A/N: I do not own Dark Prince or the Dark Series or anything in it, all rights of the book and series belong to Christine Feehan.

Vergil carried Nero inside and set him on the couch. He turned on the light and said "Dante will be back in about an hour with your crutches." He was about to walk into the kitchen but Nero said "Um, dad?" Vergil turned around and said "Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?" Nero said quietly, he was doing well at hiding his nervousness but he was gonna let that slip. Vergil walked over and sat next to his son, saying "Of course you can. What do you want to talk about." Nero fumbled with his hands a bit, now letting his nervousness show, before saying "About why I ran away..." Vergil smiled lightly to let Nero know it's okay and said "Dante told me, you were tired of the baby sitter cause from what he told me, he was a 'Bastard' to you."

Nero was silent for a second, mentally thanking Dante for the lie.
"That's not the only reason." Nero said after letting out a slight sigh, causing Vergil to frown. He placed his hand on his son's knee as a sign of comfort and said "What are the other reasons?" Nero fumbled with his hands some more before saying "I was having problems with Kyrie and school. After Kyrie cheated on me and broke up with me, she spread a rumor that I was the one who cheated on her and left her, now all the girls at school call me a man whore," he took in a breath before saying "The teachers hate me because I'm not like the other students, the best grade I ever got was a D+. The students are always fighting me but I can't fight back cause if I do then I'm the one who gets in trouble. Even if I don't fight back and do nothing then the other guys don't get in trouble. I ran away because I didn't want to face these problems and I didn't want to ask for help."

Vergil was shocked at this all, he wished Nero had told him all this, maybe if he did then everything could have been worked out and Nero would have never ran away. He was shocked even more when he saw Nero start to cry, he sniffled and said "Will you help me?" Vergil immediately took his son into his arms and said "Of course I will, I promise." Nero smiled lightly and hugged his dad. Vergil picked Nero up and started to carry him upstairs to his room, saying "Okay, it's bedtime now. Try and get some sleep. We'll work things out in the morning." He set his son in his bed and went over to the air conditioner, turning it to cool.

The heater in Nero's room broke two months ago and it's always hot in there. Vergil took the thin blanket resting on the hope chest, that was also a little bench, and covered his son with it. He kissed his forehead and said "Goodnight, I love you." Nero smiled and immediately burrowed under the blanket, glad things can be worked out. He hoped that by tomorrow everything would be all settled. He poked his head out from under the blanket and looked across the room at his bookcase. There were so many books, even Kyrie's romance books that she left here. He wondered why she always read them, they can't possibly be that good... could they?

Nero started to wonder if the books really are good, they must be because Kyrie's face flushed while reading it, she went 'aw' at some parts and he saw her cry with one book. Nero was more of an action and horror guy. He had books like Metal Gear Solid by Robby Benson. Nero has read that book a million times, never getting tired of it. He only liked those kinds of books, but now he is wondering if he would like those romance books. Kyrie kept all her romance books here because Credo didn't want her reading that "Trash." Now Nero couldn't help himself, he had to read one of the books.

He looked towards his open door, he knew Vergil was downstairs and would hear him if he hopped towards the bookcase, and he didn't want him to know that he was reading a woman's romance novel. Suddenly he got the perfect excuse. He would hop towards the air conditioner, which was right next to the bookcase. When Vergil came up to check on him, he would say he just got too hot and wanted to be by the air conditioner for a bit. A smile crept onto Nero's face, "Perfect."

Nero got up and quickly hopped across the room and knelt down by the air conditioner, as soon as he stopped hopping, He could hear Vergil running up the stairs, taking two at a time. The young father rushed over and said "Are you okay? Why are you out of bed?" Nero just smiled lightly and said "I got really hot and wanted to sit by the air conditioner for awhile." Vergil sighed in relief and said "Okay, but please don't go hopping around, if you aren't careful you could hurt yourself. Call for me when you're ready to go back to bed." Nero nodded and Vergil left a few seconds later, reluctant to just leave his son on the floor, knowing he wouldn't be able to get up in case something happened, he had nothing around him to support him and help him get up.

As soon as Vergil descended the stairs, Nero reached and grabbed a random book, Dark Prince. He opened it up to a random page in the beginning of the book.

'Mikhail slammed a fist against the rock fireplace, creating a fine network of lines across the stones. "I nearly killed a woman tonight." He confessed it harshly, his dark eyes wounded,. "You told me God made us for a purpose, that we were created by him. I am more beast than man, Edgar, and I cannot continue to delude myself. I would seek eternal rest, but even that is denied to me. Assassins stalk my people. I have no right to leave them until I know they are protected. Now my woman is in danger, not only from me but from my enemies."
   Edgar puffed at his pipe calmly. "You said 'my woman.' You love this woman?" Mikhail waved a dismissing hand. "She is mine." It was a statement, a decree. How could he say loved? It was an insipid word for what he felt. She was purity. Goodness. Compassion. Everything that he was not.
   Edgar nodded. "You're in love with her."
Mikhail scowled darkly. "I need. I hunger. I want. That is my life." He said it in torment, as if he could make it true.'

Nero kept reading, interested yet at the same time uninterested. He didn't know why he kept reading it. Maybe part of him liked the book. He was so enthralled by the novel that he didn't notice Dante was in the room until he knelt down and said with a smirk "Reading a romance novel, eh?" Nero looked up and scowled, already having a lie and saying "How could Kyrie read this trash? Is this really what girls are interested in?" He threw the book so it landed in his trash bin and he said "The men treat women like they are objects, they treat them like they own them. I can't believe I allowed her to keep these here. I would love to see Credo's face when he finds out Kyrie read this trash." Dante smiled and said "I'll keep one of the books to show him, we'll burn the rest." Nero smiled in return and said "Sounds like a plan."

Nero actually didn't like that, he wanted to read the books. He must hide some, he has to. Dante handed Nero his crutches and said "Here, now you can get around." He stood up and, knowing Nero is still not used to his crutches, said "Need help getting to your bed?" The teen shook his head and said "No, but can you hand me The Mephisto Club? I want to read for a bit." Dante nodded and grabbed the book from the third shelf, handing it to his nephew, who smiled and thanked him before starting to read. Dante smiled and grabbed a random romance novel to show Credo before leaving.

Nero watched his uncle leave while pretending to read, waiting for him to go downstairs. As soon as he was on the 7th step, Nero took books from the shelves, taking ones that sounded the most interesting.

~

Dante walked into the kitchen where his brother was, he walked over and said "Tomorrow Nero and I are burning all of Kyrie's romance books." Vergil sighed and said "Can't you give them to the library?" Dante shook his head and said "I think Nero would feel better if they were burned, they were important to the girl." Vergil sighed again and sipped his coffee while his brother smirked at him and said "Nero tried reading one of them, he thought it was trash." Vergil smiled lightly, at least Nero tried to read something new. He set his cup down and held up an empty mug as a gesture of asking if Dante wanted coffee, the younger brother smiled lightly and nodded.

Vergil poured his brother the dark brew and handed it to him. He picked up his cup and took a sip before saying "Think you could stay for a few days, to help take care of Nero?" Dante smiled lightly and said "Sure, it'll be fun." The older brother returned the smile and thanked his younger brother before saying he's going to check on Nero.

Vergil quickly ascended the stairs, remembering Nero being left on the floor. He reached the top and turned his pace to a calm one as he entered his son's room. He saw Nero was laying on his bed with an opened book resting on his chest. Vergil thought it was The Remaining or Day 21 but when he came closer, he saw that it was Dark Prince. Dante said that Nero thought the books were trash but the young father just flashed a knowing smile. He folded the page he was on and closed the book, lifting the mattress slightly to put the book underneath. As Vergil was about to put the book under the mattress, he noticed a few other books were already under there, all romance. Vergil kept smiling and put the book with the others. He kissed his son's forehead and covered him up before leaving the room and heading back to his brother, having a secret to keep from him.