Page 9

“ A lastair, go home,” Foxx repeated as he closed the front passenger door and handed the man his still sleeping puppy.

“But you need me!”

“I’ll be fine, I promise. Go home.”

He would be fine, or at least he would be once his hands were coated in the blood of the people responsible, instead of their victims.

Alastair grimaced as he looked around, before sighing and saying, “I’ll wait for you at home.”

“No. Go home, to your home. Or better yet, go back to Daydric’s where it’s safe. I’m not sure how long we will be, and…” Foxx hesitated to tell him the part he knew the man wouldn’t like, but decided there was no point hiding it. “We won’t be staying long once we get back.”

“What?! Foxx, you need to rest!”

“No, Alistair!” he growled, before managing to draw back his rage enough to repeat himself more calmly. “No, Alastair, what I need to do is kill the bloody bastards responsible for this.”

“Foxx, the man responsible for this is DANGEROUS! You need to stay far, far away from him. What happened today shows that. What’s been happening shows that! Don’t you see?!”

Harlow let out a low chuckle.

Alastair turned to the man with a hiss. “You dare to laugh!?”

The dhampir smirked. “Not at the situation. But I do find it funny that you think Foxx would ever be able to walk away after someone he cared about was killed. Do you think if something happened to you that he’d just walk away if it was too dangerous?”

His friend let out a frustrated growl, before spinning away with a whimper, though he didn’t move beyond that.

Foxx smiled, despite feeling very little joy at the moment, because he knew the man was just scared for him, and that was not something he could ever be mad about.

Slowly, he hugged Alastair from behind, the vampire flinching at the first touch of his hands. “Alastair,” he whispered. “I know you're worried, but I can’t walk away from this. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. He called us, Alastair. Moments before he set off the explosives, he called us. I pissed him off in my own bratty fashion, mouthing off just as I always do. And then he did it.”

“H-he…called you,” Alastair rasped softly, the man slowly turning in his hold until they faced each other. His friend’s eyes were filled with tears again, and he hated seeing the terror in them, as he knew it was his fault that it was there. But he couldn’t help it, or change things.

“There is no walking away from this. He knows about me. He knows about Harlow, and right now, he thinks he can blame what he did on us, for interfering with his grand plan. Well, I am going to show him how wrong he is. That his morality is nothing but a fucking joke to be mocked and spat on. And I am going to make him, and every bigoted, moralistic, pissant freak who follows him, suffer for every single bloody thing he did,” he swore. “Because I am me. I am Foxx bloody fucking Honeywell, and I am the wrong fucking bitch to mess with!”

Alastair chuckled sadly. “You are the wrong bitch to mess with.” The man caressed his face, before leaning down to kiss his cheek. “Mainly because you are insane.” Alastair straightened up. “Foxx, all I have to say is…you damn well better be the craziest fucking bloodthirsty bitch who ever stepped foot on this blasted twice-cursed continent, because if you die on me, I will make you regret it. We're talking zombie regret. Because if you think I’m breaking in a new best friend at my age, think again. And you know damn well that Daydric will do as I ask with enough prodding. ”

Foxx giggled. “I wouldn’t even dream of dying on you.”

His friend’s gaze seemed to trace his features. “Stay safe.”

“I will.”

“You!” Alastair hissed, pointing at the dhampir. “If anything happens to him, don’t even think about living!”

Harlow shrugged. “Pretty sure I wouldn’t be if he died.”

“How are you still so annoying, even when you agree with me?” the vampire grumbled, and the man continued to grumble to himself as he walked away with his still sleeping puppy. Foxx was slightly curious how loud Alastair usually got for it to sleep through all the noise, not that it mattered at the moment.

Foxx looked at Harlow, and the man smiled, holding out his equally blood-covered hand to him.

The dhampir was a bit of a mess, with black soot smudges to the right of his hawk-like nose, and streaks of blood in his silver and black trimmed beard and mustache. On the man’s clothes, there was even more of both, just as there was on Foxx’s brown bear onesie sunsuit. Though, what was on Harlow was less noticeable due to the man’s love of wearing all black.

Foxx stared blankly at the man’s hand, eyeing the dry blood. He should change… Most of what was on him would go away if he took his sunsuit off. They were about to enter a hospital, it would be better if both of them changed.

“We should…clean up,” he rasped tiredly. “We could be bringing infections to the humans we check on if we don’t.”

“You aren’t wrong.” Harlow tsked, slowly dropping his hand, but Foxx grabbed it, holding on tight.

The man squeezed his hand, his always somewhat smug smile returning. “Come on, I’ll grab a change of clothes, you can grab your extra pair of boots, toss off that bear sunsuit, and we can clean up in the bathroom.”

Foxx nodded.