Long is the Night

The World is a Curse, It'll Kill if You Let It

Sweat ran down my back, tickling between my wings. Even five stories up with the ever-present city breeze in the middle of the night, it was ungodly hot. I'd been waiting for hours for this woman to leave. She was supposed to close up shop around 9pm. It was now 1am and the damn lights were still on. It's a good thing I'm getting a shit ton of money for this. I shifted my shoulders trying to sate the itch the sweat caused as it continued its blasted path down my back.

I reached into the little black bag I had and pulled out a small pouch, tearing of the corner and downing the lukewarm liquid in a failed attempt to slice through the heat. As I cursed the mid-July heat once again, I heard the bells on the shop door below chime and I snapped my attention back to the storefront I'd been watching all night. The woman had her back turned to me, locking the many bolts on the door. She had long brown hair that, even in this heat, she wore down her back, high waisted shorts, a halter top exposing a half sleeve tattoo going from her shoulder to her elbow and heavy Doc Marten boots.

She was tiny, like maybe 5'2", with an ass that filled out her shorts in the most beautiful ways. I couldn't help the smirk that came across my face as I watched her finish up and walk down the block. "I don't know who you are, but I love watching you walk away." I muttered to myself as she eventually disappeared around the corner onto 2nd Avenue. I stood up and stretched, splaying my wings out as far as they'd go before launching off the roof with one strong flap, easily making it across the street in one bounce, landing on the roof of the bookstore the woman with ass had just closed up.

I walked across to the opposite side, the edge that overlooked the alley behind the store. I sent a feather down into the dark, probing for any signs of life, or more accurately, any potential witnesses. When nothing reverberated, I stepped off the edge, landing with only a soft crunch of gravel under my boot. Report had said no external alarm system, just heavy deadbolts. Who runs a business in New York and doesn't have an alarm? I shook my head as I easily picked the lock and slipped into the dark building.

The whole place smelled like a library; dust and the pulpy scent of books. It wasn't altogether terrible, but it was decidedly different from my usual haunts. I cracked a glow stick, casting the cramped back room in a mini red neon glow. I slowly spun around, taking in space. Books were, quite literally, stacked from floor to ceiling in shelves, in piles, in haphazard stacks that threatened a head injury if bumped into the wrong way. I sighed, hard. It was going to be a long night. At least its air conditioned in here.

The information I'd been given said the book was locked in a case with other rare first editions in the back room, but no matter how I looked, I saw no such case. "And this is why I do my own reconnaissance but nooooo, 'it's all good K, don't worry about it K'." I said to myself, mocking the boss. "I should call his ass to come do this." I whined as I ran a gloved finger over the spine of a particularly old looking book, revealing the title of something I'd never heard of. The books were most certainly old, but nothing about them said they were worth a cool half million. There was no locked anything in here, let alone a locked cabinet full of rare books whose net worth together could buy the whole building.

I walked out into the main floor area of the shop, looking around for any kind of display that could possibly hold what I'm looking for. More books everywhere, oversized cushions laid in piles in corners, beanbag chairs nearby as well. There were a few small chairs and some overstuffed and well-worn loveseats in random areas near the stacks of books. This hipster boho shit place is hiding a fortune? Yeah, ok. I kicked a pillow out of my way and it disappeared into the pitch black of what looked like another doorway, but I heard it distantly knock over some books in the dark.

I held the glow stick into the doorway and realized it was a small staircase leading down, blocked by only a small chain across the entrance with a sign that said "Employees Only". Well, if there was anything worth keeping here, my guess is it'd be down there. I duck under the chain and gingerly make my way down the steps, checking each as I go for any trip wires or triggers for an alarm. It was fucking weird that the security on this place was equivalent to that of a tree house.