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Reacquainted

Katrina took a number of ia She settled into an upscale, secluded neighborhood in nearby Mableton As custoan to faia was a state in which she had never spent h she loved the variety of forest environments that blended into the suburbs and city areas It was a perfect environment for a vampire, and she wondered why she hadn&039;t visited there before

She selected an appropriate eexperiences She typically preferred a traditional luxury sedan, but she bought a new jet black Audi sports coupe It i pretentious The car was sleekly contoured for speed, a style of vehicle that was so entirely new and different for her Maybe it was that, for the first ti at heart as her nearly thirty-year-old appearance suggested After only one test drive across the I-20 highway at high speed, she knew that she made the perfect choice It made her feel playful

Unlike previous identities, Katrina decided to forgo the diversions of a career This time she intended to utilize her accu her more time to focus on independent projects She had a couple of diversions in mind, but only one of the revealed that Caleb was living locally, and she easily located hie in don Atlanta Professor Caleb Taylor was teaching sections in history for the college as one of their recently-hired faculty members

Katrina hadn&039;t seen Caleb since he was a pre-teen, when she had secretly attended an evening baseball gah school He&039;d been a sandy-haired, lanky youth with an aardat the ti in the back row of a group of high school baseball tea the state chae and take the only evening section of US History that Caleb taught in the upco fall see course was in the 1960s at Pennsylvania State University Suffice to say, I won&039;t be transferring my transcript, she added with a smirk as she coht and the end of the first day of fall classes at Robert Fulton Coe Caleb shuffled his lecture notes for about the fifth time as he sat in his closet-sized office that was barely wider than the doorway that led into it His desk faced a wall-sized hich at least gave hi his back turned to the door There was barely rooht and a narrow couest chair Nevertheless, he was grateful for the opportunity to teach full-tiraduate school The marketplace had been competitive due to the state&039;s recent poor econo only about four thousand students each spring and fall semester But Caleb loved academia, unlike many of his friends who had priiate experiences Knowledge was a passion, and now a labor of love for hi class was about to start at eight-thirty: the last section of the day, as luck would have it He picked up his notes and textbook and made his way upstairs down the simple-tiled hallway lined with classrooms His was Room 203 on the left about midway down the hall

When he walked into the classroolanced around at the faces before him There were four rows of tables and chairs split on two sides by an aisle up the middle, to accommodate up to thirty-two students Only twenty-one were enrolled, and he had been warned by the associate dean to expect two or three students to drop

There were a variety of stories represented in the faces he saw So to start their college career with poor ACT/SAT scores who couldn&039;t yet qualify for university adet an educational edge or promotion in their careers A few others were interested in avoiding the large general education class sizes of Georgia State for aThere appeared to be a half-male, half-female distribution, and he noted that it was his first class that se in the back row

After welcoan calling roll, glancing up at each face in turn to try and associate names with faces: Bibbons, Cosby, Darby, Franks

Katrina was running late She had nearly forgotten to get a textbook and was e bookstore with her notepad and text in hand She wasn&039;t sure whether she would actually attend the entire course, herthe opportunity to see Caleb after so many years and listen to hied absence in his life

Absence, Katrina chastised herself As if I&039;ve had any real part in his growth or development Any tie that she felt to him was solely based upon the memory of his youthful aid on that fateful su his abusive father, she had merely played the role of an anonymous financial benefactor for him and his mother After that, she&039;d restricted herself to only watch fro more But then, wasn&039;t that the plan, to stay out of his life and allow hirow up in a "normal world?" Her previous attempts to develop close relationships with humans always ended badly and, more often than not, fatally for the humans in question

Katrina broke fro called, and slipped into a chair at the back of the roo the sound of what had to be Caleb&039;s veryvoice

When her eyes settled on the fit youngat the podium, she arched one eyebrow in surprise The Website photo didn&039;t do hientle face framed by neatly-maintained sandy brown hair She was happy to see that his eyes were still the beautiful, pale blue that she reh she readily ad man that stood at the front of the classroom

His conservative navy blue slacks and tie looked professorial, while his white Oxford shirt fit snugly to hishis athletic build Caleb&039;s pleasing appearance was completely unexpected, and she felt an immediate dual desire rise within her Part of her appreciated hi up her prey She still considered hu activities were curbed o by the easy access to blood bank supplies So into society was easier if she weren&039;t being hunted by hu people of their blood

Oh Caleb, how you&039;ve changed since I last saw you, she conteh her

Caleb continued to call roll "Jill Parker, Melvin Peterson

"Katrina Rawlings?" he queried in a friendly tone

"Here," a firm, but silky voice answered as he looked up totone

When his eyes fell upon Katrina, he nearly lost his breath He guessed that she was in her mid-to-late twenties Her pale features were punctuated by deep green eyes and shoulder-length red hair pulled back in a tight ponytail She wore a pair of stylish black deniold Greek key necklace adorned the pale skin of her neck She could easily have been a fashion model But, much to his surprise, the most notable aspect about her was her eyes He could see her beautiful e back at hi manner

His pause was somewhat noticeable, and he sed once to lance doith a raised eyebrow and continue calling roll A few students turned around to glance back at Katrina, theback to the front

Following roll call, Caleb passed out a copy of the course syllabus to each student When he arrived at the back of the roo to shake slightly, so he simply placed the paper onto the table before her

Her hand reached out deliberately to retrieve the syllabus without taking her eyes from his The left corner of her mouth started to curl into an amused smile He forced himself to look away and return to the front of the roohtly After pausing to regain his focus, he discussed the syllabus information, textbook, and the course objectives Caleb dismissed the class early and watched as Katrina rose quickly, departing before anyone else

He exchanged pleasantries with so class, but would later be unable to recall anything he said He was still somewhat mesmerized by the beautiful woht wildly while walking down the hall That was unexpected

Yet, even considering her beautiful appearance and penetrating eyes, there was so at the back of his mind She somehow seemed familiar to him, but he couldn&039;t quite place why It was as if sonition was on the tip of his er male students walked behind hiet a look at the redhead in back? I&039;d tap that in a second!"

With ht silently as he made his way down the stairs Still, he already couldn&039;t wait until Wednesday evening

He arrived at his office and found his girlfriend, Melanie Baxter, waiting for hiularly for about six months She was a records specialist at the state&039;s Department of Public Safety office dohere he&039;da traffic ticket Melanie was a year younger and few inches shorter than Caleb Her straight, dishwater-blond hair draped to her shoulders, and her face was accented by bright hazel eyes Her fashionably faded blue jeans and white lace trim tank both presented a for She was holding a red apple in one hand and looked bored

"Hey, Mel," Caleb greeted her

She grinned, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and handed hio, teacher," she said

"Thanks," he replied srin faded to aI remember you said the first day of class is always short because you just give thenment list"

"Yep, pretty much," he absently supplied as he took a bite of the apple

"Ew, aren&039;t you even going to wash that?" she asked with a pained expression

"I&039;m a firm believer in the power of sto his handful of notes and textbook onto his desk

She just shook her head at hi a speculative expression

"So, Candace dropped an tentatively "I thought youto eat withsory His last meal was around ood," he agreed with a smile

"Then maybe on the way back to my place you could drop me by this new depart open extra late hours as part of the grand opening," she ventured with anticipation

"Yeah, sure," he replied with a tired sigh as he flipped off his office light and closed the door behind the

Melanie chatted about her day and the upco sale at the mall department store, but Caleb only processed a few bits and pieces at dinner His s had on hiain in no ti history class Or perhaps I&039; forward to one student in particular He alotten to grab the handouts for the essay that he planned to assign

Caleb whirled around abruptly, nearly losing his balance, and alrabbed his arrip as he righted himself

"My bad!" he exclaian with concern before abruptly correcting herself "Professor Taylor?"

"Yeah, sorry," he apologized sheepishly while feeling the heat rise in his face "I forgot the essay handouts" He took a quick moment to discreetly appreciate the tall woht she hite knit slacks, a royal blue ruffle trim blouse, and a pair of strappy white stilettos She definitely looked alanced down at her hand, which was still fir his ar her hold

"Uht back," he sta back down the hallway He took only seconds to retrieve the handouts from his office and made his way back to the classroom Fast reflexes, he rip, too He rounded the doorway and entered the classroo for hiot the essay handouts on my way up here And I kno much you&039;d hate to roans es and a couple of others Caleb took roll, only this tinized a few of the faces, most notably Katrina&039;s She smiled at him in an amused fashion fro, appraising expression in her green eyes that distracted him

"So, in the next few days, feel free to move around the room until you find a seat you feel h he quickly glanced at Katrina and fleetingly at two e been studying hi in both his actions and words Her slightly a nment sheet to everyone and set into his lecture on a brief review of European explorers who had visited the New World as a precursor to the ard expansion of larger scale European settlements

"Well, can anyone tell al to decline Christopher Colu for an exploratory expedition to seek a western route to Asia?" Caleb asked curiously

The room was silent as he scanned the faces His eyes fell on Katrina&039;s gaze, which seemed to bore directly into his

"Since Vasco de Gauese control of trade routes to Asia around the Cape of Africa, Portugal believed there was little need to seek additional passageways," Katrina&039;s voice broke the silence

Caleb&039;s right eyebrow shot up with soood"

Most heads in the class turned to silently stare at Katrina She ht smirk, and everyone&039;s attention returned to him The lecture proceeded from there, and Katrina offered little hout the remainder of the class As soon as Caleb disain the first student to depart

Weeks passed with Katrina sitting in the back row of the classroo degrees of interest and often s He also noted that a couple of women in the class chose toree of attention to hi Meanwhile, ravitate further to the back rows of the room where Katrina sat Still, she focused exclusively on Caleb, as if studying hi discussed

After two exams, which Katrina passed without error, Caleb wanted to interact with her outside of class He still struggled to determine what seemed so familiar about her But after each class, she always departed before he could approach her

It wasn&039;t as if he were going to ask her out or anything He ell aware that would be inappropriate and a violation of college policy It could get hiet on the final interview list for the job Caleb had to be resigned to the fact that Katrina was simply the elusive type At the very least, he looked forward to their brief interactions within the classroo teeks before the end of the eight-week sehts fluctuated as Caleb walked fro, aa systeet cutbacks due to the poor econo pieceether just to re poor econoreatest, co was at its lowest levels

Caleb went to class as usual, and once again, Katrina departed just as class was diset ho with her friends, he chose to stay a little later to catch up on grading some essays After an hour, he decided to leave and noticed that the parking lot lights were coiving the area an ominous feel

As he reached the door to his blue oldermove out of the corner of his eye He was i jeans and a dark hooded sweatshirt He couldn&039;t make out the lint of a long steel blade being wielded in the person&039;s right hand

"Give me your wallet, asshole!" the ed, wide-eyed with his hands held up slightly "Listen, I&039;ot more money in your pocket than anybody around here"

"Shut up!" the ive me the wallet!"

Caleb couldn&039;t believe as happening He glanced around nervously, but saw no other people around, and the security car that nor lots was nowhere to be seen

"Okay, okay," he said anxiously with his eyes focused on the guy&039;s knife While reaching into his back pocket and sloithdrawing his wallet, he considered trying to wrestle with the guy, but he had never confronted an armed person before Despite his athletic build, Caleb abhorred violence and strove to avoid physical conflicts He struggled with too many bad memories of abuse at his father&039;s hands as a child It&039;s just a wallet

The rab the wallet from him, when suddenly Katrina appeared at Caleb&039;s side Her right leg shot out, and the heel of her knee-high boot caught the guy in the ribs with a s over, and then abruptly turned to run away across the e lot He disappeared between so that side of ca at his midsection with his left ar, immediate desire to pursue the assailant No, not pursue, but rather hunt him down and drain his blood Instead, she turned to look at Caleb with concern

He was speechless as he still clutched his wallet in a shaking hand "Th-thank you" he stammered "That&039;s never happened before," he anxiously added as he glanced around the area

Katrina reached out to gently grasp his arm with a look of concern "Caleb, are you okay?" she asked

He nodded and nervously ran his right hand through his hair as he gazed up into her eyes "Yeahfinethanks," he muttered

He didn&039;t seem to notice that she had called him by his first name as his heart pounded away in his chest She studied his body language and proceeded to lean hiainst his car as she protectively wrapped her left arm around his shoulders

"Listen, I don&039;t kno to thank you," he said in hisvoice possible

She s manner "Maybe some bonus points in lieu of an out-of-class project?"

He nervously chuckled and scanned the area around theer you&039;d teach the section better than I do," he ventured as he began to feel a little better

She sood presenter always enhances thethe dubiousan atteuy decides to return for a second attearded hi heartbeat, and an urge rose within her At thatcall of his blood Her predatory instincts were screa for action, and she wrestled to curtail thereen eyes seelow, and he stared back incredulously Then the parking lot lights abruptly snapped on, slightly startling hio nohile it&039;s safe I&039;ll see you in class," Katrina caled as she turned to head across the nearly e out of a trance, he shook his head and called after her "Hey, wait! At least let htly and kept walking "No need Drive carefully on your way holanced down to unlock his car door "Maybe we should go by the security office to report this!" He looked back in Katrina&039;s direction to see if she had heard him, but she&039;d already disappeared fro lot, but could find no trace of her There weren&039;t even any cars within view that she could have gotten into, and he didn&039;t recall hearing an engine start Strange, he wondered

He drove to the other side of campus where the security office was located so he could file a report It occurred to hiency call boxes in the parking lots, and some battery-backed up security cameras Somehow he doubted with their state&039;s poor econoets that either of those ideas would be co to fruition anytime soon

The would-be robber pulled his black hoody closer around his face against the evening&039;s renewed drizzle as he hurried down the neighborhood street, still clutching his left arm to his ribs They ached furiously, and he anticipated that at least one was probably cracked

He paid no attention to a lone sports car driven by a red-haired wo out theat hirily kicked an empty beer can out of his way He was furious about the failed encounter back at the parking lot That should&039;ve been fast and easy That college guy was an easy mark for quick cash But who the hell was that crazy woman with the boots? he fumed It was as if she came from nowhere He felt embarrassed and pissed off, and his ribs badly ached where her boot heel had caught him He cursed to himself as he abruptly turned down a trash-strewn alley between two older brick buildings

It was a shortcut he had taken ht hiet there with a minimum of visibility He tramped across papers and debris and was halfway down the alley when he heard boot heels clicking not far behind him He stopped and palmed his knife from the sheath concealed underneath his hoody as he turned to see who it was The lady fro lot had stopped approximately thirty feet inside the alley and just stared at him with a flat expression

He sneered back at her "Well, if it ain&039;t boot lady!" he growled Maybe the night just got a little better She has to be one crazy bitch to be following rin while patiently standing her ground Her hunting instincts sang with life as she felt her fangs extend inside her mouth

"Come here and let me show you how much," he snarled as he stalked towards her

She stood patiently with her hands out to her sides He was aled over the last couple of feet while bringing his knife to bear with a swipe She deftly caught his wrist and twisted Pain shot through his wrist as the knife harrimy concrete

"Bitch!" he yelled, and punched her in the face with a solid blow from his left fist

Katrina took the blow fully on the jaw, causing her face to momentarily twist in the other direction Her head swiveled back to stare at hi!

"What the fu -" he started before he cried out in agony as she snapped his right wrist bones with a quick twist of her hand

She sla the alley while using her left hand to pin his face against the wall Before he could react, she sank her fangs into his jugular vein and sealed her lips against his sweaty skin He tried to yell, but all he heard was strangled gurgling

He attele, but she pinned his body to the wall like a fixture, and within s soon buckled, but she held hie sense of cal sense of weakness A euphoric feeling overca and sing Then nothing

Katrina withdrew her fangs and wiped her ainst the material of his cotton hoody In one swift jerk, she snapped his neck between her hands and let the body drop to the concrete She felt a wave of satisfaction wash over her as she relished the war to metabolize in her syste hi hith of the alley

There was an old paint-peeled trash dus beyond the alleyway She casually threw the body through the du atop the refuse and e no onlookers, but still visually scanning the area, she rehter fluid from her jacket pocket and sprayed the contents onto the boxes and body I evidence

She lit a single match and tossed it and the enited, the contents protected from the drizzle by the closed dumpster lid Katrina walked to the front of the alley, the only sound the clicking of her boots on the da the street to where she had parked her car, she scanned the area around her again to ensure that she hadn&039;t ravitated to Caleb and the gri up the loose ends with the cretin who had tried to rob hi an attempt on someone else Honesty set in as she confessed it wasn&039;t through any innate concern for the general public It&039;s really all about protecting Caleb, isn&039;t it?

Katrina slyly sot back into her car and drove away Caleb was definitely getting under her skin, and her Audi seeeneral direction of his apartree of shock as he drove to his apart paid for all-hours gate security services for the sarage It meant he paid quite a bit ht it seemed perfectly worth it He pulled into a spot not far from the elevator and made his way up to his apartment on the third floor He entered and i the door behind hilanced around his small, somewhat cluttered apartment Aside from theroo roo his keys onto the s room, he draped his leather jacket over one of the two barstools Frowning, histhe flurry of events that comprised the attempted robbery He marveled at how Katrina seemed to appear out of nowhere to help him Actually, it was more like she came to his rescue He smirked at that

He plopped onto the worn leather sofa and reached over to the television relass end tables A small entertainment center sat in the corner next to the twin, medium-sized s that looked out onto the fire escape He pointed the re towards the sheer curtains, he couldn&039;t help feeling watched He got up and looked out one of the s, but only saw the aged red brick wall of a nondescript warehouse across the alleyway Immediately outside was the rather unattractive, black metal fire escape platforhed, chuckled, and silently berated hi, which startled him Damn it He stormed to the kitchen counter

"Hello," he answered in a terse voice

"Caleb?" Melanie asked

"Yeah," he replied with a heavy sigh

"What&039;s wrong?" she pressed as her TV played in the background

He absently ran one hand through his hair and explained, "Well, I got asped slightly "That&039;s terrible! Did they take your wallet?"

His eyes widened with surprise, and he demanded incredulously, "My wallet?"

"Well, yeah," she insisted "If so, it&039;s a real pain! My friend at work, Terri, had her purse stolen, and it took like forever to cancel her credit cards and get her IDs remade"

"Huh?" he muttered in confusion as he took the phone away fro, right? he thought wildly before putting the phone back to his ear What about et my wallet," he said "Thanks to Katrina, of course"

"Katrina? Who&039;s Katrina?" she demanded in an annoyed voice

Caleb took perverse pleasure in her response "Katrina Rawlings She&039;s one ofthe class average by a mile, in fact"

Melanie paused, and the TV clicked off at her end of the line "When did all this happen?" she asked with sudden interest

"About an hour ago," he said as he glanced at his watch "It&039;s a good thing she was there because the guy was carrying a huge knife, Melanie I tell you, I was-"

"An hour ago? Didn&039;t class end way before that?" she abruptly interrupted

His uess I orking late insome essays, and-"

"And was Katrina in your office, too?" she interjected

"What?" Caleb asked incredulously "Melanie, what are you trying to say? I get ed, and maybe stabbed if it weren&039;t for Katrina, and you don&039;t seehed in a huffy lad you&039;re okay, Caleb"

He didn&039;t think she sounded too convincing "Well, I was alone in my office, thank you," he replied lad that you&039;re okay and that you didn&039;t lose your wallet"

"Thanks," he said, unconvinced

"Do you want ht about it for a moment and was surprised to find he really didn&039;t feel like her co only to take a shower, have a beer to calo to bed "No, that&039;s okay, Mel," he said tiredly "I&039;m beat I just want a shower and some sleep"

"Well, call me toht, Mel"

"&039;Night," she said before hanging up

He laid the phone on the kitchen counter and headed to the refrigerator for a beer

Katrina quietly leaned against the blackof the fire escape outside Caleb&039;s apartment ell to the side in the shadows so that nobody could see her standing there She was easily able to hear his voice as she watched hi roo, she felt a little like a stalker

She sighed It wasn&039;t like she could just call him or stop by his apartment to check on him Katrina readily detected his interest in her, and the feeling was certainly mutual But she didn&039;t want to jeopardize his job It was all she could do not to seek him out after each class ended Still, there were only teeks left before the see She was going toto hi But ed to just sit and chat with hi lips of his

Fro to do other things with hied to share his body, to partake in his blood She let those thoughts playfully linger for ashe knew for certain, based upon Caleb&039;s conversation with his girlfriend, she definitely didn&039;t like Melanie at all

He deserves someone much better Someone like me, she mused with a sly smile

As she watched him drink his beer and head into the bedrooo While it was fairly dark where she stood, she didn&039;t want to press her luck on being noticed Instead, she quickly but quietly negotiated her way to the ground level and headed down the alley to where she had parked her car

Much later that night as Caleb lay in bed, he kept thinking back to the robbery attempt and how quickly Katrina had reacted She see, while he had felt scared to death Maybe she was just cool under pressure, but he somehow felt there had to be an to stir in hi atby the tiht

Katrina sat at her ho in the variety of diversions that ed in a variety of online financial evaluations and invest back to Caleb She adored listening to hi history class, and once again she considered how he seemed to have a knack for instruction Katrina was an avid history fan herself, having appreciated the considerable culmination of personal experiences and observations as a vaht an appreciable, fresh di it feel ery She had enjoyed their brief interactions and longed for more The semester will be over before I know it Then we&039;ll see what happens

She sighed and diverted her attentions to eration into the world nearly two decades ago, she had reacquired a sense of enjoyment in the interactions with others of her kind There were a number of fellow vaain and was pleased to find that most of the trouble lately getting a response fro in Paris He was usually very good about keeping in touch, so she was surprised However, vampires were often reclusive, so Katrina anticipated that she would hear froyfor her kind Blood supplies were delivered to nearly anywhere in the world via a specialized courier service E made quick communication as personal or impersonal as she liked Transportation around the world was effortless, though often at a considerable cost Cable television provided hours, or even days, of alternate reality immersion Every film ever made was available either on demand, online, or on DVD And the wonderful virtual conduit known as the Internet provided hours of information and online distractions

Her reverie was interrupted by a text e on her cell phone from a vampire named Alton, as as close a friend as she&039;d ever known: Lost contact with Octavia in Trondheie, she mused Maybe Alton will at least be able to contact Garett for me

The last teeks of the semester passed very quickly And while Caleb felt a sense of accoht his first see, he was so history section was co, he passed out the final exaer than the others, s down at her with a hopeful, yet melancholy pause as he sat the exam before her