He eyed Foxx, who was staring down at the dead body, his brows pulled together. He glanced at the vampire’s hand. It looked clean, but… Harlow grimaced. Was it really clean?
His gaze flicked back up to Foxx’s face, and he sighed as he forced himself to push away the growing need he had to find and bathe Foxx in disinfectant. His current obsessive need to clean his boyfriend would have to wait, as he had to first deal with his boyfriend’s…emotions…
“If he was already dying, then it's likely the rest are too. We don’t know how to help them. And even if there is a way, by thetime we figure it out, it will be too late. So…” Harlow cleared his throat. “The only way we can help these people right now is to kill them.”
Foxx didn’t answer at first, but then his shoulders sagged a bit and he nodded, murmuring softly, “Yes…”
“Right… That being said…no hand-to-hand fighting. They—” He frowned. “Why couldn’t you push him off? Though, now that I’m thinking about it, while I got him off you quickly, it didn’t feel easy.” His head tilted, and after thinking about it more, he confirmed, “Yes, I had to use my full strength, I think.”
Foxx’s freckled nose wrinkled. “He…was stronger than me.”
His brow rose at that. “Stronger? The Police Chief warned us that the group seemed to be hard to take down. Them being able to possibly break through scriptured chains…was… Well, I honestly thought that the scriptured chains not working just meant that something was interfering with the so-called holiness itself, but maybe itwasa sign of abnormal strength.”
The vampire frowned. “Yet…I could still hold him back. So, he is stronger, but not that much. Certainly not strong enough to suggest he could break through scriptured chains with strength alone. I’m not sure any vampire, regardless of age, should be able to do that. I mean, the originals could, but then religious artifacts don’t really hurt them anyway. Maybe…some of the first few they turned can, but I just don’t know.”
“Is he…older?” Harlow asked, as he leaned down and wiped his sword off on the man’s clothes before sheathing it.
“That’s the odd part… He was under a hundred.”
“So, whatever they’ve been dosed with must be causing an increase in strength, and possibly interfering with the effectiveness of holy items.”
“Maybe? It would be the only thing that makes sense? Unless he was just naturally strong to begin with…?”
“You don’t sound like you believe that.”
“Well…I’m naturally talented myself. Him being naturally strong at his age shouldn’t make a difference to me.”
“Fucking hell, ain’t this just great. We are surrounded by vampires that are hopped up on a drug that is not only killing them, but making them stronger at the same time!” He eyed the vampire sharply. “Are you sure you feel fine?”
Foxx huffed. “I’m fine.”
Fine, but for how long?Harlow sighed.
Something was off about all of this… He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but…it didn’t take a genius to realize that this situation was majorly fucked… Because something that managed to make vampires look like monsters, while at the same time killing them…honestly sounded like a religious fanatic’s wet dream come to life.
“Well, as I was saying, no hand-to-hand. I don’t want you getting coated in this stuff, and I don’t want to chance you swallowing any of their blood. Also, keep an eye on yourself… Though I really think we should just go to the hospital and start running tests.”
“No…” Foxx said, his eyes back on the body, looking sad as fuck.
He tsked and pulled the vampire to him, his arm slipping around his waist. “Ah, my poor, kindhearted brat.” He leaned down and gave Foxx a peck on his nose, causing the man to wrinkle it and glare up at him.
Smirking, Harlow pulled his radio out of his pocket and pressed the button. “Team one, reporting in. Vampire neutralized.”
There was a noise as someone connected, followed by fucking Iggy saying, “Roger that.”
“Fucking bastard,” Harlow growled as he slipped the radio back into his pocket.
When Foxx snorted and tried to pull away, Harlow held him closer, wrapping his other arm around him now too. “Just let me comfort you.”
The man rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you swearing about someone else is sooo comforting.”
“The comfort is the hug, not the words I was saying.”
“You do realize he’s stopped hitting on me, or didn’t you notice?”
He had noticed. But how did that change anything?! “It’s the audacity of him doing it at all!”
Foxx tugged out of his hold and spun away, snapping, “Let’s just start looking for the next one!”
