Page 4

W ith tears trailing down his face, Foxx clung to Harlow, barely holding himself up.

Breathe…breathe… I need to keep breathing . The words repeated in his head as he took one gasping breath after another. But as he drew in again, this time through his nose, his eyes widened on finally realizing what he didn’t smell.

“No one’s in there!” he cried.

Foxx sagged in Harlow’s hold while the man murmured, “Thank fuck.”

Tugging away from the dhampir, he drew air in deeply again, searching for Tony’s and Charity’s scent for the first time. He then took off to the right, down the hallway that would eventually take them to the old psychologist’s stupid office, while calling out, “Tony, Charity!”

“Foxx?!” He heard Tony’s muffled voice before he even reached the door of the room it had come from, a door that was very blocked by shit.

“Tony! Charity!” he called out, this time with relief.

“Foxx, thank fuck! Something is blocking the damn door. I can’t get it open,” Tony rasped, before coughing.

That something was a whole lot of metal… When he started to move things out of the way, unlike the time before, he actually looked at what he was moving. Bizarrely, most of it didn’t appear as if it had broken apart from something else. It was as if nothing had been attached to anything at all.

In fact, the more he examined things, the more he was sure that none of it had actually been part of the ceiling or internal structure, but rather had been planted with the bombs to cause more destruction.

“I’m here too, you asshole! You made Foxx cry, I should kick your ass for that,” Harlow grumbled as he helped to move the shit.

Foxx giggled, and was about to say something sassy back, when his words caught in his throat on realizing something was very, very wrong. There were two heartbeats inside, and he could smell both Charity and Tony. But while one heart was beating steady and strong, the other was…weak, and worsening every second… And the smell… There was too much blood…

“Charity…”

“What…” Harlow’s gaze was instantly on him, the man grimacing at whatever was on his face.

“Listen,” Foxx whispered, not daring to say it louder and be heard by the two people inside.

Harlow must have heard what he had, as the man growled, “Fuck,” and started to move things faster.

Foxx didn’t say anything more, neither of them did. Even with how new he was, Harlow would understand what he was hearing…and Foxx was sure the two humans inside knew already too…

Charity was… She was…

Foxx shoved the thought aside as he tossed the last pipe out of the way and tugged the door open. He didn’t stop to look around the room too much, even if it was hard to ignore the chaos inside.

Files were littered everywhere, cabinets and other furniture had been overturned, and some were burnt up. The first person he saw was Tony. The human was sitting to the right, near what looked to be the cement wall that had once stood between that room and the next, it having toppled with the collapse of the room next door.

His expression was set into a grim line, his strong jaw clenched, and there was blood in the man’s buzz cut white hair and some streaked across his cheek, marring his deep-brown skin. Tony’s left leg was bent, while his right was stretched out and bare. The missing trouser leg made it easy to see the broken bone that was currently sticking out of his calf. While blood streaked down the man’s leg, it didn’t look to be excessive, and had likely been stopped by the trouser leg that was currently wrapped tightly around his right thigh.

Soot and blood were splattered on his white polo shirt, but what was left of his beige trousers were truly soaked in it. Some was his own, but the rest… The rest had to be Charity’s.

Blonde curls streaked with blood and soot, Charity’s eyes were closed. The woman was hidden from the chest down, underneath the heavy cement wall that was currently pinning her to the floor, along with whatever else had been on it.

Leaping over a downed filing cabinet, Foxx almost slipped on the papers when he landed, but caught himself. Uncaring if he fell or not, he maneuvered his way through the rest of the mess, getting to the two humans’ side as quickly as he could.

“Charity!” Foxx cried out as he dropped to his knees beside her, uncaring when her blood began to soak into his sunsuit.

Charity’s eyelids fluttered open. Baby-blue eyes sparkling slightly when she spotted him, her heart-shaped lips spread into a smile that had his heart clenching when he saw her blood-stained teeth. “Hello, Sunshine.”

Tears filled his eyes at the nickname. How could she smile? She had to be in pain…yet…

“What happened?” Harlow asked on reaching them.

His boyfriend’s question barely registered. Foxx whimpered the moment his gaze flicked into his bloodline powers and he saw just how many of her threads had gone dark, how many faded and broke right before his very eyes.

Tony let out a sad laugh. “This fool pushed my old ass out of the way right as the wall was collapsing.”

“Of course she did,” the dhampir said with an irritated growl.

Foxx stared at her, hesitating. He gently caressed her bloodied blonde curls, before cleaning away a bit of the soot from her cheek. But Foxx wasn’t really seeing her, his eyes were locked on her dimming threads.

He could save her, right? It wasn’t too late. It wasn’t. There was still light inside her. So…he could, couldn’t he? Foxx had never done it before. But then, he’d rarely been with someone at the end to even do so. He had always distanced himself before that, never wa nting to be there to witness it. So how could Foxx have even thought about offering them more when he’d never let himself be there? But Foxx was there now. He could help her. He could!

“So glum,” Charity said with a pained laugh. “It’s okay, Foxx.” She swallowed. “Nothing to reveal… I know, Sunshine. I know there is no coming back from this. Hell, I can barely feel anything at all anymore. But when I could… I knew already. There's too much damage.”

Charity started to cough, the sound was wet, and by the time the fit stopped, blood coated her dimpled chin, and continued to drizzle from her lips.

“You hear it, right? My heart, it’s barely beating.”

The tears that had pooled in his eyes started to trail down his face as he pulled back from the powers of his Bloodline of Fates.

“Oh, Sunshine… Don’t cry. It’s okay.” She gasped, breathily.

He stared at her smiling face, his heart beating fast, and he found himself blurting out, “Let me change you!”

Charity’s eyes widened slightly at that, but she didn’t answer.

“Ah—I—let me change you!” Foxx begged. “Th-there may be too much damage, but if it takes, you’ll live!”

“Foxx…” Tony started to say but, for some reason, the man trailed off.

Regardless, he didn’t bother to find out why, as his gaze was locked on Charity.

“Please, Charity, let me change you.”

When still she remained silent, a sob forced its way out as he pleaded with her. “Pl-please, Charity.”

Foxx wanted to say more. He wanted to scream and promise everything he could, just for her to say yes, but he held back, waiting for an answer again. The silence dragged on as the seconds ticked by, before finally Charity spoke.

“If…if it was even possible… I’m…not sure…what I’d have left if I changed.”

“Y-you’ll have a life… Everything! A future!”

Her gaze got this far off look for a moment, and her eyes were sad as she admitted, “My fiancée… She never liked this job. I…I-I tried to ignore it, pushed it off as her just hating the possible dangers, but I…” Charity swallowed hard, tears filling her eyes now. “I knew it wasn’t that.”

“You’re gay?” Harlow asked.

“That’s what you’re focused on?” Foxx hissed, glaring back at the dhampir.

“What?! I just…” Harlow trailed off under his glare.

He looked back to Charity as Tony began to speak.

“Charity, take it from this tired old man, if she hates what you do, and won’t love you as another species, then she isn’t worth a damn.”

“He’s right!” Foxx gasped.

Charity’s bottom lip wobbled as she whimpered. “I know. I know that, but being alone is just so…scary. And if she’s gone then…”

“You won’t be alone.” Foxx started wiping her tears away. “Charity, I promise, you will never be alone again, because I’ll be there.”

Charity stared, clearly hesitating, while the smell of death in the room grew.

“Please,” he begged. “Please, Charity.”

She stared up at him, smiling again, but it was clearly sad. “I don’t know…if it would be kind to let you.”

“P-please,” he said with a stuttered breath. “Please, please, let me try. Please.”

Charity stared, silent once again, with time just ticking by, before she finally said, “Yes, change me, Foxx.”

Foxx didn’t hesitate. His fangs lengthening fully, he called forward a part of himself that he had never used. As the bitter taste of the venom flowed into his mouth, he lunged for Charity’s neck, biting down.

He took in as little blood as he could, as she had barely any to spare, while he injected the vampire virus inside her veins. As that was more what it was than a poison…an infection that would invade, destroy, and then remake her every cell.

Pulling back, Foxx fell into his bloodline powers, his vision changing once again. He grabbed her hand, holding it tightly while he watched and waited, ignoring Harlow when he came around and began checking Tony’s wound. And then, they were all waiting .

Foxx stared at her threads, willing any one of them to change to gold. But instead…the ones that still glowed white only grew dimmer. Tears trailed silently down his face, and his heart started to ache as another was lost. The ache worsened with each one that followed in the minutes that passed, Charity only growing weaker.

“Come on, Charity!” he rasped. “You can do this!” Foxx started to push his own energy into her, forcing threads to light back up. But with each one that came back…another went out.

“No…” he sobbed. “Come on, Charity. You’ve g-got this.”

She stared up at him wordlessly, her breathing becoming more labored.

“Charity, y-you asked before. A-about the house! Harlow wants to build a house with me! He asked me to m-move in with him! Y-you c-can help me decorate!”

“That’s…wonderful…Foxx,” she rasped, her voice barely there now.

Foxx shoved more energy into her, forcing the threads to hang on. “Come on, Charity, y-you have to live. I n-need help de-decorating. Y-you know H-Harlow will be no help!”

Foxx flinched when the dhampir crouched beside him and gripped his shoulder. “Foxx…let her go.”

“NO!” he shrieked! “It’s going to WORK!”

“I-It’s…okay…S-Sunshine.” Charity smiled, her expression so peaceful as her eyes slowly closed, and then like a light being switched off, all of her threads went…dark.

“CHARITY—AH!” Clutching tightly to her hand, Foxx tried again and again to push his own energy into her, to force even a single strand to light back up. “Charity, please! C-come back—ah! COME BACK!”

Hard sobs rocked through him with each failure. But he kept trying, even though every single time his energy uselessly tried to return to him. Foxx didn’t let it though. He just kept pushing it back, forcing more out, demanding it do what he told it to. But it didn’t listen. Nothing changed, not a single thing. The threads in front of him were as dark as they could ever be.

Foxx fought when Harlow started to pull him away and into his arms.

“No! No!” he cried, desperately trying to hold on as Charity’s hand began to slip through his.

“You need to stop!” Harlow growled. “Let go, Foxx!”

Foxx hissed angrily, trying to shove away from the man who dared to attempt to pry her away from him. But when he finally lost his grasp on Charity, what was left of his hope died instantly.

Letting out a wailing scream, Foxx clung to Harlow as his will to fight died as well, leaving him feeling nothing but despair as his traitorous energy rushed back inside him.