Divine Blood (Vampire Love Story #6) (15 page)

But Dad wasn’t here—I was.

I had to be the most supportive father
I could be. I personally didn’t anticipate how much fun it would be
to watch their games. It was as if, for the first time, I truly got
away from the worries of the world and was just able to enjoy the
peace of being a normal father. But by trying to be the best
father, I wasn’t being the best husband. Somewhere along the line,
I had lost my way, but not with the boys...with Lena.

Unfortunately, no matter how strong a
love is, it needs to be nurtured. I’d been really good at nurturing
my marriage for seasons at a time. I’d been really bad at nurturing
for years on end. This I knew deep down. Hence, the big fight that
erupted between Lena and me was not completely
unexpected.

Most fights that Lena and I had
usually began in the bedroom, for the sake of privacy. Tonight’s
disagreement, however, took place thirty-five hundred feet in the
air in the helicopter, among friends. We’d never before fought out
in the open about anything. We took pride in keeping things
private. We never allowed anyone to judge us. In a way, the fact
that it had come to this should have been my first eye
opener.

Lena and I were never the type who
allowed other people in on our private life. It was ours and ours
alone. And yet, there we were, arguing in the chopper in front of
others, to their surprise, if facial expressions were any
indication.

So, I was shocked that we risked our
feelings over common sense. Something was definitely the matter.
And I was man enough to say we both needed help. When we were in
the helicopter, I sternly whispered to her that we would finish the
discussion at home. She didn’t want to back down, but calmer heads
prevailed when I said, “This is no one’s business but
ours.”

Back at home, she threw her evening
purse on the couch and put her hands on her hips, in the
confrontational stance that I both loathed and admired. As well,
she kicked off her high heels and let them fall where they may. Oh,
Lena was pissed, royally pissed.

“
Don’t you
ever
tell me to be quiet
again when we are having a discussion.”

“
You were subjecting other
people to our private business. It had to be said.” I looked at
Lena and asked, “Do you have any idea what that argument was even
about? Because I don’t.”

“
That’s because you don’t
listen to me,” she answered.

“
What’s there to listen
to?”

“
Exactly. There you go
again. You don’t care. You didn’t care how important it was for me
tonight.”

“
Tonight? Tonight was
important to you? We went out with friends to a jazz club. We were
just chilling, right?” I exclaimed.

“
It was more than that. I
watched you all night. Your mind wasn’t on me at any point. I mean,
when it came to sitting me down and feeding me, you thought about
me, but other than the basics of polite dinner conversation, you
might as well have been a robot on the date.”

That stung, but I held my temper,
because I am a gentleman, always, with Lena. “Can I ask you a
question?” I asked.

“
Of course.”

“
What is this
really
about?” I
asked.

She calmly said, “I was trying to
improve our marriage. I’m starting to think it’s an impossible
task.”

I stared at Lena and I hated letting
her down. But I was dealing with a lot of feelings. If she only
knew how much I loved her...how much I cared about her. Lena knew
how to make it sting. She knew how to go straight for the jugular.
With words.

“
Is it that bad?” I
asked.

“
If you have to ask, that
should answer your question. Right there. You nailed
it.”

I was speechless. I had no idea things
were this bad. I tried to assure her that everything was okay. She
looked at me with loving eyes and a sadness that shattered my inner
being. Somewhere along the way, a rift had formed between us. We
were no longer One. We were married, but we were out of synch,
parted by some invisible Marianas Trench in the roiling sea of
emotion that separated us.

“
I wish I knew how to be a
better man to you,” I said sincerely. “I feel I have most
everything else down. But when it comes to making you happy, I’m at
a loss right now. I’m so sorry for that, Lena, because you are
precious to me. A happy marriage seemed to be a lot easier when we
were younger and our lives were simpler.”

“
Does it have to be
harder, now that we’re older?”

“
It’s not harder, just
different.”

“
Don’t let the world
harden your soul, because your soul is what I fell in love with.”
She turned away from me, walked into the bedroom and closed the
door. I heard the lock click with a finality. When that lock
clicked when we were both in the bedroom, that was our security
device to keep the boys out when we made love. When the lock
clicked when I was on this side of the door, it was couch night for
me. I sighed heavily.

That was her way of saying she would
be sleeping alone for at least for the next several hours. I needed
to get some air. The kind of air that I was accustomed to. The
cold, dark, lonely air. That cut like a knife.

Chapter
Twenty

I opened up a trap door and exited my
castle and went for what I called, ‘a fly.’ I flew around both
islands in my eagle form. Helena was the bigger of the two islands.
We had a reasonable-sized mountain that was rumored to be a dormant
volcano. There was no seismic activity at the present time in the
old, huge caldera formation with evidence of rich ore deposits that
had not been explored, though there could possibly be volcanic
activity in the future. We called the mountain: M1. It meant Mani
One.

The peak of M1 had been a great perch
for me when I transitioned to the Great White Eagle and to just get
away. Tonight would be no different. Whenever I needed some alone
time, I would I leave my castle in the middle of the night. If I
needed to clear my head, M1 was my place to go so I could hear my
thoughts and relax, maybe meditate and talk to the Triat. If I was
daring, I’d even try to talk to God.

On this night, however, I was to
expect the unexpected. I was sitting back in my Eagle form on top
of the mountain, just taking in all this night had to offer:
Mainly, it was black thick nothingness, splattered in stars of the
Southern Hemisphere.

No one had ever dared to come to my
island to challenge me. So, I never had anything to worry about.
Especially since I had retired from my superhero days, everyone
just left me alone.

I might have lived in a castle, but it
was as if the entire island was my castle, my turf. I was pretty
sure anyone important enough knew since I had never been attacked
on my islands since I had been here. There were many people who
would dearly have loved to attack me on this island, but hadn’t. I
started to think maybe my island had a special shield protecting
us. Was it the Triat? Was it God?

On this night, there were going to be
a couple of firsts. I inhaled and looked toward the east, where
Atticai was once located on Attica, though now, he was gone and I
felt alone without him near.

I started to get a weird feeling while
up on M1. It was a premonition that seemed to only happen when I
knew something dangerous was about to go down. It was a sixth sense
that I had fine-tuned over the years of being a Mani and a
professional MMA fighter.

Sure enough, ten ravens made their way
toward my direction. My internal red flags went up. The ten ravens
landed about ten feet away from me. I knew that they were Mani men.
I wasn’t sure if they were just trying to mess with me by not
turning or if they just feared me.

Then, like popcorn, one by one, they
turned to their vampire forms, bursting from bird to Mani. They
stretched and shook their arms and legs, as if hyped up on some
mission that required ass-kicking.

I quietly recognized who they were.
These were Brock’s men. I was pretty sure each of these guys was on
his payroll.

I was not sure what their intentions
were, but one thing I knew for sure was that I loved fighting
someone who was on a payroll. I wanted to see to it personally that
it was a bad investment by their boss to send them to harass me.
Something I had learned in my vampire superhero days was that to
declare yourself sometimes thinned out the ranks of the enemy and I
watched to see which of them would flee, or transform back to
ravens and fly away.

So, declare myself, I would. Even as
my muscles coiled in readiness, there would be words first. Oh,
yes, there would be words.

Brock’s main henchman, Rake, was right
in the front of the ten Mani group.

I transitioned slowly from my Eagle
form to human form. “Is there something you need here?” I said as I
stared each one of them in their face, smelling their fear
individually.

Rake looked at me and said, “Brock
wants you to reconsider allowing your boy to heal his
son.”

I almost told them it wasn’t my
decision—it was Jason’s, but I didn’t want to throw my own son
under the bus. I wanted them to think it was my decision alone. I
needed to protect my son. They needed to think I ultimately ran the
show. I still did. Jason just had more say these days. I wasn’t
sure how I felt about that.

“
It just didn’t happen.
There was too much risk and I was not going to put my son in
danger.” I wasn’t sure what I thought I was saying, but it sounded
good when it came out.

Rake looked at me and said, “Brock
sent us here to tell you that you need to convince Jason
otherwise.”

“
I don’t see that
happening,” I said. “And by the way, how dare you come here and
make this threat?”

“
Those are pretty bold
words, considering that we are ten against one.”

“
Ten ravens against one
Eagle. In chess, ten pawns and one king.”

“
The king needs an army.
He needs his protectors,” Rake said.

“
This king
is
his own army. Do you
not know who I am? I’d say you guys are pretty
outnumbered.”

A couple of them squirmed, so I
continued in that vein.

“
Others have learned the
hard way. In days of old, I fought tooth and nail, and without
regard for my own self-preservation, but I did it for a cause, for
the Mani people. And indeed, you are my people, too, and would not
be enjoying the freedoms that you do had I not fought for your
freedom, not just my own.”

A couple more of them
squirmed. I was starting to make headway, so I pressed on like Mel
Gibson in that vintage movie,
Braveheart
, when he gave his big
freedom speech with confidence.

“
You are mercenaries and
are paid by a rich man. This is my island. I order you to stand
down and go peacefully. You have money on your side. But I have
power that comes from doing the right thing. I advise you not to
cross the Triat by acting as minions of evil. Leave
now
.”

“
Or what?” Rake
retorted.

“
Where are your thirty
pieces of silver, Rake? Where?”

“
You’re crazy,” he
replied.

“
Are where are your thirty
pieces? And yours, and yours?” I looked at each man in
turn.

“
This is not about that,”
another man said and stood uncertainly next to Rake.

“
Isn’t it? Look at the big
picture, Mani fighters. How much blood money does it take to get a
decent Mani to turn against the one who Krull put on a mechanical
cross and yet, I lived to tell about it?” I paused. “I say again,
do you not know who I am and what I have done for you?”

“
That’s enough of your
theology spiel!” Rake said.

I looked at the group of Mani
men.

“
No, it’s not enough.
Twenty years ago, all of you men would have followed me, and maybe
even you, too, Rake. Instead, I’ve been a family man and guys like
Brock have been able to build gangs with guys like you who would do
just about anything for cash. Even fight me. And even let the last
shreds of their morals go to worship the almighty buck.”

“
This is not twenty years
ago, and you can’t ride on your own coattails forever, Josiah!”
Rake said. “You think you’re right, you think you’re brave, and
most of all, you think that because of who you are, that you are
untouchable. I think we need to teach you a lesson in
humility.”

I raised my hand to stay him.
“Fighting groups of opponents is nothing new to me, but I have been
a man of peace for some years and I would like to keep it that
way!” I said bravely. “Stand down and leave this island! This is
your last warning. I don’t want to hurt you all.”

“
Been a couple of years
since you’ve had to do this, Josiah?” Rake threatened. “Or are you
just unnerved at not having your stinkin’ big-ass werewolf
bodyguard covering your sorry Mani ass?”