The thirst lets out
sound and people are running in fear. All I can do is think of one
of those old Godzilla movies. Some strange beast rises over the city
and people were jetting off. This thing had to be at least 20 feet
tall and its wings were about 40 feet each. The wings were like a
bat or more like a demon. It stretches them out from above the trees
and shades everything below it.
Justice is attempting to
convey some type of authority, “Everyone stand strong. Armando
I'll need you to clear the reporters out.”
Justice is
putting on a performance. Most people were already running save The
only people brave enough to stick around were the local news station.
I notice almost immediately who they sent out. Her name was Vigorosa from Bat Chat. She was the most popular news person out there. Her show had the highest ratings from 100 years ago and nothing has changed. Vigorosa still looked the same. Jet black hair that is tied in a bun, high fake cheek bones, commercial glazed over glare and large white fangs that always show when she smiles.
“I don't have to go anywhere. This is a free city!” Vigorosa argues.
“Armando!
Do what I say,” Justice states.
“You are going to send our best fighter to keep the news station away?” Lucca asks.
He's right.
What was Justice trying to pull by sending Armando away? Armando
seems to want to argue this point but he doesn't. He turns and tries
to keep Vigorosa and her camera crew away from the beast. Lucca and
Camilla both have looks of terror in their face when Armando turns to
leave. I think they all feel comfortable around him. I used to feel
safer around my father too. He was strong and capable. He was the
type of person you wanted on your side in a fight.
“Let's go team,” Justice states.
“We should clear the park,” Lucca tells Camilla.
“No with me!”
Justice states, “Come on!”
Lucca and Camilla
ignore him. I'm not too surprised when they basically turn to run
under the guise of “Helping people get out of the park.”
Cowards. I have to admit it's funny to see Justice's face when he
realizes that Lucca and Camilla aren't going to hurt him.
“Justice keep your head in the game,” Aiden states.
A part of me wants to root Justice on. With Camilla and Lucca basically tucking their tales and ditching us it's clear it's just Aiden, Coco, Justice and I. Justice pulls out his silver gun. He looks at us trying to put on this brave face. I have to admit. Justice definitely does seem more like a grown man and it's kind of sexy.
“You three
come with me.”
I can't see where Camilla and Lucca have
run off too. We've lost them in the crowd of park goers who were
still scattering away from the large beast. I can see Armando in the
distance struggling to hold back Vigorosa and the Bat Chat camera
people. That was a battle on in it's own.
Justice and
Aiden run forward. The beast roars at them as it approaches. Coco
circles around in the back with her hair wailing in the breeze. She
pulls out her gun and is flanking the beast. Her aim is off.
Usually Coco is one of the top shooters in the class. Hell she's
usually top in the class when it comes to everything. She must be
afraid. I can sense it. Her hands are damn near shaking. She's
missing every shot she fires sending the bullets into the trees in
the background.
“Santos!”
The
call comes from Justice. He is calling to me to come help. I cross
my arms.
I stand still.
“He's not going to do anything,” Aiden states.
He's completely
right. I wasn't going to do a damn thing. Aiden seems to realize
this first and I watch him climb up a tree close to the beast. He
climbs like a goddam monkey using retracting nails that act as claws
for vampires.
Justice seems to see what Aiden does and does
the same thing up another tree. The two of them jump at the beast at
the same time but only Aiden gets on it. Justice is flung to the
ground. His body is like a rag doll to the beast.
Aiden
clutches on the things back holding it like a rodeo. The thing has
Justice in it's sights. I have to admit all this is rather amusing.
I find my own tree but I lean up against it. I cross my arms and
enjoy the show.
Justice lets out a hurling scream as he dodges beast not to sink it's fangs into him.
He continues to roll out of sight. The beast seems not to notice or care that Aiden is on it's back. It is going after Justice. I lowers it's head attempting over and over to get Justice in it's fangs. Justice is rolling around from side to side. No time to stand up! No time to even catch a breath. It's only a matter of time before Justice bites the dust.
Coco is doing more harm then good with her shots.
One of her
bullets pierce Aiden who is on the Thirst. I hear him scream out a
seering, “FUCK!”
I almost break out into full laughter when Aiden's arm goes limp from the bullet. He's hanging onto the beast with one arm and bleeding out. Coco drops her gun at that moment. The beast turns her way as though sensing her panic. It swipes one of it's large wings at her! Coco attempts to run but she doesn't get far. The swipe knocks her clear across the park and her body slams into the grass with a loud PLOP. She isn't moving. I wonder if she's dead.
Armando must notice because he goes out to help her. Hell the Thirst hit her all the way back there. It must be a strange sight because honestly I think the two of them probably have the most bitter past history. Armando had killed Coco's father back in the day to protect me. Now he was running to possibly save her life.
Vigorosa and her camera crew have no one to hold them back.
There are cameras in my face. They see me just standing there. Vigorosa makes some smart ass comments into the camera but I can't even hear them over the loud scream the beast makes at that moment. It is coming down on Justice. There are no bullets to distract it now. There is nothing to hold it down. I'll never forget the loud piercing thing that was a Thirst. I'll never forget how even Vigorosa who always does the most for her story was now clutching her pearls and falling to the ground without even touching it.
The thing is lowering his head on Justice. It's about to kill the Prince.
Then I see him.
Aiden.
He swings himself around with a stake in his mouth. His limp arm is useless but with his one good hand he scales the beast. He falls down to the chest of the Thirst and lets his arms go. His arms flail and I think he's crazy to swing from the back to the front of the Thirst. The thirst takes notice of him. It snaps at him attempting to kill him but it barely misses. Aiden is freefalling in FRONT of the Thirst right now and he DIGS his stake with his one good hand into the Thirst.
He hangs there with his hand on a stake and the stake in the thirst. His other bad hand is dangling at his side. The Thirst isn't moving. The stake isn't deep enough in his chest and he doesn't seem like he has the ability to push it further in.
That's when he
comes up with strength. Somehow. Aiden uses his arm, the same arm
that Coco shot off and he lifts it up. He nails his the stake deeper
in with his hand slamming the thing as deep into the Thirst as
possible.
The thirst falls down, backwards.
I'm not sure what happens at first. I'm not sure if it is going to get up again. I don't know it's over until I hear Vigorosa announce it to everyone.
“It's over.
King Aiden. King Aiden's killed the Thirst!”
That's
when I see him. He's bloody but he manages to stand tall and it just
so happens that he's standing over the fallen Thirst. His hair is
glimmering in the red sky. His fangs are showing. He pulls his
stake out. He lifts it into the air.
Then I realize.
If
Aiden was just a hero before...he was a God now.
“What were you
all THINKING!”
We are summoned to the throne room by
Nero. It's not hard to know what it was about. The Thirst at Chain
Center park was top news. It was on every vampire show and
Vigorosa's footage was being passed around like gold. Then there was
Aiden...the hero of the day. He was standing like some type of God
king. He was being praised like he was the next coming for killing
that Thirst. I watch him now sitting on his throne next to Aiden.
The rest of the King's Guard are in the room.
“Father
we can explain,” Justice states.
Justice looks
bad. No one looks as bad as Coco though. Coco barely dragged
herself in this place. She's alive but just barely. Her left eye is
closed and the once pretty face of hers looks more like the Thirst's
personal destruction zone.
“Save it,” Nero
responds, “The fighting was ineffective. You are supposed to
be the Elite Guards. What so Elite about friendly fire and rolling
around on the ground?”
He's attempting to go at Coco who shot Aiden. Justice spent most of the fight just dodging. I look at him and I honestly feel bad that Nero isn't being a little nicer to him. Justice actually did try. I mean he kept himself alive and for the most part wasn't badly injured. That took skill in itself.
The Countess
Roxanne sighs in agreement with the King, “Half of them didn't
even fight.”
I watch the team bow their heads. It's
clear that they are embarrassed. I'm the only one who isn't bowing
my head. I could care less. The rest of them look like they are
some little boys who are getting screamed at by their dads. The
other guards, the countess and the King are clearly disappointed.
The failure of the team was broadcast all over the news. We were the
laughing stocks of Eden. People were doing Justice impersonations on
television calling it the “Stop, Drop and Roll.” The
entire city was embarrassed for us...all except Aiden. I don't know
how Aiden managed to kill the Thirst. I watch the news over and over
trying to figure it out. Was it some type of crazy luck that he knew
exactly where, when and how deep to stab the thing? Was it skill?
It didn't matter. Aiden was sitting high.
“What was that about? Lucca and Camilla where were you,” Nero asks.
I struggle to
hold back laughter. A slight sneer does come out though and Camilla
notices it. She cuts her eyes to me hard before crossing her arms
and stating, “We were helping to evacuate the park.”
“There
were King's Guard doing that,” Nero responds.
“They
ran,” Justice finally admits.
I'm glad he does because Camilla and Lucca look so dumb right now. For the first time they weren't the popular kids who everyone loved. People see them for the first time for exactly who they were. They were cowards. They hid behind stronger personalities. First they hid behind Coco, then they hid behind me and now they were hiding behind Aiden.
I'm not
surprised when Aiden runs to take up for his favorite followers,
“With all due respect we don't know that for sure. They could
have been helping to clear the park out. There was chaos in the park
and no one knew what to do.”
Justice looks at Aiden,
“Are you fucking trying to throw me under the bus?”
That's exactly what he was trying to do. Aiden wasn't even being clear. He was trying to make it seem like Justice wasn't giving orders. He was giving orders. They just weren't being listened to. Justice was the youngest. No one respected him.
“Respect
your King,” Nero responds to Justice.
All of a sudden it's not funny anymore. Not to me at least. Nero is protecting Aiden...the guy who was cheating on him with his son? I understood the whole political marriage but this was getting out of hand.
“You made me the leader of this team,” Justice tells Nero.
“You
squandered it,” Nero responds, “If it wasn't for Aiden
you'd all be dead. Where was Armando? Why didn't you use him? What
kind of leader sits out the most experienced fighter? You were
trying to get a name for yourself but instead you end up scurrying
around the ground avoiding to get stepped on like a
cockroach.”
Laughter breaks out. I feel so bad for
Justice. Everyone is laughing even the Countess Roxanne. Even Lucca
and Camilla are laughing at Justice. That's when I notice his face.
Justice is upset. Justice is angry. His father had embarrassed him
in a way that would belittle his authority to these people forever.
“QUIET!” Nero responds.
His voice is for everyone. I'm sure he didn't mean it as a joke and he's letting everyone know that. Everyone bows down at that moment. It's a powerful thing being a king. It's a powerful thing when you raise your voice and almost immediately everyone takes a knee.
I didn't get the memo.
“Something wrong with your legs Santos?” Aiden asks me.
He's pointing out to the fact that everyone shuttered over everyone.
“Santos....” Nero starts but he stops.
The others are all
looking at me. At that moment I think they are all worried about the
same thing. Everyone has gotten embarrassed. Everyone has gotten
chewed out. I had been the exception. The elder vampires were
around to know that Nero and I had something going in the past. The
younger vampires read the tabloids that were floating around the city
and probably wondered if they were true. Either way everyone had
suspicion that there was something between Nero and I, even if they
didn't know what it was.
“You are dear to me Santos and
my husband as well, but what you did was beyond everyone else,”
Aiden states.
Nero shuts down
his husband, “I can deal with Santos...”
Deal with
me?
“Are you sure?” Aiden responds.
Aiden's tone is clear. He's challenging Nero. I wonder if Nero is smart enough to pick that up. He's calling out Nero. Nero has been tough with everyone. It's my turn now. Aiden knows it, I know it, Nero knows it and everyone in the room knows it. They saw me on Vigorosa's program. They saw me, leaning up against a tree chilling while the rest of my team fought for their lives.
“In private,” Nero states.
“Nero,” Aiden starts to protest.
It's clear what
he's going to say. Aiden is going to undermine Nero if Nero attempts
to have this conversation with me in private. A part of me knows
this. It's true I want to make Nero feel the same pain that I felt
but it's also true that I wouldn't give Aiden the pleasure of being
more loved than even King Nero to everyone.
Nero had to do
his job. I knew that. He knew that. Aiden knew that. Everyone
knew it.
I walk forward.
“Go
ahead, King Nero. What do you have to say to me?”
Nero's
voice starts off unsure at first as he speaks to me, “You
were...wrong Santos. You left your team. You watched.”
I
don't deny it, “Yes.”
“Why?”
Everyone
is looking at me. Everyone wants to know the answer. I want to give
it to them. I watched because I hated them. I hated every last one
of them. I wanted all of them to die slow, painful deaths. I want
them to feel the pain that I felt when I was buried alive for 100
years. I want Eden burned to the fucking ground and I want to stand
over it's ashes.
But I can't tell them that. Not now. Right now I hold my tongue. I bite my lip.
“Is he with the Darkest?” Aiden asks.
My eyes glare at him. He knows better to speak my mother's name in public. Even speaking about her causes the other vampires to break out in a slow whisper. It makes people uncomfortable. Before the Thirsts there was Lilith.
Nero looks over at
me, “Of course not. Why would you suggest that Aiden?”
Nero
was so blind. He didn't see what Aiden was doing. Aiden was getting
people on his side. I watch as the King's Guard give Nero a
questioning stare. They are doubting him. Aiden was planting these
seeds of doubt right in front of everyone and Nero was falling right
into the trap.
“He was standing there,” the countess Roxanne states, “King Nero with all due respect I think there is growing amounts of...concern when it comes to your friend Santos.”
“Do all of you feel this way?” Nero asks.
No one responds. Everyone is glaring. They are just staring.
“He looked like he was enjoying it,” King's Guard Livia finally states.
“You're a
fucking idiot Livia,” Nero glares at her, “If this is
what you all think then you're all idiots. This was his first
battle. Santos was just afraid.”
“King Nero, as
your adviser I'd ask you to please consider letting your friend speak
for himself.”
They were all glaring at me. There was a sentiment. I was a reminder of the Darkest. I was a reminder of the thing they were all the most afraid of. The more they looked at me the more they saw it. I can see the looks in their eyes. Yes the sentiment was fear. I have to admit I expected this. This is the same reason they buried me under ground for 100 years. It wasn't because of anything that I had done. It was because I was Lilith's son.
It was because
of this fucking sentiment.
I let the moment
pass. I don't say anything. Fuck no I wasn't afraid. Yes I enjoyed
it.
Nero nudges me on,
“Santos tell them you were afraid.”
Aiden is the only
one with the authority to say what everyone else is thinking at that
moment, “He didn't look afraid.”
Nero is looking
at me. He puts a hand on my shoulder, “Tell them you were
afraid Santos.”
“I was terrified.
Shaking...in my boots,” I tell them.
I don't think I can sound any more sarcastic. Even still some seem a little relieved and others are probably a little more suspicious. I'd done what they wanted though. I gave them the reassurance that they wanted.
They could sleep
well for one more night.
I open my fridge. I'm out of blood. I don't mind. I don't drink it much. I don't have a need for it like I've seen the other vampires. I'm bored. I can't put on the television because I know I'll see Vigorosa's annoying face talking about what happened today at the Chain Center park.
So I just sit around and nap only to be woken up to a slight knock on the door. I open it to see Justice standing there.
“Brought blood,” the voice says.
It's Justice. He's standing there. He has blood in his hands and a smile on his face.
“Great,
thought I was going to turn into a Thirst for a minute.”
“Can
I come in?”
“You think that's a good
idea.”
Justice doesn't listen for me to respond. He
walks into the room. He has on a tank top that is real nice and is
showing off his muscles. I wonder if he is doing this on purpose.
He has a few bruises that are showing and when he takes a seat in the
chair in the living room he struggles. He hands me a bottle of
blood. It is in one of those old milk cartons from back in the day.
Nothing changes in Eden...I swear.
“There was
blood that came in today. A huge delivery. It's the first one in
Eden in a long time. People are getting more and more scared to get
out there. That means more Thirsts. We're going to get
busier.”
“You come to chew me out about not
fighting too huh?”
Justice leans back on the chair.
“Naw. If you call what my father did chewing you out then you must not notice when he talks to me,” Justice responds.
“He loves
you, he's just tough.”
Justice laughs a little bit. He
takes a deep sip of blood. I take one with him and sit on a chair
next to him. His bright eyes stare at me every couple of minutes.
He bites his lips every few.
“Naw, he loves
you,” Justice responds, “He looks at me as his
replacement.”
“Stop it.”
“Seriously.
Vampires live forever. That makes it kind of hard when it comes to
successors. The only way my father gets off the throne is if he
steps down and goes into a vampire slumber or...if he's
removed...”
I look over at Justice. He has this hard
look on his face. It's crazy that he looks so much like his father.
He's lighter of course with leaner tone but his his face looks so
much alike. It's amazing to know how everyone dealt with their own
issues. The relationship between Justice and his father was
something that I'd never quite get, but then again I didn't have to.
It was their strange competitive father-son relationship.
“You wouldn't do that right?” I ask.
“Clearly you love him to,” Justice states.
“Why would
you think that?”
“I see how you look at him. I'd
pay to have you look at me like that,” Justice responds,
“Literally. How much do you want?”
I laugh. I
can't lie. A part of me does feel something for Nero. A part of me
will always feel something for Nero. Nero was married though. He
was with someone else and if he thinks that the way him and I would
get back together is by Eden loving me then he had another thing
coming.
“You came here
to sweet talk me, I thought you were going to Aiden's parade that
Eden is throwing him.”
“It's actually just a
dinner. The parade is tomorrow,” Justice responds.
“Jesus Christ.
I was joking.”
Justice shrugs, “People love him.
If I had that amount of love, man...I'd be king now.”
“At
least people don't hate you.”
“They don't hate
you. They just...well...yeah I guess they hate you,” Justice
responds.
I can't help but to laugh. This talk with Justice shouldn't be making me feel better but for some reason it's odd that we have something in common. Justice was the under appreciated son of an overbearing King and I was the son of a woman who people were terrified of.
“No shit,” I laugh.
We sit there together and laugh about it for a couple of minutes. It's nice to have someone who thinks this situation is amusing and not just sad. I was tired of being sad. It was nice to see another side of my depressing ass circumstances. Not everyone can say they'd been betrayed as much as I had and could laugh about it.
“My human
mother used to tell me stories about her.”
“Who?”
“The
Darkest.”
I sigh, “You can say her name. It's
Lilith.”
He nods but still doesn't say her name, “I
thought it was just a nighttime story, something to keep kids from
going crazy. See I'd always known I was going to be a vampire. My
father would come to visit me when I was a kid often. He was never
some great father. He never loved my mother. He needed an heir and
she was someone willing to give him one. Even back then though
everyone was scared to leave Eden. Lilith was outside of
Eden...”
“You don't think it's weird you are with
her son?”
He shrugs, “Not necessarily. But I want
to let you know...just because people are scared of you doesn't mean
that they are bad people.”
I cross my arms. Now I
understood why he was here tonight.
“This is
about Chain Center Park?”
He nods, “I don't think
you're scared but I don't think you're the Darkest either. I think
you're somewhere in between. I think you need someone to grab you
and pull you away from the darkness and I kind of want to be that
person.”
Justice shakes his head.
“I watched you
almost get killed. I watched. If I wasn't scared then maybe that's
a sign that you should be...”
Justice shakes his head,
“I feel like you look at me like you look at everyone. Blood
sucking vampires. Literally. You think Eden is corrupt. You think
there's nothing here worth saving. There is nothing here worth
fighting for. That's why you didn't fight.”
He was right. He hit the head on the nail.
“When you're buried alive for 100 years and you're forgotten it may occur to you to stop caring about the people who did it to you,” I let him know.
“Take my hand.”
“Why?”
“I'm
going to take you out and show you Eden. The real Eden. I want you
that there are some things worth fighting for.”
Geneva can feel the cold breeze as the door of her house opens. She'd just returned to Eden that night. She'd seen the Darkest. Every time she saw the Darkest her eyes would burn afterwards. She cry tears of blood for several hours straight. It would stain her pillow. The Darkest had a strange effect on vampires. She'd told the Darkest that Santos was committed to her. The Darkest never responded...she never had a reason to.
“Armando?”
Silence.
Geneva stands to her feet and walks out. Her heart is beating. She
couldn't trust anyone in Eden. People had forgiven that she was once
a Rogue Vampire working for the Darkest but they hadn't forgotten.
Every once in a while some vampire would challenge her in hopes of
cleansing Eden again for what they called “Good Vampires.”
Vampires that wanted to make peace.
What was peace?
Geneva couldn't understand it. Her family had always raised her to
understand what a real vampire was. Vampires shouldn't live in
cities. They shouldn't get donated blood. They should hunt humans.
That's what made vampires feel alive. That's why Geneva still served
her.
She walks into the kitchen.
The lights are
flickering. Someone was in here. Someone had snuck in.
“Show yourself,” she states.
“Relax it's just me,” the voice states.
She turns and sees her husband. Armando. He is standing there.
“Thank God you're ok,” she states.
“I'm fine,” Armando responds.
Armando doesn't
give her a kiss. He doesn't hold her. Their relationship for the
last 100 years wasn't that kind of relationship. Armando had one
concern and only one concern. Santos. That's all he cared about.
Geneva wasn't silly enough to think that Armando truly loved her the
way she loved him. She knew that Armando had a reason for keeping
her so close. He had a reason to marry her and that reason was the
same reason that it had always been.
He'd done it for
Santos.
“I saw Santos
on Bat Chat,” Geneva states, “He's getting darker.”
“Not
dark enough,” Armando responds.
“Didn't your
plan work?”
Armando nods, “Yes. He thinks I
betrayed him. He got darker, but still not dark enough. I shut him
in a room with a Thirst that I knew he could kill. I did just enough
for him to think that I really wanted him dead.”
Geneva
was confused. Why was it taking Santos so long to become dark?
“He
still has a soul even after he thinks you betrayed him?”
Armando nods, “My
son hates me for nothing. I figured it would push him over the edge.
It almost worked. Nero I expected but Santos seems to have a wall
up when it comes to Nero. I didn't expect Justice.”
Geneva
sighs, “Prince Justice?”
“Yes. They've
taken to each other. I just followed Santos. I saw him walking the
city with Justice. They were smiling, laughing. He's giving Santos
hope. As long as Santos feels love he won't be able to do what he
needs to do.”
No.
Geneva crosses
her arms, “We kill Justice?”
Armando crosses his
arms, “Yes or find a way to remove him from the
picture.”
Geneva smiles at the thought. Armando hadn't
always been a Rogue but when they had buried his son 100 years ago he
had approached her. He wanted revenge and he wasn't going to let
them take it from him.
“What if
Santos can't do it? What if Santos can't destroy the Lucky ones and
let Lilith into Eden? What if he just isn't Dark enough?”
Armando
grabs her by the collar. There was nothing more upsetting to Armando
than doubting Santos. She knew that and truthfully she ignored it.
Geneva had her doubts about Santos. Santos had so many opportunities
to truly become the true son of Lilith. He was the dark prince, the
vampire Jehovah. He should be turning getting revenge but instead he
was out here playing with matters of the heart.
“If you doubt my son, I'll kill you,” Armando tells his wife with the coldest demeanor, “My son must be reduced to think everyone is against him. He will be reduced to ashes and from those ashes he will rise up. He will be a flaming Phoenix. He will have his justice. He will have his revenge. I'll make sure that everyone who hurt Santos will be hurt in return. These fuckers messed with the wrong one 100 years ago and I'll make sure they'll pay for it. Out of his pain he will rise up. My beautiful Phoenix. He is the only thing that matters. My flaming phoenix. He will have his revenge. Eden will burn.”
“It was always
him wasn't it? The reason you're still alive. The reason
you...breathe.”
Their marriage meant nothing. Armando
had married her because she was the only one who hated Eden as much
as Armando did. But Geneva hated Eden because she was loyal to
Lilith. Armando could give a fuck less about Lilith. He could care
less about Geneva. He only cared about Santos getting what Santos
deserved.
It was no
surprise when Armando opens his mouth and whispers, “Always.”
He throws her to the
ground with not even the slightest care.
Geneva knew then by the passion in his eyes that Armando would never love her. Armando couldn't love her. There was a madness in his eyes. She wouldn't acknowledge just how truly sick Armando had become.
Armando could
never love Geneva because he was in love with his own son.
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