“Look—”
“Oh, no, no. You don’t get to‘look’me!” Foxx hissed, pointing his finger accusingly at Harlow. “What’s wrong now, Mr. Too Good To Be My Friend?! I did what you asked. You said no talking. I haven’t talked for hours! So, what? What could possibly be wrong now?! Hmm? What?! Don’t like being ignored? Gee, who would have thought, the one who loves to barely answer questions with single-word answers, doesn’t like being ignored? Well, tough shit, old man. This is what you wanted. This is what you get!”
Harlow's eyes widened at the tirade. “Old man? Aren’t you many years older?”
“THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT!”
Foxx…was like an angry puppy or kitten. Obviously angry, but he looked so innocent that it was hard to believe he’d do any damage. That thought had a laugh slipping out, which made him, for once in his life…regret something.
Foxx gasped in clear outrage. “Did you just laugh?” The vampire growled dangerously, both fangs fully bared.
He cleared his throat. “Umm…no?”
“You did! I heard you! I—”
“Wait! Wait!” Harlow huffed. Foxx miraculously held back his tirade as Harlow turned the car into the hotel parking lot, and pulled into the shaded section meant for vampire guests.
Putting the car in park, he turned to face his very ‘angy’ partner. Foxx glared at him silently, waiting, his hackles obviously up.
He held up his hands in surrender. “I messed up. I will admit that. I was too hasty in what I said. Let’s start over…kind of…”
Foxx’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“I don’t do friends…or normal friendships. So, let’s compromise. We can sort of be friends…with you talking to your heart's content, and without expecting me to put in the full effort of friendship. I’ll try not to get annoyed with how many words come out of your mouth, and you will try not to be annoyed by how few come out of mine.”
Really, at this point, Harlow had already talked more on this trip than he normally did in a week.
Foxx’s lips pursed, nose scrunching, as if he was thinking over the offer. The vampire made a weird grumbling noise, eyes narrowing further, before finally, he sighed, shoulders relaxing. “Fine…we can start over. But don’t think I will put up with you treating me like shit just because I’m small, cute, and new on the job. I am not a pushover. I can be downright scary and intimidating, when I need to be. And furthermore, I’ve been fighting longer than you have been alive, old man!”
Harlow stared, feeling completely baffled, he mouthed ‘scary and intimidating’…
Foxx’s bottom lip popped out, obviously noticing his disbelief. “I am! I’ve killed way more people than you!” The vampire's back stiffened in shock, hands slapping over his mouth, eyes wide at the obvious slip-up. His cheeks were turning red.
Harlow burst into laughter.
Foxx’s hands dropped away as his cheeks continued to redden. “Theoretically! In theory, I’ve killed more people,” he yelled.
“In theory, huh?” Harlow smirked, eyeing the crazy ass cupcake of a vampire. Maybe having Foxx around wouldn’t be as horrible as he first thought… Especially if he was this entertaining. “Worry not, partner. I don’t give a fuck how many people you've killed.”
“Which is no one. I’ve killed no one. Because that would be illegal. Yep! Anyway, we should get to work, right? That’s why we are here. Work! A hunt, we are on a hunt. Let’s get moving, shall we?” Foxx said with a bright, ‘please believe me’, smile.
Harlow snorted.
* * *
Foxx pushedinto the hotel room, his bags in hand. “Oh, how lovely!”
It wasn’t really. The place was sort of ugly. The carpet was blue-gray, and the bright yellow wallpaper with pink flowers matched horribly with the yellow-brown wooden dresser and three nightstands. The single dresser was against the left wall, and the nightstands were beside and between the two beds. The bed frames were white wood. They also had yellow bed skirts and blue and yellow covers. The lamps were a bright blue color with gold on them, the shades white. As much as Foxx liked color, this was…not it.
He walked over to the second bed and sat his stuff down, spinning to face Harlow, who walked in behind him with his own things. “Did you receive an email yet? I haven’t. I’d thought maybe we would get it before we arrived, but nothing yet.”
Harlow set his things down on the bed with a grunt. “I’ll need to get my laptop out to check.”
Foxx frowned. “Why not just check your phone?”
The man sighed and pulled something small out of his pocket and held it up. Blinking, it took Foxx a moment to realize it was a phone—a flip phone. One of those old flip phones from the early 2000s. “You have an old man phone…”
Harlow rolled his eyes. “I have a phone that works perfectly fine as a phone. That is all I need. Let me get my laptop out and check.”
