Only need blood

I finished my bottle and set it down with a thump. Mac turned around to get me another. I shook my head. "Don't bother. I've got enough on my tab already."
Ortega put a twenty down on the bar and said, "I'll cover it. Another for me as well."
I started to make a wiseass remark about how buying me a beer would surely make up for threatening my life and the lives of those I cared about, but I bit it back. Shiro had been right about fighting. You can't lose a fight you don't show up to. So I took the beer Mac brought me and said, "Thanks, Ortega."
He nodded, and took a sip. His eyes lit up a bit, and he took a second, slower one. "It's good."
Mac grunted.
"I thought you guys drank blood," I said.
"It's all we really need," Ortega said.
"Then why do you have anything else?"
Ortega held up the bottle. "Life is more than mere survival. All you need is the water, after all. Why drink beer?"


Death Masks, Page 157-158