23. Who’s the Real Brat?

F oxx stared blankly at the sunlit sky, yawning a bit. He had to say, he missed being a passenger princess. An hour and a half had already passed since finishing up, and they were just now reaching the area where their hotel was. Foxx was tired, and sad, and tired…

The cities of Lowville, Laketon, and Dorbin would remain barricaded until the bodies had been retrieved and the mess cleaned up. And unfortunately, the surrounding cities in every direction were on lockdown until late afternoon. They'd gone into lockdown just in case of a breach. Police were letting people drive through the cities now, but stopping had not been an option. So they'd run into a mixture of traffic and road blocks.

While stopped in a line of traffic, Foxx found himself glancing back briefly at the cooler. He wasn't hungry… Well, he was, both for food and blood, but it was more what else was in the refrigerator. Lying on top of the other bags inside, separated by multiple zip-locks, was the infected blood. Foxx was hoping…that whatever was in the blood wouldn't degrade too much before they got it to Doc.

"You hungry?" Harlow asked with a yawn of his own.

"A bit."

"Want to find somewhere to eat?"

Foxx hesitated. "We can't…"

Harlow frowned. "Why not?"

"Because you're supposed to be a vampire and you don't have a sunsuit."

The man glanced up at the sun through the window, before wincing as he looked away. "Right…" The dhampir sighed. "With our luck, we'd run into another vampire."

"Likely."

"Should I buy one…to fake it?"

"I don't know how long it will take Tony to get you registered, so…it probably would be a good idea. Though, even after that… To be honest, if a vampire realizes what you are, it may possibly bring out some violent reactions, so having it a suit to fake it would be for the best. Maybe once you get a better handle on pretending to be human, you won't need it, but until then…"

"I am not dressing as a bear," Harlow huffed.

Foxx giggled. "You don't have to. But like, what about a black bear sunsuit? Could be cute!"

"No," the man growled, before sighing again. "Fast food drive through it is then, I guess…"

"Yep."

"Burgers?"

"What? You don't want anything healthy, old man?" he teased.

Harlow snorted. "Brat."

Harlow tossed the last bite of his burger into his mouth. It had been greasy, unhealthy, and…delicious.

Food in general tasted better than before. Not that he hadn't enjoyed burgers before this, but his taste buds had definitely been enhanced in some way.

At the sound of a yawn, he eyed Foxx. The vampire was munching on French fries, which he was dipping into his vanilla shake before eating. Having gone back and forth from fake cheer to sadness the whole drive, Foxx currently looked both sad and half awake.

The vampire must have noticed him staring as he glanced over. "Are you thirsty? I put the blood bags I managed to fill for you in the fridge, and marked them with your name."

Harlow couldn't remember the last time someone had written his name on food. Was it middle school? Ugh—probably…

"How much have you managed to fill?"

"We just got back to the house the other day…so only three."

"Wouldn't it be better to save those for now?" Harlow quickly added, "And this isn't me asking to bite you. I know you are tired. But…I can wait."

Foxx's eyes narrowed. "How thirsty are you feeling?"

"Normal," he said slowly.

He did feel normal. Well, normal, as in, how he usually felt when ‘human'. Dehydrated, but not the worst he'd ever felt.

The man's eyes narrowed further. "Normal, as in, how you felt daily before your change?"

Harlow cleared his throat, he slowly glanced away, avoiding the vampire's stare. "Umm, how I felt before when it hadn't been hours between drinking water?"

"Harlow," Foxx admonished. "There is no waiting anymore. When you are thirsty, you are supposed to drink as soon as you can. When you were ‘human', you always felt dehydrated. The most you should ever let yourself feel is thirsty. Reaching the point of feeling dehydrated means you have waited too long, and now are at risk of accidentally attacking me, since I am the nearest vampire.

"As far as I know, you can't go into a deep sleep like vampires can. Now that we are on the subject, even vampires will risk attacking the nearest blood source if they walk around while trying to enter deep sleep. While it's possible you can hold off without hurting someone for longer than most, due to the years you spent dealing with the thirst, it's not a risk you can afford."

"If I drink from the bags, will it make you happy?"

Foxx rolled his eyes. "It's not about making me happy, it's about making sure you don't do something that will result in a death warrant."

Harlow smirked. "I'll do it if it'll make you happy."

"And I'm the brat?!" The vampire glared. "Drink the damn blood, Harlow. Nothing right now is going to make me happy. I just want to eat my French fries, then go to our hotel and have you cuddle me as I drink blood and sulk about how fucked up the world is."

He chuckled. "Will sulking make it better?"

"No, but it's better than screaming and throwing a fit on the ground!"

"You can do both, if you want."

The vampire raised a brow at him. "I can, can I?"

"Mm, it can even be a level ten toddler meltdown if you want. I will proudly stand by and point, telling all who pass that you are mine."

Foxx scoffed, maintaining his grumpy expression for a moment longer, before a giggle slipped out, and a smile spread across his face. "Level ten? There's more than one?"

Harlow smirked. "I was around plenty of toddlers growing up… Believe me…there are many levels to the nightmare that is a toddler meltdown."

His eyes started to twitch as not so fond memories tried to come to the surface. The group home stage, and the multi-child foster care homes of his childhood had been a fucking nightmare. All the people…and the hugging…and touching—ugh. Well, if he had learned anything while living in those places, it was how to fake being normal…ish…

"Want to help me finish these French fries, so we can get to our hotel faster, and I can get to my cuddles sooner?"

"Your want is my command, brat. Fork some over."

"Yay!" Foxx giggled.