“No. The Hindernis wanted it.” She looked up into his face, her eyes shining with a fragile emotion. “What about Pilgrim?”
Wolfgang didn’t know how to get back to the wood outside of Marie’s family home where they had left him. He struggled to answer her as his eyes wandered, searching the door between the two places as if a solution could be found there. “We have to leave him.” He grimaced and mirrored her concern in his eyes. “We have to go this way. There’s no other choice.”
She nodded.
They arrived on Wetterseestraße as if they had entered through the door of a house on the block. Wolfgang felt anger and fear slide not for the first nor last time that night into his stomach: This street—his street, where his family had lived and where he was raised—had turned red.
“Quick, huh?” Pilgrim said. “Too bad we’re right back where we started.”
Wolfgang stopped dead. He was seeing a ghost. “How did you get here?”
The great horse stomped a forefoot. “Same way you did.” Marie rushed up to greet Pilgrim and threw her arms around him. “That place got sick of us pretty fast, huh?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well I only waited for you about two seconds before this door opened up. I looked through it and there you were, on Wettersee. So I went through.”
Nobody knew what to say for long moments when Marie found her voice: The movement of creatures in the street broke the trance. “We better get out of here. Fast.”
“Too late.” Pilgrim nodded toward a pair approaching them. All three turned to face them.
Wolfgang noticed the girl about his age moving across the street first and was sure that she didn't belong here, that she came from another place, perhaps the same place Wolfgang and his father had come from so long ago. Her clothes, for one thing, were better suited for fall or winter, not a summer evening. Her coat was slightly off-white with pairs of black buttons down the front in a military style, and she wore jeans with black boots. If she'd had a hat or gloves, she had abandoned these, but she still wore a scarf, and this was a pale rose, which softened the starkness of her long, black hair. Her blue eyes, hiding behind dark rimmed glasses, also provided a strange softening contrast to the somber glasses and her palest of skin, and Wolfgang had almost thought she was a vampire, except that there was no blood thirst and no look of apathy or regret in her eyes, only wonder. And that was a look he was all too familiar with from the humans he had met who came to Doors to seek the transformations which they thought would bring them glory or fame in their own worlds, but ended up bringing neither. Fools gold. Did they think they could just leave, after MOON had given them such a powerful gift? Would MOON give up new soldiers in their quest to possess Doors? Everything comes with a cost, and so it was no less here. Power meant sacrifice. There never was any other way.
Wolfgang recoiled in loathing when he saw who accompanied her. He began to feel like the entire world was turning inside out. Maybe he had stepped through a portal into an alternate universe, because, as strange as Doors could be, the city had never before hit him with so many mind-bending events all at once like this. It seemed, now that the deluge of weirdness had started, that there was no holding it back. Raphael sneered back at him with equal revulsion; the vampire had begun the process of warming up to Marie, no doubt, before noticing that Wolfgang had begun chatting with his prey. There was never a moment that a vampire wasn't hunting something. But, then again, when gutted by the burning of eternal hunger, Wolfgang wasn't so sure he wouldn't do the same thing. If a shark could take human form, it would have been Raphael. "What's going on?"
"Easy," Raphael said. "I'm doing what you should be doing: Assisting Marie."
"Yeah, I saw that. And now?"
"I am escorting this lovely young woman," —he nodded toward the startled newcomer— "Leonie, to MOON to begin her new life."
"Through what's about to become a war zone?"
"War zone?" Raphael chuckled over the word. "I think the war’s already been won. SUN doesn't need the neighborhood anymore. Who’s still living here? You?" He shook his head. "Pathetic." All the time he was speaking he was walking so that, by the time he got up to Wolfgang, he was close and whispering, intimate and threatening. "You better run while you still can."
Wolfgang didn't like the vampire this close. It was probably a test to see how he would react, to see how easy it would be to get within Wolfgang's defenses. The vampire's breath, heavy with the iron scent of blood, was sickening, but his glamour was strong and hid what Wolfgang had witnessed before: The glassy black eyes, the bone white skin. He wouldn't let his glamour down so long as his new prey could see him. Raphael's eyes were pale green and clear, like a new emerald, without flecks of brown or gold. He wondered if he should strike him with Vogelfang and make the glamour slip to show Leonie what she was really in for; but decided against it. Inciting Raphael was like teasing a wasp—most of its small mind was devoted to revenge. Decisions having been made by both men, the moment passed, and Raphael stepped back to stand beside his charge. "Care to join us?" he asked with none of the venom that had swelled in his voice only moments before.
Ignoring Raphael's question for the moment, Wolfgang said, "Maybe you should have told her about the conflict here before you dragged her into Doors. But I guess the right thing to do is never your first thought." And then, to Leonie, "That's not true, is it? About joining MOON."
Slim, dark eyebrows rose above thick rims into a cascade of raven hair. "Question's a bit personal for a guy I don't even know," she said.
"You can't know Raphael any better than you know me," Wolfgang argued, "and yet, you'll let him turn you into a monster."
"A monster just like you," she said. "Just like everyone else here." Wolfgang laughed. Marie just rolled her eyes. Leonie's brows came together, revealing that she thought she had become the butt of a joke. "Right?"
"No," Wolfgang said. "I'm human. Just like you. And if you were smart, you'd stay away from Raphael." Turning a hard stare to the man in question, he added, "Vampires are not to be trusted."
"Watch out. You might one day eat those words," Raphael replied.
"Eat those words? What, there's such a thing as a selfless vampire? That's absurd," Wolfgang practically spat back.
"We help our own," Raphael replied.
“Even if that’s true, she’s not one of you, is she?” Wolfgang was becoming convinced that he needed to join SUN and do some heavy recruiting, if only for the pleasure of seeing scavengers like Raphael banished from Doors forever. Trouble was, not being a monster, how would Wolfgang leave routinely to bring humans into the city? And if he did change, everything about him would change, and his motives would cease to be pure.
"Wait a minute," Leonie interrupted. "You're not a vampire, too?" She looked him up and down, maybe searching for some proof either way. "Raphael told me that here, only the strongest survive. How can you manage to stay alive?" Raphael snorted and Marie chuckled under her breath at the insult but held her tongue. Blushing at her mistake, Leonie explained, "As a human, I mean."
Forgiving Leonie, Wolfgang ignored the slight. "Simple," he said. "You haven't figured it out yet? He's lying to you. About everything."
"It's not a lie to say that life here is hard," Marie muttered. Wolfgang grit his teeth. He hated it when she defended Raphael. Okay, the guy's got a habit of siding with her, even against his own faction. That won her over. But not enough for her to betray what she knows is right. He gave Marie a doubtful look, and saw that she wasn't even looking at him, but at the vampire, and her expression told him that she did not feel as nauseous as he felt when he did the same. Who am I kidding, Wolfgang thought. The Fair Folk have no sense of right and wrong. "I sometimes wonder how I do it myself. And I'm fae."
"Fae?"
"Fair Folk," Raphael explained to the girl. "Or faerie. The Fair are born the way they are. Not like those of us who, regrettably, aren't human anymore," he said with mock sorrow. "Or forge
t they ever were."
"I can't picture you as a human anymore," Wolfgang said. "Your life must have been complete shit to want to become a corpse."
Raphael reacted faster than Wolfgang thought possible; he must have read the words off his lips instead of waiting for the sound to travel. He lunged for Wolfgang and grabbed him hard around the throat with one hand. "What's to stop me from turning you right here and now?"
Reaching up with Vogelfang still in his hand, he gave Raphael a taste of the iron and silver artifact. The vampire let him go and staggered back a bit. His glamour did waver, but just for a moment, not long enough for anyone to see his true form. "Is that what you did to Johnny? Did you choose his loyalty for him?" Wolfgang shouted with all the venom he felt. “Gave him no choice but to join?”
"You don't have to force the willing. Who wants to be a loser?" Eyeing Wolfgang seemed to answer his question. "Oh, right," he simpered. "So, are you two going to hold back the tide of MOON as they fill up the neighborhood as we speak? Did your faction decide they've had enough?"
"I know I've had enough," Wolfgang replied. Of you, he thought. Of this town. "I figured Johnny must be working for MOON."
Raphael dusted himself off as if nothing had happened and gave Wolfgang a suggestive smile. "Let's just say that the war is stepping up and I have been asked to do my part to find more recruits. Whatever is between you and Johnny Merriweather is irrelevant to my interests."
"Thanks for the non-answer, Ra-fail," Wolfgang commented on the monster's typical ambivalence.
"Your talents are wasted at SUN," Raphael said to Marie. "I really thought you were cleverer than to let them use you. Are you going to be the only one left at SUN? As much as it kills me to offer it to both of you--excuse me, Dapplegrim, I mean, the three of you--would you like to join Leonie here in her efforts to become something better than she is?" Raphael turned then and showed his jagged smile to Leonie, not changing it in the least: An animalistic grid of teeth, the smile of a predator. "Not that that is an easy feat," he told her, "considering how perfect you already are." Leonie did not return the smile.
Wolfgang replied, "If I wanted to join MOON, I'm sure I'd have no trouble finding you to let you know. You keep turning up like a bad rash."
"I wouldn't know about that kind of thing, but if you do, fair enough," said Raphael. "Marie? Anyone?" he asked, but they had already turned away.
"Come, my dear," he said to Leonie. "We have a long night ahead of us."
"Wait," Leonie said, catching Wolfgang's gaze and looking deep into his eyes. "I don't even know your name."
"Wolfgang Schäfer," he said, gazing back. He vaguely wondered what she was searching for. Did humans in that other place know how to see the soul? There was so much his father never told him about the human world...but maybe she could.
"You know, you look like someone I--" Leonie gasped as if she had been stung. "Wait. Did you say, 'Wolfgang Schäfer?'"
Marie began to look interested.
"Yes," he said. "Why?"
"I know who you are! You're that kid who killed his stepfather." Her dark blue eyes carried a measure of fear. "They never caught you, did they? And they'll never catch you now."
"I don't know what you mean," Wolfgang said with sincerity. "I never killed anyone."
"I know it's you. I recognize you. From the Internet." Studying his face warily, as if he were a snarling dog and she wanted to remember him in case she got mauled, she conceded while gesturing, "Except, maybe your hair is shorter. And, okay, you're wearing glasses now. But it's not a very good disguise."
Wolfgang shared a concerned look with Marie. "Did I give a reason why?"
"Why what?"
"Why I killed my stepfather."
She shrugged. "The article wasn't that--"
A sudden horrible thought overtook him, and he asked a little too anxiously, "Did I kill my mother?"
She took a step or two away from him before asking, "Excuse me?"
"Did I kill my mother?"
Her eyes rolled upward thoughtfully a little before she answered, "No."
"Good," he said in a voice filled with relief. "Good."
"Why are you asking me?" She looked to Marie perhaps for a clue as to Wolfgang's state of mind. Finding none, she turned back to him. "Don't you remember, or something?"
"I'm sure if I killed people I would remember it," Wolfgang said. "You should come with us. This city really is no place for a lone human. Especially partnered with a freak." Everything about Raphael's face narrowed except for his mouth which grew into a long line.
She scrunched up her cheeks in a sarcastic smile, dimples punctuating perfect lips. "Hmm...let me see. A vampire or a murderer. Great choice."
"I'm telling you, that wasn't me. I have a…a twin."
Her face pinched in disbelief. Her mouth opened slightly with the wince, just enough to show off her white front teeth. "With the same name?"
"Yeah, well," Wolfgang said, "like you pointed out, it's not easy to tell us apart, right?" She snapped her mouth shut and frowned, thinking. "He's taken my life in your world," he explained, "but I won't let him take it in mine."
Raphael smirked at this.
"I think I'll take my chances with the vampire," Leonie said, returning to stand beside Raphael.
"Look, I understand how you feel," Wolfgang said. "You think that's what you want, but it's not, trust me."
"How do you know what I want?" she said, her mouth drawing out the same long line as Raphael's had.
"I'm human too," he replied, and as soon as it came out he realized how weak an argument it was.
"So what? You're probably crazy," she argued.
"I've seen lots of people come here and make the same mistake," he said, struggling to convince her, not for his own sake this time, not so that she would stay and tell him about that other world, but for hers, so that she would not lose her humanity.
Marie put out a hand to hold him back as Leonie and Raphael walked away. "You can't worry about her," Marie said. "You have to let her make her own decision."
"By then, it'll be too late." Wolfgang sighed. "But at least I've welcomed another monster to town," he said sarcastically.
"Another enemy," Marie added. For the first time in a long time, Marie made no effort to hide the emotion in her voice: Sadness.
If there was one thing that he hated more than anything else it was to hear that sound in her voice. And he hated himself for being the cause of it as he saw things. Was it Leonie’s destiny to become an enemy? No, maybe not, Wolfgang thought. Not if I can turn this around.
"You might want to at least consider leaving with me," Raphael said to the group. "There's really not much point anymore in staying here."
If thoughts were lightning, a plan struck Wolfgang so hard that he could think of nothing else. He felt alive, energized, inspired. It would work. He was sure. “Well, all right,” Wolfgang said. “I’ll come along.” Suddenly commanding everyone’s attention, he jogged a few steps more to the curb where the couple had stopped.
“What do you mean, you’ll—”
“I mean, I’ll take you up on your offer,” he said, interrupting Raphael. “I’ll come along, join MOON.”
“But you’re not even a fae.”
“We can fix that. So everyone tells me. Right?” He flashed them all his best shit-eating grin.
“He’s just making fun of us,” Leonie said.
“No, no,” Raphael said to her with a wave of his hand by means to silence her. Then, to Wolfgang, “I know you’re not serious about this, but fine, if this game you’re playing means that much to you, then by all means, come along. I have orders not to turn anyone away.”
Pilgrim pawed the sidewalk with a hoof. "I hope you know what you're doing, Chief," he said. "I'll see you in the morning." He trotted off, gray and ghostly beneath the orange streetlights. Wolfgang was sorry to see him go.
Raphael slipped Marie a meaningful look. “You coming, too? You’ll be my speci
al guest.”
“If you mean it, why not?” she replied. “You got anything to eat in that house of yours?”
“I’m sure I can whip something out. Up. I said, ‘up,’” he insisted.
Marie gave a little smile, one corner upturned. “I know you did.”
Chapter 11
RAPHAEL TOOK THEM ACROSS TOWN through the subway. If Wolfgang had not been so tired he probably would not have felt so cold. But the clicking of the subway train only served to lull him to sleep and if he had not been traveling with others he would have missed his stop altogether. Marie’s warm hand woke him like sunshine on his face and she led him off the train. As they walked, she disappeared strategically for as long as she was able so it would not be obvious to others that she was traveling with a member of MOON.
The rich and impressive neighborhood where Raphael’s house stood reminded Wolfgang of the No Man’s Land they had left only a few short hours ago and in fact was not far from it. Wolfgang remarked that Raphael seemed to be doing well for himself, but Raphael did not reply. The large house, by some standards a mansion in its own right, sat hunkered away from the street in a respectable garden beneath sheltering pines. The group entered the house through a back door and ascended a set of narrow stairs immediately to the right. At the top of the stairs was a small kitchenette, complete with table and chairs. "There are guest rooms down the hall,” Raphael said, and gestured to doors on either side toward the end of the narrow passage. Marie spoke up about her and Leonie sharing one, relief visible on Leonie’s face that she had stepped up and volunteered, thus saving her from having to room with a man she didn’t know. That left the one opposite for Wolfgang alone, which he was just fine with. His mind kept repeating the early evening in the Hindernis, his father’s dead face, and the little card, white as the moon. He wanted to examine the card again, but not in front of Raphael. He didn’t want to give him any clues that anything was wrong with SUN, or him, or his father. All he wanted was to eat and go to sleep, and get another chance to convince Leonie that a monster’s life was not for her.
Ghost of Doors (City of Doors) Page 11
