Caught in the Crossfire

He looked out over the city, smiling mischievously as the clouds threatened to rain on the parades of the innocent bystanders. As the ominous cumulonimbus clouds rolled over the skyline on the horizon, completely enveloping the skyscrapers and clock tower, his plan was already set in his mind. She watched him silently until he spoke. “Valentine, darling, why don’t you join me on the deck?”

The petite girl, with blazing red hair, stepped forward from the shadows and joined her counterpart at his side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her ever closer until their bodies touched at their sides. There was no wind to speak of, but the speed that the clouds moved with was both astonishing and beguiling. She only cared enough to ask. “Why are they moving so fast? The clouds, I mean.”

He shrugged before he turned his head and smiled down at her. “It’s a lovely night, don’t you think?”

Valentine wrapped an arm around his waist. “Can we go out tonight, Niall? It’s so nice out and with all the twinkling lights and the fresh smell of rain in the distance, it’ll be romantic. And we haven’t gone out, just you and I, in a while. I feel a bit neglected.”

Niall half turned and tenderly kissed the top of her head, feeling the softness of her flamboyant red hair against his lips. “Tonight we will, love. We’ll cause a little mayhem and chaos. What say we get you a nice string of pearls? It’ll look lovely around your neck, dear.”

She smiled up at him and lifted herself on her toes, her small stature barely helped by the four inch stilettos that caused her feet to ache. She pressed her equally red lips to his in a soft kiss. “You’re the best, Niall.”

He turned his head toward the skyline again. “I know just the place.”

Valentine ducked behind the dumpster behind the jewelry store in south central London, smirking devilishly as the moonlight shone in an almost circular area to her left. Three centimeters to her left, and she would have been enveloped in moonlight, but she was sufficiently hidden in the darkness of the stinking garbage that was stuffed behind the dumpster.

She lifted her right arm and glanced at the lock, pressing no the button in the side that lit up the screen with a dull red light. It was only nine fifty-four, not quite closing time for the jewelry store. She smiled to herself and stood up quietly, walking around the side of the building until she reached the front entrance of the store.

The name was branded on the class window with a bright red light. Garnet was a small jewelry store she and Niall had mapped out a few weeks before.

Both Niall and Valentine payed close attention to the security camera as they had walked through the display cases, scoping out their trajectory. Petty thievery was something they both dabbled in when they were bored, but there was a different atmosphere to this small jewelry store. They had expensive pearls and rare jade pendants. Garnet and sapphire earrings and bracelets always intrigued Valentine’s eyesight. The sparkling gems intriguing her and sparking her lusts.

She stepped in, the door above her head jingling gaily just like she knew it would. There was a woman, taller and stalkier than she was, standing at the display counter, inspecting a pair of diamond stud earrings. The woman glanced up and smiled kindly. “You’re just in time, I was about to close shop. You’ll be my last customer for the night.”

Valentine stepped forward and spread her hands on the glass display case, awing over the jewels. “My boyfriend will be in shortly. He’s just parking the car.”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Very good. Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“We’re looking at pearls. Do you have any?”

The woman tilted her head, smiling patronizingly. “Asking if a jewelry store has pearls is like asking a garden if they have roses. Is there any specific kind of pearls you would like, dear?”

Valentine shrugged. “Nothing too flashy, but I don’t want anything cheap either.”

The woman grinned and stepped to the left, examining the displays of pearls. The door bell jingled and Valentine turned, spotting her boyfriend stepping through, shaking out his darkening hair. She had told some truth. Niall was her boyfriend, but he wasn’t parking the car.

Along the back of Garnet was their car already. Parked their since midday, their car was filled with canisters of gasoline. Their plan was to take whatever jewels they wanted and burn the place to the ground. But the woman was not involved. She was not to be harmed because she’d be able to prove nothing after the building went up in flames.

Valentine smiled when Niall joined her side and draped an arm around his girls’ shoulder. “Seen anything you like, love?”

The woman smiled. “Oh, an Irish boy? How lovely!”

Niall smiled. “Aye, I’m as Irish as they come.”

“I’m to go to the back room for just a minute. I’ll be right back,” the woman said softly. She turned and exited the square made by displays.

Niall turned quickly and touched Valentine’s cheek. “What’s the plan, darling?”

“She needs to go,” Valentine whispered quietly. “She needs to go once we’re done here. She’s patronizing and condescending and I don’t like her. She makes me feel stupid and you know I don’t like feeling stupid.”

He kissed her quickly as the woman walked back into the room. “It shall be done, my love. Two minutes, it’ll happen in the back and we’ll have four minutes to grab what you want and then do what you like with her.”

“Alright, have you two decided which necklace you like best?” the woman asked politely.

Valentine nodded and time seemed to slow down, but not in the way that made her heart race. It made her palms sweat with anticipation as she heard the ticking of the clock on the wall.

And then it happened.

Two minutes passed and an explosion in the back hailed a cloud of smoke and broken glass upon them, darkness falling as the lights blew out and the security cameras died. The main power died with the explosion and emergency lights snapped on, the blaring alarm system screaming around them.

Out of Valentine’s back pocket, she pulled a small gun, clicking off the safety. She pointed it at the woman’s face. “Beg for mercy.”

“I have children, please don’t!” Her cry was cut short by her body slumping forward.

“The silencer was the best birthday present ever, babe.” Valentine slid the gun back into her back pocket and smashed her elbow onto the cracked glass. She scooped her hands along the pearl necklace that she had been eyeing. She handed it to Niall who slid it into the inner pocket of his coat.

He brushed her blond hair back. “I do love your blond hair, Val, but I can’t stand your eyes.”

In a split second, her skin shone an iridescent pale color as her eyes morphed into a slight almond shape and turned bright blue, different from the dull brown color they had been. Her hair darkened to bright red and straightened automatically. “Shapeshifting has it’s perks. You’re never caught on camera unless you’re wanted to.”

Niall kissed Valentine as they stepped out of the store, police sirens blaring in the background of the crackling fire and breaking glass. They walked down the street as the car exploded in crunching metal and hailing glass upon the sidewalk. “I love you, Valentine. My little Gemini..”

She blushed as they walked down a darkened alleyway as the road behind them shone bright orange, heat radiating towards them. “I love you too, Niall, my Chaos Crawler.”