2. Dhampir

H arlow stared at Foxx like the man had grown a second head, trying to grasp what the fuck he just said...but he found everything was too loud. More importantly, the vampire's eyes had closed again.

Holding back his urge to fire out questions, he slowly slipped his hand free of Foxx's curly black hair, grabbed the bag and attached it to the man's fangs. When Foxx's eyes snapped back open, as he knew they would, Harlow grabbed his hand, stopping him from ripping another bag off.

When Foxx winced at his hold, he quickly loosened his grip, but didn't let go.

"No," Harlow said firmly when the vampire attempted to pull away from him. "Whatever else you need to say can wait. You got to tell me the one thing, now you drink, as promised."

Foxx whimpered and glared at him over the bag, but didn't try to push it away again.

Three bags down, when Harlow tried to add a fourth, the man slapped it out of his hand, huffing. "I am perfectly fine now!" Foxx even slipped off the chair and took a few steps away with a pointed glare. "You've fed me. I'm good. Now let's?—"

"Wait! First... How?" This was just one of many fucking questions roaming around in his head. "I thought they were a myth."

Foxx crossed his arms, grimacing. "They tried to make them appear as simply that."

"Who is ‘they' ? You've said ‘they' multiple times now."

"The vampire council." Foxx sighed, and appeared to be about to rub his temples, but froze instead. Holding his hands out with a frown, the vampire wiped his bloodstained hands on his pants. "Harlow, this is serious. To them, you can't, and shouldn't, exist. Which is why, for many millennia, they've tried, and for the most part succeeded, in wiping your kind out."

"Great...another hit list with me on it. As if I needed to be on more. But Foxx...why? I know, I mean...according to the legends, I guess it means one of my parents was a vampire, while the other human. But I was born human... I suppose being a dhampir means...I feed on your kind now, right? Is that it? They just don't like being on the food chain themselves?"

"It does mean one of your parents was a vampire." Foxx opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally spoke after a long pause. "Let...me explain some...specifics. The number of vampire-human pregnancies that survive to full term is less than one percent. Of the ones that come to term…one in three will be completely fine—normal."

"And the other two?"

"The descriptors typically used are…insane and violent…"

"Ha, I was not one in three." Harlow chuckled.

"Harlow, it's not funny!"

"No, it's pretty funny." He smirked. "I mean, I was a baby in the system. People love adopting those, but I kept freaking out couples who were trying to adopt because I was quiet and didn't cry…and I stared a bit too much."

Foxx rolled his eyes. "Yes…hilarious. I guess you'll be happy to know then that, of the normal ones, about ninety percent of them go insane at a later age."

Harlow's smirk widened. "Do we know why they go insane? Or is it just a sudden loss of sanity? Like a switch or something gets flipped."

"Harlow, stop enjoying this. All of this is serious… If the council finds out, they will hunt you and put you down." Foxx grimaced. "I should have noticed… The reason… You asked for a reason, but you know it. The thirst. You weren't born human at all. No dhampir is born human. They are born other . Neither vampire nor human.

"But the ones who are born sane, unless they are changed, usually that urge, that thirst, will drive them mad before they even come of age. Because when stuck in that in between place, there is no way to satisfy it.

"The thirst you had… what you felt, is what those in bloodlust feel, Harlow. For forty-six years, you have survived the urges of bloodlust without losing your mind. You were never human. You only aged because you didn't consume blood, but even if you had, your body would have rejected it. You were other. And dammit, I knew what that symptom meant. I knew it. I've seen it…"

Foxx bit his bottom lip, staring blankly as he tried to figure out WHY he hadn't…noticed sooner… He should have recognized what it meant right away… That was something he should have never been able to forget…

"You've seen it?"

He glanced up as Harlow slowly approached. The dhampir's face was splotchy with blood, no longer coated as it had been when he'd bitten Foxx. Though some still clung to his trim beard and mustache. The man's black and silver hair also still had flecks of blood and what looked to be…possibly spinal fluid.

When the dhampir was close enough, Harlow's hand snaked out and grabbed hold of Foxx's. The man smiled gently while threading their fingers together. Gentle or not, Harlow's smile was slightly smug. It always was, as if he knew something everyone else didn't.

Foxx gripped that larger hand, stomach churning… He'd come so close to losing him tonight…hadn't he? If Micah had chosen differently…

Harlow frowned, his brow pinching. "Your heartbeat…sped up… Do I…scare you?"

He tightened his grip. "No… It's just been an awful night, old man." Foxx's voice broke at the end.

Harlow tugged Foxx to him, wrapping his arms around him. "Sorry for getting kidnapped."

Foxx sagged against the man. "You should be sorry… Oh, bloody hell, I'll regret saying this, but thank the Goddess your paranoid ass insisted on those damn trackers."

The dhampir's chest rumbled as he chuckled. "See, see, I was right."

"Shut up." He laughed despite the situation. "As…for your question. Yes…I've met one of your kind before. Not all of you have been destroyed. While most will be hunted as soon as the council knows, the council's authority only goes so far.

"It was a young female child, a direct descendent of Rita… One of Daydric's brothers saved her from them and brought her to where Daydric was residing. It was…during the time I still lived with him. She was going insane. Screaming and ranting about the pain, the thirst.

"At first, Daydric...disagreed with changing her. He wanted to end her misery, but his brother didn't agree. So they locked her up. And for days he argued with Zabier, I think..." He frowned, the memories oddly fuzzy. "Yes…it was Zabier. During that time, Daydric explained why he made his choice. I think he didn't want me to see him as cruel. I know he never believed, and still doesn't, that all of your kind should be put down. But they, as the beginning of our kind, have always tried to stay out of truly governing us all. The brothers were at a standoff…but then…"

"Why…didn't Zabier just change her?"

"Getting changed directly by one of the firsts…can be complicated… I…" Foxx's frown deepened. "I can't remember why he wanted Daydric to do it…"

"I see… So…they were at a standoff and then?" Harlow pressed.

"The council stupidly tried to come for her."

The man scoffed. "Somehow, I don't think Daydric would be lenient of them trying to take someone from his home. Also, I thought you didn't know any of the other siblings?"

"No…not at all. And I…don't…" He blinked. "At least, I thought I didn't."

Foxx tried to bring up Zabier's image in his head… He saw a tall man, skin as deep in tone as Daydric's, hair as black as his… Yet…the face…

"I don't know why, but it feels like the memories are more a faint dream than anything. Even Zabier's face is coming up blurry in my mind."

It was as if the memory didn't want to come fully forward. Had...Daydric done something to put it from his mind? Could he do something like that? Why…would he though?

"Was it a long time ago?"

"I'd only been with Daydric for a hundred years by that point…I think. Either way, the council tried, but he…" Foxx's eyes widened and he took a shuddered breath. A chill going down his spine, he stuttered, "H-he m-marched them out…like they were puppets."

"So that thing you told me he could do, by rumor only, was…not so much a rumor."

"I… How..."

Harlow growled. "The bastard obviously fucked with your head!"

Foxx sighed. "Well…that may explain my fuzzy memories of that moment. Daydric likely prefers it that his ability remains a rumor only. He has his secrets, he always did." He shook his head. "It…is what it is. Either way, the council's misjudgment that day…pushed Daydric's hand…and he changed her. Well, it was less that they pushed him and more that he did it out of petty defiance. So, yeah… Daydric changed her. But before that, they bound her… The transformation seemed violent, and almost painful."

"Would she have done whatever the fuck I did a few rooms over if they hadn't?"

"Though I'm certain they could have controlled her with or without the restraints, I imagine that was the reason. You certainly weren't in control when I arrived…even if you did possibly pretend to be passed out. Dhampirs live on vampire blood. It only makes sense that in the state you were in…you were stronger than someone even my age."

Instead of a crack at his age like normal, Harlow rasped, "You…couldn't get away. That's why I was able to drain you…" The dhampir slowly stepped away from him, arms falling to his side, his face grim.

Foxx grabbed his hand and squeezed. "It's not your fault, you had just turned. Dhampirs…" He winced. "I wish I could stop saying ‘I think', but I'm just not sure. I believe I'm remembering things that I'm saying, but it's all so fuzzy. I think it's normal, that what happened with you was normal. The lack of control. The girl… When she was changing, Daydric…he said…she'd entered a state of blood burn."

Blood burn… Yes, that's what it was…

"I don't care if it's normal, or if it's whatever this blood burn state is… Will I attack you again?"

"You shouldn't. I don't think you'd fall into a blood burn state, even if you got really hungry now. I'm pretty sure that the only way to enter it is either by conscious choice or by accident due to extreme emotions."

"Well...I'm not someone who has strong emotions, and I have no clue how to purposely bring it on."

"I think we should be fine. Let me…test something." Foxx held his hands out in front of him about five inches apart. "Try to press my hands together."

Harlow's brow rose. "Do what?"

"Try to press my hands together. Push as hard as you can."

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it, old man. I'm trying to see if you are stronger than me. And I do mean press, don't try to slap them."

Harlow took a deep breath. "Okay."

Placing his hands on the outside of his, Harlow started to press. As the man pressed harder and harder, Foxx's hands started to shake, feeling as if he was overexerting himself.

"Okay, stop!"

Foxx cracked his knuckles on both hands, rubbing them out.

Harlow frowned. "I didn't move them…so I guess this means you are still stronger?"

"I can't say yet. It's my turn. Same position as me, try to hold me back."

The dhampir sighed and held his hands up. After two minutes of trying, while the man's face was red from exertion, his hands held strong. Foxx stopped with a huff.

"So?"

"How did it feel?"

Harlow rubbed at his hands and his arms. "Like I was lifting outside my weight."

"I think we are similar, but you are a bit stronger. I'm guessing it's more due to you being in shape than anything. To be clear, I was shaking, but I also rely mostly on my natural strength…and my arms are…"

The dhampir snorted. "You have toned arms, but the muscle is lacking." The man flinched when he raised an irritated brow at the jab, and quickly added, "Not saying I don't like your arms the way they are."

Foxx snorted.

"But…if I'm understanding you, it's likely my base strength is about even with yours, but because I work out, I'm stronger?"

"Basically. Either way, as for attacking me…you should be full. You drained Micah to the point where he probably won't wake up without being given blood. And I'm pretty sure you only took from me because of the changes still going on in your body, and the blood burn was burning up your supply faster than normal." Foxx blinked. "No… Well, yes… Blood burn is, in fact, purposely burning up your blood supply faster…to give yourself a boost… Yes…that's it."

Foxx frowned when Harlow didn't respond to that amazing, insightful tidbit he'd just remembered. The dhampir oddly looked horrified, his eyes wide, mouth gaping.

"I-I drained Micah?!" Harlow gagged. "My mouth was…" The man gagged again.

The dhampir quickly spun, rushing over to the oddly still running sink that Foxx had just noticed, and started rinsing his mouth out.

He would have judged…but Micah was a pedophile… Foxx definitely wouldn't willingly bite the man either.

He waited patiently while Harlow attempted to wash away whatever he was trying to wash away…for about five minutes. "Harlow…I think it's clean."

"Ugh." The man shuddered. "It's inside me."

Foxx barely held back his laugh. "I'm sure what you took from me made it better."

Harlow slowly turned back around with a sigh, his face now completely clean of blood and dripping wet. "So…what do we do, besides grab that fucker Micah…and burn the house down?"

"Tony."

Harlow's brow lifted. "Tony?"

Foxx nodded. "Tony."