The thirst lets out sound and people are running in fear. All I can do is think of one of those old Godzilla movies. Some strange beast rises over the city and people were jetting off. This thing had to be at least 20 feet tall and its wings were about 40 feet each. The wings were like a bat or more like a demon. It stretches them out from above the trees and shades everything below it.

Justice is attempting to convey some type of authority, “Everyone stand strong. Jackson I'll need you to clear the reporters out.”

Justice is putting on a performance. Most people were already running save the only people brave enough to stick around were the local news station

I notice almost immediately who they sent out. Her name was Yeatman from Bat Chat. She was the most popular news person out there. Her show had the highest ratings from 100 years ago and nothing has changed. Yeatman still looked the same. Jet black hair that is tied in a bun, high fake cheek bones, commercial glazed over glare and large white fangs that always show when she smiles.

“I don't have to go anywhere. This is a free city!” Yeatman argues.

“Jackson! Do what I say,” Justice states.

“You are going to send our best fighter to keep the news station away?” Bambam asks.

He's right. What was Justice trying to pull by sending Jackson away? Jackson seems to want to argue this point but he doesn't. He turns and tries to keep Yeatman and her camera crew away from the beast. Bambam and Satyr both have looks of terror in their face when Jackson turns to leave. I think they all feel comfortable around him. I used to feel safer around my father too. He was strong and capable. He was the type of person you wanted on your side in a fight.

“Let's go team,” Justice states.

“We should clear the park,” Bambam tells Satyr.

“No with me!” Justice states, “Come on!”

Bambam and Satyr ignore him. I'm not too surprised when they basically turn to run under the guise of “Helping people get out of the park.” Cowards. I have to admit it's funny to see Justice's face when he realizes that Bambam and Satyr aren't going to help him.

“Justice keep your head in the game,” Mark states.

A part of me wants to root Justice on. With Satyr and Bambam basically tucking their tales and ditching us it's clear it's just Mark, Candy, Justice and I. Justice pulls out his silver gun. He looks at us trying to put on this brave face. I have to admit. Justice definitely does seem more like a grown man and it's kind of y.

“You three come with me.”

I can't see where Satyr and Bambam have run off too. We've lost them in the crowd of park goers who were still scattering away from the large beast. I can see Jackson in the distance struggling to hold back Yeatman and the Bat Chat camera people. That was a battle on in its own.

Justice and Mark run forward. The beast roars at them as it approaches. Candy circles around in the back with her hair wailing in the breeze. She pulls out her gun and is flanking the beast. Her aim is off. Usually Candy is one of the top shooters in the class. Hell she's usually top in the class when it comes to everything. She must be afraid. I can sense it. Her hands are damn near shaking. She's missing every shot she fires sending the bullets into the trees in the background.

“Jr!”

The call comes from Justice. He is calling me to come help. I cross my arms.

I stand still.

“He's not going to do anything,” Mark states.

He's completely right. I wasn't going to do a damn thing. Mark seems to realize this first and I watch him climb up a tree close to the beast. He climbs like a goddam monkey using retracting nails that act as claws for vampires.

Justice seems to see what Mark does and does the same thing up another tree. The two of them jump at the beast at the same time but only Mark gets on it. Justice is flung to the ground. His body is like a rag doll to the beast.

Mark clutches on the things back holding it like a rodeo. The thing has Justice in its sights. I have to admit all this is rather amusing. I find my own tree but I lean up against it. I cross my arms and enjoy the show.

Justice lets out a hurling scream as he dodges beast not to sink it's fangs into him.

He continues to roll out of sight. The beast seems not to notice or care that Mark is on its back. It is going after Justice. It lowers its head attempting over and over to get Justice in its fangs. Justice is rolling around from side to side. No time to stand up! No time to even catch a breath. It's only a matter of time before Justice bites the dust.

Candy is doing more harm than good with her shots.

One of her bullets pierce Mark who is on the Thirst. I hear him scream out a searing, “!”

I almost break out into full laughter when Mark's arm goes limp from the bullet. He's hanging onto the beast with one arm and bleeding out. Candy drops her gun at that moment. The beast turns her way as though sensing her panic. It swipes one of its large wings at her! Candy attempts to run but she doesn't get far. The swipe knocks her clear across the park and her body slams into the grass with a loud PLOP. She isn't moving. I wonder if she's dead.

Jackson must notice because he goes out to help her. Hell the Thirst hit her all the way back there. It must be a strange sight because honestly I think the two of them probably have the most bitter past history. Jackson had killed Candy's father back in the day to protect me. Now he was running to possibly save her life.

Yeatman and her camera crew have no one to hold them back.

There are cameras in my face. They see me just standing there. Yeatman makes some smart comments into the camera but I can't even hear them over the loud scream the beast makes at that moment. It is coming down on Justice. There are no bullets to distract it now. There is nothing to hold it down. I'll never forget the loud piercing thing that was a Thirst. I'll never forget how even Yeatman who always does the most for her story was now clutching her pearls and falling to the ground without even touching it.

The thing is lowering his head on Justice. It's about to kill the Prince.

Then I see him.

Mark.

He swings himself around with a stake in his mouth. His limp arm is useless but with his one good hand he scales the beast. He falls down to the chest of the Thirst and lets his arms go. His arms flail and I think he's crazy to swing from the back to the front of the Thirst. The thirst takes notice of him. It snaps at him attempting to kill him but it barely misses. Mark is freefalling in front of the Thirst right now and he digs his stake with his one good hand into the Thirst.

He hangs there with his hand on a stake and the stake in the thirst. His other bad hand is dangling at his side. The Thirst isn't moving. The stake isn't deep enough in his chest and he doesn't seem like he has the ability to push it further in.

That's when he comes up with strength. Somehow. Mark uses his arm, the same arm that Candy shot off and he lifts it up. He nails his the stake deeper in with his hand slamming the thing as deep into the Thirst as possible.

The thirst falls down, backwards.

I'm not sure what happens at first. I'm not sure if it is going to get up again. I don't know it's over until I hear Yeatman announce it to everyone.

“It's over. King Mark. King Mark's killed the Thirst!”

That's when I see him. He's bloody but he manages to stand tall and it just so happens that he's standing over the fallen Thirst. His hair is glimmering in the red sky. His fangs are showing. He pulls his stake out. He lifts it into the air.

Then I realize.

If Mark was just a hero before...he was a God now.

***

“What were you all THINKING!”

We are summoned to the throne room by JB. It's not hard to know what it was about. The Thirst at Fountain Park was top news. It was on every vampire show and Yeatman's footage was being passed around like gold. Then there was Mark...the hero of the day. He was standing like some type of God king. He was being praised like he was the next coming for killing that Thirst. I watch him now sitting on his throne next to JB. The rest of the King's Guard are in the room.

“Father we can explain,” Justice states.

Justice looks bad. No one looks as bad as Candy though. Candy barely dragged herself in this place. She's alive but just barely. Her left eye is closed and the once pretty face of hers looks more like the Thirst's personal destruction zone.

“Save it,” JB responds, “The fighting was ineffective. You are supposed to be the Elite Guards. What’s so Elite about friendly fire and rolling around on the ground?”

He's attempting to go at Candy who shot Mark. Justice spent most of the fight just dodging. I look at him and I honestly feel bad that JB isn't being a little nicer to him. Justice actually did try. I mean he kept himself alive and for the most part wasn't badly injured. That took skill in itself.

The Countess Ira sighs in agreement with the King, “Half of them didn't even fight.”

I watch the team bow their heads. It's clear that they are embarrassed. I'm the only one who isn't bowing my head. I could care less. The rest of them look like they are some little boys who are getting screamed at by their dads. The other guards, the countess and the King are clearly disappointed. The failure of the team was broadcast all over the news. We were the laughing stocks of Eden. People were doing Justice impersonations on television calling it the “Stop, Drop and Roll.” The entire city was embarrassed for us...all except Mark. I don't know how Mark managed to kill the Thirst. I watch the news over and over trying to figure it out. Was it some type of crazy luck that he knew exactly where, when and how deep to stab the thing? Was it skill? It didn't matter. Mark was sitting high.

“What was that about? Bambam and Satyr where were you,” JB asks.

I struggle to hold back laughter. A slight sneer does come out though and Satyr notices it. She cuts her eyes to me hard before crossing her arms and stating, “We were helping to evacuate the park.”

“There were King's Guard doing that,” JB responds.

“They ran,” Justice finally admits.

I'm glad he does because Satyr and Bambam look so dumb right now. For the first time they weren't the popular kids who everyone loved. People see them for the first time for exactly who they were. They were cowards. They hid behind stronger personalities. First they hid behind Candy, then they hid behind me and now they were hiding behind Mark.

I'm not surprised when Mark runs to take up for his favorite followers, “With all due respect we don't know that for sure. They could have been helping to clear the park out. There was chaos in the park and no one knew what to do.”

Justice looks at Mark, “Are you ing trying to throw me under the bus?”

That's exactly what he was trying to do. Mark wasn't even being clear. He was trying to make it seem like Justice wasn't giving orders. He was giving orders. They just weren't being listened to. Justice was the youngest. No one respected him.

“Respect your King,” JB responds to Justice.

All of a sudden it's not funny anymore. Not to me at least. JB is protecting Mark...the guy who was cheating on him with his son? I understood the whole pol