Megan had woken before him, so thankfully David didn't have to dwell further on his hunger. He set a brisk pace towards the cabin. He wanted to run, but of course he could only carry one person at a time, and the other two could never keep up. But having rested well, Megan was walking, so he carried only himself. He was glad. Walking might not quite be distracting enough, after all.

They reached the cabin with time to spare, and as David ushered the humans in and turned on the lights, he didn't waste any time. "Now that we're here, the first order of business is food. Both for you... and for me, I'm afraid. I haven't fed in a whole month, and that's pushing things."

Megan nodded. She held out her wrist. David smiled. "Let's at least go into the kitchen and sit down. There are enough chairs for all of us there."

With the four of them seated around the small table, the kitchen seemed somewhat crowded, but there was room enough. David sat next to Megan, and smiled reassuringly at her. She held out her wrist again, but Jeff put a hand on her shoulder.

"I think it's my turn," he said.

David gave him a level look. "You're sure?"

"Yes. If I'm not going to be able to handle it, we might as well find out now." He had a wry smile on his face as he said it.

David nodded. "All right." He got up and went over next to Jeff's chair.

"Should I do anything in particular?" asked Jeff.

"No." David shook his head. "Just hold still, is all. I will be as painless as I can."

Rather than bend over Jeff and probably remind him all to much of the lair and the other vampires, David knelt next to him, putting his own head much lower than the seated man's. He took Jeff's wrist in his hands. He could hear Jeff's heart pounding, and though the tall human held perfectly still, David knew he was terrified. Best not to draw this out then, he thought, and bit down as quickly and cleanly as he could.

He kept a tight reign on the hunger, taking slowly and carefully, and as he did so he was peripherally aware of Jeff's racing heart rate slowing, until it was as slow and steady as any he'd ever heard.

David pulled back, having taken enough for his needs, and looked up at Jeff with a smile. "Thanks."

Jeff blinked, looking almost dazed. "No problem. That was not what I expected at all."

"People keep saying that to me," said David as he got up and went back to his own chair. "What's so unexpected about it?"

"It's actually kind of pleasant, is what's unexpected," said Jeff. "Which is really strange, because it wasn't like that at all before. I mean, if anybody's an expert at getting bitten by vampires, I am, and when they did..." He shivered. "It was just painful. That's all there was too it, it hurt. But just now... I don't really know how to describe it. The initial bite hurt just a bit, and then that just faded away and it was like I was floating, or... something. Sort of a meditative or a dream state. Very relaxing."

"It was the same for me," said Mack. "It was really weird."

Megan nodded. "Me too. And when that first vampire bit me, before you came, it was just like Jeff said, all it did was hurt. But when you did, it was different."

"Huh." said David, puzzled. "That's all kinds of strange. Although now that I think of it, the only time I was ever bitten, by my friend Aidan, it was a lot like that."

"So good vampires make you feel good when they bite you? That doesn't really make sense," said Megan. "You're different mentally, but physically you're all vampires, it ought to be the same."

"Maybe not," said David. "Vampires are telepathic, in a way, among themselves. Maybe something about getting bitten lets a human sense that somehow."

"Maybe." Megan shrugged. "I'm not sure how we'd tell for certain. Other than maybe getting you angry and having you bite one of us, to see if it was different, but I think I'd rather not do that."

Mack chuckled. "Yeah, I don't know if that would be a good idea."

"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be," said David, shaking his head. "But anyhow, now that I've been fed, I should feed you. What would you like for dinner?"