10. Not Worth It

F oxx's shoulders sagged at the sound of the door closing.

"What was that, Foxx?" Harlow drawled.

He slowly looked at Harlow, the man's tone was clearly suspicious. "Nothing… We…just…can't risk him knowing…"

The dhampir's brow pinched. "Foxx, he's your… Not that I… Well, I don't feel anything in particular about Alastair whatsoever, but like, he is your friend. Couldn't you have told him?"

"That's just it. It's because he is my friend that he can't know. And let's be real, he's never liked you." Foxx frowned, his gaze flicking to the hallway. "I'll have to change the locks for now."

When he glanced back, he flinched at finding Harlow's gaze narrowed on him. "What?"

"What aren't you telling me?" the man said blankly.

"W-what?" he rasped, hands clenching together nervously.

"You were terrified that I'd say something. And you clearly think Alastair would tell the council. The question is: why do you think that? Because as much as Alastair hates me, I seriously doubt you'd remain friends with someone who'd betray you that way for no reason. So, what is it? What haven't you told me?"

Foxx swallowed thickly as he slowly pulled out a chair and sat down. "I…"

"Foxx," Harlow growled in warning.

He sighed. "The truth is…the council didn't leave that couple…or the people that helped them…alone by choice. They left them alone because they had too many connections to risk offending."

"Fucking hell, Foxx," Harlow cursed, rubbing at his eyes. "How much danger are you putting yourself in by doing this?"

He winced… There was no way he could get out of saying it, was there? It wasn't like Harlow would let him brush the question off… Fuck a duck!

"Death…" Foxx sighed. "I'm risking death."

The dhampir let out a string of curses. The man's hands clenched into fists, shaking likely from anger. Harlow honestly looked like he was about to scream at him…but then he dropped his hands back to his side, completely relaxed. As Harlow's gaze turned piercing, the man snapped, "Don't!"

"Don't, what?"

"Don't do this! I'm…" Harlow slapped his own chest. "I'm not worth it!"

Foxx's face scrunched. Tears forming in his eyes, his bottom lip began to tremble as he held back his emotions. "Don't… Don't say that. I…" He whimpered and let out a stuttered breath, a tear slipping free, despite trying to hold them back. "I just… I just thought I lost you. I can't… Please! I won't let them take you from me. I can't!"

Harlow shook his head, his face grim. "Me living is not worth you dying. I will never be fucking worth your life," the man ground out.

Foxx's hands were the ones shaking now, but not from anger, from despair. Tears falling faster, he couldn't seem to find the right words to say.

"Did you hear me, Foxx?!" Harlow snarled.

"No…" Foxx whimpered.

The dhampir was suddenly right by his side, leaning over him, fangs bared. Gasping, he turned towards him on the chair, staring up.

"Listen, and listen good, brat," Harlow growled. "You will not die for me! I will turn my own ass in before letting that happen, do you hear me?! My life is NOT worth yours!"

A sob slipped out. "Please… I…I'm not… I'm not going to die. I promise. I'm not!"

Harlow's expression blanked as he stared him down, though his body remained tense. "I don't believe you. There was a reason you didn't tell me this in the first place."

"Bloody hell, Harlow! I'm not letting you die!" Foxx cried while latching onto the man's shirt. "And you are not turning yourself in to anyone! I'm not going to die! I'm not! I'm not just some random vampire! I mean, I am, b-but I have connections! They aren't well known, but I have them! I'll be fine. It'll be complicated, but I'll be fine in the end! I'll be fine. I'm not lying." He sobbed harder. "I-I didn't t-tell you at first b-because I knew you wo-wouldn't want me to do it then. But I'm not lying now! I do have connections that will protect me, I pr-promise!"

Foxx wasn't lying… He wasn't. Yes, he should have told Harlow the truth from the beginning, but…it was just so…complicated.

Harlow slowly covered one of his hands with his. "Your connections being…Daydric?"

"Y-yes!" Foxx gasped.

"Then why haven't you told him what's happening? What's coming?"

He winced, gaze shifting away.

"Foxx," Harlow growled. Foxx winced, this time in pain as the man's grip on his hand tightened.

The dhampir must have noticed because Harlow released his hand and was a foot away only a split second later. Rubbing his face, he swore, "Fucking hell, sorry."

Foxx got up and rushed to hug the man. "It's…fine, you didn't mean to."

"Don't excuse it." Harlow sighed and wrapped his arms around him, his hold so light it felt like Harlow was treating him like spun glass.

"Harlow…" He took a stuttered breath, sniffling as he tried to push his tears back. "I-I can't tell Daydric yet…"

"Why?"

"Because wh-while I know he would protect me…I'm not sure if he will protect y-you." Foxx took another deep breath, sniffing again.

Harlow let out a sigh of what sounded like relief, before chuckling, the tenson just seeming to melt away from the man while his arms came more fully around Foxx. "So, it's not that you are worried his protection won't be enough… Or that he won't protect you. You are worried that his solution to the problem would be to kill me."

Foxx nodded. "Y-yes… But if you are already registered when I tell him…then there would be no point in killing you because…" His breath stuttered again, and he forced himself to take a few deep breaths before continuing. "At that point, killing you won't stop the council from trying to come for me."

"Fine, Foxx. We will do it your way, for now." Harlow pulled back, wiped the tears from his cheeks, and pressed a kiss to his forehead before letting him go.

Foxx sniffled, his nose wrinkling at the ‘for now' part.

Taking his seat at the island again, Harlow watched Foxx as he slowly returned to pulling things out of the cupboards, this time without slamming anything. He grimaced at the redness of the vampire's nose, the man randomly stopping to wipe at his eyes.

Fucking hell, Harlow would prefer this didn't all end with him dead, but he hadn't lied. He would die before letting Foxx sacrifice himself for him. Harlow had always assumed his days were numbered when ‘human', so giving up his life now that he potentially had eternity didn't faze him. What did was…the knowledge that Foxx would likely cry over him… He already fucking was…

Eyeing the growing pile of ingredients and baking shit on the counter, he asked, "So, what are you making?"

Foxx looked at him with a sniffle, clearly pouting. "Cookies. I'm upset and stressed, so I'm making cookies." The man sniffled again, his pout deepening as he whined, "But I think I'm out of chocolate chips!"

Harlow chuckled. "Are you?"

"Yeah…" The vampire's shoulders sagged.

Foxx was kind of cute this way too, he supposed. "Why don't we have some delivered to the guard desk?" Harlow suggested.

"Should we?" Foxx brightened up a bit. "There are probably some other things we need… Oh, maybe we can have Charity get it for us, so we can avoid even having to walk down?"

"Sure, why not?" He smirked. "Charity did say to call if we needed something."

The woman would likely be overly, and annoyingly, thrilled that they'd called her.

"Okay!" Foxx giggled, before suddenly crying, "WAIT! I'm supposed to be yelling at you about the cameras!"

Harlow grimaced. Dammit…he'd been so close to pushing those damn cameras from Foxx's mind! "Why yell when you can snuggle with me while waiting for your cookie supplies to come?"

"COOKIES WON'T COVER UP YOU INSTALLING THIRTY-FIVE BLOODY FUCKING CAMERAS, OLD MAN!"

He winced as Foxx bellowed, and then stupidly corrected him. "Well, technically, it's thirty-eight."

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER!?!"

"No…I suppose it doesn't." Harlow cleared his throat, trying to think about how to divert Foxx once again. "AH! You know, we probably should get Micah out of my trunk."

"HE WILL LIVE!"

"But, I mean… Question… Why did we not just kill Micah, again?"

"Because—" Foxx cut off, the vampire's eyes going wide. "FUCK! You're right, we need to get him out now."

"What?" Harlow blinked, baffled that it had worked.

"Your cabin. We need to go to your cabin."

"Why…?"

"Because we don't know if any of his people got away!"

Harlow's eyes widened at the implication. "That would be bad, I imagine."

"It would be a fucking nightmare! Even if they are too young and ignorant to know what you are, they would know something was wrong. We can't risk them talking to anyone."

He grimaced. "But why go to my cabin?"

Foxx rolled his eyes. "Where else are we going to torture him?"

Harlow sighed. "Fine…fine."

"Well, congrats, Harlow, you must be so proud of yourself for successfully distracting me from the cameras, you ass." Foxx huffed. "I just wanted to make cookies and rant."

The vampire glared.

He gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry?"

"You will be, once you are locked in a car with me with nowhere to go," Foxx chimed viciously, before snapping at him. "Now, don't move! I need to go and change into something that DOESN'T show my neck. We're just lucky that Alastair didn't notice!" Hmphing, Foxx stormed off.

"Should…have just let him make cookies and rant…" Harlow groaned aloud when the man disappeared upstairs.

Alastair bit his thumbnail, staring blankly as his mind spun around and around. Something…was going on with Foxx. Obviously, something was wrong. But what?! He had been afraid of something… Of what?! Of him?!

No…that wouldn't make sense. Why would Foxx be afraid of him?

It was more likely that he'd been afraid of him knowing Harlow had been changed… It wasn't a trust thing, it couldn't be…

It had to be about that human… Alastair rolled his eyes. Well, he wasn't human any longer now, was he?

But when had Foxx changed him?! Just yesterday he'd been going on about how ‘sweet' the man was… What had happened between then and today?

He glanced down on hearing a yip. The small Pomeranian puppy bumped its furry white head into his arm. Grimacing, he slowly pulled the literal ball of fluff onto his lap, and brushed his fingers through its soft fur. "You're…going to break my heart…just like the rest…" he said softly.

Damn Foxx for texting Daydric.

He gasped. Daydric! He'd call Daydric! The man would get to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on…and then…

Alastair sagged. And then…Foxx would be fucking mad at him for likely a century or more. He groaned and slowly flopped onto the couch, ignoring the puppy as it wiggled in his hold and started licking at his hands.

"What is going on…Foxx?"