Harlow slowly opened his eyes—instantly, he knew someone was staring at him, but felt no danger, so he didn’t move to pull his gun. Yawning, he brushed his hand over his face and through his beard. It felt a bit scruffy, telling him it was time for a trim.
Harlow glanced down, meeting the large, bright aquamarine green eyes staring up at him.
“Hi,” Foxx said with a wide smile that flashed his dimples and one of his fangs. He was laying on top of Harlow’s chest, chin resting on his hands. The vampire looked worlds different mood-wise compared to last night.
“Feeling less grumpy?”
“Mhmm.” Foxx hummed happily. “Are you ready to get up?”
He stretched, shoulders popping. “What time is it?” Thirst clawed at his throat as he asked.
“Noon.”
Harlow blinked. “We slept fifteen hours?” It was then that he felt all the aches and pains one his age felt when they stayed in bed too long.
“Yep!” Foxx giggled. “Guess I wasn’t the only one who was tired! Anyway, want to get up and get something to eat? There is still time before the winter craft fair starts!”
“Right…the fair you blackmailed me into. What time does it start?”
Foxx’s smile widened, not a hint of guilt on his dimpled, freckled face. “It’s from two to eight.”
“Well…we’ll have to go out to eat. I don’t exactly store food here, unless I’m planning to head up. And even then, usually only a week's worth.”
Foxx frowned. “It’ll have to be a vampire friendly place… I’m not sure how many restaurants will have their windows coated here, being a small town and all. Otherwise, it’ll be a bit hard for me to eat.”
“Only the religious nuts opted out of the government’s reimbursement program for treated windows. So, most should have them done. And if they don’t, it’ll be clearly posted.”
“You’d be surprised by how many are willing to risk the large ass fine just to see us scramble.”
Harlow smirked. “Oh, I know. We once had a direct complaint come into the office about such an issue. Apparently, some asshole decided he would do just as you said. Except when a vampire came in and discovered what he’d done, instead of reporting it, he told all his friends. Who then came in separately over the course of a week. Did you know that with how the law is set up, each offense is double the cost of the previous?”
Foxx chuckled. “Oh, they all reported it the same day, didn’t they?”
“Sure did. And with each being a separate occurrence…” He whistled. “Well, the first offense is around a thousand. Let’s just say, that establishment is no longer open. But at the time, before, you know, the debt and the closure, the restaurant owner came into the Guild, claiming he was being harassed.”
“We don’t take direct complaints, right? If I’m not wrong, it goes through the police department first, and then either the police investigate or our people do, before hunters are sent in. Now that I’ve said that, I realize I don’t know who ‘our’ people are. Like, it’s not the handlers who do the investigating, I don’t think. I can’t really picture Charity with her perfectly curled blonde hair, power suits, and heels sneaking around looking into windows, trying to figure out how many there are and what they are up to. Though I suppose she doesn’t wear all that all the time. Tony certainly isn’t doing it. Is it other hunters? But are there even enough hunters to do all that? We are sort of a limited commodity at this point. Though the numbers did increase when the Guild opened to paranormals. Yet I imagine, at the same time, it didn’t because you all now have to go out with a partner instead of alone. So, who exactly is the ‘us’ that investigates? I—”
“Foxx!” he snapped, interrupting him. “You are doing that thing where you ask a stupid amount of questions, one after another, but give no time to answer as you have a one way conversation with yourself.”
The vampire pouted. “Well, then what is the answer?”
“Witches. The answer is witches. When the law enforcement can’t investigate further, or when the situations are too dangerous for them, it’s passed to the witches we have on retainer. Though a few are permanent hires. Really, who else could get close enough without being detected?”
“Right…” Foxx drawled, looking displeased. “Hunters have always been close to that lot.”
“Not a fan of them, I see.” He chuckled. “Either way, you are correct. We generally only take what is given to us by law enforcement. Chain of command for things is basically that something happens, then law enforcement deems it our territory, which can happen with or without a thorough investigation. Then it makes its way to our handler’s desk. This isn’t really well known, but the handlers are also assigned to a few witches, not just hunters. So, once they have the case, they send the witches out to further investigate if it is needed, and then they work on condensing and filing all the paperwork required to sanction whatever the fuck they plan on having us do, before finally, sending the hunters out. From what I know, they deal with a lot of judges, a lot of paperwork, and just a shit ton of filing.”
“That just makes Charity’s job sound worse than before,” Foxx said with a grimace.
“Yeah, they couldn’t pay me enough to even consider taking it on. Anyway, that doesn’t mean we haven’t ended up with cases from other sources, as we have. Hunters stumble into situations all the time that need further investigation. And sometimes people with legitimate concerns end up going to us instead of the police, just because they don’t know any better. But the usual chain of command is that we are invited into the situation. In this case, the owner had gone to the police and been told he was shit out of luck. The police demanded he pay the exorbitant fine, and either fix his windows or put up a sign. He somehow thought we’d do something about it because he was human and they were vampires. Tony laughed him out of the office.”
Foxx snickered. “Bet he thought he’d gotten away with it after the first vampire did nothing.”
Harlow snorted. “If he’d been smart, he’d have put up a sign then. Or at the very least, noticed the absurd number of vampires showing up in the middle of the day.”
“Yeah, that should have been a clue that something was up. We might be able to get around during the day, but generally, it’s to run errands, not eat. Most of us, even with the suits and the slightly more vampire-friendly changes, stay inside during the day. Not saying there aren’t some who don’t go out all the time. Our kind are integrating more and more in your society. But there is still a lot of separation going on. For instance, even our children are kept separate. I imagine that may change one day. But, as it is, like the hospitals…acceptance changed after our outing. It was only early this year that the government mandated that all children—paranormal and human alike—be accommodated and allowed in every school. They still remain in separate classes, but it’s something.”
“Yeah, and that only happened because a man who had always been a generous donor in politics had a child who’d been changed into a vampire during an attack.”
