Page 35

H arlow’s gaze flicked around as he followed the vampire and dragon deeper into Yellowstone National Park. The area they were in was dense with trees as far as the eye could see.

It was past midnight, and they’d taken a detour in Wyoming, at Foxx’s insistence. Mainly, as by the time they reach Burns Hollow, it would be both too late and too early for them to go after the next bunch of Maverick’s merry fucking cult members. Too late because they’d have to sleep, and too early because, by the time they woke up, it would be daylight again, and they had no plans to attack during the day.

So that’s why they were currently walking in a fucking forest. So far, along their off-trail path, Harlow hadn’t heard anything close to them beyond animals. Though he was pretty much trusting that the other two would notice anyone before him, as he was still new at this shit.

Regardless of people being nearby or not, what they were doing seemed like a bad fucking idea. Or rather, a stupid fucking idea.

It had been three days since Charity’s funeral. Well, he supposed it was four now, since it was past midnight on the 27th.

Either way, between then and now, they’d taken out another group, and somewhere between that, Foxx had gotten it into his head that it was time for Harlow to train.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Harlow asked with a sigh.

“Of course!” Foxx chimed without looking back. “You have to learn to control blood burn sometime. Besides, technically, this time was supposed to be used for your training, holidaying, and viewing followed by buying a plot of land. Just because the holiday and land viewing and buying are off the table, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to train.”

Ah right, he still needed to tell him. Harlow cleared his throat. “Umm…about that…”

Foxx paused and looked back. “About what?”

He stopped walking. “About the plot of land, specifically in Hollow Moor…”

“What plot of land?” Gavin asked.

Ignoring that the dragon had even spoken, he sheepishly admitted, “I bought it.”

“You what?!” the vampire hissed.

It was interesting how the man could look so threatening while wearing cuffed green corduroy pants with brown paw prints on his knees, matching green suspenders, brown boots, and a fuzzy brown sweater that only had the snout, eyes, and ears of a bear on the front.

“What land?” the dragon asked again.

Harlow held his hands up when Foxx took a step towards him, blurting out as fast as he possibly could, “Before you get really mad about me making the decision without you, I have pictures, and someone else put in an offer, so it was basically either I bought it right then and there, or we lost it as soon as the phoenix hung up the phone.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so afraid,” Gavin rasped unhelpfully, before huffing, “What land?”

With his gaze still narrowed, Foxx asked, “When did this happen?”

“Four days ago. I would have told you sooner, but it was Charity’s funeral, and while I am inept about feelings, I figured it wasn’t the right time to bring it up that day. And then we just got busy and it sort of slipped my mind.”

The vampire seemed to deflate at that, his anger just whooshing away. “I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to talk about our future while thinking about Charity’s lack of one,” Foxx said slowly, before grumbling, “But I expect to see all of those pictures when we get back to the car, Old Man!”

“Okay, will do.”

“What land?!” the dragon snapped. “And for what?!”

Foxx looked at Gavin and smiled. The dragon’s brow was pinched and he looked rather lost.

He was feeling a bit lost himself with the whole house thing moving so quickly, and seemingly without him.

To be honest, he wasn’t mad, Foxx was just mildly irritated that it had been done without any input from him. At the same time, he was certain that Harlow wouldn’t have bought it if he had any doubts about whether Foxx would like the area or not. Well, that or it was possibly the only fucking property that would fully let Harlow satisfy his paranoia. Foxx supposed he’d find out which soon enough.

“Well?” the dragon pressed.

“The land on which Harlow and I are going to build our house. That he has apparently already picked and bought.” He eyed the dhampir pointedly, who just smiled hesitantly and shrugged.

The dragon made a choking sound before sputtering, “W-wait! You two were serious about that?!”

Harlow snorted. “What else did you think we meant when we mentioned building a house and moving?”

“I don’t know!? I thought it was some inside…thing?” Gavin started eyeing him oddly, before suddenly blurting out, “Holy fuck, you are like a beast tamer! Like seriously, you domesticated him!”

Foxx stared, his mouth trembling as he had an internal debate on whether he should defend his boyfriend or…laugh.

“Fuck you, Gavin! When the hell wasn’t I domesticated?! I literally had a house before I met him, even if it did blow up!”

The dragon clucked his tongue. “Mm, no, you were more just house-broken than domesticated.”

The comment was one too many for him, and he couldn’t have held back his laughter even if he wanted to, and he didn’t. The giggles burst free as he repeated, “‘House-broken.’”

“Foxx!” Harlow growled, before the man sent a death glare the dragon’s way. “Gavin, I should kill you.”

“Ahh, but you can’t.” Gavin chuckled. “Dragons are notoriously hard to kill, even if you are a dhampir.”

“Yes, but I would have fun trying,” the man ground out.

With his giggles subsiding, Foxx cleared his throat and teased, “Come on, my house-broken Old Man, it's time to train!”

They should be deep enough in the woods for what they wanted to do.

He just smiled in the face of Harlow’s death glare. The man continued to stare for a moment, before huffing, “And how exactly are we even going to do that?”

“Well, first we need to figure out what makes you enter blood burn.”

Foxx sort of already knew, but it was good to test shit out.

Harlow snorted. “Do you have a plan on how to reverse that once it happens?”

“That will be my job!” Gavin chimed in.

“And you are going to do what exactly?” the dhampir asked suspiciously.

Foxx was also curious about what the man planned to do, but he was sure whatever it was would work…maybe.

With his hands on his hips, the dragon proudly stated, “That’s for me to know and you to find out!”

He snickered as Harlow started to sputter. “How the hell do you know it will even work then?! Foxx!”

“Yes, Old Man?” he asked sweetly.

“What exactly are you going to do if whatever he does doesn’t work?!”

“Daydric.”

“Oh, I see you plan to kill me then, is that it?”

“No!” he huffed, glaring. “He won’t kill you, he will just make you go back to normal.”

Harlow stared blankly. “He literally, point-blank said he would kill me. ”

“He did say that, but he won’t.”

“I still find it cool that you are friends with the first vampire,” Gavin piped up. “I'm kind of hoping what I have planned doesn’t work, just so I can meet him.”

“You better not give up mid-plan just so I have to call him,” Foxx said sharply.

Harlow chuckled. “You are just planning to call his bluff, not knowing if it’s a bluff or not.”

No, Foxx knew very well that it had not been a bluff, it was just… “He won’t kill you and make me upset when I already lost someone recently!”

The dhampir snorted. “So you will be manipulating him with Charity’s death to make sure he doesn’t kill me.”

“Well,” he huffed, before saying with a pout, “She wouldn’t mind! Charity wouldn’t want you dead!”

And it wasn’t manipulation! He was sad. And Harlow dying sure as hell wouldn’t make him any happier!

“Wait…I just had a thought.” Harlow’s brow pulled. “Why didn’t you call him when you were captured by those priests?”

Foxx blinked. “Daydric?”

“Yes… He can do that poofing thing—” The man abruptly cut off, before blurting out, “Not saying you were wrong for not calling him for help, or that it would have changed anything.”

He smiled on seeing the clear and very awkward worried expression on Harlow’s face. “I couldn’t have.”

“You couldn’t?”

“No. Him and his siblings aren’t omniscient. They have blind spots. And while that God and his words and religious paraphernalia won’t harm them, the shit does affect their ability to hear those calling out.

“I will admit it never crossed my mind to call out to him. But the fact is, there was never a single moment, from the start of them attacking me up until you found me, that he would have been able to hear me if I had called.

“It was already too late once I found myself surrounded by priests with their crosses out. That would be enough to block me, but add in their constant praying, and there wouldn’t have been a chance in hell. And then the rest of the time I was on consecrated ground.”

“Every time I learn more about that power of his, it becomes less impressive.” Harlow sighed, sounding put out. “Whatever, that is definitely a good limit to be aware of.”

Foxx giggled. “Yeah.”

“Right, the first vampire’s limitations aside, how are we going to trigger Harlow to change?” Gavin asked.

“That’s easy, come here,” he said with an innocent smile.

Gavin stared. “Why? What are you going to do? We didn’t really discuss this part.”

“We didn’t discuss any parts. I just told you I wanted him to practice his blood burn ability, and you said yes, and that you’d handle making him turn back. And then we had a long conversation about Daydric after I told you our emergency plan.”

“So there is no plan.” Harlow laughed. “We are just winging it. Seems safe,” the man deadpanned.

“Just come here, Gavin.” He crooked his finger at the dragon.

Gavin stared some more, his expression pinching. “I don’t know if I trust you.”

Foxx gasped in fake outrage. “When have I ever done anything untrustworthy towards you?!”

“I don’t like how you phrased that.”

“Just come here!” he hissed, before starting to stomp over to the dragon.

“I feel like you should run. Whatever he plans to do, he thinks will trigger me, and it likely will,” Harlow said with a smug smile.

Fucker wouldn’t be smiling soon, that was for sure.

With him only one step away, Gavin bolted.

“Get back here!” Foxx demanded as he gave chase.

Either the dragon wasn’t taking this seriously, or he underestimated his speed, as Foxx caught him quite quickly. With a lunge, he tackled the man down, catching him around the waist. When the dragon flipped over, Foxx crawled into his lap and without hesitating, he kissed Gavin on the cheek as the man’s mouth opened, no doubt to complain .

The dragon blinked, his words struggling to come out, before he snapped, “That’s it!? That’s your plan?!”

Harlow let out an enraged roar.

“Really?! THAT was enough?!” Gavin shouted. “What the fuck did you do to him?!”

“Does it matter?! It worked, didn’t it?!”

They broke apart screaming, Foxx scrambling back as Gavin got to his feet, just as Harlow pounced, the dhampir landing right where they’d been. The now blue-eyed Harlow didn’t hesitate, going straight for Gavin.

The dragon ran for it. “WHY IS HE GOING AFTER ME?! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DID IT!?” The dragon was surprisingly able to match the man’s enhanced speed.

Foxx followed behind them, running as fast as he could, and even then a distance was forming between him and the other two. “Well, I’m his! I'm pretty sure the most he’d do is fuck me or drain me, one of the two! He will kill you, though, so keep running!”

Gavin yelped as he just barely avoided getting grabbed by Harlow. As he was looking back when he’d changed directions, the dragon plowed right into a tree. There was a loud crack as he collided with the trunk, the tree splintering and toppling in quick succession.

Not hesitating, or seeming hurt at all, Gavin ran up the still falling trunk and leaped. Shifting mid-air, the man took flight, becoming a dragon that was equal in size to the one that had carried them out of the building last week.

Foxx slowed to a stop, his eyes following the fleeing reptile, before his gaze slowly dropped to Harlow, who was now also at a standstill. He gave the dhampir a hesitant smile when the man turned towards him, his eyes narrowed. That smile of his became more forced as those glowing eyes continued to stare at him, unchanging. He wasn’t sure if the lack of reaction meant the man didn’t recognize him, or…something else.

“Ah, shit…”