Oh, Wallie knew what she was doing, though that didn't make him -- or Shonsu -- any less susceptible. Well, maybe knowledge made him a little more cautious, but her request wasn't unreasonable, if she were really vulnerable.

"I think I can promise that," he said, "but I'd like you to tell me something."

It was, he thought, a delicate question, but he needed to know. Not just for his own sake, but for the sake of everyone here.

"You subsist on blood," he said, picking his words carefully. "And nothing else, you said. You must be eating, but I don't think it's out of place to ask... what."

Or whom. Either way.