Cernunnos charged, the antlers lowered into an oncoming wall of blades. He surged forward, his hooves finding purchase with the ground. A trampling ferocious storm of razors and flesh he swung his head around triumphantly. Or at least, he tried to, before slamming into the ground.

Cernunnos was ancient. He had lorded over pre-historic man, exchanging his favour for a tithe of its bounty. Fertile hunting grounds, victory over opposing tribes or a bountiful harvest, he had delivered them all. His children had performed the ritual, fed the pillar with blood and awakened him, and every time he had set out on his hunt. Claiming his price. In all his millennia, never had a human reacted like Elspeth.

As the lumbering god had charged Elspeth had run directly towards it. She ducked, the antlers catching her jacket, ripping the fabric. Past the sharp edges, she brought up her knee into the stomach of the blood-stained god. It grunted from her blow, but Elspeth wasted no time, slamming her elbow down into the matted fur that ran down its back. The beast crumpled into the earth, its antlers carving deep troughs into the earth, the strange effect that prevented it leaving tracks seemingly broken. As it landed something scattered across the ground, glinting in the moonlight.

The twisted amalgam of man and beast lay there for a moment stunned. Not just from the blow, but from the action. She struck me he thought. A human dared touch me! A snarl crept across Cernunnos face. Primal anger welled up within, a searing bubbling rage that filled his limbs. The wet blood covering him shimmered, as his body lost cohesion, becoming a floating orb of searing boiling blood. It reformed his body, this time standing upright. Cernunnos would not be seen scrabbling up from the ground like a grovelling supplicant. He was a god. He deserved worship.

"A mistake child," he spat through his stunted teeth. "You dare lay hands on your god?"

Elspeth held up her hands. “Worth a shot weren’t it. I’ve been in tougher scraps truth be told. You ain’t had a fight until a Glasgow drunk is trying to steal your Kebab pissed on bucky.”

“Aye, she’s got a point. We’ve seen scarier things in back alleys friend,” added Gregor. He had removed a pair of handcuffs from behind his waist from their leather holster hidden beneath his coat. “Now, me old mate, we are arresting you on suspicion of murder. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” He slapped the rings of metal locked together by black carbon fibre onto the being’s wrists. Cernunnos gave no resistance, more bemused than anything else.

“What is this?” rumbled the god. “What are you doing?”

“You’re nicked mate,” Elspeth said. She took her place beside Gregor, her arms crossed. “Now, fancy telling us who you are?”

“Who am I!” came the bellow response, torcs jangling as the creature shook its head in anger. The antlers had shifted back into their original place, taking on new odd shapes. “I am your god! You should be honoured to be hunted by I Cernunnos!”

“Cernunnos huh?” Elspeth replied. “Bit of a mouthful that. How bout we go with Clive instead. He look like a Clive to you DC Lythgoe?”

“Maybe more of a Chester?”

“Cease this foolishness!” Cernunnos roared. He lifted his cuffed hands into the air. Slowly, the began to sink through his wrists. His hands fell off with a pop, the cuffs dropping onto the floor soaked with blood. “You will kneel humans! Kneel before your god.” The stumps of his wrists were already reforming new hands.

“Nah, we’re good,” Elspeth said inspecting her nails. “Never really been my thing. I never behaved in Sunday school either mind.”

“Not me I was a good boy when I was younger. The school I went too made us sing hymns in assembly before classes,” Gregor said. He was staring up into the air, not paying attention to the entity throwing a tantrum before him.

“We never had hymns, but they made us sing about like, cauliflowers and stuff. Man, school was weird huh?”

There was a roar, a terrible peeling rumbling scream that echoed throughout the night air. Cernunnos panted, his head tilted back, his mouth hanging open oddly. It snapped back into place as the screech stopped. It stood there, shoulders rising and lowering from deep breaths as its stomach began to ripple. With a hiss two pillars of blood sprayed forth, each end tipped with snarling snake heads. Their eyes darted back and forth, their fangs dripped gore. The body of the snakes were formed of liquid blood, shifting slithering weapons.

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They lashed forth towards the detectives, who dived in opposite directions. The snake heads slammed into the ground before rising to strike again. Both detectives ran, eager to get distance between themselves and their strange attackers. They could hear them following behind, a strange mixture of hissing snake and sloshing blood.

Elspeth pressed hard against the small fragment of remaining wall. She was holding her breath, trying to remain as silent as possible. There was a slow patter, like gentle rain, from the other side of the thin prefabrication. One of the tendrils of blood was searching, tongue lapping from its serpent head as it searched. Elspeth steeled herself, summoning her bravery to peer around. The tendril of blood seemed thinner now, as if its vast reserve of crimson was slowly being spent.

Her heard jerked as something clattered. A noise from across the camp. Gregor maybe? She thought. No, he ran the other way. You know what this is. You can feel it. There was another clang, and this time she saw its source. An old tin can, half-rotted from rust flew lifted into the air and then flew as though thrown. Elspeth smiled. Faintly she could feel his presence, her ghostly saviour. The snake hissed, darting off towards the noise. It was definitely growing thinner as time went on.

Plan forming in her mind, she mouthed a silent thanks to her ghostly protector and began to carefully creep away from her hiding place.

Gregor swung, bringing his baton down in a long arc. He had chosen a decidedly different tactic to Elspeth. He had waited, biding his time until his pursuing head had crept closer, deliberately leaving part of himself exposed. Bait to drag it in.

The baton struck the body of the snake, finding no resistance. Not that Gregor expected any it cut clear through the blood, which was hot, almost boiling. The severed head splashed as it hit the dirt, losing its cohesion. There was a bubbling hiss as another began to form from the remaining body.

Gregor wasted no time, striking again and again, separating globs of blood before another head could fully grow. A roar echoed from the other side of the camp and the blood tentacle snapped backwards, splatter colliding with Gregor’s face as it retracted back to its host.

Elspeth heard the angry roar of the ancient god. It was thinner now, almost gaunt. Her suspicions were confirmed, it was fading. The nightmarish thing seemed to be formed of blood, every moment it walked, every drop wasted, weakened it. She had crept around the outskirts of the camp, taking care to huge what remained of the fence. She had stopped for a moment, taking the time to collect some rusted gnarled remnants of barbed wire.

One of the tentacles snapped back into Cernunnos’ stomach with a sickening slap. The other still snaked around the camp, searching desperately for its prey. Deciding this was her moment, Elspeth ran, his hands tucked insides her sleeves as she grasped the barbed wire between her hands. Cernunnos had his head raised, still roaring defiance, his eyes closed.

With one quick movement, she slipped the wire around his neck and pulled, barbs digging into the self-proclaimed god's neck. Slowly they began to sink, sliding through the blood that formed its body.

The remaining tentacle began its quick retraction backwards, but it never reached its destination. Gregor sprinted across the camp, sliding across the dirt before the strangled god like a baseball player aiming for a plate. He swung his baton as he did, severing the tentacle which had stretched to a prodigious size.

It was enough. The barbed wire found the resistance gone, sending Elspeth tumbling backwards. The creature burst, blood spraying outwards, covering both detectives.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Gregor whinged as he clambered to his feet. “This was a new fucking shirt. Fuck.

“That was a…new one for the books I think,” Elspeth replied wiping the splatter from her face.

“So. That’s it then?”

"No. No, I don't think so," Elspeth said. She walked past Gregor reaching down into the dirt of the courtyard. "I think we need to ask some serious questions." She lifted her prize, the glimmering object that the twisted god had dropped. It was a keyring. The leather strip was black but had “Raasay Visitor Centre” printed in white across it. The metal attached to the leather was a familiar shape, a squared spiral.

The spirit of Cernunnos whipped across the countryside, screaming through the void towards his pillar. His totem. His home. He seethed with anger, but more than that he felt humiliated. Ashamed at his loss to two pitiful humans. He had never lost before, not that he could recollect in his memory. His children. They had betrayed him somehow, sent him to his defeat. Yes, the spirit thought that must be it. They have drunk deep of my bounty and now seek to be rid of me. They knew. They had to know. As the entity settled into its bone container, it planned and plotted, dreaming deep of revenge when it was summoned again.

“Jesus fucking Christ what happened to you pair?” Graham asked. He was standing outside the hostel as the pulses of blue light washed over him from his police car.

“What’s going here more importantly?” Gregor replied. The flashing lights strobed in his eyes, making him squint. “Fucking Jesus turn that light off.”

"Sorry, sorry, hang on." Graham reached in through the open driver's side window, flicking off the lights with a switch. "We've got another one for you lot. It's just like the other two. Bit grim really. And uh…it's in your room apparently." Graham tapped Gregor on the arm with fake sincerity. "You might be hard-pressed to find something clean in there, and you look like you need if you don't mind me saying."

There was a loud groan from Elspeth. "A bath, you know?" she asked. "That's all I wanted. A Bath and a change of clean clothes."

“Well at least you have both,” Gregor said followed by a long exhale.