He eyed the man, there were soot smudges on his face and blood dripping down his head. “You…don’t…look okay.”
“Stay awake, brat,” Harlow gruffly ordered, ignoring his words.
Foxx stared into the human’s light brown eyes for a few moments before nodding.
Harlow walked as fast as he could through the path he made in the deep snow. The house behind them now glowed brightly, as the fire from the explosion spread.Saved them from having to set it themselves, he thought.
He was leaving a bloody trail behind, thanks to his leg. It was bleeding a hell of a lot, and possibly needed stitches, but it was basically just a flesh wound. He’d checked it when he had gone to get Foxx’s sunsuit.
Harlow glanced down at Foxx, and got this strange hollow feeling in his chest. He wasn’t sure what the fuck that meant, but he had worse shit to worry about than his head and body going more screwy than normal.
Foxx wasn’t doing well. He was growing paler by the second, body trembling in Harlow’s arms. Though, the trembling could be from the cold. At least his eyes were still open…half open. That counted for something.
Harlow almost let out a sigh of relief at the first sight of his black Jeep Grand Cherokee in the distance. He rushed towards the thing, uncaring about any of the pain he was feeling. He was pretty used to pushing his body under shitty circumstances, and these wounds were nothing compared to ones he had dealt with before.
On reaching the car, he quickly got Foxx situated in his seat and buckled him in, before closing his door and running around to the other side to get in himself. Once Harlow’s door was shut, he unzipped Foxx’s face shield and reached back to the cooler and snagged another blood bag, along with the metal straw the vampire kept in there. He figured maybe drinking from a straw would keep the vampire’s eyes open, as the action would force him to stay awake to get the blood he needed.
Harlow was about to stab the bag with the straw when Foxx spoke up. “Don’t.”
He narrowed his eyes at the man. “You need blood.”
“It’s…” Foxx swallowed painfully. “It’s just going to…spill out. My body…can only hold so much. Until the damage is fixed… It’s…a…giant, open hole...”
Harlow sighed. “Foxx, I know your kind generally can only take in a maximum of five bags—”
“Depending on size,” Foxx interrupted weakly. “I’m small…four is the max for me. Unless…I’ve been completely drained, then it’s nine. Not…completely drained.” The vampire swallowed again. “Stop, unless…” The vampire let out a pain-filled gasp before finishing in a rush, “You want a giant puddle of blood in your car.”
“Yeah, but you need to live long enough so we can get you to the hospital, and you are still bleeding out as we speak. So you are going to drink the damn blood,” Harlow growled, ignoring Foxx’s protests as he stabbed the straw into the blood bag.
“I…should…be fine for a few more hours,” Foxx said with an uncertain frown.
“Should isn’t good enough. Now drink!” he snapped, forcing the straw between Foxx’s lips.
Leaning over, he put the vampire’s seat back a bit so he could prop Foxx’s hand up. This would hold the bag in place in such a way that there was no effort on the vampire’s end.
Pulling his seatbelt on, Harlow started the car, ramping the heat all the way up to max. Eyeing the GPS on his dash, he quickly searched and set it to direct him to the nearest hospital.
Driving off, he went about a mile down the road, before reaching into one of his inner pockets for his cellphone. Flipping it open, he dialed Tony’s number. As it rang, he pressed the speakerphone button and dropped it into a cup holder.
“What do you want, Harlow?” Tony drawled, tone lax.
Uninterested in starting their normal banter, he just blurted it all out. “It was a trap. There was one old ass bitch of a vampire there when we arrived. The ones we were sent to kill were already dead. She blew up the fucking house. Foxx is badly injured. I’m on the way to the hospital. I plan on speeding the minute I reach either a highway or clear road. You tell those fuckers on patrol if they get in my way, I will ignore them, or plow through them, if they try shit.”
“How bad is it?” the man asked, his voice now dead serious.
Harlow glanced over at Foxx, the vampire’s eyes were barely open. He couldn’t tell how badly he was currently bleeding, as the sunsuit was no doubt keeping it contained. Even so, he said, “He’s moments from passing out, and is probably creating a puddle of blood in his own boots.”
“And you?”
“Minor cuts, possible concussion. Nothing major.”
He heard typing. “Where are you headed?” his boss asked.
“Wayne County Memorial Hospital.”
Tony cursed. “Harlow, they won’t take him.”
“What?! The fuck they won’t,” Harlow growled.
