This was true. It kind of felt odd being on a hit list that he hadn’t actually earned. Well, it's not like they were wrong about him completely. He definitely wasn’t sane.
“Gee, he did exactly nothing one time to get ononehit list. What’s his excuse for all the other fucking ones?! And Maverick does hate your ass, Harlow. Heisgunning for you.”
“Why exactly does he hate Harlow?” Charity asked with a frown.
Harlow smiled. “I shot him.”
“On purpose,” Foxx said in time with Tony.
“Oh yeah, definitely on purpose,” he chuckled.
Charity’s face pinched. “The way you all just admitted to that really should concern me. But so should the majority of this job.So…I guess I’ll just be extra careful with each case that comes across my desk.”
“Speaking of…” Tony let out a tired sounding groan. “I’ll begin to dig into past cases. There is no way Maverick could have pulled off the other night without first testing whatever drug they have come up with. So, you be careful with their cases, while I dig.”
“I’ll help,” she said. “Dig, that is. Another set of eyes will make it go faster. And it’s a lot of cases to cover.”
Tony grimaced. “No, it’s too dangerous. We don’t know how many eyes and ears he has.”
“I’m helping,” Charity stated firmly.
Tony sighed.
“Who’s the boss again?” Foxx whispered to him.
That was the question, wasn’t it? And it was not one he could answer, so he just shrugged.
When Tony turned a glare on Foxx, the vampire pouted. “What?! I was just asking!”
The human rolled his eyes. “Like I said, watch your ass. Both of you. Whatever they gave those people, I’m not sure if it would work on Harlow, but we know it will on Foxx. And Foxx… It's likely the council will aim for you, but that doesn’t mean Harlow is in the clear there either. Both of you, watch yourselves.” Tony rubbed his face. “I’ll head to Doc’s after this, and will try to keep you updated on his progress. So, avoid going there if you can. I don’t know if Maverick has someone tailing you, but we can’t chance it for now. And no one outside of this apartment, besides Doc, can know about the blood you took. We keep it between ourselves.
“As for over the phone… I have a secure line, thanks to Sephira. I’ll contact her and have her work on setting up one for all of us. But it will take time. Now that I’m thinking about it…I’ll also have her work on something that will keep you hidden fromother witches. Because Maverick wouldn’t be above using them. He sees them as human. Anyway, until then, no mention of any of this over the phone, or email, for that matter.”
“Right…we will just pretend we know nothing,” Foxx sighed.
“What should we do until you have Sephira do whatever she plans to do for us?”
“Be inconspicuous. Though…” Tony frowned. “Maybe going out and staying in the public eye wouldn’t be a bad thing. It would be harder for the council to do shit with you in public.”
“But shouldn’t we be careful?” the vampire asked.
“You should, but sometimes, it’s better to pretend nothing is wrong, than to stay hidden and risk making it easier for people to corner you. This apartment is secure…as is the area, but…would that even prevent the council from entering?”
Foxx hummed. “It would. I’m surprised you don’t know this, but the Inner Village isn’t owned by one of my kind. It’s owned by a phoenix. It was made crystal clear in the contract I signed when I bought this apartment that I am not to grant access to any paranormal council member or affiliate, in an effort to help them carry out whatever asinine laws they think someone has broken. And I’m not paraphrasing…the word asinine was highlighted and clearly written in bold text.”
Tony whistled. “A phoenix.”
Harlow couldn’t say he knew much about phoenixes, besides that, while they did exist, there weren’t many of them. Which was probably a good thing, as they couldn’t actually die.
“They’re real?!” Charity asked, sounding excited. “Are they as pretty as the drawings depict?”
Foxx giggled. “I haven’t actually seen one in their bird form, so I can’t answer that.”
Harlow frowned on thinking over what Foxx had said. “That was in the contract? What happens if the person living here does help someone who is working for one of the councils?”
“If they are renting, they will be removed and banned, followed by legal action. If they own the property…forfeiture of said property, followed again by legal action.”
“That doesn’t sound legal,” Harlow drawled.
