#faefolklore

[small-fortunes]

John Wick || Blood of The Raven King

This work of fiction is dedicated under inspiration and by request of @rubydian and the founding concept as published on Twitter by English Sci-Fi/Fantasy author, Matt Dovey

Act One || Scene One || Irreversible

And thus it started, the way it usually does in tales such as these.

With a letter.

On this particular wet August afternoon in New York City, the mailman had been discourteous enough to not wipe off his boots upon the runner carpet that had been rolled out specifically to capture the wet footsteps of guests and visitors going to and from The Continental lobby. Instead, he shook out his high visibility fluro-yellow raincoat with a shower of water that hit the marble floor and the hotel reception counter in a splatter. Some of those wayward, wind chilled droplets struck Charon’s computer monitor. The elegant African American man, in his dark Italian wool suit, offered the wet plastic covered parcel of letters that was unceremoniously slapped atop his counter, a cursory glance before sliding them off the counter top and shaking them into the waste paper basket at his feet. His displeasure did not reflect in his profound features. Rather, he offered the mailman his thanks and fixed him with a poignant glare that seemed to work wonders, for the middle aged mailman gestured vaguely to the general wet mess he made and apologized sheepishly. 

“Sorry, Mr. Charon. I didn’t mean to bring the storm in with me.” Charon, the hotel Concierge, softened his features somewhat and replied in his rich accented baritone,

“It is unavoidable. Perhaps, you might shake yourself and the mail out under the awning next time?” 

An obvious consideration. The mailman nodded his assent apologetically once more before tapping the brim of his sodden baseball cap in respect, replacing the hood of his raincoat and turning on his heel to march back out into raging storm. Charon watched his receding footfalls for a moment or more before finally seeking to pull out a clean dusting cloth from beneath the counter’s tidy shelves and wipe away the errant droplets from the marble surface and the back of his thin computer screen. Once he was satisfied that all was as it should be, the cloth was replaced and the plastic covered mail satchel was again addressed with his customary care. A silver letter opener that was taken from the hands of a small kneeling iron Roman warrior statue upon the desk made quick work of prying the plastic sheathing apart. Within, dry and protected from the rain, rested an organized and fairly typical arrangement of letters. These included utility bills, insurance reports, tax department assessments, sundry receipts and reconciliation invoices for repairs, maintenance, linen and fresh food and beverage supplies. All of these letters would be addressed in due time, for there was a management and administration process that Charon followed religiously in his years of employed service. And it ensured every article would be considered carefully and addressed appropriately. What was of highest import at this moment was what Charon picked out to be internationally addressed personal mail. These letters arrived with a reliable systematic frequency and were almost always addressed to his employer, the hotel owner/proprietor, Winston. Occasionally he would receive a personally addressed letter as well, but these were few and far between. 

There was a very particular letter that he was expecting on this day. It arrived fourth to last in the pile and featured the neat, calligraphic penmanship that was characteristic of a female hand that valued the aesthetic pleasure of ink on paper, compared to type and print labels that were so readily available in this day and age. The stationary the letter was mailed in was of quality off-white paper stock. It featured an Air Mail stamp and beneath it another that presented the face of Queen Elizabeth II for her Sapphire Jubilee. Sixty-five years a reigning British Monarch was an exceptionally long time to reign, even as a figurehead for an entire empire. Charon turned the letter over and noted the sender’s name, ‘Miss Bobby Kent’. Naturally. Roberta, whom had endearingly and playfully always been known to the world as ‘Bobby’ was Winston’s niece. 

A charming young woman of thirty-three years of age with sharp blue eyes, a sun kissed complexion and a shock of forcefully tamed frosted mahogany coloured hair. She had grown into a striking young lady post the bloom of her girlhood for as much as Charon remembered. Bobby lived in Essex, England in a peaceful cottage by the countryside that she had inherited from her deceased parents some nine years earlier. After completing her high school education she sought to attend Oxford University, boarding in their slightly cramped and out-dated sorority dormitory for five years as a means of escaping the country life. In truth she wished to live somewhere exciting, like London. But considering her financial garnetour, Winston, was the manager of her family’s estate after his sister’s passing; he was forthcoming in advising that her monthly allowances could not support the exorbitant additional cost of Central London rent without depleting her inheritance substantially. He wished to preserve those funds for as long as was prudently possible, at least, until the day of which Bobby announced her intent for marriage. 

Sadly, such proposals with eligible suitors were regular and regularly discouraged. Bobby was a woman of big ambitions, plans and social pursuits in the world of discovery and education. An independent cartographer that specialized in alternative tour guide manuals that celebrated and relegated geographic explorational pursuits in breathtaking exotic landscapes and oceans across at least six of the seven continents. An impressive feat of achievement for a such an academic lady and her fellow organized crew. Winston had suggested archaeology and ruins preservation was another ample field of study that he hoped Bobby would consider for employment. Unfortunately, a Peruvian cartel of ex-mining gangsters with designs upon North American narcotics trade saw her exciting life of travel and adventure cut short. Bobby was captured, as a bargaining chip, imprisoned, tortured for eight, painstaking days and put to ransom in a gory array of eight millimeter video footage that arrived on Winston’s desk in the midst of a frantic police investigation for missing persons. The investigation was heavily handled, media suppressed and eventually filed as a cold case. The gang cartel in question, with their methamphetamine inundation was infiltrated; and quietly picked off. Neutralized. By a gentleman that was said to be a ghost of myth and legend. His origins confused. Russian? Belarusian? Ukraian perhaps? Some even ventured, Italian; for he had noted affiliations across a council known as The High Table. And there were twelve councilors there that were international Crime Lords, owners of cartels, arrangements and syndicates that dated back some many hundreds of years. Holders of honour and tradition. Corrupt and wayward as much of it may have been considered, there was purpose and method to their madness. War was something that happened. It was corrected. Acknowledged. Crushed where possible in hopes of peace. Continual fire prevents germination of the new growing forest. If all the soldiers are dead, there is no army. And without an army, of what are you a leader, a general, a king?

Bobby never saw the face of the man that had saved her. She never even learned his name. But when she recovered from her coma and years of intensive therapy, she sought out her Uncle and began to ask him some very direct questions. Questions that related to his historical origin. Questions that related to his business enterprise. Questions that related to his religious, moral and ethical fibers. Questions that parsed his psychological profile into theoretical components, that precipitated into a murky conclusion that she was finally relieved to comprehend, even in an unclarified and subsumed level. The revelation did not leave her suffering as deeply as she thought she would. 

“You’re a mob boss, aren’t you, Uncle? One of those impossible underground criminals that runs this hotel as a front for terrorists and black market trade. Am I right?”

“….Well…. Roberta,”

“Bobby.”

“Bobby…” He corrected, on knee-jerk reaction, “It’s not quite that cut and dry nor that sinister to be honest, darling.”

“Don’t you darling me, old man! You’re full of horse shit! They knew about you! About what you were capable of! Of the class of people… creatures… beasts you surround yourself with. And they found me, and bled me to get a reaction out of you! What did they ransom me for, hm?”

“Bobby, please, I need you to calm down-”

“You fucking calm down! You bastard! Before mother died she promised me you would look after me. That you’d care for me, make sure I wouldn’t be led astray. I thought she meant just boys and drugs and wild parties! I had no idea she would entrust me into the hands of a lunatic black-market hoon! You disgust me! I wish I was never born into this wretched family! I had plans once! Dreams… now look at me!”

“Bobby…” Winston breathed. His eyes glazing over dangerously from behind his reading glasses that he finally removed so as he could bury his head into his hands.

“Oh and now you weep! Collapsed lung, crushed skull, they took a kidney and I’ll never walk properly again with this spine injury. Every day of my life for two years has been an endless agony of horror and torment. Because of you! Because of your twisted, depraved fucking empire of criminals and darkness.”

“YOU’RE WRONG ROBERTA! IT’S BECAUSE OF ME THAT YOU’RE STILL ALIVE!” The elder gentleman snapped at last, losing his temper within the confines of his guilt ridden sadness. 

“…I don’t call this alive. Not even remotely.” She whispered in her compounded sorrow. She’d long since promised herself she’d never cry in front of another human being again. 

“I want you to tell me what you know. No ifs… no buts… no lies.. No bullshit. I want everything. I want the truth. Because you owe me this.”

“Roberta-”

“Bobby.”

“Bobby… If I do this…thing… you ask of me… If I drag you into this world… As you are right now… You need to understand, that there’s no going back. Ever.”

“Just as well. My scars are irreversible, Uncle Winston. You gave me this life, be it by divine providence or bad fucking luck. But I’m in it now. The least you can do; is show me how to live.” 

Winston considered his options for a very long time that day. He considered everything that he thought would be just and ethical and compared it to everything he knew would be considered immoral, unjust and socially perverse. He looked deeply into his niece’s eyes. He read her, the pieces of her he wished he’d never have to see. He found himself, for the first time in his life, praying. Wishing that his sister would not have burdened him with this young woman. So that he might have saved her from the trauma of the world around her. This was why he’d never married. Nor had children. So as he could rule an empire that would not fall to complication when the genuinely innocent are caught in the crossfire of havoc and fury that does not concern them.

Winston considered his options for a very long time that day. And after that long time; he made his decision.

And he told Roberta Kent, aka 'Bobby’, everything.

Act One || Scene Two || Letters of Warning

Charon concluded his administration processing with his customary efficiency, until his relief management staff took the front desk and permitted him complete the day’s hand over seamlessly. A final glance around the foyer with its range of ambling guests waiting out the rain or waiting on friends and colleagues, revealed that at least on the surface, this oasis of calm and civility was very much still in working order and could do without his vigilance for at least an hour or more.  With a smile at the uniformed ladies that had taken his place at reception, he sought to attend the lounge that was relatively quiet at this hour of the day.  Sure enough, he discovered his friend, colleague and employer, Winston, seated at the lounge by the fireplace, sipping at a steaming tea cup and decoding possibilities for the crossword puzzle that '12 Down’ was occupying him with.

"Good afternoon, Sir.” Began Charon by way of greeting. Winston looked up over his reading glasses and put down his pen,  fixing his Concierge, friend and colleague with a smile. He’d already noted the letter in Charon’s slender fingers and was expecting its arrival hourly.

“Ahh! Charon, welcome, pull up some leather. Have a sit down won’t you?” He indicated the tobacco coloured chesterfield lounge before him on the opposite end of the fireplace separated by a provincial coffee table. Charon complied with a smile, grateful to be off his feet for a moment. The morning had been busy and the afternoon had finally worked into a lull that said sitting down was a very good idea.

“That letter you have there, Bobby, I take it?” Winston asked with a quirk of his brow.

“Bobby.” Charon replied with a curt nod. He leaned over the coffee table and placed the letter beside Winston’s teacup. The elder gentleman folded down his newspaper and set it aside. He took another sip of his tea and waved for the bar hand to bring another cup. The uniformed woman in her pink blouse and black pencil skirt took stock of Winston’s guest and arrived immediately on rapid footsteps to set down a fresh teacup before Charon. She served him then. That fragrant bergamot Earl Gray with notes of lemon and rose petal that was just delightful. Both gentlemen thanked the young lady and waited for her retreat to the bar before continuing their conversation.  Winston picked up the letter and used his pen to break apart the top of the sealed envelope.

“Second one this fortnight.” Winston commented as he freed the thick, quality paper from its confines.

“I do hope the young lady is keeping well.” Charon commented. He meant it too. He thought Bobby’s adventures prior to her misfortunes were magnificent. He had many of her travel guides in his personal collection and found her photographs to be spectacular.

“We’ll soon find out.” Winston replied as he unfolded the letter and took a moment to appreciate the blue ink and cursive hand that was so characteristic of his niece.

He read:

 Dear Uncle Winston,

 I do hope you’re keeping well, all things considered. The weather in London is not as terrible as everyone would have you believe. If anything the heat is every reason to keep indoors and just as well, I’ve been in mostly air-conditioned luxury more or less. Spending a great deal of time in and out of the houses of University scholars and other learned ladies and gentlemen that have been spending the better part of two hundred years compiling research in the form of accounts comprised as to the reason for true magic having disappeared from the streets of England. As per my previous letters to you, I am determined to follow them as deeply down this rabbit hole as I dare. There are less honorable pursuits by which a woman might entertain her time. I might add that I’m recently returned from Harlech Castle in Wales where my research has opened out some spectacular and purely mind-blowing avenues.

As always, I’m still very much following an elusive lead for the legend of a man known as 'Brân the Blessed’ from as far back as the 14th century. They say he was the first incarnation of the legend for the anthromophic personification known as 'The Raven King’, objectively, disappeared from the human/mortal plane in 1389 but made reappearances in unusual circumstances at many points that are heavily contested, both for and against, throughout history. The latest resurgence appears to be in 1847 and then again as late as early 1975.

There are pieces of this puzzle that are missing, Uncle Winston. Pieces that I’m determined to gather and engage.

My latest research has revealed that this legend has had appearances all over the world. For what could be considered charitable and extortive reasons. Some of the learned underground call him 'John Uskglass’, The Black King, The King of the North. I’m not convinced that his origins or disappearance from the mortal plane are as extravagant as I’ve been told. There is more going on beneath the surface. More that I have learned, that I have uncovered or been told.

Uncle, I need you to know that this legend has tendrils as far into the gypsy clans of Russia and beyond. Across Belarus, Poland and the Slovak nations. There is a story that I’ve been following, and you may think it mad, but I’m telling you, the world which we perceive around us and the plane of existence that we may traverse in dreams holds the key to secrets that are beyond mortal comprehension. That does not mean they do not exist. I know you’ve been discouraging my line of work, but I have been told, by our mutual friend that you alone in your hotel may possess the key that I’ve been looking for. This 'Raven King’… this fairy… fae… however you wish to spell it, is real. This legend of a man, or creature that moves in and out of shadows and takes with him the souls of the living, is more than just a myth. Our mutual friend tells me that you know him personally. That were it not for him, on that night so many years ago, I may not have lived to write this letter I do you today.

Uncle, I plan on visiting you shortly. In fact, I have booked the next plane to New York arriving Friday, 16th at 4'o clock. If perhaps you might arrange for a car to come collect me from the airport, I should be very grateful. I will call you before I board my service and again when I touch down. I don’t mean to intrude on your personal space, but if I could request your hospitality for the duration of my stay, I should be very grateful and will naturally pay my own way. I am due to meet my old crew mates Connie Barker and Nate Serville who are traveling from Los Angeles and mean to rendezvous in New York to take in the sights and sounds. They will act as my guides and have shared in much of my research, as you already know.

I look forward to seeing you, Uncle Winston. I have missed you terribly. We parted on inamicable terms last time I visited, and I have told you I am very sorry. Unfortunately, my history and unintentional involvement in affairs that should not have concerned me have left me bitter. I do want to make amends. And you’ve never let me down. But for now, Uncle, I beg your honesty one last time. I’m coming to you again for answers.

Answers I know you have.

My love and good tidings,

Your adoring niece,

      Bobby

The elder gentlemen set down the letter with a heavy sigh. Charon, whom was nursing his teacup and enjoying the flickering flames of the gas fire looked up in question.

“Sir?” He inquired quietly. Reading his old friend’s disquiet expression.

“When it doesn’t rain,” Winston began, handing Charon the letter. The younger, dark skinned gentleman took the paper and absorbed the ink letters with a practiced eye.

“It pours.” He rejoined, some few minutes later, folding the letter down and handing it back to Winston who replaced it in its envelope. It would join the thick pile in his locked writing desk drawer where every other correspondence from his niece lived.  

“Shall I prepare a suite of rooms for the young lady?” Was his first question. Although it didn’t need to be asked.  Every other visitation for years had seen Bobby cloistered safely within the finest apartments The Continental had to offer. Winston and Charon had taken professional pride in ensuring the young woman had been accommodated in a luxury that her otherwise provincial countryside English manor or the myriad of rustic campsites had not afforded. Never a “tall poppy”, Bobby maintained a genuinely likeable, down-to-earth personality that saw her often saying things like:

“You needn’t go through so much trouble for me, Uncle, honestly. A blanket by the kitchen hearth on the floor is good enough.” or

“A single room with three other girls will do, Uncle. I lived in university dorms for the better part of my young adult life. I’m not adverse to sharing.”  

These sentiments were all very sweet and well-natured, but that just wasn’t how business was done as far as Winston or Charon were concerned. They had standards. Their hotel was the bespoke Gold Class in international and local accommodation. Their rooms were almost always fully booked, all year round with underground professionals as well as local and touring civilians. Even so, there were always reserved room suites that were maintained on various levels and marked as “Private Residence”. These were withheld from the public and were always set to accommodate family and friends, friends of friends, staff and their relations or on exceptional and frequent occasion, the absolute royalty of the criminal underbelly.  Gold coins exchanged hands. Room keys were given. No business was allowed. Winston had already lived through a recent excommunication mandated by his order. The price of its completion had been high. He still regretted pulling the trigger on that pistol.  When the body of his friend was not recovered from the streets below, he had glowered in a semblance of hope. The Adjudicator and her department of vipers retreated to the bowels of whatever circle of hell they came from. But not without warning.

As far as he was concerned, they could shove their warning some place largely uncomfortable. He wasn’t about to fold to the ideals or criticisms of a faceless organization for which he had little to impart upon. He was New York. Had been for almost forty years. And he wasn’t about to give it up now.

So when the ghost, known as “The Boogeyman” resurfaced upon his doorstep some three months later, with a fire in his eyes and a woman at his side, he ensured the premium penthouse suite was at their disposal. Through correspondence in England, from The White Tower of London, he learned a great power shift had recently come into play. And that woman, that “The Boogeyman” was escorting was in fact now the owner of England’s council seat of The High Table. Royalty.

Yes.

He was accustomed to accommodating royalty.  Charon had informed him that Mr. Wick and Lady Clayton had taken an extended residence and requested their penthouse be serviced only under express request. Otherwise, they were to be left perpetually undisturbed. Mr. Wick had his beloved dog, that charming charcoal blue coloured Pit Bull Terrier that simply answered to 'Boy’ and 'Dog’ follow at his side along with the Lady that dressed in black and was held at his arm. Charon had noted that Mr. Wick now wore a ring that was not of the same origin as his wedding band, but to those learned underworld on-lookers had the same weight if not more. It was a black onyx stone framed in sterling silver and emblazoned on its surface was the ancient caduceus symbol. That ring, was a symbol of amnesty and regal entitlement.  It meant he had been selected as the royal consort to the new grey queen of the English underworld. Lady Clayton, ethereal, removed and strikingly otherworldly, with deep green eyes and a piercing demeanor, had superseded her predecessor in a blood feud that had ended the lives of hundreds so as she might have ascended the throne. The grapevine called her “The Reluctant Queen”, for she had requested abdication of the council seat at The High Table, citing emotional and physiological instability to be her primary point of contention. The Department of the Adjudicator did not care for her confessions. They cared about establishing stability until her use was fulfilled and a suitable replacement to absorb her criminal enterprise across London could be secured. She may well have been a holder of a seat upon The High Table, but she did not treat the honour with the respect which others felt the council so readily deserved. It was said she had help, in her blood feud. That Mr. Wick had absconded from American soil on her commission soon after Winston’s betrayal. That war was once more brewing on the streets of New York. Simmering beneath the surface. Coming, like the gathering storm. Across the water. Torrential, like the rain that very afternoon. The ground was due to give way again. And so many would be sucked down into the abyss for which they would never return.

He had no choice but serve his duty. For Lady Clayton, entered the hotel with her retainer, Mr. Wick, and paid an exorbitant price for the privilege of their isolation from the world around them. And he was wearing her ring. The ring of the Royal Consort. The caduceus symbol that meant he was now a “kept man” under the protection of England’s latest grey queen. Protected. Revered. Coveted. Retired.

It suited him, Winston had said, when he met his old friend in the lounge some many days later. But Mr. Wick was hesitant to respond with anything that looked like even forced cordial civility. His eyes had seemingly changed colour as well. Winston was positive, in the years of which he had known Johnathan, that the middle-aged assassin both before and after his marriage to Helen, had eyes of a deep and compassionate chocolate brown. They seemed to capture you, entrap you. Bring you into the moment of focus that was otherwise so readily able to slip away.

He actually wondered if he was very much mistaken. For that night when he attended Mr. Wick’s table, as he was seated alone and nursing a glass of top shelf whiskey, his eyes appeared a great deal lighter. In actual fact, they were a startling, almost inhumane shade of green. Green, and the iris ringed in a perfect circle of black.  Almost a horror to behold. As if… as if his eyes were a mirror of the demons and vampires found in literature and film. Were they coloured contacts? He meant to ask. And his ring finger on his left hand… was missing.  Cut away entirely from the second knuckle joint. His wedding band gone. Though the discoloured mark that was left behind after five years of marriage meant the memory of his wedding vows would never fade.

The questions he meant to ask died in his throat. Along with his better judgment. Mr. Wick was never one for many words. As he was now, whiskey glass in hand. Missing his ring finger, his wedding band.. wearing a new ring of the Royal Consort and those eyes… those eyes that were positively burning, inhuman. Like, something had torn free and blazed in the fire of irresistible resurrection. He thanked his old friend for his patronage. He withdrew from the table and attended his rooms, locking the doors and bolting them heavily behind him. The shutters in his windows were down. And the lights were reduced to a single reading lamp. He’d slept fitfully that night. And with one eye opened.

It was Mr. Wick’s shadow that had disconcerted him more than anything. For he could have sworn that the man’s shadow as he sat reflected by the firelight of the lounge, set across the floor to appear as though he had the wings of a massive, impossible moth… or perhaps a butterfly. And he’d stood for a moment, rooted to the floor. Horrified. Watching that shadow. Those wings. They moved. Beating the air silently. Pulsing. Once… Twice… Three times… Could it be so? That this man was the harbinger of doom? Had The Raven King returned to possess and destroy those whom would have wronged him? Stolen from him? Killed from him?

“Goodnight, Winston.” Mr. Wick had said. His voice, rich and deep snapped him from his tormented reverie, he looked up and almost stammered,

“Yes… Enjoy your stay, at The Continental.” He looked back down. The shadow of those wings were gone.

It was just his old friend Johnathan Wick, sitting at his table, nursing his whiskey glass. His eyes were still the colour of rich coffee that they had always been. But his ring finger was still missing. As was his wedding band. He nodded his goodnight. And walked away.

Now Winston sighed again, nodding to Charon and wishing very much that Bobby’s timing could have been a great deal better. Sooner than Mr. Wick and Lady Clayton’s arrival, or in fact later, once the couple had left his hotel entirely to disperse into the underground. Back into the cold city streets or away back to England where Mr. Wick had been commissioned to rule, off field, as an overseer at the side of the Lady Judeth Clayton. There was something wrong with them. The pair were both strikingly unnatural. The air grew colder around them when they were together. And the guests hesitated to sit so close. The couple spoke in hushed tones to each other. In different languages. French. Italian. Sometimes Russian. It was something about their eyes. They appeared like mirrors. Reflecting the sins of the world. In blood and torment. You could almost hear the screams of the dying and smell the acrid iron of spilled blood. Darkness… dark magic. John Wick, Excommunicato Survivor and Judeth Clayton, The Reluctant Queen. What a pair they made. And they were here. Now. Upstairs in their penthouse overlooking the fountains and gardens. Away from the street. The entire top floor was vacated for the honour of their accommodation and would remain so as long as they stayed on in his hotel.

His maids had complained that 'Dog’ growled at them when they attempted to take on their cleaning duties of the rooms. And that Lady Clayton was often seen at her dressing table, with a great ball python coiled about her arms and lap, whispering, speaking words of unintelligible origin as she looks on into the depths of her mirror. That the maid had noted the room was cold… freezing cold, although the thermostat was turned up to its highest heat setting. And that Lady Clayton’s reflection did not meet her in the mirror. That something horrible was there instead. A blackness… a murky forest or swamp. The Lady did not respond when called to or prayed to, or upon. The maid ran from the room screaming. Insisting they needed an exorcist or at least, a priest. That penthouse suite was unholy.

Winston had no choice but to retire these maids under stress leave.  There was too much pressure building around his returned guests.

And now Bobby was coming to New York. Merely three days away. Another problem to compound his already growing list of extremely provoking concerns.  “Perhaps, Charon, you might put Bobby and her friends in the vacant Queen Suite on level five, near Mrs. Rainthrope and her charming granddaughter. Room Five-Twelve, I think.”

Charon nodded to this sentiment but returned with his own admission,

“Don’t you think, Sir, it might be more prudent to put her on level eleven? Rooms One Hundred and One and One Hundred and Two are vacant and closer to Mr. Cesknoc and Ms. Halloway, being as she is, now consumed of our line of work….” He let the thought hang in the air. And Winston absorbed it with his thoughtful eyes. But did not agree.

“No, my old friend, I don’t think so. If anything, I’m certain Bobby would better appreciate the normality of being surrounded by harmless civilians. Just because she’s now privy to the arrangements under which we operate, does not mean we now have license to embroil her or her friends any deeper into this cesspit of darkness than is absolutely necessary. Not that I don’t appreciate your foresight. Her protection is paramount. Especially now more-so as she refuses to desist with her investigation of the other side as it were.” He paused here, to drink the remainder of his Earl Gray tea before setting down his teacup and pushing it on its porcelain saucer aside.

“No, I think, Room Five-Twelve beside Mrs. Rainthrope and her granddaughter, Shirley, will be just fine. If we’re lucky, the two ladies might become friends and they might seek to move on their American tour together. And Bobby might be so good as to leave this notion of the other side behind.”  

Charon also finished his tea as he listened to his employer’s logic. He dared to pro-offer the crux of Winston’s concerns as he said,

“You’re worried about Mr. Wick and Lady Clayton, aren’t you, Sir?”

There was silence between the old friends for a long series of heartbeats. Winston collected his pen and his paper and reading glasses and straightened himself, getting to his feet and taking Bobby’s letter into his coat pocket.

“Worried? That’s a mild way of putting it, Charon. The cleaning staff are calling for exorcists before even considering the option of entering their rooms. I’d say, unequivocally terrified, is a more accurate summation of it. Alas, Que Sera, sera.”  He finished finally.

The two old friends exchanged a knowing glance that spoke more than the words they each held in their hearts.

They were both, deep down, very sorry that Bobby had been caught in the crossfire of a world that never concerned her. It had almost killed her, that day, so many years ago. And Winston was given the choice, whilst she was in a coma, advised that her quality of life was greatly deteriorating. As her last and only next of kin, would he consider turning off her life support? He deliberated deeply for days and nights at her bedside. And finally whispered into his niece’s ear.

“There are some things, in this world, that are worth fighting for, Roberta. Some things that are worth dying for. But this, darling girl… this lapse in judgment is not it. Come back, sweetheart. Your time’s not up yet. If you can hear me, Bobby… And I’m sure you can… Come back.”

And so, Roberta 'Bobby’ Kent, was coming back to New York City. She had plans to visit her Uncle Winston in The Continental. She had survived her ordeal. And she had become obsessed with the myths and legends of a man that was said to have left the human world in anything but a blaze of glory. It was said this man was reincarnated from time to time. To come from the depths of the underworld, to appear, to live, to change and influence events and then to disappear into the ether, as though he had never been. And never was.

They said, in the recent folklore, that this man, moved in shadows and served a power unlike anything the underworld had ever seen. That he had “got out” once. That he retired… and took on a married life, with a beautiful woman named Helen. That his life had changed when she had passed away. That in actual fact, the day she died, he’d gone with her. To the land of the other side. But he was caught. Trapped upon a bridge that would never end. No shore in sight. He walked on and on and on and called her name. Helen… Helen… He was driven… By the sound of beating wings. But this bridge… The was no ground beneath it… No opposite bank he could discern. And no way to turn back the way he had come. Was this purgatory? To carry on… forever? Chasing the memory of a loved one? Chasing the sound of beating wings?

A good man had died on that night. And left behind a ghost. A shade. A dark angel… Black blood. Risen from the banks of the earth and disconnecting life one bullet at a time. He was bound back into service. A blood oath marker that he fulfilled. Unwillingly. He came back for love. But it was not him that returned to the mortal plain to fight on. To keep living the life of which he had been pardoned, so as he could remember what he had forgotten. The life he had once lived. The love he had once shed.

They said, John Wick was no longer a man. That he had gone to the other side and stayed there. That the woman… Judeth Clayton… she was not even human anymore. The blood she had shed to bind his soul to the earthly plain had been enough to topple a whole empire.

The old legends… The folklore. It had said to watch for the change in their eyes. For there are those amongst us whose eyes are green. But there are shades of green of Dutch and French origin. Those are neither here nor there.

It’s the others that you watch for. The ones whose eyes are green like  the deepest, darkest forest with no end. Like the eyes of demons, mirrors into a non-reflective soul… And you can feel the air grow colder around them. And you can smell the scent of iron and blood. And animals would go out of their way to protect them. And mirrors do not show their reflections. And that you must watch their shadows. For the shadows are honest and true. And they show the beating of wings. Like a butterfly… or a great, massive moth.

It rained that day in New York City.

It rained.. but you could hear the cries of ravens in the air. In the distance.

It shouldn’t have been like this.

Ever.

But it was.

JW. || Blood of the Raven King Uncut

This work is dedicated to all my fellow John Wick fans all over the world, no matter where you are. This is an unusual supernatural/alternative universe cross over request. Constructed solely on a prompt and some beautiful artwork as supplied by our friend @rubydart; who, along with a Tweet by author Matt Dovey in May of 2019 suggested that if John Wick was a Fae of Folklore, he would:

Only works for favours, tallied through gold coins

Can be bound by blood promises against his will

Lives in the world unseen by passers-by

Values sacred ground and rituals

Has a special bond with animals

Does not tire or feel pain as a human would

The other fairies speak in awed tones of him as the only one to “get out” through sheer strength of will he crossed over into our world for the love of a human

Can only be harmed by weapons containing iron

Each of these are elements I hope to bring into the story in time. As an organic free-form writer, I work on a concept and let it build into something beautiful. The following Two Scenes for Act One are a precursor for the future. There is a whole host of inspirations and concepts that I’ve every intention to give credit to in a proper bibliography in time. For now, I ask you, the readers, to write in with your thoughts and feelings on the work. Would you like to see more? Has this story excited you? Do you enjoy the characters? Feel free to like and share this work with your friends and fellow John Wick fans, making sure you link me back with a credit. If you wish to leave a review, I’m always reading what is left behind. Would you like me to tag you for latest updates? Please send me a direct message via Tumblr messenger or an Ask request. I’ll make sure you’re added to my list.

With Love and Peace,

L.G. Spider

{[ Reader’s List: @jardanijovonovichs @rubydart @rubydian @f0rtis-fortuna-adiuvat @lalienna-dementriento ]}

#johnwick #johnwickalternativeuniverse #faefolklore #theravenking #conceptwriting

[elysiathefairy]

Good night my beloved Faeries🌿🍄🌙 inhale some lavender before you go to bed! Have enchanted dreams! 🌟A Faery Lesson will be waiting for you at 🌿Faery Folklore🌿 tomorrow! #discoverthehero #faefolklore 🌙🌟🦋 #night #faerie #fairiesandelves #elves #fairies #goodnight #magicalnight #friends #fairyfriends #love #light #beauty #naturemagic #moon #mothernature #magick #elvesofinstagram #picoftheday #fae #forest #folklore #dreams #enchanted #energy #power #peace #positivevibes

#friends #folklore #light #moon #magick #dreams #fairiesandelves #magicalnight #elves #positivevibes #beauty #discoverthehero #night #peace #fairies #faefolklore #faerie #love #fairyfriends #power #enchanted #forest #naturemagic #goodnight #mothernature #energy #picoftheday #fae #elvesofinstagram

[small-fortunes]

John Wick || Blood of The Raven King

Act Two || Scene One || Broken Mirrors

The dinner hours always began at 6 P.M. and concluded at 9 P.M. for guests that were interested in joining the glittering, pristine hotel dining room for a late night meal. Winston was never above dining in the main room with his guests. In fact, he had a table for six that was always set in the corner by the window overlooking the terrace gardens with their sculpted myriad of magnolia bushes and charming trees that were wrapped in twinkling fairy lights. This table was always reserved exclusively for management and on this evening Winston, in his dark greys and burgundy silk cravat, had the table set for two as he awaited his niece's arrival anxiously. He was not made to wait very long at all, for on the stroke of seven, Bobby appeared by the dining room doors and was escorted to Winston’s table by the maître d'hôtel dressed in a stunning blush pink evening gown upon dainty nude coloured heels. Her hair arranged in an artful suspension of waves that framed her delicate features. She wore a beautiful antique necklace of champagne pink pearls that complimented her matching earrings and bracelet. Winston rose to his feet at once, absolutely beside himself in pride. Bobby walked completely unassisted. Her walking cane was nowhere to be seen and you would not believe she had ever needed it. Or that she had suffered anything that even remotely looked like capture and torture. Her skin, though paler than the sun-kissed tan that was characteristic of her wilderness exploration, radiated with good health and her deep blue eyes were still a twinkling shade of sapphire that suppressed her withheld turmoil. Not entirely however, for Winston knew intimately the depths of suffering that were hidden behind that veneer of order and beauty that a woman was so capable of masking with an elegant dress and artfully applied cosmetics. 

Regardless, he came forward around his table and took his niece in his arms with the embrace of a man that could not be prouder for the achievements of his own daughter. Her embrace was equally powerful. She tucked herself into her Uncle’s arms and for a moment negotiated with the urge to weep again as she had in her rooms.

No.

No, absolutely not.

She’d ruin her eye makeup and she’d spent considerable time blending and perfecting her eyes-hadow and concealer just as she had witnessed in the tutorials of those other girls online. She wasn’t about to let that hard work go to waste. At least, that thin veil of vanity was what she reasoned to herself was the purpose of her refusing tears. In actual fact, it was the sting in her heart that reminded her she was an orphan now. She had been for nine years and anything that even remotely appeared as though it was parental affection was enough to break her down to components she was afraid of. And then of course, the promise she’d made to herself since her ordeal. That she would never allow another human being to witness her cry.

 Winston sought to pull her back at arm's length so he could admire her fully.

“Oh Roberta! Look at you! You’re magnificent! You are positively radiant!”

“Bobby,” She corrected happily, coming forward to give her Uncle a kiss on his cheek. The elder gentleman lead the lady into her chair and kissed her forehead with fatherly affection before rejoining his seat. 

The moments that passed thereafter were a heartfelt reunion of affection and good nature. Uncle and niece sat for the longest time over a three course dinner, sharing a bottle of wine and deep discourse of everything that the letters they had exchanged over the last nine months could not possibly convey with the profound depth and intensity they so wished. 

“You know, Bobby, I’m still not entirely certain as to why you decide to write letters in this day and age when everyone else your age is busy on Snapchat and Skype.”

“We’ve discussed this sentiment before, Uncle. You’re a man that predates Snapchat and Skype. Do you really want to Face Time me? Don’t you think the English language should be preserved with handwriting and the art of cursive passed down into our post-millennial generation? So that they might be capable of communicating in full sentences moving into the modern world of business, trade, arts and academics with more than a one-hundred and sixty character limit on their already atrociously short attention span?”

“Accurate as this summation of general modern society is, I believe the power to move with the ages is paramount to our perpetual existence. And I can’t help but feel stung, I think you’ve taken a side-swipe at calling me old.” 

“Vanity, Uncle. Amongst the seven deadly sins that I needn’t remind you of.” This admission made the elder gentleman laugh. He gestured generally at their glittering environment with a very definitive meaning. 

“If I’m not the purveyor of hedonistic pleasures that are dangerously straddling the line of the seven virtues, then I’m quite certain my establishment has been a marked sham.” 

The meal concluded with dessert and coffee that Bobby hesitated to partake in. Complaining that the bodice of her evening gown was becoming painfully tight. 

“Nonsense, child! Chef spent all morning making these fruit tarts and you’ll be doing him and me a professional injury if you don’t sample at least a few bites to appease his voracious French attitudes.” 

 Begging a few moments to rest before taking the rich tart was acceptable to her Uncle. And given time, the pair were eventually served a stunning glittering dessert piled with an artfully crafted allotment of fresh glazed fruit and served with rich Italian espresso. 

The conversation between them was as easy as ever. And twice as intimate knowing the involvement they had together that transcended the nuances of human thoughts and feelings. Their expressions and words were amongst the closest in each other’s company that they could come to. At last, their conversation came around to Bobby’s latest research. Following the thread that she had discussed in her latest letter. Winston let her speak for the longest time mindful of not interrupting her train of thought for he was accustomed to his niece being taken by a passionate stream of consciousness and leading the conversation into a maze of tangents that she kept track of in her head and eventually tied off neatly. He marveled at the depth of her philosophical grasp was pleased to see that her Oxford education had returned such a well-rounded individual. 

But this study of hers. This obsession with the other side, and they way she burned under the focus of uncovering magic. Of uncovering creatures of legend and fantasy. It frightened him. To some extent. And he was not readily a man that ever felt fear. He was a tactician after all. A master of stratagems that he had spent decades honing into a network of planning and focus. But this was something else. This fire that burned in his niece's eyes.

“Our mutual friend says-”

“Bobby, please, if I can stop you there for a moment darling. Really, I think I’ve heard more than enough about this hypothesis of yours for one evening.”

“Uncle, don’t! Don’t shut me down like this. I need you to help me uncover a universe, not push me away because you think it all too hard-”

“And then what?!” He snapped at last. Growing tired of her willful demands. “Have you given this any more than a moment’s deeper consideration? What do you hope to achieve if your theorems for the other side prove to be correct?” He could tell he’d stung her badly with this rebuke. Anger flashed in her eyes. Wheelchair bound as she had been, she’d dedicated years of her recovery to do nothing but study, research and theorize. She’d spent years traveling the world in the houses and lecture halls of scholars that did nothing but discuss the disappearance of practical magic and alternative species of other realms. He regretted his choice of words instantly as she dropped her eyes. 

“Bobby, I’m sorry, really. I just-”

“Do you what you’re looking for?” She cut him off. “When you got yourself caught up in all this? This perpetual nightmare that your believe you’re protecting the better part of the city from? Did you fathom for one moment in your life that perhaps you’re not the dark knight you think you are? That all you’re doing is feeding the machine? That you’re a corrupt vigilante creating a safe-haven for criminals and usurpers that our livelihoods would be a great deal better without? Did you consider that the power you have in your hands here is so great that if you wanted to really do something good for what you consider to be your people, your city, your community; that all you need do is turn yourself in to the authorities with a confession and take the entire slate of the criminal empire down with you in one fell swoop?”

“Keep your voice down, Roberta. There are some things that cannot be said in polite company.”

“We’re not fucking polite company any more, are we?”

“No, I suppose we aren't. But there are rules and consequences that govern our behaviors so as we may be elevated above basic instinct. That said, I was simply expressing concern about how you seek to blow the lid off a world you haven’t the slightest understanding of and seem to have no future contingency to protect yourself against what you may find thereafter. You’re being childish and hard-headed and I’ve already watched you knock on death’s door once. If you had any regard for my person, I would have assumed you’d take this into consideration and spare me impending hardship."

This time he did not regret his rebuke at all. He could not fault the young woman for her tenacious will to latch onto the world around her and pull it apart to components only she could see. He was even forgiving of the fact that her outburst was fueled only by her lack of complete understanding to which he was playing a principle role in keeping her uninformed. Again, he reasoned this was entirely for her own protection. The less she knew of the other side the better. But he was fearful for every passing moment she presented him that evening with facts, figures, accounts and case studies of times and events wherein the denizens of the other side might be there amongst them, at their very shoulders. Waiting. Watching. Listening to every word. Knowing that what would come, would come whether they wanted it or no. And nothing unnerved him more than the source of her obsession. That of all the creatures of folklore and legend, she would hunt the greatest creature known to man or indeed fae kind. The Raven King.

For the first time in that evening, his heart did not soften as she sat in wounded silence, looking every bit as stung as he felt. She had offended his pride, hit at a nerve that he had tried to reason with for years.

She was right, though he hated to admit it. When he set down this path of darkness and became the eventual owner of The Continental, he not expected the bloodshed and suffering that would have him forever question his own moral code and force him to make ethical judgments based on the process of elimination.

Even so, when she rose from her chair, his heart dropped in his chest.

"If you'll excuse me, Uncle Winston. I think the journey has left me overtired. I'm perhaps not the best company I could be were I better rested. I've obviously offended you and you have pricked me in turn. I don't think we can progress any further given my current condition."

"Bobby, please.. We've not seen each other in months, we shouldn't let a disagreement end our conversation like this. Won't you sit down a moment longer an let me make this right again?"

"No, Uncle, really. I'm tired. And maybe a little overwhelmed with everything. If you let me go on in this state, I fear I may devolve into something less than agreeable. I think it best I retire for the night and join you tomorrow afternoon, if it's all the same to you."

"Bobby..."

"Goodnight, Uncle Winston. And thank you very much for your hospitality and dinner. Please, give my compliments to your chef."

And with that she was off, in a flutter of blush coloured skirts. The other guests were courteous enough to at least pretend they'd not witnessed the young lady walk away abruptly. They concerned themselves with their meals and coffee whilst waiters bustled about the dining room clearing plates and resetting tables.

Winston however, sighed deeply at his niece's departure. She was always such a willful girl. So argumentative and dominant in her personality. He gave her a great deal of credit for it. Even so, he maintained his better judgment. Their 'mutual friend'  that she referenced repeatedly was none other than New York's Bowery King. A man of whom Winston proposed to have a deep and meaningful conversation with before the week was out. For he was greatly responsible for feeding Bobby much of the knowledge that she now sought to dislodge from him, seemingly against his will.

Alas, he raised his hand to take the attention of a passing waiter and requested a nip of brandy be served to him. He would take it with a smoke on the balcony and then seek to retire for an early night himself. He had no doubt that whatever antics Bobby meant to partake in during her visitation, he'd need as much rest as possible to recover from their aggressive turmoil.

Outside the dining room doors, Bobby made to take a few deep, calming breaths before crossing the lobby toward the elevators. The hour was just past nine o'clock and the foyer was markedly empty in comparison to the vibrant collection of people that were working their way in and out of the hotel when she arrived earlier that afternoon. Charon was completing his evening paperwork and preparing again for the night shift hand over staff that were due to relieve his place at reception.

"Did you enjoy your dinner?" He asked warmly as Bobby approached on rapid footfalls.

"Quite Charon, thank you very much. And thank you for the rooms once more. I'm used to a great deal less so every time you let me stay I can't help but feel a little displaced."

"It is always our pleasure to accommodate you, Bobby." Charon returned as he pulled his glasses from the bridge of his nose.

"But, if you don't mind my saying, Miss. You do not seem entirely pleased. Was something not to your liking?" He probed gently, reading the tense lines in the young lady's brows. He felt he'd instantly overstepped, for she lowered her eyes and looked somewhat uncomfortable before again meeting his gaze and leaning forward a little over the marble counter.

"Oh, no, no not at all. Everything was perfection incarnate. Only, I feel, I'm likely overtired from the journey and Uncle Winston and I drank a bottle of wine with dinner that's relaxed me more than it should and I... well..." She hesitated here a little, struggling with the truth before finally admitting,

"I think we rather just had a little falling out by the time coffee and dessert were served." She sighed deeply with the admission.

"I'm sorry to hear it, dearheart." Charon intoned earnestly. The tenderness of his affectionate naming shook Bobby to the core. She'd rarely ever been called upon with such sweet endearments since her parents had passed and her suitors were set at arm's length.

"Oh, I wouldn't let it worry you, Charon. It's nothing a good night's sleep and a heartfelt apology won't repair given time. You know how it is with family, we argue about the silliest of things sometimes. I wager I'm largely to blame. I find I lose my temper a great deal faster now compared to how I did when I was younger. I've much to answer for and can't help but feel cast out when I'm trying to make an important point."

Charon nodded to the young woman sagely. The tension in her features seemed to dissipate just with the act of being listened to and supported. He offered her his advice and hoped she'd take it to heart.

"If there is one thing, this hotel has taught me, with people, is pull when you want to push. You may find the world a great deal more forgiving when you keep those you'd class as enemies onside."

For many heartbeats Bobby took in the depth and clarity of Charon's eyes. The lines of his face. The way he smiled at her gently, willingly. Un-provoking and completely open. A pillar of support is how she reasoned she thought of him. Now the weight of his words filled her soul with hope and revelation.

"You're of course entirely right." She conceded at last and leaned forward over the countertop to press a kiss to the Concierge's cheek.  

"Goodnight, Charon. I'm going to my rooms to retire. I expect I'll sleep well into the morning so I doubt I'll be down for breakfast. Connie and Nate will be around tomorrow afternoon though for a late lunch and a little tête-à-tête and I've no doubt they'll want to drag me around the city now that I'm not so encumbered with my wheelchair or cane."

Charon nodded to this statement, making a note in his ledger.

"The manager's table will be open to you and your friends when they arrive." He replied, looking up to take the young woman's expression again.

"Thank you, Charon. For everything. Really."

"Goodnight, Bobby. Until tomorrow."

"Goodnight." She said once more, offering the Concierge a tender smile before smoothing down the lines of her dress and making her way across the foyer toward the elevators

She could not help but think the sound of her own footfalls against the echoing walls to be sharp and ringing as each click of her heels cast back upon her like a fan of sound in the otherwise quiet lobby.

Bobby pressed at the brass button that would call her elevator and opened her clutch to prepare her gold room key. A card with an ornate design and a RFID chip that kept a record of her movements in and around the hotel.

She had just freed this card from her clutch when all at once a sudden blackness seemed to overtake her. A ringing in her ears grew to a maddening crescendo that set her somewhat off balance. She put out her hand to steady herself against the marble wall, shocked and wondering what on earth could have caused such a strange turn as she shook her head to free the ringing in her ears... That was when she saw them.

A couple. Dressed in black.

They appeared on the curving marble staircase to her right and she noticed the shadows of their movement first in the peripheral of her vision before at last she turned her head to acknowledge them fully whilst the bell of the elevator that was descending from the top floor pinged out at regular intervals the closer it got to the lobby floor.

And she could not help but stop and stare. They were glorious to behold. A lady in an obsidian, floor-length gown and matching gloves that rested above her elbows. Her skin was as pale and ethereal as the autumn moon. Her mahogany hair was pinned delicately away from her face. And what a face! Her features sharp and stunning. Her lips the colour of deepest red wine. And her eyes... Oh, those eyes were otherworldly. They were the deepest cascade of evergreen. Bobby stood, transfixed, unable to look away. For the lady was escorted by a gentleman of equally handsome fixture. He too was dressed in a pitch black suit. A single glittering ruby caught the light and shimmered from his tie pin. His long, dark hair cascaded classically handsome features that were accented by a dark beard and moustache that were well-groomed and seemed to accentuate the darkness of his allure. In contrast to the lady at his arm, his eyes were dark pools that seemed to absorb the light of their surrounds. His strides were confident, easy. He flowed with the lady at his arm down the stairs and spoke with her quietly, almost reverently, his head inclined slightly toward her shoulder. It was impossible to discern what was being said by the pair.

And they were coming, closer, closer. And Bobby, could not look away. The sudden dizzy spell and ringing in her head seemed completely replaced. She was vaguely aware that the elevator had arrived and was awaiting her boarding, it's polished brass doors rolled opened.

Who were this pair? Who on earth were they?

It was the gentleman that finally looked away from his lady and took her eyes. It was but a moment in time. Fleeting. Like the passing of a cloud over the sun. He smiled at her, inclined his head. And Bobby's breath caught in her throat. She was acutely aware she was being rude, gawking at them like this with what she was positive must have appeared as a half stupefied expression. Now the lady inclined her head toward her as well and offered her the slightest curvature of her lips in greeting. The couple were but two feet away, having cleared the staircase and paused for half a moment.

"Goodnight, Miss." Was all the gentlemen said, before he and the lady carried on across the lobby.

And she meant to reply. She was half certain she had at least said "goodnight" in turn as she stepped into the lift and turned about, watching the pair recede into the distance. The elevator doors rolled shut blocking them from view.

It was then that Bobby realized she'd been holding her breath for goodness knows how long. She sighed heavily, unable to organize her thoughts. The room key in her hand. The elevator still, awaiting its next command.

She came forward, waved the card across the small glass panel and pressed the button for level five. The elevator began its climb and Bobby took this moment to lean against the brass rail to brace herself against what, she wasn't entirely sure. What had come over her, she wondered?

My goodness, this was a strange day after all.

The travel must have exhausted her more than she bargained for.

Now she longed to attend her room and lock the door behind her and put this entire episode well out of her mind. Had she skipped her medication? Yes, perhaps that was the cause of it all. For the doctor had assigned her a mild antidepressant pill that she was to take once every forty-eight hours. It had the duel effect of acting as a manager to her anxieties. Only now with the shifting time-zones, she wasn't sure if she had missed a dose or not.

 Within her rooms at last, Bobby ensured the door was locked and latched shut. She had placed the 'Do Not Disturb' sign upon the handle outside so as cleaning and room service staff would leave her be. And her first port of call was to set down her clutch and room key upon the lamp table and then attend to pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the sideboard. She'd take another pill. It was safer to double the dose than skip it entirely. Perhaps that was why she was feeling queer. Agitated and overwhelmed and that horrid darkness that took her downstairs in the lobby had left her shaken.

That lady. That gentleman. Who were they?

This question continued to repeat its self for the better part of an hour as Bobby sought to undress and draw herself a bath with lavender salts.

She'd washed off her makeup and unpinned her hair. Brushed her teeth and sank into the steaming tub. Just laying. Quietly. Thinking to herself.

That face. That gentleman's face. She almost felt as if she'd seen it before.  Where or how she could not discern. And the lady. She was purely beautiful. Statuesque and refined. She'd seemed to glide down the staircase on her gentleman's arm.

She would ask Uncle Winston about the couple tomorrow, this much was certain.

She was not sure when it occurred, but shortly after this self-affirmation, lulled by the soothing scent of lavender and the solitude and peace of the night. Bobby dozed in the bathtub.

It was a spider.

Small and black on the rib of the tub at her feet by the brass faucet. It had a small bulbous body and spindly legs hesitated to walk into the gathered droplets of water. Rather, the creature stepped over them, like a dancer. It was too little for her to make out its tiny red eight eyes, but they seemed to turn and acknowledge that she was there before turning back to make its way up the heavy golden shower hose. There was something important it meant to do as it reached the top. And there, suspended from a glittering web that shifted in the rising steam was a butterfly. Large... massive actually. It had great black and blue wings that were pulsing, slowly. The insect's delicate little legs were caught in the sticky threads of the web that was hung by the showerhead. And as the little spider made its way closer, the butterfly did not seem to fret. Rather, it continued to pulse its wings, open, shut. Open, shut. Open, shut. Open... Open...

Now the spider stood face to face with its prey. The butterfly was at least three times its size and seemed to regard its spider hunter with little to no regard. And Bobby could not help but feel the clutch of nerves take her.

Anxiety crawl across her skin as she found herself almost begging for the beautiful insect to tear free of the web, to come away. To fly.

’Please..' Begged her thoughts, 'Fly.... damn you... fly!'

Why wouldn't the butterfly move? Could it not see the danger? That this spider, though tiny would eat it in time?

She watched in horror, for the spider reached out its foreleg and sought to tap the butterfly upon its head. Beating it. Admonishing it for its stupidity. There would be no escape. There would be no mercy. This was the dance of evolution. The strong would prey upon the weak. The beautiful would be eaten by the very grotesque.

It was more than she could bear. Bobby rose in the water, she would free the butterfly, let it escape from the bathroom window. She would upset the natural order, just for one day.

Just... for one day.

And then his voice.

'Goodnight, Roberta.'

She jolted awake. To the splash of water and the sound of her own choked cries. Where was it? The spider? The butterfly? She looked about herself disorientated. What had happened? Where did that voice come from?!

The showerhead and its heavy brass hose.

There was no spider. No spider web. There was no black and blue butterfly. There had been no voice. Aside from the ones in her own head. She was alone. Entirely. Of course. She'd had a long day. A longer night it seemed. And an argument with her Uncle at dinner. Too much wine. The food perhaps too rich and still digesting.

Bobby pulled herself from the tub. Pulling the bathplug and letting the lavender water drain. She sought to dry herself. To put on her clean, lose fitting silken navy pyjamas with their pink carnations and took herself promptly to bed. The clock on the mantle read just past midnight.

No wonder she was tired. Too tired it seemed.

Before long Bobby had drifted off to sleep. Her bedside lamp cast a warm low glow over the room and reflected the surfaces of the furniture in the mirror of her dressing table at the far end against the wall.

And as she slept, she dreamt.

And such dreams were these.

There was music, up ahead. The sound of violins and flutes playing in harmony, a cascade of shimmering notes that were lulling and beautiful. She wanted so much to get closer, to hear them. To see the people who played such wondrous melodies. But she looked down and could not help but notice she was barefooted. And beneath her, a bridge spanned out into the distance. Narrow and suspending by ancient heavy ropes that were set by the roots of trees. Trees whom if she craned her head and looked up, there seemed to be no canopy. And no light. It was cold... and dark. And this bridge... Now that she looked down between the planks at her feet she noticed, to her horror that there was no end in sight. Some, hazy darkness, indiscernible, swelling, moving, breathing, a nothingness that went on forever and ever and made her sick. She clutched at the ropes that were cold to the touch. And rough. Bark perhaps? Feathered in vine leaves and dappled poisonous looking flowers crowned in thorns and swarming with occasional moving shadows. But there was music up ahead. And if only she would walk forward she might chase its beauty. And not find herself so horribly alone. She turned her head, to look back over her shoulder. There was nothing there. Just the endless expanse of this bridge that seemed to go on forever. And this feeling that sank in her heart that told her she'd been walking this bridge for the longest time already. She was tired. Tired and worn down and the music, it called to her. Lulling her.

Where is your coin?

The expanse asked as she set out. One foot in front of the other.

A favour in gold, repaid it must be. Where is your coin?

"I haven't one." She breathed to the expanse, clutching at the vines. Fearful of disturbing the silence in the break of swelling music. She would walk across the bridge. But the end was as indiscernible as the darkness below her feet. It went on forever.

Open your veins then... Pay in blood.

"Blood?" She asked... her brows furrowed, stitching together. Her hand in her pocket, something cold and hard. A disc. She pulled it forth and noted... it was a gold coin. Emblazoned upon it, the image of a raven in flight. Where had it come from?

She offered it to the expanse.

"Will it do? This?" She asked the emptiness. The bridge did not sway beneath her. The wind picked up, and gathered her hair, exposing her throat.

"Please... It's all I have."

In blood.

Said the expanse. And the coin she pro-offered the nothingness before her slipped from her fingers. She watched it arc down, spinning, spinning... and disappear between the boards of the bridge. Her panic reared. It was the last one. The last one and she'd lost it. Lost everything.

Lost it all.

The beating of wings overhead. She looked up for the darkness above the bridge and the melody of violins and flutes were taken away by the sound of cries. Birds. Black birds in their dozens seemed to fly on ahead. In their claws, each one carried a single golden coin. They gathered in the distance, cawing, screaming out, gathering the darkness under their wings. Their eyes were white, their beaks sharp and their cries heart-wrenching. There...in the distance, she saw him. In a black robe. And he turned to her. His eyes the deepest green. Illuminated from within by a fire it seemed.

And there was blood on his fingers and a silver blade in his hand.

"Please!" She called to him, reaching out... desperate to get closer, only every step seemed to place him further away.

"Please... how do I get back?"

There's no going back. Ever.

She woke then. Sweating profusely, disorientated. Her throat dry and her hair stuck to the nape of her neck. Outside it seemed to be raining for she lay upon the bed, kicking back her covers and listening to the constant patter of the rain upon her windowpane. The drip, drip, drip of droplets striking the glass.

And for the longest time Bobby covered her face in her hands. Uncertain with what she had seen and heard. This dream. Like so many she seemed to be having these past nine months or more made no sense. No reason. Coins and blood and birds and butterflies. Bridges to nowhere.

But this was a first.

There was a man.

She had always dreamt there would be a man. He wore dark robes that hung over the edges of the footbridge and were lifted by the breeze that came from nowhere and everywhere at once. And she could never discern his face. Never.

But this time, she saw him. And he had a clarity that was unlike anything she had remembered before.

This man... his eyes... They were inhuman. Abnormal. But his features, his voice. It was the same gentleman that was escorting the lady down the staircase last night, she was sure of it. Absolutely certain.

Positively certain.

God!

She wasn't certain about anything. Let alone the cacophony of thoughts in her mind.

She rose from the bed and sought to take her battered, leather-bound dream diary from her hatbox and her trusty fountain pen that she had written a hundred letters or more with since the day her father had left it behind for her in his will.

Armed with these tools that she understood, Bobby pushed back the curtains letting in the grey light of the late morning penetrate with the warmth of the lamplight at her bedside table.

She attended her dressing table now and sat before her mirror. And she wrote what she saw in her dreams. What she felt in her heart, what she heard in her head.

She wrote and wrote for a quarter of an hour. Perhaps more. Her pen filling page after page with descriptions, imaginings, visions, the sounds that she heard and tried desperately to describe. For it was music she swore she had heard somewhere else. Violins and flutes.

At last she looked up, the nub of the pen stopping short at the word, 'madness'.

There was a crack on her dressing table mirror. It seemed to gather from the lower right-hand corner and spider out into a web that arched up along the glass. It was quite large, incredibly noticeable. Hardly something that she would have missed even in her excitement and exhaustion the day before as she milled about the bedroom to unpack and place her belongings upon the dressing table around her. And she'd stared into this mirror for the better part of an hour the night before applying her makeup. She'd sworn it was not there the night before. Surely. Something like this? She would have seen it and mentioned it to Charon.

Her fingers reached up to run along the cracks in the glass. To trace them against her fingertips.

How long had it been like this?

These cracks were unusual. The appeared to have been forced from the other side, the glass slightly protruding outward. Against the mirror's frame.

Careful!

She pulled her fingers away as they caught over a jagged edge that threatened to slice at her skin.

She would tell Charon about it.

Because there was something dangerous about broken mirrors.

Dearest Readers,

 We hope that you are enjoying our dark fairy tale! There is great intrigue and mystery that awaits on every corner. Every stage holds hidden paths and rising darkness, coming forth from the shadows to swallow the light. Do you have a favorite character? Are you excited for the next turn? Send an inbox message and have your name tagged in the reader’s list so you never miss a new chapter.

Stay tuned for Act Two || Scene Two coming next Sunday, Eastern Standard Time.

JW. || Blood of The Raven King

Act One || Scene One & Scene Two

Act One || Scene Three

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#johnwick #johnwickalternativeuniverse #conceptwriting #theravenking #faefolklore #darkfae #progressiveliterature

[small-fortunes]

John Wick || Blood of the Raven King

Act Two || Scene Two || Concurrence

Bobby woke with a start!

A loud thump in her room caused her to bolt upright with a panicked shout atop her bed. Her blurred eyes took seconds to adjust to the low light of the room and even as her sleep blurred vision clarified, the unfamiliar surrounds did nothing to lessen her anxiety. If anything, she cast her sight about the furniture, unsettled, displaced. Slowly, recollection dawned upon her. No, this was not her dorm room in Oxford, nor was it her old bedroom in Essex. The wallpaper was too elegant and the cornice moldings were too ornate. This was not even her bed.

No, it took a few long moments to pull herself together but given time she realized this was her Uncle's hotel and she was once more a guest to his rooms. This was not England, but the United States of America. The digital clock on the bedside table read 2:34pm. And that thump that she swore came from within the room was certainly her doing. In her sleep she must have thrashed about and swung her arm out, knocking the brass bedside lamp clear off its table. It lay upon the carpet beside the bed with its pale lampshade askew.  She could not remember when it was that she had gone back to sleep after her frenzied writing earlier that morning. Only that she found herself extremely tired afterwards and laid down for what she promised herself would only be a half hour. The sound of the rain so soothing and the hotel so impeccably quiet it seemed. So much for that! 

Swinging her legs free of the bed linen, Bobby bent to set the lamp back upright and found her phone flashing face down on the carpet. The lamp cable had also knocked it free when it came crashing down. 

Sliding her thumb along the slick glass screen, she noted a half dozen messages from her friends Connie and Nate. All which followed the same pattern. 

'Bobby?! Are you awake!? Charon tells us you're fighting jetlag and we don't believe him.' That was Connie at 9:17am.

'Ahoy Bobbette! We're coming to The Continental at midday for lunch and your elusive company. Make yourself decent. Or not, you know I'm kinky.' Read the message from Nate at 11:12am. 

'Bobby! New York doesn't sleep and nor should you, idle princess. We demand your company, and a glass of lemonade, to douse you with.' Connie at 12:15pm. 

'Shall we send Mario round with a plunger? Did you fall in again or have you discovered Narnia?' Wrote Nate at 1 o'clock.

Bobby could not help but chuckle at her friends and their teasing. 

'Heaven forefend Roberta Kent! It's 1:30pm! If you're in bed with a man, throw him out at once and come downstairs! Your Uncle is making eyes at me and I'm feeling conflicted. If you're not down within the hour I'm coming up to get you!' Wrote Connie. And no sooner did she read the last word than she jolted sharply, for there came a powerful knocking at her room door. Connie's clear British accented voice could be heard from the other side. 

"Bobby? Bobby, it's Connie, won't you let me in?"

"Yes, yes I'm coming! Give me a moment!" Called Bobby rushing from the bedroom and out into the lounge. 

In moments she was at the door, unlatching the locks and pulling it open to reveal her friend, colleague and confidante, Constance Blakehurst in a chic deep blue pencil dress and black patent leather heels. Her mane of shoulder length blonde hair had been curled into elegant waves and her ice blue eyes assessed her friend in her pajamas although it was well past two in the afternoon, with gracious good humor. 

"Good Heavens, Bobby Kent! Have you any idea what time it is? Do not for an instant tell me you were still abed this hour?"

"Well...I, uh-"

"Read your messages? Yes, I know, your phone's in your hand and still in one piece which is miraculous considering Nate and I blew it up every hour since this morning. Well? Are you going to let me in so I can greet you properly or are we going to continue this conversation in the hallway?"

"Oh, Connie! It's so good to see you again! I missed you dreadfully!" Said Bobby brightly, stepping aside and letting her friend enter before shutting the door behind her. The two women exchanged an excited school girl's hug that was complimented by many cheek kisses and hair caresses. 

"And I you, to be sure! And Nate hasn't shut up about you since you emailed to say you were coming back to New York! You should hear him darling, every thirty seconds he repeats your name. He's positively beside himself in joy. You really should change your mind and date him already!" 

"Connie! Won't you give up the match maker game?! I've told you before, Nate and I are just good friends." 

"Then can I assume that along with the destruction of your walking cane, you've regained the confidence for other prospects?" 

"No! Honestly, I'm not looking." 

"And even if you were they'd abandon your room in screams of terror if they saw you in that choice not sleepwear!"

This drove a flush of colour to Bobby's cheeks and peel of laughter to follow.

"What's wrong with these pajamas? You were the one that bought them for me to begin with!"

"That was four years ago, Bobby darling. I'm surprised you've not worn holes in them by now, you wear them so often."

"Well, you should be honored that I treasure your gifts so intently and make such good use out of them."

"And I am!" Exclaimed Connie, taking her friend's hands adoringly in her own and beaming in pride.

"Oh, even with your hair a mess and your those old PJs, you're still a picture of loveliness! Go on, give us your runway swagger, sweetheart! Everyone's been absolutely raving about how the magnificent Roberta Kent has gone from wheelchair bound with partial spinal paralysis to walking unassisted on heels! You should hear your Uncle rave about you!"

Bobby complied to her friend's request turning a graceful pirouette on the ball of her foot and then taking to strolling a lap about the living room, circling the coffee table twice in a figure eight before coming back to stand before Connie with a graceful bow. Well! Connie was beside herself in pride. She applauded loudly, cat-calling in the most unladylike fashion and rushed her friend to smother her in a multitude of kisses. The two girls were in fits of laughter.

"Oh Connie! Don't, you're smudging your lipstick, I'm sure of it."

"Don't be silly darling, that's what kiss proof is for! Oh my God! Two years and nine months to the day and I never thought when I saw you in that hospital, that I'd ever watch you walk without assistance again. Oh my sweet God! It's a miracle, I swear it."

"Shh, Connie, sweetheart, don't cry now. There's truly nothing miraculous about it. Honestly. I just got lucky that they didn't damage something irreparable. The rest was all science and dedication."

"And you're truly not in pain at all?" Asked Connie sniffing and wiping at her nose for she could not stem the flow of happy tears.

"No, thank goodness. I mean, not like I used to be. It comes and goes intermittently and I'm more sensitive in the cold. And I'm stiff in the mornings getting up and moving about but once I get going for the day I'm right as rain." Bobby replied, pulling a tissue free of its box on the side table and seeking to wipe at her friend's eyes.

"Oh, Bobby! I'm so happy for you! Truly! You wait till Nate sees you walking. It's all he could talk about the entire trip from Ireland."

Again the girls crushed each other in another warm embrace.

"Well, I'll be more than happy to show him my walk in person. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting, honestly. It was a long journey over and you'd think I'd be used to travel by now. This stupid injury has slowed me down somewhat. But never mind that, you look stunning, honestly! Did you tint your hair? It appears a lighter blonde than before."

"I did, you charming girl, do you like it?" Connie beamed, caressing her tresses.

"Oh most certainly! It sets off your eyes! And that dress! It looks so expensive!"

"Vivienne Westwood my darling, only the best to walk about in such a swanky hotel." Now it was Connie's turn to spin a circle allowing her companion to admire her fully.

"Startling! Honestly!" Bobby exclaimed. "Hey, is it true what you said in the text? About Uncle Winston?"

"Coming on to me? No of course not, silly girl. I was just trying to get you downstairs sooner. He's as charming as ever. He ages so regally in his silk cravats. Honestly, what a perfect gentlemen he is. I can't believe he never married."

"Well, you could always propose yourself as willing."

"Roberta!" Connie cried, "He's like, what? Thirty years my senior?!"

"Don't let him hear you say that! I made a casual reference to it last night over dinner and he fixed me with the most wounded pout."

"I'll bet he did! Now come on, girl, out of these bedclothes at once and into that bathroom. We need to have you presentable inside of fifteen minutes or the boys are likely to drink themselves to death waiting for us. And I've a million things to tell you, but first, please tell me you were good enough to pack a few decent dresses. I'll kill you if you're going about a classy place as this dressed in nothing but your tactical gear."

"What's wrong with jeans?" Bobby complained with an amused quirk of her lips.

"Are they designer labeled?" Connie asked with an arch of her brow and her hand on her hip.

"What if they come from Target?"

"Then your obituary will say you were strangled by cheap, poorly made denim."

The girls shrieked with laughter and sure enough, Connie rushed her friend back into the bedroom.

As good friends do, Connie helped pick a pretty blue and white dress with laced sleeves and shapely contours out of Bobby's wardrobe. She was greatly relieved that her companion had the foresight to bring an array of casual and formal day and evening wear that was certainly not cheap, poorly made denim and simple t-shirts. Within twenty minutes Bobby was washed, brushed, made up and dressed, looking every bit the alluring young woman Connie remembered her to be before her tragedy had befallen her. And all throughout her toilette, the girls exchanged vivid chatter and gossip. For they spoke frequently on the phone, via Skype and even exchanged letters and post cards whilst on their travels around the world; but nothing compared to being in the same physical room with each other. Connie kept tearing up and wiping at her eyes, having to readjust her eyeliner and hair before finally taking her friend by the arm and guiding her out the door.

On the way down the hall and into the elevator, Bobby turned the conversation round to the dream she'd had the night before and had written about extensively in her dream diary that morning. Connie was accustomed to listening to and attempting to decode Bobby's dreams over the years. Both ladies had taken on a particular interest in the intermittently reoccurring nature of the dream wherein Bobby found herself walking a suspended bridge that seemed to have no ending in sight. Connie had noted that the dreams seemed to occur more so in times of duress. Especially, it seemed, after Bobby had reported to having had a panic attack. They appeared to be the aftermath of symptoms associated with post traumatic stress as a repercussion of her trauma for which Connie was exceptionally sympathetic towards. Naturally, Connie questioned her friend about her general health and made a mental note of her assumptions. That Bobby had just undergone her longest flight across the globe since her recovery in years and was attending her Uncle's domain whom had a disinherited hand in the events that had befallen her friend's ill fate. This, she reasoned, was likely the cause of the dream's resurfacing.

What Bobby had not gotten around to explaining was that this time the man she'd seen on the bridge in her dream had taken on distinct and ominous features. What's more, she'd not had the opportunity to express that she had been overtaken by some inexplicable dizzy spell that was seemingly detracted by the black dressed couple on the stairs that she had met the night before. Or that the gentlemen in question shared the face of the man in her dream. That for the first time ever, she felt positive she was making some sort of connection to something, somewhere. Only she had absolutely no idea what or where. But that couple was haunting. She'd almost forgotten about them in Connie's company. At last, when they exited the elevator and meant to cross the lobby's ground floor to attend the dining room, Bobby could not help but stop and stare at the staircase, alarming her friend.

"Bobby? Is everything alright dear? You look positively pale. Are you going to be ill?"

Bobby shook her head slowly. The stair case was being attended by bellhops and hotel guests that came up and down in orderly lines about their business.

"No, not at all. I just... I'm being silly. Let's go, we've wasted enough time already and I'm sure Nate and Uncle will be put out." Taking a deep breath, Bobby smiled and took her friend's arm warmly.

As they passed the reception desk and its moderate line of patrons, Charon and his neatly dressed lady assistant were busy attending to their bookings. Even so, Bobby called to the Concierge over the sweet melody of classical music and guest chatter. The dark gentlemen in his pristine suit looked up from his monitor and fixed Bobby and her friend with a gentle smile and a polite incline of his head in acknowledgement before returning to his work, booking in his latest client.

"My goodness! Are they always so busy?" Connie asked as they made their way to the dining room doors.

"I imagine so. I've never known it any other way. But it does quiet down at night." Bobby responded.

"Welcome back, ladies." Said the maître d'hôtel, gesturing the two friends within. "The manager and your companion has been awaiting your company."

"Thank you so much, that's very kind of you." Bobby replied, smiling at the young man with his sparkling hazel eyes and exotic features. Generally, Winston was renowned for housing much the same staff in his hotel. His turn-over was infrequent at best. But this gentleman who was the same fellow that hosted front of house at dinner last night seemed to be a fairly recent addition as far as Bobby could recall. All the same, he was gracious and neatly uniformed, gesturing the two ladies into the dining room where a number of tables were filled with other guests enjoying their afternoon repast.

"Oh my goodness! There she is!" Called Nate, rising to his feet and rushing a beeline toward Bobby. Winston too was on his feet, beaming in his tan sports coat as his niece was once again reunited with her two friends. The two men had been chatting amicably while the girls were upstairs. Winston was such a sharp witted and well spoken gent, that conversation came easily between the two men. They had much to discuss and much in common with regards to Bobby's fortuitous good health. They were each enjoying a glass of rich French cognac before Nate spied the ladies being led in.

"Well, hot damn, lil' mama! Look at you! Walking!"

"Shh, Nate, not so loud, you'll embarrass her!" Connie urged, squeezing her friend's arm.

"No more than she should be, surely!" Nate replied brightly, hugging Bobby tightly and kissing her cheeks. "Oh, but you look wonderful, babe, for real! How are you feeling? No more walking cane! I can't believe it. I'm so proud of you! Hard road, eh?"

"Well, it wasn't easy, I tell you. But look! I'm in heels and everything!" Bobby beamed, looking down at her dainty black point-toed shoes. Nate nodded appreciatively and turned to give each lady one of his arms to escort them back to the manager's table.

"You certainly are darling, but were it up to me, heels or not, you'd never walk unescorted. Now, come on, your Uncle was sharing the most riveting tales of his guests with me."

The trio crossed the floor happily rejoining Winston who came forward to kiss his blushing niece on her cheeks.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty. Why, we thought you'd never join us." Winston greeted.

"I did warn I was tired, and your beds are remarkably comfortable." Bobby returned warmly, reaching to take her Uncle in an embrace. Nate meanwhile sought to help Connie into her seat whilst Bobby whispered against her Uncle's ear. "I'm sorry about last night, Uncle. Will you forgive me?"

"For what? Having an opinion? Perish the thought. It's all been forgotten darling girl, now sit with me and your friends a while and have something to eat." The elder gentleman whispered back, breaking away to give his niece yet another kiss upon her cheek before helping her into her seat.

"And here we have her, our lady of the hour, Bobby Kent. In the flesh." Winston introduced to the table as he took his seat. Connie and Nate could do nothing if not smile appricitively. They'd been waiting for their friend's company a good long while and were delighted to have her in their grasp once more.

"Waiter," Winston called, getting the attention of a passing gent in this spotless white apron, "a bottle of wine for the table if you please. The '97 Pinot Gris from South Australia I think, considering the occasion." The waited bowed his head at the order politely before dispatching to the bar.

Bobby put her hand on her Uncle's arm, raising her brows in alarm.

"But Uncle, it's so early in the day."

"What? It's past two o'clock, my girl. Did you have pressing plans that required your express sobriety?" Winston replied with a laugh.

"No, I suppose not." Bobby returned, shifting in her seat and feeling very suddenly like a child being permitted to sit at the big people's table. She must have blushed for Nate and Connie both took each of her hands adoringly and laughed.

Between them, the four set to amicable and lively conversation. Their meal was served in relatively short order. Both Connie and Nate were in awe of the expansive seasonal selection of platters and delicacies, heaping great praise upon Winston, whom directed it all back to his international team of passionate and creative chefs whom took it upon themselves to curate a spectacular rotating menu that was always fresh and complimenting of the season. Outside the New York storm seemed to have passed and finally the wet weather had given way to the first rays of afternoon sunshine that cleared away the dreary grayness and picked the colours from the leaves in the garden window.

Winston was delighted to hang back in conversation, watching as his niece and her friends brought a constant smile and a ring of bright laughter to her lips. She looked happy. Happier than she had been in a very long time. And his heart ached for her. He had left New York and stayed on with her in Essex for a long as business would permit during her recovery. What he saw of the young woman disturbed him entirely. In spite of her tan, she grew pale and sickly even after being discharged from the hospital. Her eyes took on a vacant gleam and she spent much of the day and night crying bitterly in his arms. She had become a struggle to feed and only took the smallest amount of food with the highest amount of persuasion until at last he'd returned her to the doctor to have additional medication added to her roster. Something to open up her apatite, for she had lost weight whilst in the coma and was not doing her health any favors by continuing to refuse food.

He'd slept close by in the guest room beside her own in the country manor house. And it was often that he lay, by lamp light, reading into the night and listening out. Bobby would cry into the night, weeping in pain or at the demons that plagued her mind. Often she would wake to screams of nightmares and he would rush back into her room, laying with her whilst she wept and whispered gentle placations in her ear. That she would be alright. That he was there and he would not leave her. That she would grow strong again. That she needed faith and time to heal her. That he was so sorry for her suffering. She'd sleep fitfully in his arms and he would eventually sleep beside her. His heart broken. Terrible things should not happen to good people. But they did. And he ached within, for he was at fault.

When he could no longer stay away from the hotel because business demanded his attention, it was Connie and Nate that returned to Essex and took to living with Bobby permanently adding new life and colour into the old house. They bought books and films and music and study with them. They bought wine and laughter and encouragement that lead the young lady to eat and take to her recovery with vengeance. He was satisfied, she would be well given time. These two dear friends provided more to her than he could. And so Winston withdrew with a promise to come and visit again regularly. To write and call often. That when she was better, he'd arrange to have her visit and stay at his hotel. That Charon would be delighted to see her in person. Charon was so tender, after shifts he would call in and ask for her. Bobby would weep at his kindness, thanking him for his attention that he would wave away. He insisted, they were family now. And he had just as much a vested interest in her recovery as did her Uncle.

What a remarkable difference two years and nine months made to a person.

Now Bobby ate her plates clean happily. She laughed and joked with her friends. Her blue eyes gleaming, her skin and hair lustrous. She'd gained weight again. Her features filled out away from that cadaverous expression she had previously worn. She was on her second glass of wine and was keen to take on cake and coffee much to the cheers of the table. On a few occasions Winston excused himself from the table to take calls and confirm requests from his darker professional patrons. Contracts were opened. Contracts were closed. Names were rubbed off the boards. New names were added. The High Table, as it seemed, were bent on tying off loose ends. And his phone was a constant stream of information that added to the current of order and chaos. He checked in on Charon at the desk who was finally getting a reprieve from the stream of visitors that had attended in the morning.

"Take a break, old friend. Stephanie, take over for Charon, won't you? Have five p.m. hand over competed once your done with next week's reservations."

"Yes, sir. Immediately." Answered the pristinely dressed brunette who was the Concierge's booking assistant. Charon was grateful of the break and thanked his employer graciously.

"Is Bobby well?" He asked after her.

"Oh, splendid!" Winston replied. "Enjoying a long lunch with her friends. Hasn't said a word about her research yet, bless her heart."

"She did say, last night, that she was sorry for a disagreement with you at dinner." Said Charon quietly as the two men made their way through the lobby and back to the dining room.

"I was partly at fault for it. We've made amends now. It's just this talk of the Raven King and he's resurfacing has her obsessed. It seems our associate at the Bowery has some definitive lines of information he's been feeding her. If you don't mind, we'll go pay him a visit later, just before dinner say?"

"Certainly, sir." Charon replied. His features becoming drawn sharply. He'd read all of Bobby's letters and had noted her references to their "mutual friend" with interest.

Now however, the two men returned to the manager's table, the trio of friends were laughing and sharing an amicable exchange but were quick to rise as Winston and Charon approached.

"Charon! Finally! You work far too hard out there!" Bobby exclaimed, rising from her seat and coming forward to hug the dark gentleman tenderly.

"Of course. The weekends are always exceptionally busy."

"Charon will join us on during his break, I trust this is agreeable?" Asked Winston of the table.

Much to the good hearted cheers and calls of "of course" and "by all means".  Nate rose to shake Charon's hand heartily and Connie also rose to press a polite kiss to the elegant gentleman's cheek.

The observant waiters who noted Winton's re-entrance to the dining room with Charon at his side and were quick to set an additional place at the table, taking the Concierge's order for a strong cappuccino and a slice of chocolate torte.

"These desserts are so decadent!" Connie exclaimed, "Are they also made in house?"

"Daily, by our French pâtissie." Charon replied proudly.

"And tell me, Charon, is it some pretty, available blonde girl that's currently looking for a willing suitor?" Nate teased with a twinkle in his eyes.

"He's forty-six, married for eight years and has a two small children, putting him directly out of your range." Charon replied curtly, his lips curling in jest. The table took to laugh as Nate smacked his hand upon it with mock disappointment and a cry of,

"Damn! Bested again!"

Now the table settled with seconds for coffee, tea and sweets, accompanied by Charon's masterful knowledge of city, took to conversing rapidly about all of New York's finest sights and sounds. It seemed the friends were keen on taking Bobby out and away from her expansive research and allowing her the opportunity to simply have fun. Bobby immediately chimed that she wished to visit New York's Public Library for she had heard they had very particular books in the stacks that were available for limited reading sessions that she was absolutely bent on viewing. Nate and Connie both groaned insisting they instead attend an array of vibrant bars and night clubs. Teasing her about finding a boyfriend before spinsterhood set in.

"Connie!" Bobby cried, giggling and blushing profusely.

"Well, it's true, isn't it, Nate? Tell her! I mean, look around you, there are so many charming gentleman in his very hotel. Isn't it true, Winton? I dare say you're conspiring to have only the most elegant men and women stay on. There's not a badly dressed man about."

"She's got a point there, Bobby, I'm starting to feel dreadfully deficient." Nate agreed, sipping at his coffee cup.

"Oh, you're both impossible. See what I have to deal with, gentleman? See how they try to twist and pervert me?" Bobby complained to Charon and Winston whom looked at each other knowingly with deep smiles.

"So go on," Nate pressed, "For the sake of the girls, because none of them will look at me with a yard pole, which of these guests of yours are eligible bachelors?"

The ladies giggled profusely and Winston and Charon set to give each other yet another knowing glance.

"Well, which one takes your fancy?" Winston asked with a raise of his brow, sipping at his coffee cup.

"How about that gentleman over there in the sports coat on table seventeen?" Connie began inclining her head and whispering conspiratorially.

Amused, Charon sought to play the game.

"That is Mr. David Macavoy. He's thirty-six and said to have a sweetheart who works as a dental hygienist and is currently dating her employer. Just as well. Mr. Macavoy keeps a string of causal mistresses as he travels to and from stock broker's offices securing stocks and trades."

This made the table "ooh" and "ahh". Bobby simply rolled her eyes.

"The torn adulterant businessman is not my forte."

"Then what about the fellow leaning on the bar?" Connie laughed raising her brow in his general direction to a smart dressed young man in a tweed coat that had the air of a dandy and was drinking a nip of scotch whilst checking his phone.

"One of our frequent, fly in, fly outs from Italy." Charon explained. "Antonino Borguesso, son of wine importer for Borguesso Limited. He's waiting on his companion as we speak."

Winston chuckled to himself at this admission, shaking his head knowingly. For shortly thereafter, Mr. Borguesso's companion came through the balcony doors at the far end of the dining room, having finished his cigarette and returned to Antonino at the bar. The two men embraced warmly and kissed.

Nate fell into a fit of laughter, reclining back into his chair.

"Rotten luck, Connie, your radar's right broken, love. Give it up!" Connie pouted huffing at her friend whilst Bobby simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Her radar's not the only thing that's broken." Bobby admitted.

"Oh, Ha! Ha! Laugh it up why don't you!" Connie returned sarcastically, ignoring the laughs of the table and casting her eyes about the dining room for other prospective suitors.

It was at that moment, just as the clock stuck four in the afternoon that a very particular gentleman wearing a dark Italian suit and tie, his coat unbuttoned, and his long dark hair framing his face; came strolling into the dining room casually. He was tall and classically handsome. His beard and moustache impeccably groomed. He had dark eyes and an easy smile as he nodded to the maître d'hôtel who gladly waved him toward the bar.

More than one of the guests in the dining room looked up from their meals or conversations, fixing the gentleman with polite glances that seemed to boarder on knowing familiarity. Connie could not help but look him up and down and audibly gasp as she elbowed Bobby's ribs and inclined her head in his direction.

"Bobby! Bobby, shut up a minute and look at him."

"Ouch! What? Who?"

"Him, at the bar. Be discreet, it's like the whole room's watching him. God, he's handsome!"

Bobby followed her friend's gaze, for she was caught in conversation with her Uncle and did not see the gentleman arrive. Now however she watched him ease himself with effortless grace against the bar some three stools away from Mr. Borguesso and his lover. He leaned in quietly and ordered a drink of the bar tender who smiled and set to serve him.

Bobby swallowed thickly watching him... And the world... slowed down.

It was as though time it's self was reluctant to move forward. Every moment seemed to hang in suspended animation, dilated in space and time. Hanging like a droplet of water to a flower petal and clinging to the edge... Unwilling to let go.

That ringing in her head cascaded forth once more to the beating of her pulsing heart. Growing in volume so as the sounds of the dining room around her became muted and inconsequential. The clink of silverware against porcelain. The chatter of the guests, the sounds of the staff as they set down plates or spoke instructions to each other in hushed voices.

The air seemed to grow colder, for her skin edged with goose bumps against her arms and across the back of her neck.

It was him.

It was certainly him.

The same gentleman she had met on the stairs last night escorting that beautiful woman in her dark dress and opera gloves.

That face... that was the face of the man on the bridge in her dream.

This ringing in her head... As if she were underwater and all sound was now coming back to surface. She closed her eyes a moment and gently shook her head before asking,

"Uncle... who is that gentleman at the bar?"

Winston followed his niece's line of sight and exchanged a quick glance with Charon. Both men lost their gracious smiles. Winston hesitated to answer but his niece pressed him.

"Uncle Winston? Please, his name at least?"

The tone of the table seemed to grow darker. Now Connie and Nate read the changing vibes and stilled in their seats.

"That... my dear girl... Is Mr. Johnathan Wick. Retired ex-military man for the U.S. Marines once stationed in Hawaii. Widowed, recently, to our great regret. He was once one of The Continental's most exquisite professional retainers. Unfortunately, poor circumstance and bad choices have inadvertently lead him back to my doors. Our professional relationship is rocky, to say the least. I would highly advise against crossing his path. Some men, are best left to their own devices. Mr. Wick is just such a man."

"He's too mature anyway, Bobby, you need the attentions of a younger man." Connie whispered to her friend regretfully. Bobby however, ignored her friend's misguided assumptions and pressed on.

"I saw him last night as I was going up to my rooms. He was escorting a lady with him down the stairs. Who is she, Uncle Winston?"

With a deep sigh, Winston answered, draining his coffee cup first before rejoining,

"That was the Lady Judeth Clayton. Marchioness of Exeter and head of one of England's most powerful families."

"Royalty? Here?" Bobby asked, aghast. Whilst she was no royalist, she could not recall the Clayton family name having such a distinguished title in recent British history.

"My hotel caters to many of rank and title, dear girl. You know this."

Bobby nodded to this admission. Her Uncle had more than once admitted to accommodating traveling Barons or Dukes. Now Bobby wondered how many of these established men and women of title were as corrupt as the governments for which they served. She pressed on,

"They seemed very close to each other. I only met them for a moment before attending the lift."

"Mmmh. Afraid so." Winston replied. "Mr. Wick serves as Lady Clayton's royal consort. Engaged in her personal service, under protection of her family name."

"Consort? Does this mean they're romantically attached?"

"The title implies similar connotations, I would imagine. Yes."

"I see."

"Right out of your league, love," Said Nate apologetically, patting Bobby gently upon her shoulder. The contact seemed to bring her back into the present moment. Connie nudged her knee with her own under the table cloth. A polite reminder to look away for she must have been staring, transfixed.

Even so, all she could think of in that moment was the irrepressible urge to look into his eyes once more.

'Look at me.... Look at me...' Whispered her thoughts.

Mr. Wick however, did not turn to face her. Rather, he settled himself comfortably against the bar, thanking the bartender who served his bourbon over ice. He gave the rest of the dining room his back, as if disinterested in their existence and content to be left alone. Lady Clayton was not at his side. And his gentle terrier was upstairs in the penthouse napping comfortably upon a lounge in the rays of late afternoon sunlight that shone through the balcony windows.

"Bobby? Bobby, are you listening to a word I'm saying?" Asked Connie, leaning forward to take her friend's hand which she fixed with a gentle squeeze.

"Yes...sorry... I was miles away for a moment there. What were we saying?"

"We were saying, we were about to excuse ourselves for the afternoon, my darling. An infinite pleasure as it is to languish with you, business unfortunately needs our attention." Said Winston affably, rising from his seat, Charon at his side.

"It was a delight to see you again, Mr. Savoy, Miss Blakehurst." Said Charon, shaking hands with each of the friends in turn and taking Bobby's hand in his own, smiling at her tenderly before fixing a kiss to her knuckles.

"Thank you for joining us, Charon. Your company has made the day even greater." Now Bobby turned to her Uncle who also said his goodbyes of Connie and Nate and came forward to hug his niece warmly.

"Thank you, Uncle, once more. For everything." She whispered against his ear.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Always." He held her there in his embrace a moment. Breathing in the flowery, fresh scent of her classic perfume. And wanting to give her a stern warning which he held in check, for he saw the way his niece's eyes lingered, unfocused upon Mr. Wick. A gaze for which he did not approve. His heart hammered in his chest in nervous anxiety. If only the timing had been better. If only his niece would not have set eyes on him. But what could he do? Large as the hotel was, he could not sequester a member of The High Table nor her esteemed consort to their rooms indefinitely. And so he pulled away, saying his final goodbyes for the day and inviting the trio to return on his treat for dinner at The Continental that evening. He regretted, he'd not be joining them that night as he had other affairs for which he must attend, but he hoped whole-heartedly that they would enjoy themselves entirely on his account. That hospitality was his greatest pleasure in life and seeing them reunited in good health filled his heart with good cheer.

"Oh, and Charon, before I forget." Said Bobby, as the Manager and Concierge made to walk away.

"Yes?" Asked Charon with a smile, turning to face the young woman once more.

"I don't mean to make a fuss, it's certainly nothing of any pressing importance, only, I couldn't help but notice this morning that my dressing table mirror seems to be broken. There's a large crack that I was sure wasn't there yesterday. Unless it was, and I'm very much mistaken. But I'm concerned with the way the mirror seems to be splintering, that the glass might give way from the frame entirely and smash all over the carpet. Could you, perhaps?"

"Of course." Said Charon, nodding earnestly. "I will arrange to have a pair of servicemen attend your room within the hour and have the mirror replaced while you're out. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes, more than anything, thank you. Please, ask them to take care. The glass appears to be cracked strangely, as if it was forced outwards from its backboard. I fear any movement may make it come away badly. I wouldn't want anyone hurt on my account."

"We'll take that into consideration when we tender our report." Winston replied, Charon also nodded in assent. The two gentlemen said the final goodbyes and retreated from the dining room, leaving the trio of friends behind.

No sooner, did they make the grand lobby once more than Winston's gentle smile dissipated into an expression of aggravated tension.

"I want every glass mirror in her room, ornamental or otherwise replaced immediately with iron backed plastic imitation. We're not taking any chances." Winston commanded in a low murmur that only his friend could hear.

"She said the mirror appeared to be forced outwards. I'll go investigate at once."

"And be quick about it! If she's challenging her energies as a conduit seer, then it's only a matter of time before her very presence starts to bring forth occupants whose relations we can do without."

"And Mr. Wick?" Charon asked quietly, his own features tight as he scanned the patrons sitting about the fireplace or attending their friends and family. Winston sighed heavily, taking his phone from his coat pocket and readying to make a call.

"It appears that die has already been cast. We've no choice now than to enter damage control."

"I understand." The Concierge acknowledged.

"When you're done with your inspection, Charon, bring a car round to the front. We're going to pay the Bowery a little visit."

"As you wish, Sir." Charon replied.

Thusly, the two men separated to attend their duties. Their minds clouded in warring concern.

The Continental, it seemed, would not remain the oasis of calm and civility they had hoped to foster indefinitely for much longer.

Within the dining room, Connie and Nate had reseated themselves and sought to chatter vibrantly with suggestions of places the trio might go together that very evening for drinks and entertainment. Bobby however, continued to cast sideways glances at the gentleman at the bar, much to her friends amusement.

"Bobby Kent... Since Mr. Wick's arrival you've been as attentive as a goldfish." Connie teased. "Look at you, you're positively smitten."

"It's not like that at all. It's... the dream I told you about earlier." Bobby replied, waving away her friend's inappropriate suggestion.

"What's this?" Nate questioned, coming close with a raise of his brow.

"Bobby's endless bridge dream seems to have come to the forefront again as of last night." Connie explained.

"There's just something about him. I can't shake the feeling that I've seen him somewhere before."

"And have you?" Nate asked quietly, setting aside his wine glass.

"I... I don't know. I can't be sure. But... In the dream I had last night, I could have sworn... It was his face. For the first time in what seems like forever, the man at the foot of the bridge in the distance had a face I could see clearly and a voice. And I heard it clear as a bell, as clearly as I hear you two speaking with me right now."

"Bobby..." Connie whispered, taking her friend's chin in her fingers and gently redirecting her eyes away from Mr. Wick's turned back.

"Bobby listen to me, darling. What are the chances of you being wrong, hmm? These dreams of yours. They seem to resurface under times of stress. Now, think about it clearly for a moment. You've traveled out of the United Kingdom for the first time in years. You've done nothing but bury yourself in research and the mind has a way of playing tricks on us. Loneliness and longing can-"

"I'm neither lonely, nor longing for anything aside from the answers for which the world around us is too blind to perceive, Constance Blakehurst." Bobby snapped sharply, cutting her friend's conversation off cold. Connie pursed her lips and lowered her eyes.

"I'm telling you, there's a connection that is definitely coming to surface and its closer than anything we've ever known before." She lowered her voice, leaning closer toward the centre of the table.

"I have a feeling, deep intuition, that screams that the Raven King is closer to the physical plane than we have ever known him to be in at last half century. Now, you swore to me, when I set down this path that you would both stand at my side, come what may and you would assist me in bringing to bare the magic for which our mortal nature has long since suppressed from human knowledge. Now, I know, I've been wheelchair bound and out of my mind with madness these past two years, I was there. It happened to me. I've not forgotten. And I'm not likely to anytime soon. But you saw it yourself that day what came out of that mirror when we enacted the Rite of Exquiro."

"We, know Bobby. We all saw it." Nate murmured "And we're as with you today as we were back then. But, the Rite.. it's not reliable, there are too many pieces missing, lost in translation. We may have bungled it, for all we know."

"Our mutual friend, says he has the answers we seek. That I'm to wait here at The Continental until he sends word for my arrival." Bobby returned.

"And when will that be?" Connie asked, her brows furrowed together as she sought to shake the memory of the creature in the mirror away.

"I don't know." Bobby admitted at last. "But what I do know... is that I should take this clear opportunity to make my acquaintance with that gentleman at the bar."

"Wait! Bobby... You heard your Uncle, love. He clearly said that bloke is not someone you want to tangle with. I mean, look around you. These people. Well dressed and finely mannered as they all seem on the surface, they're like hand-grenades. Just waiting for an opportunity to go off at any moment. We don't know what they're capable of. And after what happened to you...." He let the thought trail heavily between them.

"This is consecrated neutral ground, Nate." Bobby replied sagely,  "My Uncle has assured me that the laws that govern the people in this premises are irrefutable mandates. Their very lives might be made forfeit if they so much as consider attending to their business within these walls."

"So what happens when you go outside?" Connie asked, searching her friend's eyes deeply.

"What happens to anyone that goes outside?" Bobby returned. "We leave ourselves to the hands of the Fates. To the Wheel of Karma. To the laws that govern man in ethical and moral code. We cross our 'T's and dot our 'I's and do our best to live out our days without provoking the wrath of the gods and weather the force of nature as only humanity can. Our days have always been numbered and death does not discriminate. It waits. Patiently, at our shoulders with an ever-draining hourglass. Just watching for the right moment."

"Then you are surely familiar, that if ever a gatekeeper to the fates and all their ill temptations ever existed, this very establishment and your Uncle are it. I'd take his word, if I were you." Nate intoned, his smile vanished. His dark eyes flashing in worry.

"But you're not me." Bobby replied, rising to her feet and straightening her dress. "You can't be. So you'll stand by and watch, whilst I go have a conversation with the fates and see where they lead me. Because I swear it to you, I've seen this man before. And I can't pinpoint how or where. But I'm going to find out, with or without you."

Silence fell upon the table as Connie and Nate exchanged tense glances. They both nodded, reluctantly and watched as Bobby Kent excused herself and walked away.

Many of the guests that had partaken of meals earlier had since paid their cheques and excused themselves to other pursuits, leaving the dining room a great deal quieter than it had been but an hour prior. In fact, Mr. Borguesso and his companion had also departed the bar and sought to seat themselves in a quiet corner to take their drinks and talk amongst themselves. This left Mr. Wick as the last remaining attendant seated at the bar, sipping at his drink and idly casting his glance over his mobile phone.

Bobby considered the timing fortuitous, yet realized with every advancing step closer to the dark dressed gentleman, that she was decidedly under-prepared for the conversation she hoped to undertake or the means by which she would establish the exchange. None the less, she had made up her mind in the passing half hour, and turning back now no longer seemed an option.

And so, with a deep breath and a quiet step, Bobby sought to attend the empty stool beside the gentleman, but did not presume to sit down. Instead, with a quiet voice, feeling the eyes of her companions at her back, she sought to engage him in conversation directly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wick?" She began gently. The dark gentleman set down his glass slowly, turning his attention away from his phone on the bar. He regarded the younger woman with docile, warm eyes.

"Yes?" His voice quiet, deep. He sought her eyes with his own. And the moment seemed to again still the air around her. Heartbeats passed between them until at last Bobby answered in almost a whisper.

"Forgive me... for intruding on your privacy. I don't mean to disturb you, only... I know... This is going to sound completely absurd but, we did meet, briefly last night on the staircase as I was entering the elevator."

"We did." The gentleman replied, quietly once more. His expression unreadable. "And you were wearing quite a beautiful rose coloured evening dress." He continued, turning now in his stool to face the young woman more completely.

The compliment brought a smile to Bobby's lips.

"Thank you, you're too kind, sir. And you were a escorting perhaps one of the most exquisitely beautiful ladies I have ever set eyes on. She really is quite remarkable. I'm sorry I did not get the opportunity to greet you properly then... And you'll forgive my boldness, but... Seeing you again now, I... I can't help but feel as though we've perhaps met somewhere before."

Silence passed between them for long moments as the weight of this admission hung in the air. Bobby searched the gentleman's eyes, ensnared by the way in which the light seemed to be drawn into them, like pools without reflection. The colour of deepest ochre. He seemed to be thinking. Weighing her words for long moments. Grateful of her compliment for his companion. For she was a rare beauty, that much was true.

At last he replied, his tone as measured and quiet as ever.

"No. I'm sorry, I don't think we have." He said. But his eyes... His eyes continued to draw her.

"Are you sure?" She breathed, almost without thinking, she took a step closer. Stepping it seemed, directly into his shadow.

"I never forget a face." He replied. "And I wouldn't forget one such as yours."  

"Would you forget a name?" She pressed.

"No."

To this she nodded, slowly. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat.

"Then perhaps, I should introduce myself. My name is Bobby Kent. I am... or was... An English cartographer and travel journalist. Up until a few years ago when I was met with an.... accident." She hesitated, swallowing thickly.

"I take a different line of work now. Research, academics mostly. You'll forgive the forwardness of my address, only, I asked my Uncle for your name. Silly as it sounds, I could have sworn we'd met in the recent past. I'm sorry I appear to have been mistaken and disturbed your peace." Here, she put out her hand.

"I'm Winston's niece." She concluded.

The gentleman, with his dark eyes leaned forward very slightly and sought to take the young woman's hand in his own. His grip was warm, firm. And sent a shockwave of energy riveting through her veins and up the length of her spine. The air around them grew cold... still.

"John Wick." The gentleman said.

The mystery unfolds slowly, like a flower unfurling its petals in the night. Who is The Raven King and what dark secrets does Winston and The Continental hide from the world around Bobby and her friends? Mr. Wick has finally been brought to the forefront. And you dare not look away. Be mindful, when you step into the shadow of a damned. Can you hear the beating of a butterfly’s wings?

Join us next week to for the third and final scene in Act Two - Blood of the Raven King.

Write us to have your name tagged in the reader’s list below and never miss a chapter.

Act One || Scene One & Two

Act  One || Scene Three

Act Two || Scene One

{[ @rubydian @lalienna-dementriento @rubydart @f0rtis-fortuna-adiuvat @cynic-spirit @jardanijovonovichs @overheardatthecontinental @sapphowinter ]}

#johnwick #johnwickalternativeuniverse #conceptwriting #darkfae #faefolklore #darkmagic #progressiveliterature #theravenking

[small-fortunes]

John Wick || Blood of the Raven King

Act One || Scene Three || In This House

Bobby could not have been happier than the moment in which her plane touched down upon the runway of the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Her eight and a half hour direct flight from London in business class had been exceptionally uneventful save for the enormous amount of reading and rock music listening to that she had divert her attention whilst the other passengers either slept, watched films or worked quietly, keeping very much to themselves. She may have drifted off to sleep once or twice only to jolt awake and re-read the same passage of her history book for the eighth time in a row. Finally, when she grew tired of this, she set down her book and resorted to people watching. Glancing upon them for a moment or so then taking hold her note book and writing a line or two of random nonsense that popped into her head and was based entirely on the impression she received from simply looking over their faces.

 Ah, but when the pilot finally announced that they had entered American airspace, she was at once vividly awake and full of anxious energy. New York always had a way of feeling like a home away from home. Naturally, it was because Uncle Winston was there, in his grand and busy hotel. And Mr. Charon whom she thought was just spectacular in his refinement and elegance. And she had friends in New York too. Friends she’d met online, through correspondence and via her studies. Members of her expedition crew that lived across Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. She was excited to meet with her closest friends and research companions that had stayed by her sidelong after her misadventure with the Purvrian cartel of criminals, Constance and Nathanial. Traditionally English born but American settled. Both of these friends were as well-travelled, loyal to a cause, dedicated to each other and as heartfelt as she could ever have hoped to have in colleagues. Especially colleagues that agreed, her research for the resurgence of the Raven King was not a bout of absolute madness to be relegated to the confines of mythological studies along with classical Roman and Grecian Gods and Irish or Welsh fables and legends. Like Bobby, they believed she was on to something. That she was perhaps a little obsessive, but there was definite web, just beneath the surface. And they were so close in uncovering it. They hoped it would occur together. But they didn't fully understand the depth of Bobby's inadvertent involvement in the darkness of society. And Bobby's tender heart and good nature meant she would not reveal it to them in so long as she could help it. It was Constance however that started to put the pieces of the mystery together not long after Bobby had awoken from her coma. She had confessed her private investigations to Nathanial whom helped her dig a little deeper. And in the months of therapy and rehabilitation that followed, Connie and Nate became Bobby's sole support network outside of Winston or Charon. She had begged them both.

"Please, guys, please... If you don't know anything, you can't be held accountable. So stop asking. Stop investigating. Everything you've been doing. You may be right. You may be wrong. It doesn't matter anymore. What's been done is done. Nothing is going to change. And I want to leave it all behind. So I'm begging you, let it die." Heartbroken for their friend and her suffering, they reluctantly acquiesced the request. If capture and torture was an indicator of what Bobby was worth, they could only imagine the depth of filth in which they would have to traverse to come to a reasonable conclusion. Amongst themselves, Connie and Nate came to the understanding that there was a strong possibility that the Sicilian Mafia was likely involved. If they had to hazard a guess they had began to point their fingers at a Camorra family. But Bobby had asked them to let it go. And they did. For now.  

Alas, Bobby could not make her way off the plane and through customs and security fast enough. She travelled light, with a single flight case, a backpack, a hatbox and a smaller overnight carry-on bag in a range of battered complimenting leathers that she had taken an affinity for as they belonged to her late father. She only ever carried the bare minimum in clothing, footwear and cosmetics, dedicating the majority of her bag space to books, ledgers, photographic cameras, laptops, external hard drives, power supplies and drawing pencils. Whatever else she needed or wanted she would buy in whatever part of the world she was in at the time. If it was large or bulky she'd have it shipped home by post. And on occasion, her travels had seen her to booking a freight container to carry some incredible artworks or furniture pieces that she had discovered across Europe and Asia to be transported back to her countryside home in Essex. The results were a bohemian, antique concoction of colour and texture, style and shape that added an endless warmth to the otherwise dated and plain English timber that her mother and father had thought was perfectly charming at the time.

The moment it was prudent, Bobby pulled out her mobile phone, swapped out her SIM card from the UK carrier to her American carrier and called her Uncle with the exuberance of a schoolgirl.

"Uncle Winston? I'm here! I've just arrived!"

"Very good my girl, welcome back to New York City. I trust your flight was pleasant?"

"Restful if nothing else, Uncle. I'm dying to see you. Were you able to arrange for a car or should I board a shuttle bus into town? I'm sorry about this all being so short notice by the way. I can make alternative boarding arrangements if you like?"

This made Winston click his tongue as he smiled down into his phone.

"Tsk! Perish the thought, darling! You know very well that's not how we play cricket in this neck of the woods. If you attend the visitors arrival ranks you'll see Charon standing by. He'll help you with your luggage and return you to me safely. We've a cosy room prepared for you and once you're checked in, you can meet me in the dining room for a little something to eat that isn't aeroplane cuisine, yes?"

"Oh Uncle, you're too good to me sometimes! I'm looking forward to it. I'll be with you in a bit then, traffic permitting."

"Yes, I am rather, aren't I? I'll be here when you arrive. Bye for now."

Phone away and bags in hand, Bobby ran a final check to ensure her passport and papers were in proper order and when she was satisfied, she didn't look a terrible mess, she organized her bags and joined the ranks of other arrivals that looked equally overburdened but generally happy to have touched down.

And how could she miss him standing there? Charon was always a magnificent sight to behold. Other private chauffeurs held up place signs with surnames for guests that they were to collect, but Charon merely stood at relaxed attention in his dark grey pinstripe suit looking the very picture of statuesque regal elegance. His dark-toned skin the richest colour of pure coffee and his thinly rimmed glasses caught the light in a sparkle. His hairless head and sharp features gave an imposing allure. Ladies turned their heads, even discreetly to stop and stare and the other uniformed drivers, whilst very smartly dressed, didn't quite shine with the same radiance or power that Charon had inherently mastered. He smiled at her as he recognized her amidst the crowd and finally broke free of the chauffeur's line on powerful strides that made him seem very much a dancer or a great black cat.

With a delighted cry, Bobby dropped her bags and rushed him, reaching up on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck and shoulders. She was instantly taken by the familiar warmth of his cologne and the reassuring pressure of his strong embrace as his hands caressed her upper back.

A passing woman with a Puerto Rican complexion was obviously heartened by their tender reunion, for when they parted she paused to say,

"Damn girl! You is lucky, huh?" in her heavy accent, before winking suggestively and striding off, wheeling her suitcase behind her.

Both Bobby and Charon saw the humour in this assumption. They laughed and greeted each other warmly. The Concierge welcomed his employer's niece back to American shores expressing his contentment to see her doing so well. Bobby had spent a great deal of time in a wheelchair post coma and had worked very hard and very long with her physiotherapists to restore her mobility. The ordeal had taken years and was excruciatingly painful. Bobby had given over to the fact that cortisone injections, anti-inflammatory pills and an array of painkillers would be par for the course now as she negotiated her spinal injury. What she hated more than anything was the stigma that she suffered when she moved from wheelchair, to walking frame to finally, walking cane. She wanted to be free of the damn thing. More than ever. For she felt as long as she was reduced to using her cane, she would forevermore conform to the ideal that her history had bested her. And that was a notion that would simply not do. She could not take the past into her future. The idea was abhorrent. So she took her cane and burnt the thing in her fireplace, back home in Essex. She called her physiotherapist the following morning and explained the whole thing demanding that the man make her case the most serious work he'd ever do in his entire bloody life. By the end of the phone call her physiotherapist was in absolute tears. He'd pledged his purpose to her rehabilitation and they worked together, day in and day out for nine months straight. Bobby had triumphed! Bobby would walk, unassisted at last.

Considerations would need to be made, of course. She was not able to stand for long hours anymore. And rough terrain was a bad idea for it jarred her knees and hips too greatly. She would have to be a great deal more gentle with her body in the gym and resolved to take a lot of low to no-impact exercises which eventuated in strength and resistance building by taking on Yoga and Pilates. She ensured the majority of her diet was generally clean and free of processed foods or preservatives and was quite rigid about drinking as much pure water and tea as possible. Perhaps what she missed most of all was the ability to wear heels higher than three inches for parties and events. But then again, Bobby rarely attended any of those that were not of some academic foundation and didn't entirely need that level of glamour anyway.

Thus, when she next visited New York after having successfully mastered walking without a noticeable limp; it was to Charon and Winston's absolute amazement. They had been witness to her worst level of suffering. To see her spin a complete one-eighty was nothing short of miraculous as far as they were concerned.

Now, Charon insisted he take the majority of Bobby's classic, worn leather luggage and stood back to admire her walk appreciatively. Again, unknowing on-lookers may have thought he was admiring the sway of her hips as any hot-blooded man might admire a young woman. A not unheard of concept, surely. Except for the fact that Charon was some twenty-three years Bobby's senior and any affections he had toward Miss. Kent as his employer's niece were purely plutonic and deeply family orientated.

"Oh Charon, it does my heart so good to see you! You're still as striking and handsome as ever!" Bobby had no issue in affirming as they walked together, shoulder to shoulder toward the car parked amongst the ranks of others on the airport passenger collection rank. This admission brought a glitter to Charon's eyes and a smile to his lips. He always thoughts Bobby was nothing if not entirely charming herself and was mortified by the horrors that had befallen her.

"The feeling is mutual Miss. Kent. I am elated to see you walking so well without your chair or cane. You seem to have regained your balance even more so since your last visitation. It is almost as though your injuries never took place to such a dramatic extent. Has your endurance for standing and walking distances improved as well?" He asked, loading her bags into the boot of the car tidily.

He earned a gentle nudge to his ribs as Bobby begged him to drop the formality and honorifics. She insisted they were family and being called 'Miss. Kent' simply made her feel estranged rather than interconnected. And interconnected right now was where she sorely needed to be, both in his presence and in Winston's.

She answered truthfully though, relating the information and summaries given by her medical professionals that assured her that whilst a great deal many things were wrong with her, including a metal plate in her skull and the loss of a kidney; that she was otherwise healing and walking longer and stronger than ever before.

She slid into the passenger's seat beside Charon and spoke on as he paid his phone's text messages a cursory glance. Hotel staff updating him on shift changes and suppliers logging his produce deliveries. They were of no consequence right now. He set the phone to silent and rejoined in the conversation, entering the stream of New York traffic that would travel over Brooklyn Bridge and eventually join New York proper.

They arrived at the curb of The Continental's famous multi-story high-rise corner block some forty minutes later having narrowly avoided the brunt of Friday afternoon peak hour traffic. The uniformed doorman greeted their arrival and a bellhop was summoned on Charon's order to take Bobby's luggage up to room Five-Twelve. Bobby thanked all the staff profusely as she pushed a tip of five dollars US into the bell hop's hands; apologizing because she'd not yet attended a money exchange office and this token gesture was all she had left in her wallet since her last trip to the US. The charming young man took the note into his pocket, smiling and bemused before tipping his hat and strolling away with his gleaming brass luggage trolley that carried Bobby's few bags.

"What was that all about, Charon?" Bobby inquired, "I thought American hospitality staff appreciated gratuities for service. That young man looked at me as though I was asking for directions to the beach in Norwegian." Her eyes followed his departure as the lift doors in the lobby closed and began their ascent.

"From civilian guests perhaps," Charon replied patiently. "You, however, now fall into an affiliated professional category." He punctuated this sentence with a wink so rapid and smooth, you would have missed it if you blinked. Bobby, however, never missed much of anything when she entered her Uncle's hotel. Even less now that she had a more complete understanding of what The Continental New York City actually stood for. She had not expected her status to be elevated to anything other than casual civilian, especially as she had no claims or designs to work in any kind of arrangement, cartel or syndicate that Winston had explained many of the guests took to his doors to find reprieve from. 

Alas, it had taken an extraordinarily long time for Bobby and her Uncle to come to a respectable understanding that The Continental served as an external and entirely independent enterprise that functioned as a complete cease-fire neutrality twenty-four hours of the day and night. Winston had parsed over the function of The High Table, The Department of the Adjudicator and the invisible lines of gang territories that controlled New York's underworld for everything including narcotics, prostitution, weapons caching, law enforcement manipulating, money laundering and hitmen for hire. Amongst a great deal more that he withheld on principle. Because he maintained that his niece simply didn't need to know. It was for the best. It was for her protection. But this new line of her obsessive study. This relentless pursuit that she had taken upon herself to uncover the other side was a massive concern in and of its self. He'd taken so much care to dissuade her from these fancies. To suppress and reengage her into entirely different stratagems for coming to terms with her mortality that didn't devolve into the streams of the preternatural that he himself had only in his history caught soul-shocking glances of.

And now Bobby was on it. Like a dog with a bone. She was on it with ravenous attention. A woman in a wheelchair with an academic mind and little else to distract her was prone to obsessive lines of study.  Her letter had been a forewarning. She had the intention to pry knowledge from him that he wasn't certain he was prepared to impart because he himself was not sure he fully understood the depth of the other side. Who did in this day and age anyway? Life, as it stood in the modern 21st Century, was a great, glittering neon distraction from the core of the unseen that walked amongst them day and night. Hiding. In the shadows. In the peripheral of human vision. Always just out of reach. But there... So there. So extremely there that you could close your eyes and deep down, if you focused, you could hear it. Like the echos of waves in a seashell. You wanted to believe that you were listening to thousands of years of history contained in the natural and ordinary. That you were not falling subject to the tricks of the mind. That magic was something that was done in studios and meant to entertain and hoodwink the uneducated.

It wasn't true.

It just wasn't true.

And Bobby was now closer to a malicious entity than perhaps she had ever bargained for. And would ever know.

His only hope was that their paths never crossed.

At last Charon offered to take Bobby up to her room personally so as she might take a little while to unwind and refresh herself before coming to join the dinner service downstairs in the dining room. Her Uncle would be waiting but would see her only once she was properly settled. Bobby agreed reluctantly. She had a great deal many things she wanted to share and ask of her Uncle. But she too had just come halfway across the world on more than a whim. She'd need time to recuperate and organize herself.

So she hugged Charon one final time, feeling very much like a protected species under the eyes of the hotel's staff. She gasped at the sheer radiant elegance of her rooms. But knew better than to protest about their grandeur. Rather, she thanked Charon a thousand times with heart-felt sincerity and took a moment to gather her thoughts when he proclaimed as always that he was at her complete disposal. He would be downstairs where she always expected to find him. He shut the door behind her and left her in peace. Overwhelmed a little. Displaced a little. Confused a little. Aching a little.

Alone in her solitude, Bobby buried her face in her hands for a private moment and cried.

And so concludes Act One of John Wick || Blood of the Raven King

You can Read John Wick || Blood of the Raven King // Act One Scene one & Scene Two Here!

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[small-fortunes]

Dropped in blood like Cain dropped Abel.

And they said to him, you need never leave this place to see mortality like ours. Like theirs. Like us. Like you.

But he heard her calling through the glass plane of the mirror to the lands of the Raven King. Where magic is dead. Where memories go to die.

They didn't want him there. But she paid her gold coins in advance and bound them in blood.

Blood dropped, like Cain dropped Abel.

{[ @rubydart @rubydian || It's coming. See you on the other side, Mr. Wick ]}

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