Children of the Black Eden

Prologue
The Second Son


These nightmares… Nightmares I’ve dreamt awake… Nightmares… I can’t fucking shake them…

For those who don’t know me (and I doubt any of you are out there) my name is Maximilian Orlock. I am the vampire Monarch, the feared, and despised.

I have been remembering his birth… the day I turned him…

No, not the one you all know about… The one only I know about.

You see, I had recently turned Jack, and he had run off. I caught him, and wanted to make him wish for death once more. I thought I should eat his flesh again. Anywhoo, I had decided, once he was trapped in his restraints yet again, that I should take a walk, because I hadn’t left that castle in weeks unless to get him.

That’s when it happened, that was when she came to me…

A woman ran up to me. She had been attacked, and was dying. She looked wan, pale, and looked as if she was bearing a child in these filthy times. She told me her story:

“I was attacked by a gang which went by the name of the Blood-Band. They had attacked me and drained me of my blood, not drinking it directly as to not make me a vampire. They left me for dead, and I slaughtered their leader with all my strength. The others…” she said, breaking to cough blood, “I want you to help me…” she pleaded with me.

I only looked at her coldly. “What kind of man are you, abandoning a poor dying pregnant woman, and leaving her to die without her child ever seeing the light of day!?” She was shocked when I merely showed one fang to her, and walked off.

“Please, kind vampire, sir. I beg of you to spare me…” she fell down, and her water broke. She began to cry for mercy; so much I couldn’t bear it.

“Fine…” I said, bending over her. I grabbed her by the neck, and I bit down into the dry skin. I knew very well how Dhamirs were illegal, I mean, I made the law. I dropped a drop of my own blood to turn her, and I succeeded.

Alas, she died before the drop hit, and all hope for her was lost. However, then something amazing happened, something that made me never regret that moment…

Her child ripped itself from her womb—crying for the sun. I could tell by it’s skin and eyes…
It was to be my son.

    Somehow, my bite turned it into a full-fledged vampire. I still, to this day, do not understand it, but somehow this child was not a dhampir. I am grateful for that. I would have been forced to kill him if he was. What a waste that could have been!

    I hid him from Jack, from everyone, from everything.

    I took it to the labyrinth, to the secret hold. I took it so far that no one would be able to find it. I took it to the wall, and I nailed its hands and feet to the stone. I tied it around the waist, and made it so Jack would find it unbearable.

And then, I left. Its tears filled the labyrinth, but couldn’t be heard from halfway.

I went every night, every ounce of torture I gave Jack, I then gave the child. It became the day I let Jack go on his own, and I still tortured that child.

As he grew, I un-nailed him, and then re-nailed him to the wall.

The funny thing is, the child cried only when I stopped. It begged me not to go away, that it needed to “play” more. It cried non-stop until I took to it and began to rip it apart.

It TRULY was my son.

He has aged to look like he’s eight, surprisingly slow for someone born a vampire. I had aged normally until I was like how I look today.

But lately he’s been asking me things about the outside world during our torture sessions. Asking me if he could see the outside, just once. Asking how it looked, if it felt as good as our “games” as he called them. I never answered, and he was quiet until I left when he begins to cry again.

I really think it would be more torturous if I leave him alone tonight…


Chapter 1
Break Out - Freak Out


    “FATHER!!” A childish cry lets out, in the darkness of the labyrinth. “DA-HA-DDY!!!” it cries, letting out screams of frustration, anger, and pain… or lack of pain…

    He inhales quickly, and cries the air out. No one can hear him. He screams so loud, the ears of a mortal would bleed at the mere sound, but still no answer.

    He is alone. He has nothing to keep him in the hurt he longs for. He clenches his eyes, and sends up a message.

    Orlock sits in his chair, licking blood form his hands, which is all that remains from one of his victims. All of a sudden his mind is hit by a wave of psychic messaging. Screaming: “DADDY!” “STOP IT!” and other screams collide at once in his head, and he falls to the floor.

    “That’s boy’s getting pretty strong…” He says, closing his mind to prevent another attack.

    Back in the labyrinth, the boy cries in sorrow. ‘He’s gone…’ He thinks, tears running down his face, picking up remnants of blood and turning red. His eyes glow, and he breaks off his wall, and tears off his chains, running through the labyrinth until he loses himself, nails still in his hands.

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    Jack sits in his home with Vallov by his side.

    “But what if it gets infected…?” Topaz asks Jack, looking down.

    “Topaz, don’t be stupid. We’re immune to that.”

    “I’m just saying, that person we drained wasn’t too… clean…” He says, looking at the blood in his glass with a look of disgust on his face. 

    “She was a hooker. She was one of humanity’s rejects. No one will miss her.” Jack says, twirling one hand in the air.

    “That doesn’t sound like you, Jack” Jill says, walking into the room. She’s wearing a dress that Jack picked out for her. “Why do I let you pick out my clothing?”

    “Topaz picked that one…” Jack says, pointing to him, with a smirk.

    “ME?!” Topaz screams, his eyes wide with embarassment, “I wouldn’t choose that! Jack di-“

    “I did.” Vallov says, taking the burden off of Topaz and Jack.

    “Vallov, we were only kidding around. Everyone knows I chose it.” Jack says, nudging his shoulder, which is high above his head. He turns to Topaz, ignoring Jill who is glaring at him, “Say, Topaz, where is Mai?”

    “Uh, I think she’s in the bath…” Topaz says.

    “I think I could use one too...” Jill says, walking toward the bathroom.

    Topaz looks in her direction as she walks out, and he blushes as he jumps over the couch and heads for the room.

    “Do it and I’ll castrate you,” Jack says, and Topaz sneaks back to the couch.

    All of a sudden Jack is hit with something… something weird…

    “Jack and Jill climb up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown, as I went in for the kill…” there is the silhouette of a boy with yellow eyes, and hair down to his feet standing in the darkness smiling at him. “Hello, big brother…”

    He awakens on the floor, Topaz and Vallov at his sides to aid him. “What happened?!” Topaz asks, as Jack stands up holding his head.

    “Vision…” Jack says, looking up. He feels a weird shock.

Orlock.

    “Orlock, what did you just do to me?” he asks Orlock, but Topaz and Vallov just look at him as if he’s insane.

    “Whatever do you mean? I did nothing to you until I opened the connection,” Orlock says on the other end of the link, sitting in his throne. “I have a little job for you, and you must accept right away.”

    “I’m listening,” Jack says, as Topaz pokes his face asking if he’s alright. “TOPAZ, GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, I’M GETTING A MISSION!” He screams, kicking Topaz in the ‘nads, as Orlock laughs.

    “A colorful band of characters you have her, unfortunately, our world is black and white.” Orlock says, in a strangely friendly tone, “Now,” He says, in his original dark one, “It seems a pet of mine has escaped.”

    “One of your demons?” he says, as Topaz clutches himself, blood trickling from his nose.

    “No, much, MUCH more important to me. I need it alive.” He drops the connection.

    “WAIT! WHAT IS I-“ Jack stops, after he realizes the connection was dropped. “Damn it, Orlock… Assigning me a mission and not telling me what I’m looking for…”

    Jill returns with Mai, both in bath robes, and steaming a little.

    Mai sees topaz, and goes to help him. “TOPAZ?! What happened?!” She asks, and he blushes, still holding himself.   

    “Everyone, we have a little mission to do,” Jack announces, sounding pissed off and sarcastic, “We have to find a pet of Orlock’s.”

    “What kind of pet?” Jill asks, “One of his demons?”

    “He didn’t say…” Jack says, seriously pissed off.

    “Then what the hell are we supposed to do?” Topaz asks, finally standing up with the help of Mai.

    “We start looking…” Jack says, turning and taking his sword from the wall. “We look for anything whose mana is large enough to feel. Knowing Orlock, that’s what it is.”

    Vallov looks to the side of the building, sweating.

    “What is it?” Jack asks him.

    “Mana large enough to feel?”

    “Yeah. The isn’t ours of course.”

    “We won’t have to go far.”

    “Why?” Jill asks. She still doesn’t understand mana as much as the others.

    “There is one right outside…” Topaz finishes for Vallov.



Chapter 3
Victor


“What is this kid?” Topaz asks, standing up and realizing his leg is broken.

Jack smiles, drawing his sword. “Just what we’re looking for…”

“Looking for?” The boy asks, smiling, “Has daddy already got his men looking for little old meeee?”

“Daddy?” Jack asks in shock, as the boy jumps on the blade of his sword, slicing the bottoms of his feet on it, and then kicking Jack in the face with a great force. He pulls the Axe from his shoulder, and slams him in the face with it, knocking our dark hero to the ground.

“JACK!” Jill screams, running toward the child, as Mai attacks him too. The kid merely does a flip out of the way, and kicks Mai in the back of the neck in mid-air.

Jill looks in horror as most of them are unable to fight, and Jack is too far from his sword. The kid then flips her over, and throws her toward a wall. She hits it, and falls to her neck, breaking it as she lands.

The boy looks at Vallov, who is charging toward him. The boy laughs, and jumps toward him at an amazing speed, breaking through his chest and coming out of the attack holding his spine and head attached to it.

“VALLOV!” Jack screams, as he witnesses this, and he jumps up. The child is now crouched over Jill and she is screaming in agony, unable to move. “YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!!!” He screams, and the boy uses telepathy like Orlock, and sends him back, holding his head screaming. He remembers the pains of Emily.

‘How did he know?!’ Jack asks himself, as he notices he’s on his knees in tears. He hears a stab and Jill screams. He looks to his side, only to see Jill’s eyeball fly from behind him. He merely falls down wailing in tears, as the child licks his fingers of blood and walks off.

“Clean yourself off, Jackie-poo.” The boy says, kicking him in the side, and breaking one of his ribs in. Jack strikes at the kid, but his attack merely goes through him.

The boy walks over the horizon, and Jack looks around. His allies are all knocked out, and bloody. Vallov lies motionless in the form of his original corpse, and Jill is out from shock. He crawls over to her, and sees the boy wrote something in blood on her forehead upside down.


That is his name. Victor.

Jack didn’t understand anything that happened. How were they beaten… and by a child…? What did Victor mean by ‘brother?’ What does he have to do with Orlock?

Jack pulls himself to his feet, and picks up his unconscious friends, pulling them inside.

He then passes out on the couch.

He wakes a few hours later, and his friends are awake, save for Vallov.

“Jack! You’re awake!” Jill says, her neck better.

“What happened?”

“That kid beat us all…” Mai says

“Victor.”

“What?” Topaz says, his leg in a cast.

“His name was Victor. He wrote it on Jill’s forehead… in blood…”

“EEW!” Jill says, wiping her forehead off.

“Well, what will we do?” Topaz asks.

“It’s not we it’s me. I need to go talk with Orlock.”

“Not tonight you’re not!” Jill says, walking in front of him.

“Why not?”

“Sunrise’s in 10 minutes. Do you really want to die in sunlight, or fall asleep near Orlock?” Topaz says.

“True…” He looks toward Vallov’s corpse. “Put him on ice. I’ll get him fixed tomorrow night.”

“Kay.” Jill says, picking up the corpse, and bringing it downstairs.

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Jack wakes up, the moon full in the sky. “Night again. Time to see Orlock.”

Jack puts his clothes on, and gets ready, picking up the cold corpse of Vallov, and flies to Orlock’s castle.

He knocks, and the door opens. One of the humans is ripped apart and a message is written on the ceiling in their blood.

Directions through the labyrinth…

Jack takes a deep breath, and walks down, deeper into Orlock’s castle, where he has never been before; into the labyrinth which only brings fear…




Chapter 4
Broken Brother?


Jack takes a deep breath, and walks down, deeper into Orlock’s castle, where he has never been before; into the labyrinth which only brings fear…

Left… Right… Left… Straight… Down… Turn… Forward… Left… Right… He follows the first set of directions, and looks up at a hall with 20 different doors.

“Which is it DAMN IT!?” He thinks back, and remembers: seventh from the right.

He enters through the door, and follows the second set:
Right… Left… Forward…Turn left… Up… Down… Straight… Left… Right… Left… He comes to another 50 door fork, and thinks back:

The one with the demon symbol… Each door has its own symbol on it, and he has to remember the one for demon. He chooses the door, and he enters.

He follows the final set:

Down… Left… Right… Straight… Forward… Left… Down… And finally straight…

He comes to a room, which has Orlock in it, facing the wall, deep in thought.

“What is this place?” He asks, looking around.

“A bedroom… of sorts…” Orlock bites his finger, trying to see how the child could have escaped.

“Bedroom? Of who?”

“I believe you met him. He was the one who almost killed you all. His name is Victor.”

“Victor was here?” Jack asks, confused. “Okay, wait, let me get this straight, He was what we were looking for, a child you kept down here?”

“Yes,” Orlock says, looking at Jack. Jack gets a chill. “Ah, I believe Vallov had an accident, didn’t he?” He points to the corpse on Jack’s back.

“Yeah. You know the spell.”

“It could take a long time…” Orlock laughs, and does it. After 20 minutes, Vallov is back to his drone state, growling at Orlock, and Jack tries to calm him.

“Alright,” Jack says, looking at him, “Now, who the fuck is Victor?”

“Victor…” Orlock laughs, “Your brother… Broken brother is actually a better description…”

“Broken Brother?” Jack asks, confused.

“He was turned only a while after you, and he was born in the vampire state. After his annoying mother begged for life anew for him, I turned her, and she died during the birth process. He is your brother.”

“I AM NOT YOUR SON!” Jack screams at Orlock, and Orlock stabs his hand in his stomach.

“He thinks he is…” Orlock explains, “He never knew his real parents, and I tortured him like I did you since he was an infant. I merely made the nails in the wall further when he grew. Every torture session I gave you, I gave him. Where do you think I was when you escaped?”

“You’re a monster…” Jack says, and Orlock digs deeper.

Vallov starts growling, and Jack tries to stop him.

“The child became immune to pain, in fact, he only cried and screamed when he wasn’t in pain. He loves it. He wishes it at all times. He loved me for it. He thought it was a game… And apparently,” Orlock goes on, “he could have broken out at any time he wanted… He stayed only for the torture…”

“You ruined a child…” Jack says in horror, as Orlock pulls his hand out.

“So what?” Orlock says, “It made him stronger than you are, and he’s only a child…”

“He escaped because I found it more torturous to leave him alone. Apparently, during all of our ‘sessions’ he found ways to read my mind without my knowing it, and found your history, fears, pains, and all of mine too. This is why I want him back. He has also developed his powers faster than even I did…”

“I can see that…” Jack says, “He did broke in my mind like you had done to me so many times.”

“He may have picked it up when I did it to him, making him feel numb and alone.”

Vallov, now calm, participates. “He kept the nails in his hands. I saw him bending them around when he was pausing, probably trying to use them to re-open his wounds and hurt more.”

“Thank you.” Orlock says, “I still want the child back. He knows too much about me, and he is almost an equal of mine. He is my successor, and I want him to have an army before he kills all eligible vampires and humans.”

“Sure…” Jack says, watching Orlock move around.

“I care for the child, Jack. I have had him since birth. I admire his upbringing and his personality…”

Jack is speechless. He has never heard Orlock like this, and Vallov just looks in fear.

“Victor always did want to see the outside world…”

Jack nods, sweating. Orlock signals for him to leave, and he and Vallov leave the way he came.

The two of them return to the first floor of the castle, and exit, flying back home.

“We’re back,” Jack says and Vallov walks in the house behind him.

“VALLOV!” Topaz screams, and tackles the big zombie, hugging him. “You died on us, man!”

“Thank you… Topaz…” Vallov says with no emotion.

“We have to stop this kid…” Jack says, “Or as Orlock called him: my ‘Broken Brother’…”

“Broken Brother?” Mai and Jill both ask, as Topaz is still hugging Vallov.

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    Victor walks through the human city looking around.

    He sees them all in such nice clothes… they’re such nice people and in such a nice place. The colors, however, hurt his eyes. Suddenly, he sees a Goth teenager walking around. He follows the boy, and the boy walks into his home.

“Is he a vampire? No… He smells human…” Victor says, as the boy turns only to see a small boy looking at him through the bushes.

“Who is that?” The guy asks, and he shows himself.

Victor realizes his hunger, and the boy looks appetizing.

“Who are you?” The guy says, walking over to him. He bends down, and looks at him.

“Victor…” Victor says, smiling and showing his fangs, “What’s yours…?”

“Nice vampire fang caps…” the kid says, “Call me J.J.”

“J.J…” Victor says, and he lunges at him. “You’ll make an excellent guard…”

Ten minutes later, Victor walks with J.J. (who is now a vampire and Victor’s guardian) beside him into a shop “Utopia,” taking some gothic clothing, and making a cool outfit.

He wears a black beanie with a skull on it, and a dress shirt that has the arms torn off, and studded up. He takes spiked bracelets and pierces his ears. He wears fingerless gloves, paints his nails black, and puts on eyeliner. He finds some converse shoes with skulls on the toes, and puts them on. He cuts his hair so it only goes down to the small of his back, and combs it over in the front so it covers his right eye. He finally pierces his eyebrow.

He then runs through the store like a normal child in a toy store.

“There are weapons this way!” J.J. says, and Victor follows to a case full of swords, knives, and other miscellaneous sharp weaponry. They smash the case, and both take the coolest of each weapon type they can find; JJ takes one called ‘The Sword of Darkness’ and Victor takes its superior, ‘The sword of Darkness II.’

“HEY!” One of the workers says, walking up to the two of them, “We’re closed! And what the hell are you two doing?”

“Kill him.” Victor says, and J.J. slays the man with the new swords, which they had enchanted just before the man confronted them to really have powers of darkness.

They then walk out of the store, and into the center of the city. “This city is mine…” Victor says, smiling. “J.J., kill all the adults, and hoard all the children to me…”

“Why sir?” J.J. asks his new master.

“We’re raising an army…”




Chapter 6
“What if” Teaches “What Now”

    
The streets begin to fill with children, all of which under twelve-years-old. Every home in the city fills, and children all look into the direction.

“These, my faithful servant, are our soldiers…” Victor says, smiling, as he floats downward as the children have gathered around him.

“Where are my mommy and daddy?” multiple voices from the crowd can be heard saying, and yawns are heard under it.

“Silence.” Victor says, and the children keep on chatting. “I said…” He takes a breath, “SILENCE!!!!” He screams, and every child looks at him.

“Who are you?” One kid says, stepping out of the crowd.

“You’re king.” Victor stares up into the boy’s eyes. He’s much taller than Victor is.

“Yeah, right! Like I’d listen to some shrimp Goth ki-“ Victor rips the boy in half, ripping parts of his body apart whit his mouth. Victor wipes his moth off, and presses one of the nails in his hands to the side, sighing in relief. He turns to the crowd again.

“Any other rebels?” he asks, licking the blood from his hands. Only half of it is the boy’s, the rest is from the nails. “Alright, my name is Victor Orlock. I am your only god…” He steps forward. “This will hurt…” He bites one child, and turns him, ad then moves onto another. “Once I turn you, you shall turn another, and then they will do the same. Leave no child un-turned,” Victor bites another child.

“I dun wanna be a vampiew…” one little girl says, crying, “They’we mean!” she starts to cry, and this catches Victor’s eye. The girl seems only to be eight, like he is.

He cannot help but feel pity on her. One boy shoves her over, and is about to sink his teeth into her as Victor impales his arm through him. “Leave her.” The children back away from the girl. She is his height, and has long hair that reaches just below her shoulders. She wears pink footsie pajamas, and has a look of fear on her face, as well as the remains of the child who tried to turn her. He picks her up, and walks her out of the crowd.

He stands with her in front of the crowd of now vampire children. Victor smiles. “You are my army. Soon we will take over the world, and we will become the greatest of our kind!” He puts the girl down, and raises one hand in the air, and the children cheer.

Victor smiles, and faces the girl. “I will give you a choice. You can live as a human, and risk death, or I can free you from worry, and you can grow with me to be my wife. The choice is yours.”

“I want… to live…” she says, confused.

“Then I am sorry, and this WILL hurt a little…” He stands her up, and sinks his fangs into her neck, savoring the blood, which to him tastes much sweeter than any other blood he’s ever had.

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    Jill wakes up, feeling a slight pain in her neck, having dreamt of Victor turning her. She realizes she had been sweating, and lies back down. “What the fuck…?” she asks herself.

    “Sunrise in 30 minutes, Jilliana.” Vallov says his head in the room, and looking at her apathetically. “You seemed to be displeased. Shall I call Jack?”

    “Uh, no Vallov. How long have you been watching me?” She asks, nervously.

    “Not long.” He takes his head out, and closes the door.

    “He still scares me…” She says quietly to herself, sighing.

    Jack sits in his bedroom plotting. He is afraid of what Victor is up to, as he doesn’t have any idea what it is. He fears the worst, and worst of all, he fears.

    Jack thinks back to when he used his memories to hurt him, and punches his bed. “FUCK!” He stands up, holding his head. He paces around, and suddenly just sits back down. He closes his eyes, and does something he had never done since before Emily died.

    He puts his hands together, and prays. He then concentrates hard, and falls asleep in that position.

    Jack sits in a realm of darkness, nothing but himself there. Suddenly, he sees a light.

    “How have you been, Jack?” A girl says, holding a baby. She rocks it back and fourth, and sings to it.

    Jack stands up, crying. “Emily…” He hugs her looking down at his daughter.

    “Hello, honey,” She kissed his on the cheek, and he only sobs harder.

    “Why are you here?” Jack says between sobs, “Why are you bothering with me?”

    “Because I love you, Jack, vampire or not. You didn’t kill me, that monster did.” She places their daughter in a crib that appears beside her. “Also, you seem to have a problem, and I want to try and help…Jack?” She looks at him, and he’s now facing away, biting his knuckle.

    “Stop that.” she lightly smacks his hand, and he looks into her eyes. “You need to calm down. You can defeat this child.”

    “How?!” Jack asks, “He’s clearly stronger!”

    “But he’s a child, and all he needs is a little punishment. Treat him like the kid he is. What would hurt a child most?”

    “I don’t know…” Jack falls to his knees. “Julia was killed before I could learn…”

    “Then we’ll have to show you…” Emily claps her hands, and the shadows fade out, into the form of their old house. “We’ll fix that, and we can, at least for now, live the life we couldn’t have.”

    Suddenly, Jack’s clothes and appearance turns into that of what he had when he was still a human. It’s the night Orlock attacked. Jack turns around, and he’s outside. Suddenly, he sees Orlock step into his house. He runs in, and passes Emily, who now is just a sort of robot who doesn’t realize this is a dream, as the spirit of Emily stands behind her, admiring their old home, as Jack passes her by.

    “Use the sword on the wall.” The spirit of Emily says, and he turns, and grabs a sword. He runs into the room with Orlock, reaching for their child, and he quickly severs Orlock’s head.
    
    “What’s going o-“ the dream Emily says, walking into the room and gasping.

    “He was going to kill Julia…” Emily kisses him, and suddenly, the whole dream goes in fast forward, going and stops again.

    Jack now sits in his living room, Julia walking in, now 8 years old. She looks just like her mother, and Jack almost cries when she hugs him.

    “Daddy, you said we could go to the zoo today.” She says, and Jack is still frozen in happiness.

    “I’m sorry, honey,” Emily says, walking in, “But daddy and mommy have work today.” dream Emily says, and Julia starts pouting.

    Jack realizes the moment, and looks at his ‘what if’ daughter. “We don’t have work next week, so we’ll take you then,” He looks at her, and she starts to throw a fit.

    Jack thinks of what to do… he thinks hard, and finally just gives in to instinct. “No. Go to your room. If you keep this up, we won’t go next week either.”

    Julia looks sadly at him, and cries, walking slowly to her room.

    Jack smirks, realizing how he can win. The spirit of Emily stands over him. “That’s all you need.”

    “WAIT!” Jack says, grabbing her wrist, and holding her back, the background only blurred rather than black. “I want to see more…Put me in the third person, and let me watch with you… I want to see how this story ends…”

    Emily smiles, and pulls him out of the dream Jack. She smirks, and kisses him, and they sit, and watch their lives go by as they could have.

    Jack turns in his sleep, and the sun comes up.

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    Victor hoards his army into a few buildings, as he looks at the clock. 4 minutes to sunrise. He goes inside a music store, and closes his eyes, getting the sleep a king disserves.