Page 10

Q uickly cleaning up as much as he could in the sink, while Foxx cleaned his face and started washing his hands, Harlow moved to the stall to change. He had just pulled on his newly spot cleaned leather jacket, after shoving his dirty clothes in a medical waste bag, when he smelled fresh blood—Foxx’s blood.

“Foxx!?” Bursting from the stall, Harlow stumbled to a stop. The trash bag slipped from his hand, as his stomach tightened on finding the vampire alone…and still at the sink. The water was running.

Slowly moving closer, Harlow carefully touched the man’s shoulder. The vampire reared back from him, looking up with wide, teary eyes.

“It…it won’t… It won’t come off.”

His gaze flicked to Foxx’s hands. Both were an angry red color, and while there wasn’t any dried blood left, there was, however, fresh.

His expression blanked as Harlow slowly took the man’s small hands in his. “Foxx, the only blood on them is your own. You have rubbed them raw.”

“No… I can…I can smell it still.”

“So can I. It will likely be stuck in our sinuses for days. But I promise you, what was on your hands is gone.”

Foxx whimpered, his bottom lip wobbling as a tear slid down his cheek. “I-I’m sorry…for being like th is.”

Harlow dropped the man’s hands and hugged him. “Don’t apologize to me for feeling things. I know this is hard for you.”

“But we don’t have time for?—”

“Enough! We have time to do whatever the fuck we want! Things can either happen on our time, or someone else can fucking do them.”

Foxx shuddered against him. “I hate feeling.”

“Yeah, have to say, I’m not much of a fan of it either, but what can I do after a hyperactive Ball of Sadistic Sunshine bulldozed through my life, causing me to feel so much more than I ever have?”

The vampire let out a sad chuckle as he pulled back and looked up at him. “My fault, is it?”

“Mm, you and that fat ass of yours.”

Foxx rolled his eyes. “I’m going to start to get jealous of my own ass if you keep this up.”

Harlow smirked. “What can I say, I like what I like.”

The vampire snorted and pushed him away. “Go throw your ruined clothes out, or whatever you plan to do with them, and let’s get this over with.”

Chuckling, he grabbed the bag he dropped and shoved it in the bathroom trash, not caring in the least about contaminants. “Best that we hurry, as we have to find Gavin after we finish here.”

“Why?”

“Because the only chance we have of finding these bastards, or Maverick, is with his help.”

Foxx stared blankly for a moment before saying, “Okay.”

Well, that’s odd . “No questions?”

The vampire sighed. “I’m too tired to ask questions.”

He tugged Foxx against him again, kissing his forehead as his arms slipped around the man’s thin waist. “Teasing and jokes aside, I’m sorry, Foxx. I wish I could do more than I am for you right now. I know you're hurting.”

“I am.” Foxx gave him a weak smile. “But I’ll be fine. Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Harlow was beginning to hate the word ‘fine’. Foxx seemed to use the word way too fucking often when he, in fact, felt nothing even close to it .

Shaking his head, he let the vampire go, following the man out of the restroom and up to the patient information desk. There was a woman sitting behind it, and she smiled as they reached her. “How can I help you?”

Foxx pulled out his phone. The man’s hands had already healed and were no longer bleeding, even if they were still red. “We have a list of names that we need you to check the room numbers for, or in lieu of that, find out if they are currently in surgery or…at the morgue.”

The human hesitated as she took Foxx’s phone. “Are you…family?”

Harlow rolled his eyes and pulled out his badge, flashing it. “No.”

As her gaze snapped to his badge, the woman nodded. “Right! Let me just—” She cut off, glancing from the phone to her computer, and quickly blurted, “This may take me a moment.”

Harlow waved her on, and knowing he’d likely need to flash it multiple times, he slipped his badge into his outer pocket for easy reach. Though, now that he was thinking about it, he had yet to get it updated. He was still listed as human on his credentials. Mmm…oh well.

“Let’s check on Wes first,” Foxx said as they waited. “We know that he was awake when he was loaded into the ambulance, but…”

He grunted in agreement, crossing his arms. “Yeah, awake doesn’t tell us much.”

“I had a word with the Police Chief while you were helping them move some of the bodies outside. They aren’t going to bring the dead here. The coroner in the county over is going to go directly there to handle things, before having them taken to…well, wherever they will fit for now, to be stored and embalmed until the funerals can be planned, and…yeah.”

Harlow’s brow pulled at that. “Why isn’t our county coroner doing it?”

“Wicklow was told, rather rudely according to him, that the man had better things to do.”

“The fuck he does,” he growled .

“Yeah, I have a feeling Tony is going to get a lot of people fired when everything is said and done.”

“Not a feeling.” It was more a definite fact. Tony had a lot of fucking pull and connections. Helping some local asshole lose his job would be nothing for him.

They looked towards the desk on hearing a throat clearing. The woman was standing there now, holding Foxx’s phone out, as well as a piece of paper. “This should be all of them.”

Foxx nodded and grabbed his phone, while Harlow took the paper. Turning with Foxx beside him, he headed down the hall as he eyed the list. “No one else died, but quite a few are still in surgery.”

The vampire sighed. “Thank the Goddess for small mercies, I guess. Conditions?”

“More than half are critical. Some are not here anymore, as they were life-flighted to other hospitals when they ran out of room.”

“Wes?”

“In the ICU, but only as a precaution.”

Foxx peeked at the paper. “She included a lot of information.”

“Yeah, it's nice to finally run into someone who is competent at their job for once,” he said as he took a left turn, Foxx trailing behind him.

Harlow followed the signs for the ICU, where Wes, and more than a few others, should be.

His brow rose in question when the vampire glanced over at him as they continued to walk. “How’s your head?”

He chuckled. “Constantly throbbing, but I’ll live.”

“You’ve gotten better, but you are still so new. This would be a lot for any new turn only two months out, regardless of the species.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“You’re my boyfriend, isn’t it my job to worry? I…” Foxx grimaced. “Harlow, you had a flashback for a moment in there when we were going around helping people, didn’t you?”

He stopped in front of the automatic doors marked ICU, and looked to the vampire as he folded the list up and slipped it into his pocket. “I didn’t realize you noticed.”

“Your whole body stiffened, you went pale, and your breathing changed. I…let one of the wolves take over what I was doing and pr etended I was whispering something to you when it happened. I didn’t want the others to notice. Specifically, anyone from the fire department. I didn’t think it would be good if they did.

“The wolves nearby realized something was off, but didn’t say anything. But they know, as well as I do, that when we do things outside the norm in front of humans, it puts us in danger. And I feel you freezing up wouldn’t have been good, since they were already making comments about their safety with any vampire who was acting even a bit ‘aggressive’, due to the pain or distress they were in.”

“We've never had to worry about the fire department before. Usually, it’s the fucking police on our asses about shit.” He sighed, before smirking at the vampire. “Thank you for protecting me, Foxx. But I swear, I’m fine. The noise and scent of blood overloaded me for a moment there, and I saw a bit more of what happened the night I was changed. But other than a headache, I’m okay. Here’s hoping, once I finally fucking remember the whole night, they will stop.

“But enough about my messed-up and persistent missing memories, let’s check on Wes. We have a shit ton of people to look in on before we can leave.”

Foxx snorted. “It's just like you to deflect when we're talking about your health, Old Man.”

“Look who’s talking, Brat.” He chuckled, already pulling out his badge as they walked into the ICU and met the stern gaze of a male nurse.

Foxx faked a smile. “We’re from the Guild, and have a few people to check on.”

He waved for them to go ahead, his expression unchanging. “Be quick, and quiet.”

Snorting, Harlow put his badge away as he and Foxx walked past the desk, quickly finding Wes. The wall of each room facing the hall was made of glass, letting the staff see in, so they didn’t even have to walk in if they didn’t want to, but as Foxx did, he followed.

Wes was asleep in the bed, blankets tucked around him. There were machines and all sorts of wires attached to the man, along with a beige bandage wrapped around his head. Though it didn’t cover the top, and Harlow could still see hair, so it likely was safe to assume they didn’t shave him.

Breathing in, Harlow smelled Gavin, but the dragon was nowhere in sight. “Gavin was here.”

Fucker was just this looming presence, waiting for the perfect moment to no doubt spring himself on Harlow in all his horrifying, pest-like ways.

“Do you think he still is?”

“In the hospital? Don’t know.”

They looked towards the door as someone who was clearly a doctor walked in. The woman eyed them for a moment before asking, “Family or hunters?”

“Hunters,” Harlow replied.

She nodded. “I’m Dr. Browning. I’m assuming you’d like to hear an update on Mr. Ackerman?”

“If you have time,” Foxx said quickly.

She nodded again. “You are right to assume we are busy after what happened at the Guild. I just got out of surgery with another one of your coworkers,” she mused, before quickly adding with a kind smile, “They, like Mr. Ackerman here, survived. I can give a brief update on those I’ve seen, before I have to go. Mr. Ackerman first, since we are here. I had to perform an emergency supraorbital craniotomy due to a brain bleed that caused the vessels in his right eye to burst. With the pressure mostly relieved, the current swelling we are seeing should go away on its own. It has already improved since surgery, but he's not where I’d like him to be in order to leave the ICU yet.

“As for the total vision loss he’s experiencing in his right eye, now that the majority of the pressure has been relieved, that should resolve itself once the blood that collected there is reabsorbed, but it will likely take a few weeks or longer.”

She went on to talk about three other names on their list, and he quickly marked off each person she mentioned, as there was no point checking on them more than once. After she finished talking, Dr. Browning started to check Wes.

“Doctor?” Harlow said.

She looked back. “Yes?”

“Did anyone come in with Wes? Someone who was not injured? ”

The human frowned. “No, and no one has been in to see him except you.”

“I see.”

How typical of the little idiot.

With a frown still on her face, she left soon after the question.

Foxx tilted his head. “Why wouldn’t he let others see him?”

“Because he’s a pain in the ass,” Harlow growled, before pulling out his secure phone and calling the fucker.

Gavin answered after the first ring, his voice lacking his usual annoying cheerfulness. “ I was wondering when you’d call .”

He grunted. “Where are you?”

“ You really went all out on wiring up your place this time, didn’t you ?” the man hummed. “ Oh, do you want me to pack for you two? I imagine you’ll want to head out once you get here .”

“You fucker,” Harlow hissed. “Stay there, and keep your hands off our shit! I swear to all fuck, if you steal anything, I’m going to beat your ass!” He hung up without letting him respond, growling, “Fucker!”

“Is he…” Foxx trailed off, his face pinched.

“Yep, in our apartment!”

The vampire scoffed. “So much for your security.”

“Yeah, well, Tony has my normal phone, and Gavin isn’t normal!”

“Sounds like excuses to me,” Foxx brattily said, before asking, “He wanted to pack?”

“He probably figured out what we had planned to do next already. Kid’s annoying but smart.” Harlow sighed. “Come on, let’s get the rest of this shit over with so we can leave.”

Foxx nodded, and even though the man was out, and definitely could not hear them, the vampire, for some reason, looked to Wes and said, “Feel better,” before walking out the door.

Shaking his head, Harlow followed.