For Jane, mother and daughter were one of the hardest relationships to conquer.
She hated her mother, and her mother wasn't fond of her either, always nitpicking over the smallest things. That unnatural bond was the norm until she saw a classmate crying and didn't get scolded. That same day, hers asked if she had been provocative when someone wrote "bitch" across the board.
In Jane's eyes, her mother was cruel, saying what others wanted to hear, leaving her with no strength to keep up the disguise at home.
In Katherine's view, Jane was a child who lacked the words to talk but possessed a stomach full of lies. Therefore, she needed constant guidance, or else would rot with the rest of the bad apples.
"Mind if I smoke?"
"Not at all."
Peter had business to do today, and Arlo had gone up to the second floor, so it was only her and Samuel sitting in the lounge.
Jane took another sip of her margarita; the chilled lime woke her taste buds and left behind a perfect kick of alcohol. It was a surprise discovery from when she decided to sit at the bar where the bartender stayed. He said all girls liked it, guess she was no different.
A waiter stood by her table, a menu ready in his hand. This one was nice, but some of them could be like vultures, circling the tables to fill the empty hands in time.
Jane had held one of those balloons before. The effect was almost immediate as the gas went straight to her brain. Laughter burst out of her, and she would smile over the silliest things, like how everyone around her had a balloon pressed to their nose.
Jane had to stop at the number thirteen when her fingers started to go numb. The bill was insane, too, which kept her from doing it again.
Waving the waiter off, she stood up, intending to head over to the bar, when a voice stopped her.
"Want to try?"
It was Samuel, the one she felt least close to. Unlike Arlo, he didn't talk much. Sometimes, their eyes would meet, and it sent an odd feeling down her stomach.
"No, thank you," she said politely, though her impatience was obvious in the way her body was already half-turned away from him.
"Scared of a little cigarette?" his voice followed. "You have tried worse things."
There… The feeling rose again.
In the dark lounge, he stared at her how she imagined a leech with eyes would. Disgusting and lowly, leaving her feeling like she had been touched by slime.
"Can I have a packet of cigarettes?" she asked a passing waiter, ignoring Samuel's provocation.
The cigarette was clipped neatly between her fingers. The waiter raised the lighter to her lips. With a click, the flame sparked, casting a warm glow across her face as a trail of smoke wafted into the air.
"Happy?" she asked, looking down at him.
Samuel lazily stood up from the sofa, his body towering over hers as he slung his left arm loosely over her shoulder.
"Not really. Unless you try mine," he said, pushing his cigarette toward her face. The wet end that used to be inside his mouth was now hovering inches from her lips.
Jane's eyebrows pulled together looking at his insolent manner.
"What?" he smirked. "Not worth your time?"
His question could be the start of a war, depending on how she answered it. And today, Jane chose not to bring more trouble.
"No, I'm just tired," she said, and her exhausted, blank eyes reflected it.
Before he could say anything, Jane turned her back and stepped into the crowd. He really wasn't worth her time, not even to argue.
Jane had always felt there was something unnatural about him. The awkwardness when he tried to be wild, the stiffness when he played the gentleman. It was more obvious now when he was separated from the other two, and she could still see both of them in his. Just another third-rank vampire in a group of those more superior.
Jane passed through the dancing crowd, through the loud music and obstacles to reach the door. All of this had been fun at first, but it quickly became a tiring cycle.
Jane found herself growing fond of the forest lately. She loved the earthy smell beneath her back and the cool breeze washing over her as she lay on the ground. No one ever came here, or they were kind enough not to break her peace.
Pulling the pill Peter had given her from her pocket, Jane swallowed it whole. Should have brought water, she thought to herself before closing her eyes.
***
There were tears running down from the maiden's cheeks, wetting the skin that could no longer sweat, leaving behind a cold trail of uncertainty.
Jane woke up to the sound of birds chirping and to the change in the air's temperature. The sun had risen, scattering leaf-shaped sun spots across her body.
She sat in a daze, processing the heaviness inside her chest. In her dream, there was her old house, her mother, and a box of colored pencils that was snatched out of her hands. It was an old memory of the first time she argued with her mother over the cousins. Jane didn't win the argument, stamped with the word "selfish" as the final judgement.
She didn't like this dream. And she hated that it revealed the truth she didn't want to face. The interaction with her mom had left her hurt and destroyed her days.
Jane sighed. The worst thing was, she still wanted to go back, which was hard to believe when all she wished for was to grow up as fast as possible and move out of her house.
But life went on, and still one more month before she could go home, along with a ton of work to do.
Becoming immune to the venom? Done. The paralyzing effect still existed, but she could get out of it in 5 minutes if she wanted to. Considering the pill was strong enough to affect a vampire, this was something.
Training her physical ability? Dropped after two weeks. Learning how to fight properly? Rejected and canceled.
At this point, Jane didn't even know if she should bother putting any effort in. Why waste time preparing when there was a high chance that, no matter what she did, she could never beat James?
But not doing anything also felt wrong.
Jane had thought she would make up her mind by the end of November, but the date had arrived, and her limbs still hadn't found their strength. They must, however, make their way to Ms.Kelsey's lab.
"Hi… Elly."
Jane peeked through the doorway. She hadn't been here in a very long time. Busy with… life.
"Come in," Elly said while keeping her eyes on the computer. Then, she turned toward the door in surprise. "When was the last time you were here?"
"Uhmm… I can't remember. Three weeks ago?" Jane smiled nervously.
Elly clearly didn't trust her words. She reached her hand down and pulled a blue folder from the drawer.
"Our last check-up was…" she mumbled, her fingers gliding through the pages. "November 7th!"
There, the moment had come. Jane held her breath, waiting for the scolding.
"That was more than a month ago, Jane!!"
"What? No, no… It couldn't have been that long." She shook her head in denial until her eyes swept down to the bottom corner of the computer screen. And it said: December 15th.
This… this was impossible. Jane had made sure she would only be late by three weeks at most. Not five.
"Sit down and I will check you over," Elly said, her face tightening as she snapped a pair of latex gloves onto her wrists.
"I'm so sorry. I don't know it has been that long," Jane said anxiously. She had promised herself she would come in no later than November 26th, but all those pills must have degraded her intelligence.
"It's fine," Elly sighed. She should also blame herself for forgetting to remind Jane. "Let's hope there's nothing that we don't know."
"Hah.. Hah…" Jane let out a nervous laugh. Would all the drugs she had taken show up in the results? Shit. How could she forget about this?!
The syringe went into her veins once again. The familiar sharp pain and the same thick liquid. Then came the stethoscope and its chilling metal, connecting to the ear tips.
Elly's expression grew more serious as she listened to the slow thumping of Jane's heart, and it remained the same when she saw Jane's eyes glow under the penlight's beam.
"Have you seen any transformation?" Elly asked, putting all the tools down.
"I think I look a bit paler. And maybe develop a bit of a hatred for high temperatures?" Jane said, unsure if waking up annoyed by the sun counted.
"Sorry, let me specify. Have you had any vampiric glitches? Black eyes? Surface veins? Hunger?"
"No, I don't think so." Jane would have known if she had walked past the mirror and seen a monster staring back.
Elly's eyebrows knit even tighter together, and Jane could even hear her heartbeat getting more uneven.
"Is something wrong?" Jane asked, confused by Elly's reaction. To her, this was a relief. It meant that despite skipping her appointments, nothing had changed. But Elly clearly had a different idea.
"It's hard to say," she said, staring at Jane like she was looking at an alien. "Your heart rate is slower. Your temperature has dropped. You're in your last phase; that is certain. But in every other case, there should be about three to five glitches before you finally turn."
Elly paused for a moment, seeing Jane's worried face.
"It's not necessarily bad. The process might be different for each of you. But do bring a mask in case the change happens in public," Elly added. "When the first glitch happens, contact us immediately. We'll help you take an absence from class until the transformation is complete."
Jane stared at the pack of masks in her hands, still recovering from all the news, when another realization hit her: the hunt would be in exactly two weeks.
She hurriedly stood up from the metal stool when a bright red spot caught her attention.
"I'm so sorry. Let me clean it."
Jane pulled the tissue on the desk, her face burning from embarrassment. When did this even happen? She felt nothing. Oh, she did, but Jane thought the aching in her abdomen was a consequence of skipping lunch.
"No, no don't!" Elly shouted, snatching the wet tissue out of Jane's hand before she could touch the stain. Elly hurried into the restroom and returned a moment later with a white blouse along with a familiar pack of pads. "Go and take some rest. I will handle this."
Grateful and slightly confused at Elly's frantic behavior, she carefully draped the blouse over her shoulders. One hand held it in place, while the other worked to keep her skirt from touching the clean fabric.
Returning the blouse to the lab — another thing added to her long list of what to do. Jane sighed as she headed outside.