If Alexis had realized that her question had just made things worse, she'd have apologized again. As it was, she just frowned, and fished around off screen for a piece of paper to scribble notes on. Her way of dealing with things? Research. And mothering people. "Then you should do all that," she said seriously. "Besides just giving me a lesson."

A few more scribbles. "So we don't know anything about toxins... should I do some research? I've got some books here, some fiction too, maybe there'll be something in there about toxins or vampire bites. Maybe about vampire bat bites." Alexis laughed a little, just a little bit hysterical. "I did think vampires were fiction until a few minutes ago."