The Division of the Damned (49 page)

"Your scars don’t look so bad now. Have you done anything to them?" she asked unexpectedly.

He was taken aback. He never considered his scars anymore. He was aware of them and their effect on people but he hadn’t had the time recently to think about them.

"Do they really? They normally look worse in the cold
.
"
H
e smiled. "I guess it’s all this fresh air and exercise I’m getting, not to mention the good food." They laughed together, openly and without reserve, and the months of separation fell away. "So, I’m going to be a father. What are we going to call him?” he said after a while.

"Him?”
S
he smiled. "What if it’s a girl?”

"That’s easy.
Stephanie, after the only woman I have ever loved.”

"You fool." S
he giggled, and then
said
seriously, "We’d have a better chance of getting out of here if I knew how to fire one of those.”

Closing up the last parts of the weapon, he hefted it and handed it over to her. "Try it for weight. It is heavy, mind.”

She felt its weight and tucked it under her arm.

"It’s not that heavy. Show me what you do.”

"I’ll show you some of the basics. Give it here.”

*  *  *

The vampires flew overhead for over two hours, neither attacking nor retreating. They blotted the moon, their shadows dancing over the ground around the tree.

"What time is it?" Michael asked.

"A quarter to twelve or thereabouts," Henning offered.

"Why don’t
they attack
?
I don’t understand
—
" Michael’s words stopped dead in his mouth as the vampires adjusted their path and moved to attack once more.

"Get ready!” Von Struck needlessly shouted.
"To your ranks!
Here they come!”

Chapter 62

"The humans are still firing their silver bullets. How are we meant to assemble around the tree if we’re going to be shot at by flying silver?
”

Lilith, sitting comfortably in a chair holding her beloved book, answered him with unusual calm. "We will assemble the names in a circle behind the ten shrines.” She looked up to him and clarified her plan. "The buildings will shield us from their bullets, but we will all be present and waiting for Utu to arrive.”

The Dracyl roared in expectation, raising his arms in victory. "Yes, they will waste their ammunition on the bricks of my shrines and we will wait for Utu to come and release us from our chains!" Then with tiger-like energy, he turned and pounced on Maria.
"And my brother, Demon?
You promised me my brother. We must all be there.” He grabbed her shoulders and pushed down with all his weight in an attempt to scare her. "You promised me, Demon. Don’t
forget what happens to failure
—
”

Her eyes shot fire as she turned her head towards him. She sat back up and pushed herself against his weight
.
"I know what I promised, Dracyl. I know what you want and only I can deliver it."

Shocked by her show of defiance, he took the weight off her and she stood abr
uptly to face him. "Know this, V
ampire, I was once weak but now, as the hour of my rebirth draws near, I am strong again. Strong again and getti
ng stronger.
" She took a step forward and he backed off. “Only I can deliver you from Utu’s curse, so don’t try to scare me with your petty tantrums." She clutched the book to her chest. "Do you understand me?”

He glared at her in anger and broke the silence by kicking the table. "Assemble the names, Demon. We have
work
to do."

*  *  *

Borkin had to get up off of the floor. The pain o
f the cold was too much for him.
He had to move around to get some blood circulation going. Much as he disliked the idea of going over to the SS soldiers, he could see no alternative.

Alone in the wood, the vampires would surely find him. At least with the Germans he had a chance. He’d watched the battle and the new machine guns with great interest. The Germans were impressive in their teamwork. They knew each other and reacted as one to the differing situations. Borkin had always wanted to belong to such a team, and he was sure the Germans would only be too happy to add another man to their ranks. All the same, he decided to wait a while before showing himself to them.

He stood up slowly and backed into the trees to move his limbs and
hopefully warm up a little.

*  *  *

The next wave was different. Instead of diving as one for the attack, they peeled off and landed around the perimeter of the tree, causing a scramble by the squad to get to their all-round defence positions.

Bernd Grand had the farthest to go to get to his position, and as he ran around the circumference of the Tree, the vampires were already climbing over the barricade.

He charged, firing into them, with Henning close behind him.

Instantly the attacking beasts disintegrated into flame and ashes.

"Nearly empty, Henning,” he called. "Get ready.”

Henning nodded and waited for Grand to kneel down to change mags. Grand was near the barrier when he went down on one knee. Henning took his cue and started to fire over his head. He pulled the trigger and his rifle spat death at the supernatural horde. Then it stopped. "Stoppage!" he screamed over the howl of the vampires. "Bernd, my gun’s jammed. Get away from the barrier.”

But it was too late. A split second after he called over to Grand, a vampire pounced on him. Letting the rifle fall, Henning drew his sword and
sprinted
the couple of yards to the vampire who now held Grand above his head like a trophy. Henning sliced the creature in half and turned to face the next who had scrambled over. Grand lay moaning on the floor and he realised that he was on his own.

The vampires sensed the subtle shift in Henning’s demeanour and, smelling the faint stirrings of fear, they pushed into him. He slashed and hacked but ever more vampires came through the flames of their slain comrades and he was forced to take a step back.

"Bernd, get up!" he screamed as he hacked, but it only moved to excite the vampires who mistook his shouting for panic.

Finally, from his left came the solid thud of bullets hitting flesh. Nau had turned from his arc to give a helping hand, and Henning’s attackers were blasted into nothingness before him.

He renewed the attack with vigour as he realised that the vampires had pushed him away from Grand’s pro
ne body, but it was to no avail
—
the body was gone.

They had suffered their first casualty on the field of battle.

*  *  *

Five minutes later all was quiet again. The vampires had lifted into the air as one and Von Struck immediately counted heads.

"Where’s
—
”

"Where’s Bernd?” Henning finished for him. "They got him. Now we’re only nine again.”

Von Struck stopped as if hit in the face. "Grand is dead?”

Henning nodded morosely. "I had a stoppage. My gun was too hot and I just wasn’t quick enough with
drawing my sword. I’m sorry, I
—
”

"It’s not your fault, Henning.” He patted him on the shoulder. "That could have been any one of us." He looked around at their faces. "Where’s Smith? Where’s the Englander?”

Nobody knew. Smith was also gone.

*  *  *

Maria had called to him as he dashed to his all-round defence position.

"James, what are you doing? Leave there now immediately.” Her soft tones rang through his head.

He stopped and looked around. Michael ran into him from behind
.
"Come on, English. Get out of the way, man.”

He made way, cocked his weapon and waited for Michael to tell him when he needed covering to reload. The voice came again, insistent and demanding. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What the devil is going on?”

"James, come to me, come to me now.”

"English, shoot
,
for God’s sake!" Michael pulled him back to the now, and he raised his rifle and started shooting. The voice came again when he went down to reload. "James, come to me now. Do you hear me?
Now!”

He had no choice. He knew he had to obey. Every fibre in his body demanded he go to Maria. Dropping his weapons, he stood up, jumped the barrier and walked into the throng of vampires who made way and closed around him. No move was made to harm him.

The voice spoke to him, telling him where to go, directing him in the silken tones of a lover. "There
,
my love, come to me, come to m
e as you did on our first night ...
”
On and on the voice crooned until he found himself standing at the back of one of the buildings that surrounded the
t
ree.

"Stay there now, my love. I will come for you when you are needed.”
So Smith stayed where he was and waited.

*  *  *

Borkin watched Smith in amazement. He saw him drop his rifle and sword and skip the barrier. He could hardly look, expecting that at any moment the vampires would pounce and rip him to shreds, but it never
happened and they meekly made way for him.

He saw the body of one of the Germans being lifted by a vampire. The creature was killed immediately but the swell of movement in that area told him that all was not well on that front.

He observed the whole scene as it played out before him and watched in awe as he saw Stephanie handling her machine gun like a seasoned veteran. He bit himself in excitement and fear, and decided he had to help. This was a fight for humanity and he would do his part.

As the vampires left, he crept forward from of his hiding place.

"Don’t shoot," he yelled in their direction. "Don’t shoot, I want to help.”

"Who the hell is that?" Nau said pointing at Borkin as he left the cover of the foliage.

"A Russian!
What’s Ivan doing here?" Henning challenged.

Stephanie had heard Olaf and ran around to explain his presence. "He’s Russian. He’s a good man and he can help us.”

Michael cut any conversation on his future short. "If he can fight, he can help us. Do you know him?”

She nodded. "He was our escort back here. It’s a long story but we were meant to be looking for the concentration camp here when we were attacked.”

"You know this man?” It was Rohleder, sounding slightly betrayed.

"Michael, if he can fight, we’ll have him. You can sort this all out with your woman after the fighting, ok?" Von Struck broke in.

"If he makes it here.
Look," Inselman said, pointing to the sky above the Russian. "They’ve seen him too.”

A group of vampires were screaming down at full pelt. The speed of their descent was terrifying and it took a second for Von Struck to galvanise the troops to action. The burst of fire destroyed all but one of the creatures who landed heavily on Borkin.

*  *  *

Borkin saw them raise their weapons and feared for the worst. He wanted to help them, didn’t they understand that? He lifted his arms to shout that they shouldn’t shoot just as they started to blaze away at the sky above him. He looked up just in time to catch the last vampire as it landed on him.

He fell on his back and kicked up against the chest of his assailant but the vampire came back at him with a frightening speed. Borkin could only hold it off with his boots while his mind grasped for a way to kill it. Inside the space of a heartbeat, a thousand ideas flitted through his head and all of them useless. All he could hope for was that he somehow managed to kick the vampire upwards so that the SS could
shoot it dead.

He drew his knees in again to push upwards. The creature hissed in anticipation and a sliver of drool fell on Borkin’s chin. The vampire flayed his claws at him and pushed downwards.

Suddenly Borkin couldn’t move. The weight of the creature was too much and he felt it pushing down to reach him. It grasped his head with both hands and slowly pulled his head towards the
its
gnashing fangs. A fetid blast of the vampire’s exhaled breath hit him full in the face and he gagged, momentarily loosing the strength in his legs. That was enough, and with a snarl of triumph the creature pulled him up to his mouth.

Then, from behind, a shadow fell over them and suddenly the vampire’s head was no more. The body stopped all motion and he managed to kick it off him, still spurting its black blood.