Page 24

H ow had they met, huh? Gavin smiled as he thought back to that moment. A moment among many that had led him down his current path. Yet, it was perhaps the one that most influenced his choices, at least professionally.

“Ah, that’s a fun story. Well, I have fun telling it. It’s actually a rather depressing story, if you consider what happened before it, but I won’t get into that.”

Gavin held still, doing his best to keep his body from tensing and his heart from racing as the door to his room creaked open and then back closed. They’d found him so quickly…

Wait…no… He frowned. This couldn’t be them…

Gavin carefully drew a breath in as he listened to the very human heartbeat slowly approach his bed. Cracking his eyelids open, he peeked at the older human drawing closer, who was, by his guess, in his late fifties.

Why was his foster father coming into his room?

Gavin’s nose wrinkled in disgust on realizing what else he smelled—arousal.

Ugh, really? he thought. So much for trying to blend in.

Gavin drew a breath in again, the taste of fire building in his throat as he prepared to let loose a stream of skin-melting fire on the freak creeping towards him.

The door to the room slammed open, causing him to jump and choke on the flames, small clouds of smoke puffing out with each cough. Luckily, neither his foster father, who had spun around at the noise, nor the new human who’d just arrived, seemed to notice.

The mystery man was not looking at him at all. His intense gaze was focused on the other adult in the room. The newcomer’s eyes should have set him on edge, yet all he felt was a rush of excitement as he spotted the spark of unreleased violence in them.

Gavin’s heart skipped a beat as he stared, his eyes slowly widening as he took in the new man in all his glorious existence. He was tall, with a smug grin on his handsome, pale face. The human stood there, a baseball bat in one hand, and a lit cigarette in the other, looking like an avenging…biker.

Yes! The black jeans, leather jacket, and boots all screamed biker! His black hair even looked like it had been swept back by the wind, just as a biker’s would! Oh, so cool! Unless he was also a perv, then not cool at all.

“W-who are you?!” Samuel sputtered, before blurting out, “I’ll call the police!”

A creep utilizing the police…what a shocker.

Gavin slowly sat up, scooting towards the foot of the bed to get a closer look. His heart raced with anticipation of whatever was about to happen.

The human took a long drag on his cigarette, the end lighting and flaring. As the man slowly let out a stream of smoke, he crushed the remaining bud in his hand, discarding it on the floor. And then, finally, the human spoke.

In a voice that sounded so laced with violence that it took Gavin’s breath away, the man drawled, “Oh? Don’t you recognize me, Samuel? Surely you haven’t forgotten the child who dog walked you to your kitchen?” The stranger chuckled, his free hand running down the side of his face, over his trim beard and mustache. “Not as pretty as I once was, I suppose.”

Samuel took a step back, his foster father sputtering, obviously in fear, “Y-you!? H-how…”

“How did I find out?” The man cocked his head as he smiled viciously. “Rather easily, actually. Just some idle chit-chat with an old acquaintance.” The smile dropped, the human’s face going completely blank. “I warned you.”

Samuel took another step back. “I—” His words cut off on a fearful yelp as the stranger instantly covered the distance. His bat made up for most of it as it connected with his foster father’s face. Samuel went down with the first hit, and each sickening thud that followed brought a scream from the man.

The stranger seemed to be purposely prolonging it, avoiding his head with each swing. Gavin watched and listened to each crack of bone, each scream and whimper, as the man brought the bat down on his foster father’s legs, then his arms, then his crotch, and finally, his hands. The stranger seemed to linger on the latter two.

As the minutes ticked by, piss mixed in with the blood that had begun to soak into the carpet at the start of the brutal attack, as Samuel turned into a whimpering, twisting mass of broken bones and pain. It was when the man finished mutilating his foster father’s right hand that the assault turned into murder. One last hit on his fingers, then the stranger switched direction, bringing the now blood-coated bat down onto Samuel’s head.

There was a sickening crunch with the first hit, and another with the second, but the third and final one sounded like wet meat being whacked as the man slammed the bat down on brain matter.

The stranger's shoulders relaxed, and he chuckled softly while he tossed the bat away. Oddly, the human’s breathing had barely been affected by what he’d just done, and probably more miraculously still, his heartbeat hadn’t sped up. It was like he hadn’t just murdered someone… It was… It was so…

Gavin didn’t move when the stranger finally looked at him, the man frowning slightly as he did. The human cleared his throat. “Um…”

He cocked his head as he heard a door slam. No one else should have been in the house. It had just been him and his foster father.

“Fucking hell, Harlow, what part of ‘wait for me’ did you not understand!?!” another man growled, seconds before he actually appeared in the doorway of his room. The new human stopped, staring wide-eyed in clear horror as he glanced from Samuel’s body to Gavin. “Holy shit! Please, tell me you did not just kill a man in front of a child?!”

The new stranger was tall as well, but older than the first, and he was also dressed like a biker. Though, while the first stranger had pale skin, the new man’s skin was a deep brown, a few shades darker than his own, and instead of swept back hair, he had a buzz cut.

As the new human smiled hesitantly at him, Gavin decided to just go for it. Jumping out of the bed, he rushed up to the first man, who he now knew was named Harlow, and blurted, “THAT WAS SO COOL!” He bounced. “Like you just went SWISH and BANG! And like—” Gavin waved his hands, trying to demonstrate as he continued to bounce on his feet. “—woosh! And he was like, ekk! And you were like, OH, don’t you know me!? And then BANG! And, and—” His words cut off as he, in his excitement, accidentally shot a small stream of fire out of his mouth.

“P-pretend you didn’t see that!” Gavin squeaked as the fire stopped, nervously taking a few steps back.

“Oh, shit…” the second human rasped, now eyeing him uncomfortably closely.

He flinched as Harlow reached into his pocket, relaxing slightly when the man just pulled out a lighter and a new cigarette.

Popping it between his lips, the human went to light it, but the other man snatched it away, crumpling it as he snapped, “At least pretend to be a good role model, you fuck!”

Harlow sighed and put his lighter away. “Look, kid, we don’t care what you are. We aren’t going to hurt you.” The man looked towards the other. “We aren’t, right, Tony?”

“No, we aren’t,” Tony said stiffly, before clearing his throat and smiling hesitantly at him again. “But…do you mind telling us what you are?”

Gavin started to frown as he stared at the two men—two very human men—who were acting entirely too calm about his ability to spray fire from his mouth. “ W-who…are you?”

Gavin was drawn out of the memory when Foxx started to giggle. He eyed the vampire, his head tilting.

“Ah, sorry.” Foxx chuckled. “I swear, I’m not laughing because of the situation! I just honestly didn’t expect to learn that story until we reached that part of Harlow’s history in…therapy? Or is it…psychotherapy. Our doctor is a psychologist. Well, Harlow’s doctor is. I just tag along. It was more that Harlow insisted after a few nightmares. But it’s really unnecessary, as it was just a couple.”

Gavin could tell the man was lying about that last part, but was in no shape to call him out as his mind was beyond blown. “Wait! You’re telling me, Harlow, Harlow Blackmore , is seeing a therapist?!”

“Psychologist, technically. You actually met him. Wes, the man you helped.”

“That sexy fox is your therapist?!” Ohh, now he had an in! Gavin had been trying to think of a reason to bump into the man. “Great! Now I have the perfect reason to talk to him! What better excuse is there than a concerned younger almost brother!”

“Psychologist, but yes,” Foxx corrected again, before smiling slyly. “So, you’re into older men too, huh?”

Gavin smirked. “Mmm, yes. He is so hot, and his voice!”

“He is.” Foxx giggled. “If you haven’t noticed, I also have a thing for older men. Well, in my case, it's older looking. It’s slightly curious that Harlow finds you a threat to his claim on me though, considering I would definitely not be your type.”

“It’s not as if I dated much in front of him. Sex is not a topic we ever talked about, not that I’m complaining about that. But, to be fair, there is a lot we haven’t talked about.” Gavin chuckled hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Man isn’t the most talkative guy around, for sure. And as much as he talks now, most of that is due to you. He was worse back then, compared to how he was when you first met him. A lot of time was spent with me just talking at him. Not that it bothers me.”

It did bother him a bit. Just a small, miniscule amount. But like, Harlow had always been…Harlow. He just accepted him how he was, just as the man seemed to put up with how Gavin was.

Foxx frowned slightly, the vampire was silent now, just eyeing him .

He cleared his throat. “I mean…Harlow isn’t exactly normal, so… And with the whole dhampir thing, it makes a lot of sense. Umm, yeah, I know that while I see him as my older brother and family, he doesn’t really… I’m actually surprised he told you about me at all.”

“He does see you as family.”

Gavin blinked. “What?”

“Harlow sees you as family, Gavin. He may have said ‘sort of’ before it, but he definitely called you his found family. He didn’t tell me your name that first time, but then he abruptly changed the subject, after likely realizing he’d just shared some of his personal info with someone he just met. After that, well, you know how he is about not saying things unless asked, and?—”

“Only if he feels like it?” Gavin finished for the vampire with a soft chuckle.

“Yes!” Foxx giggled.

Was…Foxx telling the truth? Did Harlow really…

Swallowing hard, Gavin tried to tap down on the hope that bubbled up with the man’s words. Tears pricking at the corner of his eyes, he slowly asked, “He…really thinks of me as family? Are you sure?”

The vampire smiled. “He does. Everyone else was ‘friend’, or rather just people who he collected, but with you, he said family. That being said, he likely never brought you up to Wes, because...well, he’s Harlow. And like I said, I didn’t know your name until that one phone call, even if I did know you existed.”

Not just wishful thinking anymore? Family, he had family. Not that he didn’t have other found family, but it felt different. The men and women who had fled with him were different. They hadn’t had a choice in the matter. But with Harlow…he was someone Gavin had picked, and who…had apparently picked him back.

Harlow was his…family!

He chuckled, swallowing again as a tear broke free. Gavin quickly wiped it away and cleared his throat again. “Ah, thank you for telling me that, Foxx. It’s hard to know what he thinks about people… I always just hoped that maybe one day he would, but yeah…” He licked his lips. “Thank you…”

“Want a hug?” the man asked, his arms opening.

Smiling, he tugged Foxx to him while still sitting, squeezing gently as the vampire hugged him back. “You know…I realized you were small, but hugging you now…like, you are tiny, you know that?”

Foxx giggled as he pulled away. “I’m fun size!”

“Fun size?! Ha, I like it!” Gavin laughed. “I like it a lot.”

“Sooo—” The vampire’s smile turned sly again. “—back to the subject of hot older men. Technically, Harlow would be your type then, wouldn’t he?”

He scoffed. “In looks, maybe. Aside from the obvious reason that I see him as my brother…” Gavin trailed off, frowning as he had a thought, and then he had to practically force the question out. “He’s not a bottom or a switch, right?”

Foxx snickered. “No, he is decidedly not either of those.”

“So, definitely not my type. Even if—” Gavin wrinkled his nose. “—my crushes on older men started because of him. Not that he was exactly old when I met him, but like, I was seven and he was twenty-five, so he was old to me.”

Foxx cocked his head to the side. “The start of your crushes, and clearly you fanboy over him, yet you get squirmy about him having sex.”

“Look, I never said it made sense!” he huffed. “And it was more idolized than fanboy, thank you very much!”

“Idolize, fanboy, same bloody thing when you break them down to the specifics. Wait…bottom?” The man blinked. “Oh—OH! Huh, ha, I definitely had been leaning toward you being a power bottom with the Wes thing.”

“Mm, decidedly not.” Gavin smirked. “But I guess I’ll see what Wes is into.”

Strictly speaking, while he preferred topping, he was technically a switch. So, Gavin would be good to go as long as Wes was at least a switch.

The man giggled, smiling wide. The vampire’s dimples were flashing, but because his smile was a bit lopsided, only one fang showed.

“I never realized Harlow’s type was so cute. Like dimples, freckles, and small and compact, aside from your ass apparently. ”

Foxx snorted. “Man definitely loves that part of me.”

“Okay, let’s venture away from our sex lives, as I feel it could lead to me learning more on top of the things I already didn’t want to know. What were you up to before I came in?”

“Ah, I was…thinking.”

His brow rose. “About?”