The Division of the Damned (50 page)

There, silhouetted in the moonlight, stood Mordechai the Werewolf. He reached down a massive paw to help him up. "Come, Russian, I’ll explain you to the Germans.”

”Who’s going to explain you, though?"
Borkin smiled. "My head hurts. He really landed hard on me.”

"I know. We’ll look at it later when we’ve introduced ourselves to our new allies. I never thought I’d see the day that I was glad to see the SS.”

They turned and ran to the edge of the ring of fires.

*  *  *

“Well, it doesn’t matter now
—
”
Von Struck started to say but his words were broken off as, from out of the wood, a werewolf sprinted out and leapt onto the back of the vampire. With one bite, it took the head clean off the bloodsucker.

"What the
—
" Rohleder said for them all.

Borkin stood up, rubbing his head, and they both ran towards the Tree. The squad raised its weapons as one but Stephanie yelled at them, "No, don’t shoot; he‘s another friend. He can help
,
too.”

"You know him as well, the werewolf?" Henning asked her as they reached the barricade.

Stephanie nodded and walked forward to hug both Borkin and Mordechai.

"You really know how to pick them, Mike, you know that?" Henning whispered to Rohleder.

Rohleder nodded. "I know, Wolfgang, I know.”

A while later, their story told and the situation resolved, they sat together and cleaned their weapons. Mordechai prowled around the line of fires and Henning showed Borkin the workings of the Assault Rifle. Though he knew he wouldn’t need them, Borkin laid his rifle
and
camera at the base of the t
ree. He didn’t mind lying about the camp but losing the camera really would have meant Siberia.

"Who’d have thought it would come to this?" Michael asked nobody in particular.

"What?" Rohleder asked without looking up from scrubbing his barrel. "That the final fight for mankind would be fought by a couple of modern-day knights, German SS, an Englishman, a Communist, a Jewish woman and a Jewish werewolf?"

Rohleder shook his head solemnly. "You’re right. Nobody would have thought that.”

Stephanie smiled and started to giggle. The sound was infectious, and though nobody stopped with their field stripping and cleaning, it soon caught on.

As the forces of the Dracyl and Lilith gathered to fight for supremacy over the human race, the defenders of the species laughed quietly into their weapons.

Chapter 63

Smith came to his senses to find somebody stroking his cheek.

"James, wake up, we need you.”

His eyes flickered open and he found himself behind one of the cottages and standing opposite him was Maria.

"Maria,"
he breathed. "What’s happening?”

"Shush, my love. Just wait for me and I will come back for you. You need only to wait here and all will be well
…”

Maria drifted in and out of focus. One minute she was in front of him
and
the next she was gone. He blinked rapidly to regain his wits but he was too muzzy for clear thought.

He shook his head and something inside clicked. Suddenly he knew where he was. Looking down he saw he was shackled at the ankles to a long chain that ran to a metal ring in the middle of the back wall of the building. His arms were tied behind his back and the knots were fast.

Turning to his right he saw the next building in line, and stood behind it was one of the vampires. He stood motionless
,
facing the back of the building as if looking through the wall. He was dressed in a long black cloak and held a sword in front of him.

The realisation that he was now in the middle of th
e ceremony hit him like a light
ning bolt. How in hell did he get here? What in hell’s name had happened?

Panic overwhelmed him and he fell to the floor, struggling against his bonds helplessly. He lay panting on his back, broken in futile disappointment. The old man had been right not to trust him. In the back of his mind he heard Czerolka’s challenge and the anger at his failure to deny Lilith bit deep into his pride. The ceremony would go ahead as planned and he was an unwilling collaborator in its accomplishment.

He lay on his back and looked up to the threatening skies. A crack of light opened briefly though the clouds and he idly wondered if that was the beginning. Was that the Sun God’s arrival?

*  *  *

"All is set, Dracyl. The named ones await Utu. I have the Book and soon we will rule the day. Humanity will be reduced to cattle and the new epoch of the vampire will come to pass."

They were outside the main building. The Dracyl had decided it was time for him to take proper control of his soldiers.

"
Good, and my brother?”

"Shackled behind the building with his shrine.
He came to me like a lamb and awaits our presence.”

"He came like a dog with his prick hanging out further than his tongue,” he sneered.

"That too
.
”
Lilith smiled. "I think I will keep him as a slave when this is finished."

The Dracyl roared his delight. "Come, Lilith, we will go and watch the human’s last stand and then we will face Utu together.”

Lilith followed him to the circle.

*  *  *

The mass of vampires swarmed above them. The heavens seemed black with the enemy and Von Struck hoped it had more to do with the sinister background of the night than with their actual numbers.

They stood in a circle, armed with their rifles and swords. Mordechai had only his teeth and claws, so
he roamed the areas around the t
ree.

There had been flashes of light in the sky that had not gone unnoticed.

"I thought the Sun God would come at dawn," Von Struck asked Michael.

"That’s what Czerolka said, wasn’t it?" He was also taken aback by the turn of events. "We’ll just have to be ready for when it goes off.”

Von Struck turned to them all. "Listen, whatever happens now,
hold
the circle. Watch your backs and cover your neighbour. They only have this night and then they’re done.”

Rohleder turned to Stephanie. He wanted to tell her he loved her, to stay by him during the fighting; but he knew she would think him weak if he said that.

"Stephi, watch my back. I need someone I can trust behind me.”

She smiled hesitantly and nodded. "Michael, before this starts,
I
…”

He looked at her quizzically and it dawned on him that she was just as scared to show her emotions as he was.

"I love you," she said.

He held out a hand and she took it. "I love you
,
too. Stick by me and we’ll see this through together.”

The smile faded and he let her hand drop. They were coming.

The multitude landed simultaneously on all sides and attacked straightaway. This time there was a conviction in their assault that even the tree could not tame. They swarmed over the barriers and the weight of the automatic fire only just managed to keep them at bay.

Mordechai charged into their ranks, tearing and biting at everything that moved, repeatedly smothered by rapacious vampires and repeatedly re-emerging from the tumult, fighting and roaring like the maddened beast he was. The black blood of the vampires covered his coat and his eyes rolled in frenzy as each new victim fell to his terrible
bite.

Nau and Gruhn held their front like clockwork, each one shooting his magazine and kneeling to reload so that the other could take up the fight. With a calculated efficiency, they sprayed their front repeatedly, never allowing the enemy to pass a certain point.

"They make it all look so easy,” Inselman thought to himself while waiting for Henning to signal he needed to reload. Henning knelt down, and Heinz took his cue and started firing. On the ranges, in single shot mode, he had been one of the best shots.

Unfortunately single shot was useless when faced with screaming hordes and his problem was controlling the weapon in long bursts of fire. Nevertheless, they held their front, not as well as the two next to them, but they held.

Borkin and Michael held the last quarter. They too managed to hold the enemy off despite a few stoppages from Michael’s weapon. Nevertheless, Borkin was ready every time and they never faltered on their part of the line.

Von Struck stood between Borkin and Stephanie, as he envisaged them to be the weak links. He fired into their assailants as he saw fit, and on more than one occasion he had saved the line. He scanned the sky for the Dracyl but he was not to be seen. Nevertheless he presumed that he was near, and that was the reason why the vampires were so unyielding in their attack.

*  *  *

"So, brother, you decided to help after all
?
"
T
he Dracyl laughed.

Smith tried to get up but he fell back twice and only managed to make himself feel foolish.

"Help him to his feet,” the c
ount ordered two of his entourage.

Smith faced his brother. "This won’t work and surely I’m meant to say something to get this thing rolling.”

Mar
ia walked from behind the c
ount. "You’ll say what I tell you to say, James, and when this is all over, you will live with me as my slave, and the funny thing about it
is
you will be grateful
.” S
he laughed.

Smith swallowed hard but said nothing. He felt stupid attempting to defy them trussed up like a turkey, so he decided on silence.

The Dracyl eyed him silently and turned to leave, followed by his seconds. Maria and Smith stood alone
,
facing each other.

"James, all will be well. You will be with me, and your irksome brother won’t be able to touch us.”

He looked down at her. Her beauty was breathtaking and, even now, despite his situation, he could feel a stirring in his loins. But he knew
she was the D
evil, evil incarnate, and he could never find happiness
with her.

He closed his eyes and turned his head away from her. "Never," he whispered to her. He didn’t need to look to know she had left him.

*  *  *

The attack appeared ever more frenzied and no amount of death seemed stop them. The assault rifles were hot to the point of failure but Von Struck knew they would never be able to hold them off with the swords.

Suddenly the sky splintered open and a bolt of
lightning
struck the
t
ree above them. The crack was almost visible in its force and the shockwave rippled over the heads of the attackers. Their ears were ringing from the rifle fire but they were still momentarily stunned by the explosion.

"It’s starting
! H
old on, it’s starting," Von Struck shouted over the clamour, but nobody could hear him. The battle raged all around him, the rattle of firearms being swallowed by the manic howling of the Dracyl’s soldiers, such was the volume of their noise.

Suddenly, the vampire deluge backed off. As if a huge plug had been pulled, they drained away and left the defenders battle-dazed and concussed.

The attacking horde n
ow retreated to the forest tree
line, the area between the cottages and the
t
ree now left clear except for the broken decapitated bodies of the creatures Mordechai had destroyed.

The sudden quiet was infringed on only by the werewolf’s laboured breat
hing. He padded back under the t
ree, seemingly fit despite his bloody and wild appearance.

"What’s happening? Where have they all gone to?" Nau asked.

"And more importantly, why have they all gone?" Rohleder added.

"I don’t know
.
I don’t know …
" Michael
answered, visibly worried. "This isn’t how Czerolka saw it. Didn’t he say that Utu will come at dawn? He did, didn’t he?" He turned to Von Struck who stood facing the building where the Dracyl had called down the lightening. All eyes were on Von Struck, who knew he had to act cal
m even if he wasn't feeling it.

"The way I see it is that we only have to wait until dawn and the sun will burn them up,” he declared. "We’ve got a bit of time. Give the barrels a quick pull through and the parts a going over, and do it in partners. Rohleder, I’ll partner you and Stephanie. You two clean first.”