(Jace's POV) My Bedroom, Early Morning
- PRESENT TIME -
I remember the night when was turned for the first time when I was thirteen and how violent I was back then. I forgot the name of that nurse I murdered that night, Fischman I think? Yeah, Fischman. Boy did Dad and I hate her like the time she tried to seduce Dad right in front of Mom when she was on anesthesia and when he realized it, he pushed her into the juice cart and watched all the juices just spill on her. What was funny about it is that she left a room where a disabled man had to pee in a container and it was left open on the cart. It was gross, but it was her fault for not closing it. She kept saying all these rude things about Mom to each of the doctors that were checking on her and helping her get medicine. Things like 'she's just faking the sickness' and 'I heard her dad was a sex offender. Would you really want to operate on a sex offender's daughter?'. My grandpa wasn't a sex offender. He was a director for horror films, so she was way off.
Being thirteen was probably one of the most scariest times of my life, and that's not just because that's when I became a vampire, but it was what I did and how acted when after I was bitten. It was a brutal ass time for me, including the night when I killed Fischman even though karma's a bitch.
"Hey honey, time for school," Mom says, walking into my room and knocking on my door to catch my attention.
"Mom?" I stop her from walking off and Mom swings back into the room to catch what it was I was going to say. "have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Every day, sweetheart. Why?" Mom giggles and I sit up from my bed, letting my hair hang over my face and I look at her.
"Can I talk to you about something?" I ask and Mom nods, walking into the room and closing the door behind her. Once she makes her way over to my side of the bed, I scoot over so she could sit down and she lays her right hand on my kneecap as she looks at me.
"Four years ago, I killed a nurse and you weren't mad at me. Why weren't you mad at me? I just killed someone and all you said was 'that's my boy' instead of just yelling at me and slapping me. Why weren't you pissed with me?" I ask.
"I just didn't to see you hurting anymore. You were hurt enough by your father and you never got to feel love from either of us when he was in our lives. Your father was a dick and I was such a fool not to realize he was when he put his hands on you. Then Mason came in and beat him up when he almost hit you with the belt and we divorced. I just didn't want the pain to pass on from him to me against you. You were my favorite out of the two of you," Mom smiles, ruffling my hair and making me laugh.
"I love you, Mom," I sigh, giving her a hug and she hugs me back, followed by a kiss to the forehead.
"I love you too, Jay," she mumbles. "okay. Time for school, baby."
"Okay," I chuckle as she gets out of the bed, pinching my cheek and then leaving the room, looking back at me smiling and then walking away.
"And don't forget about homecoming!" she shouts from downstairs and I drop the smile on my face, forgetting that today is the day of the homecoming dance.
Aw fuck, I don't even have a rose or anything! Wait, Blair's allergic to roses, but she does love water lilies...if I could remember where to find them. Ugh! Worry about that later! I need to put on some clothes! Fuck!
I speed out of my bed to my closet and pull the doors wide open, with a gust of wind knocking my hair up and over my ear. Scanning through a lot of black clothing like leather jackets and band tees, I stop at this one tank top, an obvious black one with large arm holes down to my hips and when I take off my black t-shirt to put on the tank top, I catch Mom staring at me at the door opening, but it's not my face she looks at. It's my biceps.
"It's not steroids, Mom," I promise her and she quietly looks away with her face flushed and priceless and I chuckle as she somberly walks away like nothing happened.
After the tank top, I pull on a new pair of black skinny jeans with rips over the kneecaps, exposing them and then slip on my black sneakers, snatching my backpack off the floor behind the door and running downstairs.
"Hey Dad," I rush, giving Dad a hug on the way to the kitchen, startling him and making him snicker a bit when I run past him.
"What's the rush for?" he asks.
"It's homecoming," I answer, giving two packs of blood from the fridge and throwing them into my backpack.
"And so?" Dad asks me to explain more as he leans over the counter, coffee in hand as I keep speeding past him through the kitchen.
"I'm looking for a gift for Blair to ask her out to the dance," I answer, slamming the silverware drawer shut and resting my tailbone against the table. "I need your advice, Dad."
"Just don't fuck it up," Dad answers, smugly and I numbly glance at him.
"Helpful," I say, sarcastically to my father as I move from the countertop to the kitchen sink, squeezing the metal of the exterior together with the marble of the counter. "why is this so fucking hard?!"
"It really isn't. You're just overthinking it. Blair's a sweet girl and you've been with her for a couple years with Danny. You gotta remember what it is that she likes---stop breaking the sink, hot head," Dad says to mess I find myself pulling out the metal and marble exterior and then I drop it.
"There's water lilies, seashells, floral dresses, teddy bears, and so much more but then so expensive," I list.
"And then you forget you have a crazy ass dad with freaky ass super speed who can try and get you all of those, starting with this pearl necklace," Dad explains, holding a navy blue velvet jewelry case with a necklace inside of it and he passes it to me.
"You're a life saver in both ways completely," I say to him and Dad laughs. "you know what? I never thanked you, Dad."
"You did or are you talking about something else?" Dad questions as I carry my backpack over my shoulder and glance at him.
"For saving my mom," I answer.
"That was four years ago. Why are you remembering that now?" he asks, raising his right eyebrow with concern.
"When I'm left alone for a couple of hours, I think about a lot of things from the past and then that was one of them,"
"That happens a lot?"
"Pretty much, yeah,"
"What were you thinking about the night before?"
"The wedding when you miraculously thought I'd make a great flower girl and got Mom to agree to it."
Then Dad bursts out laughing, urging me to laugh with him and finally, Mom joins us downstairs, confused about why were laughing so much, so she shrugs it off and walks out the kitchen with Dad's car keys.
"Okay, time to go, bozo," Dad says once he gets himself together after laughing so much and I follow him out to the living room.
"And then we're all going to the same place. I completely forgot about the math teacher and school nurse thing," I realize when all three of us walk out the house.
"Yeah," Mom nods, locking the front door and I just shrug it off.
"Wake up, Jace," Dad jokes, snapping in my face and I laugh when Mom pushes me ahead of the two and together we walk to the school.
