The silver of the cross almost held him down as much as he pretended to be held so. It wasn't normal silver - he'd felt the difference when it burned him - because it had felt so much more draining than that, as though the metal contained something brighter and fiercer than sunlight. He would ask him about it later, he thought. For now it suited his purposes to twist back away from the dangling threat, but if need be it would take no effort at all to reach up and snap Uryuu's neck and so extricate himself from the 'trap'. Suffice was to say that he wouldn't have put himself into the situation if it wasn't possible to get out of it.

And if it gave Uryuu confidence, made him feel powerful, then so be it. The nature of vampires was to fulfil their own hunger, yes, but Eric had learnt over the years that they played another part in the world, satisfied a lust in the human condition for the unknown, for danger, and it was that which he had monopolised on, particularly after coming to America.

Uryuu was particularly agile, Eric thought. Strong, too. It hadn't just been his imagination that there was something strange about him, because when he moved, he moved with the deliberate, conscious elegance of someone who knew full well what they were doing, and possessed the muscle tone to do it. It just wasn't easy to perch on a table and rock his hips so very precisely.

"And how do I earn them?" he asked, eyes glittering, offering Uryuu the chance to draw out the rules.