my head and see through the bright lights that had burst just behind my eyelids, two powerful ravens—Wyatt and Hector, I assumed—grabbed me in their massive talons flew me up into the air. Once again, I found myself dangling from flying creatures, and being lifted up above the treetops had a definite way of clearing one’s head.

Far below, in a small glow of fire, I could see three people standing. Atticai had his face pressed into Lena’s neck, and Yari stood nearby, on guard, I presumed.

This time I was certain they were going to drop me—and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I had failed to save Lena; in fact, I couldn’t even save myself.

But instead of immediately dropping me, they flew up, up. Now Savoy Ranch was far below. They were going to drop me from hundreds of feet up, making damn well sure I was smashed to smithereens.

But they surprised me again, they circled back over a cliff’s edge, where they promptly landed, dropping me. What the hell? Both transitioned back into Mani and faced me. I knew then that they were both going to give me a thorough beating first, just like the undead scum they were. Mani bullies, really. No doubt they planned to drink from me first, too, and get a late night snack in. After all, why let a good meal go to waste? Only then would they toss me off the cliff, dead and bloodless, to disappear in a broken heap of skin and bones.

Well, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I charged forward, heaving my right hand at Hector’s face as hard as I could, while simultaneously kicking Wyatt with my left leg. It was an advanced move. Not something they teach you in MMA since you don’t fight two guys at once. I learned this one from Tommy. Anyway, the leverage I generated by hitting Hector transferred through me and gave my kick an amazing amount of force, a kick that landed square in the center of Wyatt’s chest. To my own surprise, the Mani tumbled off the cliff. I had no doubt he would transition back into a raven before hitting bottom. I would have looked for myself but Hector had already jumped on top of me.

Good God, he was incredibly strong. Before I could grab the bastard, I felt his teeth sink deep into my neck. The pain was so intense, I dropped to my knees. The bite had an odd effect. Almost immediately it sapped my strength. I reached weakly for Hector, my hand futilely slapping and grabbing at him. He sank his teeth even deeper, tearing at my neck. Good God, I heard him drinking from my neck, sucking on me like a monster.

Black encroached from the edges of my vision. I had been knocked out enough to know that I was about to pass out. And that’s when someone—or something—tackled Hector off of me. Both bodies fell off the cliff. I shook my head and grabbed my damaged neck. I crawled to the lip of the cliff and, bleeding and lightheaded, looked down.

It had been Yari, once again saving me. I looked down and watched as both Yari and Hector transitioned before reaching the ground. It was like watching two dog fighting WWII aircraft. Raven and Hawk clawed at each other all the way to the ground. Once on the ground, both transformed back to their Mani selves and the fighting continued, only this time Wyatt joined in. Sweet Jesus, they were beating the crap out of Yari. Sure, she got some punches in, but two Mani were clearly stronger and more powerful than one.

Atticai was still sucking on Lena’s’ neck. Now I could see her fighting him, struggling. If ever someone had made a poor decision. Well, she wasn’t the only one who had made a poor decision. Who was currently sitting high atop a cliff at night, only moments from two vampires returning and finishing their job?

And the one creature who had saved me was currently pinned to the ground by Wyatt. And from high above, I watched in horror as Hector removed something gleaming. Even from up here, I could see what it was.

A silver stake.

They were going to kill Yari. And Atticai was going to kill Lena, and any minute now they would return and kill me, too.

Good job, hero,
I thought.

But there was nothing I could do. I was stuck up here. If I jumped I would surely die. There is no way I could survive that fall.

But as I looked down over the cliff, something amazing happened. Simultaneously, both Yari and Lena yelled, “Josiah!”

I stared, stunned. But I didn’t know what to do. But suddenly—amazingly—I wasn’t weak anymore. In fact, I felt incredibly strong. But they were still so far below. What could I do? Still, my body felt suddenly indestructible, stronger than I had ever felt before. I had never taken steroids, but I imagined this is what they felt like—times ten.

I stood up. I felt ten feet tall. I looked down...and without thinking, I jumped.

And I didn’t just jump. I dove headfirst as if from a high diving board. As I feel, I stretched my hands and felt the wind thunder over me. I knew I was going to die. I had to die. What was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking. It had almost been instinct to jump. But an instinct born from what? But it didn’t matter. I had jumped. I had just done it without thinking twice.

Too late now. Too late to even care.

But what a way to go!

I plummeted down. The wind whipped my clothes and hair crazily. My heart felt unbelievably strong. I almost felt like I could fly. Probably everyone who jumps thinks this. Perhaps this is the last thought all jumpers have before they hit bottom:

That they could fly.

But I really
did
feel like I could fly. In fact, I was suddenly certain I could fly. Of course, I was certain. I had no other hope to hang onto. I was about to get dashed across the rocky bottom and who wouldn’t wish they could fly?

And that’s when something amazing happened.

I stopped picking up speed. In fact, it felt almost as if I was slowing.

Maybe that was part of death, too. Everything slowing down, right before I hit bottom.

But I didn’t hit bottom. In fact, I was slowing down even more.

What the hell?

I looked at my arms and that’s when I received the shock of my life. My arms weren’t arms. My arms were wings. Beautiful white wings. I instinctively angled my arms—or wings—and I swooped up, just missing the ground and the shocked faces below. I made my way up into the sky again. I yelled out and an eagle-like screech echoed along the canyon walls.

Somehow I had transitioned. Somehow I had turned into...the white eagle.

Lena!

I looked down and my eyesight was amazing. I could see all the details below. Lena was still in Atticai’s arms. Her head was forward. fastened to her neck like a goddamn sucker fish. He was drinking deeply, his throat working. A deep bruise had formed around her neck where he was sucking her blood, sucking and sucking....

I angled my wings, tucking them in, and dove down.

I shot through the night, going faster than I had ever gone in my life. It was exhilarating. Atticai never saw me coming. someone—Wyatt, I think—shouted to his vampire leader, but it was too late.

I slammed hard into Atticai, piercing his neck with my great, hooked beak. The force of the impact was great. Atticai was thrown to the side, spinning through the air. My beak, I saw, had gone in one side of his neck and out the other. Just as Yari had said to do.

Atticai rolled across the dirt, and I rolled with him, tucking in my wings. We were still deeply attached. Finally we stopped and he opened his mouth, gasping. His terrified, confused eyes fell on me. And they widened even more as he realized what he was seeing...a white eagle. His mouth worked. Blood poured of his nose and mouth, dripping over my own beak.

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, unable to find his voice.

I considered killing him. I considered watching the bastard die, but he had spared me once—although it had been a half-assed gesture. Still, I decided to return the favor.

Except I didn’t know how to transition back. What was I supposed to do? And suddenly, within seconds, I found myself—my normal self—lying next to a bleeding Atticai. Apparently, just wanting to transition back was all that was necessary to switch back and forth.

“You....” gasped Atticai, holding his neck and sitting up. “You were the one in the visions. I didn’t know. How could I have known? You were the Chosen One.” Atticai coughed, and more blood dribbled down his chin. “I was the evil. I was the evil in the dream.”

Atticai closed his eyes and then just disappeared. In a night where I had found myself turned into a white eagle, seeing a man disappear in front of me,
really
freaked me out. But I didn’t have time to worry about it. Next on the list was saving Yari; that is, if I wasn’t too late.

I scrambled to my feet, and discovered I was still wearing the same clothes I had been. Okay, now that was a neat trick.

Focus, Josiah. Find Yari.

But I didn’t have far to go or much to worry about. She was standing with Wyatt and Hector, all three of whom were staring at me open-mouthed. Yari said, still staring at me like she had seen a ghost. And that’s saying something about a girl who was already extremely pale faced.

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

“Never mind that, we need to help Lena.” I turned and spotted her lying on the ground. Blood was dribbling from her neck and soaking into the dirt around her. I ran to her side and picked her up. She didn’t look like she was breathing. Oh, sweet Jesus.

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

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

“What? Tell me!”

Amazingly, the others didn’t seem to care what happened to Lena. Why should they? They were used to killing, they were used to death. What was one more dead Tandra to them?

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

“She is lost,” said Yari. “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 gently at me. “You are one of us, Josiah. You have been bitten three times by a Mani. It takes three bites to turn her.”

Through my scattered, crazed thoughts, I realized she was right. The first had been when Wyatt bit me. The second had been when Yari sucked the poison out of me. And third had been Hector up on the cliff. That’s why I was able to transition.

“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.” Atticai was obviously the first one. Yari walked over and lifted Lena’s wrist and bit down into it, drawing a small amount of blood. Blood dribbled out, but certainly not as much as I would have thought, until I remembered how much blood Atticai had surely drank.

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

“Why?”

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

“Of course.” God, I wasn’t thinking at all. Who could under these circumstances. But I did as I was told. I patted her face gently. “Lena, wake up.”

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

“Josiah?” she whispered.

I smiled down at her. She was still in my arms. “Yes. Lena, I need to know...do you really want to become a Mani?”

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