Cursing, Foxx started towards her, but a strong arm around his waist stopped him. The hold seeming unbreakable. “Let me go!” he hissed at Harlow.
“Foxx… It’s not…” The dhampir grimaced, his gaze flicking from him to the young vampire and back.
“Please… She’s…she’s…” he trailed off, swallowing hard. He found he couldn’t say it out loud. Speaking the truth now would be cruel. In moments like this…lies were kinder.
“Fuck…” Harlow huffed, but slowly, he let him go.
Foxx rushed to her side. He gently turned her over, before he pulled her into his lap, as she continued to sob. Grabbing hold of one of her hands, he gently ran his other through her hair. “I’m here. I’m not going to leave you.”
With a pert nose, pink lips, and blue eyes, she was…really cute, and kind of innocent looking, if one could overlook the blood she was covered in. The lower half of her face was smeared with it, and even her short blonde pixie curls were splattered.
Her blood-covered hand squeezed his. As more tears fell down her face, her body seized twice, before the woman finally managed to whimper a small, “Thank you.”
“I’m Foxx. What’s your name?”
“Evy,” she sobbed before letting out another scream, her hand clenching tightly on his. “Oh, Goddess, what’s…happening?!”
“Don’t think about it…” he said gently, brushing his hand over her curls. “Evy, do you remember what happened before this?”
“I…was…with a friend… A guy…I like…”
Harlow cursed behind him. Foxx realized the man must have recognized her from the file… Maybe…she was one of the few who they’d caught losing it on a security camera. They’d…have a timeline then. A timeline of how long it takes from the moment one loses their mind, before the poison, or whatever it was, would take its final toll.
“Did you happen…to take anything? Something you haven’t taken before?”
“No—AH” she screamed, her body violently convulsing.
A tear broke free, dripping down Foxx’s face as he watched a strand break away from the remaining center thread. “Hurts!” she cried. “It hurts so much!”
“I know, I know it does, Evy.” He pulled her closer, curling around her. “It’s okay, it’ll be okay soon.”
It wasn’t a lie… She’d be going home to the Goddess, and she’d no longer be in pain. It was all he could hope for her right now. Death…was all he could hope for. And as crushing as that realization was…the reality was that sometimes…hope in death was all that could be offered.
Foxx kept holding on to her as the convulsing continued, as her screaming continued…until the last strand broke off, her center thread going dark. Tears falling one after another, heslowly laid her flat on the ground and gently closed her eyes, not wanting to see the fear that was seemingly locked in her gaze in death.
Harlow eyed Foxx as he stood up, his expression blank while wiping tears off his cheeks. The empty expression didn’t last though, with fury taking its place swiftly, even as more tears dripped down. “Someone did that to her…” Foxx rasped, his gaze meeting Harlow’s.
“Yes,” Harlow said slowly, his head tilting.
“They will…pay!” the vampire snarled. “I will make them pay. Every single person who was involved, I will make sure each and every moment until their well-deserved death is nothing but agony.”
That was his vampire, moving from sad to murderous in seconds.
“I have no doubt you will, Foxx.” He smirked, before adding, “And I’ll help.”
“You better!” Foxx hissed, glaring at him, but then his gaze flicked down to the dead vampire, his brow pinching.
“I recognize her,” Harlow drawled. “She was in the first video… That man she said she liked… Yeah, she killed him.”
The vampire winced. “Well…hopefully, they are together now.”
“Come on, let’s report in and head back. All that is left here is…” Harlow glanced down at the woman before saying, “Clean up.”
“Pick her up.”
Harlow blinked, his gaze snapping to Foxx. “What? Why?”
“I want to get a sample of her blood… I have a small blood testing kit somewhere in my duffle, just in case I ever need to test my supply for spoiling…” Foxx wrinkled his freckled nose. “It’ll just be a small test tube. Would have been convenient if I had thought to buy a second blood drawing kit for the car, but oh well…”
