Vampire physiology question

[shapinglight]

We all know the whole 'unneeded breath' thing is silly, right? We do, right?
Vampires may not need oxygen to live, but they do need to breathe in order to speak. Fine.

But does it make sense to anyone else (as it does to me) that their breath would feel rather on the cool side? They have no body heat of their own. They derive it from drinking blood. But does that warm them up so much their breath would be as warm as a human's?

Opinions, anyone?

Comments

[rahirah]

I would think that their breath would be whatever the ambient air temperature is. I'm not even sure that Buffyverse vampires warm up from drinking blood; I don't think that's ever been mentioned one way or the other in canon.

(I mean, the blood they drink would be warm, but is there enough heat in that amount of blood to warm the whole body? I'm dubious. When you drink a bowl of hot soup it doesn't necessarily warm your feet up. And I've always felt that Buffyverse vampires digest blood rather than absorbing it directly into their veins or anything, otherwise they wouldn't get tummy rumbles when hungry.)

[shapinglight]

I'm not even sure that Buffyverse vampires warm up from drinking blood; I don't think that's ever been mentioned one way or the other in canon.

I think you can infer it from Spike's speech in The Gift about blood what 'keeps us warm, makes us hard' etc.

But yeah, they probably are only as warm as their surroundings.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

He says 'you' though, not 'us', right? I thought he was referring to Xander and humans.

[shapinglight]

Yeah, you're right, though what he says seems to infer there's a knock-on benefit for vampires, I suppose.

[rahirah]

That's right, I'd forgotten that bit...