DISCLAIMER: Sweeney Todd belongs to Stephen Sondheim.

-- Hungry --

Mrs. Lovett jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't heard Sweeney come up behind her. She turned to face him.

"What is it, love?" she asked, seeing the pleading expression he wore.

"I'm hungry," he whined.

"Dinner'll be ready soon, dear."

"No," he said, moving closer to her. "That's not what I meant. I'm hungry."

Sweeney Todd was hungry for something other than dinner. He pushed Mrs. Lovett up against the wall and began to nuzzle her neck. She gasped as he pressed soft kisses to the tender flesh of her throat.

"Let me..." he whispered, his voice breathy and full of need.

"Yes," she whispered.

Oh, how she'd dreamed of the day when he would want her like this... This was going to be the most perfect-

She shrieked when he bit down on her neck, hard.

"Stop it! Get off!" she snapped, pushing him away. She touched her neck where he'd bitten her. It was bleeding.

"But... you said yes..." He looked disappointed, confused. "Please, there weren't enough customers today... I'm so hungry..."

Oh, God. Oh, God!

She'd assumed hungry was his way of asking her for sex, but he really meant he wanted to feed off of her! She'd noticed before how... dry... the corpses sometimes were when he sent them down to the bakehouse but she'd never thought anything of it. She honestly hadn't suspected that he was a- she couldn't bring herself to even think the word.

She watched him watching the drops of blood sliding down her neck. He almost looked like he was in pain.

"Do you... do you have to have permission to feed from a living person?" she asked nervously.

"No," he answered slowly. "But if I were to take too much, by accident, you wouldn't die. You would just... change."

She let out a shaky breath and held her arms out to him.

"You will- really?" he asked, hardly daring to believe it after the way she'd rejected him the last time.

"It's coming out anyway whether you drink it or not," she said softly. "Come on then, love."

He stepped close to her again, placed his hands on her waist and pressed his mouth to her neck once more, lapping up the thin trails of blood. She clutched his shoulder with one hand and ran the other through his hair as he licked and sucked that one spot on her neck. He didn't seem inclined to make multiple bites, which she was grateful for. The first one had been painful enough.

He was surprised at how good it felt to have someone hold him close while he fed. Usually he only sucked from corpses of the newly dead. This could become addictive. He couldn't take from her too often, of course, but he could definitely get used to this...

She was starting to feel a little lightheaded by the time he finished, though whether it was from the blood loss or sexual arousal she wasn't quite sure.

"Are you alright?" he asked, once he'd finally lifted his head and stepped back.

"I'm fine, love," she answered, smiling. "But I was wondering... if you're... how've you been able to go out during the day?"

Sweeney smirked. "My dear, this is London. When is the last time you ever saw any sunshine around here?"

She laughed and he laughed. Then she hugged him, and he returned the embrace awkwardly. After a moment they parted.

The next morning, when Mrs. Lovett woke up, she looked in the mirror and noticed that there was a bruise on her neck.

It looked more like a love bite than a vampire bite.

-end-