My twelfth birthday was when my life went to hell.

As if my life wasn't shitty enough, with my father not in the picture and my mother working two jobs to support me and my sister, the world had decided to smack me across the face with a reality that wasn't even supposed to exist.

"Eren baby," my mother used to say to me when the shadows in my closet and under the bed were too much to bear. "If there was ever a monster in your room, I'd be right there to protect you."

But how was she supposed to protect me when she couldn't protect herself. Shadows and groaning floorboards in the house were the least of our worries. How were we supposed to know that my running imagination wasn't the only monster out there?

I had been excited. My mother managed to scrounge up enough cash to take Mikasa and I to the amusement park. I had never been and my friends never shut up about it when the topic came up. Being the brat I was I kicked and screamed at my mother to take us. She had pinched my ear in retaliation and dragged me up to my room until I behaved better, but she still ended up taking extra shifts at work because she knew how bad I wanted this.

We never made it, and I never forgave myself for every awful thing I ever told her.

Mikasa and I walked home, kicking a rock back and forth, and talking excitedly about how great was going to be. For once I could finally join my friends and talk about the rides, the ones that scared me the most, instead of sitting back cursing my mom for letting us get so poor. My mother had bathed herself in golden light with the knowledge that we'd be able to make it and I was too caught up in my own greed and selfishness to see what it was costing her. Mikasa and I were ecstatic, though, to go somewhere fun. We never went anywhere those days.

We couldn't stop talking about it. That was until we walked up to our shabby house, seeing the door slightly ajar. Our mouths closed and our eyes widened because that was so unlike mom.

Mikasa had slunk back. She wanted to go to Armin's. She said she had a bad feeling and that we should get out of there. I refused though. Mom never left the door open, she knew what kind of neighborhood we lived in. Maybe someone had broke in. Maybe mom was hurt. I didn't want to leave until I had an explanation over how reckless my mom was being. So I took Mikasa's hand and pulled her through the door.

I couldn't even find the strength to scream.

Mom was on the floor, a man hovering over her, and he was eating her. His mouth was moving around her neck and blood was seeping to the floor and my mother was just staring. She was just watching the ceiling, her fingers twitching. She turned a head towards me and her eyes finally cleared when she look at my sister and I.

"Run," she mouthed.

And then I screamed.

I screamed and screamed as Mikasa pulled me out of the house kicking and reaching back for my mom. I screamed when I saw the man coming out after us. I screamed when he reached towards me with a bloody grin. Red crazed eyes bored into my own and that crooked bloody smile left my blood running cold. Those eyes and that smile would haunt my dreams for years, waking me up in the dead of the night kicking and screaming because he was right there. Only he wasn't. He was gone, and he took my moms life with him.

The neighbors were coming out of their house, watching, and it wasn't until a man came out waving a handgun and shouting at the man that he ran. But I couldn't stop screaming. Police cars were arriving and a stretcher brought my mother out to the ambulance. A man in uniform tried to talk to me about what happened, but I couldn't find the strength to open my mouth. I knew if I tried I'd only start screaming again.

Mom was pronounced dead at the scene. They wouldn't let me go to her. They wouldn't let me see her one last time.

Armin came running towards me, crying and clinging to me and trying to say that I'd be okay.

"My grandfather's on your moms will," he tried to explain, his voice thick and shaking. "You can live with us." Like that was what I was worrying about. I could care less about not having a home. My mother was gone. She was my home.

I couldn't tear my eyes off of my house. I couldn't stop thinking about the way my mom looked at us. I couldn't stop seeing her dying.

My jaw set, and I felt red hot anger boiling inside of me.

"I'll kill him Armin." I whispered angrily. "I'll find him and destroy him."

Mikasa only held my hand tightly, crying beside me.

"Eren," Mikasa whispered. "You're distracted, pay attention."

"Sorry," I muttered under my breath. I reached behind me and pulled out a wooden stake, holding it tightly. I was shaking in anticipation. Maybe this was him. Maybe this was the son of a bitch that killed Mom.

There had been a rush of murderers about ten minutes from where we lived. Our town was a hotspot, crawling with lowlifes that no one would bother looking into when they went missing. It was a perfect place for them to hunt and kill. They came through, stayed a couple of weeks, and then moved on. We slaughtered what we could. I wouldn't stop until I found the one who murdered my mom.

Vampires were tricky though. It's not easy to track down a single one.

We moved up closer to the edge of the factory, following a trail of blood and distant gasping noises. The sounds of suckling and moaning were making me sick. I grimaced, clutching my stake tighter to try and get a hold of myself.

We were too late to actually save anyone at this point, but the least we could do was kill the son of a bitch. I motioned for Mikasa to stay back. She turned her back to me to keep a look out in case there were more hiding out there. I crept forward a little more and peeked into the warehouse, pulling back with a grimace. The girl was definitely dead, possibly even drained, but the monster continued to suck at her skin as if he could get any more out. A newborn probably. They were usually the ones responsible for recklessness like this. No other vampire would choose a spot so surrounded by human population to feed, nor would they be so careless as to leave so much of a mess. An experienced vampire could easily bite a person without killing them in the end. Their saliva has healing properties so it was easy to cover up their tracks after they fed.

A sound of a guttural groan echoed through the air and I turned back towards the vampire in a panic. A stake stuck out of the back of his chest, a small figure standing over him. Before I could get over the shock that someone managed to sneak in without Mikasa realizing, the figure stood up. They stared me down with bright silver eyes, and smirked.

"Too slow."