“I’m not screaming!” He was though. He knew he was, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I won’t let you keep her from me! I need to protect her! I promised! I PROMISED!” he screamed. He gasped as a tear slipped out, and then another, until he was sobbing. His whole body was shaking with the anguished cries he let out. He wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe.
* * *
“Fuck…”Harlow rasped. He pulled Foxx into his arms by his waist as he began to break apart, careful to avoid touching his back. The vampire fought his hold, but eventually, he just sagged in his arms. “Foxx…I don’t know what you need from me right now…but you have to stop. I know you think you want to take care of her… but you know you can’t. You know deep down you don’t even want to. You don’t like kids, remember?”
“But I promised her,” Foxx sobbed. “I promised I’d protect her.”
“And you did. You did protect her. She’s safe now, Foxx.”
“No, she’s not,” he cried. “They are out there still.”
“They aren’t. We got them, Foxx. We got them.”
“There will be more…there’s always more. They will find us…” Foxx went quiet then, just pressing his face to Harlow’s chest as he bawled his eyes out.
Harlow rested his hand on the back of Foxx’s head, holding him as much as he could without aggravating his burns. The vampire may be the one shaking apart, but Harlow somehow felt like he was the one breaking. Lost…he felt incredibly lost. Frankly, his emotions had blown past out of sorts territory and were fully flying the fucked up mess flag.
Harlow felt so much, yet…the only thing he recognized was the rage. And there was a mountain of it inside him with no direction, no set target, and no way to let it out. Because he didn’t know if it was aimed at the priests, himself, or at Foxx, for making him feel so much in the first place. Fuck, did he want to stab someone…
Harlow followed behind the sad bear as he trotted out of the elevator, onto the floor their apartment was on. Foxx had been mopey for all of his five day stay in the hospital, and the fact that he was now home didn’t seem to be cheering him up. Though…it was possible that his current glumness was because it was Christmas Eve, and the nurses had the audacity to wish him a Merry Christmas as they fucking left…
Nah—he’d been like this beforehand. And Harlow was at a loss. He wasn’t sure what to do to fix his sunshine partner. Not knowing what to do really made him want to stab something, or someone. There was nothing here to stab, so… Even more frustration.
Harlow hurried ahead and unlocked and opened the door. “Home,” he said.
Foxx looked up, a pout on his face. “Will…all the priests be going away?”
Harlow sighed, ushering the vampire inside, before asking, “Do we have to talk about that now?”
“Yes.”
He rolled his eyes and shut the door. Dropping their bags on the floor in the hall, he pulled Foxx towards the coat closet and started to peel off his layers. “Let’s get settled in first, and then we can talk.”
The vampire looked very puffy with how much he currently had on. Apparently, a side effect of his damaged threads was that he was even colder than normal, on top of being extremely low on energy and weak. At least the vampire’s burns were healing nicely. The ones on his back, neck, hands, and feet no longer hurt, even if Foxx’s skin was still slightly discolored. As for the cross burns, a few remained a little tender, but otherwise they were healing fine. They were, however, very noticeable, and would be for a while, which is probably why Foxx kept the one on his cheek covered with gauze, even when he didn’t need to.
Foxx pouted up at him. “I’m cold.”
“We can turn the heat up. You can barely move in all you have on right now,” he drawled as he began to unwrap Foxx’s scarf.
The vampire glared for a moment, then just a split second later, he was biting Harlow’s arm. Foxx’s fangs hadn’t pierced his skin, but he could feel them.
Harlow stared blankly, not reacting. “You are such a cat.”
“I AM NOT A CAT!”
A chuckle slipped past Harlow’s lips at the first sign of fire returning in the vampire. “That’s what I’ve been looking for. None of this mopey emotional bullshit,” he said as he pulled the man’s scarf off the rest of the way.
Foxx sniffed. “I’m sorry I’m not emotionally stunted like someone!”
“I have emotions. I just use them sparingly.” Harlow shrugged and began to work Foxx’s gloves off. The vampire was wearing more than one pair.
“Use them more!”
“I don’t feel like it.” He tossed the last pair of gloves into the closet, and unzipped Foxx’s snowsuit, before helping him out of it.
“Annoying old man.”
“Irritating brat, lift your feet,” he commanded as he crouched down.
