“He’ll be taken care of, no worries. For now, why don’t we get you a wheelchair and take you to get checked out.”
Harlow staggered to his feet, batting her hands away as she tried to get him to stay down. “No, what I need is for you to take me to wherever I can sit and wait for them to be done with Foxx.”
He flinched back when the woman reached towards his head. She gave a weak smile. “Your head is bleeding, and you are leaving a bloody trail as you walk. You need medical attention.”
Harlow glanced down and back towards the entrance. There was indeed a trail of blood. He started to argue, but eventually found himself in a wheelchair, followed by a bed in the Human Emergency Room, where they hooked him up to a blood bag as they stitched up his leg and patched up his head. The fight to keep his pants on had been ridiculous—he was now missing his right pants leg.
Harlow glared up at the doctor, arms crossed. The tag on him said,Dr. Nole Clements. The doc had pale skin, black hair with a few white strands, dark blue eyes, and looked to be in his late thirties or early forties. Dr. Clements wasn’t unhandsome, but he was an annoying prick.
“Get me a pole to attach this stupid bag to so I can leave,” Harlow demanded. It had already been an hour and a half, they had poked and prodded and scanned him enough. He needed to get back to Foxx.
“You aren’t going anywhere until the bag is empty. At that time, we will then switch out the bag and get you a pole so you can take it with you to the other ward. If you try to leave before that, I’ll have them strap you down,” Dr. Clements said with a ‘try me’ smirk. “Oh, don’t look so glum, hunter. It won’t take too much longer. And your partner will be in surgery for quite a while.”
His eyes narrowed on him suspiciously. “And how would you know that?”
“I checked in after I stitched up your leg. Not to worry you, but as he signed all the permission forms before going under, I can tell you that there was a lot of damage to the valves and the heart itself. It’s going to take time for them to fix it in a way where his body will begin to heal as it should,” he informed him grimly. “For now, just sit tight. It shouldn’t be too much longer for the first bag.” The bastard said the last part with a smile, chuckling a bit at Harlow’s expression, before he walked out of the room.
Harlow growled—just his luck he’d get some asshole he couldn’t intimidate.
He glanced up when a nurse came through the door followed by two officers, one was the guy from before. He looked embarrassed—as the fucker should.
Harlow eyed the nurse. He thought that maybe she’d been part of the group who had come out to help, but he wasn’t sure. She had blonde hair pulled into a tight bun and brown eyes. Her face lined with age, her features were very sharp. The woman’s chin came to a severe point, and her cheeks were high and angular. If Harlow were to guess, she was likely older than him and the doctor who had just left.
His gaze flashed to her badge as she smiled gently at him—Sarah Bailey,her tag read.
“If you could spare a few moments,” she began, voice light and clear. “I have a few questions for you.”
“You have until this bag is finished.” Harlow nodded towards the almost empty blood bag.
The woman blinked. “Well, I guess…I’ll be quick then. What do you remember about the past few hours? About the incident where you ended up injured?”
Harlow’s head cocked, eyes narrowing on her before flicking to the two officers. While one looked bored, the other was still looking awkward. “And you want that information, why?”
“The reason is nothing for you to worry about.”
“In no uncertain terms are you authorized to know any of what I’ve done over the last few hours.” Harlow deserved extra points in the cookie race this month, just for how much he had held back on swearing today. Well, that and the fact he and his partner had been blown up…again.
She frowned, brow wrinkling. “I think it would be in the patient’s best interest if he remained as far away as possible from the vampire that was brought in. That so called ‘partner’ obviously controlled him, and is a danger to humans.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Harlow hissed. “Controlled? First of all, I drove over a fucking hour to get to this hospital, which rules out mind control, as that shit lasts a maximum of thirty minutes. Secondly, you all got a call from my fucking boss, Tony Varley, informing you hours ago that I was bringing in my injured partner. Third, I hope you know you just got your ass reported, and that I will be making sure your past is thoroughly investigated to see if you’ve tried to pull this bullshit with others. Lastly, you better have not interfered with my partner’s treatment, or I’ll be adding an attempted murder charge on top of everything else.”
Her eyes widened and she started babbling. “What?! Reported?! For pointing out that your rights have been violated?! Officers, you need to restrain him, this instance! He is obviously out of his mind!”
Neither of the two men moved. The newer one, who was blond and looked to be about ten years older than the other cop, cleared his throat. “He is correct, ma’am. Mind control only lasts for thirty minutes, if it even works. And as he is a hunter, it’s highly doubtful that any vampire could successfully control him in that way. To add on, his director also contacted the heads of our department to let us know he was on the way. Which was hours ago.”
Harlow snorted. “What’s his excuse for not knowing I was coming?”
The brunette cop from earlier cleared his throat. “I…got off break and forgot to check in.” The guy pulled out Harlow’s car keys from his pocket, and set them down on the tray nearby. “You are parked on the left side of the lot, by the Paranormal Emergency entrance, near the closest light pole on that side.”
“Enough!” Sarah screamed. “He is being controlled! And you will do something about it! That vampire will be arrested and the surgery will be stopped!”
Harlow narrowed his eyes at her. “You go near my partner with this nonsense and I’ll shoot you,” he said with a smile.
“Uhh…sir, that’s a…” The blond cop trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
“Threat? Not really. She just told me she intends to try to murder my partner. Sounds like self-defense to me.”
The woman chose that moment to start bellowing like a maniac. “You are all not listening! Vampires are evil! They all need to be put down! He was controlled! All of you were controlled!”
