5. LightningSunshine

E yeing Tony, Foxx waited for the man to answer the question he'd just asked. The one that all his hopes were riding on. The human looked much the same as always.

Tony was dressed in the strange ill-fitting clothes he liked to wear that seemed to emphasize that while he was in shape, he was going a bit softer around the middle. There were, however, bags under the human's eyes that seemed deeper than normal on his brown skin. Otherwise, even with the wrinkles creeping in—not that they were super noticeable, despite the man's age—Foxx had to say, the human was a handsome older man, with his white hair styled in a buzz cut, strong jaw, wider set nose, and sharp brown eyes.

In the time he'd taken to examine the older man, in his effort to hold back, he had exhausted his patience.

"Can it be done?" Foxx blurted. As much as he assumed it was something the human could do, only the man himself would actually know if it was possible.

"It can be done." Tony nodded, his expression more neutral than grim. "I'll need to make quite a few calls, but?—"

"You have to be careful," Foxx stressed. "Every call you make must be secure, without any risk of the info leaking out."

"I get that. I have plenty of ways to contact people without the chance of being overheard, or spied on. No worries there."

"But can the people you are calling be trusted?"

"Foxx, he wouldn't contact them at all if he thought there was a chance they'd leak this," Harlow murmured.

Foxx glanced over to see that Harlow's expression was slightly pinched, and he was breathing through his mouth… Was the man hungry again, already?

He supposed Harlow probably hadn't eaten since that morning. With the lack of food, and the changes coming much faster than he assumed they would…Foxx wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't already burned through most of his blood supply.

Though…it was possible that Harlow just had a headache from the sensory overload…

"Harlow is right, Foxx. I won't be contacting anyone who I think could become a risk. I'll be calling around, and I'll have to pull some favors, but I can get it done. How long it will take to accomplish…? It will likely be faster than a normal registration, but beyond that…I don't know."

"Okay…well, before it goes through, how about…" Foxx frowned, thinking of the other problems… Mainly their job. "Maybe you can put us on leave? I made up a different story about Harlow getting kidnapped that I told to Charity. Mainly just so we could burn the house down without anyone putting it out and seeing the torn apart bodies inside. But we could use it as an excuse to keep him hidden."

"Do I really have to stay hidden until I'm registered?" Harlow sighed.

"Even with the kidnapping story, that will buy us a few weeks at most," Tony cursed.

"What if we claimed he was injured?"

"No." The human shook his head. "Too many documents would need to be forged. If there is one thing that upper management in the Guild loves, it's fucking paperwork. Think about all the forms you had to fill out, not to mention the appointments you had to go to, when you were injured."

Foxx wrinkled his nose just thinking about all the forms. "Right…then what do we do?"

"Until Harlow is registered, the world needs to think he's still human. If we try to say he's a vampire, anyone looking closer will know you aren't in the process of being registered. Not to mention, there is the whole partner thing. I don't even know what the fuck we are going to do about that. They may separate you two."

"No!" Foxx snapped, the word echoed by Harlow.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's about how I thought you two would react. We'll deal with it later. For now...is there a way for Harlow to appear human, Foxx?"

Harlow snorted. "You are talking as if either of those are an option. How exactly am I supposed to pretend to be human, when I'm pretty sure I couldn't even pretend to be a vampire if I wanted to…" the dhampir trailed off with a frown. Foxx's brow rose when the man looked over at him. "You did mention earlier that I was coming off ‘vampire enough', what does that mean?"

"Well…to answer Tony's question…it actually is possible for you to appear human, but it won't be easy. And as for your question, Harlow… Well, as a dhampir, you can mask what you are by mimicking, or possibly by projecting, the bodily functions of other species. I'm guessing that vampire is your default without you trying, and that it's a mixture of mimicking and some form of mind trick."

Harlow frowned. "I see…"

"Can you teach him to be…human?" Tony asked.

"I can…attempt it," Foxx said slowly.

He wasn't positive how easily he could teach him something…that Foxx could only manage himself with minor mind control, that didn't even work on everyone. He was pretty sure that whatever Harlow's body was doing, it was a mixture of mind and actual physical changes.

"Well, you attempt it, and I'll claim your team is down for the count for the next two weeks, due to Harlow needing to rest after yet another near death experience."

Two weeks… "And after those two weeks?" Foxx asked tentatively.

"You'll have to take up cases again and pretend."

"That's a horrible idea!" Foxx hissed.

"Why?" Tony and Harlow, irritatingly, asked at the same time.

"You two are bloody hunters. I shouldn't need to explain why!" he huffed in exasperation.

When the two just stared, Foxx yanked his hand out of Harlow's. "Hello!? New paranormal!?" He waved at Harlow. "Body changing in major ways! Changes that will likely go on for months?!

"For fuck's sake, you two aren't new at this! You should realize that you, Harlow, would likely kill any human you attempted to fight against, and not on purpose. And even if you succeed in pretending to be human, there is no way you would be able to gain enough control in just two weeks for the mask to stay in place for any sort of predictable or extended period of time."

Tony let out a puff of air. "Okay… Well, he'd only have to pretend around people who knew him before… It would be best to avoid actually going into the Guild at all until things are settled. As for hunts…definitely no human ones." The man winced. "Ah, fuck, we are going to have to tell Charity."

Foxx blinked. "Why?"

Harlow sighed. "Ahh…you're right… We definitely will…"

"Again, why?! Why do we have to tell Charity?"

"Because, while I can tell her to not place you on human cases… She will completely disregard what I tell her, unless I can give her a valid reason."

"Aren't you her boss?!" Foxx snapped.

"I am…but she is not one to…listen. Which honestly describes the whole lot of you fuckers," Tony growled. "I'm surrounded but a bunch of pains in the ass."

"Well, make her listen."

"No one can make Charity do anything. Do you think I have My Boy Lollipop as her ringtone on my phone by choice?" Harlow chuckled. "Fuck, no. No matter how much I threatened, she refused to change it back. Foxx, Charity will listen without explanation up to a point. But the second a case comes up, and we are the only people left that she can put on it, human or not, she will assign our asses to it."

"But—"

The dhampir cut him off. "What's one more person knowing?"

One more person knowing was…one too many! But…it was Charity… He liked Charity. She was bright and fun, a sunshine-type person. He liked sunshine-type people. But he…he loved Harlow…

Charity was… a good person though. Foxx couldn't imagine her leaking the information.

He sighed and relented. "Fine!"

Tony pulled his phone from his coat pocket, and quickly punched in a number.

"Hey, rain cloud, what do you have for me today? Lightning or sunshine?" Charity hummed absently on picking up, the sound of her continuously typing away noticeable.

"Good to know it's not just me she annoys with nicknames," Harlow snorted.

"Oh is that sugarplum, I hear!" She laughed. "Oh, I got Foxx's text. It sounds like they both had a trying night. Do let them know, trying or not, I will be sending over all the necessary paperwork they now need to fill out for burning a random house down."

Tony let out a long-suffering sigh, before saying, "Charity, we need you to come here."

The typing stopped. "Here, as in...?"

"My apartment," Foxx said.

"Why?" she slowly asked.

He was the one who sighed this time. "It's…complicated."