A Family Way ( Katalina / Miles )

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Miles heard the peck and turned, opening the window. The small tawny colored owl hopped closer and he reached out, removing the message and then giving the little one a head scratch which got a very enthusiastic response to his great amusement. Since he his company worked with tons of owls he knew better then most how to get good service after all! Chuckling he put down some owl treats from his pocket as well, something he always had on him and went to change clothes. By the time he was done the owl had finished and taken himself away.

The Owl had brought a message from his company address, but it was from his daughter-in-darkness Katrina and he crawled out on the ledge and closed the window before transforming. A launch off the roof over the forest and he enjoyed the wind and the half moon's light as he skimmed the tops of the branches. The feel of the air across his father felt wonderful and he intentionally flew higher to take advantage of the night breeze, getting a real uplift as he crossed the forbidden forest. The huge owl made an impressive figure as it flew completely silently, circling up higher and higher before continuing on over the castle.

As he circled high above he slowly triangulated on the area in particular he needed near the tomb, he begin drifting slowly lower and lower. The single crack of a twig was enough for one of those owls and Miles was aware of the breathing in the vicinity of where he was headed as he dropped lower. SO with his final approach he dipped, suddenly flew under the tree cover near ground level, turning up just enough to transform and land on his foot, knee, and hand, facing her. As the wind from his arrival swept leaves up into the air around him he glanced up and then stood, dusting off his long coat of leather before he walked towards her and the tomb.

A smile at her appearance, he nodded his head saying "Beautiful night for an Inquisition," he teased, clearly in a good mood, "I take it you finally thought of what questions you wanted to ask, daughter?"

@angie1

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Katalina was in a bad place ever since she learned two people from her past had come back to haunt her. One of them was an actual ghost come back to make her life hell. Well, not an actual ghost, but practically. The other was the reason that she was still around now, but the encounter she had was not a pleasant one. To be perfectly honest, it was an absolutely awful experience. She definitely didn't expect that the day she met the man who created her, he would be... how he was. He basically broke the news to her as if he was telling her her hair looked out of place. He was so casual about it that she couldn't process everything the way it should have been. Over all, it was just handled the wrong way, and whether she was particularly fond of him or not, there were things she wanted to know.

She sent him a message that she was ready to meet him, properly this time. The Slytherin stood, leaning against the marble tomb of Albus Dumbledor, and waited. It didn't take long for her to hear the sounds of giant wings, and then the bid heartbeat thickened into the sound of a persons. She heard him rustle around, and when he was close enough to her, she turned to look at him. He still towered over her, and could envelop her small frame easily, but she stood her ground. She gave a half-hearted smirk at his Inquisition comment. She wasn't sure if it was a joke at her Spanish heritage or not, but it just became more ironic because of it. “Not so much an Inquisition as just a little chat. That you will not ruin this time.” She looked at him. “And for the record. Don't call me daughter. It sounds weird, and I don't do too well with parental types. Obviously.” She gestured to her stomach, where the knife had gone in.

Her arms crossed in front of her chest, and she shifted her weight to one foot instead of the two. “I suppose you could start with what you were doing in Spain, and why you turned me.” That seemed simple enough.

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@shava444444

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She liked tight pants, something he found his eyes drawn to as he arrived closer, but he brought his eyes up to see the rest of her as if studying a classic sculpture as well. "Nice outfit, glad to see your style has become even more tasteful." Her half smile at his Inquisition statement was filled with irony and he hadn't missed that, rather finding it amusing himself. His smile reflected hers and as she spoke he listened, walking over to lean on the tomb himself. He had heard a lot about Albus Dumbledore, but never met him so he didn't not the sense of reverence so many from the school did have.

Ruined? He raised an eyebrow at this comment, but she seemed full of steam for her own side so he let it pass. However he would quiz her on that bit later on. "Then how do you want me to call you? I would assume you do not want to be called by your father's name." She didn't use questions with short answers either, but he had expected that and that set in particular. "Easy enough. I grew up in New Orleans and wanted to tour Europe as many did in my day. Maybe my father thought it was to sow oats, but I wanted to see the places we had come from. I had three people to meet along the way that he had lettered ahead of time so I was on a tight time schedule. Spain was where I started my tour, Paris was where I had to meet the first of his colleagues."

Leaning back slightly, he remembered the scene with some relish actually.

"Young teenager, full of himself and power, flying along as an owl looking for an experience when I see this gorgeous figured young woman come running along with a white wedding dress on? Well, I think you can imagine what was on my mind, I transformed as close as I could and you stabbed yourself before I could react." He shrugged, a small smirk at his old self. "Ah! What a dreamer I was back then! I thought I was a rescuer, an opportunist who had a chance at a rather beautiful companion to travel with, rescuing her from a terrible situation and romance in the air-- I didn't even hesitate to claim you." A sigh, not regret so much as a wistful thought of those olden days of youth and vigor and dreams.

"It was to be one of the few really regretful moments of my youth that I could not meet up with you later. It was a lesson I took to heart though; none of my other get have been when I had a time crunch or no control over the situation. I am sorry you had to be the one to teach me such a lesson." Miles nearly licked his lips at that old pipe dream, remembering how delicious her skin had smelled and tasted.

@angie1

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Katalina could feel his eyes graze over her body. He was legitimately checking her out. A small part of her felt flattered by that. "Years change. Style changes. But I've found dressing like this makes getting things done easier. Plus it looks good on me." She smirked because she knew why people were so much nicer to her like this. Girls were scared of her and boys wanted to get into her pants. Not that she minded or objected to the fact.

He said something about her it wanting to call her by her father's name. Honestly, she never thought about changing her name away from what her parents have her. She just stood her ground not wanting to look weak. "My name is Katalina de la Vega. That is what you can call me. And you?" Its the name she used all through her life, and she wasn't sure she was ready for another just yet.

She stood and listened to him speak. He was from New Orleans. Kat remembered that place. She spent a week there in the 20s, and she had to say that it was one of her favorite places in America. She would have to go back one day. Katalina flinched when he mentioned the stabbing, but she thought it was just typical he was watching her before it happened. And then he turned her because he wanted to get into her pants too. Figured. "So you saw me, beautiful girl, dying and thought what an excellent opportunity to create someone pretty to look at on your trips." She shook her head slightly and smirked. "Yeah. Sounds about right."

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"Getting things done." He rolled that phrase around in his mind a moment, thinking that could be taken more then one way. "Well it suits, either way." She had always had a nice figure, he should know having been the one who buried her after all. And no, that never sounded wrong to a vampire. That in between state of being was a very fragile stage, very vulnerable and he had taken care of her to make sure her chances were the best, hence another's tomb entirely. "I was thinking more about nicknames, to be honest, but Miles is what i go by the most. Originally it was Miles Langlais. I just prefer not to make it easier for people to follow up on backgrounds so I use the name Long these days."

For now a days family history was so easy to trace. Muggle computers had made leaving no trail much harder to manage so a change of last name was almost required for complete security. Too many wizards had learned to hire a muggle private eye to check into people. "I've had a few run ins with those trying to follow up on me before of course, once you've had one of those it makes you more cautious." He was sure she was smirking inside about his early motivations, but all guys were like that when they were young; those hopeful dreams, of course! He shrugged, not embarrassed at all, but sort of 'that's the way it was.'

"In a nutshell, yes. I was young and there comes a certain impetus at that age that's hard not to think about really. I've learned a lot over the years now." He grinned; that had not stopped him from making omen his only get of course, but that was another story entirely since hers had come first. "Of course by the time I was able to return to Spain you had long since disappeared and the trail was quite cold. I was rather upset about that for a few decades. I've long since made Europe my home base, of course."

@angie1

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She just nodded her head in thank you instead of actually saying it. He may have complimented her, but something in her couldn't give him the satisfaction of a verbal thank you. It was her small way of keeping her tough face on. Though that sort of cracked when he said nicknames. Like they were in some sort of secret childhood club. "Call me Kat. Or Lina. Or Vega. Whatever suits you. My name is a bit of a mouthful." she was just going to call him Miles because that was the less creepy option.

She never had someone "follow up" on her. At least not that she knew of. Of course, it could be because she had never really made anyone resent her, except for Xander. E had a good reason she supposed. She did kill him. But she felt fully justified in doing so. At the time anyway. She rolled her eyes. "My apologies for not sticking around and becoming you're trophy wife. Or whatever you want to call it. I wasn't really accustomed to dying, and freaked out a bit."

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Noting even as she spoke she didn't loosen up, he wondered what he had done to set her off so badly the first time. Maybe her death had bothered her more deeply then she realized and she had never gotten past that? It sometimes happened with the created, rather then the born to it like he was. That would line up since he would have trouble comprehending that issue. "Kat it is then, easy enough." She rolled her eyes, causing him to feel very amused and it showed in his face.

"Ha, not a problem. It means I ended up finding the others that i did and settled into a different mode of life. Worked well for me over all so probably better in that point. I meant what I said about apologizing for not being there for you. You are the only one of mine I missed out on helping through it all." And while he meant it, she probably wouldn't have ever married him anyway despite her wording. Vampires really didn't fall into marriage type relationship being far too strong a personalities, that constant need for survival which drove them.

But he wasn't dumb enough to say what she would have been otherwise. It had a feeling of used to it and that was not something appropriate. Like most teenage boy he really hadn't been thinking too clearly about it. "You seem to have done just fine on your own anyway. No harm done? Or do you have regrets?"

@angie1

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Honestly, she figured that if anyone could just look over the fact that dying, for a mortal, was kind of a big deal, then they just weren't worth sticking around for. The girl had literally just stabbed herself in the belly, she was bleeding out onto the grass, some guy came up to her and did Merlin knows what to her so that she died. Her heart stopped beating. Blood stopped flowing through her veins. There was no breath in her lungs, and o light in her eyes. Katalina de la Vega, daughter, fiancee, dreamer, had died. Then, against all her preconceived notions about death, she found herself popping out of her grave like a daisy out of the snow. Something that shouldn't happen, ever. That was kind of a big deal, and a lot for her to process at once. If he was wondering why she was acting a little standoffish, that would be why.

He decided to just call her Kat, and she was fine with that. She shrugged in indifference. “Fair enough. And I will call you... Miles. Unless you have other ideas. Or really anything that comes to suit you in the present time.” Kat blinked her green eyes twice, in shock of herself. She was beginning to find that the longer she spent time in Hogwarts, the more bite her voice gained. She surprised herself with how sharp her tongue had just been. She shook her head deciding to return to the thought at a later time when she could further evaluate just how much being around teenagers was effecting her personality.

He told her it wasn't a problem that she “inconvenienced” him, and she rolled her eyes. “So glad it all worked out for you then.” He was turned and setting up Merlin knew how many vampires, and she was here running from her human life, trekking all over the States, eventually Europe, never really settling down anywhere. At least she didn't hinder him. “Good to know that knowing an out of control vampire, who was kind of your responsibility, didn't keep you up at night. Let's not worry about how I was doing at all.” He could apologize all her wanted. That didn't bring any of the hundreds of innocent people she killed because she didn't know what she was doing back.

“Regrets?!” Her voice shot out of her on it's own. The whole while she talked she started pacing. “Let's see. I killed my fiancee, not that he didn't deserve it in some way, but still. Now he's back, and intent on making my afterlife miserable. Not to mention the countless people with unexplained deaths that were left behind me because I couldn't control or really understand what was happening to me for that matter. I never got the chance to settle anywhere. I never had a home. No friends. No boyfriend. Even though that sounds petty. I had no life to speak of except for the constant parties and the fact that I had to keep myself alive.” Kat just kept ranting and pacing until he stopped her.

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@shava444444

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He smirked at her sharpness, hearing in her voice the 'now no more nonsense' voice that his mother had used a century ago plus. "Miles is just fine. Most people who know me more then a decade often come up with others, but that will do just fine." Her snappy comments after however lessened his smile a bit. "Well being up at night comes with the territory, but as a matter of fact I was. I told you at our first meeting I was under time constraints and you didn't leave me a trail to find you with. I was in the area three more days before I could not stay any longer and searching, but you had disappeared."

Shrugging, his face became a bit more intent. "When I could I came back of course to search through Spain for any signs of you, I never found a one. And now that I know you weren't even on the continent I don't see how logically you can hold that against me." Her fiance? Miles' mind went back over the decades and he grimaced. Mind you, he had never spoken to the boy but he had been described to him and he hadn't been impressed. "Okay now that is a problem. Why you went anywhere near him I don't know as I sort of thought he was the whole reason for going away in the first place, but if you know where he's staying I can go see what I can do about him."

It wouldn't be the first time Miles had wiped out another vampire nor was it very hard. Even amongst vampires he was considered a hefty strength brawler and he didn't play by the civilized rules. His was the bar type of take 'em down fast types. And he'd also tried diplomacy on several to force some changes which had also worked and would of course be tried first, but anyone with a grudge could be an issue. "As to the others, it can't be helped for the first decade or two. I don't blame you for that in the slightest. Beyond saying I'm sorry I couldn't find you back then, I'm not sure what you expect me to do to make up for that time..."

@angie1

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Kat scoffed. Well, I've only know you for five minutes soo.. Ran through her head. However, she didn't vocalize the thought because she felt like she was being snippy enough as it was. Then again, she was finding it harder and harder to keep a civil tongue in her head. “Next time I'll leave a trail of bread crumbs.” Her comments were becoming sharper and more snake-like. Katalina had become quite the quick wit in her time. Again he explained how he went back to search for her, and against she grew bored of the same thing he continued to say. She rolled her green eyes at the bit about logic. “Don't remember a time when I ever was really.” She was emotional, full of Latin blood, and a woman. Logic wasn't her top priority.

She was getting tired of just standing there, so, risking being sacrilegious, she jumped on top of the edge of the tomb in a blur, and sat down. He decided to focus on Alexander, as he was going by now, or Xander for short. She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “That's only half true. I mostly.. ran.. because of my parents, though he did help. Then once I was dead I couldn't exactly actively stay away from anyone. He came find my graze, to pay his respects or whatever, though I only caught the tail end of whatever he was say, which happened to be the mocking bit. For some reason, it got under my skin more than usual, I snapped, and then snapped his neck. Sort off.” His death was far more gruesome than she lead on. Months later, when she came down from that high, she felt slightly guilty. Then she remembered what he said, and the guilt went away.

He tried to be all protective about her, and she scoffed at that to herself. “I don't know where he is, but I can assure you that if I need any rescuing I can do it myself.” Kat made it that far without his help, and she didn't think she would be in much need of it any time soon. He apologized for her for the people she killed, and she smirked as shook her head placating. Katalina de la Vega did not need anyone apologizing for her. “Darling there is nothing you could do to make up for that lost time.”

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@shava444444

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It was clear that it had bothered her a lot back then. He nodded, not bothered at all by her sitting on the tomb. "If I hadn't had my father around for the first few deaths, I'd have been much worse off. It was traumatizing for awhile, but he eventually helped me through it." He hesitated and then leaned against the tomb as well, looking out over the lake. "From what I remember being told back then, he was a piece of arrogance. I can understand why that tongue could make someone snap."

For some reason, the return to sharper thoughts started to bother him more. He turned and gave her a direct eye look.

No matter what he said, she seemed to take offense. Well then, why was he here? "To be honest, I thought you wanted to meet to ask new questions, not ones I already gave you answers for, but you seem pretty sharp about it too. If you're determined to hate me no matter what I say, I can just leave too." Leaving it implied she'd ever find him again, of course, as he hadn't given her anyway to find him once he left the area. After all, even his length of lifetime was too short to deal with this kind of stuff.

@angie1

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So the big guy had help from his old man. She mentally shrugged it off. It was probably a guy thing. Father's wanting to protect their son's because that's their only legacy. She wasn't going to let that anger her more though. “Oh I know just how traumatizing it is dear. It took thirty years for me to get it under control. You would be surprised how many people you can kill in thirty years.” He had someone to help him through it. She didn't. She knew exactly what it was like. Even more so than he did. She just scoffed at his idea of Alexander. The idea of him changing his name still felt foreign to her. He really had no idea what he was really like.

After he opened his mouth again, she just got angrier. Why was it that every word out of his mouth seemed to directly tick her off? He was so blasé about everything, and it was infuriating. He didn't realize just how painful all of this was for her. Before she screamed at him, she blurred over to the nearest tree. In one fluid movement she yanked it out of the ground, and split it in half. It was juvenile, yes, but it was the fastest way to get rid of the pent up frustration she was feeling. Then she blurred back over to where Miles was standing. “I wanted answers about all of this. About what happened then. Why. Answers about me. But I don't believe that I'll ever get what I'm really looking for.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and set a very defiant expression on her face.

Katalina was done doing everything on someone else's time. “If you leave now, fine. Go. I've survived this long without you, I'm sure I could do just fine. And all I will ask, is that you stand down when the time comes.” She was going to make sure that she never had to answer to anyone, and her plan was going to be dangerous, and potentially lethal. The fewer obstacles she had to worry about the better. The blond was getting the feeling that this was becoming one of those muggle TV shows she used to watch about children meeting their biological parents who had given them up. It was pathetic.

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@shava444444

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Her comment about numbers had him give her an odd look. "From those I've known who had a taste for it, it came out to just over ten thousand." He shrugged, he didn't find what she had said surprising at all, but he was older to begin with. "She was rather meticulous about keeping a list however, I never have bothered really." And while he had never met Alex, he understood what was said about him from those back then. He never claimed to know him well.

And it was true, she had never tried to explain a single thing really about what she was feeling leaving him no map to use to understand her. She just kept getting irritated which was quickly driving him away, as she should have guessed. Miles had always been laid back and her fierce temper was causing him to think it was about time to go away and never bother with this one again. As she tore up a tree he nearly rolled his eyes, but stopped himself with some difficulty. It just showed how immature she really was, that she had never gained that edge he could have helped her with from the start.

Staring at her with some disappointment, he hadn't changed his leaning on the tomb. "Well no, you probably won't the way this seems to be going. Sorry about that, I had thought finally being able to make contact you might be willing to tell me more, but it seems you aren't ready for anything from me. My mistake, this was apparently a waste of time." She made some comment about standing down and he simply raised an eyebrow at her, finding her to be sounding more and more ridiculous.

"Would be hard to stand down when you don't tell me what I am standing down for nor what you mean." Reaching into a pocket he pulled out a piece of paper with his owl post address on it and tossed it her way. "If you ever decide you want to try again, feel free to write, but I seriously doubt you will ever see me around these parts again with the way this has gone." He sighed, shaking his head at this dead end of evolution he had hoped to make contact with as he stood straight in preparation for leaving. He'd have to check out of the B&B early, but that was easy enough. By tomorrow if he timed it right he could be in France and then on the way back home to headquarters...

Ah well, at least he had watchers in the school besides her.

@angie1