The Vampire Burns

by Amy Cross

  “It won't,” I said firmly.

  “And he wants to change that.”

  “Change it?” I waited for him to continue. “How?”

  “You want to go home, Chloe,” he replied, “and we're going to send you home. Tonight, I hope. We're going to send you right back to where and when you came from.”

  “What's the catch?” I asked.

  He hesitated again, and then he turned to me.

  “You won't be going alone,” he added finally. “Klaus Zieghoff is willing to take more risks now, and he's going to go with you. To the future, I mean. He's going to find out why Germany lost the war, and then he's going to come back and make sure that they win instead.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chloe

  “No!” I screamed, as soldiers forced me along the corridor and through the large doorway at the far end. “I won't do this! I refuse!”

  For a moment, I managed to twist free. I turned to run, but I was immediately grabbed again and this time they held me even tighter. Two other soldiers ran the other way, clearly panicked, and I heard them shouting at one another.

  “There's no point fighting back,” Hugo said calmly, walking behind us. “This is simply what's going to happen now, Chloe. It's too late to stop it.”

  “You're a liar!” I yelled, before turning and looking out across the large hall. “None of this is ever going to -”

  Stopping suddenly, I realized that there were a dozen hooded figures at the far end of the room. I looked all around as it slowly dawned on me that I'd seen these people before. They'd been standing around me when I first arrived in 1942, they'd been part of whatever insane ritual Zieghoff had been performing. I had no idea who any of them were, but they seemed to be deeply involved in Zieghoff's plans. And now they were back for more.

  One of the figures turned to me, and I saw a sickly smile on a pale, gaunt face.

  “You're just delaying matters,” Hugo whispered behind me. “You won't get hurt, Chloe. Not if you cooperate.”

  “You want me to help this monster,” I replied, seeing Zieghoff waiting at the far end of the chamber. “You want me to help him win the war.”

  “You and I are in exactly the same position,” he said, sounding irritated by my resistance. “We have to do what's right for us. Anyway, how do you know that it's even possible to change the course of history. It might be the case that by helping Zieghoff, you ensure the Nazis' defeat.”

  “I don't think time travel was mentioned in my school textbook.”

  “Neither were vampires, I'm sure, but... Well, a lot goes on that the textbooks don't get to cover. Now move.”

  “But -”

  “Trust me!” he hissed, as he nudged me gently in the small of my back. “I've got this covered. I didn't get this far in life by being a complete idiot.”

  He nudged me again, and this time I accepted that I had to walk. I made my way past the hooded figures, and I heard a creepy creaking sound as they all slowly turned their heads to watch me. I glanced at a few of them, I was struck by the sense of appetite in their expressions, as if they were keenly anticipating something that they desperately wanted. Every bone in my body was trying to stop me going forward, but Hugo was still right behind me and – as I reached Zieghoff – I knew that there was no point trying to run.

  Looking down, I saw thirteen small bottles, each containing what seemed to be some kind of black liquid.

  “You and I are going on a journey,” Zieghoff said, his voice filled with great excitement. “We're going to journey to this future of yours, Ms. Carter, and then I shall learn everything that happened. Upon my return to this time period, I can then set right any... mistakes that might have slipped into our war strategy. I always anticipated that my research into the supernatural would pay dividends, but I have to admit that I did not quite expect the success to occur on such a grand scale. You are so much more valuable to me than a witch.”

  “I'm not going to do this,” I stammered. “I can't do this. I don't know how to, I can't just snap my fingers are send us shooting through time.”

  “Of course you can't,” he replied, “but fortunately Hugo has managed to work out the mechanics.”

  I turned, and Hugo stared at me for a moment before nodding gently.

  “How?” I asked.

  “I went into your mind, Chloe,” he admitted.

  “When?”

  He hesitated.

  “Just now,” he said finally. “While we were talking, while I was distracting you. I'm sorry, but I had to see your memories of the future.” A flicker of anger ran up one side of his face. “Those were some interesting events that happened right before you traveled back here. I can understand why you wanted to keep them from me.”

  “You can't have been in my mind,” I told him. “I didn't feel you in there.”

  “All it takes is practice,” he replied. “I was very quiet in there. I'm sorry, I only did it because I had no other choice.”

  “We will not be traveling alone!” Zieghoff announced loudly. “My twelve most loyal followers will be journeying with me, and we shall have more than mere human blood in our veins.”

  Turning, I saw that he was looking down at the thirteen bottles.

  “Hugo Bane has distilled the vampire essence into a serum that will change us all,” Zieghoff continued. “We will have the strength of the vampire race surging through our bodies. The power of their minds. We thirteen will form an unstoppable army, and I shall be at their head. I have long felt that our leaders in Berlin were failing in their task of winning this war. Perhaps it is time for some new leaders. And if I am to be the one who turns the tide in our favor, then should I not also receive the glory of victory?”

  “You can't be serious,” I said, as I began to realize that he'd lost his mind. “I won't let this happen!”

  I rushed forward to smash the bottles, but Hugo grabbed my arms and pulled me back.

  “No!” I screamed, as the robed figures began to make their way forward, and as Zieghoff handed them each a bottle. “Stop! This is crazy!”

  “It's happening, Chloe,” Hugo hissed in my ear as he pulled me away. “You can't stop it.”

  “I might not know much about history,” I snapped, “but I'm pretty damn sure there was nothing in the textbooks about time-traveling vampire Nazis!”

  “If this is what it takes to save Judith,” he replied, “then I have no choice.”

  I turned to him and saw the sadness in his eyes.

  “You'd change all of history, just to save one person?” I asked.

  “I love her,” he said plainly. “There's nothing in the whole world that I won't do to save her.”

  “But you'd seriously change -”

  “Yes!” he snapped angrily. “A thousand times, yes! To save Judith, of course I would! I'd do anything!”

  I stared at him, but it was clear that there was no way to reason with him. He clearly hated what he'd done, but at the same time he wasn't willing to admit that he was wrong. In his eyes, saving Judith from Zieghoff's clutches was the most important thing in the whole world. It would have been cute and brave and admirable, if not for the time-traveling vampire Nazis he was about to unleash upon the world.

  “I'm sure everything will be fine,” he explained. “Time can't be so easily changed, history isn't that fragile. I've studied ancient texts, and I'm convinced that the course of history is basically set.”

  “But you don't know that!” I pointed out. “You're risking the fate of the world!”

  “It's a calculated risk,” he replied, before looking past me, “and anyway, it's too late to back out now.” He hesitated, and I could see the fear in his eyes. “It's done.”

  Turning, I watched as the last of the hooded figures drank from the bottles.

  “And now they're going to turn into vampires?” I asked. “Is it really that easy?”

  “Creating the serum wasn't easy,” Hugo replied. “I had to -”

  Sudd
enly one of the figures cried out and stumbled forward, before dropping to his knees. Clutching his belly, he seemed to be in absolute agony, and a moment later two more of the figures did the same thing. I watched as the rest followed, and finally they were all screaming as if they were in terrible pain.

  “This isn't supposed to happen,” Hugo said, sounding worried. “Something must have gone wrong, they -”

  Before he could finish, Zieghoff started bellowing with laughter. Looking over at him, I saw that he seemed gripped by some kind of immense pleasure. As the hooded figures died one by one on the ground between us, I realized that Zieghoff was enjoying every moment of their pain.

  “What is this?” Hugo whispered. “I don't understand.”

  “My dear Mr. Bane,” Zieghoff chuckled, “I'm terribly sorry, but I've been rethinking our little plan. And I've come up with a much, much better idea.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chloe

  “What did you do?” Hugo asked, stepping past me and heading toward Zieghoff. “Did you kill them?”

  Zieghoff slumped in a chair at the far end of the room, but he was still laughing.

  “What did you do?” Hugo shouted.

  “I looked at those thirteen little bottles,” Zieghoff replied, “and I thought that it would be such a waste to share them out. After all, my followers seemed to have outlived their usefulness, and I didn't particularly feel the need to follow through and reward them. If I'd turned them into vampires, they'd have been uncontrollable.” He hesitated. “So I made sure that, instead, they drank a mixture that we use for killing rats.”

  Looking down at one of the figures, I saw that his dead eyes were bulging from their sockets, and that a kind of dark liquid was slowly dribbling from one corner of his mouth.

  “What did you do with the serum, Zieghoff?” Hugo asked.

  In response, Zieghoff merely chuckled.

  “What did you do with it?” Hugo snapped. “That serum was carefully measured out so that it would provide the correct dose. I even adjusted it for the weights and body masses of the individuals.”

  “Such precision,” Zieghoff muttered. “How commendable.”

  “What do you do?” Hugo shouted.

  “I did what anyone would have done in my position,” Zieghoff replied, holding his hands out and grinning. “I took the power I was going to give to others, and I kept it for myself. That's basic human nature, Mr. Bane.”

  “What does he mean?” I asked. “Hugo, what has he done?”

  “You're insane,” Hugo said, taking a cautious step toward Zieghoff. “You can't have done what I think you've done. Please, tell me I'm wrong. Even for you, Klaus Zieghoff, that would be a monumental mistake.”

  “I looked into his eyes,” Zieghoff replied. “When he came here, I mean. When he came and saved you, Ms. Carter. For one moment, I saw the endless anger and fury that exists within Matthias's soul, and I realized that I had to possess that same power. Not share it with others, not dilute it... I had to be that powerful. Or more powerful, even. And what use is power, when others around you share it? There's no -”

  Suddenly he flinched, and for a moment he gripped his belly.

  “There's no looking back now,” he continued, gasping slightly. “Why bother raising an army, when I can just win the war all by myself? I might as well just be the army myself.”

  “We had a plan!” Hugo snapped. “It was a good plan, it was going to work.”

  “I have a better plan!” Zieghoff gurgled, clearly in some discomfort. “Thirteen little bottles of serum slipped down the hatch so easily. And now I shall not just become a vampire. I shall not just be one among many. I shall become the greatest, strongest, most powerful vampire that ever lived.” He winced slightly, but still he laughed, although the laughter was slowly becoming a kind of slow, disturbing giggle. “You're right to look scared, Mr. Bane. Once my transformation is complete, I'll be strong enough to rule the entire world.”

  “That's not how it's going to work,” Hugo told him. “No one body can contain that much power. It's too much.”

  “We'll see about that,” Zieghoff replied, getting to his feet and stepping toward us. “Soon I'll -”

  He stopped suddenly, and for a moment he looked strangely calm. Then, finally, he let out a cry of pain and slumped forward, landing on his knees and then bowing his head as his whole body began to tremble.

  “It's too much!” Hugo shouted. “Zieghoff, you don't understand, I wasn't really creating the other twelve vampires so that they could go with you! That wasn't the plan, the plan was to use them for the time travel. That's how Chloe Carter ended up here in the first place. When vampires die, their bodies unleash a huge amount of energy, and that energy somehow transported Chloe when...” He paused. “When my brother died in the future,” he added finally.

  Zieghoff tried to reply, but all that emerged from his lips was a faint groan.

  “The other twelve vampires would have been fresh, and still weak,” Hugo explained, “but twelve of them dying at the same time... I was going to destroy them all, moments after they were transformed, and that was the fuel that was going to send you and Chloe to the future. I didn't explain that part before, because I didn't think you'd listen. And now you've destroyed the plan, you killed them before they could be changed. It was the perfect plan, it was going to work!”

  Again, Zieghoff could only manage a few slurred, whispered words. He tried to stand up, but at the last moment he let out a gasp and looked at us, and I saw that blood was pouring from his eyes. Then, as he opened his mouth to scream, he sighed and slumped forward, landing dead on the cold stone floor.

  “You idiot,” Hugo sneered, stepping toward his body. “I knew the encounter with Matthias had driven you insane, but I didn't realize just how far your mind had deteriorated. I laid out a perfect plan for you, and you squandered it all.” He paused. “I suppose there's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere. A lesson about humans and their constant need for power.” He kicked Zieghoff's shoulder, and then he turned and walked back toward me. “Greed,” he continued. “Humans are not alone in succumbing to its power, but they tend to do so in the most spectacular of ways.”

  He stopped and offered me a faint, sad smile.

  “There you go, Ms. Carter,” he continued. “I believe your precious future history has been safeguarded.”

  “I'm pretty sure that there's no mention of any of this in the history books,” I pointed out.

  He shrugged.

  “How can huge things like this really get swept under the carpet?” I asked. “Vampires. Time travel. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I don't understand, as well. Werewolves?”

  “Oh, they're real,” Hugo replied.

  “Zombies?”

  “There have been a few outbreaks.”

  I thought for a moment.

  “Unicorns?” I asked finally.

  “Complicated.”

  “Ghosts?”

  “Ever-present.”

  “And how do I get home?”

  “There'll be time to figure that out,” he replied, “but right now I need to go and find Judith. She's somewhere in the dungeons here, and Zieghoff's men might still put up something of a fight. The ones who haven't already fled once they learned of his insanity, at least. Everything's under control, but I have to get Judith away from this wretched place. Wait here, and I'll be right back.”

  He moved to step around me, but suddenly I grabbed his shoulder as I saw something moving nearby.

  “It's okay,” Hugo said, “I'm just -”

  “You said Zieghoff made a mistake, right?” I replied, as a sense of fear began to fill my chest. “You said he shouldn't have drunk all the serum?”

  “Exactly. It's kind of pathetic, really, but -”

  “I think maybe you might want to rethink that,” I said, forcing him to turn and look toward the other end of the room. “I think maybe we have a problem.”

  He turned, and we bo
th stood and watched in horror as Klaus Zieghoff's shuddering, rippling figure rose from the ground and got back on its feet. His head was bowed, but after a moment he looked straight at us, and his eyes burned bright as he opened his mouth and revealed a set of large, razor-sharp fangs. Flames were rippling across his body, as if he was about to burn at any moment. Finally a low, angry growl emerged from his mouth.

  “Okay, Hugo,” I said cautiously, resisting the urge to scream, “do you still think you've got this situation under control?”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chloe

  “I feel it in my veins,” Zieghoff gasped as he held out his left hand and examined his darkened, charred skin. “Such power. Such energy. Such strength.”

  “Zieghoff,” Hugo said cautiously, stepping toward him, “I want you to listen very carefully to me.”

  “Listen to you?” Zieghoff replied, still looking at his own hand with a sense of wonder. “I can barely even hear you. You're completely insignificant, all of you.”

  “Zieghoff -”

  “What am I?” Zieghoff asked.

  Hugo hesitated.

  “You don't even know, do you?” Zieghoff sneered, standing up straight as ripples of fire continued to dance across his body. His face was burned now, but he seemed to be in no pain at all. “I see it in your eyes. You always thought that you knew everything, but now you're scared. You thought it was impossible to absorb all the serum in one body, but you were wrong. I dared to go beyond the limits of your knowledge, and now look at me. I'm the most powerful vampire that ever lived.”

  “I'm not quite sure that's what's happening here,” Hugo said. “Let me examine you, Zieghoff. Let me try to understand what all that serum did to you.”

  “Examine me?” Zieghoff replied. “You're not even worthy of being in the same room as me, let alone touching me.”

  “I'm a scientist,” Hugo said firmly, “and I -”

  “No!” Zieghoff roared, raising his right hand, and in that instant Hugo was sent flying across the room until he slammed against the far wall and then fell to the floor.