Betrayal of Cernunnos - Book 3 (Children of the Pomme)

by Matthew Fish

  “I kinda have to agree with Em,” Maddie spoke from the back seat. She was still wearing one of those silly large beach hats. Her medium curly hair now passed beyond her shoulders and looked bleached out from the constant sun. Her skin was tanned, thanks to a heavy dose of sun-block; she reached this state with far more grace than Mark had. “I mean, we could have waited until spring. It is not like we are hurting for money, we a nice thing going with that cottage we found for rent…overlooking the Pacific. Yeah, I miss it already…I know you feel like we have to come back, but it’s not like the world was going to end if we didn’t.”

  Mark let out a short laugh. “Actually, with how things go regarding us, it might. Look…Emily, Maddie—I’m sorry. We’ve been gone for nearly four months. If this whole gut feeling that something bad is going to happen passes when we get back, we can all pile back into the car and head somewhere warm.”

  “I’m going to hold you completely to that, of course,” Emily said as she wrapped a bit of her long hair around a finger and let it drop in front of her face. “It will be nice to be out of the car though…these past five days have left me with a serious case of numb ass.”

  “Just give me a week,” Mark said as the car slid a little as he approached a country road. “Just, you know, wrap my head around what I’m feeling and…yeah—then we can go wherever we want. Go find a new place, maybe east?”

  “West is best,” Emily said as she shook her head. “Don’t you know that? After you went all fumbly romantic on me that first time and quoted that movie you liked so much?”

  “Did they say that in the movie?” Mark asked as he thought back. “I’ve forgotten.”

  “Just take me back to that cottage,” Maddie added. “Those warm breezes on summer nights with the sound of the ocean crashing in the distance. That smell of sea air.”

  “You know what was odd?” Emily asked and instantly continued without waiting for a reply. “Fish smells everywhere, you get kinda used to it though, I suppose. But I remember Lake Michigan always had the fish smells. Didn’t expect it at the ocean as well…”

  “Well, there are fish in the ocean too, Em,” Maddie said as she tugged at one of Emily’s cat ears on her hood.

  “Nooooo fuckin way….!” Emily exclaimed as she feigned shock and surprise. She turned in her seat and playfully began attempting to knock Maddie’s beach hat off of her head.

  “Guys…guys…seriously,” Mark said as he was getting elbowed repeatedly. “Driving here and all that— remember if I wreck, Maddie is still mortal for four more years.”

  “Three and a half to be exact,” Maddie said as she successfully pushed Emily back into her seat.

  “Counting down the days, are we?” Emily asked as she placed her hand upon Mark’s leg and squeezed it tightly.

  “No, just giving Mark a good timeframe for when it’ll be acceptable to wreck the car for the fun of it.” Maddie said with a short laugh.

  “Are we expecting company?” Emily asked as she spotted a black SUV parked just outside of Red Manor.

  “William knows we’re due back today,” Mark said as he pulled the black charger behind the SUV. “So…I suppose anyone he told.”

  Mark climbed out the car and arched his back and attempted to pop it. It was rather sore from the long drive. He placed a heavy orange coat on as he warmed his hands with his breath. He opened up the trunk and began unloading small suitcases.

  “Thank you sir,” Emily spoke with a wide smile as Mark handed her two suitcases. She skipped along as she made her way to the large metal door to Red Manor.

  “Are you really worried?” Maddie said as she grabbed her luggage. “I know you feel something and you would have us drive all the way back. Do you have any idea what is bothering you though?”

  “Honestly, I am,” Mark said as he pulled his suitcases from the car and closed the trunk. “I don’t…I can’t really put my finger on it, but it is just this strange feeling that Lily is out there searching for us. That something is bad; I don’t know how bad…but that we need to be here, for Red Manor, for Lily.”

  “Alright,” Maddie said as she let out a small smile.

  “Stop making out behind my back, you two!” Emily shouted from the door. “My nips are going to freeze off out here.”

  “Go inside!” Maddie shouted back.

  “I don’t want to go in alone!” Emily shouted as she stomped a foot down against the ground, kicking up a bit of snow.

  “We’re coming,” Mark said as he and Maddie walked to the door. “I don’t see what the big deal is; it’s probably just William and Cain, maybe Christopher and Jenna.”

  “Captain Dickwad, Old Smelly Bald Cross-dresser, Mr. Morals, and Drunk High Girl,” Emily muttered. “All my favorite weirdos…”

  “Without whose help we would have been royally screwed in that last battle at Lake Falls,” Maddie said as she tapped Emily on the nose. “Let’s head in.”

  “Mark,” Christopher said as he got up from the glass and wrought iron table. He was carrying a large metal case with a black clasps and a strap.

  “It’s Mr. Morals,” Emily whispered to Maddie who jabbed her in the shoulder.

  “Christopher,” Mark said, noting both the case and Christopher’s unusually serious demeanor. He was more used to the fidgety, excited Christopher. “Last time someone came to me with a large case it meant I was to go to battle, I hope that this is instead an early Christmas present. If it’s the first…throw it in the pond out front, if it’s the latter…then thank you.”

  “No, it’s…nothing like the first thing you said. We’re not going to battle with this. Or…god I hope not,” Christopher said as he rapped his fingers against the case. “It’s not really a present; I just need you to keep this safe.”

  “What is it then,” Emily asked. “A box full of dildos…?”

  Maddie let out a short laugh, although it was not that funny—she was still on a bit of a high from the long, lazy, and fulfilling vacation. “Sorry…this is probably serious stuff isn’t it?”

  Christopher placed the case upon the table and unlatched the long case. He revealed the rather ordinary looking axe as he collapsed back into the chair.

  “An axe…?” Emily said as she approached it. “Looks pretty boring, did you pick that up at Home Depot?”

  “Do not touch it,” Christopher spoke in a stern tone as he nodded to the three. “A little over a month ago Cain sent us on a mission based upon old blueprints he found in one of the old Perpetual Council’s locked desk.”

  “Snooping little usurper, isn’t he?” Emily added.

  “We found this place, it was crazy—like some kind of lab. There were all these people in giant glass cages…they had all gone completely crazy. Some of them were injuring themselves repeatedly for fourteen years…only to pass out and heal and start the whole cycle again. I saw things there I never wanted to see. There had to be around two hundred Perpetuals that I had to turn to ash that night.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mark spoke as he looked at the axe and studied it. It looked completely normal. It looked old, and worn, but just like anything you’d imagine someone would use to cut down a tree. “So what does the axe have to do with this place?”

  “There was a man there that could wield the axe,” Christopher spoke as he let out a heavy sigh. He looked as though he hadn’t been sleeping well, dark circles resided beneath his eyes and his hair was a bit messier than Mark had remembered. “He was the man that killed your mother fourteen years ago.”

  “So Cain did find him,” Mark said almost in a whisper. He felt slightly dizzy for a moment at the thought. So many questions filled his mind—he did not know his mother, he did not even remember her face.

  “The axe made him temporarily insane; he went on a small killing spree before he was captured by a member of the Perpetual Council. He was able to turn back to normal—though they kept him as a prisoner because he wouldn’t use the axe the way that this council member guy wanted him to. So he
started testing the axe on people…Perpetuals, Mortals, even a White Stag, and it drove them all insane. They never recovered. I ended up having to put them down—Jenna leveled the place.”

  “Can I see this man?” Mark asked, his tone a bit more conformed as he swallowed hard.

  “This is why I am troubled,” Christopher spoke as he closed the case and secured the latches on the long case. “Cain projected into the cell that the man was being held. They looked to be having a normal conversation—then Cain tore him apart and turned him to ash.”

  “Why would he do that?” Maddie asked as she folded her arms beneath her chest. “If the man posed no threat and was under control of the stupid axe that drives people insane…then, he shouldn’t have.”

  “He let his anger get the better of him,” Mark whispered. “Revenge…”

  “I told you that it was a bad idea to trust him after what he put us through the first time,” Emily said as she let out a frustrated growl. “You’re too goddamned forgiving…”

  “I’ll talk to him about it,” Mark said as he shook his head.

  “I already did,” Christopher said as he got up from the table. “I told him that if I saw a single thing I did not like, Jenna and I would leave the council. Though…I’m already on the fence about it—he’s brought on someone new named Henry, used to be part of the old council. He’s been giving Cain instruction on how the council used to work. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t know whether it’s just a ‘good to know’ thing or if there’s something more.”

  “Well,” Maddie said as she pulled her beach hat off of her head and squeezed it tightly. “I hate to play devil’s advocate here, but we did know that he was pursuing the Perpetual who killed Mark’s mother…and Cain’s former love. What did we honestly expect to happen when he did find the person responsible?”

  “I understand, at least that’s the same kind of reasoning I’ve been trying to play along with myself,” Christopher said as he looked to the case as though it unnerved him. “But…and this is a big, but, the man was not a threat. If circumstances were different, if the axe were even in his hands…no, I would even take if he had done it out of malicious intent. Instead, it was this axe. When I put my mind to it—it was this axe that killed those people. It was not his doing…”

  “How do you know that he did not intend to do it?” Mark asked as he mulled over the situation in his mind. He had always kinda realized that Cain would not pity the man who killed Amity, he just never fathomed that he would kill someone who did not act on his own accord.

  “Cain made a mistake,” Christopher said as he let out a heavy sigh. “There was an intercom, hell…that Henry guy even mentioned it. That man was homeless—had nothing. He had a dream about the axe and it appeared stuck into the side of a tree. When he picked it up it drove him insane and he killed people.”

  “He could have been lying though, yeah?” Emily added. “People who do terrible shit lie all the time; it’s like their go to thing.”

  “This was a man very defeated, so beaten down that I do not believe he was lying,” Christopher continued. “He confessed what he did—then went on to talk about how Cain needed him. He talked about a person in white, white blue glowing eyes and the scythe—that he had seen it, that the axe could kill it.”

  “The Ankou,” Maddie whispered as a strange sadness filled her heart. She shook away the off feeling, realizing that it was not real. At least, not in her current life, the sadness was just a ghost from a previous life that never really came to exist. A relationship that never happened, that could never happen. “He couldn’t have known, right?”

  “And yet, he did,” Christopher said as he placed his hand to his beard and rubbed fingertips through it. “Stuck in that prison for fourteen years, refusing to take the axe to hurt anyone else, being tortured for not doing so—and gifted with some kind of…sight, does this seem like a man that we should have killed without getting more information out of?”

  “It does not,” Mark said as he closed his eyes. He wondered if this was the trouble that he felt while he was away. “He should have been brought in, kept far away from the axe just in case…but questioned, we could have learned a lot. Now we’re stuck with a cursed axe.”

  “One that has driven mad about two hundred Perpetuals, an unknown amount of Mortals, and a White Stag…” Christopher added. “I have spoken to William about this matter, and he does agree that Cain acted completely out of line.”

  “We should destroy it,” Emily said as she bit her lower lip roughly and shook her head.

  “See these marks on the case?” Christopher asked as he gestured to some scorch markings upon the metal surface. “I placed this atop a fire, case open, and poured an entire tank of gasoline on it. The axe just seemed to be in some kind of bubble—kept the case from even being damaged. It’s like it knew it was being attacked. I told Cain I was taking it here…but in honesty, my first priority was to try and destroy it.”

  “I will put it in the basement, and Cain is no longer welcome at Red Manor,” Mark said as he balled his hands into fists. “That should keep it safe.”

  “Do not ever touch it,” Christopher said as he pulled out a few small DVD’s. I pocketed some of the recordings, they’ve tried all manner of gloves, hand armor…it all ends the same. Once a living thing places a hand upon the wood handle, no matter how protected, they go straight into a violent rage. The Mortals were particularly nasty to watch. They swing it around so much that they wear themselves out to death—heart attack it looks like, all in a matter of about five minutes.”

  “Got it then, don’t touch the evil axe that makes you go bat-shit crazy,” Emily said as she made a frustrated face and pulled her cat eared hood over her multi-colored hair. “Can we go back to the ocean now?”

  “How is it safe in the case?” Mark asked, growing rather concerned about handling the object, even if it was shielded somehow.

  “I believe it’s about intent,” Christopher said as he checked the latches for his own piece of mind. “This case has been handled countless times, it’s only when someone takes the axe into their hands, willing or not…that the axe seems to cause the reaction.”

  “Well, basement it is,” Mark spoke as he shook his head. “Anyone care to accompany me, just in case?”

  “Emily you have visitors,” Christopher said as he nodded to Mark. “They are in the training room, ball room, whatever it is you got set up in there.”

  “If Christopher is heading down…no reason to crowd the stairs,” Maddie said as she looked to Emily. “I’ll go and see our guests?”

  “Alright,” Mark said as he nodded. “I’ll be up shortly.”

  Mark and Christopher descended the staircase and quickly made their way through the damp hallway, which was freezing cold. Mark nervously carried the case as his mind raced about the dangerous contents within. As he reached the red door with the gold leaf Conductor symbol, he was surprised to find the door open.

  “Something is not right…” Mark whispered as he handed Christopher the case.

  “Someone was already here,” Christopher said as he looked confused. “It’s just…”

  Mark pulled a gun from his jacket and quickly burst into the room. An elderly woman screamed as she dropped a handful of coins onto the floor and stumbled to the ground.

  “Your grandmother…” Christopher said as he let out a short laugh, then looked down at the case and carried it gently into the room and placed it upon a high shelf.

  “Grandma…?” Mark spoke as the woman pulled herself off of the floor. “What are you doing here?”

  “Jesus of Christ on every salty cracker,” the old woman spoke as she placed her hand to her chest. “Mark, you’ve been one damned thorn in my ass these past months. First…my house is burned down, and then your father’s—then I have no idea where on this earth you even are. So I go and stay with a friend and file a missing persons report—turns out you were with the Perpetuals all along. Finally ca
ught up with that Captain Dickson and he filled me in and put me up here while you were gone…I’ve been refilling your stock. A proper Conductor should never let their stock of any year drop down below twenty coins.”

  “I’m sorry,” Mark said as he shook his head. “I kinda got caught up in this whole thing—and well, forgot to ever let you know that I was alright.”

  “Well I never thought to check with the Department of Perpetual Affairs because your father told me long time ago that you didn’t have an ounce of Conductor talent in your blood.”

  “So does that mean that you knew that dad was a Conductor?” Mark asked.

  “I’ll leave you be, Mark, Fran,” Christopher said as he excused himself from the awkward family conversation. “I’ll be upstairs.”

  “Good to see you again Mr. Littcott,” Grandma Fran spoke as she bowed to the man.

  “Of course I knew, I was a magnificent Conductor in my day,” Fran spoke as she indignantly placed her arms upon her wide stomach. She was a short old lady, in her mid 60’s; she had white curly hair and thick glasses that were held on by a gold chain. She carried a folding cane that was buried beneath an armpit and wore a long black floral dress with a knit shawl. “You didn’t think your dad got your Conductor blood from that pecker-neck that was your incompetent grandfather, did you? That man couldn’t even open a pickle jar, let alone launch a coin into an undesirable Perpetual. The stories that I could have told you—of course your father never allowed any of it…”

  “He never wanted me to be a Conductor,” Mark said as he nodded. “Every time I think I know why, I’m not really sure.”

  “Well it is not an easy life, of course,” Grandma Fran spoke as she retrieved the pile of quarters from the floor. “What’s in the case?”