48. He Was Promised!

" S o, are you planning to stop pouting today, or…?" Foxx trailed off, his gaze slowly moving over to Harlow as they continued walking. His ears, at the same time, were constantly listening for other heartbeats.

Their plan had been to start at Santiago's home, to see if there were any odd scents, and then run around to find out if they were at the other houses as well. However, the distance between where they had parked the car and Santiago's house had been beyond absurd.

The werewolf just had to own a large section of the damn area. His pack lands were basically a town and city in itself, with the outer boundary filled with a lot of nothing. So, of COURSE they'd parked at a grocery store to avoid detection, as there ‘literally' was no closer inconspicuous spot. At least, there wasn't according to Harlow .

As if parking by one of the fucking pack houses wouldn't have been a good enough option?! Like, they'd passed some and there had been cars!

Why the hell had he let the man drive after being stitched up?! Oh right…he'd felt so fucking sappy after the man had practically confessed how he felt, without actually saying ‘I love you', that he'd pretty much been ready to say yes to whatever the fuck Harlow had asked him. Foxx should have remembered that while the man could be unbearably sweet, the fucker was just as petty as he was.

"I do not pout!" Harlow snapped, grimacing a bit. No doubt from the discomfort of the stitches.

Wearing a new shirt, but no jacket, the man's knives were visible on his wrist, and there was a gun on his hip, attached to his belt. While the man had both a backup chest holster and sheath for his sword, wearing either was just not possible right now with his wounds.

Wounds aside, the dhampir must have gotten the good ass pain meds, as he was only wincing here or there. They'd also gotten some antibiotics. Beyond belief…it did appear that the wounds had been starting to fester… Which was something they probably should tell Doc.

"Rightttttt. You parked us miles and miles and miles away because you AREN'T pouting."

Harlow grinned smugly. "I parked us miles and miles away so we could remain undetected."

"BULLSHIT!" Foxx snapped, glaring before he gasped, stopping in his tracks. "BY THE GODDESS! This is our first fight! Do you know what that means?!"

The dhampir's grin dropped away to pure bafflement, his brow pinched, his eyes scrunched up as he stared at Foxx. "Brat…when have we not fought? Not that I don't enjoy it…but…"

Foxx huffed. "We bicker! There is a difference. And not first overall fight, I meant first fight as a couple!"

"Okay…and that means…?"

"It means makeup sex! Which is always more amazing than normal sex!"

Harlow snorted, before seconds later bursting into laughter. "And our normal sex isn't amazing?"

Foxx opened his mouth, closed it, and then pouted. "Well…I mean, it is… But…like maybe it would be better somehow?! It's just a rule of couple sex, okay, old man! I don't make the rules!"

"Could you even handle it being better than normal?"

He whined. "I'll have you know, I could handle two of you, if I wanted!"

"Two of me?"

"YES!"

"Sure you could." Harlow patted his shoulder and started walking again.

Foxx glared at his broad back. Stupid condescending asshole. Why the hell was he so good in bed?! No, but makeup sex was supposed to be better! He'd been promised! Alastair had assured him that the media hadn't lied to him, and that it was a thing!

It was just, Foxx usually never got past the first fight…as most of his first couple fights had ended in death… Self-defense, of course. Like, what had he been supposed to do when they attacked him? Not fight back?

"Come on, brat. It's up ahead!" Harlow yelled back.

Sighing, he rolled his eyes and caught up to the man. Right as they crested a hill, the house came into view. The large three floor home was situated in a valley, with a small lake out front.

Looking at what had to be a massive craftsman's style mansion, the ground floor was mostly stone, including the steps up and the floor of the porch, while the pillars and the upper two floors were wooden. With exposed beams and arches, with overhanging black roofs, there was a first-floor balcony, and windows were everywhere. Size wise…the house was big… Big, as in, three of Foxx's apartments would likely fit inside, with plenty of room to spare.

To be honest, it kind of reminded him of a lodge. He imagined that the heating bill would be painful with that many big windows. Hell, his was nothing to sneeze at, with the windows he had on his ground floor.

Eyeing the home as they made their way down the hill, he rasped, "Beautiful."

As it was… Though, so far, Foxx hadn't seen anything out of sorts.

"What? Is it your style?"

"Yes…it's lovely." Foxx beamed. "Santiago has good taste."

"It's a bit large, isn't it?"

"I mean, he's no doubt a rich werewolf, considering he said he had over a hundred in his pack… You knew that they were there, back before we were legal…I'm kind of surprised you didn't go after them, considering how many there were. Either way, I'm sure he has people staying with him periodically, even if most of the pack doesn't live with him. Though…I agree, three floors in a house that would have been considered sizable, even without the upper levels, would be a bit much for one person. I suppose, regardless of the pack members that could be staying with him, it's possible it's never just him… I mean, you know him better than I do. In your conversations, did you happen to find out if he is seeing anyone?"

"First of all…I didn't go after people that didn't bother me. Second, they kept to themselves, stayed out of trouble, and were pretty well hidden, even integrated with the community.

"Third, when you were revealed to the world and your existence was illegal, that was before I, and Tony, for that matter, even joined the still in the works, fully government connected, publicly known Hunters Guild. Then again, that formed fully only months before you were legal. From what Tony told me, they kept holding back from establishing it on realizing where the tides were going."

"I imagine, even if it was legal at the time, having records of them murdering indiscriminately would have been bad," Foxx added.

Harlow snorted. "No doubt. It was already known what old school hunters had done on the downlow, there was no point putting it all out in the open with how fast the laws were changing. Either way, the wolves didn't cause trouble, so we had no reason to go after them. At least, that was Tony's rules. Others, not so much.

"As for the last part, I don't know him at all. I've had no conversations with him outside of what you heard, and the brief moments when I talked to him about finding you."

Foxx sighed. "You could make him your friend. Seems like an almost seven-foot werewolf would be a good friend to have. Let's walk around." Foxx added the last part as he started walking around the outside, sniffing the air as he did.

Following behind him, Harlow grunted, "Don't need any."

Of course he didn't. Which was too bad… Foxx kind of wanted to know what the world would look like from that height, and if he could convince Santiago to pick him up just so he could see. But like, how could he even ask without Harlow first making friends with the guy?!

Foxx's nose wrinkled as a smell caught his attention, or rather smells. The interesting one being this odd metallic scent that almost burned his nose with the bitterness that came with it. It was like the darkest black coffee one could ever make was being shoved up his nose.

"I smell an odd bitterness…and…a human scent. More than one…but one is more faded, and I think coming from inside, so they probably live here. While the other…"

"Newer." Harlow frowned. "I do smell something bitter. As for the human… Did they come back already? And if they did, why wouldn't they try to hide their scent?"

"Hmm…an unfamiliar human scent would be questioned… At the same time…maybe it wouldn't matter. Or maybe the spell they are using to hide goes with them…while their scent stays behind."

"Seems…kind of stupid to use a spell to hide your presence, only for it to not work once you're gone, leaving all traces of yourself there."

"It may be a practicality thing. One is harder to do, and likely costs more money. Which may be an unnecessary cost when they intend for everyone here to die."

Foxx personally thought it was a cheapskate's way to go. But…it could be a clue into their financials. Then again…the wolfsbane proved that they had to have some big backing…unless they spent most of their funds on that…

It was at the back of the house when they found something out of sorts. A side door at the back of the house was broken down, the frame cracked and splintered.

Taking a deep breath as they reached the damage, he frowned. "This bitterness… I think I smelled this metallic bitterness on the body of Santiago's nephew. It's just so much stronger now and clearer… It must be the scent of the poison…but..." He took another deep breath, his eyes flicking to the tree line. "The human's scent is stronger back here as well. Harlow, I think…they really were here recently. Recently, as in, within the last thirty minutes."

"Why would they come back this quickly?"

"I don't know, but he has to be here still. His scent leads off that way… There are more houses there. We didn't really get close enough to the others to check if we could smell anything, but…he must be here now… Let's go!" Foxx hissed, taking off, using his nose to guide him. At the same time, he projected a minor illusion over them both, hoping it would be enough to hide them from whoever was here.

Between one blink and the next, Foxx disappeared. Jerking back as he kept going, Harlow barked out, "FOXX?! What the fuck did you just do?! Where are you?!"

He stopped and look down, and…well, fuck… "Where am I?!"

Harlow blinked a few times, and slowly his body came back into view.

"Wow… Sorry, your brain must have got some wires crossed there," Foxx said with a wince. "I pulled back a bit… I just wanted to hide us in case the human was looking in our direction. Though I pushed it around us, not at you… So, well, honestly, I didn't hold back like I usually do, as I assumed that being a dhampir would give you added protection. Maybe your brain is still a bit scrambled from the change…as those protections should have gotten better too."

"Fuck…maybe… Come on, let's go, the scent is even stronger here."

They took off again, Foxx slowing before they made it past another tree line. They stopped there, Foxx pointing, "There."

He narrowed his eyes, spotting a man skulking near a small yellow house with a white roof.

"What the bloody hell is on his face?"

"Heat vision goggles…" He stared at the human in clear view. "So, he temporarily hides his scent, and I suppose, his heartbeat, but…not his body?"

"Apparently…" Foxx said, sounding disgusted. Oh, the vampire was judging. "The goggles…wouldn't detect me… Vampires run way too cold for that… You, however, are a fucking space heater."

"Something you seem to enjoy, mind you," Harlow drawled.

The vampire shrugged. "Can't say I don't enjoy the extra body heat, but my enjoyment doesn't change the fact that your warmth would make you very visible on those goggles."

"Right…" He sighed. "And those goggles are probably why he risked coming back only three hours after the six werewolves were attacked. I recognize the pair he has on. It has a distance enhancer. He'd be able to leave before they ever spotted him."

"He's prepared for werewolves…but not vampires. As for you, he shouldn't be able to see you on that thing due to me. Does he look like a hunter to you?" Foxx asked with a frown.

Harlow eyed the man. The human looked tall, lanky, with very, very pale skin, and messy, greasy-looking brown hair. The guy had a messenger bag on his shoulder, and was wearing an overly stained gray hoodie, with equally as questionable jeans. While the butt of a gun was hanging out of his hoodie pocket… Well, frankly, the man did not look like he could throw a punch without breaking something, let alone get into a fight with a paranormal creature and win.

"Not really hunter-ish… More…"

"Nutjob recluse who rarely sees the light of day, who likely read and believed every conspiracy theory that he could get his greasy hands on, as he waited for humanity to need him? Yep, that's what I was thinking."

He grinned at the detailed description. Harlow had just been going to say nutjob who didn't know what a bar of soap was…but…he supposed the rest probably fit too. "So, he is probably helpless?"

"He has a gun…but I bet it has silver bullets in it. Like I said, he's only expecting werewolves, and possibly other humans."

"Which is dumb…because your species do get together sometimes. Not to mention, there are more than just werewolves and vampires out there. Either way, there are two of us, one of him, and he is human, so…"

Foxx snorted, before gasping and pointing. "Look, he's spraying something!"

"That he is…" The man was waving around some sort of black spray can, a thin mist coming from it, causing the bitter smell from before to grow. "Making it into an aerosol would be the easiest method for spreading. It's likely how they spread the vampire one too."

"Let's grab him and take his spray. Bet he has more on him than that too! We get that and it will cut Doc's job in half. As half of the fucking problem is recreating it."

Harlow smirked and waved him on. "After you."

"Don't mind if I do!"