Vespertine

“God, I love Incantare,” Quinn breathed, for the millionth time.

“So you’ve said,” Caiden remarked, a little sarcastically, but even he couldn’t deny the marvel that was the third city. Even though he had been born here, he couldn’t remember any of it, and had only visited a smattering of times in his fourteen years since moving in with Astor.

The buildings were mostly iridescent, glowing with a pearly sheen, even in daylight. In the quickly approaching twilight, however, they shone with an ethereal beauty. Even the pale gray streets were gorgeous under their light. The streets were lined with trees of the greenest green, flowers budding above the road in a tunnel of petals.

The street lamps only had soft, white-yellow orbs floating above the poles to provide some dim light. They had switched on a couple minutes ago, though it wasn’t completely dark yet.

Even the people in Incantare seemed to be beautiful, moving gracefully on the sidewalks, murmuring softly. It was a city, and had all the markings of such, but it was elegant in a way one would only expect a city to be in fairytales.

“Guess they don’t call it The Bewitching One for nothing,” Arette said in a hushed tone, her eyes never leaving the opened car window.

Caiden was almost embarrassed to be driving this ugly tan sedan they had stolen—liberated, to use Quinn’s vocabulary—from a car park in Coralis. He was also somewhat nervous about driving in general, but luckily Incantare drivers seemed to be rather forgiving.

Arette was the only one of them that actually had a license, but it quickly became clear that she was an even worse driver than Caiden was, to the point where he wondered how she had even gotten said license. Quinn was undoubtedly the best driver out of them all, but as they had approached the third city she insisted on switching out so she could take in the sights unbothered.

The navigation device was malfunctioning again, losing signal as they passed under another flower covered tunnel. The signal became stronger as they passed out the other side, but Caiden didn’t need it anymore. Their target had come into sight.

“What a mansion,” Arette murmured. “Caiden, you see it, right?”

“Yeah.” The House of the Lafissas, the peak of which was poking out from the treetops. He turned right, heading into the small community, heading steadily towards the peak of something that looked more like a castle than a home.

Quinn was practically bouncing in the passenger seat, trying to get a better look at the mansion they were about to rob.

Caiden wasn’t too keen on that part.

Finally, after another ten minutes of driving took them to the gate of the inner community that the mansion lay in. They slowed to a stop in front of the tall iron gate, flanked on either side by stone walls that were elegantly cracked.

“How do we get past that?” Arette asked, voicing the obvious as she climbed out of the car. Quinn considered the iron bars for a moment, and then shrugged.

“We climb. Leave the car here, walk to the mansion, steal the armor, and run back here. Doesn’t seem like there’d be a lot of car thieves around here, right?”

“We’re car thieves,” Caiden pointed out. “And soon-to-be armor thieves.”

She glared. “Other than us.”

He nodded sagely. “Then yeah, probably not.”

He pulled the key out of the ignition and then followed Quinn as she hopped out the side. Arette was making a face at the gate. “I’m not sure how you expect me to get over this thing. It’s huge, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly blessed in the height department.”

Both Quinn and Caiden looked down at her, silently concurring. She gave them a dirty look. “Shut up.”

Quinn looked up at the top of the gate appraisingly.

“Watch and learn,” Quinn then said, planting her hands on the side of the gate. There was a small space between the edge of the gate and the wall, where the hinges extended into the stone. Quinn grasped onto the end bar and hoisted herself up, managing to get a foot wedged on top of the bottommost hinge. She precariously stuck her other foot on top of the foot on the hinge, balancing for a moment before reaching up and repeating the motion. She did it again and was standing on the top hinge, high enough for her to plant her right hand on top of the wall. She twisted her body, putting both hands on top of the wall, leaning sideways as both feet rested on the top hinge.

For a second, it seemed as though she would fall, a frown appearing on her face, but then she got her elbows on the ledge and hauled herself over easily. She turned and grinned down at them.

“Come on up!” She called. “It’s easy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Caiden muttered, but started for the gate. He imitated her movements, and soon found himself level with her, and she offered him a hand. He landed on the wall next to her.

Now there was just Arette left, who looked uncomfortable. “Maybe I can just try and slide in between the bars,” she suggested hopefully.

“No,” Quinn said. “Your assets are too big.”

Caiden snorted in amusement and Arette gave Quinn the finger, as she shrugged innocently. Assets?

“Fine,” Arette said reluctantly, and wrapped her hands on the gate. It took a lot of instruction on Quinn’s part, and lots on swearing on Arette’s, but eventually she was on top of wall alongside them.

“So I’m assuming you’re afraid of heights,” Caiden said to her

“A little.”

“Right,” he agreed, nodding amicably. “You probably won’t like this next part.” With that, he leaped off the wall, landing heavily on his feet. Pain shot through his legs for a moment, but it passed as he concentrated his power downwards, repairing any damage to his muscles and tendons and bones, no matter how slight.

Arette squealed a little. “No,” she said. “No fucking way.”

“The wall’s not that tall,” Quinn told her reassuringly, but Arette shook her head adamantly.

“Can’t we just climb down the other side?”

“This way’s faster,” Quinn replied, and promptly shoved her off the wall. Arette shrieked as she hit the ground and stumbled, but Caiden caught her and ran a hand over her legs to make sure she was okay.

Quinn laughed and followed, her smile staying as she hit the ground and rolled, coming up apparently unharmed. “After jumping out my attic, a little wall is nothing,” she said, seemingly a bit smug.

Arette looked at her. “You’re a bit of an ass,” she declared.

Quinn nodded thoughtfully. “I haven’t been in the best mood lately.”

“No, really,” Arette insisted. “I feel like I deserve a complimentary slap.”

Quinn smiled at her, amused. “Alright, then. Slap me.”

Arette looked at her for another moment, sized her up, and then scowled and walked away.

“Good slap,” Quinn teased.

The three of them made their way through the community, sticking to the shadowed part of the sidewalk. It was almost completely dark, but the House of the Lafissas still loomed clearly. It wasn’t long before they were standing near the massive lawn.

“So let’s go over the plan again,” Arette said. “We get in through the kitchen door, since it’s least likely to be guarded. The armor is probably stored in their private collection, in the gallery on the second floor. Caiden is to go get it, while Quinn and I stand guard.”

“I still don’t understand why I’m the one who gets to be alone,” Caiden muttered.

“You can heal yourself if you get hurt,” Arette pointed out. “Quinn and I can’t, so it’s better if we stick together and minimize the possibility of injury.”

“Yeah, okay, I understand why, but I don’t want to.”

Arette ignored him. “After Caiden gets the armor, he’ll ring my phone, and when I feel it buzz I’ll tell Quinn. Then we run like hell for the kitchen, and get out of there.”

Quinn sighed. “Can I just say something?”

“Yeah?”

“This is the worst plan ever.”

Arette rolled her eyes, and turned to head towards the mansion, but quickly scrambled back. “A patrol car is coming,” she hissed, and the three of them pushed backwards, attempting to hide in the shadows cast by the row of trees, but it was too late.

“Hey!” The patrol guard shouted.

“Maybe if we don’t move he’ll go away,” Caiden whispered.

The guard walked up and shined a flashlight right at them.

“Dammit,” Caiden said.

“Who are you?” The officer said, looking at them suspiciously. He was young and fit, but looked a little uncertain. Caiden immediately recognized the markings of a new cop—the darting eyes, the nervousness he was trying to conceal. He probably hadn’t even apprehended anybody yet.

Quinn could see it too, but more than just the anxiety of a fresh officer, there was something else. Fear. And there was only one reason he would be afraid when he was so obviously larger than them—he feared that they were sorcerers.

Which meant that he was a mortal. She caught the flash of his badge, and though she couldn’t be sure, she thought the symbol next to his name indicated his status as a mortal.

She took the chance. “Sir,” she said, as calmly as she could. “Please move out of our way.”

He looked bewildered. “What do you mean? Who are you? And what are you doing lurking around here anyways?”

“We’re here to steal something from that mansion,” she said, nodding towards the Lafissas’ house. His eyes widened even further.

“What…I-I can’t…”

“Yes you can,” she replied, keeping her tone cheerful and reasonable. “I mean, think about it like this. The Lafissas’ are rich and stuff, right? They won’t miss a small thing from their collection. Also, this thing we need, we need it so we can overthrow the sorcerer regimes so mortals like us can live freely and unoppressed. Sounds good, right?”

“Unoppressed isn’t a word,” Caiden muttered, and Arette smacked him.

The officer seemed stunned. “Y-You’re a mortal?” He finally said. It seemed to be the only part he could respond to.

“Yes,” Quinn said, though she felt a twinge of guilt. She wasn’t a mortal, not anymore, but she still felt like one, so it couldn’t be too far from the truth.

He frowned. “Well, even if all that’s true, I can’t just let you rob a place. That’s…the opposite of my job description.”

Quinn shrugged. “Well, okay. In that case, we’ll just knock you out and rob the mansion anyways.”

His hand inched towards his belt, presumably to call for backup. Quinn lashed out with a swift kick that knocked his radio out of his belt. He gaped at her.

“Sir,” she said, her expression completely serious. “The world is on the cusp of changing. We have a chance to really do something, to change how society functions, and we need an artifact for that. We’ll return it afterwards, I promise. But trust me when I say the world’s fate literally depends on this.”

He closed his mouth, opened it, and then closed it again. He looked kind of torn, but there was a certain conviction in Quinn’s determined stare that was hard to ignore.

His shoulders slumped. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll turn a blind eye. But if you get caught up by the Lafissas’ defenses, that’s not my fault.”

Arette and Caiden sighed with relief, and Quinn flashed him a wide, genuine smile. “Thank you.”

He retreated back to his patrol car, and drove around the corner past them. Once he was gone, they headed across the road, to the lawn of the mansion.

“You sure there isn’t, like, a laser grid on the lawn?” Caiden asked, as they approached.

Arette wrinkled her nose. “That only happens in the movies. Besides, this community is really safe. Most of their defenses are inside the house, rather than outside.”

They crossed the lawn without incident, and circled the house, sticking close to the walls, until Arette stopped them. She peered into a window.

“I think that’s the kitchen,” she said, and then pointed to a large door. “We go in here.”

“It’s beautiful,” Quinn gasped. And it was— the door was turquoise and gilded patterns swirled on the wood panels. Pearls and emeralds dotted the borders, and the doorknob was intricately carved.

But something was wrong. It was too beautiful. Caiden could feel the pull of the door, whispering to him, you don’t want to hurt me, you don’t want to come inside, you should just walk away

Quinn was unintentionally backing up, and Arette was avoiding the effect of the door by not looking at it and staying a slight distance away. She dragged Quinn back, though it was obvious she wanted to leave, too. It took everything Caiden had to stand his ground.

“Explode it,” Arette managed to say. “We need to get in.”

Quinn shook her head wildly. “I can’t. No way. It’s too beautiful.”

“It’s enchanted, Quinn,” Caiden said, backing up a couple steps. “It’s just the effect of the door. Don’t think about it. Just do it.”

Quinn took an unwilling step towards the door and extended a hand, her brow creased, and then she shook her head again and backed up. “I just can’t. I’m sorry, guys. But it’s just…it’s beautiful…”

Arette looked at Caiden. “Plan B. Do the thing.”

Quinn was too distracted by the door to ask what the “thing” was, and Caiden gulped internally at what he was about to do.

“You sure?”

Arette nodded solemnly. “It’s the only way.”

Caiden sighed, said a prayer, and then took a deep breath.

And grabbed Quinn Vespertine’s ass.

She whirled on him immediately, her eyes wide in shock and anger. “How dare—“

The door exploded.

“Perfect,” Arette said, and poked her head in the door. “Come on, let’s go!”

Quinn was staring at the door. She hadn’t realized her hand was still outstretched, and Caiden quickly took the opportunity to hurry past her.

“Wait,” Quinn said, her voice still filled with rage.

“We don’t have time!” Caiden called hastily, and then stepped inside.

She was right behind him. “Did you guys plan that to piss me off?”

“Yes,” Caiden said. “And it was all Arette’s idea. Really. I promise.”

She stepped up beside him now, and glared. “But still. I can’t—I can’t believe you—-did you really have to grab it? Couldn’t you just slap it instead? What is wrong with you?”

Caiden suddenly realized she was blushing. Dear god, what have you done? He silently aimed the question at Arette.

“I’ll kill you later,” Quinn mumbled, clearly mortified. She stalked off to join Arette, who was already at the edge of the kitchen.

Arette caught Caiden’s eye and pointed towards the large spiral staircase. Up there.

Then she looked at Quinn and sighed. “Don’t be such a prude. Come on.”

They rounded a corner and disappeared. Caiden glanced around quickly, and then started up the stairs. He was sure that Quinn and Arette were watching him from below, keeping guard for him, so he stopped worrying and instead focused on finding a collection room.

The first rooms he passed were empty bedrooms. The third was a child’s room, and he quickly backed away upon seeing a security guard stationed at the door. He turned down a different corridor instead, and this one seemed closer to the mark. He focused on the room at the end of the hall, mostly because it was the only other guarded room.

There was no way to approach subtly. The guard had a full view of the hall, and his back was to the door. There was no way to sneak up on him. He contemplated his choices, and then decided to just go for it.

Luckily, the guard seemed a little sleepy. He didn’t see Caiden until Caiden was about three meters away, but once he spotted him, he instantly straightened and pointed a stun gun at Caiden.

Caiden froze.

“Who are you?” The guard said, and Caiden wondered briefly if he could trick him into opening the door. Then he decided that based on the guard’s hostile expression, the answer was a no.

“I’m just visiting,” he said, and then dropped to the floor and scrambled forward, snagging the ankle of the guard. In a moment, the guard was screaming in pain, and then he was passed out. Caiden could feel his heart pounding wildly, and there were footsteps. Undoubtedly the other guards had heard the screams and were heading in his direction.

Then he heard a groan, and realized that Quinn and Arette must have intercepted the guards before they got to him. Even so, one of them would eventually make their way here. Caiden had to hurry.

Scarlett had taught him to kick down a door once, but Caiden didn’t think that was necessary. Instead, he searched the unconscious guard for the keys, and found them in his pocket. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, taking the keys with him and locking it again.

He had been right; it was a collection room, of sorts. There were books stacked everywhere and precious items in glass cases. The most obvious attraction, however, was a leather breastplate, mounted on a mannequin inside a glass case. There were red lasers surrounding the case, presumably for some kind of alarm system. Pointless now that they had obviously been spotted.

He kicked the case, but the glass was sturdy. He needed Quinn to break it, but Quinn was outside bashing heads.

“Why is it always me?” He muttered, and then spotted a mace in another case. This case was thinner, probably because it was a less important artifact. There were no lasers, either.

He punched the case and it shattered, and he hissed as the glass shredded his knuckles. He cupped it with his other hand, and the pain faded, the cuts already closing over. Then he reached for the mace.

He swung it hard at the case containing the armor, which really was less impressive than he thought it would be, and the case cracked. He swung it again and this time, the case shattered.

The alarms were blaring like crazy now, but Caiden couldn’t worry about that. He quickly unbuckled the breastplate from the mannequin, struggling with the straps. “This is so annoying,” he complained, and as he got it off and turned to walk out the door, he jumped.

There was a woman standing in the doorway. She was tall and regal, her robes flowing. Her hair was messy and she looked like she wanted to kill him, so she had probably just gotten out of bed. Lady Lafissa.

Oh, and there was also the fact that she had an arrow nocked and pointed at him.

“I can explain?” Caiden suggested, and then dove aside as she let the arrow fly.

Another materialized in the bow. Great. Magic bow.

She let it fly, and he rolled, then came up holding the breastplate in front of him. She readjusted, and aimed lower.

“I do not have to kill you,” she said. She had a peculiar accent. “I can hurt you just as well.”

Caiden winced. “Not there. Just anywhere but there.” His phone. Where was his phone? He needed to ring Arette now that he had the armor.

He managed to hide his arm from the Lady’s view, and pressed a number on speed dial. Then he stuffed it in his pocket, and let it ring.

Arette picked up, instead of hanging up like she had said she would. She was shouting something, but he couldn’t hear her with his phone in his pocket. Then another idea occurred to him.

“Well, since you clearly don’t want me using the door,” Caiden said loudly, praying Arette could hear. “I guess I’ll be going out through this window. That sound good?”

She let another arrow fly and he cursed, lunging to the side. The arrow nicked his arm and he winced. He had been lucky so far, but sooner or later one of those arrows would skewer him.

He opened his mouth to say something, when a gunshot rang out.

Startled, he looked at the window to see a bullet hole in the glass, and then looked back at the Lady. A bullet was embedded in the wall far enough from her to not be a threat, but close enough to draw her attention. She aimed her arrow towards where the shot had come from, when another rang out from Caiden’s other side.

As the Lady turned her attention there, he took the opportunity to kick the glass out of the window and leaped. An arrow flew over his head, and he couldn’t resist screaming a bit as he plummeted.

He rolled as he landed, and moaned in pain. Focus. Heal yourself. Come on, Caiden.

He rolled over as his power surged through his body, repairing broken bones and sprained ankles and the cut on his arm from the arrow. That was when he spotted a shadow, moving away from the lawn and then getting into a patrol car. That officer from earlier fired those shots to help me, he thought hazily, and a bit of warmth filled him. Decent guy.

Caiden struggled to sit up, still sore from hitting the ground so hard. Then he heard an explosion from the other side of the mansion, and saw Arette and Quinn staggering towards him, an alarming amount of guards behind them. Thankfully, only a couple of them had guns, but unluckily, they were shooting.

“Go!” Quinn shouted, and Caiden scrambled to his feet.

They got off the lawn and hit the sidewalk, heading back towards the main gate. They stayed in the shadows, and they could hear the guards cursing behind them as they strained to see them.

They got to the gate and scrambled over, with Arette not even complaining about the jump.

“In,” Quinn said sharply, and jumped in the driver’s seat. Caiden was barely inside the car before she pulled out abruptly and sped down the road. A few gunshots sounded behind them, but they were faint. They were safe.

Still, Quinn didn’t relax her intense speed until they were on the highway. “Did you get it?” She asked.

Caiden nodded. “It’s t his thing, I’m pretty sure.” He held up the leather breastplate, and Arette took it from him to confirm.

“It is,” she said, tracing a row of symbols on the bottom. “Definitely enchanted. Good job, guys.”

“I love a good fight as much as the next person,” Quinn responded. “But for some reason I’m just not eager to repeat that experience.”

“You can say that again,” Caiden murmured, realizing how exhausted he was. “The Lady had a fucking bow and arrow.”

“Oh, don’t even,” Arette said. “The Dude had a broadsword.”

Caiden raised an eyebrow. “Wow. What is it with rich people and odd weapons?”

Arette sighed. “I don’t know. But we aren’t done yet. There’s one more thing we need.”

“Let me guess,” Quinn said. “It has something to do with the blowing-up part.”

Arette shrugged helplessly. “You’re right. We have the armor, which will make sure you can access your power during the reversal, but we still need the shield. It’ll protect you from blowing yourself up when you annihilate the field.”

“Great,” Quinn sighed. “It seems like I get all the fun parts of the job.”

They drove for a while until they reached an exit, and Quinn pulled up to a gas station. “We’re almost out.”

Arette stepped out of the car and refilled the tank, while Quinn allowed Caiden to treat her injuries. She had obviously taken more damage than Arette had, probably because she had tried to fight more opponents—or possibly protect Arette. It seemed like the kind of thing she would do.

She pursed her lips as she watched him handle her bruises. “I do not forgive you for the events of earlier.”

“Uh-huh,” Caiden responded, trying to keep a grin off his face. “Fair.” Who knew she was so awkward?

Quinn was about to respond when her eyes suddenly widened, and Caiden managed to turn towards the direction of her gaze before he suddenly felt a sharp sting on the back of his neck. Just as his vision was becoming blurry, he saw what Quinn had seen—Arette was slumped on the ground, gas pump still in her hand.

Then everything went dark.