23. That’s a New One

"Foxx, we have a dead hunter. We need to go, now," Harlow announced stiffly.

"We—" Foxx cut off whatever complaint he'd been about to release, the vampire's eyes widening, no doubt on registering what he'd just said. Face pinching with concern, the man wiped his hands off on a towel and hurried over. "I had so much fun, Sephira, but duty calls!" Foxx said.

"Life goes on," Harlow heard Sephira murmur as he ushered the vampire away.

The minute they stepped outside, Foxx asked, "Who died?"

"I don't know yet. All I got from Charity is that it was someone from our office," Harlow said as he unlocked the Jeep and they jumped in.

"They don't know?"

"They know, but it only just happened, so all the details are jumbled. Charity didn't wait around for the who's and what's. We are the only team available and we need to get there now. It'll be in the amended file when they send it."

Once they were both buckled in and he"d started the car, Harlow punched in the address Charity gave him and took off.

"Casing, Oklahoma? That's over six hours away. Wouldn't a flight be faster? You said a hunter died, so I'd assume the partner is still alive?"

"Bad fucking timing, both jets are on their way back from different locations. And there are no commercial flights taking off soon enough. This is the fastest option."

Foxx sighed. "We are going to have to stop for supplies. We have everything we need to fight, since we just got off a case, but you are almost out of water, and we don't have any food…"

"You have a sunsuit stashed in your duffle, right?"

"Yes."

"And you have enough blood."

The vampire frowned, confused. "I didn't pack any blood."

"I did."

Foxx blinked. "You did?"

"Yes, so the rest we can just pick up at a gas station when we stop for gas and possibly breakfast. I can hold off."

Harlow was slightly surprised the vampire hadn't noticed the fridge he'd had installed in his Jeep a few weeks ago, but whatever. They had what they needed for now. While Harlow was feeling dehydrated, when wasn't he? He'd survive.

"If—" Foxx cut off when Harlow's phone started ringing, a normal, non-song ringtone.

"Fuck!" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone, tossing it to Foxx.

Foxx caught it and flipped it open, connecting the call and putting it on speaker.

"Harlow," Tony's voice came out…and it was…a tone he hadn't heard in a long ass fucking time. Just this empty, almost hollow sounding flatness.

"Who was it?" he asked with a sigh.

"Hanes Jackson."

His eyes widened at that. Hanes…? "Fucking, how?"

"We don't know. That's all his partner managed to say before the call cut. We are presuming that his partner, Kinley Clines, is dead as well. Based on what we heard, he likely died right after his call cut out.

"We don't know what went wrong, but it's an unregistered nest. We have pictures, but we know practically nothing else about them, besides the fucked up shit they did."

"So, we are going in blind," Foxx mused.

"Essentially. You'll know more once the amended file has been sent. Just…" Tony hesitated, before saying, "Be careful."

The line went dead, and Foxx slowly closed Harlow's phone. "So, their ages are unknown, but they"re obviously dangerous if they took out two hunters."

Harlow sighed. "It's worse than that. I'm not sure about Kinley, but I know Hanes. He's been a hunter for as long as I have."

"You knew him?"

"Yes… The man was…" He frowned, thinking over what he knew about the other human. "Back then…to say most hunters weren't trustworthy would be an understatement. Even if I, by chance, had someone watching my back, most of the time I'd have one eye on the fuckers I was fighting, and one eye on them. And it was not because I was worried for their safety, that's for sure."

Foxx snorted. "Which explains you shooting that one guy in the back."

Harlow chuckled. "Oh no, him being an asshole and pissing me off one too many times explains that. And while I could have gotten away without doing it, the thought of him being possibly ripped to shreds by werewolves was too entertaining to pass up."

"Right…"

"But Hanes…was different. The man was actually a good…person?" He frowned. "I guess… Well, he was trustworthy at least. And fucking tank-like in his ability to kill you fuckers. So back then, if I had to be paired with someone, I didn't mind it being him. Which is saying something, as most hunters back then, my own insanity aside, were and probably still are fucking nuts. Like a whole slew of mental fucking issues."

Foxx hummed. "I, somehow, don't find that surprising."

To be honest, at least half of them had so much hatred for the creatures they were killing, they usually did something stupid as all hell that got them and everyone with them into deeper shit. Harlow was going to guess, the ones who were that way, who managed to survive, were no doubt now working for Maverick in his little unofficial pissed off bitch, baby hunter group.

"But if he was as skilled as you say…then either these vampires are extremely old and powerful…or something went seriously wrong."

"Right…" Harlow grimaced.

"Sorry your…friend died," Foxx said softly.

His brow rose at the tone. Looking over at the vampire, he found the man frowning, his freckled nose scrunched.

"He wasn't my friend." Harlow smirked. "You're my only one, remember?"

"And Tony is?"

"Enemy."

Foxx scoffed. "You're full of shit, old man."

"No, just fully grounded in reality, brat."

Tony was…a friend, he supposed. Hanes, however…he hadn't lied. Harlow didn't see him as a friend, and…felt nothing on hearing that he was gone, besides maybe a touch of apprehension?

Tony, on the other hand, likely was hit hard by this. Thus the weird phone call with him telling them to watch their asses. He hadn't gotten a don't die phone call from him in a while.

Harlow couldn't help but smile smugly at that. Despite the countless times Tony had wished death on him, he knew the bastard would miss his ass if he actually died.

* * *

Foxx staredat the menu board of Lucky Sevens—a random ass fast food diner joint attached to a random ass gas station slash convenience store located in the middle of fucking nowhere Missouri.

Just past 8am, they'd decided to eat breakfast before getting back on the road. Which was why Foxx was standing there in a light green bear sunsuit, hood and face shield down, staring at the damn board.

He tried to focus on the words again, but…his mind once again got side tracked. Mostly by him wondering what the fuck was waiting for them in Oklahoma. Better yet, was Harlow really not upset about that human hunter dying?

Well, they likely didn't cross paths much, especially after the Guild became a known government entity, so why would the man care? Harlow was also a self-proclaimed psychopath, so…emotions of mourning may not be a thing for him. Which probably cemented the fact that Foxx really should not be taking the previous feeling-like thoughts that had been trying to bubble up for weeks seriously.

"Foxx, you planning to order sometime today?" Harlow's voice dragged him away from the mess in his head.

"What?" He looked at him.

The human's brow raised. "Order?"

"Right!" His gaze flicked to the bored-looking worker in front of him, and then back to the menu. Actually reading it this time, he quickly ordered. "I'll have the chocolate chip waffle meal, with extra whipped butter, syrup, and chocolate sauce. For my two sides, I"ll have bacon for both, extra crispy, and to drink…fat free milk, if you have it."

After the worker typed it in and Harlow paid, the man turned to him and slowly asked, "Is there a point in the fat free milk when you are eating a whole days worth of calories for your meal?"

Foxx sniffed. "Nothing to do with the calories, I just like the taste."

"Right."

"What did you get?"

"You'll see soon enough. Did the file come in?"

"My phone dinged while we were shopping, so likely."

"Good, we can go over it while we eat."

Foxx's gaze went to the counter when two trays were set down. The waffles and bacon actually looked and smelled mouthwatering… Harlow's meal, however…

"You seriously got fucking oatmeal with fruit?"

Harlow snorted. "Just grab your tray." The man picked up his and walked away.

Shaking his head, Foxx grabbed his tray and followed, sitting down across from him when the human stopped at a table and sat.

Opening the plastic fork and knife on his tray, Foxx spread butter on top of each of his waffles before layering them again, while Harlow began to eat. Dumping first the chocolate sauce and then the syrup on top of his waffles, he cut in and took a bite. Foxx groaned at the chocolatey sticky sweetness in his mouth.

"Sugar on more sugar," Harlow grumbled.

He glanced up and found the man not eyeing his food but him. The why was answered moments later when the human snapped, "Did you have to bring the brightest fucking sunsuit you had?"

This was, by far, not his brightest sunsuit, but he couldn't deny that the bright grass-green color was pretty standout-ish.

"It's not like I had a chance to pick one out. It's what I had in my duffle," Foxx huffed and took another bite, before pulling out his phone from the belly pocket of his sunsuit and unlocking it. "Got the email."

Harlow rolled his eyes and took another mouthful of his disgusting oatmeal. Boring old man, Foxx thought snidely.

He opened the email and started reading as he took another bite. "Well, fuck…"

"Not good?"

"It seems a group of vampires decided to go into organized crime."

"Drugs?" Harlow asked with a frown.

"And then some… Seems they decided they wanted to play mafia. The police were looking into them, and had plans to take them down when it was discovered that none of them were human. And with the multiple deaths of humans and paranormals alike, it got passed to us."

"That's a new one. Oklahoma seems a bit of a fucking random location to do it in though. Do we know how many?"

He scrolled, eyeing the many, many pictures attached, and the various crimes…snorting when he got to the information about how many.

"Like Tony said…they don't know much. There are a lot of pictures here, but no names. They even guesstimated the number, saying anywhere from ten to fifty."

"Gee…how fucking helpful."

"There are…different locations though. Two factories, five warehouses, and one ‘empty' office building."

"No homes or anything?"

"Nope. The two hunters are believed to have died in the warehouse in Casing, which is why they are, I guess, sending us there first. Otherwise, the rest are scattered around the nearby counties. Think we will get lucky and they'll still be there?"

"If they are smart, it"s unlikely. But we'll have to check it first, if only to retrieve the bodies. But the vampires themselves…" Harlow sighed. "It's going to be a long motherfucking day. Because them being a whole ass criminal organization means, no matter what or who we find in the first location, we are going to have to check the others too, all while running on no sleep. Because until we find the bodies of the two hunters…we must assume they are alive."

"Joy…"

As this was the time they'd normally be getting to sleep lately…it looked like he'd need to, at some point, chug down a few blood bags to stay awake. At least it was supposed to be warmer than the day before. Still cold for him, but sixty was better than forty, that was for sure.