"I was an aristocrat once, I excel at lounging." He ventured at the least the ghost of a smile, a slow upward creep of the corners of his mouth, and followed her lead along the path somewhere between the inherent grace of a predator and a person who had very little recent experience with navigating woods.

At home his more suicidal inclination had been more or less glossed over--he could never quite be trusted enough not to slip for anyone to protest with much strength. Annie, he thought, fluctuated between being grateful that his strength provided a measure of protection for Eve, and wanting him out of the house for the sake of the same person.

To Tom he was a monster, as all vampires were, although they'd come to an uneasy sort of truce. But to Riley...he wasn't any of those things, at least not yet. He was a novelty, and perhaps not an unwelcome one. The shine would wear off when she learned what he truly was, his usual pessimism contended, but for now--for now he could have this. Someone who wanted for reasons he couldn't quite pin, to be in his company.

Even if she did also want him to clean fish. He'd been tracking her movements with his eyes, said eyes having gone a bit round when their shoulders had brushed, but he recovered soon enough to explain: "Yes, really. Peak physical condition is important to my routines."