BLINK 2: Circle of Ten

Chapter 1 Part 1

JOHN, London, June 1994

John stepped through the film of the photo, emerging into a scene from a nightmare. The strip light dangling from the ceiling flickered on and off, jolting his vision. His hand rested on his jacket pocket. The familiar shape of the photo album made him breathe a sigh of relief. Six photos he could Blink into at a moment's notice—all safe houses for different events. It was John's get out clause if things ever got too heated. Years ago John had discovered his strange ability to look at a photo and enter that moment in time, and in the last year he had finally learned to carry a few specific photos into every Blink. Just in case.

His hand moved to the left hand side of his chest--the solid metal cool against his skin there gave him more confidence. The gun was a little gift from a future self. To date he hadn't fired it once, and he hoped he would never have to. Still, it was nice to have the automatic pistol at times like these. A little reassurance was a good thing as far as John was concerned. John remembered over a year ago when the Collector had stabbed him in the leg and flinched at the thought.

The evil knew about John now and they had somehow managed to prevent Semila, his guardian angel, from entering the same view time as John. Whenever they tried to enter a photo lately, Sem would appear a few streets away. John was working on a solution, but it was slow in coming.

He looked around and shuddered. Canvases with smooth, unframed edges decorated the room, each one a hideous vision of hate, murder, demons, fornication, fire, and worse. Paint brushes and paint pots littered the floor, some toppled over, their paint long since hardened. Large crimson curtains draped over the windows quenched the light from outside. Was it even day? John didn't know, but day or night, he had a job to do.

The art was unnerving on its own, even without the knowledge of who had painted the paintings. But John knew. The Camden Cannibal, responsible for forty seven murders. A chill shivered up his spine, and the need for the man who committed these atrocities to go away swelled in his chest. Once John got rid of the Camden Cannibal, all those people who would have fallen victim to him would live. It pleased John to rid the world of scumbags.

'I hate cannibals, I really do,' he whispered. 'Cannibals and paedophiles; they're worse than horseshit, I swear.'

Slowly he moved through the room, careful not to tread on anything that would alert the cannibal. There was no telling if the man was in the flat, so the drill was to find somewhere dark and wait. It had worked before. A large painting caught John's eyes, the only covered one he'd seen--draped with a semi-translucent black material hinting at shapes beneath. He licked his dry lips as he stared at it, hands clammy.

'No dicking around on this one John.' In his mind's eye, he recalled Semila's grave expression as she spoke. 'Cornelius Drew is one dangerous fucker. He's already managed to give us the slip twice. Just sit tight and I'll find you. I promise.' Sem's voice echoed in his thoughts, her last warning before they'd entered the Blink.

The light above John gave off a slight electrical buzz then clicked on and off while he stared at the painting. All was eerily quiet. Not a sound but the light above him. He walked over to the painting, his shoes sticking to something on the floor. John closed his eyes and prayed it wasn't blood, if it was then he was too late. His heart began to beat so hard he could hear rushing in his ears.

With careful fingers he pulled at the sheet, and it slid back over the canvas, stopping half way. John's hand covered his mouth before he could shout. His mind raced as he stared with wide eyes.

'What the fuck?' he hissed.

Painted in bold dashes of colour was a hill with an altar at its peak. A headless body draped over it, blood leaking down the side of the altar in thick streams. Above the altar a twisted abomination kind of like Belial in appearance towered. Belial's limbs had grated like rocks, but this demon or whatever he was looked slimier in appearance, dark veins bulging from his tar-like skin. The beast gripped an axe in one hand and the victim's head in the other. This canvas was similar to the others on the walls of the room but for one thing. A dark ball hovered to the left of the demon, a face barely recognisable within.

'Dark John!' he whispered, eyes wide. He looked below the ball. An armour-clad knight stood protectively over a prone angel with blood splattered wings. He pulled the rest of the sheet away from the painting, and his eyes widened at what was written on it.

'Kill one, kill them all.'

How did they know? Fuck! Dark John? Had he taken sides? John's body tensed. He reached toward the black writing. It was still fresh, and it smeared when he touched the first letter. Shit! He looked at the dark ball again and the face within it, recognizing it too well, recognizing his own face.

Dark John was an unpredictable symptom of having the Blink. In a past where the Collector survived to keep killing, John became something evil, something with a lot of dark power. This version of himself visited other realities using the Blink and the extra powers he had pooled. This was definitely the Dark John with the terrible power in the painting. Sem would have to be informed.

A floorboard creaked behind John, and he froze.

'Dark One?' said a voice from behind him.

John turned slowly so as not to startle. The flickering light gave John brief glimpses of a large man with wild eyes in a butcher's apron standing in the doorway. Blood stains marred the apron, but in the flickering light they seemed mere smudges of black. What alarmed John even more was the meat cleaver glinting in his left hand.

'Dark One?' the man hissed again, taking a step forward this time. His beard was matted with blood, his short ruddy hair standing in tufts.

John swallowed hard. Where the fuck was Sem? 'Yes,' he said with as much authority as he could muster. 'It is I. Have you been working Cornelius? Did I startle you?' John cringed at the theatrical roll of his own tongue.

The man's eyes widened, dread and reverence in them. 'Yes, Dark One; I didn't think you would be here so fast. Normally after the paintings it is a few weeks before the Demons are coming.' He grinned. 'Then it is the games begin.'

John stood up straight, hoping his posture would be intimidating and trying to ignore the man's strange speech. He had no accent, but he spoke as if he did not grasp the language. 'I am no low life Demon, Mr Drew. You know who I am, yes? What power I wield?'

The man backed off a few steps with his head bowed. 'I don't know, sorry. My gifting is to bring the Demons, please accept my apol-'

'Do not grovel to me worm!' John bellowed, hoping Sem would be within earshot. 'You are the Camden Cannibal, the Flesh Eater, the scourge of London Town, the killer of forty seven innocent souls. Begging is beneath you.'

Cornelius Drew lifted his chin and looked John straight in the eyes. 'To this day I have killed two only.' The meat cleaver came up to waist height, Drew screwed his eyes up as he looked at John harder. 'Who are you?'

John's shoulders sagged. 'Shit, too late again,' he said, stepping back and fumbling to withdraw the small photo album from his pocket.

'Err...London food hygiene,' he said, trying to buy some time to get the photos out. 'You're under arrest for shit hygiene, horrible presentation, and body odour that could stun a charging rhino.'

It didn't work. John barely had enough time to yell before Drew barrelled into him and they both flew out of the window.

P.S. This chapter is split into two for your convenience. Welcome to BLINK 2! Please leave your comments and vote if you like it. It boosts our Watty ratings, which means more people will find and read BLINK 2! Thanks guys! *hi5*

This chapter is dedicated to the co-author of Blink and Blink 2: Circle of Ten, the legendary @cashjo, plotmaster extraordinaire. Go follow him and read his stuff. You won't regret it.