There would be no purpose to disabusing Rush of the notion that he is capable of causing even permanent injury to Rashad, let alone engineering his death...at least, not at the present moment. Even if he would somehow benefit from it, to do so would be inadvisable. It is not impossible that the little mortals before him might find a way to harm him, merely extremely improbable. He listens to Rush in silence, his own eyes locked with the man's, and feels the last of the fear seeping out of him.

He will have to feed again soon. He must turn his attention in that direction, as well as consider how he will explain his prolonged absence from the office. He does correctly interpret Iman's movement as a threat, and as a credible one -- permanent injury or no, he has no desire for her to hit him again and he takes a matching step backward without displaying the corresponding fear that should go hand in hand with caution. "As I said," he replies, then turns and walks quickly from the room.