Soft moonlight pools on the dark carpet and illuminates the room. Katerina's still not awake yet and Harry's watching her with a sea of sadness in his eyes and a steady stream of anxiousness coursing through his veins.

He can still taste her blood on his tongue.

Everyone that was watching from outside is long since gone, but he still feels their heavy presence as he waits for stolen life to return.

Katerina stirs, a fragile sound passing her lips as she regains her senses. The pain hasn't settled in yet, but it's only a matter of time and Harry's heart aches for her.

She shouldn't have to be like him because he screwed up—shouldn't have been forced to choose a life of damnation or a terminal end all because he grew too attached.

Dark eyes open with a surprised snap. Katerina shoots up in bed, like she's had one of those 'falling' dreams. A loud gasp breaks the silence as she looks around in panic.

Harry offers her a warm smile, "Welcome back, love."

Katerina's already scared and he's trying to show her some comfort and familiarity before the pain of the final transformation takes its hold on her.

Her eyes search his to reaffirm that this isn't just another dream—that she really died and returned as a vampire. The sorrow that fills his eyes is enough to reassure her that this is reality and that there's no going back now.

Everything is too bright and she can hear better than she ever thought possible. She's absolutely terrified and overwhelmed.

Harry's smile fades like the stars after the moon swaps places with the sun. Katerina looks at him much like a wild animal caught in a trap, her eyes covered in a shimmering gloss and her lips trembling slightly.

The pain has started to make an appearance and she's nearly petrified because of what she knows is coming. She takes hold of his wrist desperately, her fingertips digging into his skin.

"Promise me you'll stay."

A gentle laugh wants to emerge, but it can't in the current reality. Harry's on the verge of telling her that he's been here the entire time and that he wasn't planning to leave any time soon, but he knows that isn't what she wants to hear right now and he decides to keep it short.

The corners of his lips lift ever slightly as he removes her hand from her wrist and entwines their fingers, "I promise."

Katerina relaxes, but her eyes are darting around the room like she's following a game of ping pong. Harry brings their hands to his lips and presses a gentle kiss to the top of hers, "You'll get used to that soon."

Before she can make the words in her mind come to life, pain strangles every fiber of her being and a scream falls from her lips. She's not aware of it because she doesn't know her strength yet, but she breaks Harry's hand after only a few moments of squeezing it.

Despite the pain, he doesn't make a sound. A broken hand is nothing compared to what she's going through and he knows that better than anyone.

Katerina feels like every bone in her body is breaking one by one, each more painful than the last. Harry warned her about this, but there was no way she could've ever been prepared for this unrelenting agony.

She's broken a few bones before, but it never felt like this—never made her want to die. The worst part is that it's only just begun. Harry's silent as he watches her try to ignore it and push through the unyielding agony that's claimed her body as its home.

There are a lot of things that hurt in the world, but the transformation required to reclaim life as a vampire is the worst that he knows of. Getting hit by a semi-truck is less painful—he knows because he tried it once when he wanted to feel something other than a dull ache in his chest.

Fortunately, it doesn't last terribly long and it will pass in about two hours. While that isn't exactly a short time, it's a hell of a lot better than twenty-four hours.

Seven minutes pass before Katerina succumbs to the torment. Harry wants to leave because he hates seeing her sin so much pain and knowing that it was his fault, but he can't because he promised that he'd stay. It's better to have someone there anyway: the world feels like it's ending when the individual is left alone to suffer through the change.

Katerina's writhing in pain, tormented sounds ripping through her throat and piercing the air. She feels like she's being torn apart from the inside out. The pressure in her head is overwhelming and there are too many sounds floating to her ears. Everything feels like its folding in on itself and she can't fathom how anyone would want this.

It takes her ten minutes of incessant torture to realize that she can just end this now—stop what's already started and just fade into another world. Katerina stops writhing and reaches for the stake on the dresser that Harry gave her for protection after he first announced her choice.

Harry's not sure what he's doing until she's already got her hand wrapped around the wood. In less than a second, he knocks the stake out of her hands and pins her wrists to the mattress.

The hurt in his eyes only makes her feel worse, "No! Stop it! You told me you didn't want to die and, damn it, I'm not going to let you."

She was already crying, but this only makes it worse. All she wants is for the pain to stop.

Katerina gasps for air even though she doesn't need it. It takes a while to get used to controlling certain bodily functions. "I-It hurt so much and I-I can feel my mind changing. God, Harry, I can feel my mind becoming something else. Please make it stop. Please."

Warm tears flood his eyes as he shakes his head, "I can't do that, baby. You know I can't."

And he wishes that he hadn't said that because it only seems to make things worse. Tears fall like avalanches and sobs bounce off the walls like they're playing a game of wall ball.

It breaks his heart to see Katerina like this, but if he goes through with something that slightly lessens the pain, she'll lose herself quicker than she should.

Sensing that she won't try to kill herself again, he releases her wrists and gently cups her cheek with his right hand. "I'll do anything I can to get you back to yourself as quickly as possible. I won't let you drown, I promise."

Katerina closes her eyes and nods quickly. Trying to talk against the agony ripping through her body isn't worth the strain. Harry can only watch this for so long, and, after only forty minutes have passed, he gives in to his fear.

"There's a way to make it slightly more bearable." Katerina looks up at him with hopeful eyes overflowing with salty tears and great relief.

Harry hastily presses his lips to hers, sighing through his nose as he savors one of his last moments with her before her personality shifts. He can taste her tears and feel his heart collapse in upon itself inside his chest.

"It'll be over soon, love."

A small smile takes hold of his lips before he raises his left arm and sinks his teeth into the soft skin around his wrist. He hates doing this, but he'd hate himself even more if he continued to watch her suffer.

Katerina looks at him warily as he lends her his wrist. She remembers how he said too much of his blood could kill her entirely and how he'd later said that he wouldn't let her die.

"You won't die. Promise."

Carefully, she brings his wrist to her mouth and closes her eyes as she drinks from him for the second time during the night. Keeping the knowledge of how this will speed up her transformation to himself is absolute hell. But she wouldn't have done it if she knew and he doesn't want to see her writhe in pain anymore.

Harry gets lost in thought and fails to pay attention to how much blood she's taking. There's a level where her personality will start to blend with the other and be swallowed up entirely and he doesn't want to let her reach that point just yet.

"Kat...Kat...Baby, stop."

Reluctantly, she pulls away. Her lips are coated in dark crimson and her eyes are slightly larger than usual. She's not really sure what got into her and if she wasn't already scared about what's happening to her, it would have a much bigger impact.

The pain's gone away almost entirely, but she feels like an intruder in her own body. Harry's looking at her like she's already lost and she can hardly stand to meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

She watches the skin renew itself without struggle, the soft surface spreading over the wound like vines climb trees. There's something strange about seeing it happen and realizing that whenever she hurts herself, her body will react the same way.

A small laugh floats through Harry's lips as he catches her curious stare, "Not as cool as it looks. It's still quite painful when it happens."

The corners of Katerina's lips lift in a gentle smile as she lifts her eyes to meet his, "I'll try to remember that. Am I supposed to feel tired?"

Harry nods, "Yes, your body's gone through some traumatic changes and part of you is still human, so the need to recover from stress is still very much there."

"Hmm."

Katerina sinks into the mattress and cuddles into his side with her arms around his waist. He's never let her cuddle with him before and she wants to have that just once before she's not herself anymore.

He can tell she's smiling without having to look. "I wish you'd let me do this before."

"Me too."

Soft lips press to her temple and cause her smile to blossom. "Sleep, darling. I'll always be here."

"Promise?"

Harry's never made so many promises in his life, "Promise."

* * *

Katerina wakes a little after the sun has risen. There's some pain in her joints, but it's nothing too unbearable. Harry's asleep beside her, his pink lips parted to allow gentle snores to escape. He's rather beautiful, but she's not interested.

Hunger pangs are wreaking havoc inside of her and she needs to get out. He's a sweet man, but he's stupid to think that she would just stay put while he sleeps.

She doesn't pay attention to the sunlight behind the curtains and heads downstairs with the intent to kill. Everything in her house looks trivial and she wonders why she liked stupid things like glass animals and trinkets of every sort.

All of the curtains are closed tightly and she doesn't realize their significance until she opens the front door to a smoldering view of the sun. Immediately, fire consumes her skin and starts to burn away the surface.

Katerina screams and rushes back through the door with fingers clawing at her face.

Upstairs, Harry wakes with a start. A frown settles on his lips because he knows why he woke so suddenly. Katerina tried to go out in the middle of the day without one of the stones.

He can hear her pacing around downstairs and breaking things every now and again and it hurts his heart because he knows that she loves all the random trinkets downstairs. Maybe when he can bring her back, he'll buy her some new ones.

The sounds of the neighborhood waking up ring loudly in his ears, and he lays in bed with his eyes on the ceiling for a few minutes, avoiding Katerina for as long as possible. She's not herself anymore and he hates that more than anything.

When he finally gets out of bed and ambles downstairs, she's still pacing and incredibly pissed off.

"Why the fuck can't I go outside? I'm starving and I can't even get out of the damn house!"

Harry turns off his emotions for a moment because he knows he'll do something he regrets if he leaves them to roam free. "I already told you why. We can't go out in direct sunlight without one of the stones that shields our skin. I didn't give you one on purpose."

Katerina knocks over a vase that she once told him was her mother's. "Selfish bastard! What, you're going to keep me in here all day so you can fuck me and torment me with things I can't have?"

The switch inside him is placed in the center for moderation because he knows that he won't turn it back on once he's had it off for too long. Harry sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "No, I didn't give you one because I don't want you to leave and massacre half the town because of your bloodthirst. I know more about what you are than you do and I made you a promise that I intend to keep."

She takes a step forward with the intent to break his neck. He can still hear her thoughts because she still has remnants of his blood in her system and he's trying not to take it personally.

He doesn't stop her though because he knows it will only fuel her anger and she'll be worse later if he does. Katerina pushes him into the wall and wraps her hands around his throat. Her grip is like iron and strong enough to kill anyone else, but he doesn't have to breathe and it simply hurts instead.

"We don't need to breathe, Kat."

She presses harder, "Don't call me that."

Silence follows and he doesn't bother trying to speak because he can't with her hands blocking his vocal chords from action. Eventually, she gets bored with holding him there and lets him go.

The thought of killing him is still running through her mind and he feels the need to brief her on what would happen if she did.

"You can kill me, but it'll be pointless. I'll be up again before the sun sets and you'll still be trapped."

Katerina glares at him and changes tactics, "Get me blood or let me out. Less people will die if you quit being so damn stubborn."

Harry laughs, "The same amount of people will die either way. You forget, I was you before and I know what happens. All of my traits belong to you and the person you've become is reckless and unmerciful. I'm not letting you out."

"Compel me, then. Make me listen so I can end this hunger."

"You know that I can't."

"Why not?"

Another sigh passes his lips, "Only the Elders can do that and I'm not an Elder. There's also the problem that you can't be compelled, remember?"

There's a vague part of her mind that remembers lying in bed with him, naked and asking him to try. She can't recall what happened though.

Her eyes soften but he knows better than to think that she's actually returned to herself on her own and so quickly. "Please, try. For me. You promised."

It won't work and he knows it, but he gratifies her ego and tries anyway. Trying to compel her is like trying to make a brick wall respond and this time is no different.

Katerina's attitude deflates quickly and she resorts to pouting because the other tactic didn't work. "If you really loved me, you'd help me."

Harry ignores her comment and makes his way to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To get you some blood bags and to have a little chat with Alistair."

She's silent as he leaves and there's one thought that hasn't left his mind since he came downstairs: What have I done?