Okay, so I'll probably won't be updating too often on this, because of my othe HoN story, Burned. So I haven't given this story much thought, but I didn't give Burned much thought either and it was my most successful fanfic (well, my other two aren't exactly great. One is a songfic and the other is going to be long, but I haven't started it yet. I will soon, though. At the moment there's only A/N at the start :P)

"Where are you going?" my mom practically screamed at me as I reached for the door handle.

"To Nathan's house," I called back, trying not to lose my patience with my always drunk mother.

"No you're not, James. It's ten o'clock. You're staying here, okay?" Her words were slurred.

"Okay," I said, opening the door and slamming it behind me. I honestly don't think she noticed. She was probably already passed out. I sighed. I was a fifteen year old kid who was burdened with the job of looking after his mom since he was eleven. That's when it all happened. When - no. I wouldn't think of that right now. I was going to an awesome party where there would be loads of hot girls, Nathan had said.

I smiled. Tonight was going to be great. Nathan's parents were out of town for the whole weekend, and they actually trusted their son - I mean, come on. Nathan has been doing drugs since forever, and they haven't even noticed. I was almost halfway to Nathan's house. I smiled as I remembered when we were eight years old, and we measured the exact distance between our houses.

"James Stark! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!" said a tall pale man, stepping out in front of me. Oh, God. I knew who he was - a tracker. I had seen loads of kids get Marked at school before. I just never thought it would happen to me.

I was happy. Should I have been happy? Probably not. But all I could think of was how I'd be free from the task of looking after my mom all my life. Now I would be free!

But, the bad side: I would be a vampyre, I would have to live at Hell High, and I would probably have to, like, suck people's blood. Great.

And I wouldn't be able to see my best friend, Nathan. He was going to be mad when he found out I'd been Marked. That was what I was worrying about when I passed out.

***

I woke up in Nathan's front room. Jeesh, had I passed out on the couch or something? Godsake, why didn't Nathan wake me up? I looked around and saw that there was no one with me. It must be really late, then. Everybody had gone home. Was Nathan even awake?

"Here. Drink this," Nathan said, as if replying to my thoughts. I jumped and turned to see him holding a glass of water. I grabbed it and gulped it down immediately.

"What time is it?" I asked, feeling a headache coming on.

"Half eleven," Nathan said, watching me carefully.

I laughed. "Party must have sucked. Why'd everyone leave so early?"

"Well, to be honest they were kinda creeped out by that thing on your forehead."

"That thing?" I felt my forehead self conciously.

Nathan sighed. "Go look at yourself in the mirror."

I handed him the empty glass and walked mechanically to the downstairs bathroom. I walked to the mirror and looked at myself carefully. At first my vision was kinda blurry and I couldn't see much, but then I saw the sapphire outline of a crescent moon shape right in the middle of my forehead. Then it all came rushing back and I nearly fainted again.

"James?" Nathan asked from the doorway. "You were Marked."

It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. "How did you find me? I thought I passed out after . . . after it happened."

"Yeah, you did. Me and Mike went looking for you because you never showed up, and found you about an hour ago. We brought you back here and everyone besides Mike left."

Shakily, I touched the tattoo that forever Marked me as a vampyre. Or whetever you were before you became a vampyre first, I guess. That is, if I became a vampyre . . .

"Nathan, what if I die?" I asked suddenly, my voice surprisingly strong.

"What? You won't. We just have to get you to a the House of Night. Okay?"

"That's not what I mean! What if - ?"

"James, shut up for once. We need to tell your mom what happened and then we need to get you to the House of Night."

I gritted my teeth. "Don't bother telling her."

"James," Nathan said gently, "You need to tell her. No matter what, she's your mom."

It was then I realized that he hadn't called me by my last name, Stark, like he usually did. Later I thought more about it, and decided that the matter was just too serious for the comfort of our childhood nicknames.

"No, she's not," I said through gritted teeth. "Nathan, just drive me to the House of Night, okay? I'll be fine then." Nathan was a full year older than me, so he was able to drive while I still couldn't.

"Dude, come on. You have to tell her."

I shook my head determindly. "No. I don't. I'll call her, if that makes you happy."

Nathan knew how stubborn I could be, and didn't argue. Instead he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Here," he said, then left me some privacy.

I dialled the number quickly, and, surprisingly, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's me."

"James, I'm going to kill you. I told you not to go out, and you completely ignored me. When you get home - "

"I'm not going home, Mom," I said, trying to hold onto my patience. And sanity. "I've been Marked. I'm going to the House of Night."

There was a long, awkward pause. "Do you have to?"

"Yes, Mom, I have to. Unless you want me to die, in which case I'd be happy to go home tonight."

"What about your stuff? Don't you want it?"

"Well, maybe when you're sober you could drop my things over. If it's too much trouble, just ask Nathan. I'm sure he'd - " I couldn't finish. A great hacking cough took over my whole body. I felt so, so sick. Oh, God. I really did have to get to the House of Night, and fast. Lucky there was not too far from here.

"Mom, I've got to go. See ya." Or not I thought as I hung up.

What do you think? Should I continue? Or not?

Last time I checked my House of Night books, the two names on the cover were P.C Cast and Kristin Cast. And since neither of those names are mine, I guess I still don't own the House of Night series. Ah, well. How bad? . . . ? XD

~Thanks for reading, please let me know if I should continue..