FEEDING ALEGREA ROXANNE ; RIDDLER

6. RULES

IN HINDSIGHT, it wasn't the most convenient idea Edward had ever had. He had brought an entire body this time. He had forced himself to drag an entire dismembered body up several flights of stairs within his usual briefcase, also carrying his normal paperwork. It was bursting at the seems. Once finally in front of his apartment door, he dropped the briefcase and panted.

"Oh dear." he pulled the door open quickly. He wasn't surprised in the slightest to see her. But he was surprised to see her like this. She was sitting on his couch, bowl of popcorn in hand as she stared at his TV. She was now wearing his plaid pajamas. Her short and curly hair was pulled up into a small pony tail. She looked over to him and smiled.

"Oh. Goodie. You're home. Have you ever seen a movie called Psycho?" he sighed, dragging the briefcase behind himself.

"Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece? Of course." he stopped and looked to her for a moment. "Wait, where did you get that? I don't have a copy of that movie..."

"Did you know the library has DVD's?" he narrowed his eyes.

"You have a library card?"

"...No, but this movie already reminds me of you." she looked to the TV again. He rolled his eyes. He let go of the briefcase, assuming the sound of it falling over would get her attention. It didn't. Sighing again, he walked over and stood in front of the TV.

"I brought you a body." she grinned and put down the bowl of popcorn.

"Really?"

"Mhm." he laughed, beginning to feel satisfied already. "I managed to pull some strings. It's all yours."

"Thank you. Finally." she walked over to the briefcase happily. She picked it up effortlessly, as if it weren't a object Edward was barely able to lift. He licked his lips anxiously.

"The only problem is it's a little...smelly. I think it's a few days old." her eyes widened.

"It is?"

"Yeah is that...bad?"

"That's...AMAZING!" she grinned even more, holding the briefcase over her shoulder with one hand before walking towards him. "You don't even know how great this is!" she threw a arm around him tightly. Her reaction wasn't genuine. She hoped giving him this kind of good reinforcement would encourage him more. Over the years she learned that reinforcement was the only way to get humans to bend to her will. Usually she'd use negative reinforcement. But she knew she'd have to treat him differently. She thought he wasn't scared of her anymore. Acting as if it wasn't enough wouldn't drive him. Only acting like it was more than enough would catch his attention. He was a under appreciated person. If she only gave him a little bit of appreciation, it wouldn't be long before he wanted more. 

But it wasn't just that. She was starting to enjoy his presence. She wanted him to like her at least a little bit more.

Yet he was only confused. His mouth was open, but he couldn't say a word. As she pulled away, he kept trying to speak. Nothing was managing to come out. He almost began to stutter. After several moments she interrupted him.

"You want an explanation on how vampires eat, don't you?"

"...You were eating popcorn...Now...you're excited about eating a old body..."

"I can explain it. Let's sit down." he frowned as she grabbed onto his wrist. He wasn't used to this kind of contact. He wasn't even used to friends. Now he had a girl acting like a nice friend who was so open and nice to him. In this moment he realized it even more. She was being nice to him. The only other girl that was nice to him was Lee. And they weren't even friends, they were acquaintances. She sat down on the right side of the couch.