32. What Thing?

F oxx flopped onto the couch and scooched over until he was resting his head in Harlow's lap. The dhampir, who had been quietly watching Forensic Files while Foxx had baked a chocolate cheesecake, did not even glance down.

He pursed his lips and released a put out sigh. When there was still no reaction, Foxx narrowed his eyes on the man and slowly reached out, starting to inch Harlow's coffee cup towards the edge.

Harlow took a deep breath in and out before looking down. "Yes, kitten?"

Foxx stuck his tongue out. "Kitten, my ass! But now that I have your attention, don't you think it's weird?!?"

"What?"

"Well…it's been two weeks! And…NOTHING!? No notices, no people popping up, no nothing! Like, they should know by now!"

Really, the council wasn't usually this slow to act… Well, they could be pretty slow sometimes, but not about dhampirs… It was frankly just…inconsiderate! Like, how much longer were they expected to wait for those bastards to make their move?! Didn't they know they had lives?! How ridiculous, having to sit back and stay on edge, just because the fucking assholes were being…well…assholes! Like, Foxx hadn't talked to his best friend in weeks, and it was all their fault! He had a new boyfriend! That was something he NEEDED to talk to someone about on the regular!

"Do you want them to show up?"

"What I want is for them to fuck all the way off, but since I know they won't, if they HAVE to do something, then they can bloody well get it the fuck over with! Like, do you realize how awful it is that I have no one to talk about my new boyfriend with?!"

Harlow's brow furrowed. "Are you complaining to me that you have no one you can talk to about…me?"

"Yes!" Foxx huffed.

"Okay…don't you have other friends besides Alastair?"

He blinked. "I mean…I do…but it's complicated."

"Complicated, as in?"

Complicated, as in…he had dated one friend's ex, not knowing it was their ex, and then…he'd ended up killing said ex… And then there was the time Foxx had dated a friend's brother…who he also ended up killing. Really, he had found that it was safer to keep his relationships on the downlow. Which meant he usually only talked about them to Alastair and Daydric. And he definitely couldn't talk to Daydric at the moment.

"Well…I mean, I have a lot of friends, but I don't talk to all of them about everything. Specifically, anything boyfriend related…due to how most of my relationships have ended."

"And they ended in…"

Foxx avoided Harlow's gaze. "Death."

"My little black widow." The dhampir chuckled.

Foxx huffed. "It's not like I do it on purpose! They attack me, and well…maybe if they were stronger they'd have survived!"

The dhampir ran his hand over his curls. "It is their fault for daring to try to lay a hand on you."

"I mean, some were just trying to kill me, so laying a hand on me was less about abuse and more about murder."

Harlow growled. "Who the fuck have you been dating?"

"A few gangsters…a mob boss or…two… Some deeply…in the closet bikers… A few artists with questionable…morals…"

Or was it three mob bosses…? No…that last one was only the boss' son. Wait, no it was three…he'd dated the son's father after… Yeah, looking back…that had admittedly been a dumb idea to date the father of the man you fed to a bear.

The man snorted. "Of course."

"To be fair, it's been a while since I've actually dated, and homosexuality was not exactly something most smiled at or simply accepted during the last seven hundred years, until recently…and even then, it's still bad in many places. To add on, a few just found out what I was and freaked out."

Though…it wasn't as if those relationships had been going well before that.

"Just cowards then. If you are going to be a boss, or a criminal in any capacity, what's the point unless you are doing exactly whatever the fuck you want? If you are offing people, might as well off enough to seal every mouth that's trying to move against you. As for the vampire thing, just another form of cowardice."

"Can't say I disagree."

Harlow pursed his lips. "So…exactly how many boyfriends have you killed?"

Foxx gave the man a hesitant smile. "It's best I not say."

It was more like he didn't know. Foxx had lost count, and decided it was best to try to block out the experiences and memories. It had worked for one trauma, why not all the rest?! Well…it had worked until recently—ugh.

"You don't know, do you?" The dhampir chuckled.

Foxx huffed. "Just don't attack me and you won't find yourself in the ground with the rest of them!"

"You don't have to worry. I'd never hurt you…" Harlow grimaced and added, "On purpose."

"I know." Foxx's heart fluttered happily. And he did know. It was something he knew even before they started dating—Harlow wouldn't hurt him… And if he ignored threats of murder at the beginning of their friendship, not to mention the man wanting to fight him, there were no red flags in this relationship! It's not like the man ever actually tried to kill and/or fight him. Thought…the fighting thing may happen eventually, followed by probably the hottest sex he'd ever had.

"Anyway, they need to hurry up, so I can talk to my best friend again, and so we can stop bloody hiding!"

"I mean…them fucking around has given me time to figure out how to fully fake being a vampire."

Which was good and all, as now, Harlow could pretty much fake it well enough to fool even Foxx's senses if he wanted to. But… "You've gotten better, I'll admit. And your normal mimicked state is a hell of a lot better than it once was…but to stay at a level that would a hundred percent fool someone of my age…it still takes too much effort on your part. I think you'll get to that point soon enough in your normal state. Maybe a few more weeks, or months, of practice… As for mimicking humans…well, you are getting closer, I guess."

The man could fake the heartbeat pretty well now, but his scent was still an odd mix, and the heartbeat took too much concentration for Harlow to really benefit from it. The dhampir couldn't keep it going for longer than ten minutes at a time, and in a fight…there was no chance in hell he could fool anyone.

"Changing my heartbeat was easy…and somehow the smell thing vampire-wise came quickly…but human-wise… It's just not…" Harlow grimaced.

"You'll get it… Either way, I just wish the council would hurry the fuck up."

"Maybe I should be trying to figure out how to get into blood burn state instead? That way we'll be extra ready for the council."

Foxx grimaced. "I'm not sure how safe that would be. We'd probably manage to get you there…but you wouldn't be in control."

Harlow sighed. "You mean I'd likely attack you…again."

"Possibly. Me and everyone else."

"I came back to myself when I realized it was you."

"True…"

The day of the turn, it wasn't like the dhampir had been in a safe environment to change. And the change itself had added to how out of control he'd been. It was possible that next time something in Harlow would recognize Foxx enough to not attack him, even if he wasn't completely in control. It wouldn't protect anyone else, of course. But that would only matter if there was more than just the council around. Foxx doubted the council would start a fight in the middle of a crowd though, so…

"Maybe we…could attempt…but—" He cut off when his phone started to ring.

Pulling it from his dungaree front pocket, he hesitated on seeing it was Alastair. The fact the man was calling him during the day was odd…even if he ignored the current issue separating them. After staring for a moment, his phone continuing to ring, he answered.

"Yes—"

"I already know, so let me come over!" Alastair snapped, cutting him off.

His eyes narrowed on Harlow accusingly, but the man just shrugged. Foxx sighed. "Fine… Come over."

Hanging up, he glared at Harlow. "He knows," he stated, making sure his tone was as accusing as his stare had been.

"Yeah…he found out that time he came over when you weren't here."

Foxx sat up, crying out, "He's known for two weeks and you didn't tell me?!"

He could have been talking to his best friend this whole bloody time?!

Harlow closed the door behind Alastair after he walked in, and followed the vampire down the hall. The man had the same puppy with him as he had the last time he'd stormed in. Alastair stopped only a step out of the hallway, as they found Foxx there, his arms crossed, just a few feet away.

The vampires stared at each other, neither moving. Eyeing the two men, Harlow slowly slipped out of the hallway and took a seat on the couch, continuing to watch the standoff from there.

After a few moments of silence, Alastair huffed. "Well…don't just stand there! Don't I get a hug or something?! We haven't seen each other in weeks. Like, everything is fine now, right?!"

Foxx nibbled on his bottom lip, before slowly unfolding his arms and holding them open. Alastair rushed to the vampire, pulling him into a hug. "I missed your crazy ass."

Foxx clung to him and sniffled, the man's voice watery when he spoke. "I missed you too."

The puppy yipped as it was hugged between the two men. They pulled back on a laugh, while the dog excitedly licked at them both.

Harlow snorted. The sound drew two sets of eyes to him, and they both started to glare.

He smirked. "Do you plan to sit down, or are you going to just stand there hugging all day?"

"He really has some audacity to be this loud when this whole thing is his fault," Alastair drawled.

Foxx sniffed. "Audacity is definitely something he has plenty of."

He stared back, emotionless, while the two men looked at him in disgust for a moment, before finally settling on the teal sectional opposite him. Alastair let the puppy in his hold loose on the floor, and the creature began to run around happily sniffing at things. The sniffing…was a bit suspicious, and…concerning. All he knew was that he was not cleaning anything up.

"What is with the puppy, and why is it here?" Foxx asked as he relaxed back. "I thought you swore off pets years ago. Also, why are you up? Usually, you'd be sleeping at this time."

It was a little past 2pm, which was an odd time for the other vampire to be up… While he and Foxx seemed to constantly switch their sleep schedule around, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen Foxx's friend awake at this time.

Alastair sighed. "Snowball isn't potty trained yet. I didn't know how long I'd be here. As for why I have him…well, that's because SOMEONE texted Daydric and told him I was feeling lonely. The reason I'm awake happens to also be because of Snowball! Whoever had the puppy before me, definitely was not on a vampire's sleep schedule."

"Well…maybe you should have seen reason and agreed with me then," Foxx said with a sweet lopsided smile that flashed his dimples and fang.

"I will never call that thing sweet."

Harlow had a feeling he was the ‘thing'. But that wouldn't make sense…as he wasn't sweet, so…

Harlow frowned. "What ‘thing'?"

"Snowball is pretty cute," Foxx mused, not answering Harlow's question. "I suppose that explains why you stormed in that time."

"Yeah! That day went sooo well! First, Daydric shows up out of the blue with a white fluff ball, and what happens right after?! My best friend yells at me and tells me to go away, like I'm some unwanted peasant!"

"What ‘thing'?" Harlow repeated, glaring at them still.

"Well, I am sorry, Alastair. I didn't want to, but…"

"Yeah, yeah, you had to protect your psycho. But do you know how confused and hurt I was?!"

These fuckers were ignoring him on purpose…

"I really am sorry!"

"Again, what ‘thing'?" he growled.

They both sighed and looked over at him.

"Well?" Harlow huffed.

"You don't need to know, old man!" Foxx snapped.

Alastair snickered. "Not so fun when you're the one being ignored, now, is it, hunter?"

He rolled his eyes.

The man just smiled and turned away. "So, tell me…everything I've missed. On top of your freak of a boyfriend being a dhampir thing."

Foxx sighed. And then he just started talking, telling the vampire everything, starting with Harlow's kidnapping. What Foxx left out was everything connected to Maverick…along with, interestingly enough, the missing memories he was dealing with surrounding dhampirs.

Alastair looked a bit shocked by the time Foxx had finished. "He's already registered…and the council hasn't…done anything yet?"

"Not that I am aware of," Foxx grumbled.

"We also haven't really left home much, so maybe they just haven't had the opportunity?" Harlow pointed out.

Alastair hummed. "I mean…I suppose that could be the reason… They wouldn't dare try to force their way in here, not if they want to avoid Gabriel's wrath."

"Gabriel, as in the owner of the Inner Village, right?" Harlow asked.

"Yes," Foxx confirmed before explaining. "I suppose, while I told you about the contracts, I didn't go into detail about the importance of it, or rather, of who. Blatantly going against a phoenix, especially one as old as Gabriel, would be equally as dangerous in their eyes as going against one of the originals."

"But they have done that before, haven't they?"

Alastair was the one to frown now. "I don't think I can recall the last time they pissed off any of the siblings."

"He wasn't there at the time. And I imagine news of what happened didn't go far," Foxx slowly said, as if he wasn't sure of his words. "No…he wasn't. I think he was…gone that entire year."

"What year?" Foxx's friend asked with a frown.

His boyfriend wrinkled his nose. "I'm afraid I can't answer that. I saw something Daydric didn't want me to see, and he took the memories from me. Including the memories I had of coming into contact with an unchanged dhampir. They only came back when I realized that Harlow was one. Too late, might I add."

Harlow snorted. "Yeah, I'd say realizing right before I attacked you probably wasn't the best time."

It would have very much been better if Foxx had realized before he'd gotten there. Then maybe he could have brought back up or something. Harlow hated to think about it, but part of him couldn't help but consider what would have happened if Foxx had gotten there earlier…when he'd been on a rampage. How close had he come to killing Foxx?

"It would have been convenient if I had remembered sooner, I'm sure." Foxx sighed.

"You should tell Daydric what's going on," Alastair stated as he lounged back, resting against the arm of the couch.