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“ A nd then I got cheesecake,” Foxx said, before giving in to the need to expand on the awesomeness of that revelation. “Delicious cookie dough cheesecake. And not just a sliver or a slice, a whole one!”

Alastair remained silent on the other side of the phone for a moment before asking, “ How delicious? ”

“It was mouth-watering, sweet cheesecake perfection.”

The vampire let out a small, needy whine. “ Can you recreate it? ”

He giggled. “I can try?”

“ Please do !” His friend sighed before scoffing. “ How did anyone think you were that former human’s child? Like, you are short, and you may look young, but you are not THAT short or young.”

“I was in a bear sunsuit with the hood up, and Harlow had possibly picked me up. Both may have contributed to the misunderstanding. Also, really?! ‘Former human’?!”

The vampire was going to find himself shot one day if he wasn’t careful.

“ Well, I can’t call him ‘that human’ anymore, now, can I ? And you were opposed to me calling him ‘it’.”

And Foxx was the dumb bitch? “You could just use his name?”

“ I don’t want to. Anyway, I’ll call you later. Just wanted to tell you about the whole ‘vaccine’ thing, in that I got it. Well, that and I wanted to see how you’re holding up.”

Foxx rolled his eyes. “I’m fine, as I said in the many texts I’ve sent you.”

“ You say that, but are you really ?” Alastair drawled, his voice full of doubt.

“Yes…” Ish, he was fine-ish… “I feel better than I did.”

“ Well, I’ll text you. Stay safe, love you !”

“Love you too, bye.”

Sighing, Foxx relaxed back on the bed and started scrolling through his emails, ignoring his growling stomach. Hopefully, Harlow would be back soon with their food.

He was fine besides being hungry. Well, Foxx wasn’t completely fine, but he hadn’t lied to Alastair, he was feeling better after having actually done something. That something being murdering people. His mind, for the first time since Charity had died, felt a bit calmer.

Foxx wasn’t perfect. The nightmare that had woken him up yesterday morning hadn’t exactly helped. But Foxx hadn’t had another last night, so…there was that.

There were also—just possibly—moments where his grief felt raw. So raw, in fact, that it almost dragged him under…but this morning he felt lighter. And it was morning. The sun was up and shining, their hours somehow not any closer to a vampire’s than when they were hunting normally.

But on this new stupidly bright, and thankfully, warm day, Foxx had a purpose. He’d coated his hands with several of Charity’s murderers’ blood the day before yesterday, and he had found a sense of peace. And he would keep chasing after that peace, bit by bit, a few piles of bodies at a time.

Charity, I’ll get them all for you, he swore silently.

Foxx clicked on the new email that popped up, seeing it was from the florist. He smiled when it turned out to just be a confirmation on the Tiger Lilies he’d order. Most of his emails were confirmations of things he’d set in motion. For Charity’s funeral, and others. He frowned as his thoughts drifted.

Should…he reach out to Charity’s niece? Someone would have told her, right? He blinked—wait…how old was she? Tony hadn’t actually said.

On hearing footsteps, and catching Gavin’s scent, he hopped off the bed and moved to the door, opening it before the dragon had a chance to knock .

Smiling, Gavin asked, “Food here yet?”

“Nope!” Foxx backed up and let the man in. “Guessing there was a long line.”

The dragon hummed in response, before looking as if he was about to take a seat on the bed, but the man froze inches from touching it, and then shot back up with a visible shudder. “Oh…I almost forgot what you two did yesterday.”

Foxx giggled. “We didn’t make it to the bed.” The man started to eye the floor suspiciously, about to sit on the bed again, when he added cheekily, “The first time, that is.”

Gavin shot up again, releasing a small cloud of smoke in irritation, before stomping over and taking a seat at the table in the corner of the room with a sigh. “You know what I am?! Traumatized, that’s what! Like, he may not actually see me as his younger brother, but I have known him since I was a child. Way too long to ever want to witness, hear, or imagine him doing something so horrifying!”

He smirked. “Imagined it, did you?”

“No!” The dragon shuddered again. “Never! Fuck, but seriously, what exactly did you do to break Harlow?! Because that is not the same man I saw over a year ago.”

Foxx slowly tilted his head. “I was…me?”

The man frowned. “Okay, but explain.”

He sat back down on the bed with a hum, thinking over his relationship with Harlow. “So, first of all, I made him be my friend through the power of annoyance and unyielding persistence.”

Gavin barked out in laughter. “It really is the only way, isn’t it?”

Foxx giggled. “I mean, it worked. Though, my ass being fat did help.”

The dragon choked, coughing before he said with a sigh, “Well, I always knew Harlow found some men attractive, even if he never seemed to act on it. Not that he acted on it much with women in front of me either, thank fuck.”

He grinned as he thought of their first time together. “That first time definitely was a hate fuck. We were arguing and then, well, one thing led to another.”

Gavin’s face twisted in clear disgust. “I regret asking this question. ”

He giggled again. Foxx wondered if the dragon realized he’d basically given him all the ammo he needed to screw with him forever and always. Like, it was too easy at this point.

“Anyway, we started to get along better. Still argued, of course.” He smiled somewhat affectionately as a few past silly arguments popped into his head. “Well, we bicker more than argue now, I’d like to think, and it's mostly for fun. Harlow is definitely fun to poke at, and his love of violence sort of matches mine.

“I don’t know, some things happened…bad things…and he was just there for me. I didn’t really trust it at first either. The change…though he didn’t really change. Just what he did for me had more meaning.

“It was hard not to question it, when my understanding of his emotions was pretty set. But it doesn’t matter what he can or can’t feel, or that the way he expresses certain emotions is different from others. Because what he gives me is enough. He is enough.”

Gavin smirked. “You love him, don’t you?”

“I do, even when he’s annoying the shit out of me.” He smirked. “All the more fun to get back at him.”

The dragon chuckled. “Sounds petty.”

“Oh, I am.” Foxx eyed the man. “How did you two meet?”