8. Ass Kissing

F oxx slowly opened his eyes on a groan. His head was pounding away, pulse beating to the same rhythm, while his mouth was dry as all hell. It had honestly been a long bloody time since he'd felt so noticeably thirsty on waking up.

He blinked, staring blankly at the pillow as his brain came back online. He wasn't under the covers, and he was definitely naked, yet oddly, part of Foxx's lower half felt weighted down and nice and warm.

Wiggling, he froze on feeling something, or rather someone, snuggled against his ass. Foxx glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing on Harlow. The dhampir was wrapped around Foxx's legs, using his poor bruised ass as a pillow.

With his body pretty much littered with bites and bruises, he had to say, the man looked way too fucking peaceful to him. He started to glare on noticing the bite mark on his left ass cheek. Blinking, his eyes widened at realizing just how…unhealed it was. His gaze flicked around to the others he could see.

Foxx felt his neck, cursing on not only finding all the fresher bite marks there on his neck and shoulders, seemly as unhealed as the one on his ass, but on finding that the original one had barely fucking healed.

While they wouldn't heal instantly, it had been hours. All the bites should have at least been scabbed over and halfway healed by now. And the original one on his neck should have been a mere scar. But apparently, dhampir bite marks didn't heal fast .

Great…just great …he thought with a hiss.

Eyes narrowing further, he snapped, "Wake up!"

Harlow inhaled sharply, before huffing and rubbing his face against Foxx's ass. "Mine," the man grumbled softly. Then he had the audacity to actually kiss Foxx's left ass cheek, right near the still very clear bite mark.

"Harlow, if you don't get up this instant, you won't be kissing that anytime in the near future!"

The dhampir sighed and opened his eyes before he slowly sat up, stretching. Foxx pushed up and scooted around so he was facing the man, pulling the covers over his lap as it always felt weird sitting cross legged with his dick out.

He eyed the scars on the man's bare chest as he continued to stretch, wondering how much they would fade over time. For vampires who were turned, scars gotten when still human didn't tend to go away, but they did usually fade a bit. He imagined it would be the same for dhampirs.

Harlow froze with his arms stretched up. Frowning, the dhampir tilted his head back and forth, before letting out a laugh of almost disbelief. "Wow…"

"What?"

"No aches. And…no thirst." The man lowered his arms.

Ah… "Well, you aren't…" Foxx wrinkled his nose. "Well, you were never human, but there isn't an actual word for what you were. And to be honest, with all the medical tests you likely had to take before this, no one detected otherwise. So let's just go with human when referring to what you once were, as it's close enough.

"Anyway, you are no longer ‘human'. The effects of aging you were experiencing are well and truly gone. What you look like won't change, unless you want me to de-age you or something. Though…I like how you look now."

Not that he would refuse to de-age the man if he wanted him to. But Foxx was sort of attached to Harlow's current appearance. It would probably take him a bit to get used to a younger version of the man.

"No, I'm fine with my appearance being how it is."

Foxx smiled. "Good, then no de-aging. As for the thirst thing… Well, you did just feed. It will come back, of course. You'll need to take in, I imagine, around three bags a day. Though you may need to drink more until these changes pass.

"To be clear, you can't just ignore your thirst when you feel it now. You'd be risking your instincts taking over and attacking the nearest blood supply, which will most likely be me for a long while.

"Also, you do need to eat actual food. No, you won't die without it, but it will lessen the amount of blood you need to consume. Which is important because you needing to feed again so quickly, despite how much you had already taken in, was likely due to you not having eaten any actual food for many hours, on top of all the changes your body is still going through."

Harlow nodded. "Right…no ignoring my thirst anymore."

Foxx stared at the man and took a deep breath, deciding he could ignore his irritation about the bite marks because it wasn't as if Harlow knew they would take so long to heal. And…really…if Harlow had let him bite him freely back before the change, he'd have done the same.

Maybe…not the ass bite though… His head slowly tilted as he thought about it. Then again…Harlow did have a nice ass…

Shaking his head and pushing the thoughts away, he cleared his throat and asked, "So…what do you want to talk about first? Mind you, I don't know everything, and there may be some blanks as dhampirs are rare and secretive. But maybe weaknesses, strengths?"

"I mean, when you are constantly hunted, being secretive is usually the way to go. But yeah, let's start there."

"Okay." Foxx grimaced and tried to think about what he did know…and found…it wasn't much. "Okay, to be clear, the only weaknesses I know for sure that you have is that you, like vampires, are negatively affected by holy water, crosses, and bible scripture. But to a lesser extent, I think." He frowned again at how vague the memories were, just bits and pieces coming to mind with huge chunks missing…

Fucking, Daydric. After…they reached a safe moment, he'd have to ask the man to reverse whatever he did. The older vampire likely wouldn't try to hide it again, not after the memories already came forward on their own. And with Harlow being what he was, and the very person who had triggered them to come forward in the first place, there was no way the memories would stay hidden.

"So…" Harlow's brow pulled. "Then they are practically useless as a weapon against me, is what you are saying?"

Foxx tilted his head, thinking about it. "I mean…yes? I can't say for certain, but considering that I can handle touching a cross, even if it burns, I'm sure you'll be fine. And while holy water also fucking burns, after having it dumped on me, it wasn't like it stopped me from trying to kill them. And that was…after I'd already been weakened by their scripture…"

Foxx swallowed hard. If he hadn't just kneeled there… He cleared his throat. "You likely aren't wrong. I imagine, if the effects were halved, they wouldn't have been able to capture me, no matter how I reacted when they first appeared."

Harlow grabbed his hand and squeezed. "It's over and done with."

Foxx forced a smile. "Yeah, it's done with."

The dhampir grimaced. "Foxx, I've…stopped myself from saying this before, but…you don't have to fake being happy with me."

He let the smile fall away, nodding. "It's…a habit," he admitted.

As it was… It had always been easier to fake a smile than to answer the questions he had no interest in answering.

The man squeezed his hand again. "I figured. Now…is there anything else, weakness wise?"

"I…I don't know. I do know you aren't affected by the sun."

Harlow's eyes widened. "I'm not?"

"No, it doesn't hurt you at all."

"Well, that's nice to know. What about strengths?"

Strengths… His strengths were… "Bloody hell, I wish I had more to tell you," he cursed. "But really, it's what all vampires have. Speed, strength, those normal things. Though I will say, I suppose we can describe you as having abilities stronger than normal vampires, because a vampire your age wouldn't stand a chance against you. It's only because I'm older and naturally strong that I'm still a threat, technically.

"Oh…it's not just those strengths though, you also have things like mind control. That ability is likely stronger than mine, as your targets are vampires. And, let's be honest, that's not much of a feat, as…vampire mind control isn't that impressive unless you're of the illusionist line."

"Okay, so I'm like a vampire, but stronger than any vampires my age," Harlow said slowly. "Well, I know all about vampires, so it's better than nothing."

"I really do wish I could tell you more. There is one other thing. Though, I've already told you a bit about it anyway. The blood burn state. On thinking about it, I think I remember a bit more."

"I was supposedly in that state when you found me, right?" Harlow said slowly, trying to remember.

While the memories from before Micah bit him were clear again, beyond a few clips, the after…was just as jumbled as before. And he still didn't remember seeing Foxx in the house, let alone grabbing and biting him, before waking up to find him in his grasp.

"You were. At the time, your eyes were sky blue and glowing. I'm not sure why they were blue…but when you finally came back, they were their normal light brown color again."

"I see…" He frowned. "I don't really remember it."

"I imagine you don't. The dhampir part of you was likely fully in control, and trying to protect you. I was seen as a threat." Foxx pursed his lips. "I think I was from the moment I neared the house."

"What do you mean?"

"I told Tony that you can mimic being human. I meant that it's possible for you to do it, because you are already mimicking being a vampire. And I didn't lie. To be clear, technically, vampires, and even werewolves and other paranormals, can disguise themselves as what they are not. It's just not easy, or automatic.

"For dhampirs, I think mimicking is an automatic function, and I think by default your body tries to project that you are a vampire. And I mean, it makes sense. Your whole continued existence depends on you being able to blend in and hide from my kind."

"What did you mean when you said you became a threat as soon as you neared the house? And how do you know anything is being hidden? How do we know that dhampirs don't just sound and smell like vampires normally?"

"I heard two heartbeats as I approached. One was sluggish, but the other was strong—vampire-like, except for the echo. But as I got nearer, the echo disappeared, like it had never been there. I think you heard me, Harlow, in whatever state you were in, and then you pretended to be passed out, waiting until I was close and distracted."

"So…I…hunted you, is what you are saying?"

"Yes… I'm pretty sure that you did. I even pulled you into my lap and you didn't move. But when I went to poke Micah, you tried to sneak up behind me."

He attacked and hunted his own boyfriend, before ever having their first date… Sounds like a record in red flags. Probably best not to point it out!

"Well…so…you heard an echo?" Harlow asked. He then listened to what he thought was his own heartbeat, hearing nothing even close to an echo.

"Your smell and your heartbeat seem normal right now. The keyword being seem . But if I focus hard enough, I can hear that echo, even now. Same with your scent. I smell vampire, but…I smell something else too, underneath your normal body odor. Though, that one may just be because I know what you smelled like before changing."

Frown deepening, he closed his eyes and listened again, doing his best to tune out Foxx's heartbeat, and the other random noises of the apartment. Harlow didn't hear it at first, but as minutes passed, and the other sounds fell away…a faint echo appeared.

Harlow's eyes snapped open as the sound grew louder, his heartbeat now doubled, before pausing and repeating its double beat again.

"You're right… There's an echo…" He winced as the other sounds he'd pushed away came rushing back, and between one moment and the next, the echo was gone. "That's…weird. Why does it beat like that?"

"I don't know. Why does a vampire's heart beat slower? Why does a werewolf's beat faster?" Foxx shrugged. "I'm sure someone knows the answer, but it never interested me enough to look too deeply into it."

"It doesn't seem as if I have much control over my body when it comes to hiding it. How am I supposed to pretend to be human if I can't seem to even stop pretending to be a vampire?"

"It's going to take some trial and error. I don't know exactly how you are doing it either, since I'm not a dhampir. But all we can do is try and practice. And to be honest, I think you'll need to practice making the vampire one even more believable, because I can still tell, and if anyone looks closer…they may be able to as well."

Harlow sighed. "How are we ever going to figure this shit out in just two weeks?"

"I don't know… I think the best option we have is doing our best to avoid the office, so you don't need to pretend to be human. Those we work with are the only ones you need to keep your changed state from anyway. And your vampire mask is at least passable right now, so if we practice that, it should be good to go in two weeks, even if your human mask isn't."

"Right."