by Jack Conner
“Somehow we’ve gotta beat them,” she said. “The Balaklava. They may be stronger than us, but I bet we could figure out a way to trap ‘em.”
He said nothing, but he knew from legend that Junger and Jagoda, as well as being extremely brutal, were quite intelligent, too.
“The question is what they have to gain by all this,” he said. “Surely more than money’s at stake.”
She rose from the bed and walked naked to the sliding glass door, which led to the bedroom's terrace, and flung open the door. The wind whipped her sweaty hair, and she paused on the threshold. Becoming accustomed to the chill, she stepped outside. The storm thundered and crashed about the compound, and the rain flung its icy self down on her exposed skin. The rain mixed with her recent sweat and washed it away. She opened her mouth playfully and let the rain attempt to drown her.
Lightning cracked close by, and she laughed. The stark light caressed her glistening body, and Ruegger felt himself aroused again. Slipping from the clammy sheets, he followed Danielle onto the terrace. Thunder smashed against the house, and she spit her water out so she could growl into the storm. It didn't scare easily, however, and the thunder sounded again, more loudly.
"Oh, yeah?" she roared. "Come and get me if you can!"
Lightning blew open a nearby pine. The crack echoed against the walls and the smell of charred wood wafted through the choppy night.
"So you wanna play rough," she said and began yelling obscenities into the storm.
A blast struck down another pine, this one even closer.
"I think you're losing," Ruegger said.
Thunder roared again, but seemingly from within the house. Then it roared again, only it wasn't thunder.
Suddenly, the terrace was empty, save for the whipping of the wind. The vampires chased the screams down the hall toward Ludwig's and Malie's bedroom chamber, also in this wing of the house.
They rounded a corner and burst into the room of their friends; the door was splintered and partially torn from its hinges. Five dead and butchered Libertarian guards lay outside.
Blood spattered the room, as well as fragments of bone and flesh. The central remains of Ludwig lay on his bed, his sundered carcass partially hidden by the gusting satin curtains of his four-poster bed, but twisted limbs and shards of gleaming bone and muscle covered the room. One of the wooden columns that held up the canopy to his bed had been snapped off and mounted by Ludwig's severed head.
“No,” Ruegger said, going toward it. “Gods, no.”
There was no sign of Maleasoel.
Frozen rain and wind blew into the gore-haunted room through the one great bay window, now fragmented. Most of the glass had blown outward with the impact, but the force of the wind had swept several glistening shards back in to mingle with the still-wet blood and viscera.
The moonstruck curtains blew like ghosts, and Ruegger and Danielle approached the hole in the bay window slowly. Ruegger leaned out over the icy abyss and strained his eyes to search the gloom. There, on the outskirts of the estate, ran the demons, currently wearing the shapes of great black wolves. The Balaklava vanished into the night.
* * *
The next day, Capt. Raulf D’Aguila was elected leader of Liberty, at least until Maleasoel returned. Whether or not it had orchestrated Ludwig’s death, the dissident faction had gained control; Damaini, who would have been Ludwig’s choice for leader after Maleasoel, was now relegated to second-in-command. Neither Ruegger nor Danielle saw the coronation ceremony or the Captain himself; they were getting drunk in their room, trying to get themselves together and figure out what to do next.
Danielle was concerned for Ruegger. He didn’t even cry, just stared. A great sadness had obviously overwhelmed him and he couldn’t shake it, but he couldn’t seem to release his feelings, either. He’d seen so much of blood and tragedy that his heart had hardened—but, Danielle hoped, not beyond repair.
Why had Junger and Jagoda had killed Ludwig? None could say. But, if the assassins had spoken the truth, Danielle supposed they would be headed for the Castle soon. Leaving Ruegger and Danielle a trail to follow, should they choose to do so. However, if the Dark Lord was sponsoring the actions of Junger and Jagoda, then he would be far less likely to admit the odd flock to his home. And, if he did, he would surely kill them.
Ruegger and Danielle headed south after the funeral, toward their estate in the wilds of Canada. Of course, the funeral was supposed to be a party of sorts, because that was Ludwig’s wish; he’d wanted a celebration of his life, not a lamentation of his passing. His meager remains were burned and scattered over the frozen wasteland by Maleasoel's two winged companions, jandrows like herself but with fair hair and brighter wings. They looked quite heavenly flying above the trees in the shining night, ash falling in a gentle cloud beneath.
Maleasoel had seemingly disappeared. It was widely speculated that the Balaklava must have dragged her off into the wasteland to perform unspeakable acts upon her before rending her limb from limb as they were surely wan to do, but if so neither Ruegger nor Danielle had seen any evidence of it. In any case, she was gone.
Damaini smiled once, only briefly, as Ruegger and Danielle packed their bags.
"Where are you going?" he said.
Danielle closed her eyes, glanced at Ruegger, and sighed.
"Home," she said.
They departed in the same plane they'd arrived in. Damaini waved at the vampire couple as they climbed into the aircraft, which started with a roar and took off at speed into the clouds.
Chapter 6
Six nights later, Danielle was drinking a beer in the hedge maze out back of their estate, her potbellied pig Cerberus beside her, when the parrot called Elvis landed on her arm.
“What the hell?”
“You have visitors in the lobby,” he squawked.
“Van Reisser, it that you?” Normally the bird was controlled either by Ruegger or herself, but sometimes their manservant Van Reisser would send messages through it. All three immortals could control it with their minds.
“Visitors in the lobby,” the bird said again and flew off.
Danielle drained her beer, made her way out of the hedge maze and approached the old mansion. Occasionally she would ask Ruegger about its founding, but he would shrug and grow taciturn, so she’d learned not to ask. There were many things about him she didn't know, and it was infuriating because she knew many shades dramatically older than herself, and these people, she was certain, knew all about him and his past. Yet when she prodded them they invariably said that he should be the one to tell her. Danielle agreed. So I wait. She was tired of waiting.
Once, under his breath, he'd referred to this estate as Casa de Amelia, and she recognized the name of Ruegger's long-dead lover. Otherwise, he wouldn't talk about her.
In any case, the mansion was home, though they only stayed at it a month or so every year. They lived on the road mostly. Danielle called it Mount Vapor because of all the mist shrouding it the first night she’d seen it, and the nickname had stuck.
As she entered the manse through its rear entrance, she wondered where Ruegger was. He’d been brooding since their arrival. Alone, Danielle pushed on through wide stone corridors into the foyer, where a group of soldiers waited impatiently. At their head stood Maleasoel.
Danielle gasped. The jandrow's wings had been ripped off.
“Dear God,” she heard herself say. “Malie, what happened to you?”
“Later.”
Despite her injury, Maleasoel seemed very much in control of herself, with only her lack of humor confirming that she was even aware of her husband's death.
Danielle crossed to the dour Van Reisser, who looked greatly annoyed.
"Where's Ruegger?" Danielle asked.
"In dispose, I believe."
She knew what that meant. "Have him meet us in the private conference room upstairs in ten minutes."
"If you insist."
"I do.” She turned to Maleas
oel. "Please, invite your soldiers inside."
Ludwig’s widow glanced over her shoulder at her men, and this drew Danielle's attention to them for the first time. They seemed to affect a certain look of ... was it disdain?
"I don't think they'd come," Maleasoel said frankly.
"Why?"
"Because you have humans living here with you as equals.”
“We have some small staff, and friends that visit from time to time …”
“My people feel offended and I can't help but feel a little uneasy myself—it's almost unheard of, you know."
“Will you, at least, come in?” When Malie, nodded, Danielle led her upstairs to the conference room. Ruegger was already there, rooting through the cabinets and the mini-refrigerator of the private bar. He came up with salt, limes, a shot glass and a bottle of Cuervo Gold. His eyes stared out, blood-shot and crazed, and dark stubble covered his face.
"Want a—?" he started, then noted Maleasoel's absence of wings. “Dear gods.”
The trio sat down at the large table and stared at each other in silence.
"Okay," Danielle said finally. "What happened?"
Maleasoel downed a shot, then told her story. “Ludwig sensed danger coming and sent me away to a little cabin outside of Barrow just before he was murdered. Later, the Balaklava found me, beat me, raped me, and tore off my wings. They laughed and said for me to never try to fool them again—they would always find me, no matter where I went. I believe them. They probably know where I am right now. They could be outside watching.”
After Ludwig's murder, she said, she’d gathered some loyal troops and gone searching for Junger and Jagoda, but to no avail. She intended to scour the world for them and for answers to his death. Not even she knew why he'd been killed, and she was sure it wasn't just a random act of violence on the part of the Balaklava. With her soldiers, she would find who had hired Junger and Jagoda and rip them limb from limb.
"So what's our involvement in all this?" Ruegger said, after expressing horror at what had happened to her.
"You're involved the same way I am," she said. "The dissidents were using us as blackmail against Ludwig—either he advanced the movement or we would die, one by one. I would be last. I was his wife. Honestly, though, I think he loved you, Ruegger, more than me. That was a miscalculation on the part of the dissidents."
"But he didn't advance."
"No. There was someone else who wanted him to step down, someone who was even more powerful than the dissidents. He employed the same methods as they did, though, using us against Ludwig. This is the one who hired Junger and Jagoda, as well as those sand-rats who attacked you in the desert."
"So Ludwig was stuck between two bad choices and did nothing," Danielle said. “Who was this someone else?"
Malie downed another shot. "I'm not sure. Ludwig tried to keep me in the dark as much as he could, saying that the less I knew the safer I'd be. I wish I'd known even less."
"Who was it?"
Malie let out a breath. "Roche Sarnova. He, or one of his emissaries, was the mysterious visitor you were asking about."
The room fell silent.
"I'm not saying that it was Sarnova who killed him,” Malie added, “although I'm not saying that it wasn't. But it makes sense, doesn't it? Liberty has the second highest concentration of shades ever—Ludwig almost had more direct followers under him than Sarnova himself. So it would follow that Blackie would want Liberty disbanded."
"We think the Balaklava were employed by two people, or at least approached by two,” Ruegger said. “Based on your information, it seems that one of them was Roche Sarnova. Who was the other?"
"Does it matter?"
"Very much. If Junger and Jagoda had followed the orders of Sarnova—if it was he—who seems to have meant to kill us to add further gravity to the threat of killing you next—we’d be dead now. Instead, they followed the instructions of another employer—they hinted as much—for another purpose entirely. And it was for this employer that they killed Ludwig."
"How do you figure?"
"The dissidents and Sarnova apparently had opposite aims, but neither would be served by Ludwig's death. If he died, the dissidents were afraid of half of Liberty getting up and walking away—besides, the others would know that it was the dissidents who killed him and the compound would be in chaos. If Sarnova wanted Liberty disbanded, he wouldn’t have killed Ludwig. No offense, but Ludwig was a weak leader. A stronger leader would only replace him. Therefore, it must be another entity that hired the Balaklava to do Ludwig in and harass us. Tell me, did Junger or Jagoda say anything about coming to visit you again?"
"They said never to hide from them because it only made it more fun to find me."
"But nothing direct?"
"No."
"Then perhaps it's only Danielle and I that are involved. Somehow, the fact that the Balaklava intend to further harm us is connected to Ludwig's death." He raised his eyebrows at Danielle, and she was surprised to see that he looked lucid. "It's up to us to find out why. And who."
"Gimme a shot," she said. It was all she had to say. He knew she would do whatever needed to be done.
Malie took a long breath. “There’s another problem.”
“What’s that?”
“My people, many of them, want to act. They’re afraid that if they delay our resolve will weaken.”
“By ‘act’,” Danielle said. “You mean … ?”
“That’s right. They want to move against the world now.”
Ruegger and Danielle glanced at each other.
Cautiously, Ruegger said, “What’s your plan for dealing with Roche Sarnova?”
“That was always a problem. I think we’ve solved it, though. Some of my people have found a supplier of stolen tactical nuclear warheads.”
“Shit!” said Danielle.
“The weapons should put quite a dent in the Castle. Combined with Sarnova having most of his resources tied up in his war, he could, in theory, be dealt with.”
Danielle put a hand to her forehead. “That’s insane.”
Grimly, Malie said, “The only way I’ve found to keep my people occupied and focused elsewhere is by finding Ludwig’s killer. If we can find him or her and punish them, that will go a long way to ensuring it’s Ludwig’s legacy that prevails among my people. Not … anyone else’s. A legacy of peace and responsibility. Also, once he’s been avenged, I think the half of Liberty that was ready to leave if he stepped down will do just that. The other half, the dissidents, won’t be able to carry out their plans without the full army. Until he’s avenged, though, the army will stay together and the dissidents will only grow in power.”
Ruegger’s face had gone rigid. “You’re saying if we don’t find Ludwig’s killer, your army will take over the world.”
“That’s about the size of it. And I’ll need your help to do it.”
* * *
“What of the Scouring?” Ruegger asked, when he and Danielle had absorbed this new development. “Have you found anything out about it?”
“No,” Malie said. “Do you think it had something to do with Ludwig’s death?”
"No idea, but I'm beginning to think it's related somehow.”
“What about the war?” Danielle said.
"It's a very secret war," Malie said. "That’s about all I know. They call it the War of the Dark Council, but I'm not really sure what that means."
After the three shot back a last round of whiskey, Malie said, “I have to go.”
“But you just showed up!”
“I just came by to assure you I was alive and to recruit you for the hunt. Until next time, friends.”
When she left, Ruegger slunk off to, presumably, continue getting drunk, while Danielle made her way to the library, selected a work by Joe Lansdale and read for some time, but her mind drifted to other matters. Ruegger had skipped a significant question, she thought: why had the Balaklava chosen to follow the orders of their enigmatic "seco
nd employer" instead of those of Roche Sarnova, who had more clout and prestige than most world leaders? And that was assuming that the Dark Lord was their original employer in the first place.
Her mind buzzing, she decided to take a walk in the large green maze outside. The moment she stepped into the first dark corridor, she could hear some urgent, rhythmic sound that only grew louder the further she pressed into the labyrinth. Just before she got to the clearing with the gazebo, she recognized it as crying.
She rounded the final corner to see Ruegger and Maleasoel curled up with each other on a bench in the gazebo. At first Danielle had the horrible notion that something sexual was going on, but no. Ruegger and Malie were embracing tightly and tears were flowing from both their eyes. Their backs arching and convulsing, they looked perfectly wretched, and Danielle realized they were mourning the loss of Ludwig together, privately, in their own way. Although she felt a twinge of sadness that Ruegger hadn't come to her to cry on, she knew that Malie was really the only one that could fully share his feelings, and that Ruegger was perhaps the only one Malie could turn to as well. They'd been the two closest people in Ludwig's life and it was fitting that they mourn together.
Danielle felt her heart swell with relief; if Ruegger couldn't open up to her, she was glad he could open up to someone. Hoping that the mourners hadn't seen her, she crept back out of the labyrinth.
And stopped cold.
For there, at the mouth of the labyrinth, stood two big black wolf-like creatures. Similar to werewolves, but larger, more demonic, with long, broad snouts, horn-like ears and thick coats of black fur. From the cheeks of one sprouted symmetrical rows of small tusks. The creatures smiled at her. The smiles were eerily human.
“We’ve always loved labyrinths,” said the one that must be Junger. The one with the tusks.
Trembling, she reached for a Colt .45—she never went anywhere unarmed these days—and pointed it at the assassin’s head.
“Why did you kill Ludwig?”
