Page 146 of Mercy Written in Blood
They stood beside the window while the rain thinned to silence. The city lights blurred in the wet glass. Their reflections remained side by side, one man carrying centuries, the other a Family he had never asked to lead.
Renji had believed truth would alter the room — that once spoken, it would divide the evening into before and after, human and vampire, safety and danger. Instead, Haruki was still Haruki. His hand remained warm. His presence remained strangely easy.
"What happens now?" Haruki asked.
"You go home."
"That seems anticlimactic."
"It is after midnight."
"You don't sleep."
"I do."
"How much?"
"Enough."
Haruki gave him a look. Renji sighed.
"Three or four hours."
"That is not enough."
"For me, it is."
"Vampire physiology?"
"Yes."
Haruki's interest brightened immediately. Renji regretted the answer.
"How fast do you heal?"
"Haruki."
"Can you go into sunlight?"
"No."
"Ever?"
"In two years."
"Do you need blood?"
"Yes."
"How often?"
"This is becoming an interrogation."
"You started giving useful answers."
"I answered one."
"You've answered at least six."
