Children of the promised blood

For as long as he can remember, Rome's life has been very uneventful, even depressingly so. His mom left shortly after he graduated elementary school, and his father had turned from an enthusiastic scientist into a depressed, sleep-deprived biology teacher who spends all of his time locked behind his research room door, barely providing for the family. Until one day a freak accident caused by an odd creature brought in by his father leaves him lingering between life and death.