((OOC:  TY, KB.))<br/><br/>"A Golden Retriever, yes, but you're golden outside of that," he said quietly back to Mina.<br/><br/>His smile deepened as Onyx snapped at his finger.  "Be gentle or rough, loud or quiet, whenever you want.  What I want doesn't matter."<br/><br/>When the two of them shivered, he smiled again, gently, inwardly delighting in their expressions.  "We'll do whatever you want," he said.  "I enjoy helping you enjoy yourselves."  He looked them each straight in the eyes, and before they turned to walk, he drew close and whispered, "I enjoy learning who you are from every... little... thing."<br/><br/>Mina's glance back at him elicited a quick upward flick of his brows at her in return.  "Well, let's hear what she has to say, then," he said in reply to Onyx.  He walked between the two of them, gazing ahead at the crowd.  He could see Melissa now, standing out on the manor's porch, her red hair blazing in the sunlight.  He remembered that, too... her hair was just as bright no matter where it grew, and he'd thought to himself once, when they had been together, that it was like lapping at the base of a fire.<br/><br/>And then he stopped in his tracks as his stomach growled, so loudly it startled even him.  He'd not eaten very much in the past few days... just a few scraps, here and there, when hunger managed to penetrate the haze around his mind.  But this was no benign, human hunger.  The sinking pit his stomach had become was aching for something deeper, more primal... more dangerous, and more sinister.  He glanced quickly at Mina and Onyx, whose eyes had fixed on him when the noise came.  Quickly recovering himself, he shrugged and ran a hand through his hair.  "Yes, our hunt will have to be a big one," he said, finishing Onyx's sentence.  "I didn't eat too much over the last few days, either."  He started walking again, finally joining the crowd and hiding his troubled face by standing close to the people on the edge, staring at Melissa intently.<br/><br/>It was back.  It had been a while.  He hoped this time he could sate it safely.