“Drawing the conversation back to the subject at hand, as I didn’t mean to derail it. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to come sooner, Harlow. I imagine this was not an easy transition.”
He shrugged. “The physical changes have been more of a pain than anything… Well…that and the whole ‘vampire council wanting my kind dead’ thing.”
Wes’ eyes widened slightly, clearly alarmed to hear that. “The vampire council…wants to…what?”
“We are handling it,” Foxx said vaguely. “But technically, they have an ‘extermination on existence’ policy for dhampirs.”
Handling it, as in, they were sitting around waiting for shit to happen. Though it had only been a day, so…there hadn’t really been much time for shit to go down.
“Can you tell me what you know about dhampirs, Mr. Honeywell? I’m afraid I’m not sure what is considered rumor versus the truth about his kind,” Wes asked. Again, Harlow would swear there was a spark of something in his eyes.
Now that he was thinking about it, he vaguely remembered Tony mentioning that Wes found freaks like him interesting. Heimagined dhampirs, based on what Foxx had told him so far, would be high up on Wes’ list of things he’d like to study.
“Call me Foxx, please. And…well…” Foxx started slowly before explaining the whole survival rate, the one and three, and all the other crazy parts of being a dhampir.
When the vampire had finished, Wes let out a puff of air and said, “I see… That does add a new perspective to Harlow, in terms of genetic predisposition.” The man frowned. “This thirst…it’s not something you’ve mentioned before, Harlow.”
“It’s not really something I would have brought up unless asked…”
Well, if asked, on top of if he felt like explaining. Harlow had ignored the question of why he was constantly drinking plenty of times. Foxx being the most recent person he’d told. And really, that had been more of a last-ditch effort to shut the vampire up at the time. He wasn’t sure why Foxx had been so insanely talkative when they’d first met, but…well, the vampire had mellowed out a bit, even if he was still a chatterbox.
“Anyway…in light of this new issue of me having never been human, is it possible for you to still diagnose me?”
Wes’ head tilted. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I mean…I’m not human.”
“It only means we have a greater understanding of why you are the way that you are. Which can only help when it comes to diagnosing you. Though,” he checked his watch, “Starting such a big topic now wouldn't be wise. It would be better if we left it until next time.” The man wrinkled his nose. “Unfortunately, I can’t stay after the hour is up. My new position really isn’t leaving me much free time right now.”
“That’s fine,” Harlow grunted, before eyeing Foxx, who was being unusually quiet.
The vampire glanced over and quickly looked away. Harlow rolled his eyes. Foxx really thought he’d get Wes out of theapartment without Harlow bringing up his situation—fat chance of that.
“Well, with that clarified, there is one other thing. Foxx wants to start seeing you too.”
Foxx sputtered. “I-I never said that.”
“You said you would.”
“I’d said I would think about it.”
“Foxx,” he warned.
The vampire huffed and slumped next to him.
“We can start with him joining my sessions, maybe… Unless that won’t work with the whole you trying to diagnose me thing?”
Wes leaned back and eyed them both. “Well… It would still work. The fact is, most of your changes…” Wes hesitated, and met his gaze.
Harlow waved him on. “You don’t have to hold back. I’ve told Foxx practically everything at this point.” He blinked. “Oh right… We are dating now…just so you know.”
The human chuckled. “Foxx already informed me of that fact when he called on your phone. But congrats. I’m glad you decided to talk to him. But…what I was going to say was…most of your changes have been due to him. So, seeing things from his perspective wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
“At the same time, while I wouldn’t be opposed to having Foxx here for our sessions…is there a particular reason you need to see me, Foxx? And with that reason in mind…would it be beneficial for Foxx to have you here when he's working through it, Harlow?”
Wes eyed Foxx, frowning as the vampire seemed to scrunch up under his gaze.
“I mean…” Foxx started slowly…but then never said more.
