by Matthew Fish
“There is a grace to aging, you might understand that one day.”
“Hate to interrupt,” Mark said as he gestured a thumb to the display of bodies. “The smell is getting a little…overwhelming, so…we’re welcome to talk about whatever outside later, but let’s get to why you called us here.”
“Of course,” Cain said as he nodded. “There are one hundred and seventy-three Perpetuals here. Appeared to be some kind of meeting…”
“If this were a mortal case,” William said as he bent down and pressed a finger against the blood stain on the carpet and rubbed it into coarse coffee-like grains. “I’d say these bodies were about three days old. Judging by the elaborate podium at the far and the tables filled with food and wine—looks like they were meeting someone of some significance to them. Anything register on the council about this?”
“We are very few in numbers,” Cain said as he let out a short sigh. “It seems that people who are not corrupt and wishing to serve their common folk are not in great supply these days—with the exception of a few. It was a woman named Gwyneth who asked me to check up on her missing son that led me here, you would have met her had you made the last meeting.”
“I can’t exactly be the Captain of Perpetual Affairs and on the Council effectively at the same time—I’m still trying to track down that Lola girl. Heard she’s been causing a bit of trouble in her father’s name. There’s also that other matter you asked me to look into…” William spoke.
“Hoped that bitch had run off…” Emily said quietly as she took a step out of the room and entered back into the hallway. The violence did not faze her that much, however the smell was rather overpowering.
“Any new information regarding the other matter…?” Cain asked.
“I have an extreme lack of resources among Perpetuals, and the mortal police departments have not made any mention of anything that sounds like this other Perpetual who can kill other Perpetuals.”
“In time our influence will grow, we will just have to manage things as they happen…” Cain said with a slightly defeated look upon his face.
“Anyway, did this…Gwyneth have any other information?” William continued.
“Just that her son was missing, and that she knew he was attending some kind of meeting here. She did not know of the specifics. Whoever left this mess made sure to not leave any witnesses; at least none have come forward.”
“Could be scared,” Mark added from the distance as he stood beside Emily and crossed his arms across his chest. The air was a bit less foul in the hallway. “I mean…there aren’t many ways to kill a Perpetual, but…yeah, it appears that someone figured out a new way.”
“Indeed,” Cain said as he bent down and inspected at a corpse. “It is not a pleasant experience to be cut in twain, but one that we should definitely recover from. Also, all of the hearts are missing from the bodies.”
“Could that be it then?” Emily asked.
“Our bodies can regenerate hearts just like any organ…,” Cain answered as he shook his head. This is something entirely new. Nothing to do with Conducting, nothing to do with my ability either…there is not a bit of ash in this room.”
“So will they wake up then?” Emily asked as she peeked into the room and shook her head. “I mean…it doesn’t look like they will. Three days is a long time to stay dead.”
“There’s nothing I’ve ever seen that would lead me to believe they would wake up,” William said as he shook his head and looked to Cain. “You ever heard of anything like this—you’ve been alive for longer than most.”
“I feel as though these are nothing more than…empty vessels, barely clinging on to this world,” Cain said as he looked around the room and narrowed his dark eyes. “These people will not awaken, there state of rot and decay only points towards the otherwise.”
“Well,” William said as he shrugged, “Keep us informed on if your new council finds anything out about this and I’ll do some poking about on my own. Between the two of us hopefully we can find some kind of witness, or a lead on another event like this…which, I do hope there is not another planned.”
“Alright,” Cain said as he stepped out into the hallway and placed a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Thank you for coming, I know that you probably did not expect to do any Conducting today, however…let us release these people from their current state.”
“Of course,” Mark said with a single nod as he placed his hand upon his Standard. William led him back into the room. For a moment the two stood side by side and surveyed the massive loss of life—it was going to be a long afternoon.
“Keep your shoulder up more,” Maddie said as she stood beside Lily and placed a hand against her back. “Straighten up a bit…you want your palm to come even with your nose—right about there on the cheek.”
“Yes,” Lily spoke softly as she gripped the recurve bow in her hand and pulled back until the nocked arrow reached beside her right cheek.
“Release,” Maddie said as she watched the arrow go towards a set of large foam stacks set up in the ballroom of the Red Manor. A target, similar to the Conducting targets, was placed about eight feet away. The arrow struck the bottom corner of the paper, resounding with a soft dull thud.
“That’s not bad,” Maddie said as she patted Lily on the back. They had been training for the past five days. First, Maddie started training Lily on how to properly stand with her feet even and balanced, then, how to hold the bow correctly and to nock the arrow between her pointer and middle finger. Maddie had found a bow of similar weight with a thirty-five pound draw to Lily’s intricate White Stag bow—which she had figured would was far too important of an item to be practicing on. Even with the supply of fifty arrows, she decided to instead go with wooden arrows with simple target points and feathered fletching. She knew that she was training Lily to face something dangerous and did not want to risk breaking a single one of the white tipped wooden arrows that she had in her case. It had been a long process so far, as Lily knew practically nothing about shooting, however she greatly improving day by day. “Work more on your posture, you’re sticking your chest too far out—remember your left arm should act almost like a sight to where you want your arrow to fly.”
A knock softly came upon the door as Bradley entered the room with a silver platter. Upon the platter sat two glasses of lemonade and two small paper plates with burn grilled cheese atop them. “I thought you guys could use a break…You’ve been at it all day.”
“Is that the drink made from the sour fruit?” Lily asked as she rested the bow beneath her chin.
“Yes…” Bradley said shortly. “It’s…lemonade.”
“Just set it over there on the table,” Maddie said as she nodded and placed her hands against her hips. “We’re fine in here…just go back to whatever it was you were doing.”
“Alright,” Bradley said as he placed the platter down on a small nearby table. “You know, Maddie, we should talk sometime. I’d like to get what happened behind us.”
“It still hurts at times, it’s stiff, and makes me less effective as a Conductor,” Maddie said as she rubbed her shoulder. “Lemonade and grilled cheeses aren’t going to fix that any time soon.”
“I understand,” Bradley said with a rather dejected tone. He let out a short sigh and nodded as he left the room without another word.
“You dislike him,” Lily said as she folded her red skirt between her legs and hopped up on a chair. She had learned to dress in a manner more befitting of those around her. She was wearing a white button up sleeveless shirt that she borrowed from Maddie and black leather armguard. She had a crimson red skirt that she had dug out of the dresser in her room, and a black leather quiver slung upon her back. She pulled her long dark hair away from her face as she reached for a sandwich on the plate. “Why did you bring him back with you?”
“I thought of leaving him…that day,” Maddie said as she thought back to the moment that she loaded all those bodies into the back of t
he black Charger. That day she was sure that Mark had died—how heartbroken she was at the loss. “I just remembered that Mark would have wanted me to take him. He would have said something about it being the right thing to do, even if I didn’t like it. I do dislike him. I don’t hate him though, I’ll get over it.”
“His betrayal was rather surprising,” Lily said as she paused to take a big bite of the sandwich, which was a little bit crispier than it should have been—however, she seemed to care very little. “I do not know if I could find it within myself to forgive him.”
“Well,” Maddie said as she attempted to peel off a little bit of the burnt layer of her bread. “I’m angry a little less and less each day, so eventually that anger won’t be there. It just takes time.”
“I dislike Emily,” Lily stated matter-of-factly before taking another bite of her sandwich. “She is rude, and she is always calling me names that I do not quite understand.”
“Emily’s a good person,” Maddie said as she shrugged. “You get used to her—she comes off as upsetting at first, but then you realize she’s pretty nice, it’s just a bit beneath the surface, that’s all.”
“You would be with Mark though, if it were not for her,” Lily added.
“Wow,” Maddie said with a short laugh. “Just how much did Mark tell you?”
“I believe everything,” Lily said with a smile. “Perhaps too much, but I did greatly appreciate the honesty. I needed it, after I had found out that Caesar had appointed my new protector—I was a little worried about the person he had chosen.”
“How did you hear about Caesar going through The Passing?”
“A Chimney Swift had told me,” Lily replied as she wiped away a few stray crumbs from her lips. “Some of them can pass through time, did you know that?”
“I did not,” Maddie said as she placed her arms against the table and rested her head. “You’ve never exactly told us what we are protecting you from.”
“I am not being secretive,” Lily said as she averted her grey eyes from Maddie. “I will speak to everyone about what hunts me, tonight…when we all are together. In the past few days everyone has been coming and going, busy with new titles and new arrangements…blind to what may soon come. I have made arrangements with Mark that everyone who must be here, will be here tonight.”
“So if you can…walk through time,” Maddie began as she attempted to think out what her mind was attempting to ask. “Do you know what is going to happen?”
“It does not work that way, walking through time is a way to always keep in the forest or fields of tall grass,” Lily said as she looked down and began to rub her fingers against the red fabric of her skirt. “I take on the form of the white doe when I wander—that is how I spend most of my life. I only take this form when dealing with Mortals or Perpetuals.”
“Why don’t you stay this way and live a normal life….something like we do?”
“It’s not our way,” Lily said as she shook her head. “Our lives must seem very isolated and strange to your kind, but there is a great peace when you wander. There is a beauty in being in the forest, so much beauty that it fills you with a happiness that you cannot imagine. It is a very simple life, and at times a dangerous one, but it is an immensely wonderful one. We always walk on the side of nature, and forsake all other ways.”
“When I would hunt, with my family…forever ago it seems these days,” Maddie said as she nodded. “I would forget about the hunting and just wander through the woods. I always loved chasing the sunbeams through the trees, the smell of earth all around me, the crickets at night and the bright stars…they are much dimmer here…”
“Then, maybe you do know a little of why we wander,” Lily spoke as she downed her lemonade all at once. “I will agree that your life has its benefits as well. The food is far better, and the company of others is rather appealing, even if the company at times is rather peculiar.”
Mark dusted off his jacket, which had turned light grey in parts from all of the ash in the gathering hall. Light emanated in strong ray-like beams through the stained glass windows as a thick ash covered the room like a dancing fog. William opened up a few windows at the far end of the wall as he coughed his way through the thick ash.
“Feel kinda like I’ve been downgraded from bodyguard to janitor,” Emily said as she shrugged and gestured with her hands and allowed a strong breeze to flow through the room, slowly clearing it of all the ash and dust. “And…we’re done. Fun times all around.”
“So, I know I’ve asked before,” Mark began as the group headed out of the building. “But everyone is good for tonight, right? She keeps asking that we all meet—I think it’s really important that we do…I know it’s been a hell of a time trying to figure out what to do in the aftermath of the whole mess we went through, but I am worried that something worse is coming.”
“I’ve never trusted the White Stags,” Cain said as he pulled his hood over his head as he entered the light of the early evening sun. “They can easily trick someone into becoming bound to a life that they may regret wishing for—some of their folk are even cruel when it comes to this matter, turning Mortals or Perpetuals into their slaves as they become masters of their own manors that they are able to create. I do find it worrisome that you have already inherited one of such manors and have entered into a bond with this young one.”
“Of course…” William added as he rested his back against his new black SUV, a replacement for the one he had sandwiched atop Lola at the water distillery plant. “Some of that cruelty has been earned rather fittingly. Both our kind and Mortals have hunted them down for sport since the beginning of time, or at least my father used to tell me of such grand hunts of the rare beasts in their stag form.”
“What you speak of is true,” Cain said as he nodded. “It was the Conductors of old that labeled them as sacred creatures that brought luck and good fortune—an act that probably saved a lot of their kind. Though I am weary of her kind, I do not feel that this girl is one of the cruel ones. I do not know what part I play in this, but if I am needed I will hear her story.”
“The man who left me the Red Manor trusted her,” Mark added as he stood beside his black Charger. He had gotten the roof properly fixed since Emily had accidentally blown a small hole through the ceiling, however he had left the scuffs on the front bumper—it reminded him of Caesar. “According to Lily, their situation was mutually beneficial because of his kindness to her when she was in trouble. He definitely did not seem unhappy there.”
“Caesar was a good man who would not place Mark in danger, if he meant for them to eventually meet…then I believe he would have a good reason to do so.” William added.
“I miss the old dickfingers,” Emily muttered as she pressed her head against Mark’s chest and kicked at the gravel beneath her feet. “I don’t think he misses me much but, fuck…that guy was fun times.”
“I’ll pick up food in town,” William said as he climbed into his SUV and rolled down the window. “Cain, where’s your car—you can follow Mark and Emily.”
“I do not know how to operate a vehicle,” Cain said as he shrugged his shoulders and looked strangely to Mark. “I usually walk or project places.”
“Show off,” Emily muttered.
“Would you like a ride?” Mark asked as he attempted to figure out why Cain was giving him such an odd look.
“Was hoping that you would ask,” Cain said as he nodded and a short smile spread across his old olive-skinned face.
Mark pulled down the lever as the tall, lanky man crawled into the back seat and sat in the middle. Mark and Emily climbed into the car as Mark placed his keys into the ignition. They sat there for a moment as Mark looked in the rearview mirror and saw Cain fidgeting nervously with his fingers against both Mark and Emily’s headrests.
“Awkward…” Emily said as she turned back and looked to Cain who was seated dead center in the back seat with his head nearly poking between Mark and Emily’s seats. She co
uld feel a strange thumping of his fingertips against her headrest. “What exactly are you doing?”
“Oh, my apologies,” Cain said in a strangely upbeat tone. “I’m a little excited; it has been my first car ride in such a long time. I want to see everything, if that is alright with you…I could switch seats.”
“Calm down grandpa,” Emily said as she shrugged. “You can stay there…just stop molesting my head rest. If you’re real good maybe Mark will stop at a gas station and get you a bag of hard candy.”
“I do enjoy a good peppermint,” Cain added as he stopped fidgeting with the headrests and placed his hands in his lap. “You wouldn’t have anything hard to suck on, by the way?”
“Bahaha,” Emily snorted as she attempted to hold back a deluge of laughter. “Mark…would you kindly provide our guest here with something hard to suck on?”
“I’m sorry,” Mark said as he bit his lower lip tightly and sneakily wiped away a tear from his eye. The urge to laugh was nearly painful. “I don’t….have anything at the moment.”
“A pity, I always used to carry a good butterscotch or peppermint candy for long trips,” Cain said as he continued to sit excitedly. He seemed rather oblivious to the fits of laughter from Emily in the front seat. He just figured she was an odd girl who was given to odd fits of humor.
As Mark pulled onto the highway and pushed the gas pedal down to the floor, Cain let out a gleeful childlike squeal.
“This is much faster than I remember it,” Cain said in his creepily happy tone.”We’re going so fast…cars didn’t go this fast when I rode in them.”
“You can project…really far—and this is fun for you?” Emily asked as she folded her arms beneath her chest and shook her head.
“You don’t actually get to enjoy the scenery as it passes by…you don’t get that rush of adrenaline as the world comes at you through the window.”
“You also don’t throw up,” Mark added. Emily’s projecting had gotten him out of quite a few rough spots, but it certainly did not ever sit well with his stomach.
