While Valerie was contemplating how blood could go stale, and how that was different from it clotting or simply going off in other ways, her thrall entered the apartment with bags full of juicy meat.

Bai Yin moved to go into the bedroom, before noticing Valerie sitting on the couch and hurried over to her.

She did not question where the spear came from, or why Valerie had it. She did not question the blood vials or where they came from, or even so much as glance at the strange otherwordly crystals that sat on the couch beside Valerie.

All Bai Yin cared about was the woman sitting in front of her, and how she could best serve her.

She immediately dropped to one knee, holding up the bag fulls of juicy raw meat, that she had carefully selected and collected so that her mistress would have a pleasant meal.

However, Valerie still had a strange expression on her face as she looked in the bag. She could see the wrappings that was still on the meat, but just to be sure, Valerie asked Bai Yin a question anyways.

"You did buy these from the shops, didn’t you? You didn’t kill anything, did you?"

"No My Lady, I did as I was instructed and bought this from the store. Although I met many people who would have made a suitable meal for you, if you would like I could go and get them. It won’t take me long."

Bai Yin quickly rose to her feet and rushed towards the door with a supernatural speed, and disturbing eagerness. However thankfully she didn’t get very far as Valerie grabbed her wrist and dragged her to a stop, almost pulling herself off the couch in the process.

Righting herself, she pulled Bai Yin back to the spot in front of her, and patted her arm gently.

"No... It’s fine. I don’t want you to kill anyone unless I expressly tell you to, understand?" She said slowly and clearly, as if she was talking to a child, and made sure that Bai Yin bobbed her head in understanding.

"I would have thought that you would understand the rules of society from your normal life... but you weren’t exactly normal in life." Valerie muttered under her breath, before sighing and letting Bai Yin go.

She plucked one of the stale vials from the couch and placed it into Bai Yin’s hand.

"Taste this." She said bluntly, before digging into the bags her thrall had brought. Her hands immediately grabbed at the juiciest piece of meat, which still had some little bits of a deep red liquid pooling inside the packaging, and tore it open.

Valerie stuffed the meat into her mouth, sucking at it idly as she was more interested in the juices than the meat itself. It wasn’t the same as real blood, fresh from a body, but it would have to do for the moment until she sorted out this blood issue.

Speaking of, Bai Yin took the vial in her hands like it was the holy grail. Holding it delicately with both hands, before uncorking it and raising it gently to her lips. She had a wide, ecstatic smile across her face, like she had been given the most wonderful gift in the world, before taking her drink.

When the taste touched her tongue, the pleasure that she was expected was quickly replaced by the sensation of drinking curdled milk. Her face twisting up at the flavour, but she refused to spit it out, however she couldn’t bring herself to swallow it either. Her orders were to taste it, not drink it, so that is exactly what she did.

Valerie idly tossed the piece of meat into her shadow, before tearing open another one to suckle on, as she looked up at Bai Yin’s strange expression. It was like her face was trying to squish itself into a pin sized dot and retreat into her skull through her nose.

But even though her lips were pursed in displeasure, as she tried to keep the blood in and resist her urge to spit, Bai Yin still kept a smile on her face. It was much much more forced, and more for appearances than actual joy, but at least she was trying.

"You can spit it out if you want." Valerie said with a chuckle, to which Bai Yin eagerly obeyed. Spraying the liquid back into the vial and giving Valerie a strained, polite smile as she nodded her head, as if to silently say ’that’s good’ without having the will power to actually say so.

However, that will power was immediately put into question when Valerie casually asked,

"So what do you think of it?"

Bai Yin froze for a moment, her eyes darting around in fear and panic, as she fought with herself over her answer. Be honest, or potentially hurt her masters feelings by spitting in the face of the gift she had so kindly given her?

Hadn’t she already done that by spitting it out instead of swallowing it? Was this all a test to understand her loyalty and how much she would do to serve her master?

While she was racking her mind over the question, Bai Yin glanced at the liquid again, as she contemplated drinking it properly and suffering through the taste, just to properly accept her masters drink and show her loyalty.

However before she could do anything so stupid, Valerie added a much needed clarification.

"I want your honest opinion. I think there is something wrong with the blood, and I needed a second opinion. So be honest, you aren’t going to hurt my feelings."

Bai Yin nearly jumped for joy, but she restrained it down to a sigh of relief, before bluntly answering,

"I’ve had dirt water that tasted better. Actually, the dirt water at least tasted of something, that is like drinking liquid cardboard. It is somehow utterly bland and yet rotten and sour at the same time. I don’t know how such a thing is possible.

Is this an artificial blood you are trying to create, My Lady?"

"No... Although that is worth looking into. But still no, this is real blood taken from a beast from another world. Although for some reason, it has gone completely off. What’s even more strange..." Valerie answered before trailing off into a contemplative mutter, as she reached into her shadow and removed the piece of meat that she had tossed in moments ago.

Unlike the blood, this meat was still perfectly fresh and flavourful, which Valerie confirmed with a few bites.

"Why doesn’t the same thing happen to you?" She asked the meat, with a mouthful of its body, as if she was expecting it to answer from the sadistic torture. However despite her best efforts, it stayed silent on the matter.