There it was again, that look Katerina got before she fed. Those soulless gray eyes became a deeper red and her subtle calm and collected demeanor changed. She was fighting herself. She clenched her jaws trying to keep from baring her fangs and attacking the woman. Lark had no idea what she'd be awakening if Katerina drank from her.

The slower you drink the more satisfying and filling it will be... Katerina was imagining it now, the feel of her fangs sinking into smooth flesh, the taste of the woman's blood as the warm substance flowed down her throat, awakening her senses once again that had been lost for so long. In a movement that would be nearly unseen by the human eye, Katerina moved across the room grabbing the woman by a shoulder and an arm as she pushed her into the wall across the hall.

Katerina's body pressed into Lark's as her mouth hovered over the woman's neck. Her eyes had gone completely dark red and her fangs were mere millimeters from Lark's most generous vein. She held onto the woman with a strength unlike that of a humans, but still not quite as strong as a normal vampire as she kept her against the wall. Her fangs grazed the woman's neck, not yet breaking skin.

Memories of those Katerina had once loved kept her from biting the woman. She was forcing herself to recall their last moments as she helplessly yet happily drained them of life. This woman didn't matter to Katerina, what was the problem? Katerina knew the downhill slide. Bodies pressed together, warm flesh of a person who smelled unlike a forest creature, the taste of their blood and the power it all wielded. Katerina wouldn't be able to stop. She would end this woman and anyone else in the tavern.

Stop! she begged her darker side, Control yourself! Her fingers dug into Lark in a momentary burst of anger. She growled and pushed away from the woman, eyes still dark and hungry, fangs still visible. And then she disappeared. Running with inhuman like speed until she was outside and in the forest out of sight. She leaned her back against a tree as her eyes returned to normal.

How could she have let herself come so close? What a foolish woman Lark was. Katerina heard movement nearby. She was hungrier now than ever. She took a step in the direction of the sound and the forest spun. Suddenly it felt like someone was pulling a rug out from under her. Before she knew it she was laying upon the ground, staring up at the trees as they spun into the faces of those she'd once loved and murdered. She always fought these feelings and kept on but at this moment, she allowed them to take her over. Her eyes closed. Maybe she and everyone else were better off if she would just die.

Lark watched her expectantly, and even though she had baited and teased. The necromancer was taken by surprise when Katerina did finally attack. Eyes closed as she was pushed against the wall in the all, and then they opened. Her own eyes seemed to glow a bit as she mentally prepared to feed on the vampire's energy while the vampire fed on her. A slight shiver ran down her spine as she felt those fangs come nearer, scrape against her flesh and then stop. Lark did not hide the disappointment in her eyes when the vampire refused to bite, she did wince slightly as the woman's fingers dug into her skin. Then the vampire was gone, and Lark frowned deeply.

She rubbed her arm gently and moved back into her room. Closing the door behind her and moving to remove her staff from the bed. She contemplated following the vampire, but she had no idea where or how far Katerina could have gone, and once again Lark entertained the idea of summoning Angel. The vampire would be irritated at her, to be summoned without a warning first, besides, why should she do anything to help Katerina? It really was none of her business what might happen to that woman. Still Lark was hungry for vampire energy and Angel would give his willingly enough, if not too angry about being summoned.

Lark would wait and see. The necromancer stared at her staff for a moment, before laying it back on the bed. Another spell or two lay over it, to keep others from touching it and then the necromancer was on her way out of the room and back down to the bar area.

Nara watched the woman run and then lark appear casually downstairs, debating a moment. Finally she left her backpack on the counter, guarded by a spell that would surround the pack in an unbreakable block of ice should any try to get into it. She was not have as naive as she seemed, despite her good and helpful nature. She then turned and slipped out of the door, sniffing the air once. After she had done so she turned to her large cat form, a snowy white creature that could easily blend into her icy home. The moment the transformation was done she was off, following her nose to the vampire much as she had once a lost man in the snow.

She looked over her once when she had reached the spot, seeing her lay in the snow. The woman had been very clear about her lack of desire to eat of humanoids now... Nara turned and fled then, only to find a dear for the other woman. She had not hunted in this form for some time but she was still capable enough. She would drag the dear to the other woman and transform to her human form once more. Her clothing had retreated to a leather collar but it now spilled over her form only to solidify as normal enough clothing again. She formed a dagger of ice and slit the dear's throat, ending it's life swiftly even as she placed the bleeding wound to the other woman's throat so the vampire could feed easily.

"My people often lead travelers out of snowy mountains because we believe life is sacred. This deer is giving it's life to you, do not waste it. If you were meant to die, you would be dead." She said simply, her tone quiet. She sounded thoughtful, as if she was thinking of something far away as she spoke. She was thinking of the snowy mountain tops, remembering teachings long past. They believed that if you crossed the path of someone who needed help it was because you were meant to help them.... of course they generally applied this very strictly to themselves more then outsiders. Even helping travelers was simply to whisk them away from the magical kingdom.

Katerina felt movement nearby and her eyes flickered open. Where was she? What had happened? Everything was fuzzy. She blinked trying to see clearly once again. She'd been in Lark's room and then, yes, she remembered now and she frowned lightly.

Nara? Katerina blinked again and then there was the neck of an animal at her mouth. She hesitated. The doe had given it's life for her. She repeated Nara's words in her mind. Finally she drank the blood, enough to give her back her strength and take away the haze that lingered in her vision.

She sat up. Warm scarlet drops of blood dripped from her chin onto the snow. She brought the animal's throat to her mouth once again and drank until there was little left of the small doe. It would hold her over until her next feeding, though each next feeding seemed to need to come sooner than the last.

Katerina lay the doe gently onto the snow and wiped her mouth clean. She had one knee up, an arm rested upon it and she was watching the deer. It's eyes stayed open and she stared into them with her own soulless gray ones. "Too many have given their lives to me," she said quietly. "I do not deserve to live in their places." No one should live at the expense of others' lives, and certainly no one should live forever.

"Then you owe many lives to live well and not throw away their sacrifice. To do all they can not do.... including live. And if you feel you don't deserve to live, then do what you must to deserve it. Be better, be kinder, protect those you would have once killed..... at least, that is what i was taught one should do." She spoke with certainty at first but was soon blushing at her well meaning but bold words. She said the last softly, almost apologetically and looked away to her own hands. She didn't know what to say a moment and once again her tail was in her hands and her ears were turned downward as if nervous or embarrassed....... like a child waited to be admonished. After a moment, however, she looked up and gave the other woman a simple soft smile.

"Perhaps you would like to clean up and then head in?" She suggested softly as she reached into her pocket to pull out a handkerchief. She glanced at it a moment, inwardly trying to remember where she picked that up. She needed to stop the habit of randomly putting items in her pockets. She never took anything that didn't belong to her but she would forget things in there....

He waited patiently, toying with the ring slightly. He thought about how he had come to posess it, that was a story for the ages. He smiled slightly, and closed his eyes, before a glimpse of that man moved through his mind. His smile turned to a frown and his jaw slightly clenched. He had made a promise to himself if they ever met again, he would kill him. Unfortunatly, he had not got the chance to get his revenge, after what happened, but that was no reason he could not have his fun now. He opened his eyes, and stood, moving to the window to look out a bit. A sigh building in him, he refused to let it out. He glared slightly up at the sky, as the darker side of him slipped past his defences. It would be nice to see him wrinthing in agony and pain, to feel the same pain that he himself had gone through because of the other. The thought of never getting that was enough to make him want to destroy something. He glanced at a glass nearby, and its' shadow curled up the side of the glass, wrapping around it tighter, and tighter. Within moments, the glass shattered into tiny pieces. To bad that wasn't something living, but that fun would have to wait.

Katerina soaked up the woman's words. She rather liked Nara. She nodded with another faint smile and began cleaning her hands in the snow, as well as her face. She looked down at the doe knowing that it's meat would provide food for hungry scavengers. She had always been torn on burying her animal victims or leaving them to the others as to not let them waste so.

If she didn't find a way to become human or learn to control her vampire side, it wouldn't matter any more anyway. She would be dead. She left the animal there and began towards the tavern. The walk inside didn't take long since Katerina had only fled into the woods just out of sight. She stepped in the door. A fireplace was burning on the side opposite the bar. How she longed to feel the warmth on her skin and to smell the burning embers once again.

Nara's ear flickered slightly as she heard the sound of broken glass but she was focused on Rina. It felt like the other woman needed her somehow..... like hope had been denied to her and nara's simple kind words provided a bit of that. She blushed at the thought but she simply watched as the other woman left. Quietly she glanced back at the dear. Slowly she cut out the peace of the meat the woman had bitten and sat it to the side. Some vampires bites left traces in the marks that were not exactly healthy for a mostly spiritual being like herself to eat.

She then gave the soft prayer in Faeliren that her people had taught her to say. It was a simple thanks for the life given and hope that the deer's spirit would roam eternally in heavenly meadows, free to run and spend it's existence in peace. She would then began to cut and prepare the meat, using her knife mainly. She would then freeze each in a block of ice so it was easy for her to travel with them back to the inn as well as the hide which was folded. Once done she would return to the Inn with the blocks tied on a bit of rope she always wore at her waist and head for the kitchen. Soon some of the meat was left salted and drying to make jerky and the rest she was soon preparing into a fragrant and delicious soup.

As the soup was finished she would head to the counter and unfreeze the hide. With supplies from her back pack she had picked up on the way to the kitchen she began to prepare it for the leather making process as her ears twitched absently to listen to the sounds of the inn. She would pause in her work on the leather to slowly stir the soup. She didn't know if anyone would want it and she herself could not eat it hot but had prepared some cold barely cooked cold steaks but there was no reason to let the meat go to waste. She could always put it in the refrigerator for others to eat, even the strange little frenchmen.

((Sorry y'all, I've been busy, plus have had a five day migraine that's uber awful at night. I'm trying to keep up!))

Katerina moved across the floor and sat two seats down from Lark. She was back to her normal self now having fed, and no longer angry or hungry for the woman. She glanced at her for a moment and thought best about bringing up the encounter in fear the hunger might actually return. It had been coming on so strong lately...

She noticed glass on the bar now. Had Lark done that? She glanced across the room at a man by the window. Had she been human, he may have actually caused hairs to stand on the back of her neck. He looked unsettled, to say the least. Maybe he had broken the glass. She didn't smell blood anywhere, thankfully. There was no telling what Katerina would do at the smell of humanoid blood.

She returned her attention back to the bar. She could hear Nara, busy in the kitchen, though could smell nothing of her cooking. For lack of anything better to do, Katerina moved behind the bar and stared at the liquors on the wall. She didn't drink, for it did nothing for her, but she did remember how to stir up some tasty beverages. She sighed. There was no point. She couldn't taste anymore either, not since her switch to animal blood.