62. Never Again

F oxx ran alongside Harlow, listening, trying to hear any sort of cry for help. The reports of attacks had dwindled as the hours had passed. Unfortunately…that's when the calls of them finding paranormals dead had begun to come in. Bodies of vampires and werewolves alike. Time was running down for those still alive.

Foxx turned a corner, about to head one way when he heard it.

"Help! Please!" A weak cry came.

Spinning around, he took off, winding through streets he found a woman sprawled out on her back in a damp, dark alleyway. With her face covered in blood…she looked…like that one woman had over a month ago—scared and confused.

Running to her, with the counteragent already in his hand, he fell to his knees. Grabbing one of her hands to give support, Foxx stabbed the end of the injector directly into her chest, and pressed the release. Hoping, no, praying that he wasn't too late.

She cried out in pain at his action, staring at him with fear as she tried to pull her hand from his hold.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here to help. It will help. It will fix this." He hoped.

He really hoped…he wasn't about to witness another innocent vampire's death. Unfortunately, they didn't know how well the counteragent would work this late in the poison's progression. It wasn't something they could test without putting someone's life in danger.

Slipping into his bloodline powers, he stared at her threads, cursing as they continued to shred and grow dimmer. She was also…so very young—only fifty…

When the needle retracted, he tossed the injector aside and pulled her head into his lap as he began to run his hand over her hair. "Just keep fighting, okay? You need to keep fighting."

"Hurts… It hurts."

"I know, but you have to fight. I gave you something that will help, but it can't work if you don't fight."

"O-okay," she gasped, tears falling down her face.

Foxx's hand started to shake as her threads grew darker and darker. When her eyes began to close, he snapped, "No, no. No sleeping!"

Foxx patted her cheek when her eyes fully closed. He pushed as hard as he could, sending some of his energy into her, and while most didn't go through, unlike the last time he'd tried, some did. Her threads brightened up just a bit as her eyes snapped back open on a gasp.

"That's it, stay awake. What's…" He swallowed. "What's your name, hun?"

She shuddered. "C-Cindy."

"Ah, Cindy, well, I'm Foxx."

"Hurts…so…b-badly…" she cried out. As she screamed, the little bit of light that had returned faded again.

"Come on, Cindy. I know it hurts, sweetheart, but you have to fight!"

Her screams grew louder, and before his eyes, her threads shredded more and more… Not much left now.

No…no… Not again… Never again! Hissing angrily at the unfairness, Foxx shoved a large amount of his life energy at her, pushing back against whatever force was trying to block his way. He kept shoving until every single bit of it went inside.

His body shaking due to the effort, Foxx let out a sob of relief when he realized that the shredding had finally…stopped…and had even begun to reverse. Tears formed in his eyes as he watched the beautiful threads weave back together.

"That's it," he rasped. "That's it, Cindy, that's it. You've got this."

Harlow stood back for a moment, watching Foxx hold the woman while trying his best to talk her back from the edge of death.

He stared for a few minutes longer before shaking his head and pressing the button on his earpiece. Harlow couldn't help Foxx, but he could at least call for backup, even if they'd likely only be arriving to pick up a body.

"Sadistic Sunshine Brigade calling in to request medical. Team is fine, but the infected vampire we found, not so much. She's alive, but fading. Be quick."

He released the button.

Seconds later, the voice on the line, for the first time in hours, was Tony's. "Request received, Sadistic Sunshine Brigade. Medical on route to your location."

Sighing, he went back to watching, as what else was he going to do?

When Foxx let out what sounded like a sob, at first, he thought it was over. But then Harlow realized it had been a sound of relief not sadness. Foxx's shoulders relaxed, the vampire's face slowly lighting up with a smile as he continued to encourage the woman to keep going. When that smile became less and less tense, and brighter, as time passed, Harlow figured it meant the woman was going to live.

Good job, brat , he thought with a smirk.

Harlow glanced back, eyeing the approaching ambulance. A man and woman jumped out, both had gloomy expressions until they seemed to realize the woman had survived. "Well, I'll be damned," the man rasped.

"And we thought we were just clean up," the woman said, smiling widely, her fangs flashed…

"Sorry to disappoint you," he deadpanned.

The fangs…were a surprise…but he had heard rumors of… Well, Foxx had heard rumors, who then in turn told him about said rumors. Either way, if they were true, medical hiring practices had begun to change. Mainly as a number of humans had quit, deciding they'd rather not work at all, over being forced to help save paranormals, resulting in a large staffing shortage at all levels. As if there hadn't been a shortage before that already , he thought sarcastically.

But ambulances had always been another fucked up part of the medical system, in that they could refuse to treat and pick up paranormals… Though, part of that was, well, according to what they claimed, due to the long distances between accidents and the hospitals that would even accept them.

Harlow was going to guess the refusals had turned to outright quitting now. Because if he wasn't wrong, the executive order that had fucked up hospitals in the first place, had also been what allowed ambulances to refuse to pick up non-humans.

He eyed the woman in Foxx's arms as he followed the medical team over. The female vampire looked to be fighting to stay awake and more dazed than when they'd arrived. It was curious why she hadn't passed out yet. All the other ones had once the injection had taken effect.

Foxx tried to extract himself to give them room, but the moment the woman noticed the paramedics, she clamped down on the vampire's hand, screaming, "NO!"

"It's okay. You're going to be fine now, I promise," his vampire murmured.

"No," she sobbed. "You can't leave me… Please… Don't…let them take me… It's…not safe there."

"Shh," Foxx shushed her gently. "You are going to live, whether?—"

"The priests!" the vampire sobbed.

Foxx stiffened, his eyes going wide at her words, words that he had at no point tonight ever expected to come from anyone's mouth.

"They'll find me again!" Cindy's eyes moved to the two paramedics, staring at them as if they were there to hurt her.

Foxx took a deep breath, and really looked at her face, tears that he had held back on will alone earlier came flooding back.

From her brown hair to her large gray-blue eyes, pointed chin, slightly upturned nose, and heart shaped face… He knew every line, every curve… How could he not…? Her face had played in his nightmares along with so many others… How…hadn't he noticed?

Foxx let out a shuddered breath. "Look at me, Cindy."

Slowly, her gaze slipped to Foxx.

"Really, look at me. Do you remember me?"

She frowned, her brow pinching, before her eyes went wide as she gasped, "You…"

"Do you think I'd send you anywhere that would end with you in their grasp?"

Her bottom lip trembling, she bit it and shook her head slowly.

"That's right. You are going to a hospital, but there are no priests there. The priests that hurt us, they are in jail. They can't get to you. Unfortunately…" He gently brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. "You came into contact with someone who hates us just as much as they do. They hurt you, and I know you are confused, and in pain, but I promise, if you go with these paramedics, you will get the care and answers you need, while remaining safe."

Cindy stared at him, trembling, but after a moment, the vampire slowly let go of his hand.

Smiling, Foxx said, "Thank you for living." Then he extracted himself from her.

Standing back, he watched as they loaded Cindy into the ambulance.