Circleborn (Solomon's Circle, Book 1)

Chapter 1

Everyone heard the man's gun cock.

Everyone saw him bring it to level.

Most of them were sure of what was going to happen next. But silently some believed the man would chicken out, drop the gun and run-away like the coward everyone made him out to be.

But the man's eyes showed determination and as he yanked at the trigger three times the entire crowd jumped as the bullets raced for their skulls.

Well everyone except for two people.

Ryan wasn't paying any attention to the man on screen-his girlfriend's lips were a lot more interesting. When you've seen the movie as many times as he had-heard more than seen actually- you don't startle at the actors next move. You know his exact life like a play book, every move, every word, every bullet and seeing in it in 3D didn't make it any more interesting. If anything at all was made interesting by the 3D glasses it was how they clinked as rubbed against each other. In truth Ryan wanted to take them off before he started making out with Cindy, he knew they would cause some sort of complications but Cindy didn't want to wait and as the light dimmed and the movie started her lips were already assaulting his. You'd think she'd first let him see the part where the man gets beat up so bad he crapped himself. He thought that bit was funny. But he knew all too well that losing control wasn't funny. In fact it was the crappiest joke to tell and the punchline hurt like hell.

Seeing that they were making a habit of making out at movies since the start of the week you'd think that they'd at least mix it up a little. Comedies on Mondays. Dramas on Thursdays and actions on Fridays. Maybe even at different times too, but for some reason they always ended at the theatre at this time and in this same movie. Ryan hoped that by tomorrow the theatre man would be done with this one and show another. Perhaps something with less gunshots and blood. The gunshots were starting to give him a headache and the blood.... Well the blood was another story completely.

Forget about it, it hasn't happened in weeks.

But that was a lie, it had happened the day before. And the day before that. And the day before the day before that. In short, it was taking a pattern, but not only that, it was happening in faster, closer successions. He even felt it was getting more intense too.

Damn that stupid kid.

The first time it happened in a long while was during Phys. Ed class. They were playing basketball, a kid fell and when he got up he said he was alright but what the kid didn't know was that he was bleeding. What made it worse was that Ryan didn't know either. Ryan scanned the boy then, looking over every inch of the boy's body, checking him for blood. Most people would say he was Hemophobic and they weren't wrong either. They were so right he sometimes believed that they also knew why he was like that. But no one else knew, not even his girlfriend, he was sure of it. The only other person that knew was somewhere in the Land Between right now. Standing in the line to Heaven.

Miss you Pop.

The kid had brushed against him during a tackle and that's when it happened. What the team and the coach saw next was the "Blood Chicken" doubling over himself and disappearing through the gym doors. Not to be seen again until the next morning.

Stop thinking about it, it might start happening again.

He was right, thinking about it might invoke the phenomenon again. He didn't want that to happen, not now, not here. Not with all these people around and especially not with his girlfriend right beside him, her tongue poking around in his mouth.

So many lives and so little blood to extinguish them all.

I said stop!

But it was too late, it was already starting. Instead of getting out as quickly as possible he still sat there, thinking he could finally control it this time. There's no blood anywhere after all, without the blood nothing could happen. But the blood always found a way to him, he knew that. Be it a jogger's finger pricked by a thorn and the blood then smeared on a leaf, only later he's to find himself touching that same leaf. Or it could be a student got a paper cut and he touches that same book. It could even be that butcher's chopping up some pigs and the blood splatter catches him. Whatever it is, however it happens it always ended with two sure results. One, Blood finds him and two, somewhere or some thing, even someone, disappears.