Harlow leaned his face away when the man lunged in his hold, the vampire’s face getting a bit too close to his.
“I am…but that’s not new.”
Alastair stood there for a brief second, his body tense with anger, before he sagged, tears cascading down his cheeks as the man, to Harlow’s ever-growing horror, began to sob.
“Why?! Why did it have to beyou?!” the vampire cried. “You are going to get him killed! Don’t you get that!? DON’T YOU CARE?!” Alastair bellowed.
“I do care!” Harlow snapped. “I made it clear that him dying for me is not an option. I’m not worth it. He promised me he would be fine.”
“HE LIED!”
Harlow had a feeling that rather than outright lying, Foxx just wasn’t sure if the words he’d said were the truth. “Was he lying when he told me that after I've registered on PEAR, Daydric would keep him safe from the council?”
Alastair hissed. “The fool! The bloody fool!”
He eyed the vampire, who while still tense, wasn’t struggling anymore. “If I let you go, will you attack me again? Because I honestly don’t like…touching you.” Harlow grimaced at his own words.
Yeah, he probably could have worded that better…or have just left that last bit off… Oh well… It was the truth.
Alastair’s face pinched, the man staring in bafflement for a moment before huffing, “I won’t…but let me just say, I'm feeling more than a little offended.”
Snorting, he let him go. The vampire stepped back and straightened the sleeves of his turtleneck, but not before Harlow caught a glimpse of his wrists. He had felt the texture, but seeing the jagged scars painted a different picture than what he’d imagined. Mostly as the scars were so familiar to him that he knew instantly what had put them there—a vampire.
It wasn’t a normal bite either. A vampire had viciously bit through flesh and tissue, tearing away as they chomped down. But the scar tissue looked old…and a mess, as if it had beengiven time to heal before the injury had been repeated…making him think that…maybe it had happened before Alastair had been changed. When he’d been human.
When the man covered where he’d been staring, his gaze flicked up to the vampire’s face. Alastair was glaring still, but he was also biting his bottom lip nervously now.
“Not my business,” he drawled. “Now…will Daydric protect him or not? Is Foxx wrong in assuming he will?”
The vampire took a deep breath in and out. “He will…but that’s not really the problem. The real question is: will he be able to do it fast enough. It’s not as if the council knows who the originals are currently favoring. They mostly try to stay away from them, to avoid pissing them off.”
Harlow’s face pinched as he tried to work out the logic in that. “How…in the fucking hell does that even make sense? Wouldn’t they want to know who was in with the originals, to avoid pissing them off by not accidentally killing someone that’s theirs?”
Alastair snorted. “You’d think that. But the council is full of people drowning in their own arrogance. In their mind, as long as they didn’t know, they could be forgiven.”
More stupidity than arrogance, he thought with an eye roll.
“How would I get ahold of Daydric if Foxx went missing?”
The man slowly smiled, the upturn of his mouth taking on a slightly sinister twist. “Are you sure you want to know? Daydric may kill you for being the one who put him in danger in the first place.”
“If I die, I die. As long as he saves Foxx once he’s done with me, I don’t really care.”
The vampire frowned. “You…really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Does nothing scare you?”
“Foxx dying does.”
Alastair’s eyes widened.
“It’s a new development for me. Him almost dying and getting kidnapped fucked with my brain in some bullshit way that all came down to him being mine.” Harlow shrugged. “I’m not normal, Alastair. Never have been. And I frankly don’t give a rat’s ass if you hate me or not. All that matters to me is Foxx. The vampire no doubt doesn’t plan on leaving my side for too long anytime in the near future, due to my current issues. He is only out now because of some stupid shit. I will do everything I can to keep him safe, but if something does happen, if they do take him and I can’t get him back, how would I contact Daydric?”
The man took a deep breath. “Just call his name with purpose.”
Harlow stared. “What…? Is he a fucking genie or something?”
