It was a quiet night at Frankie's, and for once the alcohol seemed to be putting Phil into a contemplative mood instead of dragging him deeper into his usual pit of angry guilt and self-loathing, but any illusion Julius might have held about this state of affairs being an improvement was dispelled when he passed what had become Phil's habitual seat at the bar on his way to begin another round of bussing tables only for Phil to reach out, garb him by the arm, pull him close (and probably would have pulled himself right off the barstool in the process if Julius had tried to fight him), and ask, "Why did you keep loving your mother?" in a tone of voice which was equal parts bitter and baffled and made it all too clear that what Phil was really asking was, "Why, when vampirism stripped every last shred of human decency out of you, did you go and turn your mother and keep her by your side for all of those years instead of tearing her to pieces at the first opportunity and reveling in the bloodshed the way I did with my children?"

Julius had asked himself that same question more times than he could count in the weeks since being cured, but he had never been able to come up with an explanation that made any sense when held up to the light alongside everything else he knew about vampires, and he was sure that any of his guesses would only make Phil hate himself more anyway, so he left those thoughts unsaid. All he could do was gently pry Phil's fingers off his wrist while saying, "I don't know, Phil; I just somehow did," and go back around the bar to pour the man another drink.