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 tooka 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 onyour 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 releasethis 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.”
