Chapter 1

There were monsters in my closet...

In my household one of those monsters had a name. I’ve always known who he was. Genesis. His name had been infamous on the island. When word had come around to the families that he was coming it was a big deal.

I had a dream. I’m running and behind me I turn back and realize that I’m being chased. I’m running towards something. A red gate. A red gate is in front of me and I’m trying to make it. The gate is red and glowing. I am in a city. It’s a city I’ve never been to. There is graffiti on a wall next to the red gate. A spray painted hawk is on a concrete wall. It’s not too far from the red gate. There is heat all around it. It’s welcoming. It’s as though the sun has created a ring just for me to orbit around it. Yet as warm as the gate is I’m afraid.

There are these things behind me. These things have fangs. They look human but their mouths are dripping with blood. I’m horrified and no matter how much I run I can’t get past them. They are fast. They are faster than any human could be.

Fangs. Bites. Blood!

They catch up to me. I’m screaming. First it’s one or two of them. Then it’s more and more. I can see them. Fangs. Bites. Blood. They pull me to the ground. Fangs. Bites. They bite into me.

Blood.

The flashes of all these things come to me at once. I wake up screaming. My heart is racing. It was just a dream right? Just a dream.

That’s when I look at my wrist.

I’m bleeding. It’s as though I was really bitten. I make my way to my parent’s room. I have to find them. I have to tell them what I saw. I realize they aren’t even there though. My arm is still bleeding. I grab some tape out of the bathroom and wrap my arm up real good. That’s when I hear the voices downstairs.

“Is the hall ready?” Pops asks.

I’ll always remember that day. I tip toe to the top of the steps and stop at the top of the stairs. It’s late. I should have known then. Dad didn’t stay up late. He never did. He’d go to sleep early for no reason. I’m at the top of the stairs. I look in the mirror. I'm stressed and I look it. I have bags underneath my eyes. The weird dream happened again.

I whsiper to myself, "C`mon Innocent Wright. You can get it together."

Innocent Wright. I’m 17. I think I’m attractive. I have curly hair that naturally curls at the top of my head but my sides are faded down. My skin is dark and clear like hazelnut coffee. I have the slightest beginnings of a goatee that really isn’t growing in but it’s OK. A lot of people say that I have a very structured face. They say I have a strong, masculine jawline. My lips are big and my eyes are almond shaped. My cousin Asa says I have killer eyes. Personally I like my legs. I have muscular ass legs because I run track. It's actually how I got my scholarship. Track did wonders for me. It got me 6 tight abs, hard biceps and legs that would have any girl do a strong double take. My good looks have gotten me in trouble on many days but hell…those same good looks were the things that got me out of trouble.

In just two days I’m going to UCLA for college. You would think my parents would be super excited about that but something has them worried. The name that keeps coming up over and over. It’s a name I don’t recognize. My family has a lot of secrets. They whisper his name when they think I’m not listening. They never talk about him in public.

Genesis...

Growing up I thought he was the boogeyman. When there are monsters under your bed you assume they’d never come to light. That wasn’t the case though. I didn’t know anything about him. I barely remember even meeting him but it seemed like every time someone in my family whispered it was about the same person.

It was a big deal.

Genesis was coming here.

“I’ve called together the five families. I guess it’s going to be a little reunion,” Dad replies.

I had two dads for parents. Dad and Pops. Dad’s name was Micko Boss. He’s pressed up against the stove. Pop’s name is Mason Wright. Pops grabs Dad from behind. It wasn’t weird for me to see two gay men together. I was raised thinking it was normal. I personally was straight though. I’d never really thought about a guy in that way but I had no problem with it. My dads were gay and I had a gay uncle. It was no big deal.

“Are you nervous Micko?” Pops asks my Dad, “I know you and Genesis have never really seen eye to eye…”

“I’m not afraid of Genesis Bah,” Dad says, “I just don’t think Innocent should be in the room.”

“He’s our son. Genesis has called a meeting for everyone…including our son.”

“Fuck what Genesis says. You know they connection that they have. Innocent can’t be involved with anything Genesis has going on…”

Connection?

“He’s our son. He already is involved,” Pops replies.

“And what if he wants to take him away?”

“You don’t know that…”

“Why else would he be coming here? He wants Innocent.”

Pops sighs a little bit, “There is no reason that Genesis would want him. Innocent is useless. He has no magic.”

Useless.

“Don’t call him that.”

Pops shrugs, “It’s true. He was born out of magic. He’s my son but the kid can’t even sit through a séance without getting ADD and going on Instagram. That’s the definition of useless.

My father was right. I was born out of magic. These two men were my parents. I didn’t mean I was adopted. I didn’t mean there was a surrogate involved. No. Pops and Dad were actually my parents. Magic is the reason I was alive.

The words burn in my head and I can’t sleep for the rest of the night. My father thought I was useless.

I guess the idea of magic is a concept not everyone understands. Well the world is a big place and there are many things that go bump in the night. Magic is real. At least in my family it is. We were the witchdoctors of Moreen Island. Back in the day that used to mean something. Now the word witchdoctor means nothing more than the person you go to for upset stomach medicine when the pharmacy stuff wasn’t doing the trick. My parents never really dealt with the magic stuff that I remember. My aunt Angelica had her own little magic shop though. Aunt Angelica really wasn’t my Aunt. She was actually Asa’s Aunt, but our families had been so intertwined over the years that she might as well have been my Aunt. She used to let me go in there and play in the Moreen Island Magic Mystery shop but the locals started getting really religious, so Dad told me to stay away from the shop. Good thing too. They ended up burning down her shop about a year ago. Since then she’s been the local witchdoctor on Moreen Island in her basement. People came to her for little things; potions to ease a broken heart, protections from negative energy, ointments to help raise energy and other stupid things.

Pops had called me useless because I didn’t know magic.

Truth is…magic itself had become useless.

~

“Somethings going down tonight,” I tell my cousin Asa.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was spying on my folks. They seem scared about this reunion.”

I don't tell Asa about the dream I had that had woken me up. I'd had the dream before. I had it several times. I didn't want to worry her.

“Spying?” Asa rolls her eyes, “Innocent. Are you always looking for trouble? What is it about you? Uncle Micko told you to stay out of private conversations in the family.”

Asa has always been a smart girl. She got good grades and always did what she was told. She was the complete opposite of me. She listened to everything my dad said. She’s always been smarter than me. It sucked because it was hard not to notice. Maybe that is why she is scared. Smart people are always afraid. She was my cousin but we looked nothing alike. She had long black hair. Supposedly she got it from her mother but none of us knew that to be true. Asa really didn’t know her mother. Her parents died when she was much younger and my parents adopted her. All the pictures were gone in the house. Pops said it was bad luck. Spirits lived through their pictures, he said. You keep memories of your dead locked away in your mind. That way they are safe. That way they don’t get out. They don't come back. You didn’t want a dead mother haunting you. It was bad luck. Very bad luck.

“They were talking about Genesis.”

Asa’s eyes get wide when she hears the name. She knows as little about Genesis as I know. Rumor has it he was a real witchdoctor. I wasn’t talking about the kind of magic Aunt Angelica did, praying on people to get their bowels moving. I was talking about REAL…live…magic.

“He’s real?”

“Supposedly,” I respond shaking my head, “Do you remember anything about him? I don’t. I just remember Uncle Micko saying that if you saw Genesis you run the other way. It stuck with me.”

Asa looks nervous. She usually does.

“Let’s not talk about this now,” cousin Asa tells me.

She’s right. Just as I shut up my two dads walk past. We had just arrived at the family reunion. The family reunion isn’t your typical family reunion. My family has been around Moreen Island for centuries. We’ve branched out into five different families. There is a big banner to the gateway of event hall that says “Five Family Reunion.” The hall is huge. I have no doubt a Ferris paid for it. All the members of the Ferris family had big dough.

Asa and I shut up just in time for Pops to put his arm over me.

“You excited kiddo?”

“I’m fine.”

I remove my arm at that moment or at least I try. The thing about Pops is that he is strong. He’s annoyingly strong. He pulls me back closer to him and puts me in a headlock.

“What’s your problem?”

I just keep remembering last night when he called me useless. I can’t get it out of my head. If I told him what was wrong he’d know that I was spying on him.

“Leave him be Mason,” Dad says, “You know how moody Innocent gets.”

“I’m not MOODY!” I scream back at my Dad.

Dad always thinks that he is fixing things. I know he means well and I love him for it because if Dad wasn’t in the picture the relationship between me and Pops would be really bad. Still, I’d prefer that to Pops. Pops always seemed to compete with me. Maybe it’s because of the fact that he is in his mid 30’s but looked like he was in his mid 20s. It’s annoying as hell when everyone thinks your father is your more attractive, more muscular brother. Even now there are a bunch of girls staring Pops down at the entrance of the hall. Dad is used to people flirting with Pops. He thinks it’s funny. I’m not. It’s annoying as hell. I wish he would just grow up sometimes.

“I would say there are spells to fix your mood, but you don’t know any spells now, do you?” Pops asks me.

“Mason,” Dad interrupts him, "Leave him alone."

I look hard at Pops, “You think mood changers is fucking magic?”

That wasn’t real magic. The most I’d seen Pops do is good luck rituals before he scratched off his lottery numbers. It worked but he’d win like 10 goddam dollars. You would think this man was out here separating water like Moses by how he acted.

“Innocent watch your mouth,” Dad says.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Pops asks grabbing onto the back of my neck, “I told you about this kid. This kid is goddam trouble. Everything he touches.”

He’s trying to manhandle me. Dad is trying to break it up. I’m giving him the hard eye. The sad thing is that this is our normal family dynamic. Me and Pops arguing, usually over the fact that I’m his biggest disappointment while Dad struggles, and fails, to play peacemaker.

“Can you guys please stop?” Asa is asking. People are watching.

“We’ll finish this when we get back to the house,” Pops says, “You think you’re so goddam tough. You want to see magic? You’re not too fucking old to get that ass set on fire.”

I storm off at that moment. Asa follows behind me attempting to calm me down while Dad tries to defuse things with Pops. It’s clear there is a big issue with our family dynamic. Magic was supposed to be some sort of blessing. Honestly it was some sort of annoyance in my life.

As we walk out we are greeted by a bunch of Atwood kids. It isn’t surprising. There are a whole bunch of them in my neighborhood. The Five Family reunion happened every year and every year it was as boring as the year before. I didn’t expect this to be any different. I was a Wright as well as a Boss. The Atwood family had the most members. Then you had the Ferris family who consisted of all boys. Lastly you had the Bah family. They never came around. I think they were damn near extinct at this point but their names were on these stupid t-shirts we had to wear anyway.

“There’s my badass nephew,” a voice says.

I turn at that moment. I recognize the voice. I kind of get excited. My uncle Mickson Boss was there. My uncle was the closest person to me besides Asa. I run up to him and give him the biggest hug.

“Uncle Mickson.”

“Please tell me you have been staying out of trouble. You are going to give my brother a heart attack.”

Uncle MIckson was probably right. Ok. I was difficult kid growing up, but I wasn’t a kid anymore. I was a grown ass man. I was tall as hell and my arms were almost as big as my father’s. That was saying a lot too because Pops had some big ass arms. I was 6’2” and weight 200 pounds. It was mostly muscle though. I had just about 10 percent body fat. I spent all my time in the gym attempting to get as big and muscular as Pops.

“I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“You know bae has me traveling around the world. We are in Bermuda next week. You want to come?” Mickson asks.

I see Whyte Ferris in the background. He is my Uncle’s boyfriend. He gives me a little wave at that moment.

“Oh my god is that Whyte?” Asa asks.

“Yeah…” Uncle Mickson said, “You know I don’t go anywhere without him.”

“I’ll um…go…uh…say hi,” Asa replies.

Asa is a little schoolgirl as she runs over to my uncle’s boyfriend.

“You know Asa has the biggest crush on your boyfriend right?” I ask him.

Uncle Mickson turns around and laughs. He finds everything funny. I’ve never seen someone so positive in my life.

“She can have him if she can handle him. He’s a handful,” Mickson laugh, “How about you though? Have you been out there dating or anything? Any girls catch your eye?”

I shrug, “A few. They don’t pay me any attention though.”

I'm lying and my uncle sees right past it. Truth is I probably had a different girlfriend every month.

Mickson rolls his eyes, “Are you kidding? You are your father’s son. Every day you look more and more like Mason Wright. You can have any girl that you want.”

That’s the problem. Everyday I looked more and more like Mason Wright. I’d bring a girl around Pops and he had to flirt with her. He had to flirt with her just to prove that he could steal her from me if he wanted. He was so obnoxious that way. He never actually got with them. He just did it to prove some kind of point. Truth was I had no idea what the fuck the point was.

“Just whip up a love spell or something,” Mickson says.

“Isn’t that like lowkey rape?”

“No. The way it works is it just makes you attractive for a while. It just lets you catch their eye,” MIckson says, “All magic is temporary though. Real temporary. The strongest love spell may just last 24 hours. Once it wears off if they stick around you know they are for you. If they don’t then let them go.”

The idea of it being temporary is laughable. These witchdoctors couldn’t even make a spell that lasted.

“I still don’t know magic.”

Mickson raises his eyebrow, “Seriously? Innocent what the hell man?”

“Mickson I don’t want to learn it. It’s stupid,” I respond shaking my head, “I don’t want to know how to make someone interested in me for 24 hours. All those things are just stupid as hell, Mickson. I’m sorry…”

“Yeah, I agree,” Mickson says.

I’m shocked. I’m really honestly shocked that Mickson is standing here actually agreeing with me right now. It is something that I didn’t necessarily expect.

“You do?”

Mickson and I are at the bar right now. He grabs a glass of wine and starts drinking it. He looks around as though looking for my Dad before he hands me a glass of wine for myself. This is why I loved Uncle Mickson. He was beyond cool.

Mickson leans in and whispers, “Your dad would kill me for telling you this…but it wasn’t always like this. One time the witchdoctors of Moreen Island were powerful. We were feared. But magic is a dangerous thing. Leadership changed and your parents took over the coven. It was your Dad who set limits to magic. Only certain things were allowed. Everything else is banned.”

I raise my eyebrow, “So it’s possible? To do more than the bullshit tricks and charms?”

Mickson sighs, “So much more.”

“You boys ready?” a voice says.

We turn and see Dad. He grabs his little brother at that moment and gives him the tightest hug. Uncle Mickson gives me a faint smile as he hugs my Dad. I know what that smile means. He doesn’t want me to say a thing to my Dad about what we just discussed. My family had so many secrets and it was clear that things were real.

“I was just giving your son some advice on how to pull a decent female,” Mickson says.

My dad smiles, “There is an Atwood girl I was dying to introduce you to.”

“Dad no,” I respond shaking my head, “I am not dating in the coven. You all do that.”

“Don’t you want to keep the magic bloodline strong?” Dad asks.

“Magic bloodline?”

What? Did he want a new generation of witchdoctors who helped old people with their arthritis through blood magic? Or maybe he just absolutely needed his grand kids to know how to magically remove a pimple off a bored housewife who doesn’t want to wait for her Proactive to really start working? That was the only kind of magic that I’d seen around here and most of that just came from Aunt Angelica. The rest of them were a joke.

“Please,” Dad asks, “At least meet her.”

Uncle Mickson gives me a nudge. I know he’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking. Dad is so goddam loveable. It’s hard to say no to him. He was just the sweetest guy and I know he means well even though this idea of keeping the bloodline pure was fucking ridiculous.

~

The huge dinner has started and immediately I regret listening to my dad. The Atwood girl is hideous to say the least. She is slightly obese, wearing a tacky witch outfit, with way too much make up, crazy oily unkept hair, a distorted face and crooked teeth.

“I’ve heard so much about you. You’re the child born out of magic aren’t you?” she asks.

“Yeah…”

That’s the only conversation I give her. Uncle Mickson is sitting on the other side of me. Whyte is next to him and then Asa is next to Whyte giving him the biggest eyes she could. My Uncle looks embarrassed for me. I look across the table. Dad looks hopeful I like the girl, but Pops on the other hand is laughing his ass off. He is enjoying every moment of my pain.

Luckily just at that moment Aunt Angelica walks in. She is the leader of the Atwood family now after Pops stepped down and probably the most active Witchdoctor on the island. That isn’t really saying much because everyone else barely needed to use magic. The annoying thing is people treat Aunt Angelica like she is some wise old witch from a million years ago. I watch as they clap when she walks out. Everyone looks over to her giving them her attention. All the remaining members of the Five families, minus the Bah of course, have come here from all over the globe. Seeing so many family members is kind of nauseating especially since they all had this idea that they were ‘special’ because they knew ‘magic’.

NO. You were not special. You were a bunch of clowns.

The pointy witch hats made this whole thing look like a cheap Halloween party. These people had no idea what real magic was. They had no idea what real power was.

Mickson said there was a time it wasn’t always like this.

I couldn’t imagine it being any different.

“I wanted to thank you all for coming here,” Angelica states, “I’ve gathered you all here today because we have an important visitor coming. A visitor from our past. A visitor that…”

“Genesis?” someone says.

I’m not sure who it is at first but I look down the table and see Marley Ferris. He is a distant cousin of Whyte. He’s 11. He’s the cutest kid and usually when he shouts things out people laugh. They don’t laugh this time. Marley’s dad grabs him. I wonder if he had overheard something his father mentioned. The look on everyone’s face is serious.

The merriment of the night just seems to fade away.

“Yes,” Angelica explains, “The young ones don’t know who Genesis is. I can…explain. He is…how can I describe him…he is um…he is…”

I’d never seen Aunt Angelica tongue tied. She usually is very graceful. She is also very knowledgable. I’d never asked Aunt Angelica a question that she couldn’t answer. She had guided me through things that I couldn’t even explain.

“Evil,” Dad says out of no where.

The other families look at Dad. The weird thing is it makes things even more awkward. I expect people to laugh as though this is some sort of joke but no one really does it. I’d never seen Dad say a negative thing about a single soul in my life. It was different when he talked about Genesis though.

Aunt Angelica just changes the subject, “He should be arriving shortly. I saved him a seat.”

Aunt Angelica is looking over at an empty seat. It is at the head of the table. No one has ever sat on the head of the table. I’m so confused. Who was this Genesis person and why was it such a big deal that he was attending the Family Reunion? The Bah name had been on the Five family t-shirt forever. The only Bah I’d ever met was named Kitty Kat Bah and she was a stripper who moved out to Houston. I didn’t get what the big deal was. I didn’t get why everyone was acting so weird. A strange awkwardness spreads across the room.

“Did I miss something?” I ask Uncle Mickson.

Uncle Mickson smiles at me, “It’s kind of personal.”

“Uncle Mickson please…”

Uncle Mickson was the only one who hated keeping secrets from me. There were many a night that Uncle Mickson argued back and forth with my parents about how much they should keep from me. I knew that he didn’t want things to be the way they were.

Uncle Mickson nods, “Genesis and your father Mason had a thing going on. Mason was cheating on my brother for years.”

My mouth drops. I look over at my father. There is a tension between them at that moment. I’m shocked honestly at the idea that Pops actually cheated on Dad. I’d seen a million times where Pops flirted with other people but I’d just assumed that’s what ridiculously attractive people did. They cheated. The idea that Pops cheated on my Dad boiled my blood.

If anyone knew me they knew that there was one thing you didn’t mess with. You didn’t mess with my Dad. Oh, you can mess with my Pops all you want but you don’t mess with my Dad.

“Are you fucking joking me?” I ask.

“Calm down.”

“No…I’m going to say something to him. I’m going to confront him,” I state.

Dad was the sweetest person. I don’t care how long ago it was. Why the fuck would Pops cheat on him? Dad was a winner anyone would be lucky to have. What the fuck was so special about this Genesis Bah character? What made him so special that Pops would cheat on my Dad? That wasn’t going to happen. I was going to find out EXACTLY why Pops did it.

Just as I am getting up Uncle Mickson grabs onto my arm.

The lights begin to flicker.

Uncle Mickson whispers low in my ear, “He’s here.”

The silence fills the room again. Then there is no light. All the lights go off at once…even the candles in the middle of the room. When they turn back on I realize that something is different. There is a warmth in the room now that wasn’t there before.

There is also a body in that chair. He had appeared out of no where. I had not seen this kind of magic before.

“Good evening.”

My heart drops when I look at him. It doesn’t drop out of fear. Or maybe it is fear. Maybe I’ve forgotten what fear even was. Maybe when I look at this boy’s face he defines what fear is all over again for me. His face is slim. He has an open red trenchcoat on with nothing underneath it. He has sharp abs and a slight v-section. His face has these beautiful sharp features that enchant me as I stare at them. He is dazzling. When I look at his eyes I remember what lust is. I remember freedom. I remember how it feels to be truly afraid of another human being.

I remember that sometimes fear can be nervous but at times it can be exciting. Why am I so excited when I see him? Why does my heart beat so fast that I feel like I’m in a line up at a marching band? Why does my breath get taken away like I’ve submerged into a bottomless well of water?

Is he my oxygen?

He must be. He must be a curse and a savior.

In my stupidity I stand. I don’t know why. I forget where I am. I forget who I am. All I know is that this boy standing at the end of the table is the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever known in my life.

My dick hardens. It presses up against my pants creating a tent. My abs tighten like I’ve done a million crunches. My pulse quickens.

“What are you doing?” Uncle Mickson states.

But then I turn and realize that I’m not the only one standing. Pops.

Pops is standing as well.

“Have you all forgotten to wear your red?” Genesis asks.

His voice is like an echo in a forest. It’s deep and fills the room. It surrounds us. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. Perfectly pronounced words that roll out of his tongue like an enchanting snake. Almost like magic. His leg climbs the side of the chair. He has a thick leg, not muscular like mine. His hips are very small. His jeans have rips in them. The rips go high up his thigh baring his skin. The crotch of his pants are exposed and all I can think about is what it would be like to taste it.

Yes taste it.

I’d never thought like this about another male in my life! I was a man’s man. I chased girls all my life. I fucking played football in high school. I know I had gay parents but I never thought of myself as being…like…this…

I can’t imagine why I’m thinking this way. I can’t imagine why my hand is going to my dick. It’s Asa who seems to notice my hard dick first. Luckily she walks over and forces me to sit and scoot underneath the table. Everyone else is looking at Genesis. His allure is the only thing that saves me from the ultimate embarrassment at that time because others would have notice if they weren't so infatuated with Genesis.

“We don’t follow the old traditions,” Angelica replies.

“Those old traditions have kept us alive,” Genesis states, “We wear red. Red for the blood magic."

"We call it sacrificial magic. Not blood magic," Angelica replies.

Angelica is being combative. She's being defensive. Blood magic was the magic my coven used. It has always been discipline of magic they studied. I knew nothing about it except that it required sacrifices.

Genesis is unmoved by her guard being up, "We wear red. Red for blood. Red intensifies our physical reactions. Seeing red causes people to react faster and more forcefully. Our bodies react to red, a culturally ingrained signal of danger. As if we’ve seen a threat. The reaction doesn’t last long and people aren’t aware of it, but it’s true. Red means danger.”

He sits there…all clad in his red and yes, he looks dangerous in the best way possible. The way he speaks is almost as though I’ve never heard these words before. They are so clear. They are so precise. His lips are so soft looking. Why am I looking at his lips?

“There is no longer anything else to fear Genesis,” Dad says.

Dad is staring right at Genesis. Genesis stares back at Dad. If they do have history any emotions coming from it seems to be coming only from Dad. Genesis looks at Dad as someone he barely recognizes let alone feels some sort of deep emotional resentment.

“There is always something to fear,” he explains at that moment.

“Why are you here?” Angelica asks Genesis, “Why did you ask us all to meet?”

Genesis searches around the room. He doesn’t let his eyes last on a single person. It’s almost as though he is trying to weigh all of us and see what we are worth. He looks through us as though he would look through a number of coins. I am staring at his sexiness. He gets out of his chair and he drops his trenchcoat in the chair. He is shirtless.

His pants are low. They barely hang below his thin waist. I struggle to imagine what his ass looks like even though he hasn’t turned around. I feel so weird that I'm having all these weird gay thoughts. Genesis makes it halfway across the room and just stands there…glowing.

“Isn’t this my coven? Isn’t this my family?” he asks, “Don’t I have a right to be here?”

“You decided to leave.”

Why? Why did he leave? I’m so confused. There a mystique about this boy that is grasping at everything that I know.

“Well I’m back,” he says.

“You haven’t aged a bit. That’s impossible. You gave your power to…” my father stops at that moment.

Pops stops him. I’m not sure why but for some reason they seem to realize where they are and they avoid the conversation.

He’s right. This boy doesn’t look an day older than 21. How is that possible? If this is someone who grew up with my parents then he should have been in his mid 30s and if he was so respected by them then he should have been much older…maybe even in his 40s. Maybe even older than that. This person looking back at me was nothing more than a boy.

“I’ve been given a gift.”

“By who?”

“Our Ancestors. They need me. They give me strength. I have spoken to our ancestors and they sent me here. They have a message for all of you.”

“What message?”

“They tell me they are disappointed with you,” Genesis explains, “You have all lost your ways. You have forgotten your blood magic…”

“We have survived!” Dad says.

I’ve never seen my dad lose his temper like this. It’s actually Pops that helps him sit back down. Angelica also raises her hands hoping to calm the tension that my dad is showing.

“Let him speak Micko.”

“No. It’s bullshit. We made the decisions we had to make to survive. We are in a new world now. Back in the 90s we didn’t have to worry about shit getting live streamed. We didn’t have to worry about technology. Blood magic doesn’t exist anymore Genesis. Technology is the new magic.”

Genesis gives my Dad a strong look.

Pops nods in agreement with my Dad, “Micko is right. Blood magic is dead. There is no place in this world for it. Not any longer.”

So it was real. What Uncle Mickson had stated was real. They did have the ability to do more than they were doing. They had the ability to do blood magic if they wanted to not just these stupid parlor tricks. They chose not to. They were scared. Everything nowadays was viral. Everything nowadays was online. They were scared that they would be outed. They were scared that they would be discovered for their gifts and talents.

So they stifled themselves.

They intentionally weakened themselves.

“The Ancestors have sent me. They have sent me dressed in red to be your savior,” Genesis states, “There is a place that we can go and be yourselves. But you’ll have to fight for it. It has been inhabited by foul and desperate creatures. It needs to be cleansed.”

Everyone exchanges looks. No one knows what Genesis is talking about and for a moment he seems a little crazy. Even while he sounds crazy I have to admit that I am intrigued by every word that is coming out of his mouth.

Dad shakes his head, “There is no place. If we are going to survive we need to hide who we are. So why don’t you go take your ass back to the ancestors and tell them to fuck off…”

A few people gasp, including me. It just sounds very harsh for him to say that. I can tell Genesis is not amused either. Maybe that’s why my Dad said it. Maybe my Dad wants Genesis to feel offended. Maybe after all these years there is some lingering unsettled feelings that my Dad has not let go.

Genesis grabs a knife off the table.

“Magic is not dead.”

He cuts himself. Blood drips from his wrist. Blood magic! Then he begins to chant something over and over. At first I don’t hear what he is chanting but slowly I hear the words filling up the room.

Little black girl, he says over and over.

Little black girl.

Little black girl.

Little black girl.

The droplets of blood hit the table. Someone screams. I’m not sure who it is at first but when someone reaches for me I notice it’s that unattractive Atwood girl my dad was trying to set me up with. The room gets so cold. The walls all of a sudden start to bleed. I’m not imagining this shit! It’s real! The walls are fucking bleeding with human blood!

Figures stand all around us. They are sort of like shadows but not quite. The only way I can describe them is if you took a painting and smudged it all over with your thumb. You can tell what is underneath if you look hard enough but the detail isn’t there. There is detail in one of the figures though.

One of them is a little girl. Her skin is the color of tar. Her eyes are all white like pearls. There is a deadly glow around her that swirls. She squats over as though picking up a flower. Her hands seem extra long and her fingernails are brown almost as though she was digging through dirt.

All of a sudden people start choking.

It’s random people. One of them is Asa! People panic running to the people who are choking. I don’t hesitate to run to my cousin’s side. I notice she is choking and something is coming out of her mouth.

“I got you! Asa. I got you. Look at me. You’re going to be OK!” I state.

“What are you doing to them?” Micko asks panicking.

“The ancestors require penance. You have forgotten who you are. You have forgotten the art of blood magic and the importance of a sacrifice. It’s time to show you.”

Sacrifice?

Angelica is even worse, “Stop it! Please!”

Just at that moment as they are choking I realize something else. There are fucking vipers coming out of their throats. Real. Live. Fucking. Vipers! My heart almost stops when I see the snake crawl out of Asa’s mouth. It goes on the table. The Atwood girl coughs up one even bigger. The other vipers from the other people’s mouths do the same. Soon the vipers start to sting each other right on the table.

They all kill one another right in the middle of the table.

Asa can breathe now.

“What was that about blood magic not being real?” Genesis states with a smirk on his face.

Asa was fine. Everyone was fine. Physically at least. We all look at the dead snakes in the middle of the room. I had never seen magic like this. I had never seen someone make another person throw up snakes right in front of me! I’m horrified and mesmerized at the same time!

It’s Pops who gets up and says, “What do you want Genesis? Be plain here…”

He’s dangerous. He’s dark. He’s mysterious.

I’m not sure if he’s evil like my dad said, but for some reason I want so badly to find out.

“I am your Moses. And all I want to do is lead my people to the promised land.”

“You said there were monsters already there,” Uncle Mickson’s boyfriend Whyte remembers.

“Whyte has a point,” one of the Ferris Witches says, “Even if we were to agree to go what would we do? Destroy them?”

The magic I had seen my family use wasn’t destroying anything. The closest I’d seen of someone getting destroyed was Angelica casting a curse on a local guy who cheated on his wife. The curse caused him to be more vulnerable to STDs. He had never gotten anything lethal however. He just got Herpes and ended up spreading it all over Moreen Island making the whole situation much worse.

“Are you all afraid?” Genesis asks.

“Depends,” I state at that moment.

Genesis looks over at me. Our eyes catch. My parents look pissed that I talk. I’m supposed to be quiet with the rest of the people under 18. I’m about to be 18 in a few months though. On Moreen Island 17 was legal. I was an adult. It’s time I started acting like one. I wanted to be in this conversation. I wanted to have my say as well.

“Who are you?” Genesis asks smiling at me, “I haven’t seen you before.”

“He’s no one,” Dad says, “Leave this place Genesis. No one is going with you.”

I look around the room. My father is speaking for everyone. The entire room is saying the same thing. No one wants to follow Genesis to this place that he is talking about. No one wants to fight this strange war with him. Angelica looks down. Mickson looks away. The Atwoods hide their faces and the Ferris boys fuss over their coats.

For all the pointed hats, witch costumes and this idea that they were so special no one was willing to really do what a witchdoctor could do. No one was willing to pull back that curtain and see what was outside.

Maybe I was.

Maybe I was scared of being the little boy who they kept secrets from. Genesis knew magic. Real magic. He knew magic worth knowing. He knew magic worth learning.

“Innocent,” I respond to Genesis asking who I was.

I ignore my dad and come from around the table. I stand in front of Genesis. He looks at me. He smirks. I smile back. We just stare at each other for a minute. Why the fuck was my heart beating so fast with this guy?

“You are little Innocent?” he asks as though remembering me, “You look just like your father.”

Genesis signals over at Pops. Pops is trying to calm down. Dad looks worried. I know why. This guy is dangerous. I had seen what he is capable of doing but for some reason I liked it. No. It was more than that. I loved it. I loved how powerful he was.

For the first time that I could remember, I had seen some real clear magic.

And I wanted to see more.

“What are you afraid of Innocent?” Genesis asks me.

“I don’t know.”

“Are you afraid of fangs, bites, and blood?”

Fangs, bites and blood. Just like my dream. Fangs, bites and blood. How had he known that was what I was dreaming about?

I don’t want to seem afraid, not in front of this guy who is taking my breath away. I want to seem like I have my shit together but then I remember the dream. I remember those things chasing me. Could it have been a coincidence? Moses leading us to the promised land? What would we meet at the promised land? What were these monsters he was talking about? I knew my family. They wouldn’t go. They just wouldn’t. Unless Genesis threatened them. Would they go then?

“No,” I lie.

“Good. There is a war coming. Even now Jerusalem is being fought for in the middle east. Our war is for some place even more holy. The holy war will begin Innocent. Will you join me?”

"He's not going anywhere," my dad says.

“I’m not afraid,” I state.

Genesis smiles at me. He’s amused. I don’t give a damn. Truth is I’m scared but I won’t admit it. I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince Genesis or myself. But I was a man. I wasn’t a boy any longer. I was a man and I was going to make sure Genesis and everyone else knew it.

"I think it's time you leave," my dad tells Genesis.

Genesis doesn't hesitate or argue. He gets up and people stand at guard as though afraid of something. It's so clear that they are afraid. All these people afraid of one guy who liked to cut himself.

That’s when Genesis quotes Wintercrest.

He smiles, “A witch ought never to be frightened in the darkest forest, because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest is her.”

With that Genesis leaves, brushing past me. As he brushes past me I notice he drops a peice of paper. I grab it to try to pick it up but when I turn to give it to him he's gone out of the hall.

It's an address.

The place his war will begin. A place in Harlem. New York.

I don't give it to my parents. I stuff the note in my pocket. That day I change my flight that is going to UCLA.

I change my flight to New York.

Maybe I was interested in Genesis. Maybe I was interested in the war. Maybe there was some feeling of destiny that was filling my soul.

I don’t know at that moment but that decision would effect the rest of my life. I had decided at that moment that I would risk my life for a stranger. I would run away with him. I would go fight his holy war. I had no idea if I would live to see another day. I had no idea what monsters were in this allegorical forest Genesis was talking about. All I knew is that my family had hid the truth about my true potential from me my entire life and now I was going to finally see it.

There were monsters in my closet and I was going to see what they were.

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