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Vee pulled a face. Yeah, they definitely got dumber in groups. Good crap? They didn’t need crap. They needed things they could flip—the faster the better, and preferably before anyone even noticed the things were missing.
“I said I’m in, Jayce. You can stop trying to convince me,” Vee said. “So… when is it all going down?”
Jayce gave her a wicked grin. “How about now?”
Jayce picked two other boys to go with them, to keep watch. Vee hadn’t bothered to learn their names, yet. That’s how it was with strays like them, sometimes. Kids came and went, some finally getting out and finding something better, and some… well, some just disappearing. The city fed on kids like them—chewed them up and swallowed some of them whole.
Most people in the city were smart enough to lock their doors, but you’d be shocked at how many of them never bothered with their windows. Sure, most didn’t open far enough to warrant locking, but that was why the gang brought Vee in the first place.
Well, one of the reasons, at least.
The window only opened a few inches, but Vee managed to slip in without much difficulty with Jayce giving her a boost. Vee was built like a blade of grass—all straight lines, made to bend under the slightest pressure. Squeezing into the house through the window was a cinch for her.
Inside the room was pitch black, and Vee flicked the heavy blackout curtains open so she could see around her. Jayce’s smiling face greeted her on the other side of the window.
“Vamp?” she asked, giving the curtain a shake to open them a little wider. No one but a Vamp needed this sort of protection from the sun.
“Yeah,” Jayce answered. “Some wanna-be big-shot, too. But he’s a heavy buyer, and he’s loaded. All my sources say he’s the guy all the rich, snooty Witches sell their shit to. He should have all sorts of stuff in there—devil dust, jewelry, gold marks, you name it. You just gotta find it.”
“And you’re sure he’s not here?”
“Positive,” Jayce insisted. “He’s at some fancy, hoity toity Vamp thing tonight. The place is empty.”
Accepting his answer, Vee went off to find the goods.
It wasn’t hard. A quick trip around the place gave Vee a good idea of where a guy like this would store his valuables. She pocketed a few rings and necklaces she found around the place, and a stack of gold and silver that was near the door, before focusing her attention on the bedroom where she’d entered.
Jackpot.
A well-carved, ornate wooden chest in the closet was the clear winner. It hadn’t even been hidden.
“You need the lockpick?” Jayce asked from the window.
Vee examined the chest, feeling around the seam.
“Nah, doesn’t look like I’ll need it. It’s just a latch.” If Jayce were right, this would be one of their easiest jobs in months.
But then again… when was Jayce ever right?
The alarm sounded the moment she opened the chest and, panicked, Vee immediately slammed the lid shut as though she could undo it. The alarm didn’t stop, though, and if the Vamp had a sensor on him, he’d know immediately that someone was in his house, going through his stuff.
“Shit,” Vee hissed. A heavy thud on the wall alerted her to the window slamming shut. The alarm on the chest was enchanted to close and lock all avenues of escape.
Vee began filling her pockets and bag with fistfuls of whatever she could grab from the chest. She wasn’t leaving without her loot.
“Leave it, Vee,” Jayce hissed from the other side of the window. His voice was barely audible through the thick glass, but even muffled as it was, she could hear the panic there. “Come on, you need to get out of there before?—”
The front door slammed open, hitting against the wall hard enough the sound echoed through the bedroom.
On the other side of the glass, Jayce winced.
“Sorry, Vee,” he said with a shrug and a smile that said, That’s just business. “You’re on your own.”
“Don’t you dare leave me, asshole!” Vee hissed at the window, looking around for something to grab to break it. Normally she didn’t like to swear, but if any situation warranted it, it was this one. But it was too late. Jayce was already gone, his two little nameless cronies following him.
Fucking prick! Vee thought. She pushed against the window, trying to get it to open, but it was stuck, held tight with magic. She looked around the room frantically for another way out. There had been a window in the bathroom, hadn’t there? Maybe that one wouldn’t have locked, maybe…
The thought vanished the moment she saw the Vamp enter the bedroom. He was a scrawny thing, but Vee was even scrawnier, and even with the stupid pendant hanging around his neck and his ridiculous outfit, he looked like someone she should be scared of.
