Fact!

Megan's chair swiveled slightly as she fidgeted. "Yes," she finally said. I was a little surprised to see her so hesitant: usually the prospect of being social makes her all bouncy and chipper. "Um. I was going to stop by with Abby for a while before we came to the office party, and then maybe come back again afterward."

"Oh," Katherine said flatly. "Will Abigail be coming back as well?" The cool animosity in Katherine's voice was not a surprise -- I'm paranoid that most people secretly revile me, but in Katherine's case I'm pretty sure it's not paranoia. Or a secret.

I'm not sure why she dislikes me so much -- but I'm also not entirely sure she needs a reason. Katherine seems to think poorly of most people; I've always had the impression that she thinks of most of humanity as some sort of slimy grubs, and the only reason she doesn't crush us out of sheer revulsion is that she doesn't want our guts to splurt out on the bottom of her heels. In retrospect, I have to say it's kind of shitty for her to have such a 'better than you' attitude when she's basically been living out the life of an undead abomination's equivalent of the office water cooler.

I frowned, struck by a sudden thought. Maybe it wasn't that Katherine didn't like people... maybe it was that she didn't like ignorant people. She knew the truth about vampires and werewolves and magic and everything, so it made a sort of sense that she wouldn't have patience for the people who didn't -- and that people who were afraid of completely made up things, like I was, would piss her off to no end.

Oh, hell. If she was supposed to help Mr. Salvatore maintain his 'normal' cover, then I'd probably infuriated her when I'd accused him of being a vampire back when I didn't even really believe in them. And Katherine would have probably found out about it from Megan since she and Megan were friends and Megan was the one with whom I shared -- often and loudly -- my made up speculations as to the unholiness of our creepy-ass, actually is a vampire, boss.

Hell. Oh, hell. It made sense that I seriously annoyed Katherine. But she was friends with Megan. My mouth felt dry. If Katherine was friends with Megan, what did that mean?

"It'll just be me after the office party," Megan told Katherine while I quietly freaked out. "Abby won't want to stay up that late, and she prefers a quiet evening at home to parties, anyway. Oh! And she seems to have a thing going on with the new manager, so if she's out late with anyone tonight it's going to be him."

"Really?" Katherine asked with more incredulity than I thought I deserved.

....

Well, maybe not.

"Yeah," Megan said. "And he's a real looker, and charming, and a genuinely nice guy as far as I can tell."

Katherine seemed to relax a little. "I'm sorry, Megan," she said. She didn't really sound sympathetic -- but that was fine because sympathy wasn't needed. If Megan wanted Hans she could have gotten him, and we all knew it. Megan waved Katherine's apology away.

"No, it's okay," Megan said. "I mean, I knew it wasn't going to work out between us. Shoot, I'm even the one who hooked them up! So I'm glad it's working out for her."

"Well.... Still," Katherine said. She paused in thought. "Look, Emma didn't go home for the holidays this year, so, how about I try to convince her to come out tonight? It'll do her some good, I think, and she and Abby can hang out and... well, I'm sure we can find someone who won't mind helping take your mind off the one who got away."

Megan laughed and stood up. "Okay, Katie," she said. "I'll see you two tonight, then."

Katherine straightened as well and she and Megan exchanged hugs. I sank back and shifted to my spot against the wall. Normally if I overheard a conversation like that the pit of my stomach would be full of worry about meeting someone new and screwing it up -- I had no idea who Emma was. But instead I was too freaked out about what Megan's friendship with Katherine might mean -- and the pit was a goddamn chasm.

Fact: Megan's inheritance meant she didn't need to work -- but she came in here every day anyway.

Fact: Megan and Katherine were friends, and Katherine at least used to manage Mr. Salvatore's blood supply.

Fact: Megan had told me she was looking for something long term in her next relationship.

Fact: Megan hadn't seriously tried to date anyone since college graduation -- which coincided with our starting to work for Mr. Salvatore.

I hugged my knees against my chest and tried my best not to throw up. I choked on my fear instead. You couldn't get more long term than the immortal undead. Except that just because Mr. Salvatore was going to live forever, it didn't follow that Megan would, too. After all, that was the point of my last fact. I'd caught Mr. Salvatore and Megan making out at last year's office party -- apparently, according to Hans, right before Mr. Salvatore had almost murdered Katherine.

Megan was in danger. Serious danger. And if those facts really did add up the way I thought they did... if Megan was already one of Mr. Salvatore's willing thralls... Then it was only a matter of time before she would end up like Katherine had: bled dry, dying; maybe not making it -- all because of Mr. Salvatore's eventual and inevitable overindulgence. And then, even if she did survive, she'd just risk it again. After all, hadn't Mr. Salvatore already almost killed Katherine? And wasn't she here now, having just tried to get her old job back?

Okay: Maybe I just didn't know enough about how vampires worked to really guess what Mr. Salvatore was up to -- but he had to be up to something because he'd been gone for a year and I didn't really think he'd come back because of the publishing house. Which made me pretty confident -- afraid, really -- that he'd come back for personal reasons. Like transferring all of his personal finances. Or shipping his coffin out to the country. Or stocking up on his favorite brand of toothpaste.

Or his favorite vintage of nubile, slavishly devoted victim. If Mr. Salvatore had claimed Megan then he was going to kill her. Eventually. It was just a matter of time. And I had no idea how to stop him.