Theft of Light

by N. A. K. Baldron

  “Your father then?” the twins asked.

  “No.”

  They broke eye contact and looked to one another again.

  Kandice looked behind her to Lance to beg for help with her eyes, but Lance shook his head. Being alone with nobody to converse with, or reassure her was doing a number on her nerves. Her hands were sweaty, and her heart was racing. She took a deep drink from her glass and finished the vodka.

  “It’s time to test you,” the twins said, not breaking eye contact.

  “Lunch is ready,” Lance said. “Perhaps we could all eat before the test?”

  They each took a deep breath. “It smells great. Food will help fortify her.”

  They ate in near silence. The only time someone spoke was when they asked for a dish. The twins finished the entire bottle of merlot, and Kandice drank two more glasses of vodka. Her head was a little foggy when they finished eating.

  Slava started the dishes.

  “You can use the garage, when you’re ready,” Lance said. He finished clearing the table and helped Slava with the dishes.

  Kandice and the twins sat for several minutes. They switched between staring at her and looking into each other’s eyes. If it hadn’t been for the vodka, she would have lost her nerve.

  “Let’s begin,” they said. “Kandice, please come with us.”

  The garage had padded mats on the floor, and the twins stood at the far wall, away from the door. It was 3:00 PM, and the garage was blistering hot, but Kandice noticed the twins weren’t sweating in the slightest. They looked just as comfortable as when they were inside. Within a minute, Kandice was sweating.

  There’s no way they’re human.

  “We want you to change,” they said.

  “I’ll ruin my dress,” she said. “And I don’t have any seals.”

  “Go ask them for a seal.”

  Kandice walked into the kitchen and explained what the twins wanted. Slava retrieved a seal from his room. While Lance offered to let her wear some of his clothes, to not ruin her dress.

  She took the seal from Slava and carved her symbol into the leather with a kitchen knife. Once finished, Lance came back into the kitchen with basketball shorts and a t-shirt.

  “This has a pull string, so I think you’ll get it to fit,” he said, and handed her the clothes.

  She thanked them both with a reluctant sigh and stopped in the bathroom next to the garage to change clothes. Her dress hung on the spare towel bare, it would have been easier to prepare had anyone in the house been more open about the Council.

  When she walked back into the garage, the twins looked away from one another, and back to her. “Ready?”

  “I guess,” she said.

  They took three steps apart from each other. “Change.”

  Kandice lifted the t-shirt and slapped the seal against her stomach, her body began the transformation the instant it touched her skin. Within moments, her scales appeared, along with the large spikes down her back. She’d grown to over eight feet tall and was looking down at the twins.

  “Impressive,” they said. “Now, attack us.”

  Kandice didn’t hesitate for a second, it was about time they turned the tables. She swiped with all her might at the twin on her left.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  She woke up on the ground with her shirt ripped open and not covering her right breast. The twins were standing over her staring. She covered herself and sat up in shock. It was foolish to think she had a chance in defeating them. A wave of embarrassment rolled over her from their stares.

  “What the fuck happened?” she demanded.

  Lance and Slava open the garage door.

  The twins looked to each other before speaking. “She has passed.”

  They looked to Lance. “You may continue to train her.”

  They walked to the door. Slava stepped aside, but Lance didn’t move from the door. He bared his teeth and growled. The twins looked to each other and then turned around.

  “Kandice, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

  They turned back to Lance and pushed him aside. He grabbed onto one twin by the shirt. Lance’s whole body stiffened, and when the twin removed his hand, Lance fell to the ground. Slava followed them to the door, yelling in Italian. The twins responded in calm unison. Kandice heard the anger in his voice, and even a little fear, as he followed the twins outside.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  She stood up and walked over to help Lance up. When he was back on his feet, Slava came back in.

  “What was that about?” Lance asked.

  “Nothing,” Slava said.

  “What did you say?” Lance asked.

  “Nothing.” Slava walked away, leaving Lance and Kandice alone.

  Kandice heard the door to Slava’s room slam shut and jumped a little. He’d never lost his temper before in front of her, and it made her a arms cold.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tuesday, October 11th

  Kandice, Blake, and Lance were driving to the mayor’s street in a new Escalade courtesy of Mike. It was a typical pearl-white with the metal chromed-out and windows tinted as dark as the law allowed.

  It had been a week since Kandice’s interview with the Biancardi twins, and the visit was still unsettling with everyone. She spent most of the time gathering information on the mayor with Slava. Blake had also been hanging around Lance’s house a lot more. He came to help solidify a plan for getting around the mayor’s security system, and guards.

  Lance and Slava still fought about what was said in Italian to the Biancardi twins. Slava refused to say anything more than it was personal, and Lance flooded him with questions at every chance. Blake and Kandice had gone home one night when it got bad. Slava and Lance had both ended up yelling at the top of their lungs at one another in Russian. It reminded Kandice of old sitcoms, but it wasn’t quite as funny in real life. She got the impression, Lance was unaware there were secrets between them until now.

  “We’ll do two passes,” Lance said from the front seat.

  Kandice and Blake sat in the back with their phones ready to record.

  Lance made the final bend in the road and slowed down to about 20 mph. Lance figured ahead of time that twenty would be slow, but not so slow as to draw a lot of attention on them. Kandice and Blake had their phones out and filmed what they could see through the gate.

  When they had taken the bend all the way around, and away from the mayor’s house, Lance pulled over to the side of the road. Blake showed his film first. They could see three guards between the gate and front door.

  Kandice’s film showed little more, with the female assistant in a window, dressed in a black dress, and bright red hair. The red that was an obvious shade of fake, but still looked good for some people. She was not one of those people.

  “We’ll do one more pass,” Lance said. “I’ll have to go a little faster. I don’t want them to mark this vehicle.”

  Lance turned the SUV around and headed back. This time, they passed doing 35 mph. Kandice and Blake both filmed again, but their film showed nothing new. The guards were moving, but they just switched positions with each other. The inside of the house looked dark and the only light seemed to be in the mayor’s office. Slava’s reconnaissance showed that the mayor spent most of his time in the office. He only left when he was ready to go to his bedroom for the night.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thursday, October 20th

  Lance: We need to meet. Bring Blake. ASAP.

  They were only ten days away from their attack on the mayor. They’d not done any more reconnaissance, other than Slava’s spying. Something must have changed for him to call an emergency meeting. A few days before, the mayor had downsized his guards. Lance thought he felt safe since they hadn’t gone near him in over a month.

  Kandice sent Blake a text:

  Kandice: I’m coming to get you. Lance needs to meet!

  Blake: Ok. I’ll be
ready in five.

  Kandice locked up her apartment and smiled as she sped out of the complex. Her new car was still more toy than car to her.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “We got another letter,” Lance said, when Kandice and Blake sat down.

  Lance poured them each a drink, and Slava handed the letter over.

  Dear Mr. Pukher,

  It has been brought to our attention that the young seer named Kandice you’ve been in contact with has a brother, whom you’ve also been in contact with. We are disappointed to find out you didn’t divulge this information when the Biancardi twins were at your home on the 5th.

  Due to this new revelation, the Biancardi twins will return to Austin. They will keep a close eye on you and those in your company. We advise that you make yourself available upon their request. Failure to do so is ill advised.

  Sincerely,

  Cara Dinapoli

  P.S. Kandice has passed the level one test and is cleared to know the information that entails.

  Kandice read the postscript a second time before handing the letter to her brother.

  “What does she mean by level one?” she asked.

  “You are cleared to know about the council, and mission briefs,” Slava said. “Mostly, what you already know. Anything more, I cannot say in front of Blake. It would put us all in danger.”

  “You said they only wanted to keep the existence of Aether Walkers secret,” Kandice said. “You told me they would let us walk away, we would just have to cut ties. Now they’re threatening my brother!”

  Her cheeks grew hot. Getting involved with Lancemay have been a huge mistake. Letting her brother get this close was a mistake, her mistake.

  “Technically,” Lance said. “They’re threatening Slava and I. We’re not supposed to share information about what we do. Since we’ve never sworn loyalty, we’re in a weird loophole where we’ve not violated any rules.”

  “You could see the Aether Walkers,” Slava said. “And so can Blake. That means we can talk about them with you. However, the council is off limits. Or, it should be.”

  They continued to argue about Blake being let in on level one information. Once they filled her in, there was no doubt in her mind she would fill Blake in. Lance tried to convince her it would put him in danger to know any more than he already did. Since Blake was untrained, and couldn’t change, he wouldn’t be able to take the test. The council viewed outsiders being aware of them as a major threat. They wouldn’t kill him, but they could get Blake and Kandice locked up, if they thought they were a large enough threat.

  Kandice gave in and agreed to keep Blake in the dark after it was clear Lance wouldn't. It didn’t change their current mission to kill the mayor, but it was something she planned to revisit once they finished.

  “So, what do we do about the Biancardi twins?” she asked.

  “There’s nothing to be done,” Lance said. “We just have to wait, and if they contact us, we’ll address it then. They may want to meet Blake, but I doubt it, since it would make the council more vulnerable.”

  They discussed their plans, but it was so airtight they were just repeating themselves for the umpteenth time. Lance made dinner as planning had become boring. When they finished eating, they did something they had never done before. Sat on the couch and watched a movie.

  Kandice was at home, this was her family. But if that was so, Lance would be what to her? Maybe a hot cousin she wanted to fuck? Slava was the protective grandfather. They had both accepted Blake. The ideal nuclear family was dead for most American families, but not during her childhood. Her parents had been perfect, and Blake had been an outgoing and fun brother. Now they were lost and only had each other. The prospect of finding a group to belong to was too much to pass up.

  Over the past few weeks, Blake had grown out of his dark shell, and was sociable again. It had to be the mission. Having something important to do helped get him out of his rut and focused on something bigger than himself.

  They all got too drunk, so Kandice and Blake slept on the couch again. Lance had prepared with pillows and blankets that were far more comfortable than what they had the last time.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Friday, October 28th

  Lance bought mattresses for the spare rooms upstairs in preperation. With the mission a week away, Lance thought it would be best if everyone was under the same roof until it was over. He said it was important to live and breathe the plan so they would carry it out flawless.

  They planned to stay up a little later than the day before and sleep in later. If everyone switched to a night schedule, the over night mission would be easier. Blake fell into a night routine the first night and came over after he woke up. He liked having a mattress he could rest on while Lance and Kandice slept.

  Kandice and Lance had a little more trouble. They sparred each night to get their adrenaline pumping and forget about wanting to sleep. The first few nights, it was hard to make it to 4:00 AM but by Thursday it had moved to 6:00 AM.

  Kandice’s skills showed major improvements. After the first two days of training, she was up to winning about half the matches. They always went for the best of five rounds. Some days, it would take two hours, others thirty minutes. Kandice learned to anticipate Lance’s moves, and in return, Lance changed up his moves to avoid her. By Thursday, their matches morphed from sparring, to full-fledged stratagem, like chess matches.

  When they woke up Thursday, around 3:00 PM, Kandice and Lance both agreed to keep each other awake until 2:00 PM Friday. The plan was air tight. All four of them could list their duties and the duties of every other person. There was no more prepping needed, now it was just a waiting game. Blake switched to waking up around 10:00 PM and going to bed around noon. Slava was almost always awake and took power naps throughout the day.

  Kandice learned that, for the past four years, Slava hadn’t been able to sleep for more than two hours at a time. It was one of the many side effects from changing for so long, but it did make him great for reconnaissance. It seemed like with each negative to changing there was also a bonus to counter it with. Part of the plan centered around Slava’s sleep needs, since he was only awake for about five hours at a time. With them hitting the mayor in the dead of the night, everyone in the neighborhood would be asleep.

  By the time 1:30 PM rolled around on Friday, Lance and Kandice both agreed it was close enough. Blake had been the only reason they made it that far. He’d done everything he could to keep them awake and entertained. Sparring would have taken too much out of them so they agreed to skip it. Blake made fun of them the whole day because they were too young to not be able to pull an all-nighter with ease.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Saturday, October 29th

  At 1:00 AM Kandice woke up to Blake next to her, poking her arm.

  She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and he leaned in. “Lance said y’all needed to be up by one. I just woke him up. You two were out of it. I tried at 12:30, but y’all didn’t move.”

  Kandice yawned and tried to roll back over. Her whole body cried out, it needed more sleep. But the light turned on, and her blanket flew off. Lance and Blake were both standing in her room and turned around the instant the blanket hit the ground.

  “Sorry,” they said together.

  “What the fuck?” she said.

  “You weren’t getting up,” Lance said. “It’s almost two.”

  They both stepped outside and closed the door.

  Kandice was wide awake. She pulled out fresh clothes from her bag and put them on. If they didn’t know she slept naked before, they did now.

  That will be the last time they take the covers off a sleeping person.

  Once dressed, she headed downstairs with Blake. Lance was already in the kitchen cleaning dishes. He made eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Kandice poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down to her plate. The food was great, it helped wake her up more than expected.

  Blake and Lance looked over their n
otes on the computer plugged into the TV.

  “Are we ready?” Kandice asked.

  “Slava said the compound is at its lowest staff yet,” Blake said.

  “He must feel safe,” Lance said. “It makes me a little worried. He’s either over confident, or there is something we’ve missed.”

  “Like what?” Kandice asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Lance said. “That’s why I’m worried. There could be any number of things inside.”

  “What about the security system?”

  Blake clicked over to a new image. “This is the phone line connected to the house. It will contact the security company.” He flipped to another image. “This is the main power line.” Another image showed the transformer outside the house. “If we blow this, the power will be out for his house, and probably the whole neighborhood. I suspect we’ll have about twenty minutes.”

  “Is that long enough?” Kandice asked.

  “Depends on if security backup shows up.” Lance said.

  “That’s what we were talking about,” Blake said. “I’m not sure if the security system will notify someone if the power goes out. Same thing if I cut the phone line.”

  “What do we do then?” she asked.

  “That’s the question,” Lance said. “Regardless, we have to go in tomorrow. There’s no more time. The council is demanding action.”

  “Why don’t we cut the phone and hit the power at the same time?” Kandice asked. “How long would it take for the security company to respond?”

  “If they call the cops, maybe ten minutes,” Blake said. “They’ll try to contact the mayor first, but that could be worse if they reach his cell.”

  “We’ll have to all three coordinate the attack,” Lance said. “Slava can act as backup support from the street by keeping cars away from the house for a little while.”