[ she doesn't know how any of this is possible, how any of it can be, but that first taste of blood was enough to prove it was happening. (she didn't want it to.) the cloying thirst puncturing throwing her veins, the taste of blood, so metallic and right (wrong) against her tongue is something she can't forget.
(she has to remember everything; it's not about wanting to.)
her lips move into a facsimile of a smile, the way she has to when there's nothing else she can do. when she can recognize and know his bewilderment and concern and not know how to comfort him. comfort herself. she blinks back tears, fists the fabric of his shirt in her palm and smooths it over. tightens her grasp on his fingers. (it's the only way she knows how to comfort him. reassure him.