Chapter 1: A Moonless Night
At the end of a long, narrow dirt road winding through trees and sagebrush a young man rested on horseback, with long black hair tied into a ponytail high atop his head as he sat astride a bone pale mare with bright golden eyes. The night around them was cascading and endless, thanks to the moonless sky and darkened clouds that blocked all view of the stars. In truth it was as pitch a black as anyone might think to imagine, Poe himself would struggle to find the words necessary to describe the scene. Despite this though, the young man looked to be as comfortable as if it were a mid spring day with a cool breeze. He wore naught but a cream linen shirt, black trousers and vest, and a pair of well-worn black leather cowboy boots. His pale skin reflected what little light was clawing its way through the clouds, and the sharp features of his face would tempt one into thinking him a ghoul of some kind. But as is so often true with the Addams Family, all was not as it appeared.
The young man was anything but, for he now approached his 257th birthday at the end of the month. He was somewhat a mystery even to the rest of the family, a blooded Addams through and through, yet somehow other, somehow not quite the same kind of eldritch being they were. Something old and powerful akin to Grandmama, or Thing.
A twin pair of bright lights burst from the inky dark, as a roar resounded and echoed through the rolling hills and pastures surrounding him, and a moment later a large black hearse pulled up and stopped in front of him, the engine coming to a screeching halt. With an ominous creak, doors began to open on the vehicle and the main Addams house stepped out. Lurch stepped out from the driver's seat first, giving a solemn nod to the man before turning and opening the door for Gomez, who held out a hand and aided his wife Morticia from the car. He brushed his lips across her knuckles and whispered something too quiet for anyone else to hear.
Both of them looked much as they had during their last visit, despite Gomez having put on a couple extra pounds perhaps. Gomez wore his simple pinstripe suit that he'd been clinging to since the day he received it, and Morticia in a lovely midnight dress with blood red lipstick that stood stark against her high cheekbones and milky white complexion. On the other side of the hearse, a brutish looking boy stepped out and began looking all around them with curiosity plain in his eyes. Short black hair combed back against his head, as he too wore a tailored suit, but of the same shade as his mother's dress with a black shirt, and an ivory tie around his collar. The man on horseback tilted his head to one side. Was he mistaken, or was the boy as tall as Lurch? Following on his heels was what looked to be the oddest sort of clone that the man had perhaps ever seen. He appeared the exact same as Gomez had as a child, hair parted down the center as though it were combed with a razor, and a fine but small mustache already gracing his lips, wearing a white button down shirt, black shorts, and a pair of suspenders. The last to exit the car could have been none other than Wednesday herself, the next head of the family. Twin braids hung like nooses down her shoulders, and she wore a simple black dress ending just below the knees with a silvery white collar that appeared to have been spun by spiders themselves. Her severe eyes settled on the man and she approached with no sense of apprehension or haste. She moved like death itself, like an inevitability. This brought a smile to the man's face, a worthy successor to Gomez indeed.
"I presume you are cousin Corvus?" A voice with no intonation, no inflection, but with the force of gale force winds broke the silence surrounding the group. Wednesday continued to look up at him, but it was clear she was speaking down as well. The man dismounted at once and stood in front of her, making his right hand flat, covering his heart, bowing to his waist with an ethereal grace and allowing his eyes to meet hers.
"That I am, young cousin Wednesday. It is my horror and delight to make your acquaintance, as well as your younger brothers. Would you mind so terribly as to introduce them?" She stepped to his side at a single pace, holding out a stiff arm and gesturing to the tall boy first.
"This would be the incompetent Pugsley, younger than me by four years." She then looked back to Corvus, "If you require any physical labor to be tended to, he will be a more than capable hand so long as he is given clear instruction. Don't worry about breaking him either. Believe me, I've tried." Her eyes perhaps narrowed by a fraction of a centimeter, but the effect it had on Pugsley caused him to fidget with his tie and lean away from her. Corvus stepped up to the young man and held out a hand, discovering he was as tall as suspected, and wide as a linebacker.
"A fine night to you Pugsley, I hope the drive was uneventful?"
"As uneventful as I could think cousin, but I might have grabbed some good looking roadkill as a gift on our way here." Pugsley smiled down at Corvus and took his hand, shaking it three times before letting go and placing his hands behind his back and bouncing a bit on his heels. Corvus smiled as well and clapped the boy on the shoulder once.
"Good on you lad, I see your mother put a well-mannered head on those shoulders." Corvus stepped around the freight train of a boy and kneeled down to the youngest child, perhaps only 7 or 8 years old. "And who is the little doppelgänger I see before me?"
"Pubert, introduce yourself," the eldest child said. Wednesday's command over her brothers was impressive to Corvus, they seemed to both respect and fear her too much to do anything but follow her orders. An impressive feat, seeing as how Gomez had never tamed his own younger brother. Corvus had figured the family might have been growing soft, but the delusion was chased from his mind.
"Good night cousin, my name is Pubert. I hope you are…" his thoughts seemed to wander for a moment, and he looked to his older sister in fear. She pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed deep before mocking a bow with her hand to the side. "Oh! I hope you are in bad spirits!" the child remembered, and copied the bow his sister had displayed with a proud smile. After a moment she nodded her head, conceding his job well done. Good, but not perfect command yet. That means Morticia will most likely lead the negotiations. Corvus walked to the other side of the car and held out an arm to lurch, who grasped his forearm in return. Lurch seemed the same as always, his stoic disposition was one of many admirable qualities about the man. They both shook the hold, and the cousin nodded before disengaging the butler to turn to Gomez and Morticia. Gomez held his hands out and walked up to Corvus with a smile, they hugged and patted each other on the back before pulling back to get a look.
"It's good to see you Corvus, I'm sorry we haven't been out to visit, but it's very good to see you!" Gomez smiled and pushed on his cousin's shoulder.
"I'd like to say the same, but I think I have to address the elephant in your clothes!" Corvus grinned back and flicked his belly. "How in all the hells did you get so fat! You used to be a beanstalk of a boy!"
"That would be Lurch's doing I'm afraid," Morticia replied, stepping up and placing both hands on Gomez's shoulders and pecking him on the cheek.
"Morticia! You look as daunting as ever, my dreadful lady," Corvus answered with a bow similar to the one he gave Wednesday, but with more weight and regard to it. "Should I see you all to the family home, or do you remember the way?"
"Please do lead us, I can think of nothing more enthralling than watching you on that beast of a mount again," Morticia replied once again, "I do hope you can teach our children about all you know while we are here, I think Pugsley will take a special interest in all manner of the monsters you keep."
"I will endeavor my best, Morticia, but it would take a century to learn half of what I know."
"What is this horrible creature anyway?" Wednesday chimed up, holding a hand up to the snout of the white mare and rubbing its lips with practiced ease. There was a certain light in her eyes that spoke of longing. "I've never seen anything like it before."
"That, dear Wednesday, is none other than a Mare of Diomedes. One of the largest breeds of horse, it has a strictly carnivorous diet, and has been known to drive men mad by looking them in the eye," he walked up beside the horse and placed a hand flat against the ribcage, rubbing small circles before reaching up and running a hand along her neck. "I've named her after one of my favorite Greek tragedies, this is Illia."
"The same mare from the eight Labors?" Pugsley asked.
"Not exactly, this is one of the original mare's descendants. Illia stands at about 18 hands, but when her kind first arrived here they were often near 25," Corvus mounted once again placing a foot in the stirrup taking a great leap from his hind leg, swinging over the saddle. Taking hold of the rains he spun the mare around to face the road again and looked over his shoulder. "Shall we?"
"Do you not need to wait on the Sinclair pack?" Wednesday asked.
"I've received word their flight was delayed, and they will not arrive tomorrow until near noon, cousin. Don't fret over them though, I'm sure getting in at night would have scared them out past the borders before even making it to the cabins that await them upon arrival. Dark and horrible things wander the plains at night. Even a recently acquired Milton Lizard wanders near the old graveyard now, and a few Melon Heads await us just down the road," he smiled back at her, his voice becoming giddy. But smile was the wrong word, it was too wide, and his teeth much too straight. It was as though his face were pulling apart to make the expression alone. "Truly ghastly, isn't it?"
Wednesday's expression loosened from the blank canvas, and the smile that followed was not dissimilar from his own.
"Revolting," she answered, turning and entering the car without a second thought. "We haven't got all night, let's talk in the manor and view these horrors ourselves now." The rest of her family looked to one another and grinned before jumping back into the hearse themselves, and the engine roared to life once again. Pugsley looked to his sister, and found that even now, seated in the hearse, her lips still curled up at just the corners of her mouth. He knew the expression well, Wednesday was as excited as her cold heart could allow her to be. It was something he was more accustomed to seeing during her torture practice on him when they were children.
Corvus tightened the muscles in his legs and flicked the reins to urge his mare onward. How much I missed this family of mine, and how grotesque the future looks for it. The unnatural smile did not drop from his face as he led the hearse down the road and into an even deeper darkness where the tree line awaited.