The Division of the Damned (17 page)

Once inside, the large doors slammed behind them. The instant darkness acted like a trigger and the vampires pounced en masse. Quicker than the human eye, they seized the weapons and held the men fast. Two vampires to each ma
n, the squad was helpless. The c
ount moved forward and into their sight.

"You have failed me
,
Doctor." He was calm. He stood in front of Rasch who audibly whimpered his fear. Rasch’s legs had given way and two vampires were supporting him at his side.

"I, I, this is, I don’t know … " he stuttered. 

As
Rasch mewled and pleaded, the c
ount started to swell in size, in height as well as breadth. He was growing startlingly fast. His face contorted with the effort but he made no sound until he seemed to be eight feet tall and just as broad. His normally billowing lacy shirt and black trousers were stretched dangerously but they didn’t give or rip. His head had swollen with the rest of his body and his features were now longer and sharper so that he resembled one of his own troops. Von Struck’s squad, horror-struck and frozen by the metamorphos
is, collectively jumped as the c
ount gave vent to his anger.

"Failure was not an option," he bellowed. "Failure will only be rewarded by death.”

Like a child taking a doll, he grabbed Rasch. Rasch was by no means
a small man
—
he was e
asily the tallest of them all
—
and yet the
c
ount now dwarfed him. Slowly, as if to prolong the act, he turned Rasch’s head and drew his neck to be bitten. Rasch squirmed a
nd flailed in his grip but the c
ount ignored his feeble protestations and easily manoeuvred him into position. His mouth stretched open to an impossible degree and teeth, like spring loaded daggers in slow motion, gradually extended from their sockets. A dark patch blossomed at Rasch’s crotch as he pissed himself and a fetid stench filled the air as his bowels voided audibly in sheer terror. 

All watched, helpless and silent, as Rasch’s end played out. The vampire on Muntner’s left released his grip slightly to get a better view. Muntner saw his chance and shrugged him off. With a shout he slipped his SS dagger out of its sheath and swung it round to stab the vampire to his right in the neck. But the vampire soldier’s reactions were quicker; the blade was knocked to the ground and Muntner was once again helpless.

"You bastards!" he screamed.
"We’re on the same side. We came to help and you treat us like this?”

The
c
ount dropped Rasch, who fell in a faint to the floor, and strode over to where Muntner stood. Muntner was undeterred an
d screamed his defiance at the c
ount. The squad, taking their lead from their bold compatriot, started to struggle with their captors. It was all to no avail b
ut their efforts unsettled the c
ount
who
was only used to sheep-like submissiveness.

"What are you doing? Who do you think you are to look down on us? What are you, some kind of damned freak show ringmaster?
You fucking
Gypo bastards. Let me go, fucking let me go, you!”

"Enough!" the c
ount roared in a voice that shook the very foundations of the building they were in.

Muntner fell silent. Then in a low growl that rumbled through the hall, “And who are you to shout at me as if I am a nothing?”

They all s
topped their struggling as the c
ount, with a speed that belied his size, seized Jurgen. He held him up with one hand so that his legs left the floor and dangled under him. With the other, he turned Muntner’s head to present his jugular. He slowly stretched his mouth again as he pulled him ever nearer. His jaws opened to that incredible angle and the white points of his teeth achingly reached out to Muntner’s exposed flesh.

From nowhere, Von Struck found his voice, stirring the insensible Rasch. "No!" he screamed. But it was too late
. With a sickening crunch, the c
ount bit into Muntner’s neck. Snarling, he greedily worried at the wound he’d made, slurping the blood noisily. It all happened in
a flash and as quickly as the c
ount had pounced, it was over. The Dracyl threw Muntner’s used body to the ground and stepped back. Jurgen lay motionless on the tiles. The sudden violence of the attack had st
unned them all and once again no
one moved or spoke.

Rasch, as if asking the time, broke the hush. "Is he dead, er dead…?”

The c
ount gave no answer and stared at them as his body began to shrink back to its normal size. He smiled and started to wipe away the blood from his mouth. Taking in their anxious expressions, he shook his head in amusement and unhurriedly smoothed his slightly askew garments
before answering. "No, my dear d
octor, your brave comrade
is not dead, well
,
not in the true sense of the word.” He let that hang in the air, enjoying the moment. "You took one of mine, so I have taken o
ne of yours as a replacement
." Gloating, he smiled once again.

Henning cut his preening short. Taken off guard, his captors lost their grip as he lunged. He threw a punch as he moved, hoping to connect with his whole bodyweight behind it. But with supernatural speed the vampire moved at the last minute and Henning followed his arm into space. He landed hard, rolled and tu
rned, but he was too slow. The c
ount stood above him and Wo
lfgang found his throat in the c
ount’s talon-like hand.

"Don’t anger me, mortal. I can snap you like a twig. Your friend is now one of mine but he is not dead, not yet. You owed me a soldier so I took one. Be thankful you are on my side because if I thought you would want to start getting tiresome, then I could get angry.” He stood back and allowed Hennin
g to get up. He turned to Rasch.
"Was that a complete failure, Herr Doctor, or do you think you can succeed?”

Rasch woke up from his stupor and shook his head. "It worked,
Your Excellency
, it worked but then the effects seemed to wear off. I don’t know yet and I won’t know until I’ve done more tests. I’ll probably just need to increase the dosage or decreas
e the dilution, I just don’t
—
"

The
c
ount cut him short. "Yes, yes, I don’t want any more mistakes, do you hear me, or I’ll have to take another soul in recompense." He looked meaningfully at Rasch and stormed off into the darkness of the hall behind him. Maria, who had remained in the background the entire time, followed him.

Like arrows, the c
ount’s soldiers took to the rafters and suddenly they were alone with Muntner’s broken body.

Rubbing his bruised arms Rohleder walked up to where Muntner lay.
"Poor bastard.
I can’t believe he gave his life for you, you arrogant fuck!"

"Herr Rottenführer, please
.
I am an officer and he was one of my bodyguards. He was doing his job.” Rasch was taken aback by the outburst and pleaded with Von Stru
ck, "Please explain to the men
—
”

However Rohleder wasn’t finished
.
"I can’t believe it because he hated you. He hated you and all that you stand for. He hated you but he still tried to help you, to save you even though you’d shat your pants.” He turned back to Muntner again.
"Poor bastard.”

"Now isn’t the time for this," Henning broke in, seemingly unruffl
ed after his skirmish with the c
ount.

"Henning’s right. We’ve got to regroup on this and get a plan together," agreed Von Struck. "Herr Doctor, wha
t is it you have to do? If I lo
se any more me
n because of your mistakes
—
" H
e thought of the worse threat
he could possibly make to Rasch.
"I’ll be forced to write a very strongly worded letter of complaint to the Reichsführer SS himself
indicating how well you handled the situation.” Standing with his hands on his hips, his eyes wandered from Rasch’s face down to his soiled trousers and dared him to be arrogant.

The haughtiness that had kept him afloat nearly all of his working life was all but used up and Rasch could only look down and shake his head. With tears in his eyes, he said, "I can’t believe it
went wrong. I was so sure and
—
” He stopped and dropped his gaze to his feet again.

Standing in a circle around Jurgen Muntner’s now twitching body, they all wordlessly looked at Rasch as he wept the tears of his humiliation.

Rohleder made the first move to dispel their inertia. "Boss, let’s get back. This place gives me the creeps. Perhaps that bastard can think of something later on." He indicated the crying Rasch with his thumb and, with a disgusted look on his face, shook his head.

"Right, but we’ll have to leave Jurgen here. He’s one of them now.” They all nodded and mumbled their agreement.

Henning took control of the marching order. "Michael, Thorsten
and Matze, take the front, the d
octor and the boss in the middle, and the rest of us follow on.
Any questions?”

There were no questions for they knew the drill, and they moved out with arms at the ready. Without looking once at the vampires above them, they passed through the hall and out into the brilliant morning sun. The dawn’s blinding rays helped burn off the residue of the nightmare they had just endured, but the memory of Jurgen Muntner’s body, drained and already transforming, was in the forefront of all their minds. They flinched in unison when he screamed in agony as the metamorphosis began in earnest.

Chapter 21

Smith came to in his bed. The wound throbbed and he warily probed the area where it hurt. He had been undressed, washed, bandaged and placed in his bed to sleep. He wondered who had nursed him. Even though he now knew the truth about Lilith, he half-hoped it had been Maria who had attended to him.

The door opened and Iullia walked in holding a bowl of steaming soup.

"You’re awake,” she smiled. Smith could only nod. He couldn’t take his eyes off what she was wearing. Sheer to the point of transparency, she wore a long silk nightdress that left nothing to the imagination. Smith automatically thought of Maria.

Her hair was down so as to frame her young and pleasing face, and emphasise her slim neck and shoulders. Even in his weakened state, he could feel the warmth of arousal swelling in his loins.

Iullia seemed unperturbed by his amazed expression and busied herself with the soup. "It’s a bit hot so you’ll have to blow on it before you eat. Can you manage or should I help?" She had a slight accent that he hadn’t noticed before. It sounded almost French and added to her charm.

"I think I can manage
,
” he answered.

She smiled and helped him to sit
up,
chatting all the while about how they had found him wandering the hall downstairs.

"You were quite dazed, and kept on rambling about a big dog or a wolf. I didn’t quite understand what you were saying. You were quite out of sorts so I brought you to your room and helped you get ready for bed. I washed the wound. Does it still hurt?”

He smiled at her chatty manner and marvelled at the difference in her since their last meeting. Slightly embarrassed, he turned his head up to look away from her gossamer threads and into her face.

Then he caught her eyes. They were on fire.

Her face held the purity of a cherub but her eyes danced with the glee of the devil. Michael’s words flooded back to him and his libido shrivelled like a salted slug.

"You look so alarmed, James,” she purred, moving to touch his face. He flinched as if burnt, gasping as a wave of pain radiated from his wound. He tried to push himself back, away from her, but she caught hold of his arm in a grip of steel and held him.

"Now now,” she cooed
.
"Nothing is going to happen that you don’t want to happen." She was on the bed, stroking his face with her other hand. She slid her hand down his neck to his shoulders and then across to his chest.

Smith was terrified. He instinctively knew that it was all wrong but he
found his traitorous body reacting to her touch. He began to mentally chant, "Don’t,
don’t, don’t,” over and over.

He strained back, away from her caress and her face turned to a look of rejected hurt. He was confused and torn by her iron grip, her blameless face and the ardent heat between his legs.

"Don’t you want me?" she asked, feigning tears. "Am I not good enough?”

She looked away in an apparent show of coyness. He opened his mouth to answer and for one mad moment he nearly said yes. But as his hand reached out to touch her, he saw from the corner of his eye the shadow of a sly smile. She turned her head back to him. Triumph lit up her face as she recognised his weakness and fell on him like a ravenous beast.