A taxi pulled up to a sprawling house at 229 Winthrop Avenue. The exterior was white stucco, with a richly contrasting black shingled roof. The many windows had wrought iron bars over them, and there was ivy growing up between a few of the windows. 

Rion got out first, followed by Shannon after paying the driver a little extra to wait for them. Her heart sank just a little, looking at the place and knowing her father wasn't inside. She stood next to Rion and shrugged.

"Well, this is it. You wouldn't know it, but the place was actually a mess when Dad bought it. His first project was to fix it up to his liking- and he did just that. Managed the yard by himself and everything."

For some reason, she didn't feel the same attachment to the house as her father did. There was a "For Sale" sign out front, with a sticker across the sign that read "SOLD." Of course, it was a prime piece of real estate now, and hadn't taken long at all to sell. 

"There's not much left to be done. The movers come tomorrow afternoon to take what's left to a storage unit I've gotten, then the closing is two days on from tomorrow."

They began to walk toward the front door, and Shannon fumbled in her handbag for the keys.

"It shouldn't take long at all, really. Just want to grab a few changes of clothes- don't really need much."

At the top of the five brick steps, she slid the key into the front door lock and turned it. Far too easily. She scowled a little and moved to the dead bolt. It was unlocked, as well. She took the key out, opened the door, and looked at Rion, puzzled.

"That's strange, I could have sworn I locked that this morning."

Rion followed a step behind her, half listening to her and half caught in the way she glided as she moved. His instincts kicked in as his right hand instinctively fell to the back of his pants, his fingers finding the cold familiar feel of his knife’s grip. Trying to ignore the uneasy pit in his stomach he moved beside her, their shoulders nearly touching.

”Would anyone else be here?” He whispered in her ear, “A caretaker or a butler?” 

Shannon shook her head as they stepped through the door. She lowered her voice to match his.

"No, I let the last of the staff go yesterday. Only Mrs. Elden had a key, and she gave it back as she left."

Everything seemed quiet, and nothing she could see from the foyer looked out of place. There were crates sitting in the drawing room and the library, and furniture was covered in drop cloths. She started to say something else, but was cut short by the sound of a rumble from upstairs, followed by the distinct sound of shattering glass. Startled, Shannon grabbed Rion's arm, looking toward the front staircase.

"Christ, I think someone is here after all."

Her eyes cut toward the hallway leading to the kitchen, where she knew there was still a revolver in the cupboard above the sink.

The twitch of fear quickly went away as he felt her clutch to his arm. It wasn’t much but he slid the blade from its scabbard, comfortably twirling it in his hand like he did too many times to count before. He took a cautious step forward, trying to keep his steps as quiet as possible. Leaning in closer to her as to not have to raise his voice he spoke in hushed tones, “Is this the only way up or down?” He motioned his head towards the staircase.

His heart raced in his chest, he had barely been in town for a couple of days and he was already stumbling upon a robbery with a beautiful lass. Raine certainly wasn’t joking when he said that these were strange times indeed.

"No, there's another staircase through the kitchen. Just disk that hallway."

Her voice was barely a whisper, and maybe a touch shaky as she nodded toward the corridor leading to the kitchen. More footsteps creaked from the ceiling. Shannon held up two fingers, taking a guess at how many there were. 

Her mind was racing, trying to think of who might have gotten in, and how, when she knew she had all three keys there were. 

He took slow, deliberate steps towards the hallway leading to the kitchen. The heavy footsteps upstairs moved around seemingly unaware of their presence. He stayed closer to her than he normally would.

Stopping just short of the kitchen he carefully peered around the corner. The kitchen was bigger than he had expected like something you would find in one of the finest restaurants in town. He didn’t notice anyone as the footsteps upstairs seemed to grow more frantic, rushing from room to room. 

He kept his eyes on the far side of the kitchen, where the other staircase was situated. “Any idea what they may be after?” He whispered to her, catching the scent of her hair as he moved close, causing his chest to flutter a bit.

"No, all the valuables are packed away in crates."

As quietly as possible, Shannon slipped around Rion and made her way into the kitchen and toward the cupboard above the sink. Standing on the tips of her toes, she felt around until her hand touched cold steel. She lifted the revolver without a sound then returned to Rion. 

"The stairs lead into a hallway that starts at the opposite end of the room it sounds like they're in."

He took a small step towards the stairs before stopping and turning to face her. She looked strangely comfortable with the revolver in her grip, the same way someone with seasoned skill would hold it. Looking down for a moment at his own weapon he felt a slight rush of relief. Sure, he could use a gun, just point and pull the trigger but he wasn’t the best shot in the world and he was a whole lot more comfortable with a blade in his grasp. 

“Hey, is this really necessary?” He whispered to her, “The place is already sold, it’s not your problem anymore.”

He tried to read her facial expressions but with all of the lights out and the only light being the moon light pouring in through a large picture window, he couldn’t see watch she was thinking.

He had a point. If the house itself was damaged, it wasn't really that big of a deal. Then again, there were some precious things in those crates. 

"I don't care about the house, but there is some good jewelry in those crates that belonged to my mother. I'll be damned if..."

The sound of footsteps suddenly moved toward the staircase. Shannon stopped talking and took a defensive step back. The floor beneath her creaked. Her heart skipped a few beats and she froze. 

​​​​​​"Hey Mack, you hear that?" 

Shannon shifted her eyes to Rion. Mack? Mack McClellan? Uncle Mack? 

Both sets of footsteps started down the hall toward the front stairs. Without thinking, Shannon bolted back to the front, her gun in her hand but at her side. She rounded the corner into the living room just as the intruders shuffled down the stairs. Surely enough, it was just as she suspected. Mack McClellan stood with a cloth sack in one hand and a green bank envelope in the other. He stammered something unintelligible. 

"Uncle Mack? What are you...?"

The second intruder skittered down the stairs with his gun drawn. He popped off a wild shot. Shannon jumped, startled at the sound; then felt a horrible stabbing and burning feeling in her shoulder that radiated to the right side of her chest. 

​​​​​​"Oh, Shannon!" 

Mack screamed, and the shooter shoved him further down the stairs. 

"Just keep going!" he ordered the older man. 

​​​​

Orion acted mostly on instinct, shifting his body on the stairs he clipped a piece of the larger man’s leg with his own, sending the older man sprawling to the floor with a thud. He clutched at any type of clothing with his hand but came up empty, nearly bouncing into the railing on the other side of the staircase. 

His attention quickly turned to the whimpering sounds coming just a few steps ahead of him. Taking two blinding steps upward he dropped his knife as he scooped an arm underneath her. 

“Easy there, Lass. Ya be alright.” He kept his tone neutral, as if this was an every other day occurrence but inside he was trying to do anything to stop the echoing scream of fear from reverberating in his skull anymore. 

Orion didn’t pay any attention to the scrambling footsteps that scampered away from them in the direction of the front door they had just entered not to long ago, there were more important things grabbing at his attention at the moment. Slowly and carefully he lifted her up, being extra cautious with her arm as he laid her head onto his shoulder. 

The searing pain was like nothing she'd ever felt before. Looking down toward her right shoulder, she just kind of sank to her knees with a wide eyed look of confusion and panic. 

She heard a heavy thud and some yelling, but Shannon was waiting for the pain to stop. It didn't. It just got worse and worse, and she was breathing fast while blood poured from her shoulder. 

Rion's voice came to her senses, slightly muffled but she knew he was there. What had happened to Mack? Who was the man with him? She opened her mouth to speak, but the only thing that came out was a garbled kind of moan. For a brief moment, she inhaled the faint scent of aftershave and whiskey, then the world went black. 

The cabbie was smoking a cigarette with his arm casually hanging out the window when he heard the front door open. Glancing up, he saw a wirey, scruffy looking man bolt from the house with a sack. That couldn't be right. Dropping the smoke, he went to turn the engine over, and then saw someone else coming from the house. It was the guy from the fare over here, and the lady, bleeding all over the place. 

"Jeeesus Christ! What the fuck?" 

He carefully slid her into the back seat. Reaching into his pocket be pulled out a stack of bills, nearly throwing them at the driver, “St. Pat’s hospital! I’ll triple whatever I just gave you if you get us there in five minutes!”

Beginning to panic slightly he jumped into the back seat as fast as he could, resting her head on his lap as he settled in. He ran his fingers through her strawberry blonde hair and whispered that it was all going to be ok.