The afternoon crept by slowly. Candace crept into the kitchen just as slow, rubbing her eyes. She stirred a few creamer and some sugar into a mug of afternoon coffee that she isn't used to having. She sips it and looks at her brother sitting at the kitchen table.
"Do you sleep?" She asked, gradually waking up.
"Do naps count?" Lucky asked, dropping his half eaten sandwich onto the saucer and pushing it away.
Candace doesn't answer his question.
"That's the good thing about your job. The hours. Isn't it?" She asked, sitting across from him. "You can sleep whenever you want to."
"There is no sleep doing this. Working with Max!" Lucky yelled to a blanketed body stirring on the sofa. Sleepy groans escaped the covers at the mention of the name.
Candace smiled loosely.
"Get up werewolf boy. It's time to check those phone lines." Lucky said, his voice deep with lack of sleep.
"Changed my mind, man." Said Max, yawning loudly.
"It figures." Lucky said to himself, grunting with half a smile at his little brother.
"I'll go." Candace said, wiping her upper lip of coffee. "Give me a minute to freshen up. You know last night was just a few hours ago." She said.
"Are you sure? What about him?" Asked Lucky, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb to Max.
Candace looks at the covered body.
"Hey, you did good with that thing of yours. Buy a holster for it. One that fits. I'm going out with Lucky. Watch the place." She said.
"All right." Max mumbled.
"You heard him. He's good with instructions. You know that." Candace said, returning her focus to the person at the table with her.
"Hey Candace." Max said, still covered.
"Yeah Maximilian." She answered as she brought the mug to her lips.
"Thanks." Max mumbled.
"You're welcome." She said.
"You sure you're gonna be ok here, Max?" Lucky asked turned around looking at the body covered on the sofa.
"Unless they know where you live. No problem." Max answered.
Lucky faces his sister. Worry slowly fills his face. His silence speaks a tone that Candace can't pick up on.
"What is it?" She asked.
Lucky takes his time looking her in the eyes.
"Candace," Lucky said, "They are everywhere."
"They are not where I live." She said. "We can go out at night on any full moon with no worry. Mom and Max can do the same thing where they are. No complaints here." Candace said.
"But—" Lucky began.
"But I know they're real." She said, getting up and warming her cup of coffee with a little more.
"Anybody that looks at the news these days will catch a glimpse of one." She said, leaning against the counter.
"It was Dad who decided to stay in Darteret and so did you." Candace said lowering her cup to the counter. "This may be home but it's rife with people that change into monsters. It makes you wonder why didn't the Almighty create more unicorns worldwide. At least there is something magical about them even if you find one that's not so nice, there's still something there that makes you want to touch it. But a werewolf, dude," Candace said heading out of the kitchen. "You might as well be at work getting to know your coworkers. All of them are not nice." She said.
Lucky frowns his face, thrown off by the last statement.
"When have you met a nice werewolf?" Lucky asked.
Candace giggles. "My husband. The only difference is that he stays the same. Strong, hairy, and hungry."
A pillow flies her way and crashes into her shoulder.
"That's too much info, sis. I'll be ok Lucky." Max reiterated.
Candace picked up the pillow and tossed it into the kitchen. Lucky reaches out for it and catches it before it hits him.
"I'll be ready in five. Lucky." She said, disappearing into the hallway.
"Give her twenty. She's a girl, Lucky." Max cautioned.
Lucky grinned at his siblings and stayed at the table waiting for his sister.
The business telephone rings. Lucky answers it. Max can tell that something in Lucky's voice isn't right. He eavesdrop the conversation, pretending to have gone back to sleep.
Lucky hangs up the phone.
"Hey Candace." He yells into the bathroom.
"Yeah?" Candace yells back.
"You've got four minutes! That was the police station." Lucky said.
"What does the pound want, Lucky?" Max asked.
"Be careful around them ok and no name calling. I work with them. There's a respect there that wasn't there last night." Lucky thinks back to last night and is dumbfounded at his guessing as to why the patrolmen where annoying. "I don't know what last night was all about but—"
"Uh," Max interrupted. "Over half of the force was obnoxiously on the side of those that were apprehended and if last night had a full moon hanging overhead, what few real cops were there wouldn't have stood a chance at the number of werewolves that would have been typing up information verses the number of people doing it last night." Max said, uncovered and sitting up on the edge of the sofa looking at his brother standing in the kitchen next to the telephone.
"So, what did they want?" Max asked again.
"Hey. I'm ready." Candace said. " Why the rush?"
"Apparently some of my law enforcement buddies prefer daylight." Lucky said.
"What does that mean?" Candace asked.
"And they keep their own kind of filing system up to date with cases I've handled." Lucky said.
"You're fired." Candace quipped, earning a giggle from Max.
"They can't fire me." Lucky said, making sure to get his point across by looking sternly at the two of them.
"Ok. So why the rush?"
"The cops believe it's a werewolf that severed the line." He said.
"They know." Max said.
Candace covers her mouth, shocked.
"That's too close, Lucky." She said. "It not that they know. It's that they know you." Candace cried.
"You coming." Lucky asked Max.
"No. I'll watched the place." He responded while looking through the scope of his gun.