Thief's Honour

Chapter Eighteen- Two Days to Go

Madeleine got up early the next morning. Damien has said that they were going to the Vatican the next day, and the heist was happening a day later. She wanted to be prepared.

Ayden joined her a while later, with two cups of coffee and lots of cream and sugar. He was drinking from one, and handed the other to her, dropping the cream containers and sugar packets on the table. "I didn't know how you like your coffee," he explained apologetically.

"Thank you," Madeleine opened three sugar packets and dumped them in, followed by three creams. Then she stirred it. "You better not let Damien know you had coffee," she warned, taking a sip.

Ayden shrugged, more melancholy than the day before. "He won't. It's not caffeine that makes me hyper. It's the antidepressants. The doses are too strong, and Damien just assumed it was coffee. I haven't taken any today, because... I'm not in the mood to deal with him getting mad at me. Please don't tell him about the antidepressants. Or Aric."

"I won't," Madeleine reassured him. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully.

"This is really good. Where'd you get it?" Madeleine asked, holding up the coffee cup.

"The hotel. They've got really good coffee."

Aric came in an hour later, carrying two cups of coffee. He handed one to Madeleine. "It's just the way you like it," he told her.

"I already gave her some." Ayden scowled.

Aric opened his mouth to reply, but Madeleine cut him off, saying, "I never refuse free coffee. No matter how many cups I've already had." She took a sip of it, then frowned. "How do you know how I like my coffee?" She asked suspiciously.

"Stalker," Ayden muttered.

Aric glared. "I wasn't stalking her, I was-"

"I think Ayden's right," Madeleine defended him.

Aric sighed. "I was protecting you. Did you really think that Damien was the only one who wanted to hire you for this job?"

"Other people wanted to hire me for this?" Madeleine asked incredulously.

"Of course," Aric replied, "You're one of the best thieves in the business. Several people tried to talk to you the week before you came here, alone. It's been my job to... discourage them."

Madeleine sighed. "Why do other people want our target?"

Aric's voice lowered. "Apparently, it's an object of really powerful magic. The angels have it, but it's really unstable when it meets portal magic or if someone's tries to teleport with it. Everyone wants to get their hands on it before they figure out a way to get it to Heaven safely."

"Really?" Madeleine whispered back, "But no one knows what it is?"

Aric shook his head. "Plenty of people know what it is. Just not people at our level. The super powerful people- like Damien, the Devil, really important angels... they all know. But they don't want any of us to know."

"So we don't steal it for ourselves," Madeleine guessed, sighing when he nodded. "So how do you-"

Damien came in at that moment. "Ah, good. You're all here. You have a lot to do today."

The three of them looked up, trying to hide the guilt on their faces. None of them wanted to know how Damien would react if he knew what they were discussing, and weren't even supposed to know. 

He frowned. "What's with you three?"

"We didn't know when you were coming," Madeleine lied, "And we didn't get you any coffee."

He snapped, and a French vanilla latté appeared in his hand. "I can take care of myself." 

"What do we have to do today?" Ayden asked, "I thought we were leaving tomorrow."

"Exactly. And we're not teleporting, it'd be too obvious. These are your identities and plane tickets." he threw passports, folders and plane tickets on the table. "You're taking commercial airlines, separately. Learn quickly. The fun starts tomorrow."