I'M back guys! Thanks for your reviews! Now, onto the story….

"Mar?" Paris called meekly, running his fingers through his nut-brown hair. It was well past midnight as he walked into the stuffy kitchen, where his mother was dicing the deer she had just killed.

"Yes, Paris?" she replied. Her eyes were still on the knife.

"Why am I not growing?" This question had been swiveling through his mind for the last eight years, and only now had he summoned up the courage to ask.

Every day, every day since he had moved into this house, he had been watching the girl next door. The first few years, she looked exactly like he had. Both were small, chubby, and constantly smiling, even when the most troubling thoughts were bothering them.

She came over every Sunday to play tag indoors. Paris was strictly forbidden to go outside by Marion. He wanted, desperately, to go out and pluck the grass, climb trees, and run around freely, but he obeyed his mother.

Marion kept him guarded. She never told him about he true ways of the vampires. She never told him about the harmful sunlight, as she found no purpose to telling him. The blinds were always closed in the household, so why bother?

Then, when Paris turned 6, he noticed something about the girl. She was… changing. Her facial features had become more serious and she didn't smile quite as often. Before, they were about the same height, but now his eyes were at the same level as her hips.

Marion noticed the suspicion twinkling in Paris's eyes. She needed to get rid of that girl, fast. On a usual Sunday, the girl came over and knocked on their door.

"I'm sorry, Katie, but Paris is very ill… it might be fatal," she lied through gritted teeth. A single tear beaded down the young girl's cheek.

"I can never see him again?" Katie inquired, her voice quivering with fear.

"I'm afraid not." Katie nodded sharply and ran to back home, wailing, into her mother's arms.

What Marion didn't know was Paris had heard the entire conversation. He stormed off into his room, cross with everyone in the world. His only friend in the world was no longer there for him.

But why had Marion lied to her? He wasn't ill… he was a vampire. The only way vampires were different from humans was that they drank blood, and THAT was hard enough for him to adapt to. Drinking blood nauseated him, and the only reason he did it was because he would die if he didn't.

Then it hit him. Marion was hiding things from him. He didn't know everything about vampires… but he needed to. She was shielding him from vital information, babying him.

What does a true vampire do?

Paris lay in bed every night, staring at the cracked ceiling. The question taunted him. It kept him awake until two AM, and the only reason he would fall asleep was because his eyelids refused to stay open. Yet even when he was sleeping, the question appeared in all of his dreams and nightmares.

This had been going on for over two years now. If it happens just one more time, I'm going to go insane, Paris had thought to himself as he stared out the window, watching Katie playing with her baby brother on the front porch. I'm ten years old… why do I still look the same? Why am I not changing like Katie is? Why can't I go outside?

He was determined to ask, so he clenched his teeth together and raced into the kitchen before he could hesitate and change his mind.

"Why am I not growing? Why can't I go outside?" Marion stiffened.

"You don't need to know."

Paris walked closer to her and repeated calmly, "Why am I not growing? Why can't I go outside?"

She was now tentative and her fingers were trembling. "You're sick. You have an illness, which prevents you from-" He could see right through her. Those were lies. She could trick Katie with her tall tales, but not him.

"I'm not ill, Marion, and I know I am not. Tell me the truth, Marion."

Averting her eyes to avoid eye contact, she chose to ignore the boy. If she told him the truth, the possibility her dream of becoming a proper mother coming true was going to vanish into thin air. Even now, Paris didn't consider her his mother. She insisted on him calling her "Ma" or "Mother", but he refused to. When she told him that he had all this secret power inside of him, he would leave her for sure.

And that was why she kept the reality away from him. Simply to be a "proper family".

Excepts their "family" – members including Frank, Paris, and Marion – were not proper at all. Dysfunctional was the word being thrown around town lately.

"It IS the truth, Paris," she snapped back at him. "And I demand you believe me."

"Why would I do that?" he replied. Marion stared back at him, widening her eyes.

"Because I'm your mother, that's why!" she cried. Her voice echoed all around the room, the fraud statement bouncing off the walls.

Paris shook his head steadily. "You're not my mother." He turned to leave. Frantically, Marion tried to grab him, but he shook off her hand and continued on. His pace was increasing step by step, and by the time he was at the gates of the house, he was running.

But it wasn't running. Paris looked down at his feet, to realize he was moving at an incredible pace. Tears blinding her eyes, Marion tried to move. To her horror, she realized that her legs wouldn't budge. In a state of frenzy now, she tried to crawl after him, but her arms buckled and she fell on the floor.

"Why can't I move?" she hissed.

"Because it's DESTINY." She flipped her head around to see where the eerie whisper had come from, but the house was deserted. She was utterly on her lonesome. All she could do now was wail for Frank, in hope that he would hear her and chase after Paris.

"Frank! Frank!" Her calls of distress became more distant as Paris flitted away. He was clumsily tripping over his own feet, falling to the ground countless times, but he was quick to get back up and start again. The experience was exhilarating – after more than half a decade of being cooped up in a small house, he finally felt liberated and free of his worries. He concentrated seldom on the beat of his heart and the rhythm of his steps.

"Hey, kid!" he heard someone yell. Fear surged through his body as he attempted to run faster.

"Kid!" The man's voice yelled again. Oh Lord, who is he? "Kid, I'm a vampire too!" That statement made Paris freeze in his spot. He dropped to the ground almost immediately.

"What're you doing, kid? Tripping like that all over the place…" he chuckled. As he looked up, he could see the man's face was covered in scars. "Haven't been trained much yet, huh?"

The child stayed silent. "Not much of a talker now, are you? That's a pity. What's your name?"

"Paris," he muttered.

"Nice to meetcha Paris." Laughing gruffly, he added, "My name's Harnon. Harnon Oan."

Unexpected? Hm… maybe. :P Review, please! Bye, until next time!