James was as quiet as any other vampire when he was out on a hunt, but James' preferred style of hunt didn't involve getting filthy in the woods. No, he was out here for another reason. Ever since his life fell into pieces like a slow motion Jenga collapse, he'd been rebuilding himself. Rebranding himself. Today's walk along the edge of the woods was to collect his thoughts before the scheduled therapy session with the school psychiatrist.
It wasn't unusual to see Fred out brooding like this on her own. She was a loner in many ways and James was under the impression that she liked it that way. He had always liked her. She was serious enough to be taken for her word while still in possession of a sense of humor to go along with it. Not to mention she had brought to him the information on who it was that had been responsible for the sex tape scandal.
As far as the people in his life he still spoke with, James would consider Fred in some region of a friendship sphere. They spoke rarely, but when they did, it was never a bad experience. That counted for something.
He approached her quietly, his vampiric powers of telepathy honed to being able to detect especially strong or loud thoughts without needing eye contact. Just a close enough vicinity. What he encountered when he got closer to Fred was troubling. Troubling and familiar.
James was not in the habit of exposing what he was able to glean from telepathy, if anything, so he said nothing about it. "Do you mind if I join you?"