Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6) (10 page)

Lena beamed. Oh, the Deity
really knew what to say to her. I was undaunted about my role as a
father. I already knew how important I was to the boys, as a role
model and protector, but I didn’t need the Deity to tell me that.
It was instinctual.

The Deity looked at the
two boys. “What about you? Do you two have any questions for
me?”

“
I do! Are our parents
really vampires?” Joshua asked.

The Deity laughed. Then
said, “What your parents are, are the leaders of the Mani, and the
Mani are vampires.”

“
Are Mani real vampires?”
Joshua asked the Deity. “I mean, do they just think they are
vampires, or are they really vampires?”

“
What do you mean?” the
Deity asked.

Jason chimed in, “We saw
this TV talk show where the people on it claimed to be vampires,
and I know they believed they were, but we didn’t buy
it.”

Joshua nodded in
agreement. “That’s exactly what I was thinking, only Jason said
it.”

“
Ah, television. Josiah,
would you like to explain to your sons what you are?” the Deity
said to me. She must have felt that this would sound better coming
from me in this safe place.

I looked at my boys and I
couldn’t believe this was going to be the first time I was going to
tell them who I really was. It got me very emotional, more
emotional than I had expected. My throat tightened and my heart
rate increased.

“
Sons, your mother and I
are both vampires, in fact, a rare breed of vampire. As a matter of
fact, we are the only two that have the traits we have. We are both
vampire and human.”

“
How is that possible?”
Joshua asked. “I mean, I am asking because humans have DNA that is
specific to each species.”

“
Oh, the scientist at
work. All things are possible,” I said. “We are being led by a
spiritual force, one that is far greater than anything we can
imagine, and that surpasses what science knows in our day and age.
This was what they chose for us, for your mother and
me.”

“
Who are they?” Joshua
asked.

“
They are the Triat,”
Jason answered.

“
You know about the
Triat?” the Deity asked Jason.

“
I have always known about
them, that they existed. I just never knew they had a name until
now,” Jason said. Then, very uncharacteristically, he blurted out,
“What is my destiny?”

“
What do you see?” the
Deity asked Jason.

“
I see sadness, but I also
see triumph. That is why I’m confused. How can they both exist in
the same person?”

“
Son,” the Deity said,
“You and your brother share a bond and one of you may be needed to
do an act so unselfish that you will possibly lose your
life.”

My heart sank. I knew it
was time for them to hear it. Knowing that it was the right thing
did not make it any easier to hear, but they needed to prepare for
it. Jason needed to prepare for it. Joshua just needed to prepare
to possibly lose his brother. Again, it would be over my dead body,
if it could be prevented. Prophecy or not, if I had to, I was going
down with this ship.

The Deity could see the
fire in my eyes. I could tell it unsettled her a little that I was
dead-set against this martyrdom for one of my sons.

To my surprise, neither
boy asked a follow-up question. I think both were just stunned at
the news that one of them might die. The room was uncomfortably
silent as the boys absorbed the dark news of what was to
come.

If they hadn’t already
seen so much, I would have never allowed them to know of this
destiny so soon. Once again, I went with my instincts.

“
Thank you, your Holiness,
for explaining,” I said, politely moving toward ending our visit
with her.

“
Before you all leave, I
need to speak to Josiah privately, one more time,” the Deity
said.

I nodded my head and said
to Lena, “I’ll meet you at the car in a few minutes.”

“
I promise not to keep him
that long,” the Deity said, smiling at my family. I was pretty sure
that she couldn’t see any of them, but she did her best to smile in
the direction that our voices were coming from.

Lena left the room
silently, to take the boys back to the car. She left without saying
goodbye, without one word at all. The boys didn’t speak either. The
destiny news cast a dark sadness over us all.

I continued to sit right
next to the Deity. I looked at her expectantly, knowing that she
knew I was still there with her.

“
Josiah, new challenges
are coming. You need to quit your extracurricular activity and
focus on your family. Some incredible events are on the horizon and
you need to be ready when they all start to unfold.”

“
So, it’s time for me to
retire from being the Vampire Superhero?”

“
It’s that or your
family,” the Deity said.

“
I choose my family,” I
said.

“
I knew you would. Love
them, Josiah. Love them the only the only way you can.”

“
I’ll do my
best.”

“
Goodbye, Josiah. Till we
meet again.”

I stood up. I hugged the
Deity and kissed her on the top of her head.

When I got back to car, I
knew I had good news for Lena, though I wasn’t sure the news sat as
well with me. Anything to lighten up the family after this heavy
meeting.

I opened the door and
smiled at my wife. “Guess what, Lena?”

“
What?” Lena
said.

“
She wants me to hang up
my vampire superhero tights.”

“
Retire?”

“
Yep.”

“
Ha! I knew I liked
her.”

“
Very funny.”

Chapter
Thirteen

I nearly dozed off in the recliner in
the den, which would have been nice, considering I hadn’t slept a
wink. The sun had made its way up. My boys would be getting up and
they usually ate a huge breakfast. My sleep pattern was all over
the map, my vampire hours fighting with my boys’ human sleep
schedule. Some days, I slept through the night so I could spend
time indoors with my sons. Then other days, I was up all night
doing nonsense with Sion, usually playing video games.

I decided to go to the kitchen and
start their breakfast. I’d make them pancakes, eggs, bacon, and my
special home-style potatoes. Delicious.

As I started mixing the pancake mix, I
thought about what the Deity had said to me before I left that
night at her bunker: “Focus on your family.” She wasn’t
kidding.

I remember, it was about
11:00 p.m. I was watching ESPN, a Lakers game that I had DVR-ed
earlier through a satellite signal. We were deep in the playoffs
and I was checking the score and zooming through commercials to the
highlights of the game. The boys were asleep and were down for the
weekend from prep school. They were tuckered out from playing
sports and studying. Lena was taking a bath with all of the fluffy,
good-smelling bubbles and steam that women like when they have
mondo cramps. She had a vampire romance novel in the tub with her,
which I found quite amusing.

Just as the Lakers stole
the ball, I heard the chimes bong at the front door of my castle.
Our castle chimes sounded like Big Ben. They had to be loud for the
sound to be able to be heard throughout the castle.

I didn’t get up right away
to answer it. The Lakers were more important. Even though I had the
game recorded on DVR, I was just riveted. Playoffs,
baby!

After a long minute,
during which I almost forgot someone had rung the door chimes, I
heard three knocks at the door. Actually, it was more like Boom!
Boom! Boom! as if some giant grim reaper was coming to call and was
about to break down the door. The door to our castle was so thick
that it hurt my hand to knock on it, so when I heard that pounding,
now I was on the alert.

Whoever it was, it was a
powerful knocking, full of foreboding and weighty news, if a knock
could be analyzed.

Only one person I knew
would even be capable of a knock like that, the only person who was
capable of bringing down a huge door with his fists if I delayed
answering it any longer.

I almost flew down the
stairs, and before I had opened the door, I said,
“Atticai!”

I opened the door and sure
enough, Atticai’s tall, gangly body was right outside the
door.

“
May I come in, Josiah?”
he asked.

“
Of course. Welcome, old
friend,” I said. I was shocked to see him. That was the first time
that he had unexpectedly just showed up. After his face did not
change to show any shred of happiness, I said, “Come on up to my
man cave. I have the Lakers in the playoffs, and brewskies in the
fridge.”

He shook his head and his
eyes were sad, his face carrying an expression of dark intensity. I
knew something secret was about to be said to me. I had been
anticipating it all day. I had no idea it was going to be the news
that I heard.

Atticai stepped into my
castle and dropped to his knees in tears.

Holy shit! What the hell
is going on?

“
Atticai, what is wrong?”
I asked, trying not to panic. The guy had never done any such thing
that I could remember.

“
Donya passed away two
hours ago.” His voice choked out the news and I was
shocked.

“
What?” The news hit me
like a load of bricks around my face.

“
Passed away. She died?” I
asked. It was almost unbelievable after all Atticai had been
through to get her back.

“
Yes. She’s
dead.”

“
What
happened?”

“
You know she had been
sick for a long time. We never talked about it, but she had
leukemia. We had a live-in doctor for the last couple of
months.”

“
Atticai, why didn’t you
tell me?”

“
It was Donya’s wish to
keep it quiet.”

“
Why wouldn’t she want me
to know?”

“
She knew you would do
something wacky to keep her alive.”

“
Wacky, huh?” I was
completely confused.

“
Josiah, you have been out
saving the world, being a vampire superhero and Donya knew if you
knew she was sick, you couldn’t help her yourself.”

Jason could have healed
her. I kept that thought to myself.

“
So, she chose to die a
natural death?” I asked.

“
Yes. That was the way she
wanted it.”

“
Wow, I’m so sorry. I have
no words, Atticai.”

Atticai stood up and
looked me in the eye and said simply, “I’m done here.”

“
What does that mean?” I
asked.

“
It means I’m leaving my
island.”

My heart sank. “Where are
you going to go?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
Of course if matters. I’d
like you to know you will still be the governing body of your
island. You could do it remotely.”

“
That would not be fair to
the people I govern. I have appointed someone to come on and take
it over.”

“
Who?”

“
Brock
Houston.”

“
Brock Houston? He only
has been a vampire for five years.”

“
You know he’s a good
choice.”

“
Is he?” I
asked.

“
He’s the smartest Mani I
know. He is also a top-notch fighter, not to mention he has the
financial means to take it on.”

“
All I know is he is rich.
Rich people make me uncomfortable.”

“
Well, Hector is rich, you
seemed to have worked that out fine.”

“
And that weirdo makes me
uncomfortable.” I switched the subject back to Brock
Houston.

“
You said he’s a good
fighter. How do you know?”

“
He’s like you. He was an
MMA fighter before he turned.”

“
He is only a good fighter
in the gym. He has never been tested in real battle.”

“
He has, Josiah. There is
a side of him that runs deep and I think he would make a terrific
governor.” I couldn’t argue with a guy who just wanted to get away
after his poor, dear wife had died.

“
Well, we’ll talk about
that later. How are you holding up?”

“
I’m not. I’m mad. I’m
vengeful. I want someone to pay for her death, but you can’t sue
cancer, you can’t kill cancer, and you can’t send cancer to
Hell.”

“
I’m sorry. You’re right.
I would have done something. I’m not sure right now what that would
have been, but I wouldn’t have been able to sit by and watch her
die.”

“
Well, I did and it wasn’t
pretty. I need to go far away from here and start over.”

I looked at Atticai and
said, “I understand. Too many memories, and the last one, the
saddest of all. Do you want to say goodbye to Lena and the
kids?”