“You just need to avoid the entrance.”
“Do you even know the range of that thing? The structural integrity of the building? Literally anything on how it will affect the place you plan to make go boom? How about how you plan to fight in the fire it will no doubt create once you set it off?”
Harlow’s smile fell. “Fine! I guess I can just burst in the unfun way!”
“No guessing. Put it away.”
“Whatever, let’s just go,” Harlow grumbled as he shoved it back in the bag, a bit too roughly if you asked Foxx, before standing up and stomping away.
Foxx shook his head, quickly slipped his chest holster on, and ran after his nutty partner.
The nest was set in an abandoned house, surrounded by woods on both sides. There were neighbors, but they were at a far enough distance that they’d likely not hear screaming.
The sun had set about thirty minutes ago, which is why Foxx was crouched down behind some trees, staring off at the house. They were a good distance away, but with Foxx’s enhanced eyesight, he could see the house perfectly. Harlow, on the other hand, was looking through a pair of small binoculars that he’d pulled out of an inner jacket pocket.
Foxx couldn’t help but glare at the three-story Victorian house. Its paint was more brown than the light green it should have been—just dirty and gross. The yard was overgrown, and the roof…looked minutes from collapsing. Why the fuck did these idiots have to be so cliché with their nest locations?
“Are they all there?” Harlow asked.
Foxx stared, letting one of the shields that he used to appear more human fall away. He listened, the heartbeats coming to him. A vampire’s heart beats at a slower pace than a human’s. Enough that if you didn’t know the person was a vampire, you’d think something was medically wrong. It had been inconvenient when trying to hide amongst them, yet convenient as hell to tell his kind apart from others.
Counting each one, he sent a smile Harlow’s way. “All there. Twenty in total. I doubt anyone has had time to sneak out yet.”
It was a wonder that some vampires, despite the invention of sunsuits, still refused to even attempt to go out during the day.
“Good, then we shouldn’t have anyone to track down afterwards.”
Foxx stood. “Should we mic up? I mean, they gave them to us for a reason…and we are separating.”
Harlow stared. “Is it really necessary?”
Foxx thought about it for a moment, and quickly decided the situation wasn’t that dire.
“Fine, no mic and no earbud. I’ll head in now. I’ll even get rid of half and make it easy for you.” Foxx sent a flirty smile Harlow’s way.
Harlow’s brow pinched, lips pursing. He was eyeing Foxx, as if he doubted he could do it. It kind of made him want to kill them all before the man even stepped foot inside. But that would expose his age a bit too much. “Okay… While you are in there, I’ll set the fire barrier so we don’t have to do it after.”
The barrier would be made of magic infused black wood ash. Witches doing. It would basically stop the fire from spreading past the barrier. Once the fire reached it, the flames would also extinguish.
Foxx would never understand how the original hunters thought witches were fine, but all other paranormals were evil. Like, the shit he’d seen witches do over the centuries he’d been alive… Of course, witches were still human, so Foxx supposed that made all the difference in the minds of the original hunters.
“Iwilltake half out,” Foxx said almost defensively.
“I just need you to kill a few, maybe cause a commotion to confuse them, and then I’ll come in and finish the rest.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tossing his head back on a hmph, he took off at full speed towards the house. He didn't even stop as he broke out into the clearing around the building. Halfway across the yard, he leaped towards one of the large windows on the second floor. Luckily, it did not break under his weight. Crouched and balanced on the window ledge, he grew out his nails. Shoving them underneath the window, he sliced through the grime and the lock. Silently sliding it open, he slipped in. The room he entered was dark. No one was inside…but someone was nearby.
Smirking, he stalked forward quietly. As he did, Foxx projected a mental haze around himself. It was a trick, a simple mind trick, that wouldn’t work on most older paranormals…but the young, they had no chance of seeing through it.
He turned the handle of the door and pushed it open. It creaked as it swung wide. The vampire, who happened to be walking past, froze in the doorway, a frown on his face. He was confused as he obviously sensed nothing.
Foxx, on the other hand, sensed too much, as he’d opened his senses to things he normally ignored. Breathing in deeply, his nose wrinkled at the smell of death coming from this young one. There was no doubt in his mind that this young man had participated in the killings this group was being charged with. The smell of death was strong, telling him this vampire had killed someone last night.
Well, that made this super easy for him. He had no qualms with killing those who murdered others for no reason.
Foxx backed up as the vampire walked in to investigate the room. He eyed the man’s face, quickly identifying him as Ron Desti, one of the vampires with a death warrant.
Foxx followed Ron’s movements, just waiting for the right moment. When the young vampire turned his back to leave, Foxx attacked. He lunged, dropping the haze as he did. With clawed hands, he grabbed onto the man’s skull and gave it a quick twist, snapping his neck, and turning his head all the way around to face him. As joints and bones popped and separated, Foxx smiled brightly into the vampire's shocked, pain-filled eyes—unflinching as blood spurted from the other's mouth, speckling his face and clothes.
