Forever and Always (4 page)

“What are you talking about? By who?”

“Some duchess or something.”

“Hold up!” I could tell Lena was extremely confused. “A royal princess invited you to some ball. Where? Westminster Abbey?”

“I actually don't know where it’s taking place.”

“Who invited you?”

“Her name is Helen.”

“Helen?” Lena asked.  “Helen, the Duchess of Windsor?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“The duchess that is dating Mario Moses?”

“Well, they aren't dating anymore,” I said.  I couldn't believe what I was even saying.  “So you have heard of her?”

“She was only on the cover of every tabloid magazine last year.”

“Really?”

“Do you live under a rock, Josiah?”

I laughed. “I've been tad busy.”

“Even still,” Lena stated. “There are some things you can't avoid.”

“Look, we met on the airplane and she invited me to this party where I have a chance to meet Paul McCartney.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No.”

“So, let me get this straight, Josiah.  I saw you not even fifteen hours ago, and in that time you met Helen the Duchess of Windsor and she invited you to a party that will have ‘Paul “freaking” McCartney’ at it?”

“Yes,” I said.

“So you just charmed her so well that she invited you to some royal bash?”

“I guess you can say that.”

“Is she interested in you?” Lena sounded a little bit worried.

“No, it’s nothing like that. She just needed someone to escort her. Look, I’m not even sure how much I can even trust her. One thing you know for sure is that you can trust me.  After all we have been through, I promise you that.”

“I know, I trust you.  It’s just the weirdest thing you could have possibly told me, that’s all. Just be sure to bring me an autograph by Paul McCartney.”

“Done,” I said. “Plus, I told her about you.”

“You did? You told her about me?” Lena voice sounded giddy. I wasn’t sure if she liked the fact I told another woman about her, or that someone famous knew who she was. “What did you say?”

“I told her that I cared about you. That you were my...” I hesitated.

“I was what?” Lena asked.

“My girlfriend,” I said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, so you have nothing to worry about.”

Lena was quiet.  I could almost hear her smiling. “I miss you so much, Josiah.”

“I miss you too.”

“How long do you think you'll be gone?”

“I really don't know, maybe a week or so. Well, I'd better get ready. I'll call you in the morning.”

“That' will be nighttime here. It's morning right now.”

“I totally forgot. Bye Lena.”

“Bye, Josiah.”

I hung up and headed straight for the shower. Talking to Lena rejuvenated me. I stripped down and got in the shower. I don't know why but showering always seemed to be better than sex ever since becoming a Mani. I stood there for a good twenty minutes! But how long it takes me to well… you know. It was a pretty good shower.

I got out of the shower and stepped into the main room of the suite. There was a tuxedo on my bed. I guess they had brought it in while I was in the shower lathering up.

I hoped it fit. I put the bad-boy on, and I had to admit, I looked freaking good. I never had worn one of these penguin suits before, and damn! I was sexy as hell!

I finished getting ready and the phone rang.  I answered it.

“Your limousine is here, sir,” the voice on the line said.

“Where is it?” I asked.

“It’s in the parking garage, sir. The Duchess is waiting.”

“Then I better mosey on down there,” I said, in a bad southern accent.

I hung up the phone and put on my dress shoes. Darn they hurt! A size too small! I was 13 and these are obviously 12's, maybe even 11's. This won't do! I took them off and put on my Doc Marten boots that I was wearing previously. These boots were made for ass-kicking and I just might have to do some of that tonight.

The elevator door opened and I was in the parking garage. The black stretch limo was awaiting me. The chauffeur got out of the front seat and opened the side door. Helen jumped out to greet me.

Holy shit! She looked incredible!

She was wearing a light blue gown that seemed to have diamonds sewed into it. She had on a bracelet that probably cost more than my house. Her earrings were long and very diamondy. She looked like a million bucks! From the looks of it, her outfit was worth at least that much.

“You clean up nice,” she said.

I was still blown away at how fantastic she looked. “And you, well you clean up like royalty.”

“Oh, this old thing,” she said mockingly. She smiled and her eyes sparkled along with her jewelry and dress.

“You look fantastic, you're mesmerizing.”

“Mesmerizing! Wow! I'm glad I took the extra time to do my hair.”

“Your hair looks great. It’s whole… package.”
Damn. I was having a hard time talking.

“You're sweet, Josiah, even when the cat has got your tongue.” She paused then leaned in and kissed my check. When we touched, I thought I might see a vision like I had with the bell hop. I got nothing, just the lovely smell of a thousand dollar perfume.

“Let's make our way to the party,” she said. “We’d better hurry or I might turn into a pumpkin.”

Helen stepped back into the limo and I followed.  She sat with her back to the chauffeur, while I sat across from her. “You ready for this night of your life?”

“I'm as ready as a guy like me can get.”

We headed out of the parking garage and Helen opened the sun roof. The stars looked amazing.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To the West End,” Helen answered.

“I looked at the digital clock on the TV set in the limousine, it read 9:04.

“May I?” I asked, implying I wanted to stick my head out of the sun roof.

“By all means, help yourself.”

I stuck my head out of the sun roof and looked at downtown London. I had never done anything like this before and it felt exhilarating.  It’s hard to impress a guy who can turn into an eagle and fly, but she managed to do it.

Then, without warning, I heard a squawk from above. I looked up and saw three black ravens coming for my head. My instinct was to go back into the limo, but instead, I climbed onto the roof of the limo.

“What are you doing?” Helen yelled. I didn't have time to respond. The three birds torpedoed into me and pushed me off the moving limo. I transitioned into the great white eagle on contact and flew upward before my body hit the pavement.

I darted across the sky. I could see Piccadilly street below me and the Thames river to the left of me. I circled around and I could see Big Ben in the distance. I decided to make my way to the gigantic clock.  It was a good point of focus and not too shabby of a landmark to fly towards. I flew as hard as I could to the giant watch in the sky. I flew towards Bridge Street and was making my way to the Tower. I looked behind me and three ravens were chasing me.

Why was I running away from them? What was I running away from?
They were obvious Mani, but who were they? I decided to fly past Big Ben and continue south of Wandsworth. I could see a lit park below me on Kensington and decided to fly down towards the grass. As I got closer to the park I realized it wasn't a park, but a series of tennis courts. Then it dawned on me, I was at Wimbledon.

I crashed into one of the nets as I tried to land. I rolled and transitioned back to my Mani form.

The three ravens were close behind me. All three landed on the other side of the net and transitioned. I stood up facing the three Mani men.

“Why are you chasing me?” I asked.

The three men stepped closer and I could see them. I recognized all of them from the vision. There was a tall blonde guy who was skinny as hell. He stood in the middle. There was one on the left that had long brown hair with squirmy eyes and he could use a couple months at Jenny Craig! The one on the right was the one I was worried about. He had jet black hair and appeared to be in very good shape.

I repeated myself, “Why are you chasing me?”

Again, none of them spoke. So I just stood my ground. My experience has taught me that when one is outnumbered, wait to be attacked, and then react.

I'm not sure why exactly, but whenever I'm in a physical confrontation, even when I was a human, everything around me slows down and almost comes to a halt. I'm able to dissect a situation in milliseconds. I call it my Goodwill Hunting mode.

I was staring at all three of these guys and waiting for them to attack.  Why would Helen pay these guys to fight me? It didn’t make any sense to me. I stared each of these idiots in the face. Did they really think I couldn't take them? I could kill all three of them in my sleep! Did they have any idea what I've been through? Obviously not, because there will be no way in hell they'd be facing off against me if they did.

The three men simultaneously, almost as if they had choreographed it ahead of time, came towards me in a rush, then backed off and made a triangle around me. 
Cool,
I thought,
A special formation just for yours truly.

Suddenly, the guy with the jet black hair charged me. I was always good in geometry so I enjoyed this little pattern they set up. He foolishly lunged towards me and I karate kid kicked him right in the face with hands in the air and all —my little homage to 80’s cinema. He fell flat on his back and popped back up like a spring. He nodded his head at me as if to say, ‘well played’.

The guy on the left came in at me and I swept his right leg. I jumped and floated up and I controlled my body in midair as well as I could. All three of their jaws dropped as they witnessed a Mani that could fly in his Mani form.

“Oh,” I said, to the three of them. “You thought you could just roll over on me. You didn't realize I'm the baddest motherfucker you're ever going to get into a street fight with.”

I dropped down in a 45 degree angle with my left leg extended and drilled the fat guy on the right’s chin. He somersaulted backwards.

“15-love,” I said, referring to how a tennis match is scored.

The black-haired man didn't like my smugness. He shook his head and came towards me. I jumped over him like he was a hurdle in the Olympics. I landed about ten feet away from him with my back to three men. Not the smartest move. The heavy set one had gotten up and tackled me to the ground. I had to give the obese asshole props, he was pretty damn strong. But he was no
Goliath.
But who is?

His fat ass was lying on top of me. I flipped his 250 pound frame over my head, and then popped up from my back.

Then the tall blonde guy finally got into the picture and round-house kicked me and caught my right cheek and I stumbled back.

“Nice Blondie, good to see us blonde boys can still hold our own.”

He smirked at me and said, “15-15” responding to my reference to a tennis match.

I grinned and charged Blondie and kicked him in the chest with enough force to send his body one hundred feet in the air.
“Damn!”
He hit the back wall of center court and didn’t move. He didn’t disappear so I knew he was still alive. 

I turned to face the other two, “30-15”, advantage badass motherfucker.

I flung my body into the dark-haired Mani’s space and grabbed him by his shirt and flew up in the air, still holding him. He dangled from my clutches and was in absolute horror. It reminded me of what a scared kitten looks like when you pick it up.  I was about three hundred feet in the sky, still clutching on to him by his shirt.

“You better transition before you land,” I said.  “Because this is going to hurt.” I back-handed him and hit him square between the eyes before he fell to the earth and transitioned into a raven before he hit the ground like I told him too.

Good Mani thug, you listened.

He collapsed as he landed on the grass court.

One left, Chubbo. I stared him down and said, “40-15,” advantage skinnier guy. He shook his head, already knowing his fate.

“I tell you what; I’ll spare your ass. Just get the hell out of here.”

He shook his head and then ran towards me like a warrior during the Trojan War, but, without the sword. Too bad, my swords were my hands and feet.

He came at me and I ducked, grabbed his arm and threw him forward like I was a matador screwing with a bull during a bullfight. He rolled on the ground into the net. He got up and shook himself off.

“Alright, Roley-Poley,” I said.  “I gave you a chance.”

He ran at me again, and frankly I was tired of dealing with these three. I floated up and landed on his broad shoulders. I wrapped my ankles around his neck and twisted my feet putting him in a leg headlock. He fell to the ground and I cranked that puppy up by strengthening my legs until he passed out.

Game, set, match.

Suddenly I saw something shoot across the sky like a falling star. I looked closely to see what it was, but it was gone.
Someone held back and observed. I wonder who. Helen of course.

I looked at the three men lying center court. I wiped myself off and thought,
Roger Federer would be proud
.  I transitioned into the eagle and flew off, making my way back to the West End.

I flew back and there was no sign of the black stretch limousine. West End was really crowded and I decided to take the subway back and try to appear as normal as possible.

When I got back to my hotel, part of me was expecting Helen to already be there, but no luck.

I went through the entrance and made my way up the elevator to my room.

The room was on the top floor and I realized once I got to the door that I was never issued a room key.

I took the elevator back down and walked up to the hotel concierge. He was a short, feminine black man.

“Hello,” I said.

He looked me over and was not impressed.  My tuxedo was ripped and torn and I had grass stains everywhere, “Yes, may I help you?”

“I was never issued a room key,” I said.

“That is impossible, sir. Have you been to your room?”

“Yes, but the bell boy let me in.”