Aveline and the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

Part 15 - The Cirque de Macabre

My snarl of frustration alarms several people nearby, who all look at me in surprise, some backing away with their partners, others becoming grim faced as they reach inside their expensive jackets for what I could only assume were guns. The noise I'd made still echoed in my head - an animal sound, vicious and mean - and I realise I've not only dropped my guard and let slip my cover, but also discovered a new facet of my character. I could quite literally tear someone apart right now, and I suspect the expression I've got on my face is making those who are looking at me think exactly the same thing. Quickly erasing any trace of my presence from the minds of those around me, I watch with mounting consternation as people who moments before were backing away as if escaping a wild animal, suddenly stop and look at each other with brief confusion, then go about their business as if nothing has happened. Men who seconds earlier were reaching for guns pull their hands out empty, or poke around in inside pockets trying to remember what they'd been looking for.

I stand still, breathing heavily while I calm myself, concentrating on strengthening my ability to remain unseen and unnoticed by anyone or anything around me. I'm thrilled and confused and a little embarrassed by what just happened. The power that just ran through me was amazing - like I'd been electrocuted. I knew I wanted to feel it again, but at the same time I couldn't put my finger on why my reaction to the mysterious James Dean character disappearing on me had brought on such an extreme burst of frustration and anger. For a moment I'm flustered, and have to make a real effort to focus on the present.

This is helped by a man bursting out from a side door a hundred feet away and looking around, his aura having the same strange orangey tint as the shape shifter I saw outside. He scans the crowd, passing over me without noticing, then strolls back through the door, glancing back over his shoulder as he closes it behind him and doing his best to look unconcerned at the questioning looks of people nearby.

Kicking myself for being so easily distracted, I spend a while looking around the spot where the apparition of James Dean had been, wondering if another token had been left for me. There is nothing there. Why had he appeared again? Was he trying to help? Was he giving me a warning? Could it be the Fifth Horseman, Charles Hathershaw, setting some kind of trap? Or was it something else...

Behind me the doors open to the arena, and an announcement in Russian and English invites everyone to enter. I hang back, waiting until the majority of the circus-goers have gone through the black throat of the tent, then follow. The arena takes up about half of the space inside the 'head' of the tent, surrounded on three sides by stands that extend upwards a hundred feet or more. Thousands of people are walking through the arena, moving around the stands and taking their seats. Four metal pillars rise up from the corners of the arena to the roof. Various ropes and chains are strung between them at different heights, and some larger metal cage-like contraptions hang down from the ceiling and swing gently above the arena floor. This looks nothing like any circus I've ever seen. More like something out of Fifty Shades of Grey made huge.

My thoughts are interrupted by my phone buzzing in my pocket. I take it out, expecting to see Grant's number again, but to my pleasant surprise I see that it's Dr Huntley calling. I answer the phone, partly to put off the moment I actually have to do anything, but also because I'm eager to find out if he got back to New York okay.

"Aveline, you've got to do something here to help me. I'm about to end up as collateral in an angel-demon turf-war!"

"What's going on?" I ask, in alarm. "Where are you?"

"In the apartment at Fifth Avenue. Everything's here, just like you said. Only the thing is, Zet and Temul are stood in one corner, Junk and Crimson in the other, trading insults and neither giving way to the other. It's like something out of West Side Story in here, only I don't think this is going to end in a dance-off!"