Volume 10

DISCLAIMER: This story contains adult content.

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Carter and I argued, it was never serious and never too long though. I remember one time he dated this girl by the name of August. She came to live with us for a while. She was such a strict clean freak. Everything used to have to be a certain way in the house. Funny that she came into the house meeting us there and she decided to run us. She hated how I did things.

One time a note was left on the fridge telling me to clean my stuff. Of course I felt upset about it. I asked Carter about it and he defended his girlfriend. I got angry with Carter. He was probably the only one in the world I was comfortable showing my anger to. I was so angry as well. A part of me was completely jealous of her. I wanted what I couldn't have.

Of course this was Carter though. He was the kindest soul in the world. The same night he apologized and he dumped her. He realized what was important in his life.

The lesson stuck with him.

That was Carter's way.

"She came for Mali and Anita!"

The boy, Adrian had entered the room. I'll never forget the way his face looked. He was crying. He was sweating. His entire body seemed to be flushed with the most unconcealed fear. It was a face that would haunt me for many years. Lilith was managing to turn the supposed "predators" into the prey. They were sitting here shaking in their boots like young school children, afraid of the shadows.

There was an outrage outside the doors. I could see Roxanne running and bolting the doors after she let him in. She was right. It was important to keep the chaos outside. There was no telling what scared and angry vampires were capable of doing.

"Jesus Christ," Caesarian stated, "Not Mali and Anita. I have to go."

"No, Caesarian, it sounds crazy out there," I stated, trying to grab for his arm, "You should probably stay here..."

He seemed surprised that I showed concern. It seemed like every time I showed any type of emotion, he was somewhat surprised. Maybe it was because he had more of the vampire livelihood in him. All he could feel was those ideas of almost an animal. The basic instinct of survival was what seemed to control the older ones.

"You don't understand, Mali and Anita are important," Caesarian stated, "Jesus Christ...the Darkest is really carrying out with her plan isn't she?"

He was shaking his head as he left the room. He left Adrian there. Roxanne walked over to Adrian bringing him a glass of water from the jug we had sitting on our empty table.

We had all been pretty much cramped in this room for several days now. Caesarian had spent the days thinking about how we would get to this guy named Belial. He never said anything about his plans or even who Belial was, but he pretty much spent so much time thinking and planning.

"Sorry, the water we have isn't very cold," Roxanne stated, "We hate going out of this room. It seems like there's nothing but chaos in this estate."

She crossed her arms and leaned over the side of the bed.

David looked down at Adrian who still seemed rather shaken up, "She's going to kill us all isn't she? She is going to kill us all one at a time."

"How did it happen?" Arie asked Adrian.

Adrian shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Go ahead," Arie pressed him, taking several steps towards him, "I think it's important for us to know. If all vampires are going to die in the same way, then it's important for us to know how we are going to die."

"She came for them the same way she came for Emporio!" Adrian shouted as though pissed off that Arie was asking him.

"How?"

"The same..."

"Describe it, damn you."

"We were all sitting around. Hell, we were still mourning Emporio. Meeka and William and the other older ones had gone to start planning some type of defense against the Darkest. Mali and Anita were left behind however, because they were still mourning. Their tears for Emporio were still wet, when the doors came open. And the Darkest took several steps. And they didn't move. And she took several more and they still didn't move. She killed Mali first with no trouble, but Anita seemed to know SHE had for more than just Mali. Anita started to run. Her heals were clicking hard on the concrete. She leaned forward and you would think she would have picked up to fly, but instead she fell hard on the floor. I don't know if it was her own failure or if it was something the Darkest had done. Either way, the Darkest helped her up, kissing her on her forehead. The two burned together; exploding golden bronze embers shot all over the place...it was..."

He broke out into tears again.

Again the motive for these tears seemed questionable. I'm sure he knew them for a very long amount of time, but was that the reason he cried. Or did he cry because he knew sooner or later the same fate would be dealt to him.

Lilith was keeping her word. It was not a threat...it was a promise.

"She's going to kill us all," David repeated shaking his head. He had been drinking on a cup but he nervously dropped it on the floor. I could still the nerves in his hand still shaking.

"You can go..." Roxanne stated, "And if you happen to run across a human make sure you send them up. We need blood. My brood is getting weaker by the moment."

"I'll send a human up immediately."

He walked out of the room as nervously as he had come into it. I put my head down and immediately I felt Arie lift my head up. He smiled at me. Then he made a goofy face as though trying to cheer me up. It worked for a while. I smiled back.

That was until Giovanni opened his mouth, "Yes, David, we are all going to FUCKING die. Roxy, fuck the blood...you should have ordered more liquor..."

Arie interrupted Giovanni quickly, "We aren't going to die. David, we aren't going to die. Adam, we aren't going to die ok? You guys don't listen to him. Caesarian said we have a plan. Something about Belial and what Belial knows."

"Belial is a lunatic..." Roxy shook her head.

"We are going to die," David nodded as though agreeing with Roxy, "Why trust Caesarian? He hasn't been a part of us. He comes once a century and thinks he is in our clan. To hell with that. I say let's join William, Meeka and the others. They are forming a group of all the remaining vampires. We all have one last battle among us."

"I'm not joining anything with those...VAMPIRES, they tried to kill us, and"Roxy shook her head immediately, "David have you lost your mind?"

"Yeah, he has," Giovanni stated and laughed, "That's the fucked up part. But then again, aren't we all losing our mind. You get so used to fucking living, you know? After a couple centuries, the thought of dying just...is so unknown."

"Meeka is gathering them up and it's going to piss Lilith off," I stated.

They still seemed so anxious when I said her name.

David shook his head and walked away, "It was just an idea. I'm going to find out what's taking this boy so long with the blood."

We had lodged ourselves in the room, sucking on humans and barricading the doors for the most part. We were silent mostly. The only sounds came from David, who sat near the windows, whimpering. God knows what was wrong with him.

Then there was Arie and I. Arie held me and he whispered things in my ear. He told me everything was going to be ok. It was Armageddon for the vampires and everything was supposed to just be ok? I didn't believe him, but it was so beautiful to hear him say it, so I listened. We wrapped ourselves together and just listened to each other talk. It was the most beautiful thing in the world.

"Why can't you do that to me?" I heard David say to Giovanni.

Giovanni didn't reply. He shot Arie and I a look then went to drain the rest of the liquor bottle. I could see that he wasn't comfortable seeing us like this. Hell none of them seemed really comfortable with it. Not even Roxanne. She gave us these weird looks of disbelief at times. It was almost as though she didn't understand what we saw in each other.

Arie wasn't trying to hide the fact that he liked me though. I was kind of overwhelmed with how quick the transition had come from. We had gone from being complete friends, to him kissing me every several minutes. Maybe it was because he knew we didn't have much time. We only had about three weeks left at most. No one knew when Lilith would come to get some more though.

Giovanni had taken the bed with David. Roxanne was over by the door.

Arie had fallen asleep on my lap. We were at the foot of the bed, lying across the floor. He was so comfortable there. That was the thing about vampires. We didn't need beds.

"He's special isn't he?" I heard Roxy say.

"I thought you were asleep."

She shook her head, "No, I couldn't sleep much. I'll probably wait until daybreak. I can't take the crying outside."

I knew what she meant. There were a lot of noises leaking through the door. A lot of those noises were cries. They were lamenting all the dead vampires. I'm sure Mali and Anita were not the only vampires that were killed. I didn't know the history of the older ones, but they were admired. I knew no one had expected such great legacies to end so abruptly.

"It's not over yet, you heard Caesarian."

"You give Caesarian too much credit. True he is old, but Emporio was older and wiser. Emporio led us to believe that we could live with humans...cooperatively. Like idiots, we believed him. Now we are being punished."

"Well that was the past, now we can only think about the future."

"No not the future. Don't you realize? Do you know why vampires are so afraid of death? We are not like humans. There is no heaven for us. We are the damned. Have you thought about it? When a vampire dies, we go straight to hell...no stops."

"Don't give up on me yet Roxanne."

She shook her head. Immediately there was a knock on the door. Roxanne looked at me before getting up. She could see the reserve in my eyes.

She did open the door and Caesarian walked into the room.

"Now..."

"What?"

"Now, Adam, you have to come with me to see Belial."

"It's almost daylight Caesarian," Roxanne stated, "I can't allow him to go out. He needs rest."
"I'm fine," I stated.

"There is no choice. It's now or never. Daylight is the best time. The vampires are sleeping. We are going to the dungeons where Belial is held. No sunlight will flow to those areas."

Roxanne held my hand before letting me walk out of the door. I could tell she was concerned about me. I looked over at Arie. I had originally thought I'd be braver now that I knew Arie was free and he was alone. I looked over to him wanting to get him.

Caesarian seemed to read my mind in the matter and quickly added, "We don't have time. Come on."

He dragged me out of the room. We walked down the curving staircases of the estate. All the vampires had gone asleep now. Only the humans were awake. They were pacing back and forth, making sure their masters were safe and secure.

Caesarian carried a torch in his hand. You would think we were living in the 19^th century instead of the 21^st. He even dressed like it at times. He looked back at me making sure that I was keeping up with him. I was. The darkness wasn't unusual to me anymore. My eyes had gotten used to it. I had begun to feel more comfortable in the dark actually.

"The estate is beautiful isn't it?" he asked me, "A palace cloaked right under the disguise of a huge mansion. The humans wonder what's in it but no one comes in to see. They aren't as curious as they describe themselves to be. They are afraid of what they don't know. Their religion holds them back, just like ours. You see the belief of a higher being is right and nobel, but it's the misinterpretation of humans that gets everything fucked up."

He smiled back at me as he said it as though expecting me to agree with him.

I said nothing.

We walked past the kitchen and into the veranda. From the veranda we entered a garden. There was a secret passage in the garden that lead down...down...down several staircases. That led to a door. Then there were more staircases leading down even further. There was a gate and a lock on the gate...but it had already been broken. Caesarian pushed it open.

There were loud soft moans when we continued to walk into the darkness walking down a long hallway. Some moans were of pain and some were of sorrow. Some moans didn't seem to have any motivation or cause at all. Perhaps they were moans of madmen. I could sense the different vampires that they had locked up in here. However they were not only vampires that were locked away. Some were humans as well. I knew even then, seeing this for the first time, that Emporio had locked all these people in here. I wondered if they had a trial similar to the false trial they had given Arie and the others.

"Why are these people here?"

Caesarian didn't answer me. He kept leading me down the hallway, ignoring me completely. The moans got louder. They vibrated from the concrete cells into my ears. The hallway got warmer and warmer as well. It felt like we were taking steps closer and closer to hell.

"Why are these people here?"

He looked back at me, "It's best we keep our minds about us. We are here for a very particular reason. Do you understand? It is a very, very, very particular reason. There behind that gold door in front of you...Belial waits. Use this key. And whatever you do, do not let him loose."

"I'm afraid."

"You have a right to be. However when someone gets scared, it's best not to show it and give someone a reason to make you scared even more."

He nodded to me, pushing me forward. He wasn't going to go with me no matter how afraid I let him know that I was. I could tell that now. Looking back I think maybe it was his plan to have grabbed me up while everyone else was asleep anyway. He wanted to make sure that I went in there alone. I didn't know then but I know now that it is important for me to have been alone with Belial.

I walked close to the door. The door was a golden door. The key that Caesarian handed me was a golden key. It seemed fitting for one another.

I opened the door...

I stepped into the room.

Laughter was there. It was more of a snicker really. The room was lit up by several lamps. It was a relatively big room. On one side of the room was a row full of books. I looked back behind the bookshelves to see where the laughter was coming from. There on the side of the bookshelf he was sitting. His back was turned to me.

I couldn't see his face. He remained that way. With his back turned to me. He had shackles on his feet. They were chained to the walls. Caesarian told me to not let him loose but how did he expect me to even do that if he hadn't given me the keys to Belial's shackles.

Belial stopped snickering long enough to say, "It's about time you showed up."

He still didn't turn his face to me. I longed to look at him. I longed to see what kind of face he had. His hair was wild from behind. It looked like a Wildman. His skin was a bronze color. I couldn't tell what skin color is. He faced the wall. His body was as stiff as a board. One could really confuse him to be a manikin.

"You've been expecting me."

"Of course, Adam."

"You know my name? How? How if you didn't even turn around to see my face."

"When you wait for someone named Adam long enough everyone becomes Adam. After time has passed, you call everyone who walks into visit you the same name until finally it is..."

He snickered as though he had said the funniest thing in the world.

"Can you turn? I want to see your face."

"Oh no...I'd only frighten you," he stated, "You can blame that part on Meeka of course. She insinuated the entire thing. I was once beautiful. Emporio wanted me more than anything in the world. It enraged her. When I was imprisoned, the first thing she did was attack my face."

I crossed my arms. His voice was chilling.

I still did want to see his face, disfigured or else. I trusted what he said about Meeka. She seemed like a very deranged soul.

"You know why I came here?" I asked him.

"Lilith has returned."

My mind froze. He had said her name. I couldn't believe that he had said it. He said it with such ease though as though it was the easiest thing to say. I thought I was the only one who had the power to speak it, but no...Belial was here right before me saying it.

"Yes..."

"I told them she would. I told them she was angry. She had come to me you know...many centuries ago...when I was still a human. She turned me..."

"She turned you into a vampire too? She did me as well! No one believes me!"

"No...not a vampire."

"What?"

"You and I are one in the same. Lilith came to us and she turned us, but she didn't turn us into vampires. You see...not in the relative sense. Lilith is destroying her vampire race to make room for another race. A race stronger than vampires. You and I, we are the prototypes. We are the first of the new race that she is creating. She never told me the name of what we were."

It made sense. I was different from them. I had flown faster. I had the ability to outmatch them and I was still very young. I was evolving as a vampire faster than the rest of them were.

I looked at the back of his head slowly, "Please tell me, will Lilith really destroy all the vampires?"

"Every last one of them, besides you and I."

My heart dropped. I had thoughts of Roxanne, Caesarian, Giovanni, Arie...and hell, even David. Lilith planned on killing all of them. My heart beat faster.

"Can I stop her?"

"Why would you want to?"

He laughed as though I had said the most ridiculous thing in the world. We were nothing alike. I didn't feel any compassion in him at all. What the hell was so funny to him every second? Why was he laughing? I found myself turned off by Belial. I found myself anxious to get the meeting over with. He gave me an eerie feeling. He was something of a clown, demented perhaps by his own jail cell.

"I love one."

I said it in such a calm way. I expected him to laugh at me, but he didn't. I didn't know why it surprised me so much. I thought he would have found that one really funny to say the least.

"True love?"

I nodded, but then I realized he wasn't looking at me so I followed it up with a soft and certain, "Yes."

I felt like it was true. I felt like if I lost Arie something terrible would happen to my heart. I felt like it would break into a million pieces. That had to be true love. The idea that you cannot live without that person. It was true.

He moaned deeply, "Seems like we have ourselves a predicament don't we?"

"Yes," I stated, "If I speak to her will she listen?"

"Yes."

"Will she stop her plans?"

"No."

"Then can I force her to stop her plans?"

"No."

"Then what can I do Belial? Please tell me anything but one word answers."

He shook his head, "There are two things you can do. It depends on whether you like things the easy way or the hard way. The easy way would be you should forget the love. Granted, now you think that is one of the harder things to do, but I assure you, when you go about the second option there will a point where you wish you chose the first. So I'll give you that chance now. Take the first option, walk out of this room, forget your love, satisfied that you are powerless against Lilith. Take the easy way out."

I remained in the room. A cold wind blew over me. Where the hell was wind coming from all the way down there. He sat and shivered as though feeling the wind himself. He really did give me a moment to think about it. I could see him.

"What is the second option?" I finally asked.

There was no way I was abandoning Arie, nor the rest of them.

"Before I tell you, have you thought that they don't deserve to be saved? You know why they put me in here? I told them the truth. Lilith had made me as a warning. She told me to go to her people and show them the error of their ways. They didn't listen. They tied me up and threw me in the dungeons."

"I know how you feel. Not all of them are like that though."

"Not every Nazi hated Jews. However to stand aside and watch is the same as hatred in many ways. They have displeased Lilith. They were put on this earth to destroy the sons of Adam. In that they have deliberately failed."

"The second option, Belial...please."

I didn't mean to rush him, but it seemed like he had too much time sitting in this room to think. I wasn't the thinker. I never have been the thinker. My mind collaborated strongly with my heart and my nerves.

"Are you sure?"

"I am positive. What is the hard way out?"

He snickered and paused for a moment. He didn't say anything.

Then after several minutes had passed in complete silence, he asked me again, "Are you certainly sure?"

Immediately I responded, "Yes, Belial. What is the second option?"

I was getting impatient. He snickered again at how fast I had answered the question. He was finding this to be some sort of game I suppose.

"Lilith left Eden unlike Adam and Eve who were kicked out. Lilith was never banned from Eden. Though the children of Adam and Eve cannot return to Eden, the children of Lilith may. However in Eden, nothing matters. Pain is nonexistent. She has no reign or power in Eden. Anywhere else, there is no way of defeating Lilith, There is no place to hide. The only way to assure life is to take the vampires to Eden."

My heart raced. It did sound hard. I had hoped he would give me a way to get rid of Lilith. I had hoped he given me at least something to change her mind.

"Eden exists?"

He snickered, "It is as real as you and I."

"How do I get there?"

"I don't know. Hell, if I knew, you think I'd be here? No, I don't know. I have no idea how to get to Eden. Don't you wish you would have chosen option 1 now? It's not too late of course. Vampires have lived long enough. Let them bite the dust."

"No, Belial. You know something. You know SOMETHING."

"Ok...

"Please..."

"Ok. I said ok, didn't I?"

I nodded.

He still didn't turn to me but his voice got very intimate, "Adam, you know why she picked you. You think it's all about you? No...it isn't. There is a blessed human on earth Adam. Someone who speaks to God directly. It is very rare isn't it? Especially now-a-days. No one really speaks to god anymore. He can turn out to be a hero if he listens correctly. You know like a Moses or Samson or Noah. He is beloved of God. You understand. She chose you...because of him."

"I know him?"

"Oh you know him and he knows you. Lilith came to me in my cell. She came to me in these very walls like a gust of wind. She pulled from me a tooth and said she would give it to God's chosen. There is something you don't know about Lilith. Something very important."

"What?"

"Lilith is the governess of homosexuals. You see she hates Adam and his descendents. The fact that homosexuals bear no descendants have made them a symbol for Lilith. So what if God's chosen decided to have homosexual love for another. Wouldn't that go against so much of what they say?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You tell me. My fang was a representation of homosexual sin. I am a homosexual, just like you. It is another reason she chose us. Who gave you my fang?"

My mind immediately fit in the puzzles...almost perfectly.

"Carter..."

"Bingo. Carter is God's chosen. And he was in love with you. He gave you that fang. Because he did that, Lilith chose you because what more romantic than the one who Carter had a sinful lust for to be taken under her wing as her new creation."

"This was all about Carter?"

"Yes."

"And Carter knows where Eden is?"

"Yes."

I had thought that part of my life was over. Little did I know that part of my life had lead to this part of my life. Carter was the reason I was here now. He was the reason I was a vampire or whatever the hell I was.

I looked at him in a sort of shock.

"What if I can't face Carter? What if I don't want to see him again?"

"It's not a question. I can tell you don't. You don't want to cry when he sees that you are alive or what about when he sees that you aren't `really' alive. Can you imagine him? Can you face that just for these blood-sucking fools. Let them die, Adam."

"I can't..."

"Just give in. Let them die."

They had gathered in my bedroom for me to tell them everything that Belial had said. It was important that I found my own way to say things. Belial hadn't been very sensitive to the issues. I suppose he found himself exempt from the issues since he felt like he wasn't really the same vampire as them.

Neither was I.

He was right. It would be so easy to just forget about it, instead of facing Carter. It would be so easy to just drop it all off. Could you imagine going to the person you loved and telling them the lowly thing you have become? You can be broken when you think about the past, you know. A wound, if it isn't healed properly, can be opened once you poke at the scab long enough.

"Who is this Carter to you?" David asked.

He did it out of spite. I could tell. I had told them what Belial had told me. I had given him enough clues to let him know that I cared about Carter. I had suggested love in more ways than one. I hadn't said it though because Arie was standing here listening. I had done it out of respect, but now David was trying to spite me.

Arie looked at me, "Is he your lover?"

I shook my head, "He wasn't interested in men."

"Obviously he was," David cut me off, "They said his love mattered. Not yours. She wouldn't have chosen you if you loved him. I'm sure others loved him as well. It's the fact that he loved you. How beautiful isn't it? Like poetry."

He laughed and walked against the bed. I watched as Arie looked uneasy. They hadn't seen it, but I did it. What we had was still fresh and still so fragile. I could still hear him whispering, "I'm in love with you." `

The others were uneasy. Caesarion and Roxy were close together. They didn't speak necessarily but they seemed to be in the same state of mind where they were much more focused than the rest of us. Giovanni seemed out of it. He was drinking...again. That was all he had seemed to be doing lately. He just drank and laughed and pretended like the situation we were facing wasn't as serious as it was. That was how he seemed to solve his problems. He pretended like they didn't exist.

"Well let's find the boy and find Eden," Arie stated.

Caesarion shook her head, "Meeka won't have it. She is bent on destroying the Darkest."

David raised his hand, "Hold on, who said anything about telling Meeka. Or any of those bastards. They tried to kill us. To hell with them."

"They are our people."

"Our people are assholes," David stated.

Arie surprisingly stood up for him. Then again that wasn't too surprising. I found that Arie often fed off of the things that David said. Whether in a positive way or negative way, I could tell that Arie took into mind a lot of what David said probably more than the rest of us. He took David seriously. I wish Giovanni had done the same, perhaps then David wouldn't hate me with such a passion.

Arie spoke with a lot of strength, "David is right. Our brood has always been independent and on its own. Why share this information with them? They will misuse it. Let's find this...Carter...and rip out the truth from him."

"You won't be ripping anything from him," I stated.

I didn't know how aggressively I said it until it had come out of my mouth. It was a clear threat even though I hadn't really threatened him. I had spat out the words as though it should have been followed up with "Or else". What was worse was I didn't take it back. I stood behind my statement staring Arie dead in his eyes.

"Why?"

"We can just ask him. I know Carter. He will want to help."

"Bullshit. Have you seen us? We aren't lost children in woods. We are beasts. We are the damned and he is a messenger from God. Why would a messenger from God betray one of God's valued secrets?"

"Because!"

Arie got in my face. I could tell he wanted to shake me, "Adam, be reasonable. If it comes to saving him or saving ourselves, which one will you choose."

"I am not at risk."

"What?"

They all looked at me as though wondering what I meant. I turned away from them. It would be hard to explain to them the other part of what Belial had told me.

I summarized it quickly not looking at them, "I am not one of you. Lilith bit me...like I told you all. She is a new race...a more mature undead species..."

"She is replacing us," Giovanni stated and laughed loudly, "She is FUCKING replacing us."

He found this amusing as he took gulps of his liquor and pounded on the table. The rest of them were not so amused. David seemed the most bothered. He grabbed onto himself and sat on the table. I watched as Arie put his arm on David, on his shoulder, seemingly trying to give him some sort of strength. Roxanne just hugged herself the whole while.

"No wonder you and Belial have that strange smell," Caesarion stated.

They were looking at me different. I have always been rather skilled at noticing when I have become the `other'. I had a gift for acknowledging when people got uncomfortable around me. Now they were all uncomfortable around me...even Arie. They all looked at me as though trying to dissect me.

"What's so special about him?" David asked, "I don't see a difference."

"He is different," Arie stated.

"No, I'm the same Adam," I told Arie.

"Well then answer my question. If it comes down to Carter or us...the vampires. No better yet, if it comes down Carter or me...who would you choose?"

I paused. I hadn't thought about it. I hadn't thought it was an issue I would have to be facing. I felt it was hard enough already having to face Carter and let him know what I'd become. I hadn't put Arie into the equation. Perhaps that was my own fault. It was my own stupidity.

I didn't answer. I looked around the room, as though searching into someone else's face for the answer. I knew Carter all my life. I hadn't known Arie for much longer than several months. Still, I wasn't the same person that loved Carter. I had changed. I had evolved.

"I bet Decadence is giggling in Hell right now," Giovanni stated laughing at Arie.

Arie shot him a look, "Shut the fuck up, drunk."

He turned back to me and gave me an even harsher look, but then walked out of the room quickly, bumping past me as he did. I grabbed out for him but he shook my hand off of him and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Arie wait," I stated trying to go after him, but immediately Caesarian was in front of me.

He moved so quickly that I hadn't even seen him glide across the room.

"We don't have time for lover's quarrels," he stated coldly, "Everything we built for centuries is in the balance. We spent years trying to find a way to coexist with humans and finally when it is perfected, we are at verge of extinction."

Roxanne grabbed onto Caesarian, "Let him go please. The world can fall apart, Caesarian and you know this...but when people are in love nothing else matters. Adam will be no help to us is he has Arie on his mind."

Caesarian backed up, speaking lightly, "Foolishness..."

He let go of my hand. It was weird that he was listening to Roxanne.

"You just let him go?" David said his voice getting high pitched, "No, he has to help us. Come back. Adam you are part of this brood, you have t put it first."

"Oh now I'm a part of your brood?" I asked him.

I could really laugh at David right now. He was amazing. He really put himself above everything else. He didn't answer me when I called him out about how much of an asshole he had been to me. He didn't say anything though. He just sunk into himself and got quiet.

I walked out of the room, not giving him a second look.

I chased after Arie. I could see him walking down the steps. He wasn't walking too fast but he was walking heavily. The moonlight shined through the hallways and set on his face.

Arie was beautiful...there was no doubt about it. I knew he could smell me coming. He didn't have to turn around and look at me...but he did. His eyes fit onto mine and they quietly seemed to connect to me in a way that I couldn't really understand.

I stood by him in silence and took his hand. Surprisingly he let me take his hand. His hand was rough and cold. He gave me his other hand as well as though trying to make everything alright.

"You look so different from when I first found you," he stated, "I thought you were so helpless and so sweet. I felt like I had to take care of you. Now look how the tables have turned. I need you now..."

"You can still take care of me if you want," I smiled back at him, grabbing onto his hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze.

He didn't squeeze back...

"Do you really think this boy can save us? The boy that you like. You think he really knows how to save us from her?"

"All he has to do is point the way to a safe place."

"How do you think Eden is?"

"It's beautiful, Arie," I nodded continuously, "Yes, it's beautiful. We'll be there together you know. Giovanni will be there playing tricks on people, Roxanne will be there trying to sleep and David will be acting an asshole to me. And we'll never die...never..."

"How will it look?" he asked.

He was scared. I could tell. I could tell by how his hands were just stuck. They had lived so long, they didn't understand death as you would. They knew nothing but life. They were immortals. It was their right to live forever. Lilith didn't have the right to come and take back the gift that she had given them.

"How do you want it look?" I asked him.

He looked at me in my eyes and they were bubbling with emotion," I want it to be green you know. I want lots of the water to be gold and the flowers to be pink. I want you and I to have our own place where I can just look at you and stare at you. I want us to have our own place where we can make love and just lay there for an eternity."

He was so scared.

I squeezed his hands again, "Yes that's what it's going to be. Lilith won't get us. We'll always have Eden. It'll be a place where we can love forever and we won't have to hide in darkness anymore. There's always sunlight in Eden and it doesn't burn our skin?"

"Oh...sun. We'll still be immortal?"

"Always. There are some things that time can never change. We're the lucky ones. We'll live forever. I can see it now..."