He had his keys…as they had luckily found his leather jacket unharmed. They had not found any of his weapons, unfortunately, just a bunch of empty sheaths and his holster—which fucking sucked.
After cleaning off as much blood as he could without hunting down a shower, Harlow had changed into new clothes from the shit he had stored in his car… Foxx had changed too. There were definitely some benefits to having to-go bags at the ready.
Honestly, if he ignored the lack of thirst, how sharp and clear everything around him was, every single noise digging into his skull, his skin feeling like pricks of needles, and the odd muscle spasms that, now he thought about it, felt more like random bouts of weakness, he felt normal—sonormal.
“Other side,” Foxx said. The vampire had spoken softly, but he heard him loud and clear. He just didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about.
He blinked. “What?”
“Go to the passenger’s side. You are not driving. You felt it, right? Your muscles spasmed when you moved Micah.”
“Yes?”
“Your body is adjusting to your new strength. Over the next week or two, you will be dealing with random muscle weakness, or sometimes total failure. I would prefer not to crash. To add on, while this is something newly turned vampires experience, as a dhampir, it likely will be worse. Because there is a greater gap between what your strength once was to what it will be now.”
“Right…” He sighed and walked back the other way, around to the side. Getting in, once Foxx was situated in the driver’s seat next to him, he asked, “Who were you texting, and once again, why Tony?”
“I was texting Tony the gate code, sending a notification to security that he will be coming without a pass, and telling a bullshit story to Charity. Just nonsense about you being kidnapped in front of me, me following, and well...that it led to us burning a house down. I asked her to please tell the fire department to leave it alone.”
Yeah, the fire being put out would be a bad thing. The torn apart bodies would bring up way too many questions, even with them being hunters.
Harlow pulled his seatbelt on as Foxx did, wincing at the sound of the buckles clicking. “Right, so Tony?”
“So, as I said, the council actively eliminates your kind whenever they can. If they find out during the pregnancy stage, they will forcefully end it. Beyond that, the ones that managed to survive, if exposed early, they are, of course, executed. All except a few have managed to survive and thrive. Past a certain age, the council won’t touch them. Well, it’s more that they can’t touch them without significant losses, as they are too strong to take down. And until recently, remaining hidden until reaching that age of untouchability was the only way for dhampirs to survive.”
The council’s out here killing infants, yet Harlow was supposedly the unstable one? Well…he was…but he was also not running around killing fucking babies, toddlers, and young children…
“So, what happened recently?”
“The Paranormal Existence Acknowledgement Registration happened,”Foxx said slowly. “A few years back, a couple was able to register their child before the council found out, as the human had many connections in government. That registration put too many eyes on the child for the council to act. And therearea lot of eyes on any individual who registers under that species in PEAR. Because the human governments, at least those who deal with paranormals, know that your kind exists, and are aware, despite the council trying to hide it, of their policies towards dhampir.
“The key is…to be registered before the vampire council is made aware. They illegally monitor all applications. Which is why we need someone with connections who can haveyour application processed and fully registered without it ever making it into any digital system. Because the council will kill you before the registration goes through if they can.”
“And that is where Tony comes into this. The man definitely does have connections.”
“Exactly.” Foxx turned on the car and started back down the drive.
“So, he gets me secretly registered and then, that’s it?” Harlow asks, frowning. “The council didn’t go after the couple at all?”
Foxx hesitated. “They were pissed, and they lobbied threats, but...in the end, they didn’t touch either the couple or the child.”
He didn’t bother saying why they held back. It was better for Harlow to not know that the only reason the couple, and any vampire who helped them, didn’t end up dead in place of the child, was because they were too connected. It was better to keep it to himself that the council would likely try to come for him. It wasn’t like Foxx wasn’t connected as well. He was... His connection to Daydric wasn’t well known, but it existed. And it likely would be enough when the time came. Until then, he was going to do whatever it took to push the registration through. Foxx figured he could handle the council after that.
“There’s one issue,” Harlow drawled slowly.
His gaze flicked over to the man. “What?”
“I’m no longer human.”
Foxx wrinkled his nose. “Harlow that is thewholefucking issue.”
Harlow grimaced. “Foxx…we’re hunters, partnered hunters, but I’m no longer human, while you are still very much a vampire.”
His eyes widened as the point Harlow was trying to make clicked. “They...they wouldn’t try to separate us, would they?”
The dhampir shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. This partner thing is new. Hunters have lost partners already, but I don’t think anyone has had their partner turned yet...until now, that is.”
Foxx hissed. “One problem at a time.”
