25. Whirling Twirling Tornado

Foxx couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled up as he caught sight of the single golden thread inside each of them—the only thing keeping them somewhat standing.

"Oh, this vampire must have just reached minor bloodline maturity. These things are weak as fuck. In fact…" He eyed Harlow and slowly smiled as a slightly crazy idea formed in his head. "Give me your sword."

The human's eyes narrowed. "No, it's mine."

His smile dropped… Oh, for fuck's sake. "I'm just going to borrow it."

"Get your own."

"Do you want to get out of here quickly or not?! We have a shit ton of places to visit today."

"Fine!" Harlow grumbled.

The man slipped his gun back in the chest holster under his jacket, and reached back, pulling his short sword from the sheath there. Harlow held it out to him with a glare.

Rolling his eyes, Foxx wrapped his hand around the part of the hilt that Harlow wasn't grasping, and found he had to actually tug it from the human. By the Goddess, the man was such a fucking child sometimes when it came to his things!

Shaking his head, he spun to face the brainless horde, and smiled at the slowly approaching zombies. Hehe, this was going to be fun…if slightly disorienting. It could possibly give him an upset stomach… Eh—he was sure it would be mostly fun.

Stretching his arms out in front of him, sword pointed straight out, he began to spin.

* * *

Eyes widening in slight concern,Harlow took a cautious step back when Foxx began to spin with his very sharp sword pointed out threateningly. Mere seconds later, he took even more steps back, pressing himself against a shelf as the vampire's speed increased to the point that he was practically a blur.

A laugh of disbelief slipped from him when the spinning brat began to twirl his way towards the zombies. Blood and body parts spiraled outwards the second Foxx came into contact with the first unlucky few. Harlow stood there unflinching as blood sprayed over him, the speed of it as it whipped around made it sound like hard rain splattering onto the pavement. Each zombie Foxx came into contact with sent a barrage of limbs flying, while some bodies were literally severed in half. The smell was not…pleasant, to say the least. The man had definitely perforated a few bowels.

Yet…among the sounds of splattering blood, limbs falling, and the slosh of entrails, was this high-pitched, joy filled…giggling. Foxx was giggling like a maniac.

It was possibly the most insane he'd ever heard the vampire sound, yet it was…adorable.

"Ah, fuck," Harlow chuckled softly.

There was no denying it now, he found the vampire cute. And as he continued to watch Foxx slice up the undead while the vampire tornado-ed chaotically around the room, a giant smile broke out on his face, one he wasn't sure he could have stopped even if he had wanted to. That smile, however, dropped when the vampire started to near Hanes' zombie.

"Foxx, wait!" he snapped.

The little tornado started to slow instantly, and then it was no more, leaving Foxx just stumbling around and shaking his head. The vampire's bright green sunsuit was splattered with blood. Much of the spray seemed to have whipped around him, forming a full circle in many places. Having not unzipped his face shield, he wasn't sure Foxx could see very well at the moment.

"Neeed something?" Foxx slurred, sounding fucking drunk. The vampire swayed a bit before shaking his head again, looking to be attempting to regain his balance.

He walked over slowly, and with his sleeve, he wiped off the blood on the man's face shield.

"Ohh, thhankk you." Foxx giggled.

Chuckling, he said, "Don't slice up Hanes' body."

Foxx shook his head once more, and then looked back. "Ah…right." Foxx cleared his throat, and when he spoke next, he no longer sounded drunk. "Why don't you shoot him in the head to get him out of the way? I"ll finish the rest… Shooting it should be enough. Though, I suppose you could shoot him anywhere as these things will go down with one hit."

Nodding, he pulled his gun back out, aimed and fired. Out of respect for both Hanes and possibly Tony, he shot the man in the shoulder instead of the head. Just as Foxx had said it would, the zombie went down.

"Wow…what even is the point of these things with them being so fucking weak?"

"Maybe…intimidation?" Foxx said with a head tilt. "It could have worked, maybe? Most hunters don't even know about them."

Harlow snorted, eyeing the ten remaining zombies… They were struggling even more than before with all the ‘pieces' in the way. "Well, might as well finish them off, Foxx. You only have ten left."

"Right!" Foxx giggled, and once more he became a whirling, twirling tornado.

When the last zombie fell, Foxx slowed back down, swaying where he stood. "Blooooody funnn, but…" He let out a puff of air. "Oh, am I dizzy." The vampire wobbled as he held the sword out for Harlow to take.

Harlow smirked and walked through the mess over to him. Grabbing his sword, he cleaned it off on his black jeans, sheathing it before once again wiping Foxx's face shield off with his sleeve. "You're a mess."

Foxx looked down at himself, his lips pursing into a pout. "Aww…this was my first time wearing it."

He just shook his head and waded through the mess towards Hanes' body. Foxx followed behind him somewhat precariously, seeming to still be a bit dizzy from all the spinning.

Brushing off someone's detached arm that must have gotten flung on top of him during Foxx's slice and dice routine, he crouched and examined the human, looking for any injuries. There…wasn't much. Just the bullet wound from him, and… He grimaced.

"They ripped his heart out," Foxx mused, now standing beside him.

Sighing, Harlow probed deep into the wounds with his fingers, and besides finding pieces of broken bone, torn tissue and muscle…there was nothing else.

"It's definitely gone." He traced the edges of the wound. "If I'm not wrong, they surprised him from behind."

"It's a quick and easy way to kill someone—vampire, human, or otherwise—and when someone poses a threat, quicker is best."

Harlow sighed again, wiping his hand on his pants as he stood up. "Let's get him back to the car."

"Harlow, we can't just carry a dead body around, we'll be…" Foxx trailed off. Eyes suddenly widening, he gasped. "I forgot something!"

"What and where?"

"No, not some ‘thing', something, as in information!" Foxx groaned. "They know we are here. The person who made the zombies will feel it when the connection is cut."

Harlow shrugged. "I mean, they will know we are here the minute we show up at one of the places where there are living people and kill them all. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if there are cameras around here too. Either way, as easy as they are to take down, it's not like we could have just left them here to hobble around until we took care of the rest. Too much risk."

"True…" the vampire said, before eyeing Hanes' body again. "You can't just carry a dead body around in broad daylight. Someone will have to run and get the car."

Harlow's shoulders stiffened, and he barely stopped himself from snapping ‘no'.

Moving past the ridiculousness of Foxx worrying about carrying around a dead body when the vampire was literally coated in blood, separating was not an option. Nor would he let it happen in any capacity.

"No, either we carry him out together, or we both go get the car. We are not separating."

Foxx frowned. "Why?"

"Because the last time one of us ran to get the car, you ended up kidnapped. We aren't separating," Harlow said firmly.

"How is that situation in any way similar to this one?!" Foxx cried.

"There are too many unknowns. We are not splitting up."

"You are being ridiculous."

"The answer is still no."

"Fine! Let's go get the damn car!" Foxx snapped, stomping away.

* * *

They hadto fold part of the back bench seat down, but they got Hanes' body in the back of Harlow's Jeep. Foxx found it interesting that Harlow happened to have a body bag ready to go in there, but he supposed, being prepared for anything was…part of the job.

Once they"d got the seat covers in place, Foxx jumped in and glanced back at the black body bag. It wasn't crammed in there, but it likely wouldn't move much, as Hanes had not been a small man. His head tilted slightly as the center of the bench seat caught his eye. What…?

He stared at what looked to be a built-in refrigerator. The thing seemed to have replaced the center seat of the bench. Twisting more in his seat, he reached out and lifted the hinged lid, his brow rising upon finding it filled with blood, and a bag of metal straws. Harlow…had said he packed blood, but Foxx had assumed the man had grabbed his portable blood fridge.

Foxx closed it and straightened in his seat when Harlow got in, asking, "When did you get a refrigerator put in?"

Harlow glanced back briefly before pulling his seatbelt on and saying, "Like two weeks ago, I'm surprised you"ve only just now noticed it."

He frowned. Two weeks ago?! Oh, he really needed to start being more observant…

Well, even if it had been sitting in the car for a while, it's not like it would go bad. The blood the various governments had started releasing for his kind to buy was already expired. Expired and then repacked with an anticoagulant that would keep it liquid for years. Luckily, it being expired didn't change the taste much, or affect its nutritional value—at least, not for a vampire. But…

"But why?"

"Because we don't always have time for you to pack blood, and this way, it's already here."

"Oh… Thank you…I guess," he said slowly, not sure how he should feel about it.

It was…odd having someone do something for him without having to ask. Not that his friends didn't do things for him. And Harlow was a friend…

Of course, he wasn't fucking any of his other friends… But Harlow wasn't…

Why was he being considerate at all?! The whole friendship had been forced on him! Foxx had literally just brow beaten him until he agreed to the damn thing! The last thing Harlow should be was considerate!

This was bad… No, this was worse than just bad, it was horrible! Harlow was making him feel confused. And he needed to cut it out, right this instant! Because Foxx couldn't, and shouldn"t, feel things for the human. Like, moving past the fact that Harlow was human, which always came with pain due to their short lives, he also wasn't sure Harlow could or would ever feel anything back. Not that Foxx felt anything. Nope, he felt nothing…ha…

"Foxx!" Harlow snapped.

He blinked, and looked over. "Yes?"

"Since you apparently didn't hear me the first two fucking times, where is the next closest place?" The human groused, clearly irritated.

"Ah…let me check."