17. Dead Bitch Walking

Harlow glanced up when the door opened. His brow raised at the fury etched across Foxx's face as the man stormed out, slamming the door as he did.

"What did he do?"

"You know, if you all are going to FORCE my kind to do this bullshit, you could at least get someone that doesn't wish us all dead!" Foxx snapped.

He frowned. Did Johansson hate vampires? Harlow…honestly hadn't paid enough attention to anything the man had said to answer that. "What did he do?" he repeated.

"Accused me of being overly antagonistic and violent towards the poor priests, whose actions can apparently be debated still.

"Let's see…oh, he also said that I should feel guilty about getting those other vampires killed, on top of possibly surviving. Not to mention that I should have let that eight-year-old die as she would have been better off that way."

"And I'm the psycho one here?" Harlow scoffed.

Okay, so he had considered tossing the kid out of the way when she'd blocked his path to Foxx, but like, he hadn't… That counted for something…

Furthermore, Harlow also hadn"t, in that moment, even considered killing her. So really, he was starting to think that the people around him weren't as sane as they claimed to be. Because his ass not even having the thought definitely counted for something over someone actually fucking suggesting an eight-year-old would be better off dead.

"Want me to kick his ass?"

Better to ask before just doing it.

Foxx…well, the vampire didn't need him to fight his battles for him. But he would. Hell, Harlow would burn shit down for the fun of it, Foxx didn't even need to ask. Which was why he was currently plotting to have various individuals assassinated. He really needed to call Gavin…

Foxx pursed his lips as if he was considering it, but then he shook his head and said, "No, the wanker would definitely press charges."

"Would have been fun." Harlow sighed. "Can I at least go in and make him piss himself?"

Foxx snorted. "I feel Tony would make you clean that up."

Harlow grimaced. The fucker so would. "Fine…" he grumbled.

"Sorry for ruining your fun." Foxx giggled. "Come on, we need to stop by Tony's office before we head out. Because, apparently, no one else thought it worth reporting to the man that the Guild psychologist hates vampires."

Harlow stood with a chuckle. "Talk about picking the wrong person to fuck with."

"Definitely not his smartest decision."

Harlow followed behind Foxx as he walked back to the main area, smirking when the little vampire opened Tony's door without knocking—ahh, he was learning. Harlow would have him being Tony's second biggest pain in the ass in no time!

Tony glanced up at them over his reading glasses. "If you are here about the protection issue, there are no updates." The man's gaze narrowed. "Don't you have an appointment to be at, Foxx?"

"Oh, I had the appointment, all right," Foxx drawled.

Harlow just managed to close the door before the rant started.

"Let me first say, how dare you even think about putting vulnerable members of my species in front of some dickhead who not only doesn't care whether they live or die, but actively is trying to give ‘advice' that will adversely affect their mental health. What did you do, go to a church and ask for a doctor, and then tell him to have at it?! Really, I'm struggling to get past the audacity you had on forcing me to talk to that gaslighting, homophobic, toxic cu?—"

The rant just kept going. And with each word, Foxx seemed to be getting more and more worked up, the vampire's accent getting thicker by the second.

By the time Foxx finished absolutely disparaging Johansson's existence, not to mention admonishing Tony in some very colorful ways, on top of calling out the man for hiring the bastard in the first place, the other man looked a mixture of angry and startled.

Probably more startled, if the wide eyes and slightly parted mouth were anything to go by. But the vein on his forehead was definitely bulging.

Honestly, Tony's expression was…hilarious. Harlow smirked smugly. Served the bastard right. About time someone other than him had to deal with being lectured by a pint-sized cutie-pie vampire.

His smirk only widened when the man's mouth pressed closed in a firm line on noticing his expression.

Sighing, Tony cleared his throat and said, "I didn't hire him."

Foxx started to wave his finger, looking to be about to fire something scathing back, but then the words must have registered as he frowned and asked, "You didn't?"

"No, headquarters did. But, thank you for giving me the pleasure of firing the bastard, I suppose." Tony sighed again and rubbed at his temple. "It'll be handled. I apologize, Foxx, that the person who was supposed to help you tried to do the opposite."

"Okay…" the vampire said slowly.

Harlow held back his laugh. Foxx seemed to have run out of steam upon hearing that Tony was so easily doing what he wanted.

The vampire was the one to clear his throat this time. "So, am I cleared for work now?"

"Yes, yes, but you can start back tomorrow, after you cool down. Don't want you murdering anyone you shouldn't."

Harlow snorted. "Like we'd tell you even if we did."

"Get out."

"Why leave when I'm enjoying myself?" he asked with a chuckle.

"GET OUT!" Tony growled as the man surged to his feet and pointed threateningly towards the door.

Harlow burst into laughter and ushered a protesting Foxx from Tony's office.

"Why am I getting yelled at?! I didn't even do anything wrong!" Foxx whined. The vampire jumped when the door slammed shut behind them.

Spinning, Foxx hissed, "If this is how it's going to be then I bloody well am going to do something to deserve being yelled at!"

Harlow snickered and dragged Foxx away, even as he started protesting again. "Come on, you can make trouble later."

Foxx huffed, but let Harlow keep dragging him through the room. He pushed the door to the front of the Guild open and came to a stop on finding Iggy blocking his way.

"Move," he demanded.

"Ah, Harlow, Foxx, so nice to see you two again. Come here often?" the other human said with a cheesy smile.

Was this asshole serious? "We fucking work here, you dumb fuck."

"Right, right. So, Foxx, you doing anything Friday?"

Harlow tensed. "What in the fuck are you doing?"

Iggy didn't acknowledge that he had said anything at all, the man just kept looking at Foxx, who was staring back, his face pinched.

"If you are free…how about you let me take you out on a date, hmm? There's this movie I've been dying to see."

"You are going to die if you keep this up, Ignatius," Harlow growled viciously, before shoving the fucker out of the way. Iggy stumbled back and almost fell on his ass. "Fuck off!" he swore, before tugging Foxx past the man and out of the Guild.

On reaching the car, he released his hold on Foxx's arm. Unlocking the doors, he yanked the driver's side open and got in.

"Can you believe that fucker?!" he snapped the second Foxx hopped in. "The man has always been dumb, but just what the actual fuck is wrong with him?! I had so many opportunities to shoot him before, why did I hold back?!"

Letting out an irritated huff, he started the car and pulled out.

How dare that bastard, Iggy, even…UGH! That smug smirk of his—he could tell it was a game to the man. The other human must have a death wish, trying to touch what was his!

His mind screeched halt… His?! Foxx…wasn't his.

No…he was. Foxx was his. At least, he was in terms of people who…he….

Harlow swallowed, frowning.

"He is…" Foxx hesitated, before saying, "odd."

Odd…? What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Odd, in a good way? Bad? Why the fuck did he care? Did he care? More importantly, why the fuck wasn't Foxx saying more?!

His gaze flicked to the vampire, but he immediately averting his eyes on finding the man staring at him with a peculiar look on his face. It kind of looked like Foxx had been trying to solve a puzzle of some kind. Harlow had a feeling the puzzle was him.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, pushing away all the weird fucking thoughts in his head as he tried to change the subject. "We could kill him?" His gaze flicked back over.

Foxx's brow rose at that. "Iggy?"

Oh, how he wanted to say yes. "No, Johansson."

Though, both those fuckers could get wrecked.

The vampire snorted. "He isn't worth it. Though, I suppose…" Foxx giggled evilly. "It would be fun. But let's bench that idea for if he fucks up more."

Harlow grunted in response. Why wait for them to fuck up more?

* * *

Foxx didhis best to be normal as they rode the lift to their floor. But on the inside, his mind was going around and around and a-fucking-round. The main question being, why had Harlow reacted that way to Iggy asking him out?

The same conclusion kept coming up, and each and every time it did, it was just as ridiculous as it had been the first time—jealousy. It was like Harlow was…

Nope, nope…he wasn't going there. It didn't matter what it looked like. It didn't matter what Harlow had said as he'd been torturing someone to find him. None of it mattered…because Foxx couldn't go there. He couldn't see more than what was plainly obvious. It was just too much risk for something that no doubt wasn't, and couldn't ever be, real.

"You…uh, going to open the door?" Harlow drawled slowly.

Foxx blinked, realizing he was in fact just standing and staring blankly at their apartment door—so much for pretending to be normal.

"I'm getting to it!" he huffed, before pressing his thumb to the scanner. Once the lock flashed green, he opened the door and walked in. Before he even made it out of the hall, he could tell someone else was there…and they were eating something.

"Alastair, nice of you to invite yourself in," he snorted as he walked into the living room.

The other vampire was lounging on one of his teal couches, a half-eaten pie in his lap and a fork shoved in his mouth.

Alastair pulled the fork free and said, "You should expect no less after giving me a key."

Harlow growled on seeing the other vampire, or rather, the pie sitting in the man's lap. "Change the damn locks," the human hissed, looking murderous now.

Ah… "You are eating his precious cherry pie, Alastair. You may have just put yourself in danger."

His friend scoffed. "He can stand to lose one pie. He has like more than twenty others to eat."

"You'd think that, but no. See, he can stand to lose the others because they aren't his favorite. Cherry, however, is," Foxx said with a laugh. Moving forward, he snagged the pie from Alastair's lap.

"Hey! I was going to finish that."

Foxx ignored him and held it out to Harlow. The human glared pointily at Alastair as he took it with a huff, grumbling again, "Change the damn locks."

Alastair rolled his eyes. "How was I supposed to know it was his favorite? Wait…no, I don't actually care that it is."

Harlow flipped the man off before stomping over and setting the pie on the counter. What followed was banging cabinets and more as the human angrily went about covering the pie up to save it for later.

"Asking for death." Foxx giggled before taking a seat next to his friend. "He won't even share those with me."

"You made the damn things," the other vampire huffed.

"Yes, and I got one slice of cherry pie the day of his birthday, but no more after that."

"And you call me greedy!" Alastair sniffed. "So…how was your day?" the vampire mused as he pulled Foxx basically on top of him.

Foxx snuggled and when he spoke, he hesitantly tried to play it off as ridiculous. "Get this. This hunter at the Guild tried to ask me out on a date. Like, I barely know anything about him, and what I do know…it"s not impressive."

"Did they?"

"Yes. And like, he's not even my?—"

Alastair cut him off. "You should do it."

His eyes widened as Harlow shouted, "WHAT?!"

He shuddered at the pure promise of violence the word held. It was one word, yet it was almost enough for Foxx to forget about the nonsense Alastair had just spouted—almost.

Honestly, he was pretty baffled by the suggestion too. "What…? Don't be ridiculous, Alastair."

"Leave," the human seethed.

His cock hardened as another shudder ran through him. Harlow sounded furious. But…why? More importantly…cuddling with his bestie was not the time to get turned on…

He grimaced and pushed up, scooting away from Alastair, who was now staring at him with disgust. "Well, I'm sorry, but it's not my fault his voice is hot!"

"He is commanding me to get out, like a dog, and you are here getting turned on because of your weird fucking death wish!"

Foxx hissed, "I do not have a death wish!"

At the same time, Harlow snapped, "He doesn't have a death wish!"

"Fine! FINE! I'm leaving." Alastair surged up off the couch. "Just keep flirting with danger, Foxx! No worries, I'll get that ‘Dead Bitch Walking' T-shirt done, hopefully before you are six feet under, AGAIN!" The man hmphed and stormed off, out of the apartment.

Foxx stared with a pout. "I do not have a death wish."

"You don't," Harlow agreed firmly.

"Right?!" he huffed, before flopping over on the couch.