The Second Layer

Cover by @ShazneemTamana

Chapter 1: Lily

Lily Drake stood on the roof of a two-story building, staring across the street at a corporate skyscraper. Night had fallen an hour ago, but the lights of the city made things almost as visible as they were in daytime. It was cold, and she was dressed in just a t-shirt and jeans, but still she could barely feel it. Temperatures didn't really affect her anymore. Not that she minded, she'd always hated both heat and cold when she'd been human.

"Lily, is our target there?" Evan asked from just behind her and to the side.

Lily just closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before beginning to focus. No matter how many times she did this, she always had to remind herself that it was just as much about looking inside as it was about looking outside. When she finally opened her eyes again, she could see in ways she'd never have imagined as a human. She could feel the beginnings of a headache building inside her skull, but for now she just ignored it and let her eyes scan up and down along the skyscraper before her. "He's on the seventeenth floor. The floor's empty except for him," she finally said.

"Security?" Evan queried.

"Three guards in the lobby. A few elsewhere in the building, but they shouldn't be a concern," Lily replied.

"What about storage for the bodies?" Evan pressed.

"There's a janitor's closet on the first floor, not far from the lobby. The janitorial staff seems to have already gone home for the night. We should be able to put them there and have them stay hidden until well after we're gone," Lily answered.

"Good. What's Silver's best entry point for the lobby?" Evan inquired.

"Shadows are thick in the far left corner, looks like a blind spot. The guards are all at a desk a little bit out from the left wall," Lily told him.

"Anybody else in the building headed for the lobby?" Evan asked.

"No," Lily's response was immediate.

"Alright, we're going to play this on the safe side. Silver, you're up. Make it quick and quiet. If any of them trigger an alarm, it's your ass," Evan stated.

Lily glanced over just in time to see a lithe boy in his late teens with black hair and silvery eyes flash her a quick smile before stepping into a patch of shadows along the side of the roof. In the next instant the shadows actually seemed to reach out and enfold themselves around him before surging back to their original positions, taking the boy with them. It was almost as if the shadows had swallowed him whole, but it was a sight she'd grown used to seeing. For a second she shifted her attention to Evan, who looked much as he always did. Mid-thirtiesh with light brown hair and brown eyes, his attention seemed fixed on the skyscraper, so Lily returned her gaze to it as well.

She was just in time to see Silver emerge from the shadows on the far side of the lobby. Silver wasn't the fastest member of the team, but he was still fast enough that no human could compare. In a split second he'd moved behind the desk the guards were seated at and then without hesitation he reached out and snapped each of the guards' necks in turn, one after the other. He did it so fast the third guard didn't even have a chance to see what had happened to the other two before his turn was up. Only once all three were dead did Silver turn his head towards the roof they were standing on. Though Silver couldn't see them, he knew where they were, and he offered a nod in their general direction.