Her face brightens up immediately. Kita starts to regret his decision. He just wanted to make his mom happy, he really didn't think about what exactly giving her this freedom would entail. He's going to have to lie. A lot. Still, if it'll give her some peace of mind...

"Were you ever going to tell me?" She starts off, a sad look to her eye. Oh god, one question in and Kita already feels bad. "I mean, if Evie didn't allow your marriage, would you have ever said anything? Why didn't you tell me when you got together? I'm sorry for whatever I did that made you uncomfortable with me knowing about you two."

She's talking kind of fast, like she's getting something off her chest. Kita can tell this has probably been on her mind quite a bit. It doesn't help his guilt. Ugh, why did they have to make it public so fast? Alexis and his mother could've given Kita some time to notify his family! Even aside from just wanting to give them the courtesy, it would've made the whole thing seem more realistic as well.

"I, uh..." Kita does not know what to say. He isn't good at lying, which is tragic, because clearly his future is going to hold quite a bit of it. "I was planning on telling you soon. It all happened really fast."

Now that's not a lie. This whole thing has moved way too fast. It's nothing Kita wasn't prepared for, he fully anticipated it due to the urgency. It doesn't mean he particularly appreciates everything, though. It's mostly the lack of communication that irks him.

"Well, how long have the two of you been together?"

Shit. Kita and Alexis really should've figured out a cover story. Guess Kita's about to have to make it all up on the spot. He'll just notify Alexis of whatever he comes up with later. "Um, a few years."

Right? That's a normal amount of time to be together before getting married? Maybe?

Liz frowns at him. "How many?"

Should Kita have specified? What does he know about relationships? Thats right, next to nothing. He doesn't want it to be so many that it hurts his mother's feelings further. However, he also wants it to be believable. It helps that they've known each other so long. "Uh, three?"

That appears to suffice. The woman nods, looking down at the hardwood of the table as she processes this. "Since you were eighteen."

Liz still looks kind of melancholic, and Kita wonders if that was too long of a timeframe. Three years didn't sound too bad, but when she phrases it like that... since he was eighteen, and Alexis would've been twenty. It sounds a lot longer that way.

Kita just hums in affirmation, trying not to wince as he continues eating his meal. He wants more than anything to dump it in the trash, but the last thing he needs to do right now is make his mom more upset. Insulting her cooking, which is exactly how she'd take him not eating it, is the equivalent of spitting in that woman's face.

"Well, we think the two of you look great together," she tells him. Kita gives her a half-hearted smile, knowing she's just being supportive. Even if they look good together, they're still— "there's no better match for you."

They're still a horrible match. Maybe they wouldn't have been before, but things are different now.

At least it's not actually romantic, Kita attempts reassuring himself, since that would make this much more complicated. It still doesn't make him feel better, unfortunately.

"Thank you," he says quietly, finishing his food. Liz gives him a small smile. He puts his fork down, his stomach making low sounds of protest. It's about to be a long night.

Conversation moves on after that, and Liz appears in a better mood. They say their goodbyes in the doorway, and then Kita is on his way home. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely hates being a vampire. This fucking sucks. However, there are a few upsides to it. Mainly the fact that he can go out at night with next to no worries. Now, he can take care of himself.

That's basically the only upside. His new abilities. He has heightened strength and senses, though not to their potential. If he was born into the species, he'd be a lot more powerful. So, he doesn't even get that. He just has to feed off blood the rest of his life and not even reap and rewards.

Kita, thankfully, knows his way back to the castle now. Due to the fact he constantly had to leave his house to get blood from Evander, though that's not an option anymore, so he's had quite a bit of practice. Therefore, he's expecting the trek home to be uneventful. He's wrong.

Kita's about halfway there, what he hears a gut-wrenching noise. It sounds like an animal, one in a lot of pain. Not just any animal, though.

It sounds like a bird.

Kita's stomach sinks, eyes widening in alarm when his mind immediately reminds him of Cordelia. Cordelia, who is flying around with a Vanhallam band on her leg. In Amarath.

Kita wastes no time changing direction, immediately making a beeline for the alleyway he'd been passing. He sees quite well in the dark, another rare upside to his new species. So, it doesn't take him long to gauge the situation, once he reaches the back of the alleyway.

He finds a bird, one that looks a lot like Cordelia, on the ground. She's not moving, and Kita is hit with the scent of blood. His eyes widen, immediately reaching up to cover his nose. He's hit which the scent of the soap he used at his mother's house, as well as the faint smell of cleaning detergent. This is preferable.

Kita is met with the sight of what looks like two teenaged kids. One has a shovel in his hand, and the other is standing over the bird with a grin on his face. They appear old enough to be out of school, or close to it, and the joy on their faces at hurting the bird has Kita already pissed off.

"Hey!" He shouts, instantly getting their attention. He's met with another obstacle, once he catches sight of their eyes. They reflect the light of the street lamps behind Kita, and he realizes he's not dealing with humans. They must be shifters, though there's no telling what animal.

Eve really wasn't kidding. The monster problem is getting worse. The fact people are scared to go out at night, and the fact said monsters feel comfortable doing so, are proof enough of that. Kita can't really smell the two teenagers, the wind isn't blowing the proper direction for that. Therefore, he can't tell the animal. This would be valuable information.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kita asks, though it comes out as more of a demand. He watches the boy who'd been standing over the bird back away, beginning to look guilty. The other one doesn't match his attitude, instead looking proud of himself.

"It's a Vanhallam messenger bird," the boy says, like that justifies any of this. It confirms the fact that this is definitely Cordelia, though, which only has Kita's anger rising. He also feels king of guilty, wishing he'd have been able to catch her before he flew away. Wishing he could taken it off her. He knew this would happen!

Kita doesn't stop walking until he's in between Cordelia and the boys. His eyes are narrowed, clearly fucking pissed, but thankfully his appearance hasn't changed at all, something he was worried about in the presence of blood.

This is when an idea occurs to him. Turned vampires are rare, and Kita is sure that these two are fully aware that turned vampires are weaker. If Kita were to actually fight these two, he would probably lose. A born vampire, however... yeah, two shifters wouldn't stand a chance.

Kita doesn't need to fight them, though. He really just needs them to leave, which he could do by scaring them. It's not like they know he wasn't born into the species.

"That's no reason to hurt her," Kita replies, beginning to feel his appearance changing. He's gotten pretty good at that, at controlling his physical vampiric features and when they come out. He loses most of this control when he's around blood, unfortunately.

The boy without shame, clearly proud of what they've done, responds in confusion, "but we're hungry."

Kita clenches his jaw, claws elongating and digging into his palms. The glowing blood red begins to take over his eye color, and Kita watches them both stumble away from him when it does so. They're clearly scared, which Kita is thankful for. Something went right for once, hopefully that will keep up.

"Then go home," Kita tells them, voice low. It almost sounds like growl. The boys are already backing away when he continues, "and learn to cook."

Right after the words leave his mouth, they're gone. Kita's being serious, too. He has to live off of blood, he has no choice in that matter. Shifters, though? Most are carnivores, but they can just go to a local butcher's shop and get a slab of meat. They can learn to cook it, learn how to season and spice food. Kita knows, Kita can cook very well, but he has no choice. He can't have any of the food he used to love.

Shifters can practically eat whatever they want. It pisses him off that they take that for granted.

Once the boys are gone, the scent of blood begins to really register. Kita isn't particularly keen on risking any more harm to Cordelia, so he walks over to the apartment building next to him. Someone has their clothes out, hanging on a line, but Kita's attention is solely on the clothing pins.

Kita grabs a pin and clamps it over his nose, before stealing the article of clothing he took it from. Kita grabs the small shirt, appearing to belong to a child, and tries not to feel even guiltier than he already does. It's fine! Sure, he's technically stealing from his people, but it's for a good cause! He will make it up to them.

After this, he turns back around. Time to help Cordelia.