Volume 4

DISCLAIMER: This story contains adult content.

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To Die For

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When we were young Carter and I used to...play. I guess it doesn't matter. Kids play. It doesn't mean anything. It shouldn't mean anything at least. Truth was it always seemed to mean more to me than him.

I ask him to play like the Gargoyles. We loved the cartoon.

He can be Goliath. I'll be Demona.

But Goliath holds Demona. They are lovers. That's what lovers do. That is how I would argue and every time I'd have him hold me. That is what our Gargoyles did.

Funny what you think about when you drink blood...

We had survived the crash.

The impact had hurt. It hurt like shit even in this body. I felt Arie holding onto me trying to protect me from the crash. Arie was over me. He had his hand pressed up against my chest.

And after the crash we laid there. In all actuality we should have been dead. The impact had killed the driver instantly. Our bones had not shattered.

It was Arie who moved first. He kicked the door of the car off its hinges. It flew several feet away from the car from his excess strength. Then he grabbed me, forgetting all the idea about being gentle and pulled me with him as we went out of the totaled vehicle.

"I'm so sorry," I stated. It was such a cliché thing to say. One is sorry when they forget to call. One isn't sorry when they bite an innocent man's neck and causes a fatal car crash.

"The humans are looking they will ask questions if we stay here," he stated.

He grabbed my arms. He was right. There were people looking. Arie was bleeding on his forehead. The blood dripped from his open sore. I kept looking at it, still hungry. Still needing the blood.

But this time I knew the consequences. The people had gathered around to see what exactly had happened, but by that time we were all the way down the block. I was looking back to see their wonder. They were simply amazed at this.

"You've tasted it, you weren't supposed to yet," Arie explained.

"I'm so sorry."
"It was expected. I should have been smarter. You are too young to be out."

He was regretting bringing me. I could see it all in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I killed him. Oh my god...it's just hit me, I killed him," I stated.

"We only eat about once a month. Human blood is what we live on, nothing else. It is their life force that we need...not exactly the blood. The blood keeps us in touch with the smallest bit of humanity we have left. It keeps us alive."

I was murderer. I looked at my hands. I had just killed a man. I never could have dreamed it when I was younger.

"God...Arie I can't do this. I can't be a vampire."

"You have no choice."

"You've been more then kind to me," I told him, "But this isn't for me. Arie I killed someone just a few minutes ago!"

He shook his head, "Walk faster. The club is just around the block."

He was walking extremely fast. It wasn't extraordinary but extreme for the fact that I was speaking to him. It was like he was intentionally trying to change the subject.

"Arie you aren't listening to me?"

"That is a clue for you to shut up, Adam. You are walking too slow. You are a baby vampire not a baby human."

He kept changing the point.

"I killed someone!" I pressed into him.

"You did what you had to do!" he stated, "Stop acting like such a FUCKING human. You feed of them. You steal life from others because you really don't have any of your own. You aren't anymore. You understand? Get it through your brain."

I got silent. I hated the idea of Arie talking to me like that. He was talking to me like I was some sort of child or something.

I followed him keeping up my pace. He didn't look back to see if I was ok. It was obvious that he was mad that we had to walk because I killed the taxi driver. He seemed to be annoyed at the entire idea of bringing me into this club.

The line was long to get into the club but Arie walked past the entire line. He did it in such a calm way too as though he had done it more times then could be counted. Then he looked over at me, signaling me to follow him.

"Stay close to me at all times, ok," he stated, "I don't want to lose sight of you. You hear me Adam? We are going to find Giovanni and we are going to get out of here. This night has been long enough. Have I made myself clear?"

I rolled my eyes not talking to him and walking into the club.

It seemed like a regular club when we walked inside. There were two sets of staircases. One lead down to a something that looked like a pit. There were strobe lights everywhere. People were dancing to some Spanish music. It seemed like it pulled a young crowd. Everyone laughing and having fun. Everyone seeming so happy and full of themselves.

"No up this way," Arie instructed.

He lead me to the stair case that lead up. The staircase lead to a long hallway that seem so excluded from the club. It looked like a regular club. Then there was an elevator.

I went into the elevator with Arie and the doors closed. I looked at him and he looked at me. It was clear that the awkwardness was between us. He stared straight for a minute and awkward seconds fell between us.

"Are you mad?" he asked me finally.

"I shrugged. Hey, I'm such a dumb young vampire why should it matter how I feel?" I asked him.

"Adam, don't be like this. Vampires always get so emotional after they taste blood."

"It's not the blood."

The doors opened just in time because he had just grabbed for my arm but I was able to pull away fast enough. Arie gave me a look, I could tell it bothered him that I was pissed. I liked that it bothered him that I was pissed.

As I walked out however, I was horrified at what I saw.

An orgy.

I looked out the room. It was a huge penthouse suite. Music was playing from stereos everywhere. A man had another man pressed up against the wall. He was going into him, raw without any condom or protection of any sort. He was rough as well, pounding his ass out with speed that I had never seen before. It was vampire speed.

There was a lot of homosexuality going on elsewhere in the room. Some not as intense. Some people just dancing, some having casual conversation and then there were some having unprohibited sex in front of everyone. Sex seemed to not be nearly as private and intimate.

A woman on the other side of the room had two penises in her mouth. She seemed to be having the most fun out of everyone as she sucked on them, playing with them and pretending to roll around entertained like a little puppy.

"Arie..." I called out, just to look behind me and notice Arie was right there by my side, with his arm around me.

"You'll get used to it. Vampires can either be exaggeratingly devoted to one person or they can be very...well promiscuous," he explained.

"Which one are you?"

"I used to be promiscuous, but now there is one person. Deca. Remember?"

Decadence. Right.

I looked away trying to find Giovanni in the crowd. The room wasn't packed, packed, but it was about the size of a private party. There were people walking around socializing a lot. It would take some moving around to see whether Giovanni was really here.

"Stay here," Arie stated, "Don't talk to anyone. I'll go look for Giovanni so we can get out of here."

He walked through the crowd quickly. He was always in such a rush. He was always making it seem as though I was slowing him down somehow. How could I slow someone down with so much damn passion.

Just at that moment I looked around. A rather heavy set woman was there. She was a vampire. I could tell by the shine in her skin. Most of the people in this room were vampires. Her mouth was full of deserts as she spoke. Beside her was a human. I knew almost immediately because I could see myself feeling real tense around him. I found myself struggling to see his veins.

The woman stuck out. She seemed a little more reserved then the rest. And she seemed a little out of her element. She drank a sip of wine and gave it to him to hold while she spoke to a rather tall skinny vampire. The human seemed lost almost as though too afraid to stand up for himself.

"Have you heard," the fat woman stated, "An entire family killed . They humans are saying some large dogs got loose from neighbors. Humans believe anything. You know what that sounds like to me."

"Same thing it sounds like to me."

"Uh huh. A vampire. It must have been a whole group of them."

"I heard it was just one vampire through the wire."

"Oh seriously. Who you know that can kill all those dozens of people? Besides they all died from the bite. They must have been weak humans."

"I heard one survived the bite and turned."

"No one reported it. Every vampire is reported to the Dark Pope. We would have heard word about it by now. You know what this is huh? Don't you? Uh huh...you know."

"Uh huh."

"No doubt the Sacrilege is responsible for this."

"No doubt."

Her friend echoed her as they looked around the room suspiciously. The fat woman knew I was listening in her conversation . She gave me an unwelcomed look. I went to go get a seat away from them, trying to find a nice wall by myself but immediately I felt that shadow again. Giovanni's shadow.

He had a way of swinging over and looming over me. Just as I reached the wall and turned to sit, I could see Giovanni there in all his beauty and grace. He smiled when he saw me. I didn't challenge his stare with mine. I looked away. Even looking away it wasn't hard to see him scaling me up and down. I didn't know what he was doing. Perhaps he was measuring me. Perhaps he was seasoning me with fear so he could drink on my blood. Giovanni seemed to not really know what his true intentions were either. It was like a flip of a coin.

"Adam, are you lost?" he asked me.

He looked around. The sex, the partying, the extreme almost couture fashion from people all over the room. An aura of modern art spilled across this room until it was almost stifling. In the middle of it was Giovanni.

"No...Giovanni. Oh, um...not lost. Um...no. Not at all. Um we came... to get you."

"We?"

"Arie and I."

The mention of Arie's name made Giovanni's face turn like sour milk. I could tell Arie wasn't Giovanni's favorite person. Matter of fact the entire brood seemed to have some type of hostility to Giovanni.

I didn't get it completely. I wondered what it was rooted in. Giovanni sat beside me on the bench. He sat very close. He was sitting too close in fact. His leg rested on top of mine. His arm wrapped around his shoulder. I could smell some soft cologne that exuded from his pores. His lips were so full and pink. `

"I understand your fear," Giovanni stated in a soft tone, "You are probably still in doubt aren't you. Until you've made your first kill you don't understand how `not' human you really are."

"I understand..."

I looked away disgusted with myself. He was right though. I knew that I had changed. I knew now more then ever that this wasn't a dream I was just going to wake up from. It wasn't like these vampires has made some grave mistake to think me, Adam could be among them.

Giovanni smiled, "You've done it? You've...killed?'

I nodded my head.

"Glorious," he continued, "Don't tell anyone. You see they have rules. They tell us when to hunt. They tell us who to hunt. They tell us where to live. They tell us we can't go back to our old lives and let them know anything about us."
"We can't go back?"

"Never. That is the rules of the Dark Church," Giovanni stated, "They are trying to hide us. Supposedly they are trying to protect us. You know how I feel Adam?"

"No..."

"Yes you do. You know how I feel."'

"You don't agree with them."

He leaned in closer until his soft lips pressed against my earlobe and then he whispered a vibrating, "Bingo."

Giovanni oozed sex appeal. And the worst part about it, the part that you probably wouldn't understand was that it was so natural for him. It was in the way he gestured and in the way he had such sensuality in his pronunciation of words.

"Can we leave now?"

"Why?"

"I'm a little...uncomfortable."

"Sit on my lap...I can make you more comfortable," he stated and laughed as my faced blushed with red, "Ride me, I can ease your insides..."

He found this so hilarious. He was serious too. He was such a free spirit. He was so different from the others that were under Decadence.

"We should leave."
"Look around you," Giovanni stated, "There were others like you. There were others that have been turned. You are not the only vampire. You aren't the only one that has gone through it."

Just at that moment there was a loud clash. On other side of the room a tall black man had appeared. At first he seemed calm and I was wondering where such a loud violent sound had come from about such a calm man. But then I noticed him. I saw his eyes grow black and he opened his mouth and he roared.

And other people began to clear out.

"Giovanni," the man had shouted in a loud roaring voice, "I know you are here Giovanni! I can smell you!"

Everyone seemed to be bothered, but it was obvious the big black man was looking for Giovanni and wasn't even the slightest bit interested in the rest of them. However his serious tone seemed to have destroyed the mood of the party. I could see some people turning away to leave while others sat uncomfortably, watching waiting for the man to finish his tantrum.

I turned around to where Giovanni was just a couple seconds ago. But he wasn't there anymore. He had managed to somehow slip away. He was so fast.

"Let's go...now."

It was Arie. He grabbed me by my hand. He had one of his serious looks in his face again. I hadn't known Arie long but I knew that there was something about that look that he got on his face when he was serious. He pulled me up, still guiding me as though I was still just a child. And in some ways I did still feel like I was just a child so it made sense.

When he grabbed me we ended up getting out of the building. Arie seemed annoyed and irritated. I had seen the look before. He hadn't let go of my hand even when we went out into the darkness. Time was passing quickly. I could feel it by how sleepy I was becoming.

"Where is he?" Arie asked impatiently tapping his foot, "He told me to meet him out front..."

"Who?" I asked.

Just as soon as I asked that I saw who he was talking about. Just at that moment Giovanni came out of the building running quickly and landing in between Arie and I.

"I suggest we run," Giovanni stated, slightly seeming as though he was out of breath.

"What? Why would we do that?" I asked him.

Just at that moment I got my answer. The door that Giovanni had exited the building from was now bending in. The huge clash seemed to shake the water droplets on the concrete. It was such a powerful blow to the door. It came, over and over and over until the door folded like cardboard and went flying several feet away from its hinges.

The big black man that had been seeking Giovanni was standing there now. He seemed angry.

"Adam, hold on to me," Arie stated.

Giovanni didn't wait for us for much longer. He was gone. And I did what Arie told me to do. I held tightly onto him. I clinged onto his back and he carried me quickly. We were going so fast that it seemed like his feet barely touched the ground, but Giovanni still was ahead of us. Then I looked back to see that the big black man was also sure to keep us with us.

The chase ran through the streets, Arie wasn't the fastest and luckily for us it seemed like the big black man was immediately focused on Giovanni. It was almost as though we were running for no reason. That was until Arie started to kick things over to block us away from the big man. The big man didn't even seem to have trouble evading the huge garbage cans that Arie was kicking over. He seemed to almost know that stuff was coming.

The man was gaining on us however. It seemed as though Giovanni was always ahead however. It was like he was used to getting away. Then I noticed it. His feet weren't really always hitting the ground. It was as though at times gravity forgave him for not obeying it's laws. I hadn't seen someone so light as him. Arie was light but we still couldn't keep up with him.

"Enough!"

The voice was loud and scolding. It caused Arie to stop and me to be thrown off his back from the quick motion of him stopping. I fell forward, flipping over his head and landing on my back. It was a pain, a sharp pain but nothing as bad as it would have been any other part of my life.

Giovanni had stopped to. I realized where we were. The old warehouse was right there on the street corner. Graffitti had filled up half of the wall of the building. The other half was supposed to be some old Victorian art but a lot of the passion had gone from the building. Here and there you could see the elaborate Victorian curves on the wall of the warehouse but I could imagine how truly perfect it had looked once upon a time when it probably served as a beautiful court or even church.

It was Decadence who had called out. On her right hand side was David and on her left hand side was Roxanne. They all had their fangs out and David even seemed to be crouched over. He hardly looked human at all in the way he looked at that moment. It was almost demonic to a point.

"You are trespassing," Decadence told the man.

Giovanni was smart. All this time we had been following him, I assumed he was taking us some place random. I had supposed he was trying to tire the man out. Instead he was leading the man right to the place where he felt safest. He was leading the rough looking vampire to our home. It was strange that we had run. Why run? Why didn't Giovanni and Arie feel like they could take the man on? However surrounded by others it was clear that vampires had some type of hierarchy. I felt like it had a lot to do with age. The older the vampire the more fear they were able to muster from others.

"Let me introduce myself," the big black vampire stated, "I am Edgar. My master is the Pope Emporio himself. I am tracking him down. The one named Giovanni for his crimes against the church."
"My ALLEGED crime against the church," Giovanni cut in immediately.

"He faces trial."

"He is in my bloodline, I am the sire here," Decadence stated, "I make the rules. You want him, he will come to you. He will not be hunted. And you will not trespass. You are an old vampire Edgar and you should know how territorial women can be..."

The vocabulary she used was so different. I didn't know exactly how to take it. She flashed her fangs a little bit. She had threatened him in a calm, almost civil way. I hadn't seen anything really like it. I backed up behind Arie. I could tell by the way he was clutching me that he was preparing me for what could possibly be a fight.

The man took a heavy step forward and for a minute I was so sure there would be a fight. Even surrounded the man didn't seem to be too afraid. He didn't seem to bothered at all.

However he had took the step forward only as a tease. He laughed as the rest of us jerked back immediately. Our reaction had put a smile across his face and a look of concern on ours. Even Giovanni seemed serious for the moment.

"One of you has a very strange...smell..." the stranger stated, taking a step back.

At that moment Arie was completely blocking me off. He stood in front of me on the street corner. To our right was Roxanne. She was moving slowly, obviously trying to serve as some sort of divergence. But it seemed impossible.

The stranger looked around. His eyes landed on David, with his flowing long hair, first who was right beside Decadence still. Then they went to Decadence. He stayed on her a little longer and took a long sniff. His senses seemed to be zoning in. What was he looking for? Why did everyone seem so bothered by this man's presence?

They all stood on edge.

"Giovanni will come to his trial, give us the date," Decadence stated immediately.

"Something smells...off...a strange smell. I haven't smelled it before you know?" Edgar continued rambling. His eyes were now set on Roxanne.

Roxanne moved away, still trying to divert his eyes away from me. I could tell at that point when Decadence stepped forward that something was more serious then they were all trying to let on. I could feel Arie's discomfort. He was as stiff as board. He wasn't even breathing.

"The date...Edgar, please," Decadence stated.

"FUCK THE DATE! That smell. It draws me. Fuck Giovanni. I must find out what smells like that. I must find out who smells like that!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and his eyes finally set on Arie...no...not on Arie. His eyes finally set on me.

I poked my head out to see his eyes on me. They were sitting there completely mesmerized. Why was he looking at me like that? Have you ever seen someone obsessed with another person? Not infatuated. No...infatuation was strong but it was even less intense then this! At that moment he contained all that passion in his eyes.

I wasn't the only one that noticed it. I could see everyone else tensing up. Arie pulled me back, "Adam, get behind me."

"Ah..." the man stated, "There it is. Come here, young one. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. You understand. I got a very strange feeling when I was around you. I haven't gotten that feeling before. Come here young one."

Just at that moment the man seemed to disappear...

Right before my eyes!

No...no, he hadn't disappeared. He had just moved so quickly. I let out a scream when I felt his breath on my neck.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

I fell the floor as I looked behind me to see the man standing there. My back fell hard against the floor. I banged my head against the concrete. I knew I was threatened. I could feel my own fangs coming out in horror.

He reached down at that minute to grab me, but Arie pushed his hand back. Arie slapped his hand back to be exact. The force that Arie had put on it was clearly territorial.

Edgar hadn't even noticed Arie, it was almost like he wasn't even the slightest concerned with him. He looked instead at me.
"Who made you?"

"I made him," Arie stated immediately again attempting to block Edgar's view of me.

"Don't make me laugh. There's something different about this one. Something golden in his blood. I've never seen such a pure...vampire. Emporio wrote about things like this. That fang around your neck. Who gave it to you...Emporio described things of this sort! At last..."

"He's mine! I won't let you take him."

"Move idiot," Edgar replied.

He tried to push Arie out of the way and I could see almost immediately Arie ready to attack. He pounced at the man, kicking up from the concrete and sending his entire body into the man. Arie seemed like the beast at that moment. The calm beautiful man had retreated and all his animalistic behavior had turned. It was the same thing that had happened before with Roxanne. My heart raced. It was scary to see beautiful Arie in such a state of complete and utter disconnection. Yet it was still so...passionate.

The man's arm went up and yet it was enough because Arie sunk his teeth into the man's arm.

"Arie no!" David shouted.

"Fuck..." I heard Decadence followed up just as surprised.

It was too late though. The blood began to spill from the vampire's arm and like a fucking hurricane the man spun around so quickly, sending Arie flying into the brick wall. It was clear by their demeanors that Arie was not as strong as this man.

That was when Roxanne attacked. She flew onto his back. It wasn't jumping. No, I'm not an idiot. Don't look at me like that. I know what jumping is and then I know what flying is. It would be later that I'd discover that this was how most of the older vampires traveled. I hadn't known at the time that Roxanne was just learning how to fly really and could only do so for very short distances. At that moment, I thought she was the most unstoppable force in the world...all contained in a very miniature frame.

He attempted to spin her off like he had done to Arie, but she was clutched onto his back. That was when Giovanni attacked. He attacked the man from the right trying to clutch onto the man's arm which Arie had clutched onto.

He failed however...because Edgar was quick. Edgar delivered a firm boot to Giovanni's face sending him into the pavement.

"Get off me!" he struggled with Roxanne the most.

"Have you all lost your mind!" David cried out almost in horror, "That man is a man of the Church. Don't you idiots get it? Not only is he a man of the church, he was sent by Pope Emporio! This is BLASPHEMY!"

A part of me hated the fact that David was right. What the fuck were they doing? Why the fuck was Giovanni getting back up from the floor and attacking once again? Why the fuck wasn't Decadence calling them off!

Where was my voice? Why couldn't I speak out against it? Maybe because I realized it was too late. If they didn't kill him...he'd probably kill us. What reason did he have not to kill us after we attacked him? It didn't seem like vampires were able to so quickly just forgive like a human would.

"AH!"

The scream was sharp...and very...very immediate. Just at that moment, I looked over and saw what happened. It was Decadence herself. She had delivered the final blow. She had bit into the neck of Edgar, while Roxanne was still straddling his back.

He went down to the floor. And as he fell, Roxanne and Giovanni began to...I am not sure of a better way to say what I need to say except deface. They began to deface him on the floor, tearing away at his skin, biting into every part of flesh that he had left, while Decadence watched.

She turned her head to the other side of the alley, where there seemed to be sirens. Someone must have heard the fighting. Someone must have heard the screams.

"Damn it all to hell, the humans are coming," she stated, "Hide his body. I will return later on when it's safer to clean it up."
I ran over to Arie. I picked him off the floor. He hardly could move in the all the rubble that had been caused when his body hit the wall. The impact definitely did seem to effect him. He smiled up at me however as though he was ok, but I could tell that he was in pain. He was back to his normal self. The animal had disappeared and once again I found myself getting lost inside of his beautiful eyes.

"Couldn't let him get you," he stated softly, "There's something special about you. Something special. I don't know what it is."

"You don't know what it is and yet you've damned us all because of it!" David stated, shaking his head, "Don't you guys understand? That man was hundreds of years old. Vampires that old don't disappear. They'll come looking for him. Others must have seen him chasing Giovanni. WE ARE ALL DAMNED!"

Roxanne shook his head, "Damn David, can you stop being a queen for once in your life. It's over."

"NO...it's not! Am I the only one with sense?"

"What were we supposed to do then David? Let him kill Arie? Let him take Adam? We are all we have. Adam is a part of us now. We don't turn our back on our own."

"Well whatever it is that we did, it shouldn't have included killing the Pope's henchman. It is far from over. That's all I'm saying. It's so far from being over."

There was silence. Giovanni had hid the man's body inside a garbage can in the back of the alley. It wasn't hard for him to do it alone with that remarkable vampire strength that he had. He had blocked the garbage can off with others so that it would be hard for humans to move it.
"You guys are rough on David," Decadence stated, "But he is wise, probably even wiser than I am. We've done something so foolish. We have gone against the Dark Church. Pope Emporio will come looking for Edgar and it won't be long until he will come looking for us. Let us return to the warehouse. Everything we are has been threatened."