Katerina held her hands over her head and took slow breaths. She'd recently picked up a habit of going for a run in the morning and she wasn't exactly good at it. A few people gave her odd looks as she wheezed beside the park bench. She didn't mind though because she knew she was weak and that she was terrible at any sort of exercising.

The only type of exercise that she was actually good at was yoga. So, it didn't really make sense that she didn't know how to breathe well when she ran, but that was alright because she wasn't training to run any marathons or win any medals.

Really, the only reason that she was running in the first place was because she couldn't get what Harry said out of her mind.

"...please be careful."

He'd tried to cover it up and pretend like he didn't really mean anything by it, but Katerina knew better. Harry didn't say things unless he meant them and he certainly didn't say please for really anything.

She wondered what type of danger she was in. Obviously, it wasn't good because it was danger, but was her life on the line or did someone just want her money?

It would be a hell of a lot easier and a hell of a lot less stressful if he would just show up. Since he'd warned her, he'd been keeping a low profile for nearly a week. Katerina wasn't a really paranoid person, but his vague warning and lack of presence was starting to put her on edge.

Someone tapped her shoulder and she nearly screamed.

Harry put his hands up in defense, his eyes slightly wide and his lips lifting up in a slight smile, "Woah, just saying hello. I tried calling your name but you didn't hear me."

Katerina frowned. It was unusual for her to get so absorbed in her thoughts like that and she felt bad for unintentionally ignoring him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've been thinking a little too much lately."

His green eyes flickered to a spot behind her momentarily before focusing on her eyes again, "It's alright. That's not a bad thing, it's good to think and to lose yourself in your thoughts every once in a while."

She thought his glance behind her was weird, but she wasn't going to turn around and look. Maybe he'd seen someone he knew.

Katerina nodded, her chest still rising and falling at a rapid pace as her body readjusted to its normal functions, "Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a while."

The question made him nervous and he shifted his weight a little uncomfortably as he came up with a lie to tell her. She couldn't know where he actually was or what he was really doing or it would make things much worse.

"I had a business meeting in Massachusetts. Something about a future project and how we are going to fund it." His lips quirked up and slightly to the left as he realized that she was probably worried about him, "Were you worried about me?"

Katerina blushed and hoped that he didn't notice. Her face was still flushed from exercising, but Harry had been around long enough to know when a girl was blushing, and Katerina was definitely blushing.

"I...no. No, I was just wondering if you'd gone somewhere else or something." She lied and his smile grew.

Harry's tongue poked out to wet his lips as he nodded curtly. Katerina found herself staring at his lips. They were unusually pink, but they looked incredibly kissable and she let her mind wander to an inappropriate place for a moment.

She's about to say something and that's when she sees it. He's biting his lip now and there are two indents in his lip and what looks like the tips of fangs poking out.

Her eyebrows pull together curiously as she stares at them. She knows that some people have more noticeable canines, but they aren't usually that pronounced and they certainly aren't that sharp.

Harry catches her staring, but he doesn't realize that he's got his fangs out and on display until her stare turns into a look of confusion. He hasn't properly fed for the four days that he's been away and the scent of her blood and her proximity are making him antsy.

He knows that he can deal with the hunger pangs for a while, but he doesn't know what to do now that he's dropped his guard and now that his fangs are out.

It takes him far too long to retract them and Katerina's looking at him with parted lips and soft eyes. He wants to say something but he has no idea what to say and it's not like he can compel her.

Harry clears his throat uncomfortably as he desperately tries to come up with a cover-up in his head.

Katerina looks startled, but not the kind of startled that hints at running away in fear, more like the kind of startled when one wakes up from a strange dream.

Harry smiles at her, teeth fully on display because he hopes that she'll think her mind is playing tricks on her because of how fatigued her body is.

"You're staring."

For a moment, it looks like she's stopped breathing. But he knows that she hasn't because he can still hear her heartbeat, he can still hear the rush of blood in her veins, and he could still hear the sound of air rushing in and out of her nose.

Katerina shakes her head. She doesn't know what's going on but she could have sworn that he had fangs moments before. And now they were gone as if they had never been there in the first place.

He's looking at her with a concerned expression and she's not quite sure what to do because she thinks she's lost her mind.

Harry knows by the look in her eyes that his plan has worked and he speaks her name softly to get her attention.

Katerina blinks hard and lightly shakes her head, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on with me today. I think...I think I might be losing my mind."

Harry looks at her with a soft curiosity, "What did you see?"

He knows all too well what she's seen, but he needs to play dumb in order to convince her that maybe she's just a little overheated or a little dehydrated.

Katerina feels stupid for even entertaining the idea in her head, but she decides to tell him anyway because she's almost positive that her mind is playing tricks on her.

"I'm going to sound completely insane, but I could have sworn that you had fangs a moment ago. Then you smiled and they were gone..."

He smiled again, dimples sinking into his cheeks as he looked at her with an amused glint in his eyes, "What? You thought that I was a vampire or something?"

Katerina blushed, her cheeks a noticeable deep red now that she'd cooled off, "Yes...See? I told you, I sound like a lunatic."

She didn't sound like a lunatic to him, actually, she was perfectly correct to think that he was a vampire because...well, he was. But he couldn't let her know because he wasn't sure what she would do if she knew the truth.

So, he laughed lightly and shook his head, "I think we should get you some water."

Katerina laughed at herself, "You're absolutely right. I can't believe I thought you were a vampire! God, I sound like I just walked out of a terrible novel and was like 'Hey, you. Yeah, you! I saw something weird so you must be a vampire.'"

Harry laughed with her as they started walking toward the water fountain, "I mean, I know I'm weird, but come on, a vampire? Is that really the best your mind could come up with?"

"I mean; it was that or serial killer. Take your pick."

He laughed again, but this time it was louder and had a few people turning their heads to look at them. Katerina liked seeing him like that. He didn't ever seem like he was happy and it was good to see him having some fun, even if she did sound like an idiot.

"I'm going to stick with the vampire option. Seems a little less threatening if I'm just going to sparkle in the sunlight and occasionally make someone bleed for me."

Now she was the one who was laughing. When she'd said vampire, she didn't mean the weird concoction that authors created for romance novels. No, Katerina meant the ones that were talked about in legends. She thought of vampires as malicious and bloodthirsty, dangerous and dark. When she said vampire, she was talking about the ones that hid from the sunlight and went on killing sprees in the dead of night.

"I think we've got two completely different ideas about vampires here."

Harry turned slightly so that she could see his raised eyebrow, "Care to explain?"

"None of that Twilight stuff. I meant like hardcore folk lore vampires. You know, the ones that steal children in the middle of the night and burst into flames in the sunlight."

Harry stopped walking and looked her dead in the eyes, "Are you afraid of me, Katerina?"

The sudden action had her breath catching in her throat. His eyes were captivatingly green, somewhere between the color of evergreens and sea glass, but something about them looked different. His pupils were far larger than they should have been, even if he was on drugs and it looked like he was desperately trying to get her to answer truthfully.

"I-no, Harry. I'm not afraid of you."

And she wasn't. The only thing about him that scared her was how easily he got her to do things that she'd never done, or dreamed of doing, before. Hell, he didn't even try either; she wanted him to take advantage of her. She was afraid of herself, not him.

He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose, "Good, because I don't want you to be afraid of me."

Katerina looked up at him with soft eyes, "Are you alright?"

Gentle green eyes that held a raging storm inside met hers, "Yeah, I'm just hungry. I should go."

She'd started to protest because she had plenty of food at her house and she didn't mind sharing it with him, but his lips catching hers stopped her before she'd even gotten a word out.

One of his hands was on her back and pushing her body into his and the other was on her cheek, holding her face level as he stole her breath away.

He wanted to steal some blood, but stopped himself because she would piece together the truth if he did. Instead, he kissed her hard and made her head spin.

When he pulled away, she was in a blissful daze that had him smiling.

"I'll see you soon. Take care of yourself until then, Katerina."