There was reluctance in the way Aidou entered the room -- but so there had been reluctance in the way he had stood in the doorway. It was clear that Aidou wasn't one who enjoyed racking up debt, and equally clear that he considered this 'blood donation' a debt. Sasuke himself had been inclined to think the same, but they had been allies too long (and he had seen how the Institute operated for too long) for him not to see it as equally, if not more, a matter of efficiency.

At the same time, he could understand. Because that did seem to be the way the Institute operated: forced dependency in a place where nothing was dependable. (That word, even. Bond.) Even Landel was at a moment's notice ousted by Aguilar, whose role in turn had been usurped by Landel again. Death passed like a sharp blade straight through vital organs: too quick to be felt, too deep to be healed.

Whatever grief Aidou's teethmarks caused inadvertently, they at least healed over quickly. Sasuke hadn't noticed if there were scars, but then -- even if there were, they would hardly be the first puncture wounds to his body.

"It's a resource that will replenish itself," he said, finally allowing himself to be amused enough by the vampire's reticence to cock and eyebrow at him. "And uncontaminated, this time."