Coming into Their Own

Disclaimer: "Bumblebee! Stop lubricating on the human!" [1

A/N: After twelve long years, Kristen gets to meet her mother. Who has been locked in the loony bin. And is a vampire. Can Kris and Kim hold it together long enough to keep from getting themselves killed?

2. Confrontations

When Neal found Kristen, she was sobbing next to a supply closet door.

"What's wrong?" He asked. It wasn't like the super-hyper vamp to cry. Especially since she'd professed more than once that she was incapable of sadness. She only ever cried when extremely frightened.

"Nothing!" The ice-eyed girl hiccoughed through a stream of tears.

"It's not nothing." The ebony haired boy deadpanned. "Come on, Kristen. You can tell me stuff. We always talked back in the labs. What scared you?"

At first, she looked down, avoiding her teammate's gaze. After a ragged sigh, she inhaled and spilled her guts to him. "My sister just called. About my mother."

"And?" Neal asked, unsure about where this was going.

"My real mom! She sent a letter to Cara. Apparently, we were taken away from her because she lost her mind and had to be locked in an insane asylum. Anyway, she writes out of the blue and asks Kim and I to come visit her in the loony bin! How crazy is that?"

Neal tilted his head. This had to be the strangest tale he'd heard in a while. However, all he said was "So, are you leaving?"

Kristen growled. "I don't know! I mean, what if she's like completely mental! I don't want to be attacked by my own mother!"

"But she could answer some of the questions you have." The plasma- generating teen offered. "Come on, even when we were in dire straights in the cells, you always talked about wanting to meet your mother. And we both know you've wanted to know more about your father."

The vampirette groaned and banged her head against the metal door. Sharra was right; she did have questions and might never get another opportunity like this one. "I told Kim I'd call her later. Just give me some time to think, okay?"

Neal nodded and stood up. "I'm here if you want to talk." She grinned at him, and he smiled back before walking away.

XXXXXXX

The following Monday, Kristen had arrived at the Dallas county mental health complex. Her stomach began to do cartwheels and she started to regret the poptart she'd had for breakfast. All of her nervous energy wound itself into a sphere that threatened to force its way out of her body. Kim, her big sister, sensed her anxiety and placed a calming hand on her shoulders.

"It'll be all right." The brown-eyed brunette assured her. "She just wants to talk."

"Why didn't she contact us before?" Kristen asked. "I mean, over ten years and this is the first letter?"

"I highly doubt it's the first." Kim retorted. "I think Cara's been keeping us from her on purpose."

"But why?" the midnight-haired teen asked. "Didn't they think we deserved to know she was okay?"

"Listen, Paul married mom because of a drunken fling they had in Vegas." The older vampire explained as one of the aids led them through the building. "Mom… got sick sometimes. I never knew why. I remember our dad sometimes gave her some weird shakes to calm her down, and she was fine most of the time afterwards. After Dad left, she got worse. Paul couldn't take it and filed for divorce. He won the custody suit and the rest is history."

"Wait a tick!" The younger sister exclaimed. "You remember Dad?"

"He left not long after you were born." Kim sighed. "Now stuff it! We're almost there and I don't want to upset her."

The nurse led them to a door at the end of a hallway. Behind the door, a pair of pale aqua eyes stared back at them through a mop of unkempt brown hair. The girls knew, with sinking trepidation, that she was indeed their mother.

"Cameron." The blond nurse said sweetly. "These are your daughters."

Cameron stared at the two girls. "Kimberly? Kristen? Are you really here, my babies?"

"Mom." Kim blinked. "Oh, Mom, I've missed you so much!"

While her older sister ran to the door. Kris stood rooted in the linoleum tile on the floor. It was only until her mother called to her that she dared to move.

"Kristen! Come, my darling! Let me look at you! Oh, Dana, may they please come in?"

The nurse, Dana, looked unsure of this. "I don't know."

"We can handle ourselves." Kim said boldly. "Just for like ten minutes."

Dana considered this, looking to Kristen. "We'll be fine." Kris reassured her. "Just ten minutes? Please?"

"Fine." Dana sighed. "But I'll be at the other end of the hall if you need me."

"We'll let you know if we do." Kim smiled as Dana unlocked the door to Cameron's room.

Once inside, Kristen took a quick visual tour. Walls made of white padded white rubber surrounded them on all sides, and a sink, bed, and toilet were placed on some one wall each. Otherwise, it was quite plain.

"It's so good to see you again." Cameron beamed. Kristen couldn't help noticing her mother's fanged smile. "I have been waiting for you for twelve years! Oh, how you've changed."

"More than you can imagine." Kristen muttered.

"My imagination is quite vivid, dear." Cameron smiled. Kim's eyes threatened to pop from their sockets.

"Mother." She gasped. "You're one too!"

"One what?" Mother smiled sweetly.

"Who was our dad?" Kristen asked, swiftly changing the subject.

"Don't you remember?" Mom asked.

"I was two." Kristen said. "I don't remember much of anything."

"He wasn't around much." Kim said. "What's to know."?

"I need to know!" Kristen shot back. "Why do you keep trying to hide the truth from me?"

"Kimberly, please, stop trying to protect her." Mother interrupted. "She has a right to know."

"But he was never…" the younger brunette started.

"He is still your father." The aqua-eyed woman said. "She deserves to know the truth, and so do you."

"Since we're on the whole truth subject, let's start with how you started draining the blood of others." Kim demanded.

"Do you know why you never met your grandmother?" Their mother asked. Both girls shook their heads. "Grandma was a vampire too. She died when we were little. Someone decided to ram a steak through her heart. Anyway, Cara was born human, and I was a vampire. She was cut off from her family for marrying a mortal. I've been dependent on blood since I was little, your father offered me a way out of killing and I accepted. Stupid me. He only wanted someone to provide him an heir. Was mighty disappointed when both of you showed signs of developing vampirisms at birth."

"What do you mean, 'a way out of killing'?" Kristen asked. "Was he some sort of scientist?"

"That's overly generous." Mother grimaced. "More like Dr. Frankenstein. I've seen him do some strange and twisted things."

"Why didn't you just drain him when you learned the truth?" Kris asked.

"Kristen!" Kim hissed. "How could you think such things!"?

"Oh, shut up, Kim! I think you're afraid of him!" Kris growled. Kim looked wounded.

"Both of you, stop this!" Cameron hissed, beginning to transform before their eyes. Both girls immediately fell silent. "That's better." Cameron growled. "In answer to your inquiry, Kristen, I could not kill him because he is virtually immortal himself! When I did gather the courage to attack, he altered his body into some kind of creature. I wasn't able to land a single bite." She screamed. Kim began to tense up, but Kris kept her cool.

"So he was a mutant?" She asked. Mother stared.

"One of the worst. Mind reader. Don't ever trust someone like that. They will always betray you!"

She could feel her mother's gaze boring into her. Already, she knew her mother's thoughts. She looked like her father. It was blatantly obvious. Kim, with her long chocolate colored hair and delicate facial features, passed as her mother's double in almost every way. Aside from sharing nearly the same eye color, her own physicality most definitely mimicked her father's.

"I'm not a mind-reader." Kristen declared defiantly. "I can alter my molecular structure, but not hear thoughts."

Kim hung her head and sighed. "I don't read thoughts, per say. I can posses the mind of my victims for one lunar cycle."

Mom lost it. On a whim, her eyes glowed red and her already pointed canines elongated to resemble snake's fangs. "You both ally with him!" She shrieked.

"No!" Kim exclaimed. "I haven't seen him in as long as you have! I don't even know…"

"Silence!" Cameron growled. "You have provoked my wrath!"

Kim froze in horror. Kristen barely dragged her sister away before her mother attacked. Wasting no time, Kristen dropped her civilian disguise and lunged at her mother. "Was this what you wanted? To kill us both?" She screamed.

"You have both betrayed me!" Cameron screamed.

"How can we betray you?" Kristen shouted. "We barely know you!"

"Aunt Cara made sure that we never saw…"

"CARA!" The adult cried. "Traitor to my own blood! You have sworn her allegiance, and ergo must perish!" Again, she and Kristen went to blows.

Sure, Andi had taught her a great deal about how to stab and bite your way through a brawl, but this was different. Her mother—the one who was supposed to protect her—was now bent on taking her and her sister's lives. Not for the first time, she wished there were another adult vamp around somewhere.

Kim stood rooted in horror. Never before had her eyes witnessed a fight so brutal. Blood splashed from each in spurts, only for the wound to heal seconds later. Most of her froze at the sight, but one piece of her being itched to join the fray. It was her own fault for being so daft in fights, but she had been raised to become a lady, not a killer. Not like the two relatives before her. But no matter how grotesque the sight was, the thought of losing her sister ranked far higher on the fear-ometer. Abandoning all caution, she jumped into the brawl. "Leave her alone!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Cameron's mentality slipped a gear. "Both of you have followed him. I should have known my sister would brainwash you both! And him for giving her leverage!"

"Someone get down here!" Kristen shouted through the bars on the door.

"No one can save you!" Cameron exclaimed. "I'll make him pay for using you against me!"

"By killing us?" Kim blinked. "Mother, please, don't do this!"

"Don't call me mother, you backstabber!" Cameron hissed. "You shall call me Pariah!"

"Oh brother." Kris groaned. "She's lost whatever marbles she had left!"

"Cameron! Stand back!" One of the guards shouted, sticking a cross up to the door.

"That won't work, you twit!" Kristen shouted. "Just crack the f'n door!"

The men did, and the two teens squeezed out.

"I think we're safe." Kim groaned, but Kristen wasn't quite sure. She had seen just what real vampires were capable of, and it scared her.

The guards continued to fight Cameron at the door. The vampirette had thrown herself into the object and pushed against their efforts with her full strength.

"She's breaking through!" One of them shouted. True to form, as soon as the door had cracked, a curl of smoke floated into the hallway and reformed into Cameron Hastings. She looked more menacing than ever.

"You are all with him!" She shrieked like a banshee. "I shall kill you all!"

Her desire, fortunately, would not come to pass. One of the doctors walked up with a taser and fired, sending the woman to her knees.

"That's quite enough, Miss Hastings." He boomed. "Back into your room!"

"I will not surrender!" She screamed.

"Then you leave me no choice." The man said, motioning softly to the aids at the window behind him. Kristen noticed, and had the good sense to disguise herself. Kim ducked behind one of the older doctors to avoid being fried. Once the aids saw the girls were safe, they opened the blinds. The midday sun stopped Pariah in her tracks.

"Noooo!" She wailed, falling wholesale onto the linoleum floor. "It burns! It burns!"

"Take her inside quickly!" The doctor ordered. The guards obeyed, swiftly dumping the woman into her cell and locking the door. Once the door had shut with a click, the blinds were once again closed.

"Curse you Nathaniel!" Cameron wailed. "I shall have my vengeance!"

"Not today, Pariah!" Kristen yelled at the door, exciting a pounding noise from her birthmother.

"I think you girls have had enough for today." The man with the taser said softly. "Let's take you back down to the lobby."

The three marched all the way to the parking lot before either of them spoke.

"I wish it could have been different." Kim groaned. "Sorry to ruin it for you, Kris."

"It's not your fault." The onyx haired girl sighed. "Something tells me she would have hated us regardless of what you said."

"That still doesn't make it right." Kim glared.

"What's right doesn't always count." Kristen retorted as she got into her sister's car and prepared for a long, lonely trip back to Florida and the main base for the Dreadnoks. She had been granted an early homecoming, but felt about as low as a girl could get.

1) Fun quote from Transformers.

Next up: The remaining four members of Shadowatch have three days to themselves before they're allowed to return to the main base, which means a lot of team training with Zartan. Wonder who ends up teaching whom?