38. Vagueness and Warnings

S omething was pressing down on Harlow. No…not something…someone. He stared at the man…standing feet away. Tall, with shoulder length curly dark brown hair, and a very short trimmed beard and mustache, the man had honey brown, almost dark bronze skin. This man… A vampire… Yes…this man was a vampire.

This was…his doing…this weight that was trying to force him to his knees. DANGER... This CREATURE was dangerous. What was his, was in danger… What was his, was in DANGER!

Mine… Mine… MINE !

He took a stumbled step forward, wanting to attack, needing to attack…but he stopped instead… The weight increased to the point that all he could do was hold in place, refusing to kneel.

The longer Harlow stood there…the less sure he became that he wanted to attack. Who was he even trying to attack? The anger fueling him…slowly died down to the confusion. Who was this person?

His gaze flicked to what was his… Foxx. My Foxx… All mine … The man wasn't hurting what was his… Was it…safe?

Unholy rage boiled over the second the man touched what was his. He snarled, struggling to move again, to attack, but just as before, he couldn't…and then Foxx…was walking away. MINE! His snarls continued as he tracked the vampire.

A man's deep chuckle had his gaze flicking back to the unknown vampire. Harlow let out a growl at the smile on the paranormal's face. "I have to say, I'm impressed you can still stand. Do you plan to attack me, young one?"

He frowned. Attack…? Yes… He had to…attack! Before… Before what was his returned. Harlow bared his teeth, letting out a deep snarl, his frustration growing that it was all he could manage.

The vampire tsked. "Oh… So angry…and those thoughts… Indeed, they're as odd as I thought they'd be. I will say, while not so useful at the moment, you being like this…did benefit Foxx well enough. The imminent threat of you was enough to start them negotiating. I bet it's been a long time since they've come across a dhampir who could actually fight back. Which is…quite distasteful, actually. You see, the council has been mostly going after infants the last…few millennia…" The man frowned, his head tilting. "I think. At my age, keeping track of time has become rather pointless. What was a few hundred versus a few thousand years, sort of blends together."

What… What was… Council?

The vampire frowned. "Dhampir, or rather, Harlow, your Foxx, your vampire, is safe."

Foxx…was safe? No… Lies…it's lies … He growled.

The man let out an irritated huff. "Okay, this is taking too long. It figures Foxx's partner would be a stubborn cuss. By force, it is."

Harlow gasped, dropping to his knees as the haze blew away, his head now ringing in pain. The simple thoughts of attacking and protecting what was his, were replaced by a rush of consciousness.

What…the fuck?! He'd have shaken his head, but Harlow couldn't move. Along with the normal…semi-normal, thoughts returning, came this feeling of dread. Hair-raising, goosebump-inducing, skin tingling, fear… Fear towards what he now recognized as raw power holding him down.

Taking a shallow breath, Harlow glanced up at the man standing before him. It was like the very air had been electrified, shifting in the wake of the vampire's presence.

Clearing his dry throat, Harlow hesitantly asked, "Daydric?"

The vampire chuckled. "Insane, but not stupid. Then again, Foxx never was one to tolerate idiocy. DO know that you only live because of him, dhampir."

As if it had never been there, the power holding him down was suddenly gone. Daydric remained where he was, except now, there was nothing. Harlow felt nothing looking at him. It was so little that he could have mistaken him for someone human, and likely would have, if he'd still been ‘human' himself.

Looking to be in his thirties, and of possibly middle-eastern or Indian descent, Daydric was wearing blue jeans, a gray tweed vest, an off-white button down, and a brown tweed jacket… To be honest, based on how he was dressed, if Harlow had passed him in the streets, he'd probably think the man was a college professor, or something along those lines.

Slowly, Harlow stood. He couldn't say he remembered much, or how he'd ended up there. Well, he remembered attacking the vehicle on realizing that Foxx was inside… The van seemed to get further and further away with each hit, and then…

Harlow frowned. Glancing over to the bodies and pieces littered all around, to the crunched up overturned van, and…yeah… It looked pretty similar to the mess he'd made in that house. Harlow was also very splattered in blood but at least it didn't look as if he had bathed it in, like last time.

"You lost control, which is typical with how new you are… However, I do expect you to learn to control yourself when you enter blood burn. I'm leaving you alive, but if you endanger Foxx like this again, I will change that."

"I definitely lost control…"

"You did."

Harlow glanced down the road, taking in Foxx, who was returning to them. The sun had set, and the vampire had unzipped his face shield, so it hung down, his hood back. There was blood marring the yellow of his bear onesie…yet he didn't seem harmed, besides a cut on his forehead.

Foxx smiled on seeing him. "Oh, good, you're back. Well, your mind is back, I mean. Anyway, I sent the police away and talked to Charity."

"Not Tony?"

"Well, she answered his phone, and didn't sound happy with me that I had called him, so…" Foxx shook his head. "That's beside the point. She told us to burn as much as we could, and try to leave before the clean-up crew gets here."

Harlow glanced around again at the many literally torn apart vampires. "I can see how some of the bodies may…bring questions. But…technically, as much as the council thinks they have the authority to do this, the consequences are the same for them as it would be for any vampire who attacked hunters."

"Yeah, yeah, technically, it's an automatic death sentence. But like, it's really best to not let it get around that you killed a bunch of council henchmen. Really, it's just asking for trouble," Foxx said as he moved in closer, his hands sliding through the still wet blood up his chest and coming to rest on his shoulders. "You are a mess, you know that?"

Harlow smirked down at the man. "Since when did you care about causing trouble?"

Foxx grinned back. "Well, we did just get out of trouble."

"Did we?"

"Mmmhmm, no more death sentence, and I blackmailed them into changing their laws on dhampirs. Are you proud of me?"

"Mhm." He slid his hands along Foxx's waist, wrapping his arms around him as he pulled him closer. "My vampire is so smart."

"Alastair did warn me about you and your ‘human' partner getting lost in conversation and ignoring all else." Daydric tsked. "I just didn't expect it to be this bad."

Foxx blinked, and pulled away from his hold, turning to glare at the ancient vampire. "Well, I had things to say! And like, what else did you even have to say, Daydric? Besides being mean to my boyfriend. Which, like, he is new, so you shouldn't be so harsh anyway!"

Harlow eyed Daydric, the man looked unamused by Foxx's attitude.

"I spoiled you too much." The vampire sighed. "Really, my dove, sure, he is new, but being new will only get you so far when one has the strength he possesses. This is the only warning I will give."

‘ My dove'? Why the fuck was Daydric calling Foxx his anything?!

Daydric met Harlow's gaze, his eyes narrowing. "Lose control like this again, dhampir, and I will deal with the issue permanently."

Foxx gasped. "DAYDRIC, YOU WILL NOT!"

"My dove?" Harlow couldn't help but ask.

Foxx spun to look at him, shrieking, "That's what you are focusing on?!"

Harlow cleared his throat under the angry glare. "Well…I mean…if we came across someone out of control like I was…it's what we'd do too, so…"

"Harlow, don't agree with him!" his vampire hissed.

He looked at his small, angry boyfriend, and turned to Daydric, asking, "So…what is this dove thing?"

"OH, by the Goddess, men are infuriating!" Foxx snarled, stomping away.

Foxx stamped his small feet over to the edge of the road and started kicking at what he assumed were rocks. Harlow eyed his grumpy boyfriend for a moment, before glancing back at Daydric, and asking, for the third time, "Why do you call him dove?"

Daydric chuckled. "Worry not, I've never had any sort of sexual relations with Foxx. And he is not the only one I call that."

Better not be… "So…how do I actually control myself when I'm in that state?" Harlow grunted.

"That state is called blood burn, but I believe you already knew that, thanks to Foxx. Either way, it's something that only dhampirs, and…a select few vampires, can do."

"As in…four vampires, currently?"

The man smirked. "I find it pleasing that you catch on quickly. But yes, just myself and my remaining siblings have the ability… Not that we particularly ever need to use it."

Harlow snorted. "I imagine not."

He didn't even want to imagine this vampire in front of him being stronger than what he was sure he'd barely gotten a taste of, and definitely not something he'd ever want to witness.

"You wouldn't likely live long if you did."

"So you can read my mind… Good to know."

"Back to blood burn. In that state, all your abilities are maxed to the highest capacity that your body can currently handle, without self-destructing and burning out. But burn out, you will, if you stay that way for longer than two hours. It's called blood burn because your body is literally burning through your blood supply. At the two hour mark, you will have burned through all the blood inside your body. Without knowing how to pull back, if left in that state, you will die."

"So, how do I control it? And how do I pull back?"

"Pulling back can be as simple as a thought. The problem is you losing control in the first place. You lose control because you let your emotions take over your head. In your case, I'm assuming it's anger consuming you. If you don't want to lose control as you shift into blood burn? Control your anger. Considering your age, you would have experience with that, I imagine."

"I do… But, two problems. First being, it's not as if I went into blood burn knowingly. So, I'm not sure how to bring it forward."

"And the second?"

"Foxx seems to be able to break whatever control I have…anger wise."

Daydric tilted his head. "What does your mind say when you see Foxx?"

"Mine."

The man's gaze flicked over to Foxx and back. His boyfriend was still at the edge of the road kicking rocks, but was now also cursing them both quietly.

As for the ancient vampire, he could tell the man had come to some kind of conclusion, but yet, didn't seem intent on sharing it with him. "That means something, doesn't it?"

"It does."

His brow rose. "You aren't going to tell me what it means, are you?"

"In time. But not now."

"Are you a fucking witch too?"

"No. Not in the least," Daydric chuckled. "Worry not, while I won't say much on it now, I will say that it is a good thing. As for the first part…you'll have to figure that out yourself. Anger triggers it, so use that knowledge to get you to where you need to be."

Harlow rolled his eyes. "Not a witch, but just as vague and unhelpful as one… Fucking perfect…"

The older vampire just smiled at his grumbling. "I will say this before I head out… Get control of your blood burn as quickly as you can, preferably before…your bloodline powers wake up."

"Isn't he a bit too young to worry about that?!" Foxx huffed from his spot at the side of the road, even further away from where Harlow had last spotted him.

"Brat, if you want to join the conversation then come here!" Harlow snapped.

"Screw you, old man!"

"You will," he sneered.

Foxx gasped. "You?—"

"No, no, none of that," Daydric interjected, sounding put out.

Foxx blustered, his lips pursing into a pout.

"Come here, dove."

The vampire hissed, but stomped over. Stopping near them, Foxx glared, his arms crossed.

"Now listen here, Foxx, Harlow, dhampirs are unpredictable. How strong they become, and how far along they are when their powers manifest, depends on the individual. I would bet, based on how strong Harlow presents himself already, during normal times and otherwise, that within the next few months, his bloodline powers will make themselves known. I promise you now, it will not be a smooth introduction. And you better be prepared for it, because he is…" Daydric grinned, the upturn of his lips smug as hell. "Of my line." The man let loose a deep laugh, and then Daydric disappeared, his laughter seeming to trail out behind him.