"Hey guys, it's time to go," Alex said with a yawn after glancing at her watch. It was near dawn and all needed to get home. Chris went around and gave everyone their hug. The next meeting wouldn't be for a couple more days. Chris lingered a couple extra seconds at Katherine.

"Will you be around tomorrow?" he asked quietly. Obviously, he had something of importance to say to her.

"Of course!" she grinned at him, giving him an extra squeeze. With or without a meeting, the two always saw each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rays of the morning sun hadn't even begun to peak over the horizon, when the dark figure left for his daytime hiding place. He wasn't very young, but for some reason the sun always affected him early.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katherine began heading for home. She wasn't in too much of a hurry. Her parents usually didn't get up too early. She took the same way home as she took to get there. Walking through what some would consider a "dangerous neighborhood". Her mind wandered to the conversations that had taken place earlier on the day. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that Chris wanted to say to her. The walk had become such a habit that she hardly even looked up. She didn't even notice that there were faint footsteps behind her, because she was so lost in her own thoughts. She didn't notice the presence behind her until it was too late. Her first thought was that it was just Chris or one of her other friends. But that thought was shattered when the hands come up from behind. She was grabbed roughly, and her scream was muffled by the hand covering her mouth. The hands were those of a man, that was all she knew of her attacker. He drug her into a dark alleyway near them.

"Scream, and I'll make this much worse than it was to be, then I'll kill you," the husky voice whispered in her ear. She could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck, and there was a distinct smell of alcohol on his breath. She whimpered in agreement, she had no other choice. Although she wasn't going to make this too easy for him. She'd give him what little money she had, but that was as much as she'd give into. Although, she knew that wasn't all he had in mind. She was by no means weak, but she knew that she'd be no match for this guy even though his reflexes were impaired. He shoved her down to the ground, placing a heavy foot on her stomach to keep her down, and went for the zipper on his pants. Katherine took the opportunity while he was cursing about the zipper being stuck, to try to roll out from under his foot. With a quick twist of her body, she was up and running. In spite of his sluggish reflexes, he was after her immediately. He caught up to her in seconds, because of his considerably longer stride.

Grabbing on to her shoulder he spun her around. He brought his face within inches of his and shook her as he screamed at her, the smell of alcohol on his breath choking her, "What'd I tell you, bitch? Now you'll really regret it." She was in tears, and was certain that she wouldn't live to see the next day. She wanted to scream, but she didn't want him to be any madder than he already was. He threw her down on the ground again, so that her head was slammed into the building nearby.

Darkness. Blessed darkness. Darkness that took away all her pain.

Were she to have lived, she would've had a serious concussion. As she lay there, he had his way with her unconscious body.

Luckily another had heard her silent cry for help. It wasn't her dark stalker, but one who was upset with him. He knew that the other would rather Katherine, his mortal beloved, die than allow her to get to her. He went as fast as he could to the alleyway where she lay dying. He smiled. His revenge was clear in his mind as he stepped over to her. The smell of blood from the back of her head was very distinct to him.

He cradled her head in his lap, and looked down on her face. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost. But his anger for her mysterious admirer overwhelmed that feeling. He lowered his head to her neck, piercing her soft skin with his fangs. Drinking her in, he felt all her pain. Knew all her memories. He could see why the other felt the way he did for her. She was close to death, that was certain. He pulled away from her, catching his breath. Without hesitation, he brought his own wrist to his mouth, and bit into it. Bringing it to her mouth, he urged her to drink.

Her eyes opened suddenly as the warm liquid poured over her lips. Her pulse quickened as she pulled it's source closer to her mouth. Finally she regained enough of her strength to sit up. The large cut on the back of her head began to heal, but the blood couldn't help the major damage that was already done to her.

He pulled his wrist away from her, seeing that she'd survive. His wrist quickly healed, and he stood up. Within seconds he was gone, she'd never know her maker. He didn't do this to have a companion, but as revenge. He didn't want the responsibility of a fledgling.

To be continued...

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