Standing, Foxx said, “Let’s head back.”
Harlow followedFoxx past the blinding fucking light barrier. The damn thing would have given him an instant headache every time he passed it…but his headache would have had to go away for him to get a new one, and it had pretty much been constant since arriving here.
The vampire had remained silent for the whole walk back. Harlow was just relieved that, so far, coming into contact with the infected’s blood didn’t seem to be a method to spread whatever the fuck this was.
As they made it past the barrier, they found the Chief of Police talking to a group of officers.
“You are to treat the bodies you find with respect. There is more going on here than we know. Anyone caught disrespecting any remains will find my foot lodged up their ass, do I make myself clear?” Chief Somner barked.
“Yes, Sir!” the group yelled.
“Good! Dismissed!” The human turned to them as the other officers walked off, no doubt to carry out whatever order was given to them.
“The bodies here, and the ones in the two surrounding cities, will be taken to Lowville General Hospital. They happen to have the largest amount of mobile morgues in the area, due to the death toll during last year’s tornado season. They will all remain there until the vehicles that will transfer them arrive.”
“The Guild wants you to collect all the bodies for transfer?” Harlow asked, slightly surprised they would want them all.
Chief Somner nodded. “Those were the orders given to me.” The man hesitated before asking, “You…talked to the girl before she died. What did she say?”
“She was confused. Begged us to help her,” Foxx replied sadly. “There was no helping her.”
“Whatever was given to her…killed her, right?”
The vampire sighed. “Yes.”
The human cursed, rubbing at his mouth. “I…I have a daughter, she had cancer. Terminal...” The man swallowed hard. “After the violence and bullshit, after paranormals were granted the rights they should have had in the first fucking place, I found out a long time friend of mine wasn’t human.”
Harlow stared, not sure how to respond to this. So he wisely kept his mouth shut.
“He changed her?” Foxx murmured softly.
“Yes…” Chief Somner swallowed again, his eyes going glossy. “She was all I had left after my wife passed. I couldn’t lose her too. What was left of me was dying with her. He saw that. Jason didn’t have to save her, but he did…and it was…a miracle. So many accused me of condemning her, but she’s alive!”
Foxx reached out and gave the man’s hand a squeeze. “Sheisalive. As am I. As is your friend. We are alive, and we're just…people trying to live our lives.”
“You are… And beyond being alive…she’s happy, and bright… She’s no demon or devil. My friend…” He hesitated before shakily admitting, “Newly my husband now, actually, and he is no demon or devil either. You two are certainly not. Whatever happened tonightwasthe devil’s work. So please, find out what the fuck happened to these people…because theyarepeople, and they didn’t deserve this.”
“We will,” Foxx promised. “We will find out, and the people responsible will pay.”
Foxx stared blankly at the sunlit sky, yawning a bit. He had to say, he missed being a passenger princess. An hour and a half had already passed since finishing up, and they were just now reaching the area where their hotel was. Foxx was tired, and sad, and tired…
The cities of Lowville, Laketon, and Dorbin would remain barricaded until the bodies had been retrieved and the mess cleaned up. And unfortunately, the surrounding cities in every direction were on lockdown until late afternoon. They’d gone into lockdown just in case of a breach. Police were letting people drive through the cities now, but stopping had not been an option. So they’d run into a mixture of traffic and road blocks.
While stopped in a line of traffic, Foxx found himself glancing back briefly at the cooler. He wasn’t hungry… Well, he was, both for food and blood, but it was more what else was in the refrigerator. Lying on top of the other bags inside, separated by multiple zip-locks, was the infected blood. Foxx was hoping…that whatever was in the blood wouldn’t degrade too much before they got it to Doc.
“You hungry?” Harlow asked with a yawn of his own.
“A bit.”
“Want to find somewhere to eat?”
Foxx hesitated. “We can’t…”
Harlow frowned. “Why not?”
“Because you’re supposed to be a vampire and you don’t have a sunsuit.”
The man glanced up at the sun through the window, before wincing as he looked away. “Right…” The dhampir sighed. “With our luck, we’d run into another vampire.”
