Page 11

F oxx eyed Tony. The man was in a hospital gown, hooked up to machines, with his right leg, that was already casted, elevated by a pulley system. Looking grim, the usually barely noticeable lines on the human’s face were etched deep with clear exhaustion.

“So…” Tony took a deep breath and let it out. “Out of the hundred and sixteen people in the building, we lost ten handlers—Charity and Deputy Director Barlowe included—fifteen staff members, and thirty-three hunters…both human and vampires alike. Though the vampires only died due to being in direct contact with blast points of the numerous bombs that were planted, or they were crushed by the falling debris.

“The death toll, which could still change, comes to fifty-eight people lost. Of the other fifty-eight that lived, half of them were turned. All turns were hunters, except one. And thirteen of the turns were werewolves, putting them out of commission for a good long while.

“Of the remaining twenty-nine, who were all injured, fifteen are either in critical condition, or like the werewolf turns, will be out of commission for a while. In some cases, they will be out permanently due to the severity of their injuries. Correct?”

Foxx nodded, as there wasn’t much else to say at this point.

“So the Guild is down to…five handlers…and eleven hunter teams. Twenty-two hunters, and only because they weren’t fucking there at the time.” Tony rubbed his face with a groan. “What a fucking nightmare.”

“Ten,” Harlow corrected.

Tony’s hands froze, the man looking over them at the Dhampir. “What?”

Ahh, right, there was one more thing to tell the human…

Harlow grimaced. “We are down to ten hunter teams. Iggy was taken by Maverick.”

The machine monitoring Tony’s heart rate spiked, the beeping speeding up as the human’s eyes widened. The man looked genuinely shaken by the news. “He was…what…?”

Foxx shifted awkwardly on his feet. “The police…managed to check the street cameras about thirty minutes ago. They confirmed it was Maverick himself who took him.”

“Hah…that fucking—ah, that bastard!” Tony screamed into his hands, before roughly running them over his closely shaved hair as he sagged. The man’s eyes were glossy now, and Tony truly looked all of his sixty plus years as he whispered, “Of course… Of course, he fucking took him…”

Foxx felt like he was missing something. Tony had looked haggard before, and exhausted, but now he looked worse, and was clearly in distress. He had no clue how long the man had known Iggy, or what their relationship was like, but it was obvious that the man didn’t see him as just a subordinate, or even just a friend.

“We’ll find him,” Harlow promised stiffly.

Harlow’s tone told him that he hadn’t been imagining things. Iggy meant something to Tony.

The older human glanced from him to Harlow before sighing. “Go home. Both of you. It’s been a long fucking day. Rest. Fuck, try not to think, Foxx. Harlow, I know this all just made you extra murderous, but try not to piss your boyfriend off.”

“We’re going after them. Maverick, his group, all of them,” Foxx stated. “And we aren’t going to stop until the bastard is dead.”

Tony took a deep breath. “Foxx, you know why that is not possible, Char—” The human cut off, swallowing hard. “You know we don’t know where he is. Even though he showed up on camera, he could be miles away now. ”

“Finish it,” Foxx demanded. “‘Char’, as in Charity and you, right? That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it, Tony? You and Charity told us you couldn’t find him. That it would be pointless. Well, I don’t care. It wasn’t a request. I was only informing you that Harlow and I were leaving.”

Tony stared at him with sad eyes. “Foxx…what happened to Charity was not your fault.”

“Whose was it then? Maverick’s?! Hah, yeah, of course. It will always ultimately be his fault. But there were choices made, so many that just a few seconds more, or less…”

“Foxx, I never should have let you try.”

His eyes widened. “What?! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!”

Foxx yanked away when Harlow tried to pull him into his arms. “Foxx?—”

He cut the dhampir off. “No, no! I don’t want to be held right now!” he snapped, glaring at Harlow before his gaze narrowed back on Tony. “Tell me. What the hell makes you think you can decide whether I try to save someone or not?!”

Licking his lips, Tony took a deep breath in before slowly saying, “I didn’t mean to imply that I had a right to decide for you. Only that I knew it was too late.” The human sniffed hard, a tear trailing down his face. “Foxx, I hope you can forgive this foolish old man for what I did. But you didn’t see under the wall. I did. I should have stopped you, because I already knew there was no saving her. I didn’t because I… I selfishly, in that moment, wanted to believe in miracles.”

“Y-you couldn’t have known that it was too late,” he rasped, as his own tears broke free again. “You couldn’t! How would you know that?! You are just HUMAN! You don’t?—”

“She was cut in half, Foxx!” Tony roared.

“No…” Foxx whimpered, shaking his head. “N-no. I would have realized that. I-I would… When I looked at her threads, I wo-would have seen that it was too late!”

Harlow dragged him into his arms, even as he fought. Sobbing hard, he weakly hit the man’s chest.

“I got you, Foxx. I got you,” Harlow rumbled .

“I’m sorry, Foxx,” Tony said mournfully. “But it’s the truth. The cement wall came down, and the embedded metal shelf went right through her. I think her brain just…refused to catch up. I don’t know how she held on for as long as she did. That was a miracle in itself. But from the moment the wall came down, there was no saving her. I think…both of us were lying to ourselves.”

No…he would have… He would have noticed… He would have. He must have done something wrong. That must be it. It had to be!

“You’re lying!” he screamed.

“I’m not! I promise you, I wouldn’t lie about something like this!” Tony growled. “I’m sorry you are hurting, Foxx. But you are not responsible for Charity’s death!”

“I am! I d-did something w-wrong.” Foxx gasped, taking in a wheezing breath, and his heart picked up pace along with it. He began to feel lightheaded, the world tilting.

“Foxx, breathe, just breathe,” Harlow growled, his boyfriend sounding oddly frantic.

Foxx blinked as he suddenly found himself staring directly at Harlow’s face, the man’s warm hands pressed against his cheeks. When had the dhampir moved? Foxx glanced around and found Tony leaning towards the edge of his bed awkwardly, his face twisted in concern. He blinked again. Why was he on the floor?

“Foxx, look at me, not him!” the dhampir snapped.

His gaze flicked back to Harlow, and then he heard it…his breathing coming in fast and shallow bursts. Slowly, Foxx took a deep breath in and let it out.

“That’s it, slow your breathing. You’re okay, you're safe, I got you.”

Taking another deep breath, he realized Harlow looked pretty panicked himself. The man’s eyes were wide with what he’d swear was…fear.

“I-I’m…okay.” He licked his lips, clearing his throat as his face started to heat in embarrassment. “What… What happened?”

“You had a panic attack,” Tony explained with a heavy sigh. “Even more reason why you two should go home and rest.”

“I—” He cut off when Tony held his hand up for him to stop.

“Believe me when I say, I realize you won’t. I’m just putting it out there that it’s what you should do. But I know full well that it will be a cold day in hell before you give in to any rational advice I have.” Resting back in the bed, the man rubbed a hand over his hair. “Let me guess, you two are planning to take Gavin on this murder spree of yours? I imagine, if anyone can find the bastard, it’s him.”

“Yes,” Harlow stated, while Foxx let the man help him to his feet.

The human sighed again. “Do you even know where he is?”

The dhampir scoffed. “His ass is currently sitting in our apartment after breaking in. You probably got messages from my security system about that.”

“Of course, he did. As for your phone, not a peep actually.” Tony nodded towards the tray where Harlow’s phone sat. “You can have it back, by the way. Sephira dropped one off for me when she stopped by earlier. She also made the executive decision to bespell the room while here, to make sure no one could hear inside. I guess she knew we’d be having a conversation that needed to be kept private.”

Harlow let out a clearly irritated growl as he snatched the thing off the tray, grumbling, “Fucking useless technology.”

Foxx definitely would have laughed, had he not felt like hot rubbish. Part of him wanted to ask about Sephira, but he couldn’t find the energy. He was tired… Which was also why he was planning to fully ignore that he’d possibly…just had a panic attack.

Tony eyed them. “Nothing I say will talk you two out of this, will it?”

“No,” Foxx said firmly.

“Figured. I swear to fucking all, if you two assholes don’t come back alive…” Tony trailed off on a growl, before groaning. “I’ll start reaching out to the higher ups. After this, Maverick and his group can’t be handled as normal. Hell, they couldn’t after the bullshit with the poisons, but this definitely can’t stand. I’ll do what I can to get you two leeway to take them out.”

“We will regardless,” Harlow pointed out.

“I know that!” Tony snapped. “But until you have permission, you are old school. Both of you, Harlow. No one outside of me and fucking Gavin can know what you two are doing! No one, you hear me?! Because if the wrong person finds out, I won’t be able to help you! ”

“Understood,” Foxx stated. And he did. Maverick and his group were human. Foxx and Harlow were not. They’d be hunted down and killed themselves if what they planned to do, and ended up doing, got out to the wrong person. “Let’s go, Harlow.”

He headed for the door, but when he opened it, he almost ran straight into an older woman, making him realize that whatever barrier Sephira had put into place, likely went both ways.

She had bottle blonde hair that was curly and trailed down just a few inches past her shoulders. The woman’s skin was heavily tanned. With a square jaw and a pointed nose, the stranger looked to be in her late sixties, and had wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and around her mouth, yet her skin looked oddly tight. He assumed she’d recently had Botox, but based on how deep her scowl was as she glared down at him, it likely was just from sitting in a tanning bed for too long.

In fact, her tan may have made him misjudge her age. Though his current thoughts could just be him feeling less than kind towards someone who he didn’t know, who was fucking glaring at him for no reason.

“Well?!” the woman hissed. “Do you plan to move out of the way sometime tonight?!”

His brow rose at the tone, but he stepped out of her way, as he really was too tired to get into a verbal argument with anyone, let alone someone he didn’t bloody know. Harlow, however, did not step aside. The dhampir stood there smiling, in her way, not moving one bit. The mystery woman let out an irritated huff, stomping her foot, much like a child would, before squeezing past him.

As soon as the door was shut behind them, Foxx asked, “Who was that?”

“That would be the raging bitch that Tony, for some reason, married,” Harlow sneered.

“That’s his wife?!”

“Yep…”

“She seems…” he hesitated before lying, “Pleasant.”

“As a car crash.”