I do not eat candles, not even if they look really tasty

Styx rolled her eyes, “they do this sometimes,” she said, looking at Kato. She slammed the knocker down hard. “Open up! Now! Or I will stop being so nice.”

The black door swung open with a long, drawn-out creak, revealing a dimly lit interior.

“When are you ever nice?” A low, male voice muttered under their breath.

“What was that?” Styx snapped back, glaring into the gloom.

The voice muttered something incomprehensible, and a deep patch of shadows retreated further back into the house.

Styx stepped inside, an air of authority radiating from her “that’s what I thought,” she said with a smug smile, turning back to Kato, “come on I want you to meet everyone else.”

Kato’s stomach rumbled, ‘Everyone else? I thought we were getting food.’ Pushing down his stomach’s objections Kato stepped forward. His feet sank down, the ground was carpeted in a thick, cushioned red rug. For a brief moment, he couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time since he had experienced such luxury, but now he was living the high life once again, experiencing the joys that only the most opulent houses in Redusk had access to, 'Maya would’ve been green with envy.'

He stiffened his shoulders and walked a little higher, for the most part he’d only been in this type of place when he was planning to rob it, luckily, he’d left that life far behind.

His eyes wandered over the elegant décor of the interior; a dull gold candlestick with a glowing wax shaft was just laying casually on a small, round wooden table. Flames flickered from the wax candle it held, illuminating the surrounding area. He stared at it for a moment, his eyes refusing to budge, as much as part of him pleaded. His fingers itched, subconsciously his hand drifted forward, ‘they wouldn’t miss this.’

“Kato!” Styx called.

“Sorry, what?” He looked at her, his eyes focusing.

“I called your name, like three times, were you even listening?” She stood in the middle of the corridor, shadows flickering across her pale face, as one hand rested on her hip, she held her breath, accentuating her figure, staring at him, impatiently, "well?"

‘Just say you were distracted and didn’t hear her.’ Kato thought to himself.

“What? Of course, I was listening. Would be rude not to,” Kato shot back, turning up his chin in mock offense.

‘Great.’ He internally faces palmed, ‘that could’ve been important.’

“What did I say?”

‘Ask her to repeat it, it’s not too late.’ His thoughts pleaded. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response,” he said, bluntly

She looked at him, searching his face.

Against his will, Kato began to redden, “is it… uhh… getting hot in here?” He asked, awkwardly.

Styx looked at him bemused, “is it?”

“It is, here let me fix it.” Kato reached toward the candle and with absolutely no subtlety snuffed it out.

“Ow!” a dull thud could be heard ahead, as a low male voice cried out.

Kato’s eyes watered, ‘it’s completely dark and its gold, i love gold, they wouldn’t mind, they wouldn’t even notice its disappearance.’ Kato’s hand moved out, his avarice taking over, as the candlestick fell in his shirt.

He shivered. The cold metal shocking his stomach.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Kato?” Styx asked.

“Yes?” Kato replied.

“Did you just steal our candle?” She asked, incredulous.

“Okay first you accuse me of not listening to you and now I'm a thief too, really?”

Styx audibly blinked, “are you serious? I saw you do it.”

The hall was bathed in darkness, Kato’s eyes narrowed, ‘she’s bluffing, she has to be.’

“Okay, you got me, I didn’t hear what you said earlier, happy?”

There was a sharp scratch, and a weak, red flame burst into light.

Styx held a match ahead of her, “Huuhh!” She gasped in exaggerated shock, “my candle it is gone!”

Thinking fast Kato acted, “I thought we were going to get food? Why are we here? Talking about candles?” He laughed weakly.

“You were going to eat my candlestick?”

“What? No! Who even said I had your candlestick?” Kato stepped forward, the candlestick jostled slightly, poking against his shirt, then the fabric flared out and it fell, crossing the distance to the floor near instantaneously and landing with a dull thud.

Styx looked at it then to him.

“See it was on the floor the entire time,” Kato exclaimed, if he couldn’t gaslight here, then candle lighting would have to do. He took the match from her and lit the wax candle again. The room was bathed in a dim, constant yellow warmth as Kato returned it to its home.

“There all better, crisis averted.” A narrow bead of sweat slid down a red cheek.

Styx looked at him, “are you sure you don’t want to eat it?”

Kato looked at her, his eyes widening in mild surprise, ‘is she really just going to joke and move on?’

“You’re not going to ask me to leave?” Kato asked.

“No? Why?” She stared at him for a moment, “oh the candle thing, if I was going to ask you to leave it would have been when you were bullying kittens.” She paused, then smirked, “unsuccessfully.”

“That was justified.”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“It was.”

Her eyebrow raised.

Kato glared at her.

“Come on candle eater let’s go,” she turned and started heading down the corridor, once again.

Softly, Kato padded back to the door, he didn’t know what sort of con was being played here, but he wasn’t going to wait to find out, not when he could get away. That was not a normal reaction to catching a thief, in fact it was near the opposite of a normal reaction, he shuddered, he was all too familiar with what the normal reaction was.

Fumbling, his hands reached for a latch or a handle that was carved or attached to the bulky, black door, but his hands found nothing. Frantically his hands glided over the surface, searching for any imperfections.

Styx turned, seeing, that he had in fact not followed. “What are you doing now? Trying to eat my door?” she teased lightly.

Kato’s heartbeat faster, she had trapped him here, his hands moved even faster, searching for the groove or bump that had to be there.

Styx’s lips thinned, “if I wanted you hurt, do you really think I would lure you into a dark hallway, locked from the outside, surrounded by people I know?”

Kato’s eyes widened.

She scoffed, “that would be ridiculous.”

Kato’s fist clenched; he would fight his way out of here if he had to.

“Wait!” Styx called out, “sorry, that was a joke, a really dumb one.”

Kato stared at her, his hand still tightened, “why am I here?”

“Night vision,” she said simply, “there’s a guy on our crew, Perry, who can determine a person’s highest skill.” She stated, “and we both know what types of people can see in the dark well.”

“What are skills?” Kato questioned.

“Funny…” Styx trailed off, “so, are you interested? We could use a guy of your particular talents, if you catch my drift.”

Kato’s chest puffed a little, ‘she thinks I’m talented?’

Kato hesitated, his eyes darting from her to the closed door, “I don’t know,” he said, slowly. “Do I even have the option to leave?”

Her smirk slid off her face, her features morphing into a more neural expression. She padded towards him, her footsteps were light, almost predatory as she moved with a natural ease towards him, drawing closer and closer. She brushed up against him, the warmth of her breath nuzzling his neck, as she pressed herself up against him. The world seemed to stop as the two looked at each other, confined in the narrow doorway.

Then she lightly pushed, her fingers barely grazing the wood. “It wasn’t even locked, tough guy,” she said softly, “Do what you want.” She stated, her head turned, just enough, so that her dark hair fell forward, obscuring her expression.

He paused looking at the empty street, the clouds hadn’t abated, and the grey smog still hung thick in the air. People walked along, not even an expression adorned their faces, they were numb, beaten by the very world around them.

The houses were still stained grey, and the grime licking the sides of the street hadn’t disappeared since Kato had been outside mere minutes ago. Filth coalesced in pools of still, murky water in barren patches of the street that had been unloved and left alone. Nobody cared, they didn’t seem to care about anything.

Kato wondered how long it would take him to break, steal a hat and force them to chase him, just for the thrill of it, just to get the barest hint of human emotion.

He turned back to Styx. She was new. She was exciting and most importantly, she wasn’t them.

He hovered int the doorway, weighing his options. Outside he understood, the world would crush you if you let it, and if by some miracle you held out, it would try again. Inside… Inside was her.

His hand reached outside, clasping the edge of the door and pulling it back in and with a single, dull thud they were cut off from the outside world once again.

“What did you have in mind?”