34. Making New ‘Friends’

F oxx had to say, he was happy to be back living it up as a passenger princess. Harlow was driving again, as the man was well past the point of muscle spasms, and he hadn't had any weird flashbacks since the one at laser tag.

Foxx fiddled with the face shield of his sunsuit, leaving his hood down for now. He figured that driving into a crowd of vampire hating humans in a full sunsuit would have the opposite effect of calming the crowd.

Ugh…he glanced down with a pout, eyeing the front of his sunsuit. Foxx really should have picked a different one to wear… This one was new…and pretty. It was…just so bright and yellow, with cute embroidered daisies on it. The belly pocket was green and in the shape of a leaf. With white frilly gloves and white boots, the sunsuit even had cute little green leaf-shaped buttons along the chest flaps that hid the zipper. Not to mention, the inner part of the bear's ears were daisies!

It was… It was going to be completely ruined by the end of this hunt. Beyond the blood, bodily fluids were just such a pain to remove. And some smells never came out… Maybe he could take it off when they got inside?

He glared out at the sun. It just had to be daylight. Foxx really should start holding on to his ruined ones. He could just wash them in pure bleach, clean them as best he could, and reuse them. As long as they weren't torn or anything, they'd still work!

Could they possibly end up looking like nightmare induced fever dreams? Yes! But who cared?! The people seeing them were going to die anyway! Who the fuck would they tell?!

"What are you pouting about?" Harlow asked slowly.

Foxx whined. "I'm not pouting!"

Harlow chuckled. "I see…"

"I should have worn something else… It's… It's…just going to get ruined…"

The dhampir eyed him. "New sunsuit?"

"Yes…" He popped his bottom lip out, as why the hell shouldn't he be pouting?

"I imagine that is a color that blood would stain easily."

Foxx let out another whine. "It's so cute."

"Just rebuy it."

"Wasteful…" He sighed. "How big do you think the mob is?"

"I have no clue. But I can't think of any other time where Charity has exaggerated, so her calling it a mob probably means there are enough of them to be a pain in the ass."

Foxx groaned. "I thought we'd be able to avoid all ‘this'…at least until the next incident occurred."

"The problem is, those who were just waiting for an excuse will take any new incident, small or large, as a reason to act out. And really…these aren't the people who we have to worry about. They were always going to act up, whether it was due to Maverick's fuckery, or some other bullshit. The time we'll really have to start worrying is when the ones who are indifferent, or those who have supposedly always been on the side of paranormals, turn against us."

"So, it's likely the mob is just the same crew who will no doubt be protesting once those trials start up for the priests."

"Pretty much."

They turned a corner, and the flashes of police lights in the distance was their first clue that they were where they were supposed to be. The second was…the horde of people standing between them and the police barricade… A crowd so thick they couldn't even see the cars…and some people had…legit fucking fire torches…

At least…he didn't see any damn pitchforks…yet… "Bloody hell… Well…" He squinted. "That answers my question about how big the mob is."

As if seeing it was enough for his mind to focus on the noise in the distance, what the crowd was saying, or rather chanting, came in quite clear.

"DEATH TO VAMPIRES! KILL THE MONSTERS!" the voices sang out. "EXORCIZE THE DEMONS! DEATH TO NON-HUMANS!"

"Wow…I haven't heard any of those lovely hatred-fueled phrases in a while," Foxx drawled snidely. "How are we going to get past them?"

"Looks like we won't have to figure that out," Harlow mused as they drove closer, and the mob finally noticed them.

Foxx wrinkled his nose, while the humans descended on them and surrounded the SUV. At the same time…in the distance, he heard what Harlow was referring to with his comment. Someone was pushing through the crowd. From the growls he heard, it was likely the werewolves…and…if he were to guess…someone with a megaphone.

"BACK UP! BACK UP!" the man they couldn't yet see due to the crowd screamed. It did nothing to the people closest, as they kept up their angry shouts.

He eyed the red faces of the humans, their gaze full of hatred and barely leashed violence. "Have to say, it's been a few centuries since I've faced an angry mob." Foxx grimaced. "Can't say I've missed it."

At the sound of something or someone hitting the car, Harlow growled, "These motherfuckers."

When the driver's side window started to roll down, Foxx hissed, "Harlow!"

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY JEEP!" Harlow roared. His voice was booming, even over the shouts of the humans. "I swear, if there is a single dent, I'll hog tie every single one of you bastards together and leave your asses here until tomorrow fucking morning."

The ones closest flinched back a bit, but a few looked ready to do some damage.

There was a loud, angry, animalistic growl, and the crowd scattered back as three fully transformed werewolves drove them away. Behind the wolves was a uniformed officer, and Santiago, in his human form.

The pack Alpha looked a bit amused, yet at the same time, grim. To be honest, the human police officer looked tiny next to the werewolf, but then Foxx likely would have looked even smaller. Hell, Foxx was pretty sure that Santiago would even make Harlow look short-ish. The man had, what…five or six inches on the dhampir?

"You have ten minutes to fully disburse before I start arresting and charging people," the uniformed officer, standing directly beside Santiago, said loudly over a megaphone. "You are officially interfering with hunter business, and any further action will result in jail time. And before you think you outnumber us, ten fully armed SWAT teams are less than five minutes out."

Chatter amongst the crowd grew, sounding less angry and more concerned.

"Actually, you can arrest them now," Harlow said with a dark chuckle. "They were interfering the moment they blocked our way. And they officially crossed the line when they attacked my vehicle. Or is attempted assault on two hunters not considered a crime in this podunk town?"

Was…this…Harlow's idea of…trying to calm things down?

Foxx pursed his lips. Well…chaos was more his style. And like, the fuckers had been screaming death to non-humans, so what did he care if he gave a bunch of asshole bigots an arrest record?

The officer hesitated.

"We have a right to protect our town!" someone yelled.

"Yeah, we have rights! We have a right to protest."

"Protesting?" Foxx barked out in laughter. "What exactly are you protesting?"

"These freaks, these vampires, are invading our peaceful town! They're murderers, monsters!"

Foxx smiled, flashing one of his fangs as he did. "Ah, a freak and a monster, am I?"

The ones who could see him took a step towards his door threateningly.

"Move back and stay back," the officer bellowed into his megaphone. "Frankly, all you folks need to pipe down before you get yourselves into more hot water! In case you ain't realized, these city people ain't me. They don't know you. They don't live here. And they sure as shit don't care what an arrest record will do to you.

"To be honest, I'm at the point where I don't care either. I have never in my life been more disgusted by the actions of people I thought I knew. Do you even understand the implications of me having to call in SWAT teams to handle y'all's asses?"

The man's southern twang seemed to get thicker the longer he spoke. The officer was clearly upset by the crowd.

"You're disgusted?!" a young man said, sounding outraged. "You did nothing as these creatures killed us!"

"Cletus, I'll tell you what, boy. Next time there are murders, I'll call you to come investigate, and you can put your ass on the line. Because as I see it, we did our jobs, we found the perpetrators, and it's YOU all who are standing in the way of them facing justice!"

"This feels like one of those old western movies," Foxx whispered to Harlow. "Like an angry mob wanting to hang the criminal, and then we have a sheriff standing between them and the person in jail so he can have a fair trial."

The dhampir snorted. "Except this mob is the one delaying the execution."

"Well, I mean…I know that, but it's the twang. Like, can't you see the similarities?" Foxx huffed.

"Yeah, yeah, I see the similarities, brat." Harlow looked over, his brow raised. "Since when did you start watching westerns?"

Foxx wrinkled his nose. "Not willingly… But Alastair likes them, and…sometimes he traps me into watching marathons. It's…painfully boring, and… I don't know, he likes cowboys."

A smile broke out on Santiago's face, the wolf no doubt hearing them. Foxx had a feeling there were too many people here for the werewolves to notice Harlow wasn't human. The smells and sounds alone would make it harder for them to pick out. Not if they weren't bothering to look for it.

"How long do you think it'll take them all to move?" Foxx glanced back at the sound of tires. "Oh, looks like the reinforcements are here."

"Yeah, that's our cue to ramp things up." Harlow cleared his throat. "Santiago, I know you can hear us. Tell that officer that we will be pressing charges, and to move this along and stop wasting our gas."

Santiago shrugged but leaned down to the officer, who cut off mid-rant as he listened.

The officer looked over to them, seeming grim, and after a moment, he nodded and signaled the SWAT teams with his hand.

"Effective immediately, you are all under arrest," the man started.

As he continued to read the Miranda rights, people began to scream and run. Either way, the path cleared pretty quickly. They waved at the officers and wolves as they passed them, not bothering to stop. Then again, why would they? They had a job to do.

"Well…that was interesting," Foxx drawled. "Probably should avoid this town from now on."

Harlow chuckled. "Why? Think they'll hold a grudge?"

"Of course not. We certainly must have made friends today. I bet they will welcome us back with open arms and cake," he said with fake and very sarcastic cheer.

The dhampir just laughed harder.

Going into the dilapidated house, Harlow had started out using guns, but switched to claws pretty quickly. The big group was actually fifty fucking vampires shoved into a two-story house. Fifty vampires who apparently didn't know what soap and water were, or what the word cleaning meant. The BO smell alone…on top of the rotten food, and who the fuck knew what else, was enough to peel paint.

As he sliced through one vampire's neck, stabbing his claws through the chest of another…Harlow had to say…this was…a bit… "Why is it so easy?" he asked Foxx, who was fighting just as untaxed beside him.

The vampire, now covered in blood splatter, was wearing a light blue sweater and blue overalls that had a cartoon whale on them, having taken off his yellow daisy bear sunsuit before coming inside. Which probably was the best option, as it was…disgusting and…sticky. Literally, his shoes stuck to the wooden floor with each movement—ugh.

Foxx jerked a man's head clean off before looking over at him with a brow raised. The vampire looked so cute with his confused expression and blood splattered face.

"I mean…they are young."

He eyed them, moving forward towards the next group. The speed at which he was able to reach them was almost jarring enough for him to pause in his attack—almost.

Slicing through them just as easily as he had done the others, he turned in time to witness Foxx rip someone's heart out. "So, it's like always this easy for you?"

The vampire tossed the heart aside. "I mean, they could still get some good hits in, so you can't be careless. But generally, the vampires we've faced haven't…been much of a threat to me. The only one close to a threat was probably that woman who blew that house up on us. Who you killed, by the way, as she was among the bodies." Foxx's head tilted. "I suppose Micah could have been one, if he'd been at full strength, as he was older…but… I'm guessing he wasn't super strong as you were able to take him down before you were changed, and that wasn't too long ago."

Harlow turned, freed a knife from the sheath on his right wrist and tossed it, nailing a fleeing vampire in the back of the head. "Micah was…" He thought over that first fight with a frown. "He was a pain in the ass to take down. I won't say he wasn't. But…he was probably weaker than you."

Foxx hummed, his expression thoughtful while he latched onto another vampire, who started screaming bloody murder. The scream cut off when Foxx severed his head with a quick swipe of his claws. As the blood sprayed through the air, Foxx said, "Why don't you try to hold back? I mean, make sure they don't shove a hand through you, but you do need the practice."

Practice, huh… Well, Foxx wasn't wrong… He'd barely been able to hide just how much shit he'd broken since the change. Foxx still hadn't found out about some of it… But it was kind of hard to hide breaking a glass or mug when you got down to having only a few left. Just a bit noticeable going from ten glasses to two…

"Practice… I suppose I should."

How…did one actually practice? That was the question…

"If you think killing them is easy, which it is for me too, just think what would happen if you were up against a human."

He blinked. "No wonder you knocked those humans out fucking cold."

Well…out cold, as in, passed out due to internal hemorrhaging… It's not like Foxx had killed them… The brain swelling of that first one went down just fine… The man was alive and well in prison.

"Right!?" Foxx cried as he punched a man in the face, knocking him to the ground. "It's not as easy to hold back as you'd think it would be at my age. I mean, sure, strength depends on the individual and all, but like mine personally just keeps going up as I get older! Like, it never fucking seems to stop. Kind of annoying, I'm not going to lie. I keep having to readjust every decade to a hundred years or so."

Harlow pulled out his gun and shot the man who was starting to get up off the floor. "How the hell did I even fight you all off? Humans, we never should have been able to…"

"I mean, you were never human. And I'm pretty sure you had above human abilities back when we thought you were. You heard better, your strength, agility, and reaction times seemed above and beyond what any human should have been capable of, especially at your age. But also, as I said, it depends on the individual. Age plays a huge factor. You stand a chance because, frankly, most of the vampires and paranormals we face are young. Not all, of course.

"Take that vampire, that ‘mafia' boss. He was over five hundred. At the time, you mentioned believing that he was physically stronger than you, but I don't think that was true. I think it's likely, despite his age, he was overall quite weak. Sure, compared to the vampires here, he'd be strong. And I'd assume he likely would have given you a good fight. But all that aside, you probably would have won in a fight against him, even back then." Foxx smiled cheekily. "Well…maybe not that day, with that back issue you had, but…"

He sighed. "Brat."

Harlow lunged at the vampire who tried to run past him. Grabbing onto him, he swung him over his shoulder, slamming him head-first into the floor. There was the sound of cracking as the wood splintered, the man's skull bursting open as it was crushed and split. He released the man and straightened up. Harlow eyed the brain matter mess with a grimace—oops…

"That's definitely not holding back." The vampire giggled. "But, no, think about it… Hanes was human, but the man took out quite a few vampires before he went down. Why would someone who was strong, sit back and lose so many of his men, if he had the ability to take him out sooner?"

Foxx had a point. Hanes died…but he didn't go down alone. "Distraction… The vampire used a moment of distraction to win."

"Exactly. So hunters can face us…and they can, and do, succeed in their efforts, because every vampire is not me. Truthfully, there are probably more Alastairs out there than there are vampires like me."

Harlow snorted. "Yeah, he can't fight for shit." He sliced through the neck of one vampire when he attacked, and grabbed another by the throat. Holding back as best he could, he squeezed, trying to not actually dig into the man's flesh… It didn't work… He let go the minute his hands started to sink in. "Ugh," he grunted in disgust, shooting the man in the face in frustration.

"How do you know Alastair can't fight?" Foxx asked, the man behind him now.

He realized the house had gone quiet… The one he just shot had apparently been the last one standing. The rest of the vampires were either dead, or…incapacitated.

Wiping his hands off on his shirt, he turned around. "He attacked me when he realized what I was."

Foxx's brow rose at that. "I'm surprised you didn't hurt him."

"You'd be sad if I killed him."

The vampire nodded. "I would have, but I would have understood a bit of maiming for his stupidity in daring to attack a highly skilled and trained hunter."

Harlow chuckled. "Well, I didn't think I could, or can, handle just a little maiming right now. So, I held him away from me."

"Right." Foxx laughed. "I suppose a little maiming hadn't been an option." The vampire looked around. "Well, looks like things are about done here. Let's…cut the heads off the ones still breathing, burn this monstrosity down, and head to the cabin!"

"If you want, we can always sleep a bit before heading to the festival. It will be going on till midnight."

The vampire's nose wrinkled. "It likely would be over for the day by the time I woke up."

He rolled his eyes. "Right…I forgot about you needing at least ten hours of sleep to function."

"If you want sunshine and not grump, then yes, I need all my hours of sleep!"

Harlow snorted and pulled out his short sword. "Come on, sunshine, let's finish off these fuckers."