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H arlow dropped two men with bullets to the face, and was about to drop another, when he and the frightened human froze on hearing what sounded like a chainsaw revving up. Spinning around, his eyes widened as Foxx appeared out of the hall, laughing manically with a battery-powered chainsaw in his hands.

“Where the fuck did he get that?” Gavin, who was standing nearby, asked while yanking his claws out of a very dead human.

“How the fuck would I know?” Harlow said with a grunt, a smirk slipping onto his face when his Sadistic Ball of Sunshine started chasing the last remaining humans around with it.

It had been about a month and a half since Charity died, and the vampire was doing better. Either that or he had just gotten better at hiding shit—again. One or the other, Harlow figured he’d find out eventually.

“HA, got your legs!” Foxx giggled cutely, while chainsawing a man from the knees down, the human screaming in horror.

Snorting, he glanced at the dragon, barking out in laughter on catching sight of the man’s left sleeve, and the chubbiest little baby embroidered dragon he’d ever seen. “Nice dragon.”

Gavin frowned. The man followed his gaze, and lifted up his arm to get a better look at it, before snapping, “Fucking hell! Really, Foxx?!”

Foxx didn’t pause in his rampage, cutting another man down, but he did look over at them with wide, innocent eyes. “It’s cute, right?”

“Yeah…yeah, it’s cute,” the dragon said with a defeated sigh.

Harlow snickered. “Aren’t you so grateful that your other big brother cares so much about you?”

Another scream hit the air when Foxx plowed into another person, mixing with the one guy that was still on the ground yelling away—one would think blood loss would have knocked him out, but, oh well.

Foxx paused then, sending him a smile that set him on edge. “Of course, I care so much! Which is why I made it so you two match!”

“What?!”

“Tornado time!” the vampire chimed, ignoring his question.

His eyes widened as Foxx started to spin. “Wait, Foxx. Holding a chainsaw and spinning in a very small room—” Harlow cut off, jumping back just in time to avoid being cut.

He plastered himself against the wall, with Gavin right there beside him, while Foxx started whirling around the room at full speed, way too close for comfort.

“He’s fucking insane,” the dragon rasped with horror, his eyes wide.

“You are only just now realizing that?!”

Harlow grimaced as a limb bounced off his face when Foxx spun into the last five humans. After a few moments of blood and body parts flying everywhere, the chainsaw cut off, and the spinning top that had been Foxx began to slow down, until the vampire wobbled to a stop.

Shaking his head, with a bright smile on his face, the man tossed away his weapon and flicked the still somehow living and screaming man in the head. There was a small burst of blood, the human’s hollering cut off instantly as he fell backwards, dead. “All done!”

“Brat.”

“Yes, Old Man?”

“That wasn’t a question, just a statement.”

Foxx giggled. “Check your left jean pocket.”

Fucking hell… He lifted his jacket up and sighed on seeing a dragon head peeking out of his left pocket. Or rather, squishing out of his pocket. The dragon was clearly demonstrating that it had forced itself to fit…as apparently, while he got a fully-grown dragon, it was just as chubby as the baby on Gavin’s sleeve.

“Aren’t you grateful that your boyfriend cares so much about you?” Gavin mocked.

“Shut up, and start burning the bodies,” he growled.

Snickering, the dragon did just that.

While they had full permission to do what they were doing, as far as the locals—and anyone else outside of the people who needed-to-know—were concerned, they were going after paranormals, not humans.

Foxx looped his arm through his, and together they left the room, headed downstairs, and outside. An ash barrier had already been set, so all Gavin would have to do was burn the remains and set it ablaze.

Harlow paused on reaching the car when his phone started ringing. Reaching into his jacket, he grunted, “It’s Tony.” He thankfully answered…after the second try.

“Just finished at the house, what’s up?” Harlow asked when the line connected.

He frowned, Foxx doing the same when all they heard was breathing on the line.

“Tony?” Foxx prodded.

The human took a deep breath, before finally speaking in a voice shakier than he’d ever heard from the man. “ We’ve received a video from Maverick. I haven’t watched it yet, but the still image is enough that we know Iggy is at least on it. ”

“You haven’t watched it?” Harlow said slowly.

“ I… ” Tony audibly swallowed. “ I figured…it would be better if everyone that needed to see it, does so at the same time.”

Something…was bothering him about the man’s voice. “Tony, is something wrong?”

“ No, no! Just get back and clean up, while I get everyone who needs to be here…here, ” the man finished awkwardly, but then the line went dead, so Harlow didn’t get a chance to ask anything else.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about Iggy. Him hitting on Foxx had put him on Harlow’s ‘want dead’ list, but at the same time, the man was a fellow hunter, and Tony obviously had more of a connection to the annoying blue-haired man than he knew.

Finding out Iggy had slept with Santiago had lessened his hatred at least… And Tony struggling with the man being missing had honestly made him want to find the human unharmed, despite his usual reaction to the bastard.

“Do…do you think he’s gone?” Foxx rasped softly.

He ran his hand over the vampire’s blood slicked curls. “I don’t know.”

“We…we were so close… Gavin’s sure the man is near…”

When the vampire sniffled, and his eyes turned glossy, he pulled the gory mess into his arms. “We won’t know until we see the video.”

Even though he said that, Harlow couldn’t think of a reason for Maverick to send anything, unless to taunt them. Whether that meant Iggy was dead or something else, he didn’t know.

“Harlow…what’s Tony’s connection to Iggy?”

“I…” He sighed. “I don’t know. I should have asked Wes the last time we talked, but I forgot.”

Sniffling again, Foxx pulled back. “Let’s hurry Gavin along so we can get back.”

“Yeah…”

Tony took one deep breath in after another, each seeming more of a struggle to get out. “Calm the fuck down, you old fool,” he growled, as he tried to rub away the slight pain in his chest.

He hadn’t had a panic attack in forty fucking years, and really didn’t want to break that streak now.

Tony stared at the still image on the screen, his heart speeding up as he looked into his child’s smiling face. Even though he was smiling, Tony could tell it wasn’t out of joy. But then, how could it be?

While Iggy had always been on the thin side, the man looked gaunt, like that bastard, Maverick, had been starving him. And there was…blood in his naturally white hair, and on his face. White hair that Tony hadn’t seen in a long, long time. He couldn’t spot any wounds, but they must have been there…

Tony shook his head. “Call I need to call people. Oceana, and…that damn werewolf that…keeps bugging me.”

His words hung there as he continued to stare at the screen, unmoving. He should…just watch it. Tony was the Houndside Hazard Guild Director, and Iggy was a hunter under his care. He should watch the damn video so he knew how to prepare his people for what they were about to witness, but he…

Tony swallowed hard while his fear bubbled up, and the pain in his chest grew. He couldn’t… He couldn’t manage to get his hand to click play. Tony didn’t…didn’t want to watch it alone. He didn’t think he could. It was fucking cowardice, that's was what it was, but…

Rubbing his face, he sniffed, and forced himself to do the only thing he could…call the others.