“There are three people inside,” Harlan said, as he and Ruby carefully approached her apartment door. “Humans.”

“How do you know?” Ruby whispered.

“I can hear their heartbeats.”

“Well, that’s useful,” she nodded, gripping her gun with her left hand as she pressed herself against the wall. “Could Grant have sent them to finish what he started?”

“At this point, I’m not ready to rule anything out,” he replied.

Harlan had never known his former friend to associate with humans all that much, but if Mickey’s intel about Grant teaming up with Theo Greene was reliable, it seemed Grant was getting out of his comfort zone.

“Stay back,” he instructed, before stepping closer and pulling Ruby’s door straight off its hinges.

“Now I know how Mickey felt,” he heard Ruby mutter behind him as two men immediately came charging at him.

He would have found mere humans trying to take him down amusing, if he hadn’t suddenly been incapacitated by a searing hot pain. Falling to his knees, he realized one of the men had thrown a metal net at him, and from the way his skin was burning, he could only assume the metal was silver.

Of course things only got worse when Ruby came charging into the room, probably tipped off that something was wrong by his pained grunts.

“Ruby, run,” he managed to say, struggling to get free and burning his hands on the silver in the process.

She ducked back behind the doorframe, but held her ground, aiming her weapon at the three goons spread out in her living room.

“I don’t remember inviting you into my home,” Ruby called out.

None of the men, all in their mid-to-late thirties, covered in tattoos and wearing silver chains around their necks, responded. Harlan managed to get one side of his body free, but the side that was still covered in the net was weighing him down, as the silver seemed to melt deeper and deeper into his flesh.

The men turned their guns toward Ruby and let out a spray of bullets. Plaster went flying, coating the floor. Harlan could hear people in the adjacent apartments scream and run for cover.

“Alright, no banter, then,” Ruby said, noting the silence before returning fire as best she could.

Outgunned and outnumbered, Harlan knew it was only a matter of time until she caught a bullet trying to protect him. And he couldn’t let that happen. Reaching deep inside him, he pulled on whatever strength he had left.

Ignoring every instinct he had, he grabbed onto the silver netting, curling his fingers around the metal even as it melted right to his bones. On what seemed like willpower alone, he gave the thing a good yank, and managed to pull it off his body.

Seeing this happen, one of the goons, a tall man with a snake tattoo on his throat, reached back into the vest he was wearing, and pulled out a stake.

Now these guys are annoyingly well-prepared.

With barely enough power left to mend the damage the silver had done to his body, Harlan felt his singed flesh knit back together as he got up on his feet and charged at the man he had nicknamed Snake in his head.

The Snake with the stake. It even rhymes.

He wasn’t as fast as he normally was, but he still caught Snake off guard as the man was trying to run at him with the sharpened piece of wood aimed at his chest. Harlan only hesitated for a moment before snapping the man’s neck. Snake was human, and Harlan usually restrained himself from killing humans, but with Ruby’s life on the line, he didn’t feel like taking any chances.

As Snake’s lifeless body hit the ground, Harlan whirled around, ripping into the next man who got in his way. That happened to be a bodybuilder-looking dude standing in the middle of the room, staring down at Snake’s corpse.

Taking advantage of the man being momentarily distracted, Harlan leveled him with a single punch that sent the man flying into Ruby’s coffee table. The glass shattered and the wood cracked, and Harlan made a face as he made a mental note to replace the thing when he got the chance.

Now, there was only one man left. A blond guy wearing a tactical vest, who was pointing his semi-automatic right at Ruby. She was trying to get cover, taking a couple of shots at the guy before ducking away.

But the flimsy walls of the apartment building were already nearly shredded by all the gunfire. Now more hungry than ever, his burns barely healed and darkness creeping in on the edge of his vision, Harlan rushed toward the last man standing, sluggish by vampire standards.

As Ruby rounded the corner to take another shot at the blond goon, Harlan managed to leap in front of her, catching the spray of bullets meant for his new partner. As pain erupted through his body, he knew his day was about to get even worse.

Silver bullets. Son of a bitch.

Two loud pops sounded out from behind him, and the blond man went down. Next thing Harlan knew, Ruby was rushing to his side. With the silver already pumping through his veins, he could barely stand as he leaned on her.

It was as helpless as he’d been in a very long time, and he didn’t like the feeling one bit.

“Oh, god,” he heard Ruby mutter as she struggled to keep him standing. “Is that silver?” she asked, and Harlan was glad he’d let her in on some of his secrets.

“I can’t heal,” he ground out. “You need to get it out.”

“Alright, alright,” Ruby said, as she maneuvered him to the couch, stepping over glass and bodies on their way there.

Harlan knew it would be a matter of time until the cops showed up, and he really didn’t want to be there when they did. However, he also wasn’t keen on dying from silver poisoning, so he had to take the time to let Ruby dig the bullets out of him.

She rushed to the kitchen as he lay on the couch, trying to stay conscious despite the excruciating pain. His whole body was throbbing with it as the silver spread, infecting every part of him. The fact that he hadn’t eaten lately only made it worse. It meant his body was succumbing to the poison faster than usual.

Ruby returned, holding a set of pliers.

“Is this okay? Should I sterilize them?” she asked, looking like she was trying very hard to stay calm.

“No need,” Harlan replied.

“Yeah, right. Undead and all that,” she muttered before rushing to his side.

Pulling away whatever shreds were left of his shirt, Ruby went to work. She grimaced when she had to feel her way around his bloody chest, looking for the entry wounds. Her fingers dug into his flesh, but the pain barely registered next to the silver burning in his veins.

“You’re doing great,” Harlan whispered, his head lolling back.

“I’d be more inclined to believe you if you didn’t look like you were about to die on me,” Ruby said, using the pliers to grab onto a bullet lodged next to his collarbone.

Harlan’s eyes fluttered shut as she managed to pull out one bullet after the other, until the fire gripping his body started to slowly subside. He managed to force his eyes open again, only to see Ruby eyeing him worriedly.

“I’m pretty sure I got all of them, but you still look awful,” she said.

“Thanks,” Harlan replied, managing to give her a weak smile. “I don’t have enough blood left to heal. You need to take me to a bar, fast. And we need to get out of here before the cops arrive.”

“Running from the police. What a turn of events,” Ruby grunted, as she helped Harlan back on his feet. “What about these guys?” she pointed her chin at the guys sprawled out on the floor. “Can’t you take a sip from them?”

“They’re dead. That means they’re blood is no use to me,” he replied.

“Right,” she pursed her lips, considering that.

Shouldering at least half of his weight, Ruby helped him to the door, and then down the stairs. Harlan was stumbling and shivering when they finally managed to get outside, and the sun shining down on him definitely didn’t help.

“Shit,” Ruby muttered, as she picked up the pace to get him away from the light.

Reaching the Corvette, Harlan leaned against the car while Ruby got the doors open and helped him into the passenger seat. Running around the car, she got in the driver’s seat and reached into his pocket, fishing out the keys.

“You’re looking even worse,” she remarked, as she started the engine and peeled off.

“I’ll be fine once…” Harlan trailed off, feeling his body constrict around him. “I get some blood,” he finished.

His eyes slid shut, but snapped open again when he felt the car come to an abrupt stop. Looking up at Ruby, he could see she looked nervous, yet determined.

“I don’t know where the closest vampire bar is and you need to feed like right now,” she said, cutting the engine and twisting in her seat to face him. “Drink from me.”

Did she just say what I think she said?