"I dunno, you seemed pretty into me even before you turned."

"Magical sex fangs don't count."

Okay now he's laughing too hard to kiss anyone, Miles, what have you done.

"Say, do I have magical sex fangs too, now?"

"Yes! Yes you do!"

"Cool."

So, that happens.

They have made such good decisions together.

After a number of other good decisions, they curl up together under Zeke's blanket for a nice post-good-decisions nap. Then Miles yawns and sits up.

"I'm hungry. Did you say something about animal blood?"

"Yeah, we can go raid the butcher."

They get dressed. Zeke leads Miles to a butcher's shop, which they break into and steal a couple of plastic tubs of pig's blood from.

"Much better," Miles declares. "Are there any sights to see in this town?"

"Maybe not so much," laughs Zeke. "It's a pretty small town. We have, like, one club. I could show you our one club!"

"I'm not really the clubbing type. What do you have in the way of libraries?"

"Nerd."

"But a cute nerd, am I right?"

"Adorable."

"And don't you forget it."

Okay, so apparently they're going to make out in the alley behind the butcher's. That's a thing that's happening. Miles is so pleased with the turn his life has taken. God knows what the Dendarii are going to do without him, but whatever, he's having fun.

Wait.

What?

"...You okay?" says Zeke, disengaging. "You, like, super froze up just now."

"I'm - I - clearly I should've asked more questions about the soul thing, or something, what the hell happened to my, my..." He shakes his head, utterly at a loss for words.

"Uh, sorry? Most people don't take it this hard," says Zeke.

"I'm not completely sure what I lost, but whatever it was, I needed it," he says. "I want it back. How do I get it back?"

"...You serious?"

"Extremely."

"...I know where to start looking, anyway," he says. "Like, I can't promise anything, but magic does all kinds of weird shit, who knows. Do you, uh - yes, okay, obviously you want to go there right now."

"How perceptive of you," he mutters. "No - sorry - thank you, really, I mean it."

He tries a smile. It doesn't quite make it to his previous standard.