POV - Helen Noctis

'He's late. He's always had a bad sense of time, just like his father...'

As Helen looked around she was greeted by a fancy restaurant which was devoid of people, which was slightly shocking as she's looked at reviews for this restaurant and they always talked about the full atmosphere. Little did she know that Zoe, the one who organized all this for Jack, thought that this would be the best place for the family to meet as it would help them get used to Jack's new appearance.

As she was thinking, Helen heard a question off of her daughter who was sat next to her, "Mom, when's Brother going to get here? I didn't get a chance to say goodbye when we had to move because of my powers..." her voice was filled with distress.

As Helen heard her daughters question, she gently smiled and stroked her daughter's silky black hair. She looked at her daughter's red eyes, that she inherited from her, and saw a plethora of emotions in the ruby-like eyes from nervousness to sadness and most of all guilt.

Helen quickly consoled her daughter, "Don't worry, Kate, your brother will be here soon. And why do I see so much guilt in your eyes?"

Hearing her mother's question, Kate seemed to draw into herself a bit as she quietly answered, "Because I was the reason we had to leave Brother!" her voice was quiet but it came out as a hiss of self-hate, "He was left on his own because I couldn't control my powers!"

Hearing Kate's answer, Helen could only sigh because of the number of times she'd heard Kate say those exact same words.

"It wasn't your fault and I'm sure if your brother knew, he wouldn't blame you either. If anything, he'll blame me and he should because I didn't teach you enough and it was also my decision to take you away, so stop blaming yourself, Kate."

Hearing Helen, Kate could only wryly smile at what was said to her. But soon after this, her face froze and a dazed looked appeared in her eyes and on her face.

"Brother...?"

Helen looked towards the stairs of the restaurant her son should be coming up and he was coming up them, she knew it was him because she was his mother but his appearance still shocked her.

An exceptionally tall, red-haired teen was walking up the stairs wearing a black tank top that showed off the impeccable muscles on his upper body and arms. When he looked towards them his eyes lit up with many emotions, with happiness and a bit of anger being at the top.

Helen and her daughter Kate were still shocked because of his eyes, they were unlike how they usually were, they were still blue but they had an unstable feeling about them; something seemed wrong with them. He walked over to them and flashed a smile at them that showed off his slightly animalistic teeth and canines but it was nevertheless very handsome and seemed to have a charismatic pull to it.

Then he spoke, in a voice that was deep and smooth; Very pleasing to the ear, "Hello Mom, Kate, it's good to see you both!"

And then he sat down.

POV Change - Jack Noctis

'Woah, Kate really shot up in 3 years, she must be what 5"10, 5"11? Well, she must have gotten that from mom, she is quite tall for a woman.'

As Jack looked at the 2 women who were both beautiful and even nearly identical, from both of them having black hair, red eyes and pale skin to them even being a similar height, with his Mother being only slightly taller, Jack couldn't help but think about all the years he's missed with them. He was still thinking when his mother asked him a question.

"Why do you look so different, Jack?"

"Well, Mom, 3 years without your family can change you a bit"

Jack saw both his Mother and Sister grimace as he said that. But he didn't regret saying it, even if they had reasons to walk away, he still had the right to feel that leaving a 15-year boy alone was a bad thing. Before his Mother could say anything else, his sister, Kate, spoke up.

"Brother, I-I just want to say that I'm sorry for leaving you alone.."

Hearing what Kate said, he smiled and his anger eased up a little bit, "Don't worry, Kate, I don't blame you," he just kept staring at his mother.

When he was staring he actually found out something interesting through his vampiric blood sense. Her blood's vitality was much higher than a normal human's, well actually, it would be better to say that it was too much for a human to have. Before he could look further into it his mother asked another question.

"I know you're angry at me, Jack, and you have the right to be angry but you have to understand there were reasons to why we had to leave. But I'm still your mother and you need to tell me why you look so different."

Jack scoffed at what she said, thinking about how this was something he always disliked about his mom, she needed to know everything. "Puberty can act in mysterious ways I guess," he shrugged staying true to his promise of not saying what he was.

He understood that he'd changed a lot and that she'd want to know why but what bothers him is that she never tells him anything, for example, why she left him on his own for 3 years. So Jack decided to give her a taste of her own medicine.

"Mom, before I answer your question, answer one of mine. Why is your blood vitality much higher than a normal human? It's like you're not a human or something~"

As soon as she heard what Jack had said, Helen froze and looked at Jack with eyes that gave away that she was in utter shock at the minute. Even Kate was shocked by what her brother said, according to her mother, Jack should be just a completely normal person but now he could tell their blood vitality.

"Jack, How do you know that?"

"Tell me what you are, Mother, and I'll do the same."

To her insistent questioning, Jack only smiled and ordered a lemonade from a waitress who was walking past.

Soon Helen gave in and answered Jack's question, "We're Witches, Jack. It can only be passed on from mother to daughter and it imbues us with Prana or Life Energy and allows us to use it for spells or to nourish our bodies and strengthen them. That's why we left, your sister was an incredibly talented Witch, she was gifted an obscene amount of Prana when she awakened and we had to run away to keep you safe because we thought you were a normal person."

Looking over to see how her daughter was, Helen quickly spoke again as she saw Kate's nervous expression, "But you cannot blame this on your sister, she couldn't control how much Prana she awakened."

Hearing what his mother said, even though he himself was a Vampire and one of an extremely rare lineage at that, he was stumped for a bit. After he'd had a drink of his lemonade he ordered, his mother spoke again.

"Tell us what made your appearance change so much then, Jack? If it's a bad thing I can reverse it."

Hearing what she said, Jack had an expression of horror for a moment, "No! I don't want it to be reversed!" Jack backed into his chair, clearly despising the idea. He started thinking that he should've just kept this to himself and gone with the reasons he'd thought of before.

Seeing him close up to questioning, Helen quickly grabbed his arm that was still on the table. Jack tried to resist but his mother just pulled his hand toward her like it wasn't something that could rend apart a car.

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Jack saw a rune appear above his arm and a few cuts opened up on his arm and drew blood. At this point, Jack lost his temper a bit and let out an animalistic growl, the blue contacts on his eyes simply melting away and showing his blood red irises and slit pupils.

Helen didn't care about this reaction and instead looked at his blood for a moment before going pale and pulling Kate, who was preparing some kind of healing spell, away from Jack, "Get back, Kate, he's a Vampire!"

As the last words came out of her mouth, his sister stared at him with shock and she just seemed frozen. But just as quickly as she became dazed, his sister soon regained her composure, while her mother spoke to Jack, "Why did you let yourself be turned into such a beast, Jack?"

Confused at her reaction but also angry, Jack coldly replied to her "It's not like I had much choice," his voice was despondent but his mother didn't seem to accept this answer.

She instantly hissed back at him, "There's always a choice, Jack! How many people have you killed? Hmm? How many?!" Kate once again became shocked solid by her mother's words. She couldn't think of her loving big brother being able to kill someone.

"Sure, there was another option. My other option was dying, Mother. Do you wish that I'd picked that option?" as he said this, Jack lifted his shirt and showed them something he hadn't shown anyone else.

Proof of his death as a human.

POV Change - Helen Noctis

Helen looked in horror at her child's eyes; blood red and full of instinctive thirst but when she heard what he said and saw what was under his shirt, her anger dissipated into nothing, replaced by numbing-shock and utter regret over her actions.

What she saw were multiple stab wounds all around his chest; dozens of them. On his chest, his stomach, along with some slashes on his sides. Now that she saw them, she saw the light, almost unnoticeable, scars on his arms.

Seeing these scars on her baby, Helen just slumped onto a nearby chair and couldn't stop thinking about how she wasn't there for her child when he needed her.

How she'd failed. How he had every reason to hate her. But also how he still came to meet her despite this, how he still looked happy to see her and what did she do? Get angry and look at him like some kind of monster when she found out what he was.

Kate, on the other hand, broke down with tears pouring down her face and she instantly rushed up to Jack and kept trying to cast healing spells in her hysteria. Jack calmly smiled at her and stopped her.

"Don't bother, Kate. I'm all healed up. But it's something of a curse with turned Vampires like me. We always keep the scars that came before being turned. Even if the transformation heals us, it keeps the scars," he smiled gently as he stroked her hair.

Hearing what he said, Kate stopped trying to heal him and instead started hugging him tightly, in an almost death-like grip.

POV Change - Jack Noctis

Jack separated himself from his sisters embrace and slid his tank top back on. He looked over at his regretful mother and spoke, "I didn't want to become a Vampire, mom, but what choice did I have? Why hate what I am now when I can't change what I am? That would just be stupid and unnecessary," he smiled at his mother, trying to convey that he was still her son and that he wasn't wallowing in self-hatred for what he was.

Helen just looked at him, with eyes filled with guilt and self-hatred but those two emotions, especially the latter, started to fade and she came back over and sat at their original table. She looked at Jack with her fists tightened at her sides, new anger in her eyes, "Jack, would you mind telling me who it was that hurt you? I wish to avenge you, to make up for my shortcomings as a mother," her voice was practically dripping with guilt and was incredibly shaky from the emotion she was currently feeling.

Her emotional state even seemed to be effecting the environment with plates and glass shaking all around the room; like the inanimate objects were scared.

"I'll do that myself, mom, you don't need to dirty your hands with them. I do not blame you, they were the ones who killed me, not you. So, let's just get on with our reunion now that everyone is sure on what the other is? Okay?" Jack smiled pleadingly at his mother to drop the issue and after sighing and calming herself down, she did.

The silence that followed seemed to be hard for Kate, so she broke it first, "So, brother you're a vampire? How do you get your blood?" realizing what she asked, she went to change her question but saw Jack smirking and stopped herself; it was like he was saying he couldn't get annoyed or offended by her questions, just like how he used to be. It warmed her heart to know he was still the same Jack. Personality-wise anyway.

"Well Kate, I get it from the Agency - The people who are training me," he smiled at his sister, he always remembered how she hated silence and found it funny that she was still the same even after 3 years.

"Well, what are they training you for, Jack?" Helen jumped into the conversation, wanting to know more about what was in her boy's life now.

"Probably something to do with combat. I know that our enemies are the Hunters."

Hearing what Jack said, his mother looked at him with confusion as she spoke in reply to him, "The Hunters are your enemy? Jack, the Hunters are the people who keep the peace among the supernatural world."

"Well they might be, but they're also the people who supposedly wiped out all of those who had my vampire lineage before me. So whether I like it or not, they're my enemies now."

Kate wanted to speak but was signaled by her mother to stay quiet, as an angry look was appearing on her face.

"Jack, what is your lineage?"

"Well, I'm a mutated Lineage from two Ancient Ones, both were wiped out by the Hunters. One is the Blood Angel Lineage and the other the Vaebeast Lineage. Do you know about either of them?" he tilted his head to the side, wondering if his mother could give him more information on either lineage.

Helen looked at Jack in horror after she heard the name of his lineage.

"Jack. Those are the cursed lineages. Both are lineages of evil beings, the Vaebeast lineage even gave birth to the first Vampire King who was renowned for his Tyranny, Cruelness and most of all his Blood Gluttony."

When Jack heard what his Mother said, he was a bit taken aback but he soon replied, "And? That was them and I'm me. It doesn't matter anyway, I haven't shown any excessive examples of those behaviors other than that of Blood Gluttony," Jack shrugged his shoulders, purposely leaving out the fact he now had all those things and more because he didn't want his mother to worry and intervene with his training.

Jack's mom looked at him with a worried expression on her face and they all continued talking although it was quite awkward after Jack's lineage had been brought up.

Soon, Zoe came up to the second floor of the restaurant and walked over to Jack and his family, "Jack, we really need to get going, your next teacher is gonna be at the training ground soon and you two need to meet today."

Before Jack could answer, Kate quickly shot a glare at Zoe and spoke up, "Hmph, can't you see he's spending time with his family? Who are you anyway?" she seemed annoyed that her precious time with Jack was being interrupted, causing her to lash out.

Again, before Jack could scold Kate and answer Zoe, Zoe spoke back toward Kate.

"Ohohoh I'm Zoe, his Guidance counselor at the agency. And he's got to do something quite important, sweetie, so I'll have to take him with me now~"

Zoe had a smile that slightly scared Jack and Kate but his mother seemed quite unperturbed by it and simply urged Jack to go with Zoe. Jack complied and after saying goodbye to his mom and giving Kate a hug, he left with Zoe.

Looking back on the meeting, Jack only had one thought:

'Well, that could have gone better.'

POV Change - Helen Noctis

As Helen watched her son leave with the red-headed green-eyed beautiful lady, she couldn't help but think what kind of agency her son had gotten himself into. She could hear her daughters grumbling about how she wanted to speak with her brother more.

Helen could only shake her head and smile while thinking, 'What if all the witches Kate's age back at the coven could see and hear the Demon Witch Kate grumbling about wanting to spend more time with her big brother? There'd be an outrage.'

As Helen laughed to herself mentally, she cast a spell to keep Jack's location known to her at all times.

She could only wish that she and Kate could see Jack more often from now on, to repair their relationship as a family.

POV Change - Jack Noctis

"Zoe. What do you mean I have to take a language course as well? Am I going to a different country or something?"

"Yes, yes you are Jack-a-boy. More specifically you should focus on Japanese~ Because you're going to Japan~ And I'm coming with you~!"

If Jack didn't have excellent control over his strength, after the 5 months of intense physical training, he would have put his feet through the bottom of the car floor or squashed the car's interior in his grip.

He quickly replied to Zoe, a bit angry at her indifference to his confusion and how excited she was about the whole situation, "Why am I going to be going to Japan?!"

"Because that's where you've been stationed and where you'll go after completing your training. I picked it for you, I've always wanted to go to Japan but I've always been stationed in the West. So I put you there and as your Guidance Counselor, I have to come with you! Exciting right?!"

Jack would be lying if he said he didn't want to see Japan but he didn't want to go as part of a job.

Suddenly he remembered a question he wanted to ask, "What are you training me for? What jobs am I going to do for the agency?"

"Well, we're training you to be able to do any combat-related job you come across. Meaning you can be a bodyguard, a hitman or Both once you get to pick your missions. I'll explain later."

Jack knew that when Zoe didn't want to talk about something, she wouldn't, so he left it and laid back in his chair in the car and closed his eyes, wondering if he had to be a hitman or whether he could primarily be a bodyguard for someone.