Chapter : 4 “The bloody war”

 “Help me!”

    Nevena muttered in a hush tone clinging onto Blade's arm desperately.

      With a frown , Blade looked at the foreign woman who was on top of him.

    He was about to push her away when he heard footsteps of men chasing after her ,

  "Are you a call girl ?" he asked her in a whisper 

   "No sir" , she objected with closed eyes. “I just arrived from Bulgaria yesterday and they suddenly abducted me today.” 

     Vincenzo henchmen jumped out of the darkness and approached the two in an attempt to whisk away with Nevena,

    Blade now on his feet caught the one who seems to be their leader by the wrist in one swift motion,

   “She is a tourist, don't give our city a bad name”, he said in a deep baritone voice, “Moreso she is under my protection, so stay away”.

   “Bruno ‘gangster tough guy’ butt off, how can she be under your protection when she just arrived in town yesterday” one of the men protested.

    “Vincenzo already marked her, and we are here to take her”, the gang leader added smugly, signaling the others to take her away.

    "That moth***ker Vincenzo, how dare he infiltrate my territory to pimp chicks" Blade growled ferociously,

        He grabbed the wrist of the gang leader and twisted it , breaking his phalanges.

  Grinch who just parked the car saw what was happening, immediately stepped in too 

    Vincenzo's henchmen made a move but they were definitely no match for Blade and Grinch.

  In just a minute, Nevena’s ears were filled with woeful groans, she glanced at her abductors who lay by her feet begging for forgiveness.

      With eyes downcast Blade crouched and grabbed the gang leader by his shirt, he strayed his fierce eyes and uttered insouciantly,

  “If you make it home alive , tell Vincenzo that Blade Knuckles' is coming for him”, Anthony's voice was rough, additionally his face darkened while his eyes gleam with rage , 

     Blade fisted his wrist sending a punch across the gang leader's face, the repeated blow on his face created a wound , causing blood to gush out,

    His actions were very crude and he had a murderous glare in his eyes, 

  Nevena shrieked at the sight of blood, hiding her face in horror,

   “Go sit in the car”, Blade ordered in a husky voice 

   Nevena got into the car and sat down obediently.

     Blade finally let go of him, his hand covered in blood , while the gang leader's face was distorted.

    The gang leader made to run but he stumble over , he gathered enough strength but he came crashing again and this time to rise no more, his breath constricts and his eyes shut to a world of perpetual darkness , 

     Nevena heard a loud thud, but she dared not look outside, she huddled in the car and clamped her ears with her two hands.

    The car suddenly opened, Blade and Grinch sat down, and Grinch glided the car out of the driveway. 

    An oppressive silence descended into the car, Anthony didn't say a word on the way and Nevena didn't dare to speak either.  

     “My house and Bulgaria are the only safe place for you , they will definitely be back for you”, Blade said in a hoarse tone after a seemingly endless silence,

     

   Nevena who was fidgeting with her cloth nodded in affirmation, "Thanks you for saving me ," she acknowledged. 

    Blade threw a glance at her face closely, she was slightly shaken , she was indeed a nervous wreck, he locked his gaze on her crescent eyes and immediately got enchanted in them,

     Grinch observed what was happening and cleared his throat. 

   Blade jolted back from his reverie, he shook his head with the intention of dispelling the emotions stirring in his heart. 

    His eyes strayed to Nevena's wrist, there were red bruises on them.

    “Pull over I need to go somewhere”, Blade ordered Grinch,

    “And take care of that”, Blade whispered into Grinch's ear referring to Nevena's bruised wrist.

   “Where are you heading to ?”, Grinch asked with a tinge of worry,

    “I want to pay Vincenzo a visit ,I won't be needing backup, so go home”, 

    Blade has two policies: whenever he is to go on dangerous and dreaded missions, he never takes anyone with him that includes Grinch.

 The next one is that he never involves women & children in a fight.

   Getting at Vincenzo’s territory , Blade scaled the fence and landed in Vincenzo's house , the only weapon he came with was his trench knife.

   He took down the henchmen on guard one after the other 

      The atmosphere at Vincenzo's house became extremely tensed , every goon knows Blade Knuckle's entry and it is displaying now at Vincenzo's house, 

    Blade opened the door to the main courtyard and there was Vincenzo getting an erotic massage from his maidens,

   Blade walked in exuding an oppressive aura , one hand holding his suit and the other hand was in his pocket , 

    He threw caution to the wind, maintaining a steady gaze at Vincenzo while approaching his corner.

   “How dare you infiltrate our territory, you really must have a death wish”, one of Vincenzo's henchmen threatened pushing Blade on his chest,

   A wave of fury erupted within Blade, he tried to act calm but his hand whenever on his knuckled knife has a mind of its own 

   " Slash" A slashing sound echoed through the courtyard, the henchman's head fell to the ground with a thud and rolled about slowly ,

    The women immediately bolted away from the Courtyard

    There was a momentarily silence , no one reacted they were all in daze, 

     Vincenzo have heard tales about Blade Knuckle, but he wasn't expecting him to be so brave to the extent of beheading his man in his presence, 

    While Vincenzo was still immerse in shock, Blade stared in a deft manner into his startled eyes , 

     “Are you seriously courting death, Scumbag! ?” Vincenzo roared aggressively and sprang on his feet,

   An indescribable rage erupted within Blade, he clenched his Knuckles so hard that the sharp blade pushed inside his flesh,

    He dribbled the head on the floor and kicked it at Vincenzo's face , Vincenzo lost his balance and staggered backwards to a chair, 

 “Blade Knuckle is the name” Anthony roared and sat down in a graceless swoop facing bewildered Vincenzo,

    “I'm here for you Vincenzo, you infiltrated my stash house , I kept quiet thinking maybe you didn't do background checks, but for you to pimp ladies in my territory, am fed up,” Blade spoke in a composed manner 

    

      A heavy silence hung over the courtyard, the stifling heat of the room made every breath heavy with tension, 

    Vincenzo signaled his men and they immediately cornered Blade, restraining him to the chair, amidst the struggle Blade managed to aim the trench knife at Vincenzo ,

    A trench knife flew from the struggle and was precisely plunged right into Vincenzo's arm making him grunt in pain , he removed it and threw it at the floor before scrambling for the window, 

      It felt like a surge of strength ran through Blade , he fell backwards with his chair making everyone tilting towards him , he managed to whisk out of their grip.

   He ran towards the window , gripping Vincenzo who was about to jump, he pulled Vincenzo back towards the room but Vincenzo had his hand clenched on the window frames, they both engaged in a fierce struggle,

     The henchmen seeing them , immediately aimed their weapon hitting Blade at every corner, and tearing his skin, but Blade was hellbent on taking Vincenzo,

    Gunshots erupted out of nowhere and lodged into Blade's back , everyone paused to see the victim of the gunshot , yet another bullet left the gun again this time it was Blade's arm.

  He involuntarily released his grip on Vincenzo , clamping his hand on the wound on his arm, Vincenzo took the initiative and escaped. 

    The henchman made to shoot again but he was out of bullet , Blade immediately threw a flower vase at him knocking him out, 

    Blade Knuckle turned to face the henchmen , they could swear they saw demons dancing in his bloody eyes, they trembled and withdrew a little backwards, 

   He picked up a bottle of wine and threw it at the control switch, making the lights in the Courtyard flicker nonstop, the sensor lights flickered casting an eerie glow over the Courtyard , 

     Blade Knuckle vented his anger by slashing life out of the henchmen , only two to three were able to escape not without a serious injury,

     Blade himself felt life draining from him his skin was turning pale due to loss of blood , he staggered out of the room dizzily stumbling into things, 

     A trail of bloody footprints vanished into the darkness outside , Blade continued walking until he arrived at a hill with a village at its foot , he fell down helplessly, his lips were already dried and white , his hands were turning limp.

    He passed out right there far away from the crime scene,

      Liza Minnelli was a native of the village down the hill, she was returning from the forest where she had gone to procure herbs for medicine when she stumbled upon the lifeless Blade.

    She shrieked in fear seeing that his white shirt was drenched in blood,

    “Villagers!, someone is hurt here”, she screamed beckoning on others to help her, 

    Blade was taken down to the village. Liza Minnelli removed Blade's shredded shirt seeing his body and the bullets in them, she tilted her head in disapproval, 

   She cleaned his body with a wet cloth , she used a hot coal on the bullet to ease the removal, next she removed them and administered medicine on the holes left by the bullet , she placed a four leaf clover under his pillow for goodluck , 

    Neighbors and bystanders peeked through the curtain as they offered hushed suggestions with their face etched with concern,

Liza Minnelli's teenage daughter watched from a distance unknowing yet understanding