The Vampire Justice MxM (Staten Krown)

7

"What are these?"

"For the gentleman," a old woman states.

I've never seen a woman so old in Eden but as I look around multiple old women are walking up to me. Most the people in Eden are young people. We are in a field. I've never seen it before. It's nighttime but the red sky is redder than usual. All around us are these flowers. Black flowers.

She hands a flower to Justice.

Justice smiles and hands the flower to me, "This is the Black Rose Garden. I wanted to bring you here..."

"It's sad."

The black roses gather around us. I'm not sure what is more depressing: the black roses or the old women. The old women are all around them watering the roses. The roses have five petals. The roses have thorns. They grow in batches.

"It's not. I promise," Justice laughs, "Give it a chance."

He grabs my hand.

I hesitate. A part of me doesn't want to be here. This place is a depressed field right outside of the city walls. I am so close to the walls of Eden that I can see the old buildings start from a few blocks away. The field is small. It's so dark that it seems like we are walking among blackness. It's so fucking depressing.

"I don't understand why we're here," I tell Justice.

The old lady next to me smiles, "A rose for the boy as well."

"No thanks."

She walks away at that moment with a tender smile and then leaves.

"Who are they?" I ask, "Why are they old?"

"The old women are called the Proven," Justice explains, "The Proven are old women who were turned into vampires at a very old age. They work the black garden every year around the time that the seeds bloom. Black roses only grow once a season. It's a rare occasion."

He says it like this is a big deal.

I shrug, "Why would someone turn an old lady into a vampire? That's depressing to live forever in that skin."

"You think?" Justice asks.

"Hell yeah. If I'm living forever I want to be in my 20s when I change," I explain, "Wouldn't you?"

Justice shrugs, "They're reminders."

"Reminders of what?"

"What it's like to grow old. What it's like to be old. I think Eden doesn't remember for the most part. Everyone is young...forever."

I shrug, "I don't want to be reminded how it is to look old."

Justice laughs, "Look at them."

The women are so cute. A few of them are running around the black roses. They water them and sing with one another. I haven't seen something like this before. I haven't seen this communal sense of being in a while.

"Why are they smiling so much?"

Justice laughs, "I come here every year. Every year they are like that."

"Happy."

"Yeah...there is happiness in Eden, you know?"

I shake my head, "And everyday for eternity they have to wake up and look at their wrinkled skin and gray hair. These women are crazy..."

Justice stops talking for a while. He grabs me across my shoulder. Together we look at these women wearing crappy clothing. Their hair is undone. We sit there for a couple minutes in silence just taking in the sight. I am convinced watching them that they are crazy but there is something so interesting about all of this. No drama. There is no competition. There is no backstabbing.