Page 32

A fter being assured by Gavin that all the cameras they’d passed, and those in the distance, were on loop, Harlow parked by the side of the road. Now stopped, he couldn’t help but glare at the man in question as he caught sight of him in the rearview mirror.

The dragon huffed. “Stop looking at me like that! I’m sorry, okay! I did not know that what you two were doing was some kind of kinky foreplay shit! I saw you tackle him and assumed?—”

“That he was going to, what? Eat me? Which, to be fair—” Foxx snorted, “—he was.”

Gavin shuddered and started glaring back. “You know what, I’m not apologizing any more! Why in the hell would you two even think to try to do that in front of me?! Like, are you trying to ruin my childhood?!”

“What childhood?! You are twenty-seven!” Harlow growled, before correcting himself. “No, wait, your birthday’s November 25th, so you are twenty-eight now, which just pushed you even closer to thirty!”

“I am a kidult, okay!? But thanks for remembering I had a birthday, even if you forgot to call me last year!”

“First of all, kidult? You work for assassins.” He rolled his eyes. “Second, I only forgot because the short one over here ended up skewered through the heart that day. But I think you can let it go, since it’s the first time I’ve forgotten in nineteen fucking years.”

“Ah…right.” Foxx grimaced. “It was th at day, wasn’t it?”

“That it was.” He sighed.

“Okay, forget the birthday thing, but I do expect a call from both of you this year. As for the assassin thing… Yes, I do work for them, but that has nothing to do with me not wanting to see someone who I think of as my brother fucking someone else. Think of it this way, how would you feel if you walked in on me having sex with Tony, hmm?”

Harlow blinked, his eyes widening as he tried to wrap his mind around even the thought of it. “It would be…weird.”

Gavin scoffed. “Yeah, no shit.”

“Fair enough,” he grunted.

“So, is this you promising me you aren’t going to try to have sex in front of me again?”

Harlow chuckled. “Fuck no.”

“Why not?” the dragon whined.

“No point in making a promise I won’t even attempt to keep.”

Foxx giggled.

“Let’s just move on and go over the fucking plan again!” Gavin groaned.

“What’s there to go over? We’re just going to torture him for a bit until he’s dead, followed by you burning shit down. All of his security is ‘fixed’, right?”

The dragon clucked his tongue. “Yeah, none of it is working as it should. As for the fire, I say we go for a gas leak. His house is older, even if it’s nice. Perfect combination for a gas explosion.

“To add on, the man’s a smoker, according to his purchase history. You could even drop a cigarette behind, though it will likely just burn up in the fire.”

Harlow frowned. “I don’t have any. I quit smoking.”

“Who the fuck are you?!” Gavin cried.

He shrugged. “Foxx didn’t like the smell, and it wasn’t like I was addicted, or even enjoyed it. I just used it to distract myself from the thirst.”

“Yep, I'm pretty sure you stopped after I caught you smoking in our apartment in the days that followed you getting stabbed during that cult case,” Foxx added .

Harlow chuckled. “I forgot about that. If I’m not wrong, you threatened to set my Jeep on fire if I ever did it again.”

The vampire beamed. “That I did!”

“Stop flirting! Both of you, get out and go kill that bastard, so we can get the fuck out of here!” Gavin snapped.

Harlow rolled his eyes and unbuckled his seat belt, as Foxx did the same.

Jumping out, he eyed the house behind the tall gate, just barely visible beyond the shrubs and bushes. With red brick siding and a gray roof, the large colonial-style mansion was three floors, and had a small covered front porch with steps leading up to it. Above that porch was a balcony.

“Man has money,” Foxx mused.

“Yep, it's a bit of a pity about the house.”

“Yep, anyway, let’s do this!”

Harlow smirked, following as Foxx leaped over the fence.

With Harlow by his side, Foxx quietly slipped up to the house. While the dhampir picked the lock of the side door they were at, he listened to the heartbeat inside, making sure Braxton didn’t draw near. And they knew it was him, Gavin had already confirmed it through the man’s own security system.

The human was moving around inside, but nowhere close to them, which worked out nicely.

Smiling as he heard the lock click, Foxx hurried in once Harlow had opened the door and waved him on.

They stealthily moved through the dark house, towards the beating heart, but as they reached what appeared to be the living room, Foxx stopped when Braxton began to talk.

On realizing the human was on the phone, and approaching the room he now stood at the entrance of from the other direction, he backtracked. Harlow moved with him, around the corner and out of sight, moments before the man entered the living room and flicked the lights on.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either!” Braxton chuckled. “But they sure as fuck did me a favor by taking themselves out.”

“ Wasn’t your ex taken by cancer? ” the mystery man on the other end of the call asked.

“Does it matter? By her own choice or not, the stupid cunt is dead either way. Have to say, I hadn’t in my wildest dreams imagined that her dumb nosy bitch of a sister would be taken out by her own job.”

Foxx clenched his jaw as his anger rose.

“ Served her right, helping those freaks .”

He heard what sounded like ice moving in a glass, the man swallowing whatever he’d taken a sip of before speaking again. “Can’t disagree. They may have been twins, but Faith’s only fault, beyond the cancer I suppose, was that she never learned to listen. Charity, now, she was just a self-righteous twat, sticking her nose into places she didn’t belong.

“You know, I wouldn’t have even fought her for that brat if she hadn’t tried to interfere in my life. Hell, I’d even have given Serenity to her once Faith had died. And we both know she was dying, with or without me.”

The man on the other side of the call scoffed. “ Based on the medical reports, she was dead long before she left you. What are you going to do about your daughter now? Do you still want custody ?”

Braxton chuckled. “I want to say no, but…”

“ But? ”

“Knowing how much it will piss Charity off, in whatever hell she now finds herself in, how can I?”

This fucking bastard…

Foxx just stood there, impatiently waiting for the man to hang up. Oh, he so wished this was an in-person conversation, because whoever the fuck Braxton was talking to…sounded as if he deserved a dirt nap too.

He met Harlow’s gaze, and the dhampir was not looking the least bit impressed by the conversation he was hearing .

“Finally!” he growled, not even hesitating as he stormed into the room the second the man hung up.

Braxton looked much like his photo, with brown hair and Hollywood good looks, except he wasn’t smiling now, and he didn’t look smug. He looked afraid.

“W-who are you?!” Braxton sputtered.

With his eyes wide, the human dropped his drink, the glass shattering on the hardwood floor as the man began fumbling with his phone, no doubt planning to call for help. But Foxx got there first, snatching it from his hand.

Humming as he smiled wickedly, Foxx stepped back when Braxton tried to grab for it, while leisurely checking his recent calls. “Oh, Harlow, look at this.” He handed the phone to Harlow.

The dhampir tsked. “Judge Matheus Ramey. What do you want to bet it’s the same judge in charge of Charity’s case?”

“I’d take that bet.”

“What d-do you want?” Braxton blurted. “Money?! Drugs?! Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

Foxx’s gaze flicked to the scumbag. “It’s so funny to me, Harlow.”

“What is, Foxx?”

“How abusers never hesitate to hit those weaker, but crumble so easily when faced with anyone potentially stronger.”

“I-if you’re here because of Charity, there’s no point!” the man hurriedly said, before gasping, “She’s dead!”

“I’m here because she’s dead.” Foxx smiled, flashing one of his fangs, before taking a step towards the human.

“WAIT!” Braxton held his hands out. “W-whatever she told you, I-I didn’t do it! S-she was lying! Faith, Charity, both of them were liars!”

“Did I say you could say her name?”

“She—” The human’s words cut off on a grunt as his fist connected with the man’s stomach, Braxton dropping to his knees in pain.

Crouching down slowly, Foxx leaned toward the human, until he was only an inch from his face. “You are not even worthy of saying a single fucking syllable of it. ”

Braxton coughed before croaking, “I-I won’t again, I pr-promise.”

“That’s good. Now, with great joy, let me tell you what is about to happen. Harlow here, and I, are going to kill you.”

“Oh, God, no!!” the man cried.

“Aha, yes, call to that fucker if you want, but he won’t help you. Honestly though, you are a bit pathetic, aren’t you? Freaking out already when I haven’t even shared the best part.” He briefly glanced back to Harlow. “You want to tell him, Old Man, or should I?”

The dhampir chuckled. “Tell away, Brat.”

“The best part is that it’s going to hurt ,” he growled the last word before giggling cutely. “And I mean, really hurt. By the time we are done, you will be screaming for death.”

The human latched on to his jumper, crying, “Please, oh God, please, I’ll fix it. I’ll do whatever you want. Y-you want the girl, right?! My daughter? S-she’s all yours!”

“Harlow…it’s touching me.”

Without further prompting, the dhampir moved. Within seconds, Braxton was screaming as he held onto his right forearm, which was now bending the wrong way.

“Ohh, nice restraint, Harlow.”

The man grunted. “Thank you.”

He stood. “Now, let’s have some fun!”