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I thought about what he had just said while I ate a bite of my tuna melt I sed carefully and said, "So, you can scare somebody, and then feed off of them, and that tops up your… essence tank Frouess I do froet how fear works," I continued, "but lust?" He looked at me like I was a bit slow, and I reflected for aI was very slow

"So, we don’t need uinate somebody But we do need to be around huht caliber of emotional essence"

"And can the huue, and Ryu looked annoyingly a in a shed I could tell he was one of those people who liked to s difficult "You know, vaet everything you’ve seen in the movies," he said "They are--for the most part--based on misconceptions, half-truths, or out and out fantasy I don’t carry a virus or a pathogen or a curse What I am is another species, or race, to you If I bit you," he explained, "you could no ivehe was saying

"Does it hurt?" I asked eventually, curiosity getting the better of me

"It can, if we’d like it to" Ryu’s voice was low, his eyes suddenly hot on ood, indeed And we can heal a bite, no problem Which feels quite nice, as well"

Those words, coupled with the heat of his gaze, made various bits of ht years, rocket to life In order to coverjust at the back of , I bit into s," he continued, "they only come out e’re… excited"

I tried to keep my face noncommittal as I took a sip of my lemonade

"Told you I was different" He sht Stop eating around this man He will be the death of you

"Does that answer your questions?" he asked, takingit a squeeze "I know this has to be a lot of infors don’t have it easy when you’ve been raised huot a long tio with a sto caress and started back in on his steak We finished as left of our meals in silence, for which I was happy I didn’t kno ht

After dinner we ordered pie and coffee, and only then did Ryu askthe body and I told hiation Ryu was most interested in the stuff about Peter’s car I told hi during Peter’s stay here in Rockabill, but I wouldn’t have knohat to look for, anyway

We finished our desserts and Ryu asked for the bill I tried to pay for my share, but he just rolled his eyes at me "It’s on the company," he said "Don’t worry about it" I didn’t knohether to be pleased or displeased at that infor, it had felt like a date, but I didn’t know if I should be on a date So I settled on feeling ao at that

He had a faraway look in his eyes as he helped me into my coat, and then turnedthere, but I don’t think he was even aware of what he was doing He tooklot I waved at Ahtly superfluous as alked to Ryu’s car He opened ot into the driver’s seat

Starting the engine, he turned to me "The obvious course of action is to find Jakes’s car," he said, decisively "But tonight’s not the right tiood to waste" There was that cheeky wink again "Let’s go out Do you want to go out?"