LIGHT SEIZURE

Mandy was hit with a great deal of nostalgia once she stepped into the Continental Hotel after all these years. It was a very posh and upscale place that has quite the variety of people stepping in and out, so no one really paid any mind to her and John when they made their way up to the counter.

Mandy slung her single duffle bag over her shoulder when this thought crossed her mind. "Did you really make the reservation?" she asked.

John shook his head. "Yeah." He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "When did I ever forget to make the reservation?"

"January 15, 2002," she named right off the top of her head with no hesitation at all in her voice.

He frowned to recall the memories of long ago. "That was not my fault. You said you were going to make the reservation."

Mandy's eyebrows squinched together in utter confusion. "I didn't say that," she protested. "Not only have you've gotten a little rusty but so has your memory apparently." She huffed to herself and they walked up to the front desk.

The concierge looked up and smiled at them, very polite. "Hello, sir, ma'am. How may I help you today?"

"I called ahead," John said. "Reservation for John Wick." He smiled a bit when he saw Mandy roll her eyes after being proven wrong.

The concierge took about a minute to check his computer. "Ah, yes. I have you two for two nights."

"Depends really." Mandy shrugged since it was all still up in the air. "It may be more."

"That's not a problem, ma'am. We're only at sixty percent capacity," he assured them both. "Just let me know should you choose to extend your stay."

John slowly nodded his head and took a moment to look around. "Y'know, I haven't been here in years, Mandy even longer. When did the old place get a facelift?"

"About four years ago," he said.

Mandy bit the inside of her cheek. "Same owner?"

"Same owner."

There was a look of relief across Mandy's face along with a deep sigh escaping from her lips. "Which reminds me." she began, sliding a golden coin across the table. "Is she still singing?"

The concierge, very subtly, slid the gold coin under the table. He didn't even as much blink. "She is. Daily, in fact. Around midnight."

"That sounds good." Mandy gave John a quick nudge.

The concierge handed John the key. "Floor seven, room nine. Will there be anything else then, sir?"

John picked up his things to leave and quickly tossed the room key to Mandy when she walked past him. "No. It's fine," he said and followed after his partner.

They ascended down to the lower levels of the Continental Hotel where it was mostly filled with staff members, but one door, in particular, was strange and had a small slit in the side that was just big enough for a golden coin to slip through.

John stopped in front of the door and gave a glance to Mandy beside him. "Are you sure you want to go too? If you're uncomfortable then you can go back up to the room and wait." Mandy bit down on her lips and avoided eye contact with him for a moment. "Mandy-" he began but was cut off suddenly.

"I'm fine!" she said a bit to harshly then she would have liked. "No, I'm just fine, really. We're lucky though that Winston's still the owner. He's a bit more forgiving than anyone else." she said, still avoiding eye contact with him.

He gave her a sympathetic and worried look. "I just want to be sure."

Mandy nodded her head. "Thanks, John. But... I'm gonna be fine. After all, I've got you with me so what's gonna happen?" She lifted her head and cracked a confident smirk.

John laughed a bit. "If you say so." He patted her on the shoulder before shoving the coin into the slot.

The slide on the entrance opened up and someone looked through. It slammed shut and the door slowly creaked open. The inside was like an old-style bar with live music and people drinking and smoking. The air was so hazy with cigarette smoke that it was hard to see at first once you stepped in. Mandy did everything in her power to not go straight to the bar and drink her worries away and stayed behind John the whole time. They walked over to a corner table to where the owner was sat at. If Mandy didn't know better, she would believe that he hasn't moved at all since the last time she saw him 10 years ago. He certainly hasn't changed much either, aside from aging a bit.

"Hello, Winston." John greeted his old-time friend.

Winston looked up, his reading glasses hung low on his thin nose. He smiled when he saw them. "Johnathan. Mandy," he said with a voice smoothed over with age. "I'm certainly glad to see you're still alive, Ms. Rose."

Mandy smiled weakly. "Got lucky I guess." She and John took a seat across from him.

"You always were." He then noticed the obvious bruising on John's face. "Now, as I recall, weren't you the one tasked to dole out the beatings, not receive them?" he joked.

"Mandy says I'm just rusty."

"She looks to be right about that." Winston folded his arms across his chest. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Losef Tarasov." John began.

"What about him?"

"I'd like to talk with him?"

Winston eyed them both and sipped on his drink. "A talk, you say. I'm familiar with the parlance, Jonathan. I want to ask you this. Have you and Mandy returned to the fold?" He stared at them with intense eyes.

John saw Mandy stiffen beside him at the heavy question, it being a sensitive topic for her. "Just visiting," he said.

"Have you thought this through? I mean, chewed down to the bone? You got out once, both of you. You dip so much as a pinky back into this pond, you may well find something reaches out and drags you back into it's depths." he said ominously. "If you'ore willing to break the rules of Continental, double the bounty. You know the rules. No business can be conducted on these premises lest incurring heavy penalties." He slipped his glasses back on his face. "Have a drink and relax. For now."

Mandy curled her finger up into a first and sighed heavily. "John, why don't you go get yourself a drink," she said, an obvious ploy for him to give Winston and her time alone.

John hesitated for a bit but complied. "Sure." He got up and walked over to the bar, leaving Mandy alone to talk.

Winston didn't even look up from the papers he was writing. "I heard what happened 10 years ago. You have my condolences," he said. "Which is why I'm surprised you're doing this."

"John would've done the same for me. But this isn't about what happened back then. With Losef Tarasov...it's personal." Her voice was grim and Winston saw something begin to storm in her amber eyes.

"Everything's personal with you. Look, I don't agree with how you left but I'm willing to look past it and let it go. This is my one final warning with you, Mandy. If Johnathan falls back into the depths of this...life, then surely so will you."

A weak sigh escaped her lips. "What more can I lose?" Mandy never broke eye contact with him. She spoke with an exhausted voice like she hasn't slept a day for the past 10 years she's been gone. There were obvious bags around her eyes and her fingers were twitching too.

Winston felt like he was staring at the shell of Mandy's former self. He can tell now that her sarcasm was a facade of some kind, a very weak mask that was holding something together. He was beginning to think that this wasn't only personal for John...it might be for her too. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said and slipped her a piece of paper.

Mandy smiled and dropped her head. "Thank you, Winston."

He saluted his drink to her and watched as she and John left.

Darkness swept over the town and the Red Circle was bubbling with partygoers. John and Mandy stood at the opposite side of the street and watched a black car pulled up to the building but didn't take the front entrance, but a secret side one that had one bouncer stationed.

"That's it?" John asked.

Mandy nodded her head and looked down at the paper Winston gave her. "It's what Winston wrote down, so yeah." She folded it up and stuffed it into her inside pocket.

John made a gesture with his head and she nodded. They moved separately across the street and slowly surrounded the building.

Victor came out of the bathhouse, now dressed in a stark white robe that glowed with the fluorescent lights that gave the club a futuristic charm. He fumbled through his bag of toiletries while humming to himself, the sound of the door opening and closing catching his attention but saw no one when he looked up. Back to the matter at hand. Success! He found his floss and started to wiggle it between his teeth. He flashed the mirror a smile and began to wash his mouth out with tap water, unaware of the silent murder happening behind him.

Mandy quietly snuck up behind one of the unaware guard's and swiftly locked her arms around his neck in a headlock. She clapped her hand over his mouth so he wouldn't cry for help while John came up and drove a knife right into his neck to kill and silence him for good. They broke apart quickly and disappeared into the blackness once more when Victor lifted his head, turning around just in time to see the guard's body slowly crumble to the ground, smearing blood all over the lockers behind him. Alarmed by what had just happened, he turned around to flee but was only received with a hard punch to the nose by John. The force and confusion of it all knocked him to the ground.

Mandy, calm as ever with a slight smirk on her face, walked up behind Victor and kneeled down beside him. "Where's Losef?" she said in a monotone voice that was casual and steady.

Victor spat out the blood that dripped from his nose into his mouth. "Fuck you, fucking bitch!" He made a swing at her but she moved her head to the side and locked his arm up, slamming his head down into the counter. Victor wailed in pain as blood began to pour from the gash in his forehead.

John took Victor's towel and wrapped it tightly around his neck to choke him into submission. "Where's Losef?" he demanded.

He finally gave him and choked out his answer with blood pouring from his nose and forehead. "Bathhouse...downstairs!"

John's own hands were beginning to turn white and started to shake with how much force he was using to choke Victor. "You stole my car." He slammed the man's head against the sink. "And you killed my dog." He pushed Victor's head under the sink that was filled with water and held him there to drown.

"Fuck you," Victor uttered his last words before his neck made a loud crunching sound and he ceased to move.

Mandy stepped over his body and reached for Victor's phone that was laying on the counter. She looked up at John and made a gesturing motion with her head towards the door leading into the bathhouse. She braced herself for a night full of fluorescent and flashing light with low and alluring music that made you want to sink into its ecstasy.

The bathhouse smelled of soap mixed with fine wine. The dim glow of cold blue and flashing red provided great cover for Mandy and John to walk around in but, of course, guards lined ever corner there was. John made a movement with his hand that signaled for Mandy to go right while he stayed left.

"Have they showed up yet?" The head of security looked at the CCTV screens that lined the inside of the Red Circle.

"No, nothing."

They stood still and waited in silence with anxiety starting to bubble up in their chests. They knew that it was only a matter of time before Baga Yaga and Rose Red showed up to put Losef down like a dog without the slightest bit of hesitation or remorse for the poor and clueless kid.

A body flung up against the glass-paned wall and spread blood all over when the body crumbled to the floor. Rose Red calmly strolled around the glass corner with a dripping knife in her hand and a steely and mischievous look in her amber eyes. They glowed in the cold blue lights and gave her this dreadful appearance of a demon that came out for a little fun tonight. All was good so far and it seemed like they haven't suspected her and John's infiltration yet. They didn't have cameras all over the place but filled their blind spots with men to keep an eye on Losef.

Mandy crept over to the two-way towel rack and peered through the holes to see if she could see Losef. Surprisingly, she could easily pick him out in the pool crowd and was sure it was him. He was laying in the bath surrounded by women and with wine up to his chest, almost totally sloshed by this point. "Kid really doesn't have any sense of security..." Mandy mumbled. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see a guard walk around the corner and honed his eyes on her. "You guys do though."

The man tried to make a pull for his sidearm but Mandy was faster than him. She pulled her knife up and chucked it across the room and pierced his hand that stopped him still. He screeched loud enough though and informed everyone of the trouble, including John. The guy dove down low and tackled Mandy right through the towel rack and into the open where everyone could see them.

The guards looking at the CCTV cams caught Mandy on film while she wrestled with the security and locked him in place with an armbar.

"They're here!" He cocked his gun and prepared to go out to the bathhouse to get Losef out of there.

"Mandy?" John called and ran out of the hall and saw Mandy wrapped up in the security guard, wrestling to keep each other on the ground and was gradually being surrounded by other personnel. John pulled his pistol out and squeezed the trigger, illuminating the room in multiple white flashes, unloading a few rounds into the guards. He pointed the barrel at the one Mandy had and shot him down to free his partner.

Losef snapped out of his woozy and intoxicated state when the bright flashes of light discombobulated him for a second. He grabbed his towel and the gun laying underneath it and looked up, finally meeting John's gaze. Baba Yaga's eyes turned cold when they locked on to the kid who stood still with paralyzing fear coursing through his veins. All of a sudden the warm water felt like an ice bath to him because the shaking just would not stop.

The kid stiffened when Mandy got up and snapped her golden eyes towards him. She made a step towards him when this behemoth of a man rose up from the pool like Godzilla from the ocean and tried to grab at her. John ran up behind his partner and wrestled with his arms long enough for Mandy to slam her heel down on the man's foot so he'd step back. She pulled out her gun and loaded one round in his gut and another in his head. His large body flopped back into the water.

Turning back towards the kid, John saw Losef try and make a break for the exit and fired at him. The Bullets struck the glass panes and missed him about an inch before he ran for cover behind a sturdy stone wall. The shooting became more frequent and the loud ringing in their ears made every shot sound hollow in the tight quarters. John and Mandy were forced to drop for cover on opposite sides of the bathhouse and were caught between a shootout with Losef escaping to the main club room.

Mandy jumped when a bullet punctured the wall right beside her and chiseled the stone away on impact. "Holy shit!" She lifted her head and saw Losef run up the stairs. "He's making a run upstairs!" she roared to John over the intense gunfire.

"Mandy?" John called out since he couldn't see her from where he was hiding. "Get up there!"

Mandy got up behind her cover and shot a guard nearest to the exit, giving herself the chance to run up the stairs while John took care of the men still in the bathhouse.

Losef ran out of the bathhouse and into the crowded dancefloor that was made up of flashing neon lights and intense claustrophobia. All the faces looked the same to him and the music was upsetting his stomach. He shoved everyone aside and continuously looked over his shoulder in search of Rose Red while flashing his gun sideways at every person that startled him.

Mandy ran out into the main club room and easily noticed the petrified boy fumbling his way through the crowded mess of oblivious people. She scoffed and began to calmly walk down the stairs and through the mess with her pistol leaning against her shoulder and a sly grin on her face.

Losef could just feel the dread of death building up behind him. He suddenly shoved his men into the crowd after the lady who was almost upon him, reaching her arm out like a grim reaper ready to collect. Mandy stopped in the middle of the crowd. She backed up to submerge herself with the people and seemingly disappeared before everyone's eyes. The security prowled through the crowd and scanned every face before abruptly walking right into John Wick and the barrel of his pistol that unloaded heavy led into the men. He raised his weapon, ready to shoot down the other guys when unknown gunshots came out from the crowd and dropped them all in a split second. John looked to his left side as people ran passed him, seeing Mandy reappear beside him in seconds.

John gave Mandy a gesture with his head to see if she was alright. After a tip of her head, she made a motion with her hand and pointed to Losef baling up the stairs like his ass was on fire. They hurried their pace and rushed up after him

Losef ran past everyone in a mad dash for safety. "Move! Move! They're here!" He ran into the head of security. His face was as white as a sheet and it looked like he had just seen a ghost. "They're fucking here! They're coming!" He sputtered out his words and ran out to leave the security to deal with Wick and Rose.

John and Mandy burst into the next room with their guns raised, firing with bright white lights flashing from the barrels. Their backs pressed up against each other, shooting at the endless security agents that blocked their way and held them up for Losef to escape. Bodies fell, blood splattered on the walls and smoking bullet casings dispersed across the floor every time the slide on their gun pulled back.

Mandy heard the 'clicking' noise of an empty magazine behind her and without looking, she tossed John one of her spare mags and moved ahead while he quickly reloaded. Through the next slot of doors, she grabbed the first guard in front of her and used the momentum to swing her legs up and kick the guy behind him. She locked her arm around the guy's neck and quickly pressed the barrel to his head and put a single round through his temple. He collapsed pretty quickly after that. Mandy rose up from the ground, pointing her pistol and 'click', went her gun. An empty magazine. She frowned and releases the smoking mag to the floor and began to reload. Stepping off to the side, John hurried through the door behind her and fires at the men in front while she was occupied.

The next room was the lounge area right above the dance floor. Mandy's eyes honed on Losef in seconds and saw him making a break for the exit. He was almost out of the club. She hurried ahead after the kid when she suddenly felt a hard push on her chest and was sent sliding back against the floor. She gasped from the impact and looks up, seeing the head of security walking over to her, cocking his weapon. Her eyes went wide and he fired three rounds into her bulletproof vest. She felt pain quivering all over her body and quickly hurried behind a pillar out of sight. Mandy felt the severe bruising all over her body she got from the nasty slugs but after a quick check, she learned that they didn't pierce through the material, though it still hurt like a son of a bitch.

Mandy looked up in a desperate attempt for help but saw John still tangled up with a group of security personnel, and she was out of magazines as well so her chances weren't looking great right now. She waited in silence for the guard to get close enough before she jumped out and locked her arm around him. The guy was considerably stronger than her and she was at a disadvantage because of the distracting pain. Mandy tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand but it unfortunately slipped and fell down to the lower level of the club. He grabbed a bottle from off the table and smashed it against her head. She closed her eyes tightly to stop the fragments from falling into her eyes when the side of her body suddenly felt like it was set on fire when glass fragments being driven right through her soft skin. Mandy pushed him away forcefully and looked down to see her whole left side being drenched in blood. Taking the chance in Rose Red's dismay, the security agent hiked his leg up and kicked her square in the chest. Mandy felt her body tipping over the rail, falling straight down to the lower level. Her body slammed hard against the ground as all the adrenaline faded away and was replaced with electrocuting pain.

John stopped what he was doing when he heard the loud crunching noise of Mandy's body falling from the upper level. His eyes immediately fell on her. "Mandy?" he called out but she didn't respond and was only moaning on the floor, gasping for the air that was knocked out of her system. He looked back to Losef and saw the kid finally make it outside. He fought the urge to carry out with his plan and finally get the revenge he was so longing for, but it felt like something was pulling on his body that kept him in place. He snapped his head back to Mandy and then towards the door, only taking a single second to make up his mind and rushing downstairs to check on his partner.

"Goddamn..." Mandy rolled onto her back and clutched the open wound at her side, feeling all the hot blood leave her system and turning her body cold. She whimpered and turned her head to the side just as John got to her.

"Hey! Hey, hey," he said and began to inspect her injury. All he saw was red spilling out from the deep wound. It was worse than he thought. "I gotta get you out of here," he muttered and quickly looked around to make sure no one else was left. He picked Mandy up and wrapped her arm around his shoulder and started to carry her out of the Red Circle.

Back in the safety of his car, Losef dialed on his phone and held it up to his ear. "Victor, where the fuck are you?"

"You little fuck," Mandy growling voice chilled him to the bone when it answered. "You have a hell of a lot of luck but that ran dry tonight. We'll be seeing you."

Once Rose Red hung up, a cold and intense pit formed in his stomach that forced him to throw up.

Author's Note:

This is actually the second time uploading this chapter. The other day, I had my mind dead set on updating it no matter what. I had work that night (Night shift) so my time was limited with editing it. I decided 'screw it' and posted it anyways before bringing my head to my pillow and falling asleep, promising myself to finish editing it the next day. I didn't have much left, just trying to polish up the fight scene and that was it.

And thank you so much for your reviews! They never fail to bring a smile to my face. I'm so glad you're enjoying Mandy's story so far and I hope you stick around to see how it ends!