6. So Much Talking

I n Harlow's fair and non-judgmental opinion, Charity had looked pretty put together as she'd arrived in her red power suit, black blouse, and red heels. The key word being had . He couldn't help but feel quite impressed by how quickly someone so put together had managed to devolve into a blubbering mess. And Charity had done just that…in a matter of seconds.

Said blubbering mess was now sitting on Foxx's couch, clinging to a box of tissues as she loudly blew her nose after each complaint and accusation she made, adding to the growing pile of used ones on the coffee table.

As the woman let out another ear-piercing wail, in a long line of sounds that made him uncomfortable, Harlow realized that the word impressed had not been correct. No…the word he'd actually been looking for was terrified.

And in the face of such adversity…he, of course, did the only thing he could do…stand in abject frozen fucking horror while the woman continued to bawl.

"Kidnapped?! And no call?!" she cried. "No, I get a fake text AFTER!" she whimpered, more tears falling as she grabbed up another tissue and blew again.

Foxx, who was sitting next to the woman, his arm around her as he tried to ‘comfort her', murmured, "We are sorry, Charity."

What was this ‘we' ? Harlow was not sorry about shit. Well, no, he was sorry he hadn't run the fuck upstairs when she'd arrived.

"You need to start taking my job as your handler seriously! Don't you know I care?! And you really don't! Because who do you call?! TONY!?" The woman sent an accusing glare at the older human, who still remained sitting exactly where he had first parked his ass on arriving. "You encourage it!"

Tony, looking fucking sheepish as hell, slowly said, "I am sorry, Charity. I'll try to do better."

"You better!" She blew her nose before her teary gaze flicked to him. He stiffened, eyes widening when she started to cry harder. "And you!"

He barely held back the wince at the pain her voice caused. "Me?"

"You almost died!" she sobbed, voice wavering with each word.

How…should he respond to that? Should he respond? He eyed Foxx. The vampire was giving him a look as if he should probably say something. "Yeah…?" Harlow said slowly.

Another ramping up of tears followed his words. Foxx stared at him with disgust before rolling his eyes.

Well, what else was he supposed to say?!

"Poor, Harlow… Poor, poor, Harlow."

Yeah, poor fucking him. His head had already been throbbing before this, and with Charity's ear-piercing wailing… Fuck, he—his eyes flicked to Foxx—was thirsty. Harlow found his gaze drawn to the vampire's neck, even though it was covered. Ahh...fuck, he was thirsty. More than thirsty. He licked his lips.

Foxx frowned and sent him a pointed ‘cut it the fuck out' look.

Sighing, Harlow tried again by lying. "We're sorry for not calling you first. Well…I wasn't actually awake to call anyone since I'd been drugged and then changed, but Foxx is sorry. And Tony will do better."

"Yes," Tony grunted. "I'll be more respectful towards your job as their handler and attempt to redirect them."

"You better!" Charity repeated, before sniffling and dabbing at her eyes with a clean tissue. Taking a shuddered breath, she said, "I'll keep this to myself. And when the time comes that you two have to return to work, I'll be selective about your cases."

Foxx sighed, pulling his arm back from Charity. "I still think it's a horrible idea."

"I don't know how fast I'll be able to get you registered, and we can only keep you two benched for so long without documented reasons," Tony stated. "You'll just have to keep him in check, Foxx."

"Umm, in case there was any misconception, I'm not stronger than him. We are, in fact, almost evenly matched, with him being slightly stronger than me now when normal. But if he loses complete control and falls into blood burn again, like he did in that house…I'm not sure I have any way to stop him." Foxx tugged the collar of his turtleneck down, showing his bite mark. "He almost drained me dry when he did this."

"He almost drained you?!" Charity gasped.

Harlow grimaced, thirst pushed back as his self-disgust came, his hands clenching into fists. "I probably would have if I hadn't recognized your scent."

Foxx reached out and gripped one of his fists. "You didn't do it on purpose. You weren't mentally aware."

"Doesn't change what I almost did." He sighed and slowly relaxed his hand, threading his fingers through Foxx's.

"You two didn't mention this until now, why?" Tony snapped.

"You didn't ask," they both said at the same time.

Charity giggled. Eyeing them oddly now, smiling even though her eyes were puffy and nose red. "So…does the hand holding mean something, or…?"

Foxx giggled. "Harlow asked me out."

Charity let out a high-pitched squeal that had him flinching back as he cringed. "AWWW, you two look so cute together! I mean, I've been ignoring the fact you two were sleeping together because of work, but aww."

"Moving back to the important discussion," Tony said slowly. "What do you mean by ‘falls into blood burn'?"

"Well…he wasn't himself when he grabbed me. He was out of his mind in a state called blood burn. And if I'm not wrong, at the time he likely was over consuming his blood supply, which in turn gave him more strength than normal. Him losing control would mean he'd fall into that state again. And even if it's not infinite, I wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to stop him, besides…maybe…talking to him, and trying to not get torn apart…or drained?"

"Okay…well, if he gets out of control, in whatever that blood burn state is…why don't you…hmm…" Tony frowned before the man laughed and said, "Flash that ass he keeps trying to brag to me about, and use it to calm him the fuck down?"

Foxx and Charity gasped in clear outrage.

"I am not a dog," Harlow growled.

"No, but I'm guessing a dhampir's instincts are about as carnal as everyone else's. It should at least be enough to distract you from the blood and violence."

Harlow tried to muster up some offense at the suggestion, but he found none. He shrugged and conceded, "It…likely would work."

Because it probably would…Foxx's ass was… Harlow licked his lips.

"Men!" Foxx snorted in disgust as he pulled his hand free.

Meanwhile, Charity's gaze was flicking back and forth between him and Tony, looking just as much, if not more disgusted than Foxx had sounded.

Tony sighed and stood. "Well, come on, Charity, I'm sure these two have a shit ton to discuss and plan." The man added on, eyeing Harlow, "And…maybe a shower sometime in between."

Harlow glanced down. Yeah, there were definitely some patches of dried blood here and there on his arms. But hey, considering he'd been drenched…the clean up job he'd done using just the sink wasn't half bad.

Charity stood. "Right…it's only been a few hours. I'm sure there is loads to discuss. Call me if you need anything, okay?" she said, eyes glancing from him to Foxx.

"Actually," Foxx hesitated, before saying, "I left my car in the lot where I found Harlow's, could you possibly have it towed here, or maybe brought here by someone?"

"Sure! Tony, you can drop me off and I'll drive it back."

Tony grunted in response.

"Thank you," Foxx said as he handed his keys over to her.

Pocketing the keys, Charity looked to Tony, eyes narrowed. "Tony, I expect to be included in all the discussions from here on out," she said stiffly.

"Yes, yes, come on." The older human started towards the hallway.

Charity tsked but smiled at them before gathering up her tissues. Disposing them into a trash bin under one of the nearest end tables, she and Tony disappeared down the hallway.

His gaze slipped down to Foxx at the sound of the door opening and closing. Eyeing the man from the top of his curly black-haired head, to his large aquamarine green eyes, over freckled button nose and plush lips, his cock pulsed as he journeyed further.

As Harlow's gaze traveled over Foxx's covered neck, his overly fuzzy turtleneck sweater with a sheep on it, all the way down to the bottom of his mom jeans and sock covered feet, he…

Harlow…licked his lips. Mine.

Foxx sighed and glanced over at Harlow, who was just standing there staring at him. "They're right, you know. We do have a lot to talk about."

But even saying that, and knowing that he had barely told Harlow anything about dhampirs…he…

His bottom lip trembled, and before Foxx could stop himself, he was up off the couch, wrapping his arms around the dhampir's waist. "I was so scared," Foxx sniffled, eyes tearing up.

Harlow's arms came around him. "I'm sorry, Foxx." The man sounded awkward as he patted his back.

"No, no, I should have remembered. The thirst should have, at the very least, jogged the memories free."

"It doesn't seem like it was your fault that you forgot." The man chuckled softly. "Besides, even if it was, you're old, brat. I'm sure there are plenty of things you've forgotten over your many years."

Foxx hmphed. "I'm not that old!"

He was older, but he wasn't ancient. There were plenty of vampires, and other paranormals, for that matter, who were twice, no triple, his age.

"How old is not that old, hmm?" Harlow teased.

Foxx hesitated. Was there even a reason to hide it now? There hadn't really been much of one before. Keeping it to himself had become just another way to irritate the man more than anything. It wasn't like Harlow would have told anyone, then or now. It was just…he wasn't used to telling anyone his true age. And those who could tell, knew to stay the fuck quiet and not ask him about it.

"I'm…" He started slowly before blurting, "Seven hundred and twenty-five."

Harlow let out a low whistle. "Someone's robbing a cradle."

"Shut it, old man." Foxx sighed and went to pull away, only to huff in irritation when the dhampir wouldn't let go.

He started to glare, but a frown quickly took its place on realizing how hungrily the man was currently staring at him. With the darkening of the dhampir's eyes, Foxx couldn't tell what exactly the man was hungry for. "Harlow, we need to talk."

"Later," Harlow growled. Leaning down, the man pressed a kiss to his lips.

Foxx turned away. "Harlow, it's not just about the dhampir thing, even if most of it is. Though…I guess the rest of the stuff is smaller, more unimportant shit in retrospect. And the psychologist thing is none of my business, I guess, but I mean, maybe it is now that we are dating. You could have at least told me you had one. But what really is my business is the cameras—" Foxx moaned as the man's mouth captured his, cutting off whatever the hell else he had been planning to say.

Seconds later, he turned away and bravely tried again, "Harlow—mph!" He whined when the man's mouth silenced him once again.

Wrapping his arms around Harlow's neck, the kiss grew more intense, and with Foxx's cock beginning to harden, he quickly and easily decided that talking could come…after.

Harlow pulled back, nipping at Foxx's bottom lip. He gasped as one of the dhampir's fangs drew blood, shuddering as Harlow sucked the blood away. The dhampir let out a pleased growl. His light brown eyes darkening further, Foxx clung while the man scooped him up.

The dhampir took a stumbled step forward and…dropped his ass. Harlow's neck slipped through his loose grasp, and Foxx squealed in shock as his ass hit the hard marble floor.

"Fuck!" Harlow hissed. The man fell to his knees, grasping at his back. Foxx was able to visibly see the muscles in the man's shoulders tighten and loosen in quick succession.

"I did warn you about the muscle thing," he grumbled, wincing a bit as he rubbed at his poor ass.

Would have been nice if the dhampir's body had decided to nope the fuck out over the rug only a few feet away, instead of in the only space in his living room without a rug covering the floor. He had liked having a section of uncovered marble floor between his divided living room, because of the contrast and feeling of separation it had added. But maybe it was time to get over that and buy a rug that covered the full bloody thing.

Harlow twitched a bit more, before finally sagging when it seemed to stop. "That's fucking stupid. I never had a problem lifting you before. Why the hell would your weight bother me now?"

"It's less my weight and more your body getting used to the new strength you have. Think of it as if you've strained a muscle. When you were…‘human' and you strained something, even things that normally wouldn't bother you could be too much. It's the same concept here, except it's not a constant issue, and you don't really know what is going to trigger it, or if the same thing will trigger it more than once. Either way, this just confirms that the thing we should be doing is talking."

Harlow glared for a moment before growling, "Fuck talking."

Foxx gasped as the man was suddenly there, crouched over him, mouth back on his. With a moan, Foxx latched onto the man's shoulders while his eyes fluttered shut. Only for them to snap open wide with a startled gasp when he felt the man grip the collar of his turtleneck, and a tearing sound followed.

Yanking away, he stared down, mouth agape, at his brand-new jumper. It was ruined. Torn in half! "You!"

Harlow chuckled. "I prefer your neck uncovered. Keep that in mind for the future, brat."

"What I just heard is that you PREFER my foot shoved up your ass, old man!" Foxx hissed. "I just got this!"

"Buy it again." Harlow laughed. Foxx glared and protested when the dhampir grabbed him and spun him around on the marble floor.

When Harlow yanked his torn jumper down, the sleeves pinning and pulling his arms back. Foxx tensed up, even as the man started to bend him over, but his complaint never made it past his lips. The cry of both pain and pleasure brushed it aside when the dhampir's fangs pierced his neck.

Heart starting to speed along, his cock hardened fully on a moan when the man sucked. Unlike the first time, which had been all pain, it seemed Harlow's natural instincts had kicked in, the man's bite sending waves of pleasure through his veins as he took. Just as a vampire's could, a dhampir's bite could be as pleasurable as a drug.

By the fifth pull, Foxx was crying out, his balls clenching, while his cock jerked and spurted, releasing into his boxer briefs.