She checks her purse to make sure that, yep, she still has it. "Yeah. Uh, next Sunday?"

"Whenever you want."

"Okay. Sunday, then. Uh, noon, if it's sunny and you can't go outside, I come by here. If it isn't, swing by, we can pretend it's a lunch date even though you don't eat. I expect I'll have my thoughts together and have questions for you of... Some kind."

He nods. "I will see you Sunday, then. And I will—not try to go out of my way not to run into you if I just casually happen to?"

"Sure. Uh, but no engineering that, please, I would not like to now have a vampire stalker."

"I will definitely not stalk you."

"Good. Thank you. Good night, James."

"Good night, Yvette."

She heads home. There is rather a lot to think about.

And he spends the week trying to act as normally as possible and does not seek her out even once.

He's not hungry by Sunday. But he doesn't want to risk it. He has a lot of control but she's his mate so he—

—finds an animal. A carnivore, those taste best.

His eyes are amber.

On Sunday, here is his mate! She's dressed up again, rather like this is an actual date.

"Off we go, then?"

"Yes, ma'am," he says, flashing her a grin.

She smiles back, and they depart.

"I can grab something to eat from a stall or something, and then we can go to the park. There's a nice, quiet one nearby, not very crowded."

"That sounds lovely. Lead the way."

She does, getting herself a quick set of fish and chips, and then leading him to a very out of the way bench in a very out of the way park.

"Thank you," she says, once she's sat down. "For the, um." She motions to his eyes. "Diet change."

He nods. "It's not all the way to gold, yet, the human blood hasn't all diluted. But yeah."

She nods.

"Right. Okay. Uh, so, what other rules does the secret vampire government have?"

"Just the one, really: do not reveal the existence of vampires to humans as a whole, nor allow such a reveal to occur through inaction. It's particularly important not to create newborn armies, which inevitably get out of control, nor turn children—when we turn, our personality becomes static, and immortal children never grow up and get enough maturity and self-control to be able to exist quietly. The cutoff age is fourteen."

"Immortal children? Stuck forever at... whatever age they were turned at." She looks sort of queasy. "I do not disagree with these addendums to the rules, they are. They seem very necessary."

He nods. "And—I just realized I did not mention this at the time, it was a background fact—you become prettier when you turn. More symmetrical, better body proportions. Immortal children are almost impossible not to love at first sight, whole covens of vampires would go down fighting to protect their children."

Yvette stares at him.

"Yep. Definitely a. Definitely a wise policy."

He nods. "I believe the fourteen cutoff is because fourteen is the age of the youngest members of the Volturi coven."

"That's a bit questionable, but. Okay. If they encounter a controlled twelve year old, would they mindlessly kill them, or agree to leave them alive?"

"Kill them, probably."

Wince. "Okay."