54. New Hobbies Are The Best!

H arlow eyed the bar for the cable pulldown and took a deep breath before grabbing it. Taking another breath, he…pulled down. Instead of moving slowly as he intended, the weights slammed into the thick metal rod that was holding the pulley system. The rod, pulley system and all, broke off, the rope snapping. While most of the weights clanged safely to the floor, the top one seemingly got caught on the rope, went flying behind him with the end of the rod.

Harlow winced at the sound of a crash and something shattering. With the bar still in his hand, now no longer attached to anything…he slowly turned around. Some were looking at him with what may have been pity… Others were…staring at the weight that was embedded in the wall, where a mirror used to be…

Eyeing just part of the damage, he sighed. "Ah…shit…" That…was going to cost him…

Sitting with his legs crossed on the couch, the TV playing some sowing competition but muted, Foxx held on tightly to Harlow's new leather jacket, a threaded needle in his other hand. Harlow stood there in front of him, hand gripping the other end of the jacket. A jacket the dhampir had just tried to tug from his hold. Harlow, honestly…looked hot. But then, he'd just come back from the gym, so… T-shirt and shorts—yum.

"Have…a nice work out?"

"I broke something, so no," Harlow growled. "What…the ever-loving fuck are you doing, Foxx?"

"Uh…a…new hobby?"

"A HOBBY!?!" the dhampir cried, before grounding out, "Give. Me. My. Jacket!"

"No… Please," Foxx begged cutely as he stared up at Harlow with wide, innocent eyes. Well, as innocent as Foxx could make himself look while being caught red-handed with the man's jacket and a needle.

"Why, Foxx? Just…WHY?!" Harlow practically screamed.

"It's cute…" He faked a whimper and sniffled, his gaze flicking down to the partly stitched gray heart on the cuff of the jacket's right sleeve. "I'm almost done… Isn't it cute? Don't you think it's cute?" He popped his bottom lip out.

The dhampir's right eye started to twitch. "I'm…not…falling for that, brat."

"But…it's cute, old mannn!"

"I don't need cute on my clothes, Foxx!'

"But it's almost doneee, Harlowww!" he whined. "And it's cute. And it will match the one I've already put on your leather pants!"

Harlow blinked, his eyes widening. "The one…on my… On my WHAT?!"

"The one I stitched onto the left pocket of your leather pants, of course!" Foxx huffed. "I need to finish so it will match."

Foxx figured it would be best for him to NOT mention the five T-shirts and various pairs of black jeans he had…stitched on over the last two weeks. It would be fine… Harlow would find them eventually! Honestly, it all looked subtly cute!

Foxx wasn't sure why he hadn't come up with the idea sooner. Either way, new hobby activated! Maybe he should break into Alastair's and start on his clothes too! Well, he had a key, so it wouldn't be breaking in, now, would it?!

The dhampir closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in and out. As his eyes opened again, Harlow slowly let go of his jacket.

Foxx beamed, "Yay! It's going to look so cute!"

Harlow sagged, groaning loudly. "What is my life?"

He giggled. "Your life is amazing, that's what!" Foxx blinked as his stomach growled. "Ohh, you know what would also be amazing right now?!"

The dhampir just glared in response.

Foxx's smile widened, completely undeterred. "Well, since you asked! A grilled cheese!"

Harlow stared at him for a moment, before finally rolling his eyes, grumbling, "Brat," as he stomped away from the couch and into the kitchen.

Humming happily, he repositioned the jacket in his lap and went back to stitching his gray heart, while Harlow banged around in the kitchen.

Eyes glued to what he was doing, he said, "Oh, by the way, I talked to Charity while you were at the gym. They are apparently still finding cases that they believe show evidence of Maverick testing this shit. Some going back as far as a year after paranormals became legal. They're all just random vampires or werewolves becoming suddenly violent. Though…" Foxx grimaced. "It appears that in the beginning it wore off. The hunter reports, based on what Charity hinted, were a bit sad. As most of the surviving paranormals were confused."

Harlow dropped four slices of bread onto a plate with a sigh. "Making it so that death was the only end result was likely always Maverick's end goal. The bastard wouldn't have wanted containment to be a viable option of stopping this. Either way, that timeline matches up with the growth rate Doc had estimated for the Heaven's Wolfsbane."

"Speaking of that Scottish bastard. I talked to Santiago after Charity, and apparently, on passing out after he'd successfully created a counteragent for the wolves, he woke up three days later and started working on a joint agent that would work for both species."

It turned out that recreating the poison had been the more time intensive part of the process. Having gotten his hands on the actual werewolf version, Doc had been able to quickly break down what was in it. The werewolf counteragent only took him three days after that to complete.

"He finished and it works. It seems that while there were a few huge differences in the poisons between species, there were also enough similarities to create something that worked for both," Foxx added as he finished securing the last stitch with a smile. Running his fingers lightly over the heart, he chimed, "Speaking of being finished, I'm done!"

Harlow dropped two buttered slices of bread onto the electric skillet. "Congrats on fucking up my jacket. They hadn't started production of the other two by that point?"

"Hmph! It hasn't been fucked up, it's been enhanced! They had in part, but time-wise he made it five days after completing the werewolf counteragent, and only like six or seven days after they managed to find trusted people to begin creating the vampire ones. Basically, some had been made, and while they will keep those doses, Tony, and I suppose, the Guild Directors, who managed to set up production near them, were able to switch to the new joint version. So, while the supply isn't where it needs to be, the majority of what is currently stashed and hidden at each Guild will work for both species."

"I was only gone thirty minutes, how did you manage to talk to two people and fuck with my leather jacket?" Harlow growled as he covered the grilled cheeses he was making with the top piece of bread and flipped them both.

"Well, talking was why I didn't finish before you got back."

The dhampir snorted. "Of course."

Setting the jacket aside with a sigh, Foxx asked, "Do you think they are going to target any other species? I mean…vampires and werewolves respectfully make up the first and second largest paranormal populations. As for the third… I don't even know what it would be."

Foxx stood and headed to the table as Harlow turned off the skillet, and walked around the kitchen island with a plate in each hand. There was a perfectly cooked grilled cheese on each.

"Numbers wise…I don't think there is a third largest. No group comes near the other two in size, while at the same time vastly outnumbering the others. Either way, it's likely not something we need to worry about. Because, why would they bother with the rest of them when infecting the two largest and most visible groups would get the results they wanted?"

He took a seat as the dhampir sat the plates down. "I suppose it would be pointless." He sighed.

"Milk?"

"Yes!"

Harlow headed back into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet, quickly filling them both with milk. The man stopped by the pantry to grab a bag of chips on his way back to the table.

Smiling up at the dhampir when he set the glasses of milk down before taking a seat, Foxx hummed happily as he took a bite of his grilled cheese.

Harlow took a bite of his sandwich, as he watched Foxx happily eat his own. "I'm curious why you called them grilled cheese. I looked it up and it says you all usually call them toasties."

Foxx blinked. "Ah, yes, cheese toasties. Well…to be honest, I have switched over to American terms for a lot of foods. I came over here in 1950, I think? Around then. Either way, while I can deal with the smaller miscommunications that come about due to my use of certain British terminology, food just happened to be the one category language wise that I found less annoying to deal with by switching. Constantly having people not understand what you are asking for gets tiring real quick. And sometimes…you just want to go in and order, and eat your food without having a long bloody conversation about what the hell you are trying to order. Because sometimes, time is not on your side. Especially before the change in regulations dealing with windows."

He chuckled. "I see… Well, while you had your chats with Charity and Santiago, I talked to Tony this morning while you were still asleep."

Foxx's lips pursed. "I don't like when you leave the bed before me."

Harlow smirked. "Then get up." He took another bite, and then sipped from his glass of milk. Reluctantly, he'd admit, it was a good combination.

Foxx stuck his tongue out, before he tossed the last bite of his grilled cheese into his mouth, and dragged the bag of chips towards him.

"Anyway, Tony went from a meeting with the directors to one with Senior Director Gwen Whitlock and…the Secretary of Homeland Security."

The vampire's eyes widened. "That's…a jump. Well, Senior Director Whitlock is the one at the top of our infrastructure, but the other…"

"Yeah, well, Tony decided to give me a heads up about some new plans that had been made, considering we were already causing waves in the paranormal world with the vampire council…because of the whole dhampir thing."

"Waves, as in, some people celebrating the news that dhampirs would no longer be hunted down on sight, while…others freaked the fuck out?"

"Yes."

Harlow…honestly could have done without everyone staring at him when he showed his face in the office for the first time in over a fucking month.

Though…the random vampire hunter giving him a wide berth had been hilarious. Even more so when he'd switched it up and changed his heartbeat and scent to appear human.

Turns out, Foxx had been right…he did in fact enjoy faking what he was to freak people out… He hadn't gotten a chance to do it on a hunt, but…he would. If only…control of his strength had come as easily as mimicking vampires and humans. Fucking hell…that machine… Not to mention the mirror…was definitely not going to be cheap to replace.

"So what's the new plan?"

"Right… So once we have gotten through the next wave of chaos they set off, the powers that be plan to introduce a nationwide mandate that every werewolf and vampire be inoculated against Maverick's poisons. Well…they are calling it a ‘vaccine' and an inoculation…but I'm not sure that's accurate, since it's a poison not a disease, but…whatever. To update on you mentioning Guild Directors starting production, the government apparently secured a factory a few days ago, and has since begun mass-production of the counteragent. While Tony wasn't specific about what they were making, I'm going to assume, based on what you told me, it's the joint one. And according to Tony, they are working to secure even more facilities to do the same, and may have already."

Face pinched, Foxx slowly said, "That plan is…not going to be an easy sell…by any means. But…it does make sense why they are going in that direction." The vampire frowned. "Why aren't they trying to do it now?"

"They don't have enough. Mind you, this decision was made earlier this week, and a few days ago was apparently the fastest they could…I'm going to guess, bribe and or commandeer a building. Or, who knows, maybe they found an unused pharmaceutical factory for sale and they bought it? Tony didn't know all the details, though he does have another meeting tomorrow, but I doubt a few days has put us into a position to reveal anything. Because if they say something now, it would cause a panic. Or, more likely, it would push Maverick to release this shit en masse, before we have enough to even attempt to minimize the outbreak."

"Won't he do that after we stop his next attempt?"

"He could. But the point is, the quieter we are, and the longer we hold our cards tight, the more ready we will be when that happens."

Foxx sighed. "Harlow, I'm not sure we will be able to convince all on either side to agree to take the counteragent."

To be fair, history had proven that not even humans could be convinced to take shit for their own good, so why would paranormals be any different? Harlow snorted at the thought, popping the last of his grilled cheese into his mouth. He wiped his face with a napkin as he finished chewing, and then pointed out, "Another issue to consider is that the vampire council likely hates our asses now, after we forced their hand on the dhampir thing. I'm not sure if they will find out we are involved in all this, but if they do…it might make them reluctant to cooperate."

"The vampire council won't be the problem. With something like this, believe it or not, petty emotions will be tossed aside. All the US government has to do is show them proof of the poison existing, and the damage it can do, and they will agree. Even though it seems that Maverick is only interested in causing shit in the US at the moment, I could even see them asking for expanded release to other countries."

"I mean…does any of the council even live here?"

Foxx tilted his head, obviously thinking it over before saying, "The council has twelve members… While I can't say for certain, as I don't keep up with them, I think maybe…one or two live here. The council chairman, the person that so willingly had a conversation with me about their policies on dhampirs, lives in Rome. Something I found out and helpfully informed Daydric about…just in case."

Yep, just in case the man needed to track him down and kill him.

He chuckled. "Very willing, I'm sure. Speaking of Daydric, do you think him and his siblings will be on board?"

"They, like the council, know how easily the world can turn against us. Even if they ultimately believe it can't affect them, they will cooperate. The werewolf council, on the other hand… They will likely think we are the ones trying to poison them."

Harlow snorted. "Yeah…I'm glad I'm not the one who has to tell them. As that is going to be one pissed off group of furballs."

Foxx sighed. "Really, the problem is less the councils and more the individuals. Because even if we get both councils to cooperate, let's be real… The government and the councils can mandate all they want, but it doesn't mean people will listen."

He smirked. "I suppose we are proof of that, aren't we?"

"Well, it's their fault for not saying anything worth listening to," Foxx giggled.

"Brat." He chuckled, and then his smile dropped. "Speaking of you being a brat… Really, Foxx…explain to me why you are stitching shit onto MY clothes."

A brand new leather jacket that he had just gotten back from the tailor, who'd altered and added all the pockets Harlow could ever ask for, and now there was a fucking heart on the sleeve…

"I'm showing my love for my boyfriend! Is that so bad?" Foxx huffed.

"Show it in a different way!"

"It's too late, you might as well let me keep going."

The words had his hackles raising as he narrowed his eyes on the vampire. "What do you mean it's too late?"

Foxx blinked his large aquamarine green eyes at him, and innocently said, "The pants and jacket may not be…the only items I have touched."

"Foxx…" he growled.

The vampire slipped from his chair. His hands winding behind his back, the man started backing away from the table. "I mean, just think about it. If I stop now, a small part of your wardrobe won't match!"

Harlow let loose a deep growl as he stood from his seat.

Foxx took a few more steps back, the man obviously heading towards the stairs. "You might as well just give in and accept your fate, old man."

He lunged over the table, landing on all fours in the spot where Foxx just was, the vampire had already taken off towards the stairs with a high-pitched squeal.