Theodore turned sixteen today....it just made me realize how old I'm getting, I'm already forty-two, but at least I'm not forty-eight like Vincent.

"Theo, what do you want to do today?"

"Nothing," he replied.

"Yes, you do. It's your birthday." I retorted as he furrowed his brows.

"Don't you worry, mother," Arayia and Tobias, my thirteen-year-old twins, walked in together. "I'll take over his birthday; he's not that important anyway."

"Just like how you suck at soccer, always giving Uncle Lucky and King a problem."

Arayia scoffed. "Shut up, Theodore."

"How is a seven-year-old and a five-year-old better at soccer than you?" Tobias snickered.

"First of all, their fathers are soccer players; of course, they're going to be better." A'rayia defended.

"Might as well give up," Theo said, shrugging, going through the book of Witch and Wizard's spells.

"Alright, not too much, y'all." I scolded. "Your dad will be here in a couple of minutes, and we can go to six flags or maybe schedule a day to go to Disneyworld?"

The twins got excited, but Theodore shook his head, closing the book. "Um, since you really want me to do something...." Theodore said, thinking. "I want to see her, the murderer."

Everyone looked at him with furrowed brows. "Excuse me?"

A'rayia laughed. "He turned sixteen and doesn't know how to act."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "For real, what's going on?"

"Our grandmother–"

My heart jumped out of my chest when he mentioned my mother, my evil mother who had a lot more to hide than just abuse and attempted murder.

"After just a year in prison, she went back to court and was tried for first-degree murder and was found guilty. I want to interview her."

"Interview who?"

My heart jumped up again. "Everyone in this house wants me to die of a heart attack," I muttered.

Vincent chuckled, kissing my cheek. "I don't. What's going on?"

"I want to interview mom's mom."

Vincent looked at him for a while before he clapped my shoulder. "Have fun with that, A'roya."

I groaned as Vincent walked into the kitchen. "Listen, honey; your grandmother doesn't like any of you. I didn't stay with who she wanted me to be with."

Theodore shrugged. "She's a murderer, an abuser. I don't want to rekindle; I want to study her, to see why she did it. I might get a career in law enforcement."

"What type? The typical donut-eating police patrol officer."

Theodore side-eyed her. "No, I want to enter the FBI, specifically the BAU (Behavioral Analysis unit). I'm not a low life like you, A'rayia."

"I wouldn't go for that—"

"Shut the hell up, Tobias."

I sighed as Vincent glared at them. "Please shut the fuck up."

A'rayia shrugged. "Fine then, we're taking this outside."

Tobias gladly stands up, and so does Theo but the twins glare at him.

"What are you doing?" Tobias asked. "You really think we're going to make the mistake of practicing with you?"

Theodore looked at me with an innocent look, and I waved him off. "What did I do?"

"You blew me practically into one of the earth's hemispheres!" Tobias exclaimed as Vincent snorted.

"You used my own hair to violate me, never again." A'rayia reminded

Theodore is a Vampire-Wizard, A'rayia is Witch, and Tobias is a Wizard, so Theodore tends to overuse his powers on his siblings.

"Come on, Tobias, without you, I don't know why you're following."

Theodore slumped back down. "Can I at least meet that woman?"

Vincent and I look at each other.

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

Attica Correctional Facility, that's where they put the woman I called mom. It's been sixteen years, I'm unbelievably forty-two, since I've seen that woman, and I didn't plan on doing that.

Somehow Theodore found out about her, and he's interested in her. I don't want to see her. I stayed in the waiting room while Theodore had a forty-five-minute talk with her. Vincent took the twins to King and Lucky's children's games.

King and Lucky are both twenty-nine years old.

King is married with two girls and another anonymous child on the way. His wife's Dominican named Valentina; I don't know how they met, he just turned up with her, and they dated for one year and a half before marrying.

Lucky has a girl and a boy with his girlfriend; they are currently on a 'break' right now because, after two children, Lucky still doesn't want to settle; at his big age of twenty-nine, nigga said, 'I'm not ready to settle.' honestly annoying but what can I say they're grown, men.

White's twenty-six, and she's married to a man named Jin-sun; his American name is Joseph, and he's Korean. They're expecting their first child in the fall......

A'raya's thirty-two, and she married when she was eighteen because of the contract my mother signed her off. She's had four children, two girls, and two boys, with her husband, Zane–well, he prefers to be called Abe.

Jericho's forty-three and has four girls with Phoebe; it looks like he got his wish, no boys, just girls.

What I'm trying to say is that we've all moved on, even Elora and Khassy.

Elora had two children, one girl, and one boy, with Finnegan, and so did Khascian. No one missed her, no one needed her, we moved on, her friends–Konstantina and Deborah, have forgotten about her, and their lives are better without her.

My mother's a master manipulator, manipulating grown women into almost ruining their families. She's a psychopath, a murderer. I thank god she didn't kill Atlas.

After forty-five minutes, Theodore came back and hugged me. "I'm sorry I even asked to come here, mom."

I sighed. "It's fine, hon. You were going to find out sooner or later."

"She didn't have a motive, she killed him for fun, so she continued to do it, she tried to kill Uncle Atlas, but it didn't work. She's....more than a crazy bitch." Theodore mumbled to himself. "Damn, the bitch is crazy, but–" he looked up at me, "it was interested nonetheless. I learned about your ex-husband, Derek."

"Oh my god," I mumbled, taking Theodore's arm and pulling him out with me. I'm not going to go into everything, especially Derek.

"Can you tell me about him?"

"No, he's a bad man in my past, is all I can tell you."

"I'll just ask you next year," Theodore giggled.

What kind of child...?

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

"Do you think your mother would've killed all of you one by one if you did nothing?" Vincent asked randomly after hours of silence.

I shook my head. "If she was successful in killing Atlas, maybe, but she found her pleasure in seeing us being hurt by other people," I wrapped my arms around him. "I'm very grateful for you," I whispered. "I would've done anything and everything for her and Derek; I would've probably died. I really thought that the life I had was normal."

"Well," Vincent said smugly. "I always swoop in to save the day."

"Well, that's good, daddy, 'cause I have a game to go to, and you need to save the day." A'rayia quite literally jumped into our conversation.

Vincent glared at her. "No–"

"It's Theo's birthday, and he doesn't know how to celebrate. Tobias and I want to help because going to prison to visit your psychopathic grandma is not how you celebrate."

I sighed in agreement as Vincent shrugged. "I don't see how that's a me problem."

"It is a you problem, daddy, but I'm making it our problem. Theodore's writing a whole essay; please, dad, save him."

I looked at Vincent. "I don't think Theo's a normal teen." I don't remember writing essays for the fun of it or taking trigonometry my senior year at sixteen...because I was eighteen, taking calculus–which is on grade level, and barely passing with a solid D+.

"Be glad he's not taking drugs; I don't feel like getting up." Vincent groaned.

"I don't see how that's a me problem." A'rayia mocked as I laughed.

"She won. We're going."

"Fuck you both."

"Love you, daddy, that's what you get for giving me two brothers instead of at least one sister." A'rayia blew a kiss before yelling at her brothers to get ready.

"You see the kids you had?"

I snorted. "Excuse me? You see the kids you put inside me?"

"I'm going to get milk," he said as he got up.

I laughed. "I'm right behind you. You're not escaping this, stupid."

Vincent glared at me before entering the kitchen, taking the milk, and spilling it in the sink. "Oh shit, the milk's gone."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're not funny nigga."

"I'm very funny." He winked back.