The gentle touches, the humming rumbling through Herbert's chest against Alfred...they are something to cling to, something to focus on. He wants to cry, but there is...a heaviness settling over him.

The wheezes slow, then end in a choke. He tenses up in Herbert's embrace, his heartbeat wrenching once, twice more. His hand snakes up and over the vampire's side, desperately embracing him back.

And then he is still.

Alfred is dead.