“I can so! Are you trying to freeze me?!”
“Foxx…werewolves were one thing, as you can kill them long distance. And at the time, the sun was out. Well, by the time we get to Minnesota, which is like six hours from now, it will be fully dark. You need more mobility to fight vampires than that suit allows. Hell, half of your view is blocked when you look to the side. You need to take it off.”
“NO!”
“Yes, Foxx!”
“Now, you listen here, Harlow Blackmore. I will compromise on a lot of things, but what I absolutely will not do is step out of this car to fight vampires without my sunsuit. It is thirty out now, and currently twenty in Minnesota. In six hours, it will drop at least another five to ten degrees. Vampires do not hold in heat well. Our bodies do not, and cannot, insulate. So, while it’s thirty out for you, for me it feels more like negative ten because some asshole didn’t give me the time to add more layers before I left. I. WILL. NOT. TAKE. MY. SUNSUIT. OFF!” Saying that, he reached over and flicked the heat up with a pointed glare.
Harlow stared at him out of the corner of his eye for a few seconds before asking, “Is it really that bad?”
“Yes! Do you think most of us either stay inside or go somewhere warmer for the winter for the hell of it and our love of travel?”
Like, while his kind did love to travel, them fucking off from places with cold months was not due to it.
“How am I supposed to know if you are exaggerating or not? It’s only been seven years since you’ve all been out in the open, and five since it stopped being open season on your asses. To be honest, we really didn’t care for how you felt about the weather before that. And even with the new biology books coming out on all different types of species, due to the information being gathered on a voluntary basis after they put a stop to the free for all experimenting, there is a lot missing.”
“Well, now you know. Cold sucks for vampires.” Foxx huffed. Yeah, they didn’t care because they were too busy trying to off his kind. Though…he supposed, Harlow wasn’t wrong. Paranormals hadn’t really been out and open and legal for long… But, like, Foxx didn’t just complain for the sake of complaining—unless he had a petty reason too. Generally, if he was cold, he would say so. He hated being cold, it made him feel sluggish and like his insides were just stuttering along as he shivered.
Harlow sighed. “If I pull off at the next rest stop to let you add more of your layers, because I know you brought them with you, will you take the snowsuit off when it comes time to fight?”
Foxx stared, thinking. The hood of his snowsuit did fuck up visibility… “Fine.”
“Keep in mind, you must still be able to move. So, don’t go crazy with the coats.”
“Whatever, just get there and let me layer up.”
Harlow grunted in response.
* * *
Harlow glanced over at Foxx.The vampire was smiling and humming to himself, no longer complaining about the cold. He was still in his bear suit, but he was looking thicker than before, that was for sure. Well, if this had taught him anything, it was to not rush the vampire out the door.
“How much do you have on now?” he asked.
“Well…three pairs of thermal underwear, each slightly bigger than the layer before, so it fits over. I slipped on a thinner pair of fuzzy trousers, along with a thin, long sleeve turtleneck. On top of that, I have on the jumper and dungarees from before. Followed by two thinner padded coats and then finally my sunsuit. But when we arrive, I’ll take that off and replace it with my thick peacoat, a hat, some fingerless gloves, and my scarf.”
“Can you move in all that?”
“Yes.” Foxx nodded happily.
“Sure…whatever. You hungry?”
“Ohh! Yes! Food. I drank blood today, but I didn’t eat. So, yes, I am starving. Just, please, none of your healthy crap! I want something fattening and juicy.”
Harlow rolled his eyes. “Do all vampires eat as ridiculously as you?”
“Me? Hah! I’m normal. I, at least, eat all types of food. There are so many vampires who just eat one kind, obsessively. For instance, don’t tell him I told you…” Foxx paused, a small frown forming on his face, before correcting, “Wait, no, he won’t care. So anyway, Alastair literally doesn’t eat anything but sweets. Not a single thing. No cheese, unless it’s cheesecake, or cream cheese related. Like one hundred percent sugar all the time. Oh, and there was this other vampire I knew, who only ate cheese. In my opinion, you got lucky that I like such a wide range.”
He didn’t realize there were worse options. Well, from what he understood, vampires ate for the sake of energy, and to lower blood intake. So, what they ate didn’t matter… Somehow, their bodies didn’t soak up much of the nutrients from the food, or store it as fat. Harlow didn’t completely understand it, but generally, they didn’t eat as much as humans or other paranormal species did.
Would Harlow just eat bread and pie if he could survive doing it? No…he definitely would eat some meat and fish in between. Yet, if it wouldn’t majorly impact his health, he’d eat a hell of a lot more of both. So, he could sort of understand why they ate as weirdly as they did.
“Fast food good enough?”
“Yes. Fast food is perfect.”
Harlow pulled off the interstate and picked the first fast food place he found. It seemed to be a local chain for the area or something—the sign sayingJojo’s Burgers. Pulling up behind the row of cars, he stared blankly as he waited.
