30. Massacre of 2014.

*He can. Actually, he did.*

These five words stabbed them hard like a sharp knife. All of them stood still, looking at William for answers to the questions they didn't even know they needed to ask. William knew the consequences of the revelation but he couldn't hide it anymore. He exhaled deeply before uttering the words from his now dry mouth.

"That night when Niya fell into the sea and the mermaids were taking her with them, Sam saved her," he said, looking at Archie, observing his body language carefully. "The guy you met, the purple-eyed man, he was Samael," William said, looking at Niya who was still trying to fit these pieces of information together.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Archie asked, suppressing the urge to grab William's collar in anger, but the resentment was clearly shown in his voice.

"I couldn't. He is... He was my..." William couldn't complete his sentence, his mind was fixated on the numerous memories that were playing through his mind. The memories of the massacre of 2014. The crying face of his mother, the naked body of her sister lying down at the banks of Tristic River. William felt as if he couldn’t breathe.

"He was your what? Best friend? You still consider him your friend after all the shit he put you through?" Archie said, looking at William's pale face.

"You had an equal contribution to that shit, Archie. It was your decision. You convinced us to go against him by promising us that you will keep our families safe. But you failed. It wasn't completely his fault," William said without even thinking what effect of his words but he felt as if he was suffocating. Archie took a step back from the blow of the words, tears rolling down his eyes. William’s face sunk with guilt.

Niya noticed and grabbed Archie’s hand, squeezing it tightly and rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. He looked at her in gratitude, wiping his tears discreetly, but Niya could still see a faraway look in his gaze.

"G-Guys, we can discuss this later. Marcus, please call your men and arrest Azizmah and his people. They will be helpful in the further investigation of this matter," Niya said, walking towards their horses, not letting go of Archie’s hand. Only doing so when Azizmah's horses were ready and everyone was able to mount one. Soon enough, they were able to safely board the flight back to the palace.

As soon as they reached the palace, Emily called the royal doctor to treat their wounds.

"Guys, I know you all need rest but there are some important matters I want to discuss with you so I want your presence in the throne room after getting your wounds treated," Niya said, not being able to look at them. She needed to act as queen right now, not as their friend.

They all had a clear idea about the important matter Niya was talking about. They knew they couldn't escape this time, they couldn't keep dodging her questions. This matter was way too important to keep her in the dark.

The royal doctor left after treating their injuries and they immediately went to the throne room where Niya was already waiting for them, sitting on her throne. As soon as they entered, Niya signals them to sit on the chairs that were beautifully placed in front of her.

"Look, I know some memories are meant to be forgotten but this is now more of a National Security threat rather than just your bad past. So please, cooperate and tell me about the reason behind the war. What was it that made you four part ways on a bitter note? What was the reason behind that hate you continued to have towards each other for thousands of years?" Niya asked, looking directly at their eyes. Archie shut his eyes off out of frustration while William and Edward looked at each other as if they were asking if they should tell or not.

"Massacre of 2014. 9th of September 2014 was the day when we lost our everything." George was the one to finally open his mouth, standing near Edward’s chair.

"It's a long story, Niya, I hope your schedule is clear for the evening," Edward said, looking at Niya.

"I have no business to do for the next 24 hours. So don't worry," she said, gesturing them to go on.

"It all started when your grandfather, that is God himself, created a beautiful angel named Lucifer. He was his best creation, a beautiful child with golden eyes, honey-brown hair, skin so fair it could be passed as snow. God gave that angel to one of his favorites, an archangel named Azazel, as a reward. He had helped God in creating the Silver City of the Angel Prime Planet, in your world, it’s commonly known as Heaven. Azazel, and his wife Irene, loved Lucifer as their own child and technically he was because he was a gift from God himself. They raised him well and he turned out to be the most handsome angel in the whole city. Lucifer was intelligent, carefree, and a very charming angel. Time passed and the day for God to pick an heir arrived. Azazel was sure that God will choose Lucifer and through him, Azazel will rule the universes." Edward sighed, the heaviness of his emotions could be felt in every word he spoke. He looked at the ceiling as if he was trying to gulp down his emotions.

"But God has his own plans, He chose your father, Michael, as the heir. Michael was Azazel's best friend," George said, looking at Edward and signing him to sit and relax a bit. "Lucifer and Azazel got offended but more Azazel than his son. He was the one who incited Lucifer to rebel against God and he did the same, causing a war to happen. But it was won by God and his allies, and as a punishment, God cursed Lucifer and his followers to turn into a Dracula, in your language we can say, fallen angels. Their wings turned black and they were banned from the silver city," George said, continuing the story. He exhaled deeply.

"And then? Where are Archie and Samael in the story?" Niya asked, trying to see how all of this was connected to them.

"Lucifer, Azazel, his first wife Irene, and all the other five thousand fallen angels settled on an abandoned planet and named it Drac Prime. After some years, Azazel married another woman named Cara Linconson and she gave him twins, which were named Archie and Samael. Archie is eight minutes younger than Samael so Samael got the powers of a dracula while Archie got the powers of a vampire," William continued the story.

"Vampire and draculas are two different species? How?" Niya interrupted, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Every firstborn on Drac Prime was considered a dracula and the second born was considered a vampire. Draculas are more powerful than vampires, making them superior on Drac Prime," William explained to her.

"And then? What happened?" she asked, looking at him.

"Everything was alright until it was time for Azazel to choose an heir. He chose Samael among his three sons. Lucifer couldn't digest this and raised a war against his so-called father. But Azazel with the help of a powerful angel friend created a dark world known as Hell in your language and put Lucifer and his allies in it. Lucifer is stuck in that spell bounded world forever.

"Azazel made Samael king and he started treating Vampires like slaves. Archie protested and raised a war against him. That war is known as the Massacre of 2014. We were all second-born so Archie convinced us and promised us a bright future for Vampires and we agreed to go against Samael. Samael was my best friend but vampires were my people and he was slaughtering them like an animal so I chose my people over my best friend. This irked him and led him to kill every member of our family," William said, a tear rolled down to his cheek and he exhaled deeply trying to gather his emotions.

"Irene decided to leave the Drac Prime along with Archie as she was more connected to Archie and Lucifer than to Samael. Lucifer helped Archie to settle down on a new planet named Vamp Prime. And we, along with our allies, came here and started our lives all over again but couldn't forget those wounds we got from that dreadful day. So we decided to part ways. Slowly, we started to discover that many species were already living on this planet like mermaids, witches, humans, werewolves, and so on. Hence we tried to sign peace treaties with them, some of them accepted it and others didn't but vampires are more powerful than any of the species out there on this planet so they usually don't bother us," William finished.

"Lucifer? How could he help when he was in Hell?" she asked, frowning.

"Lucifer is a very powerful being. He can't leave Hell but his shadow can. He communicates through his shadow and he has even has helped Archie using it," Edward said.

"Does it mean his shadow can harm me? I mean, Lucifer is the biggest enemy of our kind!" she asked with wide eyes.

"He can’t see your face. He can see our faces, can touch us through his shadow, can use his powers on anyone but you. You are the Angel of Creation and he can't do anything to you," Archie spoke, looking at her.

"With Lucifer's help, Archie succeeded to create a firewall around our universe so that Samael couldn't reach us or harm us," George explained further.

"What about my father? Why didn't he sit on the throne?" she asked.

"Michael was conflicted over losing his best friend and decided not to accept. That led God to pass the throne to his first girl child which is you," Archie said, looking at her curious face.

"Then how can my mother die if she was an angel too?" she said, turning her gaze to the floor and hating how her voice broke.

"Myra wasn't your real mother," Archie said without realizing the impact of his words.

"What?" Her eyes snapped up to his now wide eyes and gapped mouth. She got up, taking slow steps towards him. "What did you just say?"

"I-I... it's not the right time... I..." Archie tried his best to find some words to change the topic but failed miserably.

"Myra was not my real mom? Then who is my real mom?" She grabbed his shoulders and said, looking into his regretful green eyes with her watery brown ones. "Please, Archie!" Her voice broke down but she couldn’t care less. Archie knew it was going to be a tough night ahead but there was no going back. The words had already left his mouth.

"Your father is married to an angel named Joana. I don't know why didn't he tell you about this but Myra can't be your mother. She was a witch and angels cannot produce a child with a witch," Archie explained.

"How do you know all of this?" she asked and by her tone, they knew she was having a hard time believing Archie. She was still in a denial state of mind. It was clear that she wasn't ready to accept the fact that the life she was living back in Elvera was just an illusion.

"Remember the picture you saw at Andino's house? And you said she was your mother. I recognized her from that picture as she was one of the most powerful witches during her time," Archie explained.

"And every child of this planet knows the love story of Joana and Michael so practically Joana should be your mother," William said, putting his hand on her shoulder, rubbing them slightly as if he was assuring her not to worry about it. Niya was staring at the wall ahead and wasn’t able to utter a single word after that. The only thing that could be heard was her labored breath.

"Niya? You okay?" George asked, looking at her worriedly and stepping closer to her. William moved to stand beside George while Archie and Edward moved closer. All of them were ready to catch her if she were to lose consciousness.

"Am I supposed to be? It's like I was living in a dream and now everything is gone, gone forever. My whole world turned upside down when I suddenly woke up in that room here in this palace. I accepted my fate with a smile because my father wanted it. But now, my mom wasn’t really my mother and he hid that from me. How can I trust him anymore? How can I trust anyone now? No, George, I'm not okay. I am exhausted, tired of this shit," she said, letting her tears fall and feeling her knees weaken.

George lunged as she began to fall, catching her and clutching her to his chest as they sat in the steps of her throne room. He felt her fingers grasp his shirt as she wept like a child. He ran his hands through her hair, trying to soothe her.

The rest gather closed to them, each silently supporting her and giving her the comfort she needed.

"You can trust us, Niya," William muttered beside her while stroking her back, "You can trust us."

And she believed him.