Shoplifter: E.O.W Series, Book 1

Chapter 1: Where Monsters hide.

Sometimes if you lean against the side wall of the gas station you can listen to the music playing inside. You hear it from the alley a small plot of concrete not a place big enough to meet the gang, the cops stop by too often anyway. When the dumpster Is gone, and it usually is it makes a good place to smoke and hide from the world for a bit. It's my special place where I can observe the city in peace. It's almost time to report back to The Sanctuary. It's not as one would expect, The Sanctuary is just a name. A sanctuary in the typical sense welcomes all, this is far from the case. A patrol car pulls into the gas station I watch them carefully making sure to take note of the number forty seven on it. I flinch, dropping my cigarette butt that I stupidly let burn until it reached my finger tip. With a worn black boot I grind it into the pavement extinguishing it. I move along the edge of the parking lot trying to go unnoticed, I know the drill. Keep to the shadows, talk to no one unless absolutely necessary, never make a scene, and hide your face from the pigs. I slip away pulling my hood up to veil my appearance before turning down an alleyway. I like to take the long way avoiding the main roads and sidewalks instead taking back alleys that have never seen the sight of pleasant company. A pair of fighting drunks, a drug deal, a scrawny cat pawing through garbage, I pass them all as I make my way to the building. Finally I see it. The completely inconspicuous old factory building. On a tall air duct three stories up is the symbol we have painted all through the town. A red eye with an X in the pupil. I smile at it and find the seemingly boarded up back door. When I knock a small hole opens up with a set of eyes with heavy make-up stares back.

"Password" the woman, Tess knows me well but rules are rules.

"Templum" in Latin it means sanctuary. Like all my brothers and sisters I speak the limited amount of Latin that Blind has taught me. The door opens, it was made to look boarded up, the boards fit together perfectly so that you can't tell they are cut at all. The smell of spray paint and tobacco fills my nose and I welcome it. This is home, I'm surrounded by family. It's been a year now that I have been a member of the E.O.W. The Eyes Of Wolves, like the wolves of the city we hunt at night, never seen, never surrendering we take only what we need. That's why our symbol is the eye with an X in it. We are never seen, a close knit pack of thieves. I walk through the warm open building. Its just one giant room with layers of graffiti thick on the walls, we are even encouraged to use graffiti as an outlet. At the far end from the room there is an office that hangs over part of the room. There is a steel grated platform in front of the office with a set of metal fire escape stairs on either side. That's Blind's office, the rest of us rarely go in there. There are members playing cards, smoking, one is even graffiting the wall. Near a table in the center I see Gregory, a small shifty man in his early thirties and Cameron, a strong jawed twenty something whose vision is often obstructed by his long brown hair. As I approach them Cameron is the first to speak.

" what's the damage K?"

"Apartment fire, only one house was burned." Cameron looked up from tying his hair back, nodding to show that he's listening. "No injuries, they suspect it was an accident." He finishes, giving me his full attention.

"and your other findings?" He asked as a crowd started to gather around us. "Car forty seven is parked at the gas station and it doesn't look like they plan on leaving, no sign of sixty or twenty one but thirty three and five are on speed trap duty. Seeing as it's Thursday twenty one is probably off duty. As for sixty, best to keep cautious." The man who was painting taps my shoulder.

"Didn't you hear? Blind isn't sending us out tonight." I don't see why not it's a warm night and our part if the city is more unsupervised than usual. A familiar voice calls out to me from behind Cameron. It's the girl who trained me as a thief, Roan.

" well go on let's see your haul." The short girl call out again, hidden by Cameron. This is always my favorite part.

" not much tonight. " I sigh as I empty my pockets, secretly proud. Tonight I got two eight once bottles of Bourbon. Two cans of tuna, three cans of chewing tobacco and a six pack of lighters. I get a few smiles from the group before holding up my finger, realizing that I forgot the pockets of my ripped baggy jeans. I pull out tic-tacs, a bar of soap and a bottle of black glittery nail polish. The group sorts through the stuff, taking the tuna and soap to the supply room upstairs and giving the tobacco and lighters to those who need them. Through the small crowd I see a flash of color and know in an instant that it's Roan.

"Oh pretty" she says snatching up the nail polish. " it's been forever since I had nail polish!" There is no one on this planet quite like Roan. Like me she's a runaway and we both have half of our head shaved (her doing) but the similarities stop there. I stand at six foot four with broad, straight shoulders that give me an intimidating and authoritive posture. With my lean muscular frame and light step, I was built to be silent and quick. Roan is the complete opposite she's about a foot smaller than me, with a pear shaped body. Her skinny top half may have looked weak but somehow she could almost match me in strength. Unlike I, who was quiet and guarded she was sassy and expressive. Where as I dressed in dark jeans and sweatshirts so as to go unnoticed, she wore red skinny jeans and a grey cropped shirt that got her noticed everywhere we went. The side of her head that still had hair was a lion like mass of dirty blonde curls. The side of my head that remained unsheared was dark brown waves that fell below my ears. I had some random pieces that were shorter than others from one of the terrible haircuts given to me by one of my brothers. Despite being polar opposites, her non suspicious nature and my slightness of hand made us unstoppable. We made small talk that led to Roan's newly black fingernails messing with the shaved half of my head. "You need to shave it again...oh! And dye it" I laugh. " I'm serious I want to do mine too. What do you think of black? Or maybe-" she was cut off by Blake, a goateed man who was Blinds second in command.

" Kaius! Blind wants to see you in his office. Now." I swallow hard, Blind never calls people into his office. He always addresses us as a group. With a pat on my back Roan quickly makes herself scarce. I fix my hair and straighten my black T-shirt before I tentatively head to the office. Word of the meeting spread in seconds and I soon have the whole gang watching me as I start to climb the metal stairs. Arriving at the door I reach out and take the handle with twenty five pairs of eyes on my back.