We're All In Trouble

"How much trouble are we in?"

Olivia and Genesis shared a glance.

"What do you wish to know?" Olivia asked.

"Everything." Ezra said immediately. "What's going on? How did the two of you know my name? What kind of trouble are you guys in? Have I been dragged into it?" The questions tumbled out of his mouth.

"Easy, tiger." Genesis chuckled. "One at a time."

"Stop it with the jokes." Olivia said sternly before turning to Ezra. "You want to know what's going on."

"Yes." He nodded. How did Genesis access his email and send in the resignation letter? How had they known his name even before signing the contract? He was sure he'd remember if he had ever met them before.

"Starting with your last question, yes. We are in trouble." Olivia said calmly. "Genesis has her own problems but as for me, Count Solomon claims that I stole something from his personal vault."

"Count Solomon?" Ezra asked.

"Hey, you're confusing him. He's still a newbie. He doesn't know who's who." Genesis smirked at Olivia. "I'll explain."

"Counts are the vampire rulers who rule over an area of the city which we call a county. Our City, First City, currently has three counts. Count Griffin, Count Solomon and Count Vladimir. Our newly established coven is under the rule of Count Griffin."

"Thank you for your fine... explanation." Olivia nodded to Genesis. "Formerly, I worked as a guard for Count Solomon and after something from his vault went missing, he claimed that I stole it. I joined Count Griffin for protection."

"Did you?" Ezra asked.

"What?"

"Did you steal what he claimed you stole?"

Olivia glanced at Genesis. "No, I didn't."

"Ha! You definitely did!" Genesis grinned. "I always wondered if it was a false accusation but hearing you deny it in front of me...., Let's just say you're a terrible liar."

"Wait a minute." Ezra held up a finger. "You stole something from the personal vault of the Count you're meant to be guarding? A Count that I'll assume is a powerful vampire?"

Genesis nodded in agreement. "He's powerful. A fourth ring vampire."

Ezra cataloged the fourth ring statement in his mind. He'll ask about that later. "Why? Why would you steal from this Count Solomon?" He glanced at Genesis who shrugged. "Am I missing something?"

"First, I never said I stole anything and second, even if I did steal from Count Solomon, it'll be something that he can't publicly come after me for."

Ezra stared at Olivia, looking unconvinced. "Okay. Let's say you didn't steal the hypothetical item. What exactly is the supposedly missing object that was stolen?"

Olivia was quiet and he could see the calculation in her eyes.

"We can't help you if we don't know what's going on here." He said.

He waited patiently as she weighed every option before answering. "A page."

"A page? All this fuss for a page?" Genesis asked with wide eyes, perfectly mirroring Ezra's thoughts. "A page from which book?"

Olivia stared at them for a second before sighing in resignation. "A page from the Book of Nightmares."

Genesis shot out of her chair in shock. "Count Solomon had a page from the Book? You have a-" She choked, glancing around like she expected people to be listening in. She leaned forward before whispering. "Can you decode it?"

Olivia kept her silence.

"Shit! You can?" Genesis dropped into her seat like her legs were made of jelly. "Shit! This changes everything. Wasn't the book said to have been found and destroyed by the Council?"

Olivia scoffed. "If it was destroyed, how do we have the Princes?"

"Fuck." Genesis cursed. "This is a very valuable secret. Imagine the power in your hands right now! You could be killed for this secret. Heck, if I was just a tad bit greedy, I could kill you myself!"

"Think I don't know that?" Olivia watched Gen warily. Ezra could see her muscles tense in preparation for a fight. "I have protocols that activate upon my death, hiding the book where no one would ever find it. If any one of you kills me, all you'll achieve is to lose the page, lose your one chance at decoding it and acquire the rage of a Count who'll hunt you to the ends of the earth."

Silence filled the room.

First, Olivia had admitted to stealing the book and second, Ezra had no idea what they were talking about.

"The Book of Nightmares? What's that?" He asked. If people were willing to kill for it, he could envision the scale of the trouble they're in.

"It doesn't matter." Olivia sighed. "All that matters is that Count Solomon would do a lot to get it back. Our fates are tied together now. Whatever you do, never tell anyone about the Book."

Ezra leaned forward. "Just like you said, our fates are tied together. I think that gives me the right to know just what could cause my death."

"He's right." Genesis chuckled. "Just tell him."

Olivia paused before answering. "The Book of Nightmares is a book that was supposedly created by the vampire progenitor. It is said to have only seven pages but each page is said to contain something that could make a vampire so powerful, they could eventually rival the progenitor himself."

"I see." Ezra nodded. He didn't fully understand everything yet but power to rival the vampire progenitor? He had no idea how powerful the progenitor was but he had to be the most powerful vampire ever. Which meant everyone who knew of the stolen book will be coming after them.

He was starting to regret signing the contract. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only trouble they were in.

"We've heard Olivia's problem." He turned to Genesis. "What's yours?"

"Mine's not as complicated as our loyal guard here." Genesis laughed. "All I did was kill one of my coven leaders."

Ezra choked on his spit. "You did what?!"

"She was being a bitch so I killed her."

"What the hell?" Ezra couldn't help but wonder if he'd signed a contract with a psychopath. Now that he had time to think about it, this marriage wasn't as great as he had previously thought.

One of his wives had stolen a very valuable page from a book while the other had committed murder for a flippant reason. "Are all vampires this crazy?"

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door. Genesis and Olivia glanced at each other. "Expecting anyone?" Olivia asked and Genesis shook her head.

"I know you're in there." A female voice growled from outside the apartment. "And I'm coming for you."

Genesis stood up in delight. "What a surprise. It seems like my trouble has found me."

"Sarah." Olivia growled.

And that was when everything went dark.