4. What’s One More?

F oxx parked the car in one of their two open spots, listening intently for anyone who could possibly be walking around in the underground car park. He relaxed on realizing that the heartbeats he'd heard were not on this level. Not that it mattered too much… Harlow was reading as a vampire to him…as long as he didn't focus too hard that was.

If he listened long enough, hard enough, he could hear it again—the echo. Foxx could even notice a smell that was something other than vampire, if he looked for it. But that was possibly only because he knew what Harlow used to smell like. It was easy to pick out new scents when one knew what hadn't been there before.

"Where's your car?" The dhampir was eyeing the empty spot it usually was in.

"Back at…" Foxx hesitated before saying, "Your psychologist's office."

"Ah…" Harlow said slowly.

"We can…talk about that, and other things, later." Looking around once more, he said, "Let's go. You…smell like blood. You are absolutely drenched in the scent, but the guard at the desk knows we're hunters, so he should disregard it. And to me, you are reading as mostly vampire right now…so… Just go straight to the lift when we walk in and wait for me, while I inform the guard about Tony coming."

"Right." Harlow nodded, the man looking as if he had questions.

Then again, why wouldn't he? Harlow's life had been turned upside down, and he was now something he'd once thought a myth. He likely didn't know much else about dhampirs, beside what little Foxx had told him.

They got out of the car silently. On walking into Silver Hollow's from the entrance out of the car park, Harlow walked past him to the lift as Foxx headed to the guard's desk in the middle of the lobby.

Foxx plastered a fake ass smile on his face when he reached the older man. "Mr. Fenmore, hello."

The man's brow rose, his gaze flicking to Harlow with a frown.

"Aha…yes, there's…been a change. We are working through it…"

The golem gave him a hesitant smile. "Are congrats in order or…?"

Right, because even with how many willing changes there were nowadays, there were still too many forced ones. Might as well go with a vague lie that was close to the truth. "Not…really…"

The man grimaced. "My condolences."

"I have a guest coming, probably in the next ten minutes or so. His name is Tony Varley, could you please let him into the lift when he gets here?"

Mr. Fenmore nodded. "Of course. I'll send him right up when he arrives."

"Thank you." Foxx turned to leave.

"My condolences again," the man called out.

He smiled and nodded before hurrying over to Harlow. The dhampir was in the middle of unlocking the lift as he reached him. Once inside, and the doors had closed, Harlow said, "How do you…stand all this noise?" The man was grimacing. "It felt like I was right there for the whole conversation."

Foxx frowned. "I'll…explain when we are home."

He wouldn't dare say the word dhampir out here. There were too many ears that could possibly overhear. There were just too many eyes and ears everywhere. Nothing out here felt safe.

The ride up was quick, and he pulled Harlow swiftly down the hall once the doors opened. When finally inside their apartment, Foxx closed the door, engaging all the extra locks, before pushing Harlow down the hallway. "We can talk freely here…"

Foxx found himself too nervous to sit, so he stood there awkwardly, hands clasped tightly in front of him.

"It's," Harlow looked around. "Quiet…"

"There is paranormal grade soundproofing in all the apartments in this building. Meaning, we can't hear them and they can't hear us."

"Thank fuck for that," the dhampir groaned, rubbing at his temples.

The man slowly walked over to the first grouping of chairs and couches. Removing his jacket, Harlow laid it over the back of the teal couch he was standing in front of before sitting down, closing his eyes as his head rested back.

Foxx couldn't even find it in himself to care that the man had dried flecks of blood on him. He could see them from here, just small patches here and there. Though, Harlow had managed to clean his hair well enough, even with just using the sink. It was weird for the man to come home and have no weapons to remove. Usually, that only happened if he was coming back from the gym.

Though, to be clear, the dhampir did have weapons hidden in his furniture… Foxx only knew that as he had caught the man hiding them. He was pretty sure one couldn't go more than four feet in any direction in his apartment without finding a weapon. The fucker had even hidden a few in his craft room. Luckily, Harlow had been smart enough to NOT try to hide his oiled-up fucking guns in his fabric.

"Eyes bothering you too?" he asked, hands twisting.

The man's voice, notably softer than normal, slowly said, "Yes… Everything seems too bright and sharp. So sharp…that I'm going to assume I probably should have had glasses before this."

Foxx snorted, grimacing when the man winced at the noise. "Sorry… I know it's bad right now. This visual and auditory sensitivity is something newly turned vampires deal with, but our changes seem to be more gradual compared to yours. Usually it happens a few weeks after the turn. I'm guessing for dhampirs, due to what your food source is, your senses heighten immediately on turning."

"How long…will this last? Or is it always going to be like this?"

"It won't. This hyper-sensitivity you are feeling will likely last a few weeks. At that point, it will start to tone down as your body adjusts and your brain learns to pull back. The default you end up at will be more automatic than anything. And even then, most of the time, a paranormals default is usually only slightly better than human, with us only seeing and hearing more when we choose to actively engage our enhanced senses."

"Can you turn the lights down?" Harlow asked.

Foxx quickly moved to the panel on the wall and dimmed the lights. He usually preferred them this way anyway, but had gotten in the habit of keeping them brighter to accommodate Harlow. Foxx guessed he wouldn't have to do that anymore.

"Thank you…" Harlow swallowed. Eyes slowly opening, the dhampir stared at him. "Sit."

"I don't think I can." He huffed, and…started to pace, hands folding behind his back. "It feels like there is too much to do, yet there is nothing that I can actually do about any of this right now."

"Which is why you should sit and relax."

"How? How can I relax, Harlow?" He just barely stopped himself from shouting. "You literally have a death sentence hanging over your head, and will until—or hell, if —Tony agrees to help us."

"None of which is worth freaking out over until after we talk to Tony. He should be here soon enough." Harlow sighed. "What is the plan after talking to him? I can't just hide out here…or am I going to have to?"

"You…" He trailed off at the sound of a knock.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Tony slowly knocked. Mere seconds later, the door opened. Foxx was standing there looking up at him, eyes slightly wide and…nervous. The vampire looked v ery nervous…and pale…

"What's going on, Foxx?"

"Not out here."

He sputtered in protest when the vampire grabbed his arm and yanked him inside. Not suspicious at all, he thought as Foxx locked the door right away, bolting it, and even adding the chain lock.

"Follow me," Foxx said softly, while pushing past him.

Tony shook his head and followed. Eyeing the large open space as he stepped out of the hallway, his shoulders sagged on spotting Harlow sitting on one of the many couches. Foxx had said he was alive, but…until Tony saw for himself…part of him didn't believe it.

Harlow looked…pretty okay for a man who'd recently been kidnapped. Though…he was squinting a little, his face slightly pinched as if he had a headache. It was odd seeing him in a T-shirt with zero visible weapons. Yet, that wasn't all that was off... There was this stillness to him… Inhuman stillness… The same stillness Foxx had as he stopped to stand near the man.

"Fucking hell, so they turned you," Tony groaned.

Harlow snorted, oddly wincing before saying, "Yep, no longer human, but still breathing."

"Do you get off on stressing me out, or is it just a hobby, you bastard?"

"I get that you two have this weird ‘we're friends, but not' type of thing going on, and probably want to joke and bullshit now that this death-defying situation seems to be over, but it's NOT over," Foxx hissed. "Now, sit!"

Tony opened his mouth and soon closed it on seeing not only the warning glare on Foxx's face, but Harlow shaking his head at him to not. He hesitated a moment, then walked over and took the plush chair adjacent to Harlow as he cleared his throat. "So…what's…going on?"

Tony's jaw dropped at what came out of Foxx's mouth next. His brain began to run round and round, as things about Harlow…started to line up and make more sense.

Gaze flicking back and forth between Harlow and Foxx, he swallowed and asked,"Are you sure?"

Foxx tugged his turtle neck down, revealing a bite mark. Frowning, Tony leaned forward, his eyes widening when he saw the perfect imprint of teeth…the deepest parts showing four punctured marks—four fangs.

"Well, fuck me, a dhampir. I had heard… I mean, I knew they were real. But I never thought I'd ever see one in person."

Frankly, he never thought he'd run into one who'd have a shot at living long. Tony always assumed, if he did ever run into one…it would be because they needed to be put down. The older dhampirs…at least the ones who lived long enough to find some sort of equilibrium, weren't exactly hanging around hunters. They weren't really that open about their existence…for good reason.

"If you know they're real, then you also know what the new risk is."

Ugh…the ‘good reason'.

Tony groaned. "Ah, fuck. I most definitely do."

"Then…we…" Foxx grimaced and trailed off.

His gaze was drawn to the vampire's hands that were clenched together and shaking. Foxx looked towards Harlow, clearly worried.

Tony's brow rose slightly when the man, his expression still empty, held his hand out. The vampire quickly moved to take it as he slowly sat down next to the dhampir.

Dating… Foxx had said they were dating. Well, hell…he hadn't been sure if he believed it, and had pushed it from his mind on finding out that Harlow had actually been in trouble, but now…

Maybe…pairing them together hadn't…been a bad thing. Even as fucked in the head as he found Harlow, Tony was slightly relieved by the sight, relieved to know that the man finally had someone that he'd likely try to keep living for. He always worried for the hunters with nothing to lose…as usually, those were the ones he lost first…

Sighing, Tony slowly smiled and asked, "What do you two need me to do?"

He'd just royally pissed off the werewolf council with the whole wolfsbane situation. Might as well piss off one more paranormal council while he was on a roll. It's not like he actually liked those bastards anyway.