Children of Cernunnos

by Matthew Fish

  “I have things to attend to as well,” Cain said as he directed an anticipating look to William. “I must speak with the rest of the council as soon as possible.”

  “You want a ride back to the city?”

  “I do appreciate your generosity,” Cain said as he smiled.

  “I figured as much,” William said as he let out a heavy sigh and turned his attention to Bradley. “I think I’d be wise if we moved those crates of guns over to this place rather than the department, would you be willing to take on that job tonight?”

  “Of course, Captain,” Bradley said as he rose to his feet and stopped for a moment and looked to Maddie. “Thanks for…I guess, kind of forgiving me.”

  “Look,” Maddie said as she shook her head. “I’m angry now—give me time and I won’t be. After all, you didn’t have to stay. You could have taken the money and left.”

  “Just trying to make up for bad decisions,” Bradley said as he shot Mark and Emily a quick glance. “You guys hold down the fort—I got a hold of some serious shit the other night. It should really improve our odds when all hell breaks loose…again.”

  “Better than your old gun collection…?” Mark asked.

  “Almost puts it to shame,” Bradley said as he nodded. “Almost…”

  “I know it is still early,” Lily said as she got up from the table and looked absolutely drained. “But I think I shall retire to my quarters. Reliving the events through story has left my mind rather exhausted.”

  “Well, just us three now,” Emily said as she continued to sit at the table. “No one even touched the food.”

  “Chinese food and paper plates,” Mark said as he poked around at the bagged food on the far end of the table. “Brings back memories….”

  “Well I, for one, am hungry,” Maddie said as she pulled out a container of noodles and dumped it onto a plate. She reached for a fork and began to dig into the food. She paused for a moment as she reached for a can of soda. “So, a whole new mess to deal with now…”

  “I don’t like it,” Emily said as she placed some sweet and sour chicken onto her plate. “Then again I never do, do I? Nah, it’s just that—they’re odd aren’t they? I mean with the whole turning into deer, walking through time, and the anger thing.”

  “You’re calling someone odd,” Maddie said as she covered her mouth and let a small laugh slip through as she continued to eat.

  “Well, yeah…I’m a bit off—I get it,” Emily retorted as she shrugged. “But…they’re just…off.”

  “I think they don’t interact with people very often,” Mark said as he found a container of fried rice and dumped a generous portion of it onto his plate. “They seem like very socially isolated people, I think—yeah, they’re just…not used to us.”

  “Which reminds me…unrelated, but,” Maddie began as she put down her fork. “You had Cain name me Grand Conductor? You should have asked me first.”

  “Why are we trusting that crusty old man anyway…?” Emily added. “I honestly wouldn’t want anything to do with him…if it were up to me. You’re too trusting…”

  “I…I guess, I thought you’d be honored or something. I just wanted you to know that you were important to all of us—that we wouldn’t have made it out of there without you,” Mark said as he suddenly felt on the spot. “And…I don’t know, I suppose I am. Cain just…doesn’t feel like a threat. Besides, Lily trusts him. I think.”

  “Well, you could have just said that and left the whole Grand Conductor thing out of it,” Maddie said as she shook her head. “I’ve been in touch with some of the supporters of the old Grand Conductors and they want nothing to do with the title or the position after what happened to the last group.

  “Then what’s the big deal about being a Grand Conductor, wet panties?” Emily asked as she attended to her food.

  “It’s just that…we’re it,” Maddie said as she picked her fork back up. “The Grand Conductors consist of the people of Red Manor…nothing more. Did you just call me wet panties?”

  “I saw how you were looking at that stag boy,” Emily said with a mouthful of food.

  “Just find him interesting, that’s all,” Maddie said defensively. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that it is against their whole system of…whatever, to have relationships with Mortals.”

  “His father was a rule breaker, a rebel even…” Emily goaded on. “Maybe he’s got more in mind when he’s talking about you mounting him. Have you ever read any of those shape-shifting animal erotica books? I bet as a stag he’s got a dick like a….”

  “That’s just disgusting…” Maddie said as she buried her face in her hands. “I’m eating, please don’t make me think about any of that kind of imagery…and no, I’m not into any kind of bestiality erotica…besides, I thought you didn’t read.”

  “If I did, it’d only be because the shit’s grossly hilarious,” Emily muttered. “Besides, I’m just poking your pudding.”

  “Well stop…poking my pudding…for one evening,” Maddie said with a sigh. “I can tell you are deflecting—we’re all in trouble again and you don’t like it.”

  “The plan does sound rather absurd, I mean—it’s well thought out but…when has anything gone according to plan with us,” Mark added.

  “And here I was beginning to think we were all cool with riding White Stags gloriously into battle as we face off against all manner of who the fuck knows what, and this death bringer douche,” Emily said as she looked down blankly towards her plate for a moment. “You guys are like…my family now. I mean, yeah…Mark you’re more than just family…but Maddie—yeah, you’re a sister to me. A better one than what I had before, even if you’re a bit snobby. I just, don’t like that we’ve been put in trouble once more. You know, not the normal type of Conductors and bad Perpetuals trouble, but something we don’t’ understand…again.”

  “Emily…” Maddie whispered. She had never fully seen this side of Emily before, she had a notion that it existed—but mostly all she saw was crude jokes and inappropriate conversations. “Thank you and I understand how you feel. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing either of you. As much as I’d like to say, yeah screw it all, let’s go road trip west or something…but, we have the power to change things for the better, hopefully. This Ankou beast is coming after someone who has placed her full trust in us and our abilities. If we leave then we’re abandoning her hope for her people and who knows what kind of mess will come out of it.”

  “I just…I guess—feel like we’re being dragged into another conflict because of someone else’s problems—just like all the rest of the shit we went through,” Emily added as she kept her eyes down. “I know she needs our help, but…why us?”

  “She didn’t have a choice,” Mark said as he wrapped an arm around Emily. “Caesar warned me about this in a dream—it’s not just her…I think if we don’t deal with this evil, then it’s something that will come after all of us.”

  “Yeah,” Emily whispered. “If Caesar trusts us to do it, then we gotta do it. Wish old dickfingers was still around to at least make light of the subject…cheer us up a bit.”

  “But that’s your job now,” Maddie said as she reached over and squeezed Emily’s shoulder. “So don’t go letting us down—got it, clit-monger.”

  “If it’s my job,” Emily said with a short laugh at Maddie’s creative use of the word clit-monger, it was something she had not expected to ever cross those well mannered lips. “Then why all the kicking…? I think you bruised my knee.”

  “Well,” Maddie replied, “That is still my job, to keep your manners in check. Mark will definitely not do it…”

  “I just try and stay out of things between you two,” Mark said defensively. “I’m just…glad that you’re getting along. Anyway, so do I need to train with Conducting this dagger?”

  “It might help to spend a day getting the weight down, it will be a lot larger than anything you’ve Conducted so far….but then again you’re used to Conducting odd th
ings, you did a ring five days ago. It should be fine, honestly.” Maddie said as she thought it over. Mark pulled out the blade and placed it on the table, it had a strange white shimmer beneath the dining room lights. “Then again, you may not want to—it is made of antler. I am not sure about its fragility.”

  “Well, hopefully, you won’t need to use it, pussy foot, Emily added. “I mean, Lily or Maddie should easily be able to shoot this angry butt-hurt before it should come to that.”

  “That would be the plan,” Maddie said as she looked curiously to the blade and picked it up and let it rest upon her palm. She allowed it to bounce a few times before setting it back down. “It is weighted very well—I would suggest not using it unless completely necessary.”

  “Alright,” Mark said as he picked up the dagger and placed it into a small leather sheathe on the inside of his ‘Death Tosser’ jacket.

  “Well,” Maddie said as she got up from the table and paused at the door. “I’m going for a swim—I think better when I’m in the water. Anyone care to join me?”

  “We’re going to head to bed,” Mark answered quickly. “Was a rather busy day today…”

  “Tired?” Emily asked as they reached Mark’s room as she spread herself across the bed.

  “Not exactly… “Mark said as he inched to the edge of the bed and kneeled upon the soft surface. He pulled off his Conductor jacket and tossed it to the floor as Emily crawled up from the bed and began to unbutton his jeans. After a moment of fumbling through the buttons, she pulled down hard on his pants as he stood up and kicked them off. Emily pulled up on her shirt and revealed her perky breasts as she slid out of her jeans and placed a hand into her panties. She turned her attention to Mark who was kneeling beside her in the bed. She tugged down on his boxers until his erection popped out and bounced against his skin. As she fondled herself beneath the thin fabric of her panties she placed her mouth over Mark’s dick and began to move her head up and down against his length.

  “Fuck…” Mark muttered as he gently ran a hand through Emily’s long pink hair. He watched as her breasts bounced playfully against his knees as her head bobbed up and down against him. Emily let out a little whimper as she quickened the pace at which she played with herself. Her lips pressed down firmly as she came. She paused and looked up to Mark with large hazel eyes as she slid off her panties and playfully slung them upon Mark’s dick. They were quite wet. She led Mark to follow her bare ass as she placed her hands against the wall and rubbed herself against Mark. Mark placed his hands against the soft, silky skin of Emily’s back. He traced a finger down her spine as he gripped her by the hips and entered her from behind. She let out a loud gasp as he fully thrust his length in one swift motion. He let out a large moan as she tightened against him. She began to bounce upon him, growing faster and faster as she attempted to keep herself up and balanced. Emily threw her head back and let out a loud moan as her pink hair danced around her shoulders. Mark thrust himself inside of Emily harder and harder as her skin slapped against his in soft audible thumps. Mark gripped Emily’s legs tightly as he released himself inside of her, filling her with a hot, throbbing feeling.

  “Fuck biscuits,” Emily muttered as she let out a heavy moan as Mark came deeply inside of her. She slid off of him and collapsed upon the bed. Mark let out a well pleasured sigh as he felt her pull away. He lay next to her and kissed her as he cradled her warm naked body against his.

  “That was…amazing,” Mark whispered as he placed his lips against Emily’s neck as she giggled.

  “That tickles, pussy foot,” Emily said as she placed her back firmly against Mark’s and reached for his hands. She kissed his fingers as she wrapped his arms around her slender body. “I needed that…”

  “We do some version of that every night,” Mark said with a short laugh.

  “But today…I really needed that,” Emily said as she smiled. Her mind turned serious once more as she closed her eyes and let out a short, sad sigh. “We’re going to make it through this…”

  “We will,” Mark said as he squeezed Emily tightly. “We always do…I mean, not the best of outcomes—but we’re still here.”

  “I always worried that my life would get boring,” Emily added. “It’s definitely not boring…though, to be honest—I wouldn’t mind if things got a little bit boring. With you…I could do boring.”

  “I feel the exact same,” Mark said as he kissed Emily’s shoulder. “I could easily walk away from all of this to spend the next century doing whatever you wanted.”

  “I know we can’t,” Emily said sadly. “But maybe after this—we take a vacation.”

  “I can definitely agree to that.”

  Maddie sat on the steps as the cool water rushed over her body. She cautiously looked around; content that everyone had gone to bed—she placed her left hand into her bikini bottom and began to rub her fingers against the gentle folds of her flesh. She began to work her hand as she rubbed tightly on a singular spot. She bit her lower lip roughly as she began to suppress the urge to let out a very loud and audible moan. Despite her attempts, a loud moan had escaped through her lips. She worked herself into a frenzy as the cool water lapped against her skin. She tugged down on her bottoms as she continued to let her fingers work her clit until she came, she accidentally let a loud moan escape and echo through the room as she came.

  “Are you alright?” A voice asked as Maddie embarrassedly turned to see that Lily was standing at the door.

  Maddie quickly pulled up her bikini bottom and nodded. “I’m…just…yeah, I’m doing fine. I just…”

  “I could not sleep,” Lily said plainly as she sat against the tiled floor. “Mark and Emily were making a lot of banging noises—louder than normal. I decided to walk around and…I heard you make a noise. I thought I would check and make sure everything was alright.”

  “So people are still awake,” Bradley said as he entered the room. “I couldn’t find anyone—what should I do with the crates?”

  “I umm,” Maddie said as she placed her legs to her chin and rested her face against her kneecaps. “Anywhere…is probably fine.”

  “Everything alright in here…?” Bradley asked as he noticed that everyone was looking a bit off.

  “She was moaning, so I thought I should check on her,” Lily said plainly.

  “I’ll go and just figure it out,” Bradley said as he nodded and looked away awkwardly.

  “Yes, please,” Maddie said as her cheeks grew bright red. She watched as Bradley quickly left as Lily remained seated upon the floor. “Awkward…”

  “What is?” Lily asked as she cocked her head to the side and looked at Maddie with her large grey eyes that flashed and danced in the reflection of the pool.

  “How long has it been since you have seen your parents?” Maddie asked as she allowed herself to sink into the water and pulled her chin up to the side of the pool.

  “I started to wander my own paths when I probably around ten or eleven—in your years,” Lily said as she thought back. It had been quite a while, or at least it felt like it had been. I meant to return to meet them—but it is part of our way to establish our own relationships with others—to create our own Red Manor.”

  “So, Caesar was really the only one that you had contact with?”

  “Yes,” Lily answered as she nodded. “Then I spent some time with him…but eventually Red Manor became crowded, he loved company. Then he found love, and I decided to continue to wander through time. That’s…how I got in trouble. I grew too curious and wandered where I should not have.”

  “Have you thought about…contacting your parents?”

  “I would not wish to put them in danger,” Lily said as she shook her head and looked down to the tiled floor and began to rub a finger against the grooved surface. “When I have done the task I was given, I will seek them out. They will look the same—they have reached the age that they no longer change. Even the Elder I met—he looked no older than any of you, I just know that he h
as been alive for a very long time and is very wise. It is strange to see the way that Mortals and some Perpetuals age.”

  “When you meet your parents again,” Maddie said as she still felt a heavy feeling of embarrassment. “You should probably have a talk about life things…”

  “I’ve explored my human form, much like you have—I asked Caesar once to explain it to me…but he said something similar,” Lily said as she shrugged.

  “Yeah,” Maddie said as she sunk down into the pool and kept her eyes upon the curiously awkward girl. “That’s…good advice.”

  Chapter 3

  William pulled up to an apartment complex. Dark clouds obscured the sun as a light rain began to fall. He ducked beneath a red awning that belonged to a brown brick, six story, building. The wind picked up as a pair of large ash trees began to sway in the wind. The air was filled with the pleasant smell of the rain against the warm road. Safe from the rain, William pulled out a piece of paper from his black suit jacket. “Apartment…4C…” He spoke to himself as he folded up the paper and shoved it back into this pocket. He opened up the metal and glass door and ascended a blue, worn carpeted staircase. The walls were dirty and dingy—this place had seen better days. William reached the fourth floor and walked down a hallway as the stained carpet floor creaked beneath his footsteps. He passed a few doors until he reached a plain wooden door with ‘4C’ labeled upon it in black. He rapped his knuckles loudly against the door and waited for a reply. He was not sure if anyone would answer—he had hope that the person who lived here was still amongst the living, but he did not hold out that much hope.

  “Yes?” A voice asked meekly from beyond the door, surprising William.

  “Hi, I’m Captain Dickson…” William spoke in a loud serious tone. “I’m with the Perpetual Department, have a few questions if you wouldn’t mind. You’re not in any kind of trouble.”

  The door slowly opened as a young woman dressed in a robe answered. She had medium length, straight blonde hair, tanned skin and brown eyes. Her makeup had run down her from her eyes in streaks. She wore a perpetually sad look; her small lips were pressed tightly together as she rubbed a red area beneath her small, sharp nose. “Come in…” The girl said softly as she cautiously looked around the hallway and closed the door behind William.