“No matter the cause, they are still killing people. We have to take them down.”
Frowning, Foxx sighed and slowly said, “Right…”
“How’s that?”
Foxx glanced over, but he was listening more than anything. The dhampir’s heartbeat was elevated compared to a vampire’s, but still slower than what would be normal for a human. “You are still stuck in the middle.”
“What about my scent? I’ve been… I'm not sure how I do it, but I’ve managed to change it a little, I think.”
He sniffed, finding an odd mix that wasn’t quite human, but not vampire either. “You have to be careful, Harlow. Your scent and heartbeat naturally default to vampire, but if you try to fuck around with both, within range of another paranormal, they will notice something is wrong, even if they don’t know about dhampirs.” Foxx sighed. “Even if you got the heartbeat right, it’s doubtful you’d be able to maintain it for long.”
“Wouldn’t they just assume I can make illusions?”
“Not when they know you were human just last week. And Oceana, while younger than me, is old enough that she likely knows about dhampirs. You have to be careful around her. Besides, I don’t think you are of the Illusionist line anyway.”
Harlow frowned. “So…I’m still considered to be part of a line?”
“You are vampire adjacent. Genetically, at least, part of you is from a creature that came from one of the Goddess’ six bloodlines. So, yes, you will have the powers of whatever line you come from, on top of your dhampir shit.”
“How are you sure I’m not of the Illusionist Bloodline then?”
“I’m not a hundred percent positive. But when I look at your threads, they don’t…” Foxx frowned. Slipping into his Fate Bloodline powers, he glanced back over. “Well, some tell me outright, while most I just get this feeling of what they aren’t. And that is what I feel you aren’t when I look at them. The Illusionist line being weak to my bloodline makes it easier to pick those out.”
Harlow growled, “I better not be of that Beast line. I have no fucking interest in changing my body any more than the shit that is going on right now. My threads look different now that I’m not…‘human’, right?”
“They do…” He eyed the swirling lines inside the man. They were all gold. But he wasn’t sure if that was their true color, because…gold meant vampire. “They used to be white…but…are all gold now. Usually a new turn—well, a newly turned vampire, that is—part of their threads stay white for some years after, until eventually turning all gold.
“On the other hand, werewolves who are changed and not born, always keep some white threads. It could just be confirming that you weren’t ever really ‘human’. Regardless, it is a problem. Because you having no white threads left may bring questions from those who knew you before you changed.”
‘Those’ being Oceana… Stressed…Foxx was stressed.
“Do you think the gold color is a mask? Like how my scent and heartbeat are now.”
“That is what I’m thinking. That your body hid the real color to protect you. As for what bloodline you are… Usually a turn takes after the one who changed them, but Micah was of the Illusionist line. I’m guessing that you take after whatever your vampire parent was.”
“Right… Vampire parent,” Harlow grunted. “Saying that out loud still sounds weird.”
Foxx couldn’t help but wonder if Harlow had considered what it meant, that he was what he was… He had said his parents abandoned him…but could that really still be true now? “Harlow…” he hesitated.
“What?”
Foxx grimaced. “Never mind, it’s nothing…”
“Foxx, just say what you want to say.”
“Have…you thought about your parents?”
“What about them?”
His gaze flicked over to the man. “I mean… Well, technically…they didn’t abandon you…”
The dhampir blinked, his expression blank as can be. And he remained silent for a moment, his brow furrowing, before slowly saying, “Yes…they did?”
“I mean…they did, but they didn’t really? I mean, they didn’t want to leave you. In fact, they wanted you so much that they risked death to have you, but they knew that in order for you to live, they had to leave you somewhere…where no one could connect you to them. Back then, the only way they had to insure your survival was to get you as far away from them, and the paranormal world, as they could, without anyone finding out that you existed.”
Foxx somehow found it…nice to know that as much as Harlow claimed to be a loner, there had always been at least two people out in the world praying that he would stay alive.
Harlow slowly tiltedhis head as he thought over Foxx’s words. He supposed, with the new context of the whole dhampir thing…that was most likely what had happened.
