He's marched into the room. His stepfather Mark is grabbing onto his shoulder. Since he was young his father Mark had been the father that that his real father had never been. Justice wasn't surprised that he would be the first person to see the puncture wounds on the side of his neck.

The throne room is a familiar place and King JB is standing by the golden blinds with the members of his Elder King's guard. As Justice walks in he can see his face flush with embarrassment when he recognizes some of the faces of the Elder King's guard. Roman, Bambam, Satyr, Candy and D.J are standing next to King JB. They are the top of the top in Eden. They are the most important vampires. The city had once been home to thousands but with the war against outside rogues the population was dropping. More than ever strong vampires like the Elder Guard were needed. Ira is also in attendance. She's not a member of the King's guard but she acts as JB's advisor as she was with JB's father and as she would be when Justice became king. They look like they are having a serious conversation which makes this just the more weirder for Justice.

“Show him,” Mark says.

Justice hesitates. He knows Mark has the best intentions at heart but it's still embarrassing. When the older vampires stare wondering why Mark would interrupt the meeting like this.

“It's nothing...” Justice struggles.

“Show him Justice.”

Justice pulls off his scarf and shows the bite marks in his neck. The other vampires are looking on. Satyr and Bambam walk forward. They had a reputation. If these two loud mouths knew he'd been attacked every vampire in Eden would probably know soon enough.

“Bite marks,” Satyr announces.

“He's been drained.”

It was against the law to attack a prince. Justice knew that it would mean death for the person who did it. He still felt embarrassment more than anything especially when his father walks up to him examines his neck, steps back and crosses his arms.

“What happened?” His father asks him.

Justice sighs, “I'm telling you. It was nothing.”

“Fine. Go away then,” JB explains.

Mark steps forward at that moment, “JB seriously? Your son has bite marks. You can't just tell him to go away.”

“If he was weak enough to let someone get close enough to bite him then he deserved what he got,” JB explains shaking his head, “He needs to learn the hard way. Mark you need to stop babying him.”

Babying.

His father had always been...tough. Tough was an understatement. Justice had grown in the years to resent his father. JB was everything that he wanted to be. He was strong. He was decisive. He was powerful. It having a father who never aged. It having a father who was strong, handsome and beautiful.

Even now looking at his father it was hard to deny the fact that he resented him. He was jealous of him. He'd admit it to himself.

A part of him even...hated him.

“What if it was the AB?” Captain Roman responds.

Captain Roman was the top of the Elders. He was the one that the others listened to. They all exchanged looks. Justice wasn't sure exactly what the term AB meant. He was a little confused.

“AB?” he asks.

The others don't seem too interested in answering the prince. It was how it always was. Every time his father was in the room Justice was just wallpaper. The only person who would even give him the time of day was his stepfather.

“It's an old term of endearment we used to have for Jr,” Mark explains, “It's his blood type.”

“Did Jr bite you?” the King asks Justice.

Justice returns a glare at him. He'd been threatened by Jackson, a much older veteran of the King's Guard for whatever reason. He wasn't afraid of Jackson though. That wasn't the reason he was hesitating now. He was hesitating because he knew that they were all afraid of Jr. He didn't know why. Jr biting him didn't really help his case much either.

Still...there was something about Jr that Justice couldn't let go.

“No,” Justice lies.

He's protecting him. He's protecting him because even though Jr attacked him while they were kissing and about to have it was the manliest Justice had ever felt. His manhood had always been stepped on by King JB. People always said he was the lighter, slimmer, weaker version of his father. When Jr was kissing him though he didn't feel like that. He felt like the most powerful vampire in Eden.

And he wasn't about to just let that go because of a stupid bite.

“Well there you have it,” JB explains, “Now let's move on from these childish accusations and talk about something important.”

The others are scared to challenge JB. Justice looks at Mark. He can see it coming from a mile away. For the longest time Mark had always been the one to stand up and oppose JB. They fought like cats and dogs. And in the end that was what pulled them together in a relationship.

“Jr is a problem, whether he bit Justice or not,” Mark acknowledges.

“What do you want me to do?” JB asks, “Bury him alive again?”

The others in the room get quiet. Justice is confused. They must have forgotten he is in the room. He'd heard little small talk from regular King's guard about Jr but no one really ever said too much. It was just like all of Eden had a secret that they were trying to keep and if you weren't around in that time you weren't supposed to know what happened with Jr.

Candy shakes her head, “I've never been a fan of Jr but we've done enough to that boy.”

“What if he's back for revenge?” Roman asks.

“Maybe he deserves his revenge,” JB explains, “And maybe we all deserve to pay for what happened to him.”

Justice is confused. His father had always been tough almost to a fault. He had always been extremely conservative. He was what they called a 'true vampire'. He was cold, unemotional and precise. He never regretted any of his actions. The fact that JB was sitting here regretting his actions was confusing. Since when was he upset about something like this?

The only one in the room that seems to be agreeing with him was Candy. Candy was an Elder Guard and also the Dean of the Vampire school that Justice had graduated from just a few months ago. She wasn't known to be the nice or soft either. Like JB, Justice was confused that Candy seemed to have a soft spot for Jr.

“I'm not saying to bury him,” Mark states, “I'm just saying let’s keep an eye out for him. I loved him just like you did.”

“Wait what?” Justice asks.

All eyes turned to him. Their secrets were coming out. He should have just shut up and been a fly on the wall until he learned the truth but now they were looking at him. He was the young vampire who didn't know their history with Jr and didn't understand the resentment of the Elders against him.

“You should leave,” JB states.

Justice doesn't budge. He stares at his father, “You were in love with Jr?”

“Engaged...” Bambam whispers.

“ENOUGH!” JB barks so loud that Bambam takes a few steps away from the King.

Everyone in the room gets quiet. They've hit a sore topic. It's clear. Justice crosses his arms. He turns around. He's about to leave but then he stops. He can't keep backing down every time his father barks at him. Justice knew he had to grow up and he had to become a man one day. He had to demand the respect from JB one way or another.

Now that he knew his father once loved Jr, he realized that he wanted Jr more than ever.

“He bit me,” Justice states.

“What?” JB asks, “So you just lied?”

“He didn't attack me though. I asked him to bite me,” Justice lies with a confident smirk on his face, “It . Right before I had with him. He said it was the best he ever had.”

Bingo.

There it was.

Mark starts to shake his head, “JUSTICE! What the hell were you thinking?”

Mark continues to go in on him. He doesn't care. He knows he's going a little above and beyond right now by saying that but it's all worth it. It's all worth it to see JB's face. JB grimaces. He has a gold darkness that illuminates his face.

For the first time ever the wise king didn't know what to say.

It's Roman who seems to use this speechless moment of the king to get in his own agenda, “This is exactly why we had to act.”

Mark looks at his brother, “What are you talking about Roman?”

“Bring him in,” Roman states.

At that moment D.J leaves the room. Justice recognizes him to be nothing more than a henchman of Roman. Roman was smart and precise but he was also relatively spiteful. Justice had a bad feeling when in the next moments Jackson is dragged into the room. Jackson and Justice make eye contact. Jackson is a handsome man, cool, calm and collected.

Mark stares at him, “I didn't think I'd be seeing you around here anytime soon.”

“I had something to deal with,” Jackson explains.

“What did you do?” JB asks with a sharpness in his tone.

There is an intense look on Jackson's face. He faces with JB. Many people looked down when King JB looked at them like that. Jackson wasn't looking down though. He stared JB in the face. They made eye contact.

“I did what you weaklings couldn't. Jr won't be an issue any longer,” Jackson states.

He is bold. He doesn't show emotion. There is a silence there that Justice don't understand. It's almost like Jackson rehearsed this. Bambam and Satyr drop their mouths when Jackson uses the word 'weaklings' in regards to King JB. Those are fighting words and they all know it. Justice can hardly help to stand still as these two people show down. Jackson was a legend in Eden. There were books written about him. Still. King was king no matter how you looked at it.

JB crosses around the table that he's standing behind. He faces Jackson. They look at each other. There is heaviness there. It's so heavy. The tension is so deep.

“What. Did. You. Do?” JB asks Jackson again.

“We locked him in a room with a Thirst...” Roman says.

Roman is smiling as he says it. Jaws drop. Justice had never seen a Thirst in person but he knew about them. Every vampire in Eden had known about them. A Thirst had attacked the school three months ago killing 50 students. It'd taken all of the Elders to take down the Thirst. The fact that this sort of monster was locked in a room with Jr was too much.

Justice could fee