Eternal [HS]

Chapter Seventeen

THERE ARE HARDLY ANY STARS IN the sky, and the moon is shielded by a thick fog that hovers close to the ground. Hopefully, the same fog that conceals the moon will conceal them on their mission tonight.

Harry didn't need much convincing to bring her along to break into Adeline's house. After all, she's the one who knows the layout of it better than he or any of his associates.

On her second weekly visit with her this morning, she followed his instructions to leave two windows unlocked—one of them being the one right beside the locked room on the second floor and the other in the kitchen. Just in case Adeline was to notice one of the unlocked windows and lock it, he wanted a back-up. Luckily, she went unnoticed when she asked where the bathroom was and unlocked them both on her trip upstairs.

They parked the car down two blocks again, just like Niall did when she visited last week and this week, and walk along the sidewalk with nothing but the late-night fog and darkness to keep them company.

Niall and Mitch, the latter of the two she has yet to meet, are stationed outside of the house in their designated hiding spots. They scoped out the house all week, watching for any comings and going's and searching for the best spots to hide for the very reason of why they're hiding tonight.

The surveying of the house proved Adeline's claims that no one lives with her to be true, but there's no telling what company she keeps because she is rarely home. It seemed to them that she was only home to sleep and meet up with Jo on Saturday, meaning that she could have another place or stay with Issac's friends all the time.

Their footfalls are nearly silent with every step they take in the direction of her house. With her dagger strapped to her thigh, she walks in step beside Harry and tries not to overthink the task ahead of them before she starts getting too nervous to see it through.

Even though Adeline cannot be trusted due to her affiliation with her husband's murderous friends, she couldn't help but feel bad for plotting to break in behind her back. It only took a few shy comments about feeling guilty before Harry grabbed her gently by the shoulders and told her to cut it out, to remember that the company this woman keeps are the same people that tried to kill her. When he put it like that, she couldn't see any reason to disagree with him.

"You remember the plan, right?" he whispers close to her ear as they approach the neighbor's house and come to a stop.

His face is hardly visible in the darkness. The streetlights aren't working properly, thanks to the handiwork of Harry's friends, so it's hard for her to see much of anything.

For him, it's a lot easier. His senses are much sharper and stronger than hers are as a vampire, so his sight is no exception to that rule. But for the same reason that he can see so well in the darkness, they had to cut the streetlights to make it the slightest bit harder for anyone to spot them should they get caught and have to make a run for it. The masks should help too.

His hand reaches around her body and dips into her back pocket to grab the ski mask she stowed there. Neither of them has the time to dwell on the touch like they would if it happened in the comfort of his home, but she does feel her breathing halt for a split second when he tucks the layers that poke out from her braid behind her ears and slips the mask over her head for her. His fingertips are freezing where they linger on her neck after fixing it for her, but the mask is warm enough to remedy it.

She nods, realizing how long of a pause she took to answer, and whispers back, "In and out as fast as we can, no talking unless we absolutely have to, take the path to leave through the garden in the back yard, and don't leave your side no matter what."

From what she can see, his lips are curved in a smirk, and he reaches up to pull his own mask over his head as he did with hers. Before setting off on their predetermined entry path, he takes her hand and gives it a firm squeeze.