Eden has changed. I sit in the hallway in Eden, the eternal city. 100 years ago I remember how excited I was to see this place. The stone walls are the same. These walls look like modern day Rome. A mix of old and new. There are painted ceilings and the smell of antique history all around me. I remember going to school. I remember falling in love. I remember really thinking that I was going to be happy.

I found my prince charming.

I found my happily ever after.

And that was all snatched away from me. 100 years ago.

“The Kings are ready to see you now,” a man staggers up to me.

When he says “Kings”, my stomach turns. My prince charming is a king now and he's in love. But he's not in love with me. I don't let my face get sour. I don't want to up this mood. I'm different now. I'm stronger.

I recognize the man. His name is DJ. He's a servant of King JB. He looks the same as he did a long time ago. He's has the stunning vampire face, much like many other vampires. He's beautiful and cold. There is no love between us when he approaches me.

We walk into a room.

“Jr...”

JB's eyes make eye contact with me. After 100 years I thought I'd never recognize those eyes again. He hasn't aged a day. My silver eyed prince was now a king. He sits on a throne made of onyx. He wears all black. His crown is a crown of thorns. He doesn't wear a shirt. You really don't need one. The weather is always perfect in Eden. He does wear fur though. A skinned fox is thrown over his shoulder. He looks regal, important and dominant. The body of a 20 something year old but the experience of someone much older and wiser. And even with all my pride I am so attracted to him.

“Looks like the old gang is back together again,” I state.

I recognize Ira first. She stands to JB's right, her small fingers perched on his throne. She looks like little girl with blushed cheeks, pigtails and giant eyes but she was the oldest vampire in Eden. Next to Ira are more familiar faces. Candy, Satyr and Bambam are all familiar faces from my past. They are old friends. Even now they look at me as though they hardly recognize me. They are shocked that I'm here.

Then there are the twins. Mark and Roman. Roman stands to the right. He hates me. His brother Mark loved me once. That was a long time ago. Now he sits on the throne beside JB...as his husband.

“I didn't expect to see you again,” JB states.

He's still standing. He looks like he wants to walk up to me but something holds him back. I wonder if he's nervous. I wonder if it's because his husband Mark is sitting there next to him.

I raise an eyebrow. Interesting.

“Am I on trial?” I ask.

JB looks down at me, “What makes you say that?”

“I'm not stupid JB. You are all gathered around judging me. I can smell it. There's a scent of bothered vampires,” I state, “My old friends are all gathered around wondering why I'm here. Wondering whether or not you should put me back where I came from. Put me deeper...”

There is an uneasiness in Mark as he shifts silently in his chair. Bambam and Satyr exchange haunting glances with one another. Candy adjusts her posture standing up straighter. Ira cowers.

“I won't let that happen,” JB tells me.

That would be mistake.

Almost as though he's in my head Roman comes forward, “King JB. I understand that you and Jr have a history together but earlier today he killed several of my men.”

Whispers fill the room. It's the first time they've heard about it. The whispers get loud and more frantic. I cross my arms. This was a trial. Even if JB didn't want to admit it.

“Is this true?” JB asks me.

I nod, “Yes.”

“Why'd you kill members of the King's Guard?”

“Because they tried to kill me,” I respond almost immediately.

It's a simple answer but I swear Roman's fangs show at that moment. Roman is the new Captain of the King's Guard. That makes him one of the most powerful men in the city now. Things have changed since we were kids. I remember Roman was the weaker one between him and his brother.

“King JB... your father buried him in the ground for a reason,” Roman states.

“We need to put him back,” Bambam states.

“Bambam is right...we know who he is,” Satyr responds.

Chaos breaks out at that moment. If this isn't a trial, it reminds me of one. I ignore them for the most part. I would assume they would be panicking if I returned. There is one vampire who is sitting and doesn't join in to launch attacks on me. Mark. Our eyes connect in that room. He was the first person I ever loved. He was the one who had betrayed me by having his brother Roman give JB's father the ammunition he needed to sentence me to be buried alive. I can't read Mark. He'd always been cool, calm and collected. He's tall with dark, dark skin, brown eyes and a slim toned figure. As he looks at me my eyes seem to remember all the times I had with him. It's so weird to realize that he ended up marrying JB.

How could that have happened?

Even after 100 years the two boys that I loved were now married to one another.

“Enough,” JB tells the vampires, causing a deathly silence to spread across the room, “100 years ago my father made a decision. It was a decision I didn't agree with. So no. I will not be putting Jr back. He'll stay here. Under my protection.”

I glance at JB unsure of him. He's so much stronger and certain than he used to be. I watch as the other vampires are looking at one another. They are shocked. They are scared. They don't know how to respond. They don't dare argue with JB though. Instead they just glare at me...dark evil eyes in the night.

All of them blood monsters so eager to bury their skeletons...literally.

***

“This will be your room.”

I'm escorted to a different part of state's building. I don't find it weird that I'm being escorted. What I do find weird is who they have chosen to me.

“Aren't you JB's son?”

“Yes...Justice,” he tells me.

If he's JB's son that makes him a prince. Justice glares at me with silver eyes. It's the same gray-silver eyes that his father has. He is the spitting image of his father except a lighter complexion. Justice has sunken jaw bones and a chiseled chin. There is something so warm in his eyes.

“Not every day I get a prince to show me my bedroom.”

“I'm not here as a prince. I'm here as a King's Guard,” Justice tells me.

I look him up and down. The King's Guard were the police in Eden. I was training to be one---got buried alive before I made it. I was sure JB ended up being one though a long time ago. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that his son is a King's Guard too. I can't help but to look at his lips as he talks. They are full and pink. He is much lighter than JB. It makes me wonder who his mother is. He'd walked me throughout the length of the state's building before bringing me to this room without saying a word. Now as he struggles to return my stare I realize that he's nervous. There are even beads of sweat at the very top of his forehead. I have to admit I'm amused by this.

I walk into the room. It's old. Antique. There is a Baroque design. It has intricate and elaborate carvings, with luxurious mahogany, hand-carved Royal Fortune French black lacquer set. There are draped red curtains and a chandelier high above the bed.

“100 years and nothing much has changed,” I state.

“Yeah. Honestly. You don't look a day over 25,” Justice answers to me from the door.

I turn back around. I sit on the bed, “Neither do you. How old are you?”

“25.”

Nerves are getting the better of him. He stares blankly at me. He his lips over and over as though they aren't sparkling wet enough. Honestly he is attractive...extremely attractive.

“You can come in. There's no reason to be shy. I don't bite...well...unless I'm hungry.”

Justice glances at me for a second. I wonder how much he knows about me. I wonder how much the older vampires told him about me. The way he shuffles into the room delicately makes me think that there must be something that he must know.

Justice walks into the room. As he gets closer I take a look at his body. He has firm, strong looking hands. He has on all black. I realize that most of them have on all black. I guess things have changed from the color coordination in the past.

“They told me I should just take you to your room and leave,” Justice explains.

I laugh at the thought of that.

“Do you always do what you're told?” I ask.

Justice thinks about it for a second. He walks towards me. He sits on the bed with me. The more I look at him the more I see JB and my heart hurts. It's almost physical pain. Why didn't JB me to my room?

Why didn't he approach me back when the other vampires were around?

Why wasn’t JB not approaching me at all?

Justice shrugs, “Naw. I don't. I should. Especially when it comes to you.”

“Me?”

“They are all afraid of you,” Justice explains, “I've never seen anything like it. When you returned the Elders wouldn't stop talking.”

It's hilarious hearing this boy talk about people I grew up with as elders. I guess I should have been used to it by now. I may have looked 20. JB, Mark and the others may have looked 20 as well. We weren't 20 though. We were much older.

“Elders. Geez. I feel like an old man.”

Justice looks at me, “Well you're a good looking old man...”

He his lips.

He's clearly flirting. He looks just like JB. That jaw. Those big lips. Those silver eyes. I couldn't take it. The more he looks at me the more I start remembering the past with JB. My past with JB was something that I didn't want to remember. I was here for revenge---not a trip down memory lane.

I get up at that moment, “You should listen to your father and leave.”

I get up and take a look at the room. The drawers are filled with black clothing similar to the style that Justice and the other vampires are wearing. The buildings may look the same but these clothes were definitely new. They were streamlined. Dark leathers and y black accessories. I feel like I've entered some Gothic leather store by the kind of things I am pulling out of the drawer.

“Did I say something wrong?” Justice interrupts me.

He hasn't gone yet. He's standing behind me. He is the same height as JB. His body is shaped like JB's used to be before I was buried.

“No. Just JB is smart when he told you that you should s