Chapter 13

Leaving Eden is the strangest experience. I follow Geneva to the very outskirts of Eden, past the city and past the forest. When we are about to hit the horizon there is a flash of light. There is a cold chill and then all of a sudden we are in a cold building. The smell is familiar. The sounds are familiar. I'm not in paradise anymore. I'm on the streets of Harlem.

Who knew that the entrance to Eden was in a torn down building in Harlem?

“We should hurry,” Geneva explains, “The King's guard patrol this entrance. They'll see us if we aren't fast.”

I hesitate.

“Why should I go anywhere with you?”

Geneva was a rogue. This entire time she was the person that I was looking for. She had to be the person who tried to kill Nero and ended up killing Sextus. It all made sense now. Her running off during the party and acting like she was so upset about Armando was probably just her plotting. And she came back conveniently when we made the toast. Then it was Geneva trying to turn me against Nero.

She was an enemy of Eden and if she could lie to so many people god knows what she was capable of.

“I'll explain later...”

“Explain now...or I don't go anywhere with you.”

For a minute her eyes glare up. Geneva's always been so good at everything. She's always known the most about history but still knew the most about combat. She was in the top of class at everything. It was almost like she'd done it before.

“My parents worked for the King for years. He always kept them at arms length though...sending them on strange missions to collect data in the human world. I guess he figured they were too smart for their own good. He was right. They were approached by the rogues who showed them what a real vampire was. A year later I was converted.”

“And they sent you to kill Nero?”

“Is that what you think I was planning to do all along?” she laughs.

“Of course...”

“Don't be that simple kid,” she explains to me before crossing her arms, “Nero was just someone who was getting in the way. I was sent all along for you...”

“Me?”

There is a sound in the corridor next to ours. It's light and faint but my vampire eyes are so sensitive when I'm not in Eden. I can hear the scurrying across the floor and I know almost immediately that someone is coming.

Geneva must know it too.

“We can't stay here. They're coming. You'll be dragged back to Eden and they'll put you on trial for killing Raul. There is another way though. If you want to know more follow me.”

“I don't want to know more.”

She raises an eyebrow at me at that moment, “Yes...you do...”

Geneva walks away at that moment not turning to look back. She's so confident that I am curious to know more about her plans and about these rogues. A part of me is scared. The most part of me doesn't trust a goddam thing she has to say.

And I follow.

“Yeah fuck me...FUCK ME!”

I walk into some place that throws me all the way the fuck off. From the outside it looks like a church but on the inside it's something like an orgy going on. Men sleeping with women, men having sex with men, women having sex with women. They are vampires. It's clear from the fangs that glisten on the church floor. There are waves of them...hundreds...having raw sex on the church floor with no care in the world. It is the most provocative and sickest thing I've ever seen.

There are so many bodies merging into one another. All body shapes and sizes that from the entrance it's hard to make out one from another. Where the fuck did she bring me?

“What is this?”

“Stay close...” Geneva responds quickly and adds, “Keep moving.”

She begins to step over the bodies, careful not to touch any of them as she makes her way through the orgy. She steps right past a man getting fucked with a strap on by a woman while three other men take turns shoving their dicks in his mouth. The man seems like he's in pain for a minute. I swear I think he's getting raped but when he takes the dicks out of his mouth he turns to me and smiles with glaring fangs.

“What the fuck is this place?” I ask again stuck where I am.

I don't get the chance to get an answer because I feel someone grabbing onto me. It's a man. He's young, handsome and firm. His dark body pulls me down into the sea of vampires. All of a sudden I'm getting kissed, sucked and bitten on by five or six different vampires. I am held down feeling the wet, smelly bodies pull at my dick. They pull at my pants.

I let out a scream. I can't stop it. I'm being passed around before I know it.

“GENEVA!”

I scream out for help but it goes to death eyes. The rogue vampires are passing me around! It's like a crowd surf. I feel one woman bit into my neck and begin to drink my blood. There is muscular man that rips at my pants completely taking them off of me in one quick gesture.

“Santos! Santos!” Geneva's voice echoes.

I don't see where it's coming from. I'm throwing my weight around punching at the woman who is biting into my neck. A few other vampires try to pin me down but I struggle away from the kicking as I do it. A couple of them seem to be turned on my struggle. I see three men with huge swinging dicks making their way towards me. Their dicks are dripping with cum. Their fangs are dripping with blood and saliva. Just by looking at me all three of these men get hard. Their dicks are brick right now and all of a sudden I'm scared as fuck!

That's when an arm grabs me. It pulls me out of the crowd, scoops me up almost like I'm a child and hisses as the oncoming vampires with the big dicks.

“Not for you,” the man threatens them.

The man who is holding is tall, dark and handsome. That is the best way to describe him. He has the darkest most beautiful skin that I've ever seen. He has a mature sexiness about him when he holds me. It's something like Idris Elba. I didn't know what to expect with the rogues but I didn't expect someone like this to come out of no where and help me.

“You're safe now,” Geneva tells me appearing out of no where.

She walks besides us. I notice whoever this man is the vampires who are having an orgy seem to respect him. They are alert enough to move away from him as he carries me in his arms still. A part of me feels like the biggest punk but I'd rather be in a stranger's hands then on the farm covered in vampire fluids with the rest of them.

The man takes me up some stairs into a room. When we walk in Geneva locks the door behind us. The room is pitch black. I can barely see anything.

“I apologize for the others,” he explains to me in the darkness, “Rogues like us live differently from what you are used to.”

“You fuck one another all day?”

He laughs. He's so dark and the room is so black that even with vampires eyes I can hardly make out his shape. He moves in the darkness slow and steady. Geneva is standing by the door. There is something freaky and scary about this whole thing. I'm regretting coming here. My curiosity got the better of me and every part of me just wants to turn and run out of here.

He laughs a little, “We do what we like. Including fucking.”

“That's ridiculous.”

The orgy downstairs was ridiculous. This was a church. Even if it wasn't an active church it was still a church. I hadn't always been super religious but if Eden existed then I knew that God existed. These vampires here seemed to be spitting in the face of all of that.

“You should try it.”

“What?”

“Fucking just because you want to. Fucking anyone and everything. You can fuck me right now if you'd like,” he tells me and his voices confidently adds, “I have a big dick...or a firm ass if that's what you prefer.”

He's so nonchalant about it. It doesn't mean a thing to him. I'm freaked out more than turned on. I'm searching the room hoping that my eyes get better.

“I'll pass---who are you?”

“How rude am I? Geneva why don't you flick on the light?” he asks, “I want to properly introduce myself. My name is Bacchus.”

When Geneva flips on the light I jump back at what I see! Bacchus is surrounded by people. They are not vampires. I can tell the difference. These are humans and they are bleeding everywhere around him. Some are dead. Some are barely clinging on to life. All of them have been drained to the point that they don't even put up much of a struggle.

I count 12 humans all together scattered around Bacchus like dolls waiting to be played with. Bacchus must notice how scared and disgusted I am by the site because he smiles. He continues to tease me as he leans off his chair, grabs an arm of one of his victims, brings it to him, slashes open her wrists and continues to drink from her.

“I'm getting out of here,” I say.

Geneva blocks my way from the door. She's standing there with a challenging eye. I wonder if I can beat Geneva in a fair fight. For a moment I'm sitting here thinking about it. I knew she was good in class but what if I blacked out again. Maybe I could take her down. But then God knows what else I was capable of in that state. God knows how I even was able to black out like that.

“You shouldn't be rude,” Bacchus explains, “Sit. Eat. Drink.”

He's referring to the humans as food. Is this what they did? They killed humans and drunk their blood? I guess I figured that is what vampires should be doing but living in Eden was so different. Eden didn't have any humans. The blood came through from blood banks. This kind of thing I was witnessing was straight up evil.

“I'm fine,” I respond.

It's no point in attempting to save the humans. The majority of them are so far gone that they don't even need restraints. Every once in a whole one of them lets out a strained moan or makes a weak attempt to crawl a few inches just to collapse back onto the floor again. It was a slow death.

He was literally draining them alive!

This was...inhumane.

“You think I'm a monster,” Bacchus explains, “I can see it. I can see the way you are looking at me.”

I lie, “No...no I don't.”

There is laughter. The laughter comes from Bacchus and Geneva.

“I am a monster,” he explains, “Geneva here is a monster. All those vampires down there are monsters. All those vampires in Eden are monsters. You---you're a monster. The sooner you realize that the better...”

He is staring at me as though he knows me. He isn't suggesting this stuff. He is saying this very clearly as though he's stating facts. There is something so sick about this man. It's driving me crazy. I don't know how to take it.

There is something so terrifying about this man. The way his eyes glare at me are sickening. I am lost with them. The fresh blood on the floor and the people bleeding all around him isn't appetizing. It's making me sick to my stomach.

My voice is trembling, “We don't have to kill them...”

“We don't have to kill them?” he laughs and then states it again through a rolling laughter, “We don't have to kill them. We don't. Ha. Of course we don't. You don't have to do a lot of things. But we do. You sound just like those Eden punks who are so afraid to who they really are...”

“He's fallen in love with Prince Nero,” Geneva explained, “I tried to eliminate Nero so he wouldn't have a bad influence on our prince.”

“Your prince?” I ask.

Bacchus laughs at that moment, “You have no idea who you are do you?” He makes his way towards us. He moves very quickly. For a minute I swear he is going to snap my neck.

Instead of snapping my neck he stops.

“He becomes more like himself...everyday...” Geneva states.

“Is that true?” Bacchus asks me.

I look back at Geneva. She has a smile on her face like she is proud of something. I'm not sure what the fuck Geneva is talking about. I'm not sure what this handsome, scary stranger is talking about. He scared the fuck out of me and not in a good way.

“I don't know what she's talking about.”

“He killed a vampire in Eden,” Geneva smiles.

My heart is racing, “It was Raul. He kept pushing me! I didn't want to kill Raul. I didn't want to hurt him. It's just. He kept pushing and kept pushing and kept pushing and I just...”

I am getting emotional. Raul was my best friend. I really did kill him. He wasn't coming back this time. This time I'd gone all the way. This time I'd pushed myself the point of no return.

“You snapped,” the vampire Bacchus finishes my sentence, “You became yourself. Isn't that why you're here now. Geneva was planted in Eden because we had an idea your father would bring you there when you came of age. We were right. And she's brought you to us...just like we planned. And that's why you're here. You're here to lead us against the Eden Vampires...kill them once and for all. Then no one will stand in the way of us killing every last human on this planet and getting revenge against Adam. Once...and for all.”

Revenge.

That's what this was all about. Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She felt betrayed by her husband and god when she was replaced by Eve. Lilith swore revenge against the children of Adam...better known as the humans. That is the sole reason vampires existed. We were the children of Lilith. We were here to get her revenge.

“I don't want revenge,” I explain at that moment shaking my head, “I didn't kill Raul on purpose. Bad things just...happen to me all the time and sometimes I just black out.”

Not on purpose.

NOT ON PURPOSE!

I'm panicking. I look at Geneva. I look at the bodies of the humans Bacchus killed. I would never be capable of something like that. I would never be capable of killing in the way Bacchus killed. I don't want all the vampires in Eden gone. I don't want to kill humans.

“They'll never accept you,” Geneva smiles crossing her arms, “They know who you are now.”

I'm screaming at the top of my lungs at this moment, “I am not that thing I became. I blacked out. I blacked out...I would never do that on purpose...”

Right?

Bacchus circles around me. He makes me tense. I wonder if I've pissed him off. If he's capable of doing that to all those humans god knows what he was capable of doing to me.

When he gets in front of me after circling 6 times he says, “You become yourself. You are the next Darkest...the final shade of black. The prince of the underworld...”

He kneels...in front of me.

“What are you doing?” I ask confused, “Get up. GET THE FUCK UP!”

Just as I'm screaming at the top of the lungs I hear the door barge open. I turn around shocked to see who it is. It's Nero! My eyes get wide as fuck realizing that he's here at this moment. Nero has two vampires clinging to his body. One is trying to rip at his chest but Nero flings the vampire across the room with one powerful throw. Another one is on his back and he tosses the vampire to the floor and crushes the vampire under his heel.

“Well...what do we have here?” Bacchus asks with a smile.

My heart is racing. This is not the place for him to be. I'm looking at Nero and I'm scared to death. The vampire he threw across the room is back at his feet. Other vampires are running into the room. First there are five and then there are ten vampires. Then there about a good thirty fucking vampires that fill the room.

I grab Nero and we head to the other side of the room. Bacchus is still smiling. Geneva is taking steps towards us and seems to be leading the rogue vampires.

“Nero what the fuck are you doing here?” I ask.

My heart is racing.

Nero looks over at me, “I followed you. I saw you running off with Geneva and thought it was weird so I followed you. Lucky enough for me.”

“No. Nero. It's not fucking lucky for you...” I respond, “You don't follow me into a den of fucking rogue vampires. That's not luck.”

I want to punch him in his face for doing something so stupid. What is it? Does he still feel like he has to prove like he isn't some spoiled prince who has a bodyguards and can't get hit because of the law? He is standing here clearly having manhandled his way through god knows how many vampires to get to me. He storms through the fucking door like he's some type of superman or something like that and now he was here attempting to do what---save me?

Just at that moment I realize Nero's motivation.

He smiles at me, flashing me pearly white teeth, “I don't care. I'll follow you to hell.”

And at that moment I realize it's love. Nero is willing to do something so dumb because he's in love with me. I guess love is making both of us do the dumbest fucking things possible.

“Get away from the prince,” Geneva states.

Nero looks at Geneva before pulling my hand, “He's staying right next to me.”

“I'm not referring to you...” Geneva replies, “Or your false throne.”

Nero seems confused but he doesn't have much time to think about it because Geneva flies forward like a bat out of hell. She defies gravity as she soars 15 feet in the air. When she comes down she is threatening to take Nero completely out.

I pull Nero back just in time and she misses. Nero knees her in her stomach sending her to the ground and then kicks her body away from us.

The other rogue vampires are getting closer and closer.

“There's no where to go,” Bacchus explains as Geneva's body rolls underneath his feet, “You're surrounded. Nero today is the start of a new kingdom. A darker kingdom. The darkest. Today is the day that you die.”

Swarms of vampires are coming up the stairs. My heart is rolling...rumbling.

That's when I feel it. It's in back of me. There is...a warmth. And I feel it so close to me. It's almost calling out for me. My heart is racing. The walls are talking to me!

So I turn. Nero calls out to me asking me what I'm doing. I grab his arm and then I run towards the wall touching onto a brick and realizing that it's a trap door. Once I touch a specific brick the door appears from the brick and it swings open.

“WAIT DON'T DISTURB HER!” I hear Bacchus screaming out.

I don't wait for him to let it out before I pull Nero through the door, slam the door behind us and use the bolts behind the door to lock us in.

“This door won't hold...” Nero is saying.

There is banging on the door from the other side. The vampires are trying to get into the room that we are in. He's right. The door won't hold. They'll get in here sooner or later and there won't be anything to stop them from ripping Nero apart.

I can't let that happen to him. I can't let him get hurt. I look around the room. The secret room in the church is built of bricks. It is cold and damp. There are spider webs and a single window so high that there would be no possible way for us to get up there. It lets in the moonlight at that moment and that is the only light in the room.

“Do you hear that?” I ask Nero.

“Um if you're talking about the sound of a couple dozen crazy ass vampires on the other side of the door then yes...I hear that,” Nero responds.

I'm not talking about that. There is a whisper. It's slow...steady. It so low yet it drowns out everything else in this place.

“No...not that.”

Nero looks over at me at that moment, “How did you know about this place anyway...hey...hey baby what the fuck are you doing?”

It doesn't occur to me that Nero just called me baby right away. I don't think it occurs to him either because we exchange awkward stares. As much as I want to be his I just can't right now. This man is responsible for killing my fucking father. I make my way to the other side of the room. I've traced the whisper to a box. It's a large box. The whisper is coming from inside of the box.

“Help me move it,” I tell Nero.

“We should be barricading the door,” Nero explains, “Not wasting time...”

“Please Nero...” I explain.

Nero sighs at that moment but reluctantly helps me move the box. As we push together I realize that it's not a box. It's a coffin.

It's her coffin.

“Holy shit,” Nero states with an open mouth, “Holy Shit. HOLY SHIT! That's not who the fuck I think it is. Please...PLEASE TELL ME that's now who the fuck I think it is.”

I know why he's saying it. We both look down and we see the Darkest laying there. I see Lilith. I know it's Lilith because of the dark mocha skin. She is beautiful and she has a shaved bald head. Her skin is smooth. No flaws. Her lips are full. If any woman in the world could have been the prototype of effortless beauty if would be this woman laying down in this coffin.

“She was calling to me,” I explain to Nero.

Nero looks over at me at that moment before reaching grabbing my hand and holding it for a second, “She's dead Nero.”

“She's not dead,” I correct him, “She's asleep...”

She's been asleep for quite some time now. Years maybe. I don't know how I know. I just...know.

Nero is looking at me suspiciously. For the first time it seems like he doesn't completely trust me. I think he has a right not to trust me. I think he would actually be smart not to trust me after all the things I found out about myself.

Nero's face wrinkles, “Outside...Geneva told you to stay away from the prince. Only she wasn't talking to you. She was talking to me. So...I am a little confused. I'm a little confused on why you followed Geneva out here in the first place.”

“Geneva is a rogue,” I tell Nero.

“Clearly...” he responds, “But she wasn't forcing you out here.”

I cross my arms, “No. I did something.”

“What?”

“I killed Raul and I was making a run for it.”

Nero puts his hand on his head at that moment, “Oh shit. Oh shit. Listen. You know what. It doesn't even matter. We'll get through this. I'll talk to my dad and---”

“We can't get through any of this Nero,” I explain to him before shaking his head, “You shouldn't have come here. You don't know who I am.”

Nero looks nervous.

“Of course I know who you are. I've known you for months,” Nero explained.

He doesn't get it. He's so sure he knows who I am. Truth was I didn't even know who I was. I am looking at him now and I know that I'm going to hurt him with the truth but I have to tell him. I have to tell Nero what's going on with me because I love him.

“Nero I'm a monster...” I explain to him.

Nero shakes his head, “C`mon stop being dramatic. Raul was no angel. That guy was going out of his way to fuck with you.”

“NERO! LISTEN TO ME!”

We didn't have much time. They were beating down the door. I don't have time to be easy with Nero. I had to calm him down and get his attention.

Nero tries to hold my hand tighter but I pull away. He looks at me with a worried look, “You're scaring me Santos.”

“You should be scared,” I explain to him, “Lilith...is my mother.”

“She's all of our mothers...”

“Not like that. Not like she is the ancestor of all vampires. She literally gave birth to me,” I explain to Nero, “The AB blood. My blackouts. The reason that Geneva was infiltrating Class O was because of me. I'm her heir...I'm destined to destroy Eden and kill the humans.”

That's when Nero's strength gives out.

He fought through god knows how many vampires to get to me and he was still strong but me telling him this was breaking him. He falls to his knees at that moment. He's just sitting there completely stunned by my reveal.

He doesn't know how to take it. He isn't even attempting to know how to take this.

We sit there in silence for what seems like forever.

“You could be mistaken,” Nero starts off, “Maybe this is some weird plot. Maybe they are trying to confuse you.”

“I can feel her. She's my mother. I know she is.”

“Fine. So what. No one needs to know. No one will find out. We'll get out of here somehow. We'll go back to Eden. We'll let them know where the rogues are and they'll send the King's guard.”

“I can't go back.”

“You ave to go back.”

“The prophecy is real. I will bring death to the vampires in Eden,” I explain, “That's what that prophecy means. That's literally why Lilith gave birth to me. That's the reason I was born. I'm her weapon.”

“You...aren't her,” he explains.

I look at Nero. I think about Raul's blood. I think about Raul's body laying there in Milan's arms. No...not even Raul's body. I had dismantled Raul. His body was separated onto different sides of the courtyard. I'd decapitated him completely.

“Yes...” I correct him, “Yes I am.”

“Santos---” Nero starts to argue but then stops completely, “Wait do you hear that?”

“What?”

“They aren't beating anymore.”

Nero is looking at the door. He's right. The rogues aren't trying to break down the door anymore. Nero goes over to investigate but I hear something else. The whispers from the coffin are getting louder and louder.

Louder and louder.

“Nero...”

“Oh my god. I think it's the King's Guard,” Nero explains, “The king's guard found us! I hear fighting outside. I think the rogues are running!”

Nero is excited.

God. He doesn't know what's happening. The king's guard didn't know what's happening.

I look into the coffin.

LILITH'S FINGER TWITCHES!

“SHE'S WAKING UP!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

I grab Nero's hand. He doesn't even have the chance to react. We unbolt the door of the tomb and make our way back into the main church area.

That is where we see that indeed a battle is going on. I don't see Bacchus. I don't see Geneva. They must have booked it. The majority of the rogues seemed to have booked it out of here as fast as they could have. The rogues have been ambushed by soldiers. The soldiers have on the King's guard uniforms of black and silver. I wonder how they found us but I don't have much timeto wonder.

I have to warn them. I have to warn them about my mother. They don't now what she's capable of.

Nothing could stop her.

No one.

I run up to any King's Guard I can find. The man has a mask on. He's stabbing a stake right into the heart of one of the rogues.

I grab the man and swing him around, “She's awake. LILITH is awake.”

“It's ok. I'm here. I'm here..son...”

My mouth drops open when I see who is talking to me. The man takes off his mask. I look at him at that moment and seeing the handsome face of my father staring back at me.

Armando...he's...alive.

And he's staring right back at me.

I have so many questions at that moment. How did he find us? How did he know we were in trouble? How the FUCK was he alive.

All of those things just go out of the window. Right now I do the thing that I regretted so much not being able to do when I thought he was dead.

I grab my father. I pull him close and I tell him, “I love you.”

Nero is looking on from behind. He seems beyond confused at all of this and the only words that he lets out is, “Son...?”

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