2. Enemies Made Along the Way

Harlow slipped into bed, intending to pull the sleeping vampire against him, but the second he touched Foxx, the man's eyes snapped open on a startled gasp.

Foxx stared wide eyed at him for a brief moment, his fear clear, before the expression was replaced by a mask—a fake smile that never reached his eyes. It wasn't that Harlow hadn't seen this before, but it was usually paired with the vampire threatening him in some way, not to hide.

Hands clenching, his anger swelled, not to mention his urge to break into multiple prisons to off some priests. He should have killed more…maybe even those fuckers in that house. All of them had gotten off lightly.

When Foxx snuggled against him, Harlow forced the thoughts and murderous rage away, mostly as there was no outlet for any of it at the moment.

"All settled at work?" the vampire asked.

Harlow wrapped his arms around the smaller man, pulling him on top of him as he rested back. Having no intention of telling Foxx about the whole psychiatrist thing, he skipped to the end of his and Tony's fucked-up conversation. "Their slow asses finally figured out who blew up my fucking house. Oh, and who set up the trap with that female vampire."

"Is it the same person?"

"No, just two very annoying, pain in the ass, motherfuckers from my past."

Basically lounging on top of him now, Foxx looked up, chin resting on Harlow's sternum as he asked with a snicker, "What's that? You actually let them live long enough to become an annoyance? Were you fucking them?"

Harlow barked out in laughter. "Both are men, you brat. And as you know, you are the only man I've fucked…but…beyond that, they are—" He grimaced, thinking on the two individuals. "—definitely not even close to my type. And while personality never really mattered to me when it came to fucking with one-night stands, especially back then, I wouldn't have touched either of them, even if they offered."

Foxx giggled. "Okay, then spill. What did they, you or whoever, do?"

Harlow oddly found himself smiling at the light sound. It felt like it had been too long since he'd heard it. Which was stupid…as he definitely had heard it before they'd gone to sleep earlier that night, before he'd had a nightmare and ran his bitch ass to Tony. What a dumb decision that had been…

"Which first?" he asked.

"House."

"Fine. My house was blown up by a man named Maverick Rossie. It's believed that he is the leader of that rumored off-grid hunter's group that we still don't have a name for."

"The group that hates government hunters, and thinks you are all traitors to the human race?" Foxx asked, before frowning and saying, "Wait… Tony was there? Isn't it…a ‘holiday'?" the vampire finished with a scoff of disgust, seeming to now even refuse to say the word Christmas.

"Yes, that one. And yes, he was there working, but we really can't blame him with the nightmare he has going on at home."

Foxx's freckled nose wrinkled. "Why does he stay married?"

"I don't know." But he was definitely going to find out. Because he was going to dig. "Anyway, Maverick's an old school hunter, like I am. But unlike me, he is a fucking bigot who isn't picky about who he hates. Man thought anyone ‘different' was better off dead. That included humans he didn't agree with. Not that I wouldn't like to off more idiot humans, but I would definitely not be offing the same humans as he would."

"Let me guess, if being a vampire wouldn't get me killed, me being gay would be enough for him to want me gone?"

"Pretty much."

Foxx hummed and then asked cheekily, "So why does he hate you, besides the obvious reasons of your personality?"

"Brat."

"Old man." Foxx stuck his tongue out. "But I'm right, aren't I? Sure, you are a hunter, and you even worked before the world knew about us. But there are plenty of others like you out there. So why is he focused on you?

"If it was a way to announce themselves… Frankly, it failed. As one, no one knows publicly who did it, and two, they obviously tried to cover up their tracks, which they wouldn't do if they'd wanted to use it as an introduction. And really, if he wanted to make a statement, quite frankly, Tony would be a better target than you, wouldn't he?"

What had he done…? He hadn't even seen the man in, what? Ten years?

Growls in the distance were closing in, without hesitation, Harlow raised his gun and fired. Maverick cried out as the bullet pierced his lower back, the man stumbling one step forward before collapsing.

"You…" the other human hissed breathlessly when he strolled past.

Harlow's gaze flicked down, lips twisting into a smirk. Maverick was a big man, taller than him, bulkier too.

The human would have maybe been attractive to someone—not him—if he'd cut down on the fake tan, bleach…and…. Well, honestly, probably only a lobotomy would fix the horror show that was his personality.

"I'd say it's been nice working with you, but…" He shrugged. "Frankly, I hope this is the last time I ever see you. Or better yet—" Harlow chuckled. "—that the next time I see you, you're in pieces."

* * *

Foxx's browrose when the human's mouth curved into a very smug, evil smirk. Oh, Harlow had definitely done something, and whatever he had done, he had no regrets.

"I may have…shot him in the back the last time I saw him. At the time, there…may have been a pack of crazed werewolves trying to kill us. I also just MAY have told him I'd like for the said crazed werewolves to rip him apart."

"May have, huh?" Foxx snickered.

"What's one bullet between ‘friends'?"

He grinned. "Oh, so I can shoot you?"

"You'd like to, wouldn't you?" the human said, his smirk only widening.

"Why does it sound like you want me to, old man?"

"Maybe I do," Harlow said, voice ending in a deep growl. But it wasn't out of anger or warning, it was full of heat. "Why don't you try and see what happens, brat?"

Foxx shuddered—ah, he wanted to do it. Not that he wanted to actually shoot Harlow. He just wanted to step over the line, go all out, even if it was just to see what the man would do. And bloody hell, he could tell Harlow actually wanted him to do it.

Did the human maybe find the idea of fighting him a turn on? He eyed the man, looking for the answer… But he didn't have to look too hard, as it was really obvious.

Yes… Definitely, yes. Harlow more than liked the idea. Foxx could feel the evidence of that poking him.

While he didn't think it would be a fight he'd lose, at the same time, the idea was…horribly stupid. And pointless, as he had no reason to fight the man—at the moment. Foxx was sure Harlow would, no doubt, give him plenty of reasons to in the future.

Foxx slapped the human's chest. "Stop getting turned on, you perv. I'm not fighting you."

Harlow frowned, grumbling, "It would be fun."

"No. We've had enough injuries as it is lately, we don't need to add to that."

The man let out a dissatisfied huff. "If you change your mind, let me know."

Foxx snorted. "Piss me off enough and I likely will."

The smirk returned. "Easy enough," he hummed. "Though I suppose now isn't a good time anyway. You aren't at full strength."

His humor fled at that. "Right…" Foxx cleared his throat. Not wanting to think about his injuries, and how he got them, he asked, "So, who is the other person fucking around with… Well, I'd say us, but really they are both after you, not me."

* * *

Harlow grimaced. The ‘who'was…ugh. "Well, to get to the who, I need to explain the why. As in, why they were able to live long enough to pull this shit off. And that's…just a bunch of…dumb mistakes and…fucking Iggy."

"You know, it only gets worse from here," Harlow drawled.

Eyeing the restrained vampire, his gaze swept over him. Tall and lanky, the bound man's mousy brown hair was matted with blood, his green eyes bloodshot and swollen, the bruises on his face were a stark contrast to his pale skin.

Harlow had broken all his fingers. Each and every one was now bent in the wrong direction. Nearby, part of the vampire's leg lay discarded. The first, he was sure, of many limbs he'd be removing tonight.

Micah was all that was left of the fucked-up nest that had been living here. The rest were just bodies on the ground around him. As much as he wanted to just kill the fucker…they needed something from him.

Eyeing what remained of the man's left leg, he tsked. The thing was just a bloody stump now, chopped off below the knee, blood flowing freely. "You are already down to one leg, but I'll gladly take the other as well, among other things."

Harlow stepped back to avoid the bloody gob of spit that the man spat at him. "Why tell you anything when you plan to kill me anyway?!"

He went to answer, but paused upon hearing the roar of an engine. At the sound of crunching metal, Harlow spun around, his eyes widening in horror as he watched his SUV crash through the side of the metal storage facility he was standing in. The vehicle careened to a stop inches from him.

"WHAT THE FUCK, IGGY?!" he roared, glaring at the apparently suicidal bastard sitting in his driver's seat.

The man stared sheepishly for a moment, and then eyed the room, before laughing. "It got quiet…so I thought, maybe…you needed help?"

Harlow stared at the now fucked up hood of his car, and said calmly, "I'm going to kill you."

"Aww, it's just a car… I'll…" Iggy cleared his throat. "Pay for the repairs. And like, no harm done… Everyone's dead here, so like, now we can just clean up."

"Everyone is not…" He spun, eyes widening on finding Micah gone. "I'm going to kill you, Iggy!"

"Wait, wait, wait,"Foxx barked, drawing him out of the memory he'd been retelling. Harlow still felt just as pissed off as he had been when it actually happened. Iggy always seemed to have just the absolute worst fucking timing.

"How did you lose a one-legged vampire, who no doubt was suffering from massive blood loss?!"

"The vampire had a fuck ton of followers, one probably hid and waited. Dumb fuck Iggy just gave them the perfect opportunity to grab him."

"What information were you trying to get out of him?"

Harlow grimaced. "The man had a thing for kidnapping and changing human teenagers. I was trying to figure out where the fuck he'd taken the recent victims, and if he had already changed them or not."

Foxx's face twisted in disgust, hissing, "A fucking pedophile?"

"Yeah. Most of those in his nest—his followers—were young and brainwashed as hell. Which did make them easy to kill, as none had age or skill on their side.

"Truth was, plenty of hunters back then saw vampire children as monsters. So even if they had once been humans who were changed against their will, most wouldn't have felt a thing taking them out.

"Iggy isn't part of the majority, even if he is a fuck up. Which is why Tony paired me with him for the hunt. Tony may be a hard-ass with most, but he is a complete disgusting marshmallow when it comes to children, no matter what species they are."

"He wanted you to see if you could save any of them, didn't he? While you wouldn't care whether they lived or died, you would at least attempt to help, because you don't actually hate my kind."

One had to feel more than indifferent towards something to actually hate it. And he did not.

"Pretty much," Harlow grunted. "I could tell the minute I arrived that there would be no saving anyone inside. Most were bordering, if not already in, bloodlust.

"But there had been a lot of recent disappearances. The hope was that even if they were changed, if we found them in time, they could still live normal lives. Hidden lives, but lives nonetheless."

Foxx cursed. "Overfeeding them until blood was all they wanted. He no doubt used bloodlust to control them. They wouldn't care what he did to them after that, as long as he kept giving them blood. You know…how my kind eats food, but can do without?"

"Yeah?" he asked, not sure where this was going.

"If a vampire child…were to stop eating food…they'd stop growing. And not just physically, but mentally too."

"Ah fuck…" Harlow grimaced in disgust. "I'm going to shoot Iggy the next time I see him."

Foxx snorted, but a yawn followed right after. The vampire stopped looking up, in favor of burrowing his face into Harlow's chest.

"Did you not find him again after that?" Foxx asked, his words slightly muffled now.

"Oh, I did… During a fucking group hunt where Iggy ended up fucking shooting me."

"Get away again?"

"Yes," Harlow growled.

"Did you ever find them? The children from the first time?"

"No…" Harlow said with a sigh.

"Yeah, you definitely should shoot Iggy the next time you see him," Foxx said with another yawn. The vampire mumbled sleepily, "I'm curious to know how many hit lists you are on."

"Too many," he chuckled as he ran his hand over Foxx's black curls. "Go to sleep, brat."

"Mhmm," Foxx murmured. Moments later, the vampire let out a soft snore.

Smiling, Harlow closed his eyes.