Theft of Light

by N. A. K. Baldron

  “Don’t get pulled over,” Lance said.

  “We kill any cops that stop us,” Slava said. “Time is of the essence.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice opened her eyes again. The pain in her arms had vanished, and her body was freezing. She looked out the window as the streetlights zipped by.

  There was a slap behind her. “Blake, open your eyes! You’ve got to stay awake!” Another slap. “Blake! Tell me something about computers!”

  Silence.

  “That’s it,” Lance said. “Keep your eyes open. Now, how do I get the footage off the computer?”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice felt a hand on her chest, there was a burning sensation coming from it. She opened her eyes, and Lance was applying a metal seal against her chest.

  “Try to stay awake,” he said. “I need you to keep your eyes open, too. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  With the seal against her skin she was feeling better.

  “What-” she started.

  “It’s going to be okay.” Lance said, interrupting her. “I need you press here,” He placed her hand against her arm at the bullets entry point. She tried to push, but was too weak.

  “Take the back roads,” Lance said. “Cops will be out for morning speeders.”

  Kandice felt them slow down as Slava exited off the highway.

  “Hold tight,” Lance said, and pushed her hand against her arm again.

  He crawled back over the seat.

  “Blake!” He yelled.

  There was another slap, and then another, and another. Then, silence. She turned herself over to look back. Blake lay crumpled on the floor in the fetal position. The blood covered the back area to where it would flow in the opposite direction every time Slava took a turn.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked.

  Lance leaned forward. “Don’t talk. Just keep pressure here.” He pushed against her wound.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  She opened her eyes again. They had stopped, and Lance was slapping her on the cheek.

  “Stay with me,” he said. “We’re almost there.”

  Slava got back in the SUV and closed the door. They pulled into a garage, and the door shut behind them.

  Lance and Slava got out of the vehicle. Lance came around and opened Kandice’s door. She fell into his arms, and Lance carried her into the house.

  He laid her out on the couch and ran out of the room.

  A moment later, he was back with a hand full of supplies. He pulled her bandage off to pour vodka on her arm. She screamed, the burning felt like liquid fire.

  “This is going to hurt,” Lance said. “Bite on this.” He put a leather strap into her mouth. Then, he drove a sharpened piece of metal into her arm. The bullet moving around in her arm, but to her surprise it didn't hurt. Aside from a general feeling of pressure insdie her muscles, her body relaxed. Then, it was out. The pressure left her arm. Her eyelids felt weighed down by lead, but she fought the urge to close them.

  He poured more vodka into the wound, then added the healing powder he and Slava had used. After new bandages were on her arm, he moved the seal over them, then wrapped it tight.

  “Now, you can rest,” he said, wiping the sweat from his face, and collapsed on the floor next to her.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The mayor was standing in his office. Kandice saw him about to kill Lance. She jumped forward, slashing her claws at the mayor, but they glided right through him. Then, the mayor disappeared, laughing at her.

  Blake was standing in front of her bleeding.

  “Please Kandice,” he said, reaching his hand towards her, but still so far away.

  She reached out to hold him, but couldn’t move. Something was holding her. She looked back, and the mayor had her arms. She tried to struggle free, but he was too strong.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Lance looked down at her as she laid on the floor. “It’s your fault,” he said. “You didn’t follow the plan.”

  Blake’s body was bleeding next to her.

  “He’s dead because of you,” Lance said.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice woke up with tears on her face. Her body weak, and mouth dry. She tried to sit up, but the pain was too much. Aside from a deep sadness, which made her body numb, she remembered nothing of her fever-dreams.

  “She’s up,” Lance yelled.

  He came around the counter with a glass of water. He sat the glass down and helped Kandice to lean up, pushing pillows behind her. Her body hurt, but she could deal with it.

  He held the glass to her mouth and tipped it so she could drink. The unexpected burn hit her tongue, and She spat it out and coughed. It wasn’t water, but vodka.

  “You have to drink this,” he said. “It will help, I promise.”

  She nodded, and took small drinks. It burned, but her body was getting stronger as the burn worked its way to her stomach.

  “Water?” she asked Lance.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Slava came out of his room carrying a box. He kneeled down on the floor next to Kandice and looked at the bandage on her arm. It was wet with blood. Slava removed the bandage with care, trying not to cause her any pain. He poured more of the healing powder into the wound and wrapped a fresh bandage around it. He applied a new metal seal against the bandage and wrapped it up tight.

  Lance handed Slava a glass of water. He held the glass up for Kandice, and she drank down the whole glass. When the glass was empty, Slava and Lance went to the kitchen. She fell asleep listening to them speak in Russian. It was like listening to an opera where she didn’t know the words, but could sense the emotions all the more for it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Monday, October 31st

  When Kandice woke up again, Slava and Lance were moving around the living room.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, still half asleep.

  “Go back to sleep,” Lance said.

  She sat up and her arm didn’t hurt anymore. “Where’s Blake?”

  Lance stopped what he was doing and sat down the coffee table in front of Kandice. “I’m so sorry Kandice.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked in a panic.

  “He didn't make it.”

  “No!” Kandice shouted, remembering what had happened. “No! you healed him!”

  He had to have been able to heal Blake. She’d seen what they could do. They healed two different bullet wounds since she'd known them. Hell, she was fine. Why wouldn’t Blake be?

  “I’m sorry,” Lance said. “He lost too much blood. I couldn’t stop the bleeding fast enough.”

  “No!” she said tears pouring down her face. “Where is he?”

  “He’s in the garage.”

  Kandice started to stand.

  “You need to rest,” Lance said. “You don’t need to see this.”

  “Fuck that!” Her body screamed of exhaustion as she pushed off the couch. She was standing, but her legs wobbled. Lance stood up and put his arm under hers.

  She tried to shove him off but he wouldn’t let her. “I’ll help you.”

  He led her into the garage slow and steady. When he opened the trunk, Kandice broke down into fresh tears. Blake’s face was pale, and there was blood everywhere.

  Kandice bent over and hurled from the putrid odor. There was nothing in her stomach, so the only thing that came up was bile.

  Lance held her up while she vomited on his boots.

  “It’s my fault,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  When there was nothing left to throw up, Kandice straightened up. Somehow, the tears had left her stronger. The realization set in and the overwhelming sadness became fuel for her anger. Her mental state stood on the precipice of her life. One more step, and her mind would fall into the abyss, and never recover. Or, she could fight, she could fight with a furry she’d never had before. The rage that had fueled her desire to hunt when her mom died was nothing by comparison to knowing Blake was dead. As she atte
mpted to process it all her mind cleared, and only numbness remained.

  “What now?” she asked. “Where did the mayor go?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Slava is trying to figure it out. He’s already spoken with the Biancardi twins.”

  “So?”

  “They’re taking care of the investigation. We’ll be fine, but we have to dispose of the body.”

  “You mean Blake!” she said.

  “Yes. We’ve made a plan. We will plant the body, then call it in. It will look like a robbery gone bad.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lance looked at his watch. “It’s eleven,” he said. “I’ll drop the body off and then go back around six to call it in. I’ll pretend to be a jogger who came across the body, if no one else has called it in by then.”

  “You can’t just drop his body off somewhere.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s the only option.” His tone said it was one of those non-negotiable things.

  “It’s my fault,” she said.

  “What?” he asked. “No, it’s not.”

  “Yes, it is. You said it would be safer to kill the guards, and you were right. If I had killed the fucker, rather than knocking him out, none of this would have happened.”

  “You can’t blame yourself. I should never have let him come inside. Really, I should never have let you two come along at all.”

  She looked him in the eyes for several moments, then hugged him. Lance held her in his arms until she lost track of time.

  “I have to go,” he said, once she broke the hug. “I need to get his body placed.”

  “I’m coming with,” Kandice said.

  He argued, but realized that it was pointless. She held her death-glare that said I dare you to defy me until she got into the SUV.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  They chose a park near her aunt’s house. That way, it would seem like Blake had been out for a late night walk.

  Lance turned the SUV’s lights off and drove backwards down the neighborhood street. When he reached the curb, he parked the SUV, but left it running.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he told Kandice, pulling on rubber gloves.

  “Yes, I do,” she said, grabbing a pair for herself.

  Kandice followed Lance out of the SUV. When he opened the back hatch, she went stiff. The body of her brother laid there as proof it was all real, but her mind was still having trouble coming to terms with his death. Still, her feelings were empty, there were no tears, or any emotions left inside of her. Life was suffering, and from that moment any Aether Walker that crossed her path would discover it. Vengeance would be hers.

  Lance pulled Blake’s body out of the back floorboard and heaved him onto his shoulder.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I can take it from here.”

  Kandice just shook her head and followed Lance into the park. He stopped at the first dip they found. The ground was still wet from where the water of sprinklers ran through.

  Lance laid Blake’s body on the ground. When he went through Blake’s pockets, Kandice pulled his hands away.

  “I’ll do it,” she said.

  “Be sure and take everything,” Lance said.

  Tears were trickling down her face, but Kandice stayed focused. She emptied his pockets one by one, making a pile next to his body.

  “The seal,” Lance said.

  Kandice lifted his shirt and saw the bullet wounds. She ran her hands over the one next to his heart before pulling the metal seal off his body. As she did, blood trickled from his wounds. She kissed Blake’s forehead, grabbed his belongings, and backed away.

  “Give me his wallet,” Lance said.

  Kandice offered it up without taking her eyes off Blake’s body. Lance ran off deeper into the park.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, staring at Blake’s wound, as if looking at it harder would make it go away.

  Kandice didn’t notice Lance return until he lifted her to her feet.

  “We have to go,” he said.

  “I can’t.”

  “Getting caught won’t bring him back.” he said, shaking her. “Kandice, move!”

  She looked at Lance, and then back to Blake’s body one last time, before following Lance to the SUV as he pulled her arm.

  Lance drove off and didn’t turn his headlights on until they had turned onto a new street.

  He picked up his cell phone from the center console and called Slava. “We’re on our way. Meet us there."

  Kandice couldn't make out what Slava said.

  “She’s out of it,” Lance said. “Just be there in five.”

  He drove the SUV onto a construction site near the park where a company was building high-end condos for the never-ending flood of people moving to Austin. Slava was already there with a new car, waiting for them.

  Lance walked Kandice to the front passenger seat of the car and helped her in.

  “Just stay here,” he said. “We’ll be done in a few minutes.”

  “Okay,” Kandice said, not paying attention to what he said. She remembered the time that Blake had stolen money from their mom’s purse, she refused to rat him out when her mom accused her of it. If only there was a way for her to switch places with him.

  Lance and Slava took two large cans of gas out of the car’s trunk and poured it throughout the SUV. The fumes wafted to where Kandice was sitting. She breathed the scent in and it stung her nose.

  Slava sat in the driver’s seat. “We will go in a moment.”

  Kandice looked back at Lance holding a something in his hand with a flame on top. As he came running to the car, there was a small growing glow from inside the SUV.

  Lance jumped into the back seat. “Close the door."

  Kandice closed her door, and Slava drove forward to turn around. As they pulled out of the construction site, and back onto the street, a large glow of a fire brightened the back window.

  Watching the fire as they pulled down the road somehow brought closure. She wasn't better, but just numb all over, and it would be her new normal. She wanted the numbness to take over.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Lance tried to get Kandice to sleep, or at least take a nap, but she refused. She sat on the sectional, waiting for the morning to come.

  Lance was returning to the park to call in Blake’s body, if no one else had. Kandice insisted on returning and knew if she fell asleep they wouldn't wake her. Lance and Slava disagreed with her desire to go back because if police showed up, it would be a disaster.

  Kandice looked at her phone. it was 4:30 AM. Lance was right, but she couldn’t bring herself to abandon Blake’s fate to someone else.

  “You need to go home,” Lance repeated for what seemed like the millionth time.

  “I want to go,” she said.

  “I'll follow you home. When I’m done at the park, I’ll come to your place.”

  They argued for almost thirty more minutes until she agreed that it was too much of a risk for her to go back.

  She followed Lance out of the house.

  “Call me the moment it’s done,” she said.

  “Okay,” he said. “Go home and rest. I’ll come by after.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice woke up to her phone ringing.

  “Hello?” she said, half asleep.

  There was heavy sobbing on the other end.

  “Hello?” she asked again.

  “Kandice,” Jackie said. “It’s Blake. They found his body.”

  Kandice took a breath to calm herself. “What? Where?”

  She elbowed Lance, who was sitting in the bed next to her, and leaned in so he could hear the call. He had come back like he said to keep watch over her while she slept. They’d stayed up for hours while Kandice cried and tried to work through her brothers death. Lance held her until she fell asleep, his scent calmed her nerves and grounded her mind enough to relax into a restless sleep.

  “He was at a park,” Jackie said. “They said he’d been
there for hours. Someone called it in this morning.”

  “What do you mean? What happened?” Kandice asked, freaking out.

  “He was shot,” Jackie said. “Kandice, it’s horrible. They said it looked like he was robbed for his phone and money.”

  “What?” Kandice asked melting into a fresh round of tears.

  “They found his wallet. All they left was his ID.”

  Kandice was crying, and her aunt’s sobs were growing into hysterics on the other end.

  After almost a full minute of crying her aunt asked, “Kandice are you there?”

  “Yes,” she said through her heaves.

  “They’re keeping his body,” Jackie said. “They made me identify him and said they have to keep it for an autopsy.”

  “Can they do that?” Kandice asked. “We have to bury him!”

  She hadn’t meant to yell. Her aunt cried even harder.

  “When do we get his body?” Kandice asked.

  “They said a few days,” Jackie said. “I have to call Mr. Goldsmith.”

  “I’ll do that. We need to plan the funeral though.”

  “I know. I called Pastor Gerlock. He came by earlier and has gone to get things situated.”

  Jackie was crying so hard that Kandice couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  “Aunt Jackie, I’ll call you back later."

  “Okay,” Jackie said. “Kandice?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  When Kandice hung up the phone, she looked to Lance. She wiped away the tears and took a few steadying breaths. “What will happen next?”

  “If the police view it as a mugging, they’ll investigate and try to locate the robber,” he said. “They’ll either charge the wrong person, or leave it as an unsolved case.”

  An innocent person going to jail would have bothered her, but she didn’t give a shit anymore. The world took her whole family from her, everyone else could go fuck themselves.

  They both got out of her bed and Kandice walked to the bathroom sink to wash her face. Her body was grimy all over, but an actual shower was unappealing. All she wanted was to punch someone.