Distantly, Alberto remembered a line from the Matrix -- 'take the red pill, and you see how far the rabbit hole goes.'<br/><br/>Nearly every thinking part of him screamed 'no, don't do it, this is a terrible idea, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into'.  Which was, honestly, absolutely correct.  He shouldn't have been here.  He should, if he was smart, turn around, and maybe leave forever.  But if he left, now, he'd be saying no to learning about the truth of things.  There were too many unknowns, and just enough of the riddle to hold him further.  Besides, what if this girl body he'd been turned into didn't have his accustomed strength?  Could he afford to say no?<br/><br/>Power, in blood?  He'd take it, and he'd see just what Alice had to say.<br/><br/>Slowly, but certain now, she rose to her feet again and closed the distance between them.  For a moment, when there were only a sparse handful of inches between them, he hesitated -- how did Andrei want to do this?  But the answer came to him in a terrible flash of intuition.  Alberto sucked in a breath, took a knee, and pressed his lips to Andrei's wrist.  The scent was familiar -- more familiar than the smell of blood should have been -- but that did not stop him from taking that drink.