"Oh, that's interesting. I thought the S.P.A. just gave blood to the vampires."

"Eh, well, kinda. We do get a monthly allotment from them, but it's, you know, basically just enough to not starve. If we need or want more than that, we have to buy it."

"What kind of blood is it?" Rue asked curiously.

"Human blood," Claude said, raising an eyebrow. "What else would it be?"

"I dunno. Pig's blood, maybe?"

Claude shook his head.
"It is actually less sustainable to use animal blood than human blood. Animal blood will make us feel less hungry, satisfy the craving. But it's not very nutritious for us, so it takes more animal blood to make us feel full in a feeding, and it doesn't stay with us as long, so we have to feed more often. Animal blood is probably only a tenth as good as human blood, if that."

"Oh, I had no idea!"

"Yeah... I wouldn't expect you to," Claude smiled at her, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, let's go in! I really need paper towels, soap and deodorant. And I might as well get some blood while I'm here."

"Right," Rue agreed, getting out of the car.

The two walked around the modest shop together, collecting things they needed. Rue explained to Claude the same thing she'd told Lucas about faerie food while they shopped, since they were literally the only ones in the store besides the two clerks, who were both supernaturals. One was a werebeast of some kind, Rue wasn't sure what kind, just that they weren't a wolf. The other was a mage, though not a very powerful one.

It was interesting to see some of the supernatural-aimed products on the shelf. Rue even found some dried flowers in glass jars that she recognized. Bluebells, foxgloves and primroses were the most plentiful faerie flowers she observed, though they also had yew and rowan bark chips and dried hawthorne berries. She carefully avoided getting too close to the bottles of St. John's wort, wolfsbane and dogbane. Whether Claude noticed she was avoiding them or not, she wasn't sure, but he did notice the bottles she was looking at.

"Foxglove, wolfsbane and dogbane? Aren't those toxic?" he asked.

"To humans? Yeah. The foxglove is safe for me, though I wouldn't exactly be down to eat any anyway. The wolfsbane and dogbane though? Not particularly great for me," Rue remarked.

"I guess that makes sense, though you aren't really one or the other," he mused.

"Close enough."

"I guess all that matters is that it affects you, not whether the named animal is exactly the same as you."

"Yeah. I think I have everything, are you ready to checkout?"

"Sure, let's go," Claude gave Rue an easy smile as they made their way to the checkout counter.

Rue loaded her things on the conveyor belt and placed down the plastic bar to separate her stuff from Claude's and helped put his on the belt too. Claude surreptitiously removed the separator bar and stepped around Rue while pulling out his wallet.

Rue caught on to his plan and grabbed the second bar and placed it down, then leveled a glare at Claude.
"Don't you dare," she hissed.

"But I don't-"

"Nope!" Rue pushed herself between him and the clerk with her own wallet in hand. The mage eyed the two of them with wary bemusement and told Rue the total for her items. She paid for them after lightly smacking Claude's hand away when he tried to reach around her to hand his card to the clerk.
"Stop being ridiculous about this, I'm not broke you know," she said, rolling her eyes.

Claude let out a weak laugh and held up his hands in surrender.
"Ok, ok, just trying to be chivalrous."

"You've been a vampire for five years, not five hundred. You've no reason to try that hard at being chivalrous," Rue grumped. He only laughed softly again, his cheeks faintly flushed.

Claude paid for his own items and managed to scoop up half of Rue's bags in addition to his own before she could protest. He skipped out of reach when she made a grab for him, laughing some more. Grumbling under her breath about his antics, Rue carried the rest of her bags and followed Claude back to his car.

On the drive home, Rue thought about their earlier conversation. A question kept rolling around her mind, and she finally decided to just go ahead and ask it. She glanced uncertainly at Claude.
"Claude?"

"Yeah?"

"You said human blood is more nutritious, but did you literally mean humans? Or do non-human supernaturals like werebeasts and stuff count?"

Claude raised an eyebrow and glanced at her before answering.
"Supernaturals do count, for the most part. At least, werebeasts, psychics and mages, unicorns and dragons count. Vampires biting each other is... somewhat pointless, but it does happen for... non-food reasons," he said, shifting somewhat uncomfortably in his seat as he explained that. "Angels, demons and fae though? That's more complicated. Angel and demon blood can have strange properties, from what I've heard. And neither are particularly keen to feed vamps, and are very capable of defending themselves if someone decided to try it anyway."

"And fae?" Rue prodded, curious.

Claude was pensively silent for a few minutes.
"I think some fae count, but I don't think all of them do. Fae are... very varied, though I don't think I need to tell you that," he said with a faint smile. "I think if a fae could turn into a human, not just glamour themselves, but really transform into a human shape, they would count."

"So I would count."

They pulled into Claude's driveway and he parked the car and turned to face her, wearing a serious expression.
"I think you would count, yes. But I hope you're not thinking of offering me your blood to pay your debt," he said, his tone almost stern.

"Why not?"

"Rue," he sighed, shaking his head. "Live feeding is really risky. It's easy for the vampire to lose control and take too much. If they're not trustworthy, they could enthrall you. Hell, sometimes inexperienced vamps or ones who don't have good control can make thralls my accident! And, live feeding can be addictive to a vampire."

Rue looked at him, weighing his words for truth and hidden meanings. Her senses told her that his words were not untrue, and he did believe them. But there was definitely more to the explanation than what he was saying, and there was also something else, something behind his words that he was leaving unspoken. She debated whether to press him about it, but ultimately decided not to. She hadn't even known Claude twenty-four hours yet, she didn't have the right to demand his secrets.
"I understand," she said finally. Claude looked relieved. "That said, Claude, if there's ever a true emergency and you need blood, you can take mine. And I promise I won't let you take too much."

Claude looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it and just shook his head.
"Well, that won't ever happen," he said firmly.

Rue just smiled and got out of the car. She gathered her groceries and headed towards her own house.
"Thanks for the ride," she said over her shoulder. Claude smiled and waved at her in response before taking his own bags inside.