"But animals aren't enough?"
He paused. "I can't be sure, of course, but I'd compare it to living on tofu and soy milk; we call ourselves vegetarians. That is our little inside joke. That we don't eat 'meat.'" He laughed a shaky laugh, blew out some air. "It doesn't completely satiate the hunger—or rather thirst. But it keeps us strong enough to resist... most of the time." His tone turned ominous, hard. "Sometimes it's harder than others."
"Is it very difficult for you now?" I asked coquettishly.
He sighed. "Yes."
"But you're not even hungry now!" I said chidingly—what if he got fat?
"Why do you think that?"
"Your eyes. I told you I had a theory. I've noticed that people—men in particular—are crabbier when they're hungry."
He chuckled, delighted by my genius. "You're observant, aren't you?"
I didn't answer; I just listened to the sound of his tinkling laugh, committing it to memory.
"Were you hunting this weekend, with Emmett?" I asked when it was quiet again.
"Yes." He paused for a second, as if deciding whether or not to say something or just think it. "I didn't want to leave, but it was necessary. It's a bit easier to be around you when I'm not thirsty."
"Why didn't you want to leave?"
"It makes me... anxious... to be away from you." His eyes were gentle but intense, and they seemed to be making my bones soft.206 "I wasn't joking when I asked you to try not to fall in the ocean or get run over last Thursday. I was distracted all weekend, worrying about
206. As if Fredward needed anything more than vampiric strength, vampiric speed, vampiric coordination, vampiric good looks, vampiric telepathy, vampiric hypnosis, vampiric osmosis and a built-in radar detector, he also can make people's bones soft.