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  Blake walked in as she finished the last bite. Kandice smirked with cheeks stuffed with turkey. He laughed and pointed at a small spot of mustard on the corner of her mouth.

  “So, what’s up? Did you just get home?”

  She swallowed. “Yeah, but I left early this morning. I wasn’t out all night. Do me a favor and close the door.”

  He closed the door, then sat down in her desk chair.

  Kandice looked at the door to make sure it latched. “I’ve got something big to tell you. Remember I told you that I’ve met someone else who can see them.”

  “You mean the monsters?”

  “Yeah. I call them Aether Walkers. There’s far more than just the type that killed mom."

  “Who is it?”

  Kandice spent over thirty minutes explaining who Lance was, and the two weeks it took to find him again. She described Slava, and how amusing his unwillingness to speak English was. But left out their ability to change, it would be too much for him to process right now. Without seeing them do it in person it sounded like something out of a movie.

  Blake let her ramble on. He nodded and gasped where appropriate, but remained silent. Kandice noticed his eyes growing dim as she went on. When she finished, a ghostly-silence settled in the room, leaving only the hum of the air conditioning.

  “They hunt them?” Blake asked, after a few moments.

  “Yeah, they kill the ones who are harming people.”

  “But they look human?” Blakes face showed his confusion.

  “To everyone else," Kandice said. "I hunt them too.”

  “I’m still trying to get my head around the fact they’re real. In the hospital, they made me talk about what I saw until I convinced myself it had been a dream.”

  “I know. I’m so sorry.” She looked away from him.

  Blake nodded.

  “I want you to come see them,” Kandice said. “We’re hunting down a major one. It’s larger than any I’ve ever seen. Lance says he’s more powerful than any of the others here.”

  “How?” Blake asked. He seemed worried. “If he’s that powerful, it’ll be too dangerous.”

  “We don’t know yet. We’re working on a plan. Lance and I will stalk him tonight.” Kandice wasn’t ready to share it was the mayor. “But tomorrow, or the next day, I want to take you out to the bars and you will see.”

  “Sounds good," he said. "I need to know I’m not crazy.”

  “You never wer." She got off her bed and walked over to him. "It’s my fault you ended up there.”

  “I don’t blame you." He stood up. "I know how crazy it must sound to anyone else.”

  Kandice gave him a hug, and Blake squeezed her back, lifting her off the ground. They laughed together before Blake returned to his room. Kandice shut her light off and laid in the dark. Her mind was running too fast to sleep. She focused on the fan to zone out and let sleep take over.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice was in a dim hallway. There was a light underneath a double door at the end. When she got closer, the silver doorknob showed her reflection. Her hair was purple, and hung past her shoulders, which it hadn’t done since she was young. The door opened on its own to a library scattered with books. They overflowed from the dark oak shelves and onto marble tables around the room. A balding man was sitting in the middle of the room with his back to her.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The unfamiliar ringtone woke her and Kandice picked up the second phone. “Hello?”

  “Kandice?” It was Lance again.

  “Yes?” Kandice whispered.

  “Are you awake?”

  “Not really.” She sat up and shook her head. The desk clock read 6:37 PM.

  “Are we still on for tonight?” Lance asked.

  “What? Oh yeah, sorry. Let me shower and wake up. I’ll meet you at your place?”

  “Yeah," Lance said. "Wear something dark. We might have to get out of the car. Don’t bring your phone. Only the burner.”

  “Alright.” They hung up.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The door was opened before she got off her moped. Lance wore a black beanie, a dark blue long sleeve shirt and dark blue-jeans. She walked through the door, and Lance closed it behind her. Slava sat in the living room, but there was no vodka.

  Slava handed Kandice a small bottle. “Do not take this unless you are in a life or death situation.”

  “Okay.” Kandice looked at the bottle. Inside were two pills. “What are these?” she asked, puzzled.

  “You take both." He had the demener of a stern parent. "They will give you the strength and speed to run away.”

  “What do you mean, run away?”

  “You will not fight under any circumstance. That’s the first rule,” Lance said, also in a parental figure tone. “If something goes wrong, you run to the car and drive away. I’ll stay behind and protect you.”

  “I will not,” Kandice said in defiance. “There’s no way I would just leave you to fight.”

  “He is strong.” Slava assured her. “He can change and has done this before. Besides, neither of you should be fighting.” The look he gave Lance told her there was more they weren’t letting her in on.

  Lance handed her a pack. “Inside are a few things we’ll need to track him.”

  She put the pack over her shoulder, and he put the other one on. Lance gave Slava a hug so quick that, she would have missed it if she'd blinked.

  “Good luck,” Slava said. The words seemed to stick in his throat as if it was the first time he had used the expression.

  Slava’s car was more spacious than expected. The seats were leather, and the AC worked well. The comfort amused her since they were on their way to stalk a deadly Aether Walker. By the time they reached the mayor’s neighborhood, Kandice was cold.

  Lance found the house they thought was the mayor’s. It was just after 9:00 PM. He pulled out his phone and opened the map. He showed Kandice where they were, and the park across the water that might work as a spying area.

  It took almost half an hour to find a place to park. They used a street parking spot and paid for two hours in advance.

  From where they parked, it took another thirty minutes to walk to the spot in the park where they could spy on the mayor.

  “Tell me again why we had to park so far away?” Kandice asked.

  “We can’t park in the park, and we can’t park outside his house. Did you expect this to be easy?”

  “No. But I thought we would stay the car. That’s what a stake out is right? Sitting in a car watching a target.”

  Lance laughed. “I think you’ve watched one-to-many cop shows. Slava and I have done this several times, and only once were we able to stay in the car. Plus, if someone comes by, we can pretend that we’re out on a date, and ditch the gear.”

  Kandice blushed, thankful the park was dark. If only she led a simple enough life to allow walking through a park on a date. Lance's plan was sound, her previous doubt faded away. As the made their way through the tree brush, they came upon a small cliff side. Lance pulled out a pair of binoculars from his pack and looked across.

  He handed Kandice the binoculars and pointed. “Look through there,” he said. “I can see the house, and I think a study through the south window.”

  It took Kandice a minute to get her bearings and know direction wise where they were. The south window he was referring to had the curtains open. There was a large wooden desk, and what looked like bookshelves behind it. This was the perfect spot to watch the house, they were about five hundred feet away.

  Kandice handed the binoculars back and looked in her own pack. There was a pair of binoculars, a small telescope, and what looked to be a pair of night vision goggles.

  “How long do you think we’ll be here?” she asked.

  Lance looked at his watch. “We need to leave before five for sure, but we might have to leave sooner. I don’t know if the police will do a sweep through the park, and if they do, how far they will come
in.”

  Kandice forgot they were in a park after hours and might get in trouble with the cops. First offense couldn’t be a ticket, just a warning and asked to leave.

  She found a rock and sat down. There had to be a way to get comfortable and still see the house, it would be a long night. Lance stayed standing. He resembled the guards that stood outside the castle of the Queen of England. He didn’t move, just kept his focus on the house.

  Is he breathing?

  “Look,” he said after a while.

  It caught Kandice off guard, but she jumped up and pointed her binoculars at the house. Two long, black SUVs pulled through the front gates. There was a werewolf in the back of the first one. It was so large, half its body stuck out the top of the roof, almost like a prom-goer, standing up through the sunroof.

  When he got out, three guards exited the second SUV. One was a lobster looking Aether Walker, with claws for hands. He was a deep salmon red. Its eyes were rather normal, which was out of place without a nose. The other two looked like normal men to Kandice. The driver in the first SUV was a dark-haired woman in a midnight-blue cocktail dress.

  “Who’s the woman?” she asked.

  “I can’t tell,” he said. “I can’t see her face. Maybe a date, but I don’t know why she was driving.”

  Kandice watched as the mayor made his way into the house. A few minutes later, the light in the study came on and he walked in. However, he was no longer oversized. Still a werewolf, but no taller than Lance.

  “That’s enough,” he said, and packed up. “Get the camcorder out of the front pocket.”

  She unzipped the pocket and handed him the camcorder. Lance climbed a tree and placed it near the top.

  When he climbed down, he said, “Not the best angle, but it will do and no one should find it. I can get it tomorrow.” He reached into his pack and pulled out an odd log of wood. It had symbols carved around it, a few of which Kandice recognized as planetary symbols from ancient alchemist, and a large blue stone at the top. He dug a shallow hole and buried the log inside.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “It’s a locating beacon,” he said. “It helps Slava.” He didn’t elaborate further.

  Kandice followed as he scurried out of the brush and through the park. They didn’t come across anyone else in the park.

  When they got back to her old house, Slava was waiting with a bottle of vodka in hand. Kandice agreed to a small drink to celebrate. After her glass was empty, she left. Lance planned to debrief Slava, and Kandice wanted to get back home.

  It was around 3:00 AM, and tomorrow she needed to focus on school work. Her classes on Monday wouldn’t accept this weekend's events as an excuse for no homework. School felt like a waste of money. Hunting with Lance was more important than trying to get a degree for a job, in the grand scheme of things.

  Chapter Four

  Monday, September 5th

  By 7:00 AM Kandice sat in the lecture hall despite every fiber of her being screaming she shouldn't be there. Kim peeped on about Kandice missing the paper presentation while the TA was handing out the group grades. A new sitting arrangement required them to sit as a group in the lecture hall. Their paper received an A and on the back listed a breakdown of each person’s grade. Kim 96, John 94, Brian 94, and Kandice 90. She didn’t care anymore.

  Dr. Lloyd walked onto the stage at 7:15 AM to start the class. “Hello,” she said. “I’m sure by now you received your grades. Each person in the group received a grade based upon their contribution to the group. If your grade was lower than you wanted, I suggest you put forth more effort. I hope you are all checking Blackboard, because you would have seen that we’re covering chapter four today, and there will be another group paper due Wednesday morning, before class. This time there will be no presentation. It will cover Chapters 4 and 5. I want each group to pick a state and explain what convinced them to join the union. We have twelve groups, so I left one state out. I uploaded the assignment on Saturday night. If this is the first you’re hearing about this, I suggest you and your group communicate more.”

  Kandice put her head in her hands and sighed. Dr. Lloyd was an okay lecturer, but the way she ran the course was infuriating. It was understandable to not want to grade individual papers in a class this large, but group work was pointless. The forced social situation that her grade depended on stressed her out.

  Kim whispered to see if anyone had seen the assignment on Blackboard. They all agreed they hadn’t checked it, and would get on every day from now on. Kandice said ‘sure’ every time they asked her a question.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When she got out of class, there was a text from Lance.

  Lance: Hey. Can you meet later today? I got the camera and there is a few things Slava and I found interesting. I don’t want to say more until I see you in person.

  Kandice: Yeah. When and where?

  Lance: Here. Can you meet in twenty minutes?

  Kandice: No. I’m in class. I have a break for lunch. I could fit it in then.

  Lance: It will take longer than an hour. Can you meet tonight?

  School and hunting continued to fight for her attention, Monday was her longest school day. It was also the most exhausting, by the time her last class was over there she wouldn't have energy left for Lance. Hunting was paramount. School was becoming a luxury that had no place in her current life.

  Kandice: Let me get back to you later.

  Lance: Ok.

  There was too much going on in her life, something had to give. The opportunity that Lance and Slava presented to her was once in a lifetime. If it slipped away, there wouldn’t be other hunters to help her. School would always be there, and it was ridiculous to continue going without a clear plan in sight. The choice to make was clear in her mind.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice walked into the registrar’s office. Mrs. William was at the front and recognized her.

  She waved Kandice over. “Hello dear. How can I help?”

  Kandice fortified herself before speaking. “I need to drop all of my courses.”

  “Are you sure?” Mrs. William asked. “You still have another two weeks. I’m sure you’ll find a rhythm. Or maybe we could only drop your hardest course?”

  “No,” Kandice said with a tone that made it clear there was no room for negotiation.

  “I have too much in my life right now, and I need to drop them all.” The pressure released from her shoulders. This was the right choice. It felt right; the stress that dissipated confirmed it.

  “Ok, dear,” Mrs. William said. “I need your student ID.”

  Kandice handed her ID over and waited. Mrs. William kept shaking her head the whole time she un-enrolled Kandice. When she finished, she handed her ID back.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Mrs. William said “Dear, when you decide to re-enroll next semester, send me an email, and I’ll help get you started.”

  Kandice thanked her again and put the card in her pocket. She had no intention of re-enrolling. College had not lived up to her expectations, and it had been a mistake. Her classes should have had people seeking knowledge. Instead, it was all the same vapid people from high school. The school would refund most of her money for tuition and while the bookstore wouldn’t give her a full refund, it was a small price by comparison.

  It wasn’t even 9:00 AM. Kandice sent Lance a text.

  Kandice: Okay, I’m free. Can I come by now?

  A couple minutes later he responded.

  Lance: I’ll be here.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Kandice sat on the sectional in her usual place. The cushion was forming to her. There was a new flat screen television in the living room, modest for a room of its size, at thirty-two inches. The log Lance had buried worked to allow his film to capture the Aether Walkers as they were rather than in their human form. The footage from the camcorder was running at eight times the normal speed. Lance paused it when they spotted somethi
ng of note. Slava jotted down notes and time stamps.

  Kandice finished a glass of vodka during the three-hour ordeal. Dissecting surveillance footage sounded more glamorous than the act of it. They drank in silence and ate a sandwich. At least the taste of the dark-rye bread was exciting and new. It made her think of older times when most people farmed. She giggled to think of herself wearing a corset and large dress.

  She realized they looked her way. “How much more is there?”

  “Another four or five hours,” Lance said. “At this speed, around thirty minutes.”

  “There.” Slava pointed to the screen.

  Lance stopped the film and backed it up. There was a smoke-black insect standing in the mayor’s study. It resembled a praying mantis, aside from the color. Slava jotted the time stamp and a few more notes. That was the sixth Aether Walker they had seen, besides the mayor’s guards. It was surprising to see that the Aether Walkers could work together.

  Lance told her to pay attention to the types. He wanted to find out how many of Aether Walkers were familiar to her. Each species had their own personality and unique abilities. Kandice had seen how the ones with spiders for hair could manipulate their prey, but most of the types on film were new.

  She sat quiet, waiting for the film to be over, but time seemed to move in slow motion. After the insect showed up, the mayor left his house and never came back. The film stopped when the camcorder had run out of power.

  “This is good,” Lance said. “I think we’ve seen most of the major Aether Walkers working with the mayor.”

  “Agreed,” Slava said. “I have only seen a few gather more than two underlings. That he has managed to gather eight to him does not bode well for us. We will need more information to plan our attack.”

  “Like what?” Kandice asked.

  “We need to get a better layout of the compound,” Lance said.