Free Blood On Borrowed Wings: A Dark Fantasy Thriller by Darren Stapleton

assailant across the bridge of his nose. He fell, loosening his grip. I think I heard the glass of one of his lenses crack too. Pan pitched forward, her head slumped, the life, pleading and screaming gone from her naked body and she hit the floor hard and unconscious. I hoped I had not broken her jaw. The man wheezing from his constricted windpipe made an attempt at a startled gasp. It stuck in his throat like a large truck wedged into a narrowing street.
    I grabbed the shirt of the man with the cracked lens and flat nose and pulled him back up towards me. He was unconscious too, his nose trying to spread its way across his face, mashed by the stubborn crown of Pan’s skull. I removed the club, the knife and the set of keys from his belt loop then carried Pan out of the cell and into the empty corridor beyond.
    I lay her down on the cold floor and went back into the room to secure it.
    I left with a crossbow, two more clubs, another knife.
    And a red dress.

Women are like nature. All weathers. All temperatures. All rock, blood and air. Unfathomable in their ways and reason.
    The Blackwing Interviews
    Colonel Hundt

CHAPTER 13
     
    ‘Tough night? You both look like shit.’ Vedett always spoke with confidence and an air of authority, so Croel and Mckeever believed him. ‘What happened to your eye?’
    ‘It’s been a tough job,’ Croel said. ‘First the three stooges needed to be dispatched, then Mr Do Right here, in the bag, shot, as specified with this.’ He kicked the harpoon gun with his foot. ‘Maybe you could have a word with the Governor about sorting the gun ban out?’
    ‘Mr Croel, guns and bombs nearly ended us. All of us. You will never see their likes again. It is the only thing everyone on Nimbus agrees on.’
    ‘I like my bow,’ Croel said, leering into Leonora. Leonora stepped backwards. Croel turned back to Vedett. ‘We’ve nubbed him, as requested and we’ve flown him here, personally, also as requested, so you can pay up and shut up.’
    Vedett pointed towards the table.
    Leonora stepped out of the way, the revulsion clear on her face.
    ‘Lay him out there.' Vedett grinned.
    Mckeever and Croel clumsily hefted the bag onto the table and began to unpack Newton.
    ‘Whilst you work maybe you should reconsider your tone. Think about the respect I should command in meetings such as this, at least because I hold the credits, your credits, for this very job or how I could wave as I watch you leave, then call in a few favours and watch you dissolve as you head past an Edgeland turret, and not blink an eye.’
    Mckeever looked at Croel.
    Croel sneered but said nothing.
    ‘Do you think you can complete phase two tomorrow? A simple pick up and drop off in the Deadland Swamp as agreed? Or does Daddy need to come and hold your hand for that one?’
    Croel’s eyes flashed at Vedett but Mckeever came between the two men, recognising Croel’s anger, he placed a big hand on his partner’s shoulder, looked in his eyes and gave a barely discernible shake of the head.
    Don’t it said.
    Croel fought to get his heavy breathing under control.
    ‘We know the plan,’ Croel hissed through his teeth.
      Vedett never stopped smiling. Not a flicker.
    Croel grunted then dumped Newton out onto the table.
    Vedett looked down at Newton. His wings had been nubbed cleanly.
    Good.
    But his face.

    Vedett’s smile faded. ‘And speaking of eyes…’

Moral uncertainty makes us strive to be better people, moral certainty is a fallacy and is usually behind every terrorist, religious or societal act to ram home dogmatic, jingoistic ranting culminating in the obliteration of the bell curve populace to leave behind a median of sightless, soulless sycophants who know they are right.
    Party to The Party Line
    M. Greaves

CHAPTER 14
     
    The Governor watched from her office window as the two Blackwings took to the air and left her home, circling up to be engulfed by the pre-dawn sky.
    Velena Rose’s residence teetered out over