Run, Little Vampire. Run!

Ch. 2: Preparing for School

(Jessica’s POV)

Man, Mom really overdid it at the mall yesterday. I now have more clothes than I'll ever need in a lifetime, maybe two. She kept saying “it’s your senior year, sweetheart. You need to look good. Besides, you deserve it.” Then she would throw another item in our cart. Not sure why I deserve it, but I’m not complaining either.

Aside from the clothes, I also got two pairs of shoes, both in black, a pair of those wedge sneakers in black, a pair of black sneakers with neon “splashes” on them, these gorgeous knee-high boots that were made of the softest black leather I’ve ever touched, and a pair of black thigh-high boots. Most of the footwear was in black.

Okay, all of the footwear was black, but only because I’m kind of partial to that color. Especially in my clothes. Much to Mom’s dismay. I mean, in dresses and shirts I like color. But in pants and skirts or shorts I prefer black, unless it’s jeans. I love me a nice pair of jeans.. Both pair well with anything and it’s d*mned hard to get the black stuff dirty.

I also got a few different hats with matching gloves in different colors, a new coat (in black), and new snow boots (in black). We picked up all my books and other supplies, a new backpack, and a couple of purses mom insisted I needed. After that, we went to lunch in the foodcourt. I had pizza, Mom had Chinese.

After lunch, we went to Spencers and picked up some accessories. I also got my ears pierced for the third time and Mom FINALLY relented and let me get my nose pierced. Then we went for mani-pedis, got our hair done, and went home.

It was fun, I admit it. I like hanging out with mom. I'm just not fond of shopping, that's all.

After our shopping trip, dad took us all out to Red Lobster for dinner, where we told him all about our day and he started to tease Mom about over-using his poor credit card. Dad also told us all about his new client at work, some rich guy who lives in an actual castle! I mean, who actually owns a castle these days? Seriously.

Anyway, dad’s an interior designer. He makes decent enough money. Mom? She’s a secretary at some law firm. We live well, though I wouldn’t call us rich or anything. And I know I complain sometimes about my parents, but I actually wouldn’t trade them for the world. I love them more than anything and I know they love me too.

So, after a long day of reorganizing my closet to accommodate all my new clothes and stuff, I headed down to dinner. Dad was grilling burgers tonight, which is one of my fav’s. It’s Friday, so I’m hoping Dad has the weekend off and we can go do something before school starts. I’m not looking forward to this school year, but I am looking forward to this school year coming to an end. I know I said yesterday that I thought college was “ordinary” but that’s actually something I’m very much looking forward to.

I’ve already got my applications filled out and ready to go and with my gpa I should get into at least one of my picks. At least that’s my hope. I've got four good schools in mind. Full Sail, Liberty University, SNHU, and Regent U. My preference is Liberty U. Then I can move away from Dullsville for a while and pursue my dream of becoming a famous writer.

I’m gonna minor in photography so I can design my own book covers and everything, as well. But really I just wanna go for the experience. Maybe make some friends, do some partying… stuff like that. Stuff I can’t do around here because it draws too much attention and attention around here is the last thing I want.

I have never liked it here. The people are just… strange. Well, not all of them. Some of them are actually really nice. But mostly? They’re strange. Sometimes I'll catch my neighbors looking at me like they think I’m some tasty treat or something. When they notice I’m looking at them, they suddenly look away or even go inside. Like they're uncomfortable for some reason other than that they’ve been caught p*rvin on me in some way.

It’s kinda creepy, not gonna lie. It's what I'd picture Stepford Wives would be if it were written by Bella Lagosi. It’s also one of the reasons why I always carry a can of mace and a decent sized pocket knife everywhere I go.

A few years back, I started going to the next town over, to take up self-defense classes when one of the girls in my class turned up dead one day. Rumor has it she was out with some friends and got lost in the forest. They found her body, still in the woods, poor girl. I guess she got attacked by some wild animals or something, or so they said. It was really sad.

The whole school went to her funeral. They had a frickin’ open casket! Talk about gruesome! It still gives me the shivers when I think about it. And no-way in h*ll did those wounds look like some animal got to her. Girlfriend didn’t have a scratch on her other than the weird marks on her neck and shoulders which were absolutely decimated. There may have even been some on her chest as well, but her dress was covering that, thankfully, so I can only go by the rumors about that.

Of course, the rumors also included alien abduction and experimentation, the chubracabra, and Bigfoot, to name a few. So who even f**kin knows?

Me? I wasn’t taking any chances. I signed up for those classes and I’ve never regretted it for one little minute. Not that I go looking for fights or feel like I’ve got anything to prove, because I don’t. But it’s good to know how to protect yourself from would-be stalkers, pervs, and muggers. Right?

Anyway, as I went out into the backyard, dad looked up at me and smiled as he said, “Hey there sunshine! What'cha want on your burger?” I smiled as I sat down at our picnic table and said, “Just cheese, dad. And make it a double, please.” Hey, I’m a growing girl! Don’t judge!

“So are you working this weekend, dad?” I asked and he smiled over at me as he said, “Nope! I thought we could maybe go do something before school starts back up again on Wednesday.” Mom was setting the table with some paper plates and stuff. As she was responding to dad’s comment, I was eyeing the potato salad and coleslaw. I totally missed her comment, so when she poked me and laughed, I just gave her a sheepish grin and said, “What? I’m hungry.”

Mom and dad laughed some more before mom said, “Honey, I asked if you’d like to go to the zoo tomorrow?” Ohhhhh, the zoo! Mom and I loved the zoo! I nodded happily as I said, “H*ll yeah I wanna go to the zoo!” They just laughed again but I didn’t care. All I knew was that this was an awesome way to spend my last weekend before school starts up again!

After dinner, I went back upstairs to my room. I’m gonna get my books and things ready and organized so that at the beginning of next week I won’t have to stress over anything. When Wednesday comes around, I'll hopefully be all zen-like and the start of the school year will go nice and smoothly. I mean, I can hope, right?

(Mason’s POV)

“Mother! I don’t even know why you’re insisting on hosting this stupid a** party to begin with! I don’t f**kin want it. And I don’t want a mate!” I shouted as I threw my hands up in exasperation. How many times do I have to express this? I’m not ready to find my mate yet. For f**k’s sake, I’m only eighteen. I’ve got all of eternity to find her. Yet here I am, on a Friday night, the last one before school starts up again, I might add, and I’m at home arguing with my mother instead of out with the guys having some fun.

“Son, I know you're nervous about mating with someone. But you’ll see… It’s a wonderful experience.” She just doesn’t get it! I don’t know whether it’s by design or she’s just that st*pid. All I know is that she’s not listening, not even a little.

“Mother! Let me say this one more time…. I DON’T WANT A F**KIN MATE!!!!” I shouted, though I started out gritting my teeth. This was so infuriating. “That’s enough! Mason, I know you’re frustrated, but I'll not have you yelling at your mother that way! Now apologize!”

I just looked at him incredulously. “You’ve GOT to be kidding me? You think I’m merely frustrated? Dad… How old are you?” I asked and he rolled his eyes before answering, “You know how old I am. I’m four hundred and twenty-two years old. What’s your point?” I didn’t answer his question. Instead, I asked, “And how old is mother?” Dad just rolled his eyes again as he answered, “She’s three hundred and seventeen.”

Dad had a ‘duh’ tone to his voice as he said that, but I ignored him as I said, “And it took you both till twenty years ago to find each other. H*ll you had a chosen mate before mother, even. Yet you're both forcing me to give up my years of adventure and freedom, because why? Because mother has some godforsaken burr up her stuck-up a** and thinks she can run my life the way she sees fit? Neither one of you is paying a d*mn bit of attention to anything I’m saying!! Well I’m not going to apologize, I’m not going to submit, and I’m sure as H*LL not going to go along with this insane party!!” I finished in a shout that was so loud I swear it shook the entire castle.

I turned back to my mother then and said, “And you! You think I’m nervous about mating?! I’ve f**ked more girls in one week then you’ve known your entire life. I think I can handle f**kin one more. That’s never been my issue. My issue is that you are f**kin F*RCING me to do this. I’m your god d*mn son, for Chr*st sake! Doesn’t that count for anything? Or am I just another little toy to you? Someone you can push around and make miserable for the rest of their unnatural life?!”

Then I just stormed out.

And yes, I meant castle earlier.

You see.. I’m the crowned prince of the vampire kingdom. My dad is king, which makes my mother queen. And in the vampire realm, the queen is really the one with all the power. Which is one of the reasons why my elder brother is not crowned prince. His mother died before I was born.

I don’t know much about her death other than that Carl was only an infant when she got killed. Some rogue vamps got to her when she was traveling or something. All I really know is that it was tragic. Dad never talks about it. Worst of all, she was pregnant at the time. So dad not only lost his chosen mate, he lost a child too.

Mother is dad’s fated mate. They met a couple of years after Carl’s mom died. Dad and mother blooded right away and a couple years later, I came along.

Carl and I aren’t exactly what you’d call close. In fact, Carl absolutely hates me. He thinks he should inherit the crown. And quite frankly, I’m inclined to agree with him. Especially right now. I know Mother won’t relent on this. Once she makes up her mind on something, there is rarely any changing it. And dad is utterly spineless when it comes to mother. So he’s no help. Neither is Carl, since he hates me n’ all. In fact, he’s enjoying every last second of this.

Carl’s the reason I was always really cautious about who I became friends with. For example, a few years back, I was involved with this human girl. She was this cute little thing, sweet as can be. Wild in the bedroom, though. We’d meet up, hook-up, then separate. I was actually kind of serious about her, too. I could’ve seen myself changing her and spending eternity with her.

But one night, after we met up, she disappeared. A few days later, the school admin’s were telling us she’d been mauled by wild animals. But I knew it was Carl’s doing. Anything that made me even remotely happy he’d destroy. And because I let my guard down and let sweet little Rebecca in, she paid an awful price.

Which just strengthened my resolve to keep Jessie as far away from me as possible. There’s no way in h*ll I was going to put another innocent life in danger because of my deranged brother’s obsession with making me miserable. I’ve tried on occasion to talk to dad about it. But as per usual, nothing I said got through. And mother? She doesn’t care about much of anything other than her social life.

Which brings me right back to this st*pid a** party.

This isn’t about me, nor is it about a mate. It never was. It’s all about her showing me off to her socialite friends, parading me around like some sort of prized pony. Mother is one of those kinds of people who, even though she’s a good person, values the cosmetic more than substance. She’s definitely the type to judge a book by its cover.

Me? I prefer substance over beauty. After all, as crowned prince, it’s incumbent upon me to choose our future queen. I want her to be someone who'll actually take care of, and care for, our people. Someone who'll actually rule and not just leave me to do all the work while she takes all the d*mn glory. Which is why I intend to choose the absolute most unappealing girl my mother could ever want for me. Someone with absolutely no social-grace whatsoever, who’s homely, maybe even overweight, or even bi.

Then I’ll happily sit back and say “you wanted me to choose, mother. She’s my choice. Take it or leave it.” I know her. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to do anything but give in. After all, her successor has to be perfect, right? Someone like, ohhhh… sayyyy… her?! And when she doesn't get that, she’ll back off. Then maybe she’ll leave me the f**k alone. At least for another year, anyway.