BLINK 2: Circle of Ten

Chapter 1 Part 2

They landed hard on the mezzanine balcony outside, shattered glass cut into John's back.

John heard Sem's exasperated shout in his mind. 'You idiot! You're in close! Throw fucking elbows.' John closed his eyes and threw his elbows towards where he suspected Cornelius' head would be.

The Camden Cannibal had other ideas. He lifted a flailing John up above his head, then slammed him back down into the glass. John gasped as the glass cut deeper into him, his breath and energy escaped him in a second.

While John struggled to pull in air, Cornelius placed the cleaver against the skin of his neck. He straddled John, pinning his arms to the floor. 'I don't know who you are or why you were in my apartment, but I do know you'll be the third!' He leered at John. 'I must say, I thought it would be a while before my next kill!' Drew brought the cleaver up, eyes wide with anticipation.

His face changed when he spotted the reflection of a woman behind him in the cleaver's blade. The first kick took the cleaver from his hand, the second threw five teeth from his mouth and sent Drew flying off John's body.

'What's up fuck trumpet?' Sem growled at Drew. 'Cat got'cha tongue?' She ran towards him, another kick to the guts sending him sprawling down the metal fire escape steps to the street below in a satisfying clatter of clangs.

Cornelius lurched to his feet, stumbling against trash bins and shoving against walls as he ran along. Sem pulled John to his feet just as he managed to catch a lungful of air, then took off like a bullet. 'Come on John,' she shouted, 'he's getting away!' Her white wings merged with the darkness as she flew into the alley and out of sight.

He rested his hands on the balcony railings. 'Oh yeah,' he shouted between deep breaths of air, 'I'll just float on fucking down, two tics Sem, I'll just get my wings out. Oh, that's right. I don't bloody have any!' He was talking to the darkness, he knew Sem was out of ear shot. He took another deep breath, sighed, and shook his head.

With bounding leaps he ran down the steps, using the railing for support, then he was down on the street. He ran up the same alley Sem and Drew had disappeared into not long before, careful to run in the middle to avoid nasty surprises. Midway through there was a commotion to his left, he stopped and peered up the alley branching off from the one he was in where the commotion had come from. He could hear shouting, then he heard 'get fucked.' A squeal and a dull thud. He smiled. It was Sem.

He sprinted towards the voices, stopping just short of view. Under the orange glow of a street lamp stood Sem with four suited men, and an unconscious Cornelius Drew draped at her feet. John ducked and moved forward, keeping to the walls. He shuffled behind some large bins to a more advantageous viewpoint, crouching to peek past the side of the drum.

The four men were strange, all large, all wearing crisp grey and white suites, all bald, and all nearly identical in appearance. John half expected Sem to be kicking the shit out of them, but this was not the case. They were talking.

'Dark John thought you may have need of us Sal-Si,' one of the men said, bowing as he spoke.

She scowled. 'I don't need help from him, we can handle Drew our fucking selves.'

The four men nodded in unison. 'We know,' said the lead man. 'Drew is not the reason for our assistance Sal-Si.'

On cue Drew moaned and sat up. Sem didn't even look as she side-kicked him in the face, slamming his head off the concrete path with a sickening thwack.

'Then what is the fucking reason Fifteen?' She crossed her arms.

As one the suited men turned their heads to look down the alley John had just come from. Paper and crisp packets hushed and tumbled in a rising wind rushing from the darkness in the alley.