* * *
Harlow’s eyes snapped open.For a moment, he stared blankly out into the pitch-black room, eyes adjusting to the darkness as he tried to figure out what had woken him up. Then he heard it—a whimper. His gaze snapped down, and he found…no Foxx.
Harlow peeked under the covers, frowning when there was still no vampire. Where the fuck…
There was another whimper. It sounded like Foxx was right fucking there. So the vampire had to still be in the room. Tossing the mountain of covers back, Harlow slipped out of bed, wincing at the chilly air. He frowned as he stood there listening… It sounded like the vampire was…
Harlow crouched down, his knees popping as he did so, he peeked under the bed.
Low and behold…there was Foxx. The vampire was a trembling ball, right underneath where Harlow had been in bed. His eyes were closed, but tears were running down his face. Harlow was pretty sure the vampire was still asleep.
How the hell had Foxx ended up under there? Grimacing, Harlow laid down and scooted under the bed enough to grab Foxx. Gripping lightly onto his arm, he slowly dragged the vampire out from under the bed. Being dragged didn’t wake Foxx up, but the vampire did start to cry harder, while his full body trembling worsened.
Harlow grunted as he pushed himself off the floor. He was definitely getting too old to be crawling around. Scooping the vampire up, he got them back into bed and under the covers. As he settled Foxx onto his chest, the vampire’s cries turned into soft sobs.
Harlow awkwardly said, “Shh, Foxx, you are safe.” Slowly, he began to rock the man. ”Fuck, how do I feel even more useless when you cry this way? Why is this somehow worse…”
As he continued to rock Foxx, the vampire’s tears slowed until eventually they stopped all together—the trembles now minimal, and probably just due to being cold now.
Harlow sighed. Clutching him tightly, he threaded his hands through Foxx’s hair and closed his eyes, intending to sleep, when his phone started to ring on the end table.
Growling, he thought about ignoring it, but decided he wanted to swear at whoever it was. Stretching, he tried to not move Foxx too much as he snatched it up and flipped it open.
“Whoever the fuck this is, I will—”
“WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS FOXX?!” Alastair bellowed out. He held the phone slightly away from his ear when the vampire continued screaming. “Listen here, you wannabe biker fuck. If you don’t tell me right now where my best friend is, I will track your ass down, and regardless of my crappy fighting abilities, I will find a way to skewer you and skin you alive! So, tell me! What happened?!”
Harlow sighed. “Nice to hear from you, Alastair. How’s the weather in Australia?”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! Where is Foxx?! He hasn’t answered me in days! I’m about to board a flight, but when I get there, he better be in one piece, or else!”
Right…Foxx’s phone was broken. They hadn’t had time to get a new one yet. Harlow had attempted it, but ended up walking the fuck back out of the store, after getting irritated at the salesman for asking too many questions. Like, how the hell would he know how much data and storage the vampire would want on his phone?
He cleared his throat. “Well, there's no need to board a flight. Foxx is fine…ish.”
“ISH?! What do you mean by ish?! What did you and those other bastards at that dumbass Guild do to my baby?! He was just blown-up and impaled, what now?!”
Harlow sighed. “Check the news.”
Alastair grumbled a bit before going silent and then blurting out, “What in the ever loving fuck?”
“He’s fine…they didn’t hurt him too badly. Nothing that will leave a permanent scar.”
At least…not physically…
“THEY?! He’s the hunter mentioned on the news?!” Alastair screeched. “I’m going to neuter you!”
“I feel Foxx would miss them.”
“Shut up! Tell my baby I’m coming. Dumbass hunter. How the hell could you let this happen?! Like, how would you even know how badly they hurt him? Not everything is fucking physical, you fucking psycho. I’m coming home. Prepare to get your ass kicked.” The line went dead.
Harlow lowered his phone and stared at it. Well, that was a headache on the way. At least it would probably take him two days to get here… Maybe more with the storm. Placing his phone back on the nightstand, he snuggled down. Eyes closing, he held Foxx tight as he drifted to sleep.
48Broken
“Foxx!” Harlow cried out, as he burst into the warm underground chamber. He couldn’t see much past his face with the amount of steam filling the room. Blindly, Harlow walked forward, calling out Foxx’s name.
“Fuck!” Harlow cursed when he slipped and fell on his ass, landing in a warm puddle.
