the Bleeding Crown

Hammer of the Witch Queen; Part Four

January 14th, 2014

Thompson Meadows, California.

Back in the dilapidated cabin, we searched for the entrance to the basement. It took us five minutes to find it. Bonnie, who decided to search the fireplace again, lifted up a loose stone from the crumbling structure to reveal an iron grate.

It was locked, but the mechanism that kept it shut corroded away over the years. The two of us grabbed onto the rusted metal and pulled it once. We fell backwards, and smashed into the rotten wood walls. Putting a decently sized hole in the already ruined building. But the way was clear, all we had to do was go down.

Bonnie cupped her hands and a white ball of light appeared in her hands. "How'd you figure out how to do that?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Dunno, just figured it's something I could do. I just thought about how dark it is down there, and then it happened." She let go of the ball, and it floated down into the chamber below. Almost forty feet down it illuminated a dark chamber. And below, something stirred. The rustling of chains echoed out towards us, and a feeling of dread filled us. The air was stale, like it hadn't been recycled through for the last eighty years. Each breath we took was like breathing in centuries of dust.

The ladder leading down was in a significantly better state. At least that's what it looked like. This was not what I had been expecting. What I had thought was going to happen was that we would find some cave with an evil angel hellbent on destroying us. No, this is not the den of some celestial evil. This is a prison.

Bonnie took a shaky, half breath. "So, uh, don't suppose you wanna go first?" she asked. My flesh prickled, every hair was standing on end. The realization of what Morgan had said hit me. We had been sent to execute the one below.

"Suppose I should." I said. Slowly, I began to lower myself into the hole. The rungs of the ladder were cold, like gripping ice. I took a deep breath and said a prayer to whatever god, devil, or spirit was listening.

Each step down felt like it took an eternity. The time it took, compared to what it felt like was completely different. In fact, it took me a minute to reach the bottom. Below, the room was dark. If not for the gentle glow of the white light it would have been pitch black.

"Alright, you can come down, take your time." I called up to Bonnie. It took her four minutes to descend down. And when she got down she became my shadow. She gripped my shoulder, squeezing down like a vice. She was scared, but then again. So was I.

"Jeremiah? Is that you?" a cold wintery voice asked.

The Hellfire Revolver appeared in my hand. Every torch on the wall came alive and chased the shadows away from every corner of the room. At the far end was a cell, in the cell a bed, an end table, and a book. Laying on the bed, and facing the wall was a woman. Her long, auburn hair was matted and clothes tattered. She turned to look at us, and when she saw me, disappointment crossed her face.

"Not Jeremiah, but who is this I spy? Esther?" the woman asked. Bonnie cowered behind me and tightened her grip. She cast her gaze at me, her silver eyes squinting at me. "You, girl with Jeremiah's gun, what is your name?"

My finger itched the side of the gun, and the words were catching in my throat. "Ro-Roxy Noble." I said. Her head cocked to the side, her thin gaunt face held curiosity. "Who are you?"

The woman sat up on the bed and stretched. "My name is Hatchet O'Neil." she said. Jeremiah appeared, leaning against the wall to our right. Nobody reacted to him, he only appeared to me.

"Are you the Seraph we've come to find?" Bonnie squeaked from behind me. The woman's ears perked up and her gaze locked on the girl behind me. "You don't look like you're an Angel."

"And what is your name?" Hatchet asked.

"Bonnie, Bonnie Roseman." the girl said.

Hatchet laughed a bit. "Don't suppose you're related to Esther Roseman?" she asked. Her voice became less cold, it was warmer, kinder.

"And Jeremiah Noble, my great great grandparents." Bonnie said, stepping out from behind me.

"You look just like her." Hatchet said, a somber smile crossed her mouth.

"So, Hatchet, what are you doing down here?" I asked.

Her silver eyes met mine, three pairs of Seraph wings unfolded from her back. Her posture straightened and her face became grave. Being told about a Seraph is one thing, but actually seeing one is different. I had imagined a being wrapped in light. This was a terror, this was sorrow, this was death.

"I'm here because I traded my family for power. I'm here because I betrayed Esther and Jeremiah. This is my atonement, and I assume you've finally come to carry out my sentence." she said.

My finger wrapped around the trigger of the revolver, and my thumb pulled down the hammer. Bonnie tugged at my shirt, her eyes full of horror.

"What are you doing?" the girl whispered.

My heart throbbed. "What we came here to do, we have to kill her."

"Why? Because Jeremiah told you to? She needs help, not a bullet."

"I don't have a choice." I said.

"There's always a choice Roxy, what threat is she to me? Seriously, what harm could she do?"

The woman walked over to the cell bars and she pushed her face between the open gap. "Dear sweet girl, you are so much like Esther. Kind to a fault. But this death, my death needs to happen. I have suffered, just as I have caused those around me to suffer. If you would help me, then you would let me die."

Jeremiah, walked up behind me and placed his hand over mine. He tightened my hand around the gun. I looked up at him, his eyes were full of pain. The mans face contorted into something gnarled and hideous.

"Pull the trigger kid." He said.

"Pull the trigger, please." Hatchet said.

"Roxy, you don't have to do this." Bonnie said.

"You don't understand what I am Bonnie. I'm not just supposed to protect you, I'm supposed to make sure you don't need protection." I said.

"Hatchet isn't a threat to me, we can help her." She said.

"Pull the trigger." Jeremiah said.

"We can walk away." Bonnie said.

"Do it now," he said.

"Jeremiah doesn't control you, Hell doesn't control you." She said,

***

I remember the flash of the gun, the body hitting the floor of the chamber. How cold I felt after pulling the trigger. The trek back to the cabin was a blur, Romulus carried us back. A feat that took him two hours. Morgan disappeared before we finished with Hatchet, I didn't trust her.

He dropped us off at the edge of the woods, right before you get into the meadow. The cabin had become a hotspot of activity. Police cruisers, our parents, and plenty of volunteers that had come to search for us.

We spied Isabelle and David being questioned by two officers. David had been detained, probably because he had a firearm. And here we were, the consequences of what we had done were already starting to show.

"I don't want to go back. I wish I could just stay here in the woods." Bonnie said.

"I bet your mom is worried sick." I said.

The girl shivered. "You don't understand Rox, she beats me. And this, this is just going to make her angry."

"I didn't know." I said quietly.

"Things are gonna be different aren't they?" she asked.

"More than we possibly know."