Story Time for Integral
Chapter 3: Slushies

"Out for slushies" asked Integral, a deadpan expression on her face.
Walter nodded. "Believe me I was as thrown for a loop as you are now."
"Let me see if I have this straight." said Integral"you go thru the mansion looking for a vampire, a nearly all powerful being of darkness. You finally find him in a dark corridor just as you realize that you have utterly no clue what you're going to do when you meet him. Then when you are confronted by him he turns into a hideous monster which promptly crouches right over you...and then suddenly asks you to go out for frozen syrup treats."
"Ah that makes sense, go on."
Walter blinked and wondered briefly if he should talk to Sir Lionel about the possible dangers of mixing lessons about 'learning to think like the enemy' and 'how vampires use unknowable inhuman logic.' Then he shook it off and went on. "Well to tell the truth I really didn't do much thinking at that point. I just sort of nodded and the next thing I knew the two of us were walking right out of the mansion."
"To go out and have slushies."
"Correct."
"And this is a true story"
"Yes, every word of it."
"Right, go on then."

"As I was saying we left the mansion. Literally just walked out the front door and then started walking off down the street towards a nearby ice cream shop. Of course by then he looked human again. Also he had somehow changed his red coat, something that would not have looked out of place a few centuries ago, into something more appropriate for the time period. Let me just say that there is something deeply unsettling about seeing an ageless vampire who you are used to seeing elegantly clad in the garments of a past age suddenly appear to be wearing raggedy jeans and a t-shirt."

Integral giggled at that image. "What happened when you got to the shop?"

"We had slushies, what else?" said Walter. "I was a little surprised to see him eating one since I had always been told that vampires couldn't handle digesting anything but blood."

Integral shook her head. "That's a common misconsumption."

"You mean misconception." Walter quickly corrected.

"Whatever. In any event Daddy told me that vampires are able to digest basically whatever they want. But the younger ones, fledglings, DO get sick if they don't stick to mainly blood and liquids. Plus vampire teeth at any age aren't designed for chewing so they avoid solid food for the most part."

"Well it's good to see that you've been paying attention in your lessons." Said Walter impressed. "May I go on with the story now?"

"Yes. Sorry for the interruption."

"Well needless to say the whole situation was odd. However it was made more disturbing by the fact that on the surface it felt completely normal. Once or twice I even forgot what Red was, forgot that there was a vampire across the table from me and honestly just relaxed and enjoyed my slushie. For one thing Red made for some very good conversation."

"What did you two talk about?" asked Integral as she wondered what kinds of topics would interest the vampire.

Walter laughed. "What didn't we talk about? We just sort of shambled along from one topic to another with no real purpose to it. It was really just talking for talk's sake. I will say this though; I found out that Red loved slushies for one reason."

"What reason is that?"

"Brain freezes." said Walter. "He positively loved them. He'd buy a slushie, down it in one gulp, and then sit back and smile. Of course when I tried that trick I thought I was going to pass out. You should have seen me doubled over clutching my head while he just sat there and laughed."

"Aw poor Walter." Said Integral, who had much experience in the over consumption of frozen treats.

"Well we went on like that for most of the night. We had a private corner to ourselves and Red had gotten quite a bit of cash from who knows where which he used to keep the drinks coming. The pointless conversation continued until morning. However when the sun was just showing the faintest hints of coming up he stopped the conversation we were having suddenly and told me that he had a very important question to ask me."

CH4: The Question