Sensing emotions was never hard to Max, he could understand how someone was feeling miles away if he tried. It could be because of his age as other abilities he had grown more powerful with time, but he was good at emotions for as long as he could remember. Eventually he chalked it up to just being his special gift that most vampires were gifted with.

It came in handy when he was in a pinch for a feeding. In order not to draw much attention he would always search for the negative emotions that were in the surrounding area. Finding the ones more down on their luck always provided a good excuse for a more natural cause of disappearance. Did they skip town? Off themselves? Max never stood around to find out how the grieving took solace in their loved ones being gone, if the deceased even had loved ones to spare that is.

He wasn't particularly thirsty the night he met Catherine. He was more so in an adventurous mood, well as adventurous as you can be at in a town with an older population and not many things to see besides trees that surrounded the area. There was a single department store that was open later than 7pm and Max had made his way inside.

He shrugged off his coat the moment he stepped inside. It was a pointless article of clothing, but he had figured it would look strange to not have one on in the snow that flew around outside. The door closed behind him as he looked around the store. It wasn't that big, but it had several departments that he could see from the entrance. Before he could move further inside, however, a heavy feeling of irritation washed over him, and it wasn't coming from him.

His eyes scanned over the few teenagers that rushed past him and two older women who sent them a glare. Following the feeling led him to the women's clothing and the irritation only grew with each step.

"Just let me work, okay?" A girl's voice spoke out with the irritation that Max had felt. He followed the voice to a young girl standing near a boy who looked around the same age. "You shouldn't even be here." Max watched her as she stood a table trying to fold some shirts while the boy tried getting her to stop.

"No need to be so mean, Catherine, I'm just trying to make conversation."

The girl, Catherine, Max assumed rolled her eyes. "And like I said before, I'm just trying to work." The shirt she had been working on was slapped out of her hands and she looked up at the culprit. Hands found their way onto her arms in a tight grip, and she tried to slap them away only to struggle against him. Max couldn't stand by and watch any further as he made his way over to the pair.

"Excuse me, would you be able to assist me over in the men's clothing?" The hands had fallen from Catherine's arms as they both jumped at the interruption. Relief washed over the girl as the irritation had lessened significantly.

"Yeah, of course." She replied before sending a pointed look at the boy, "You should leave Nathan, before Jason sees you in here." Turning on her heel she walked past Max and he followed her after sending his own look to the younger boy. He didn't seem bothered in the least as he watched Catherine walk away, his eyes clearly scanning up and down her body. He was shameless.

Catherine led him to the men's clothing, it wasn't a large section to choose from, but Max wasn't picky, nor did he even need anything. "I apologize if I interrupted something back there." He apologized. He didn't mean it of course being how he did it on purpose, he just wanted to start a conversation. With a shake of her head she responded,

"Don't worry about it. It was good timing actually." Attempting to make herself look busy she began folding a pair of jeans that had been strewn around a table.

"Does he come in here often?" Was he stepping over a boundary? He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but he felt protective over her, and he wasn't sure why. He had never felt the need to interrupt a situation before, especially if he wasn't involved. But the moment he watched the boy put his hands on her he knew he had to do something.

"Only every night." She replied simply, keeping her eyes down on the pair of jeans she was working on.

"Does he pull stunts like that often?"

"Only every night." She repeated, keeping her eyes down still. "He's supposed to be banned from the store, but no one really cares around here. Like my manager says, any business is good business." She let out a small sarcastic laugh.

"You shouldn't have to put up with that." He spoke.

"I shouldn't, but at this point it's part of the job. Got to save up for school somehow, you know." Finishing the table of jeans, she turned around and leaned against it, moving her head to look at Max. "Got to keep the parents happy."

"You don't want to go to school?" He asked, adjusting his glasses. Before she could answer he also asked, "What do you want to do then?"

"At the risk of sounding incredibly cliché," she started, "I want to travel. Nowhere crazy though, just go around the states or something. The idea of flying scares me." The laugh that left her mouth that time was genuine as she pulled down her dark brown hair from the clip that had originally held it up. "I just want to get out of this place."

Max wanted to help her, but how would she react to some stranger offering her a ride out of the state? How would she react to what he really was? Did she have to know? He figured she would have to find out eventually as he was already feeling a bond form between them two. He didn't want to come off as creepy. He was starting to feel more like a father and she, his daughter. That did sound creepy. He would have to think on it.

"I don't even know why I'm tell you this." She kept talking as she pulled her hair back up. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you before and that's saying something."

This time Max laughed at her blunt words. "I'm Max. I run a video store in Santa Carla, California and I'm in the search for another city to set up shop."

Catherine gave him a crazy look. "You came to Montana to find another spot for a video store. This tiny ass town won't give you any benefits you should've kept driving."

"It would seem that way, wouldn't it? Thankfully this was just a pit stop."

As the two continued to talk Catherine kept herself looking busy until it was almost closing time.

"Do you live far? I could give you a ride if you needed." Max had offered, remembering during their time talking that she mentioned her college fund was really a car fund.

"No, no I wouldn't want to put you out. I live just down the road." The man wasn't too surprised by her answer, he fully expected a no, but he appreciated her not "wanting to put him out".

"It's really not a issue, just make sure you stay warm." He said about to walk off before turning back around to face her. "It was nice to meet you, Catherine." Then he walked off, knowing what he wanted.

Max wanted a daughter.