by Matthew Fish
*
Piper stood at the kitchen sink. She looked at her wet hands—she was back here again, but why? This was not the future. Was this the past? She attempted to dry her hands against a long white dress that he wore. A heavy knock came upon the door. She backed away a few steps. The door exploded as she attempted to shield herself from the splintered wood and shattering glass. Corveath appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in a torn jean jacket; he had a stained white t-shirt beneath it and was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans. His graying hair was wild and his wrinkled face wore a grim smile as he pounced upon Piper and easily lifted her up from the ground. She attempted to breathe, but found that she did not possess the capacity to do so. Soon, just as before, everything went to black. She woke up as she found herself being carried by the fabric of the back of her dress. She flailed about and attempted to break herself free from Corveath, she fell to the ground. Corveath let out a sick laugh as he shook his head and picked Piper back up from the ground and carried her into the dining room. The table was covered in a thick layer of blood—there was blood everywhere. Corveath carried her down a large flight of wooden, creaky stairs as they reached the cellar of the house. Piper looked around the large room. There were four bodies upon the floor. Above each body, a man stood. Each of their hands stained deep in crimson blood. Piper spotted an older man with a beard, he was lifeless, and blood pooled from his mouth and stained the concrete floor. To his side was an older woman, a man smiled as his foot was planted firmly upon her back as though she were nothing more than some kind of hunting trophy.
“Mom…Dad,” Piper whispered, instinctually. A young man with black hair and green eyes lay lifeless as another man stood above him and wiped away some of the blood on the man’s t-shirt. A young girl lay nearby, a knife protruded from her back as her face was heavily bruised and blood oozed from her lips and bubbled outward. “My…brother—sister…” Piper whispered as she felt a well of anger fill up inside of her.
“What have you done?” Piper asked as she kicked out at Corveath. “You fucking monster! I will kill you!”
“Can’t keep control of a little girl, Corveath,” A man spoke with a hearty laugh. “Do you need help…don’t have the balls to go through with it?”
“Shut up, scum,” Corveath said as he spat upon the floor. “I can handle this little bitch—just get those collars ready…” Corveath was cut off as Piper’s foot lodged itself fiercely into his crotch. He stumbled back and released his hold upon the girl.
Piper quickly rushed up the stairs, flinging the door shut behind her and locking it. She rushed out of the house and into the road. She heard a large crash as a man pointed towards her and shouted, “There she is! Get the bitch!”
Piper’s lungs burned as she began to run faster and faster. She rounded a hill, looking back as she entered the canopy of the forest. Corveath was quickly advancing upon her. She ran with all of her strength, her feet kicking up rocks and dust. She felt as though she could make it—she had to make it. She could not understand how this old man was so fast. She felt a hand grab her from behind, Corveath held her tightly against him as his breath was heavy upon her neck. Piper attempted to free herself once more, but found that she simply lacked any more energy—her body had completely given out.
“That’s an admirable attempt, little bitch,” Corveath spoke as he plunged a knife into Piper’s back. She let out a gasp as her lungs attempted fill with air—instead, she began to choke on her own blood. Corveath carried her body as her vision began to fade to black once more.
Piper reawakened. She let out a scream as the lifeless bodies of her family surrounded her—‘father, sister, brother, mother.’ Corveath stood over her and placed a hand upon her shoulder.
“It’s all over now, no need to worry anymore,” Corveath said, as he seemed to be almost attempting to comfort Piper. “Had to be done really—after all, one of you had to become the ghost.”
“You’ve killed…my family…” Piper whispered.
“A sad thing,” Corveath said flatly, as he squeezed Piper’s shoulder. “They’re just memories now…or soon will be. However, they will not be yours anymore. Rather sad, is it not?”
“Fuck you,” Piper whispered as plumes of thick black smoke began to emerge from the bodies of her family members.
“Collar ‘em, boys,” Corveath said with an accomplished fit of laughter.
Corveath’s men emerged from the darkness and placed silver collars upon the bodies. They shuddered and began to move uncontrollably.
“Get them the fuck out of here,” Corveath spoke as his men began to collect the bodies and carry them up the stairs. “I’ll deal with this little bitch here,” he sat down beside Piper and placed a hand around her. “You’ve done me a great service, of course—at great cost…to you. I would not worry about it so much though. You see, you won’t remember anything soon.”
“Go to hell,” Piper said as she attempted to push the man away.
“You first,” Corveath said calmly as he placed the collar around her neck. “You are worthless—you are nothing. You are a shell—just an empty shell. You are nothing more than a ghost, nothing of value…you will never be anything of worth. If you ever take off the collar—you will disappear, your family as well…though, they are no longer your family. They belong to me. As do you. You are my lovely, doll now—Piper Embry. Forget everything that you have seen today, forget all these bloody sights and terrible times. There will be newer, gentler, terrors for you soon. You will help me into a position of power, and for all of your kindness—I will give you a new life. One, of course, that profits me, but you are okay with that, aren’t you?”
“I am,” Piper whispered. She looked around the room. She did not quite understand what was going on anymore. The strange anger she felt was gone, instead she felt a cold emptiness. She was filed with a worthlessness that she could not quite understand. She was just…a ghost—nothing more. Just memories and that was all. She looked to Corveath and cocked her head to the side. “What do I do now?”
“You will come with me,” Corveath said as he carried the girl up from the cellar stairs. He placed her in the back of a black van. “We will be leaving—for the west. We have an empire to build.”
“I want to stay here,” Piper whispered. “Can I return here?”
“You can try,” Corveath said with a short laugh. “I will always catch you when you escape though…always. You will never be free of me.”
*
“Piper…” Daniel said as he held tightly onto Piper’s lifeless body. A young woman who looked to be close in age and familiar in appearance lay beside Piper. Her naked body exposed to the sun as she lay against the ground.
“Sister,” the woman spoke as she looked to Piper and attempted to smile.
“Are you…her sister?” Daniel asked as he looked to the woman. It was fairly apparent—they both had dark black hair and green eyes. Their faces were different, but they both had that kind and roundish quality.
“I am just a memory of her sister,” the woman weakly said. “We were all just her memories—bad ones.”
A large black van pulled up, filling the air with a thick white smoke. The ground began to tremor as two helicopters emerged just over the tree line. More vehicles began to arrive as Daniel got to his feet and held his arm out. Abelio’s axe materialized as he held the blade in his hand—ready for whatever was to come. He took a few steps forward, putting Piper behind him. He would do whatever he could in order to protect her. After all, the threat Cernunnos had released was now gone—he now had nothing else left to live for.
Corveath, dressed in his regal red robe, stepped out of the van and approached Daniel. A large number of heavily armed Perpetuals quickly filled in behind him. The helicopters overhead hovered as men strapped in with heavy machine guns dangled from the edge of each aircraft.
“I must commend you,” Corveath spoke as he clapped his hands together and smiled in a half-smirk. “I did not expec
t you to get so far—and to defeat so many of Piper’s bad memories. Though, it matters very little,” he produced a single silver collar from his robe. “I had my men search the waters—just in case. I see that my efforts were not in vain. She actually defied me and removed the collar. Again, it matters not—once I have collared her, all those bad memories can come back into our world. They will simply lack a human form—but that was more of Cernunnos’s thing. I always found them most useful when they were in their terrible, beautiful forms.”
“So that is why she was important,” Daniel spoke as he readied his axe in his hands.
“Had she known that she was so…useful—she might have realized it,” Corveath said as he shrugged. “I know that you carry Abelio’s axe. I am sure that you can take out a few of us, but you must realize, Mr. Argent—you cannot stop us all. We will have you gunned down in a matter of seconds.”
“What then do you propose?” Daniel asked as he placed the axe over his shoulder.
“Give up the girl, and I will let this whole mess drop,” Corveath spoke. “Your son and his companions are no longer my concern—I have wasted enough time on them. Now is the time that I take my place as the leader of the new Perpetual Council. My people need me.”
“You are a delusional wind bag,” Daniel said as he shook his head. He ran towards Corveath, who slowly backed away as a large force of about fifty Perpetuals took his place. Gunfire erupted from above as Daniel attempted to stay just a step ahead of it. He took the axe high above his head and struck the chest of the closest Perpetual. He disappeared into ash. A bullet tore into Daniel’s arm as he swung against from his side and caught another Perpetual in the neck. The bullet fire from the helicopters fired indiscriminately into the crowd that Daniel surrounded himself in. He attempted to use this to his advantage as he kept low and swung high. He took out two more Perpetuals as the hot ashes from their remains covered his face and burned slightly against his skin.
Piper’s eyes slowly came into focus as the loud noises all around her awoken her from her strange state of slumber. She stared at the naked form of her sister across from her. All at once, her memories returned to her. She remembered, her—Mary Embry. She remembered them as children. They would laugh as they chased each other around. She remembered sitting beside her sister as their mother told them a story at night. Despite what Corveath had done to Piper…to her family. She looked past that. She was filled with good memories. Times of joy, she realized that she was not the simple things that Corveath had told her she was. She was a ghost—but one that was filled with her own memories, not anyone else’s. Her attention turned to Daniel as another barrage of fire came down from the helicopter. Piper got up to her feet and closed her eyes. The form of her sister turned into a bright blue smoke, it swirled around in the air for a moment. From the smoke cloud, a giant phoenix erupted and went crashing into the helicopter—sending it down to the ground in flames. The phoenix descended back to the ground as it turned into a blue wolf. It stood beside Piper for a moment before launching itself into the fray.
The second helicopter began to encircle the battlefield as a boom erupted from a short distance away. A rocket struck the helicopter, causing it to explode instantly and hail down pieces of metal and smoldering ruin.
A volley of water bottles filled the sky and into the crowd of Perpetuals. The bottles exploded into ice sending shards into the group, wounding many. Loud pops filled the air as groups of Perpetuals turned into ash. Piper advanced into the group and caught a sight of Corveath. He had his back against the van as chaos erupted all around him. For a moment, the two met eyes. Corveath shook his head as the great blue wolf approached him. It bore its fangs and quickly tore into his throat. Corveath fell to the ground as the wolf devoured his head in a bloody mess. Daniel swung his axe in every direction he could—his injured arm slowed him down a bit, however he managed to fell six more Perpetuals. An arrow struck a man in front of him who began to violently seize up and fall to the ground. More loud pops filled the air as the remaining Perpetuals turned into ash. As the smoke cleared, Daniel looked over and saw a small group a short distance away. Lily stood there with her bow and arrow in hand. Amelia stood beside her. A girl with bright, long pink hair dressed in black stood by her side. Another girl who as a bit taller and had blond hair that curled at her shoulders was dressed in white. She wore a familiar looking sash—Daniel had seen Conductors wearing them before. At her side was a man dressed in a very familiar looking long coat—though it had a few silver and gold embellishments that he did not find very familiar. However, the face was instantly recognizable. The young man looked intently at Daniel. He had bright blue eyes and dark brown hair. He had sharp features and a scruffy face. There was a look of sadness in his eyes—one that Daniel felt he shared at this moment.
“I said to not follow,” Daniel spoke as he turned his attention to Lily and Amelia.
“Well, William ordered us to follow Corveath—that shit-tard was about as inconspicuous as an elephant sharting in a porta-potty,” Amelia spoke.
“Or, you could say thank you,” Emily added, as she slung the rocket launcher over her back. “After all, you looked a bit titty-fucked there, zombie dad.”
“Thank you,” Piper spoke she approached Daniel. The large blue swirling wolf approached her side and nuzzled her hand. She looked to young man with dark hair and blue eyes—the resemblance was uncanny. “Is...is that…”
“It is,” Daniel said as he kept his eyes upon his son.
“Is…is it really you?” Mark asked as he stepped forward.
“Yes, Mark,” Daniel said with a single nod. He looked different, but at the same time, so familiar. An awkward silence lingered for a bit, Daniel nodded as he wiped away tears from his eyes. “I’m sorry…”
“Let’s give them some space,” Maddie spoke as she placed her hands upon Emily and Amelia.
“But…the fuck,” Emily objected as she kept her attention to Mark and his father. “I want to know too! Damn it, nipples!”
Lily nodded as the group disappeared off behind the SUV a short distance away.
“I should go,” Piper said as she smiled at Mark. “I am incredibly glad that I got to meet you—before I…well, before what happens after this.”
“Wait,” Daniel said as he reached out for Piper’s hand. “I’ll be along with you.”
“I’ll be just…over that way,” Piper spoke as she nodded.
Mark watched as the slender, black haired green-eyed woman wandered off into the nearby woods. He then turned his attention to his father and let out a heavy sigh. “Going somewhere?”
“This…this whole thing about me being back—was never permanent,” Mark said as he placed the axe onto the ground as it disappeared from existence. “I was just sent back to deal with a threat—one that was after you.”
“I got the general idea from William,” Mark said as he nodded. “I just, don’t understand why you didn’t want to see me.”
“I’ve made a lot of bad decisions,” Daniel said as he wiped away fresh tears from his eyes. “I kept things from you that I should not have—I just never wanted you to have the kind of life that I did. However, I realize now that I should have let you choose that for yourself. That was selfish of me.”
“I…I guess I always just thought you were disappointed in me,” Mark said as he allowed a tear to stream down and quickly wiped it away with the embroidered edge of his collar. “I spent a long time being confused—thinking I wasn’t good enough. Even after I found Bradley’s note, I still did not understand why you didn’t tell me.”
“I had lost so much,” Daniel said as he shook his head. “I was never disappointed in you, Mark. I loved you above all else in this world. I just—faced so much loss that I forgot to see the beauty of this world. That, despite the bad times being a Conductor, there were great times as well. I forgot about the people I had saved…the lives that I had been part of—even if it was for a short time…it was so beautiful. I see that
now. I should have told you so much about being a Conductor.”
“I turned out all right though, I think…” Mark said as he attempted to smile through the tears. “I know it isn’t the life that you wanted for me—but I wouldn’t change it.”
“You’ve turned out wonderfully,” Daniel said as he stepped forward and embraced his son tightly. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks…thanks for that,” Mark said as he hugged his father against him. “So…what happens now?”
“I’ve dealt with the threat that Cernunnos has created,” Daniel said as he felt a heavy sense of sadness wash over him. “I have to see her off—Piper, she’s the last loose end. Then…I don’t know, honestly.”
“I’ll miss you, again,” Mark said as he released his father and nodded. “She’s pretty. Congrats with that, dad—I was worried you’d never date again after mom.”
“Which one is your girlfriend?” Daniel asked as he let out a short laugh. “The cute one with the pink hair or the textbook attractive blonde…?”
“Well…both, actually,” Mark said as he looked away awkwardly towards the ground.
“Sounds…complicated,” Daniel added.
“It’s not so bad at all,” Mark said as he shrugged.
“Well,” Daniel said sadly. “I think it is time that I am off. I’m starting to feel a strange pull—I guess that means my time is running short.”
“Goodbye, dad,” Mark said as he put on a fake smile.
“Oh, Mark,” Daniel said as he stopped himself from walking off. “I know that you’re kind of out of the game at the moment. But, do not stay away from being a Conductor for long. I know that you’ve lost friends. However, you cannot stay hidden away from the world forever. Things are going to happen that you always cannot control. You just have to make the best of it, never let the negative parts of your life get the best of you and continue—you have a great gift. I would ask that you continue to use it. Even in the greatest times of sadness, just look for the beauty in the world around you—and those that consider you their friends, or loved ones.”