“This is it,” Cassie said in awe.
“Yeah, the guy that got us involved in this is up there and here we are, about to go into the belly of the beast,” I quipped.
Julia took my hand and then surprised me and took Julia’s. “My father, Maximus, would pray before he entered a dangerous situation my mother told me. We should pray before we enter. Castor?” she said.
I prayed a lot to myself, but never really out loud. I just let the words flow. “Father, we stand before You, we stand ready to fight and end this blight against You. Follow us Lord, protect us, and allow us the power to end this, tonight. It is in Your son Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.”
Julia nodded at me, approving of my words. Cassie didn’t know what to really say, so she just made an awkward face and went with it. With the prayer complete, we crossed the threshold, over the wooden bridge and into the castle. A mixture of electric lights and fire lit torches greeted us as we came into the open reception area. Nazi flags adorned the stone walls as a giant staircase that led upwards was the single focal point of the room. Standing at the bottom of the staircase was none other than Gerhard Koenig and another one of his super soldiers, complete with gas mask and Nazi uniform.
The mystery soldier was holding the Santae Crucius.
Julia hissed. “Where did you get that?”
“Jean Pollard vas a fool. Only the church could be so dumb as to think I vould help them,” Koenig answered.
His eyes drifted upwards to where a naked, beaten, and very much dead Pollard hung from the ceiling. Even though I despised the man greatly, his ending seemed very cruel and highly painful. “Admiring the handivork, I see.”
“You’re one sick bastard, Koenig.”
Just as I was about to say something snappy, the Nazi beside Koenig took his mask off. Where there should have been eyes, red glowing sockets of hate burned at us. The iron cross, one of the Nazi symbols, was tattooed on the man’s forehead. His pallid skin and greying extremities told me this was another one of Koenig’s corpses.
This one was familiar, however.
“Papa,” Julia yelped.
By God, he had all the features that most Brinza men carried. “Is this Maximus?” I asked.
It was Koenig who was pleased to tell me. “I vanted to save this one for a special occasion, such as this. Nothing varms my heart like a family reunion.”
Maximus brought the Santae Crucius to a forward-facing position, an attack stance. I was about to see in person the legend of the man who killed Vlad Dracul.
Koenig cackled as he backed up the stairs, leaving us to deal with Maximus. “Papa, are you in there?”
But Maximus wasn’t there. This wasn’t like The Jackal, an evil beast that they thought they could control. This was an empty shell, no soul, no personality. This was truly just an animated corpse and it was heartbreaking to see Julia faced with such an awful task. To get to Koenig, we were going to have to slay Maximus Brinza and return his body to the grave.
I couldn’t even imagine.
The infamous daemon hunter twirled the sword quickly and attacked. He kicked me in the midsection, slapped Cassie with the flat part of the Santae Crucius, and grabbed Julia around the throat, hoisting her body off the ground. In less than five seconds, he disarmed and disabled all three of us.
From my backside, I took a quick shot at him. He threw Julia to the side and blocked the bullet with his forearm. Whatever was weaved into his Nazi uniform was perfect for bullet deflection, as Perun’s slug bounced away harmlessly.
It was Cassie that scored the first blow for us. A small black orb hurtled at Max and rammed into his side. He tossed him back, giving us all time to reassemble and regroup.
“He’s too strong for us,” Cassie said.
“There is a reason he’s the one who killed Vlad,” Julia reminded us.
That may have been true, but all warriors had a weakness. It was time to put the deductive reasoning that Perun forced me to learn to work. I just needed some time to see everything clearly.
“We need to draw him into showing us everything. The problem is, how can we defend it?”
Neither girl had an answer for me, but Max was ready. He jumped up and landed in the middle of our group and swung the Santae Crucius around in a perfect circle. We had to scatter low to avoid losing our heads. He finished the move with a perfect guard in case of a counterattack. I’d never seen such a fighter! There were no wasted movements, no glaring faults to be exploited. My momentary pause to try and break down Max’s approach was awarded with a fist to the face.
Good God that hurt.
Julia tried to goad Max into chasing her a bit further back towards the main entrance. He didn’t seem all that interested in playing that game. Apparently, he’d taken me as the main threat of the three and was ready to focus back on me. That’s when Cassie showed him just how powerful of a witch she was.
Little beads of water began to appear in front of her. By God! She was drawing all the humidity from the air around us into tangible droplets. “Castor, fire now!”
No hesitation; the moment I fired at Maximus; she directed all the liquid towards the bullet at an even faster speed. It seemed as if time slowed down. The water coated the bullet, froze over, and slammed into Max’s chest. The daemon hunter jerked around, the Santae Crucius thrown from his grip. He never fell to the ground, but it was enough. Julia darted towards the sword and grabbed it before Max could even recover.
Without his weapon, he seemed a lot more surmountable.
We had a chance.
“I’m sorry, Papa,” Julia said softly. “But you do not belong here.”
It was her turn to attack.
Chapter Thirty Three
M ax caught the blade with his bare hands.
It was both amazing and disheartening. I was sure with the Santae Crucius in her hands, Julia was going to defeat her father, my very great-grandfather, and we would be on our way to putting an end to Koenig. Fate had other opinions.
“Maximus is God’s chosen. How can you defeat him?” Koenig taunted from three-quarters up the staircase.
That was the answer. “They can’t, but I can, Koenig.”
The answer was always right there, below the surface. It was always the eternal struggle of good versus evil. Max was God’s chosen and I was the vessel for the Antichrist. Ironic how the roles were reversed and which side was fighting for what cause. I dropped my jacket, tossed my helmet to the ground. Max and Julia both looked at me as I approached. I motioned for Julia to give him the Santae Crucius. There was a good reason the weapon never felt comfortable to me. It was a weapon forged for a man of God. I would use the weapons that were made for the Devil.
“Castor…”
“It’s okay, Julia. This was always the answer.”
I’m so proud of you, my son.
Hearing my father’s praise right before I took on my ancestor was the boost I needed. “You may have defeated Vlad all those years ago, but you ain’t never dealt with a guy like me.”
Max’s corpse just cocked its head and then sliced the sword forward. I had my flail ready and spun it out, letting the copper chain hit the sword and deflect it upwards. He jabbed forward with his blade, only to once again meet my defensive resistance. You wouldn’t be able to frustrate a corpse, but it was clear that his mind was a one track being - attack only.
“Castor, what should we do?”
Hmmm, Cassie and Julia… “Go get Koenig. Make him pay.”
“Are you sure?”
That was Julia’s maternal instincts kicking in. “I’ll be fine here. If he gets away, the war still continues.”
Neither looked as if they wanted to leave. “Go!” I ordered.
That got them moving. Max lunged towards the girls as they began the ascent towards a fleeing Koenig, but I cut him off with a gunshot. “Hold on, cowboy. We ain’t done here.”
The immediate shift in focus was freaky; not human. Of course it wasn’t, Max was no lon
ger here, I reminded myself. The iron cross on his forehead began to glow, matching his eyes. I took that as a bad sign and gripped the flail even tighter. What was I thinking saying I could handle this on my own? That was crazy Castor talking, not reasonable Castor.
Well, if he wanted to play dirty, two of us could accommodate. I knew enough by now on how to begin letting Vlad’s spirit seep in without giving the Devil too much control. I couldn’t explain it, yet I felt the lock loosening and the dark began to creep in. It was time to match power for power.
He sliced, jabbed, and parried all in sharp succession. In counter, I blocked, rolled, and jumped out of the way. Max was determined not to let me slip too far from his range and pressed forward with every movement. I couldn’t continue to give up space; with Vlad’s help, I fought back, breaking his combination efforts with well-timed snaps of the wrist or a gunshot. The strength may have been borrowed from a bad, bad man, but the accuracy and the attitude were both mine.
The longer I stood my ground with him, the better I began to feel about my odds. Hopefully, the girls would get Koenig and then it wouldn’t matter what happened here. Maybe it’d even be better if I died in this battle. Ridding the world of two threats sure outweighed just ridding the world of Koenig.
Stop thinking about that and focus, Luka chastised me.
He was right. Max was back on the move and I needed him to be my primary focus. He changed up his strategy just a bit, going with more simple, powerful sword arts. To see him in his prime would’ve been a spectacle, that much I knew. I weaved in and out, trying my best to get off what little attacks I could. Soon, we were locked in a stalemate, neither one of us getting the edge. The difference was, he was an endless pit of stamina. If I was going to match him, I’d eventually need to take more of Vlad’s spirit.
Behind us, outside, the echoes of the war raging began to sound closer. The shouts of men dying and the cheers of victory were reaching us. Whatever was going on, time would soon tell if the Nazi’s daemon army prevailed or the Allied forces put an end to the madness. A stray bullet flew inside, hitting Pollard’s corpse above us.
Max pounced on my mistake, jumping over the unexpected. He jumped on top of me, knocking me back to the cold, hard floor. The Santae Crucius was up against my throat, the sharp blade just millimeters from beginning its path through one side and out the other. The only thing stopping it was my fading strength. I didn’t have much left and any moment, I’d give out.
Just as I accept death as the outcome and let go, something hits Max and frees me of my predicament.
“I’m sorry that this has happened to you, old friend.”
Helping me to my feet is none other than Radu Dracul. “Good timing, Uncle.”
His eyes never leave Maximus Brinza. “To see one of the best men I had the privilege to know in such a state sickens me.”
That’s when I got to see Radu in action. Moving like a blasted ninja, he worked inside Max’s guard and uppercutted the corpse with a knockout blow. “Go, kill Koenig! This is something I must do, Castor.”
It was odd being given the same command I’d just given Julia and Cassie not that long ago. However, I’d learned early on not to question Radu much when his mind was made up. Besides, the girls might need my help, depending on what other fiendish surprises Koenig had in store. I left this fight in Radu’s capable hands and sprinted up the stairs. Immediately to the left, there was an open door and that was the one I knew led to the climax of this entire situation. I put my flail away, reloaded both guns, and took off down the dark corridor.
I had to go slowly. The little bit of light that the lanterns produced died quickly after passing one. Only the good Lord knew what was beyond each step. Eventually, I found an old brick stairwell that led down. Only two steps down and something attacked. A sharp sensation entered the back of my neck, pulling. But as quickly as it came, it was gone. When I spun around, guns out, no one was there. I put my hand up to the place I’d felt the pain and fresh blood covered my skin. Were there more vampires in here? I had to find Cassie and Julia, immediately.
With caution now gone, I raced forward, not caring if I tripped or stumbled. Another open door let me know I was going the right way; no sooner did I cross that entrance, the entire place began to shake. Gill and Jordan mentioned mortars and I had a very good feeling that the Allied forces were winning.
Unfortunately, that meant time was no longer on my side.
I crossed one last doorway and into a bright open laboratory. Koenig was nowhere to be found and both Julia and Cassie looked to be in dire straits. I went to Julia first, as she was the one who seemed to still be conscious. “Koenig is dead,” she spat out, blood dripping on the floor. “It’s a trap,” she gasped after.
“Come on, Julia, we’re not going out this way!”
She pushed me away. “My time is over, save her,” she said, pointing at Cassie.
“No, I’m not losing you, too!”
She grabbed my collar and pulled me down to her level. “I’ve lived my life. You two find yours, promise me,” she wheezed out, more blood flowing.
No sooner did she get those words out, Julia collapsed. I rolled her over and saw a chuck of wood buried into her chest. It must’ve broken off, as it didn’t come out the back. She was gone. By God, Julia Brinza was gone.
Tears burned in my eyes, but an explosion went off at the back of the room. Another and another followed. I had to fight everything back and grab Cassie. Trying as best as I could, I slung her over my shoulders and began the long trek back. I’d forgotten all about being attacked myself at that moment. The only thing I cared about was fulfilling Julia’s last wish and getting her out of here. More explosions happened all around us. I couldn’t tell if they were from the booby-trapped lab or the mortars from outside. When I broke free from the corridor that led to that Nazi Hell, Radu was waiting for me. He was carrying the Santae Crucius.
“Koenig and Julia are dead,” I gasped.
He just gave me a short, curt nod and pulled me forward. The three of us passed Max’s decapitated corpse as the place began to fall to the ground all around us. Radu slapped helmets on Cassie and me as we pushed through the front entrance, back out into the war zone. With Cassie in my arms, we crossed the bridge to the Allied forces in victory.
But it felt much more like defeat.
Epilogue
**Nazi Germany, 1942 the year of our Lord**
O tto somehow got me out of the castle. I was dying, yet he risked his own life to make sure I didn’t die in the laboratory with those two wenches. I would never forget him for that. “You should have left me to die,” I rambled.
“Never Gerhard. You have done too much for me to allow you such an ending.”
He sat me down. We could see our home being destroyed from this vantage point. That made me angrier than my own mortality. “Without the Seventh Reich, I fear Hitler may never win this war. Our vision for this world has been destroyed, Otto.”
He placed his hands on my face. “There’s another way, my liege.”
Otto removed his hands and with his fingers, began pulling back his face. It was both terrifying and mesmerizing to watch. Once the skin mask was removed, the man I’d known as Otto pulled out a syringe full of blood and injected it right into his neck. The rest of his face began to fill out as he plunged the liquid in. Once finished, there was no guessing who stood before me.
“Otto?” I asked in awe.
He switched from modern German to an older dialect, one I still understood almost perfectly. “Gerhard, I so wanted to see this through with you. I can grant you that, you know.”
His offer to me was beautiful, yet, one I couldn’t take. “I am not worthy. You push forward and see this through. I will die in peace knowing I have done all I can to ensure your future.”
He laid me down, placing his fingers over my eyes. “Gerhard, I will never forget your trust in me. Even as I masqueraded as a commoner, you showed true belief. Thank you, old frie
nd.”
Those were the last words I heard as the injuries the vampire and witch caused me took my life. My last act was a small smile, knowing even in death, we would still win.
The master was far from dead.
**New York City; 1976 the year of our Lord**
All the news could talk about was the Son of Sam. These idiots didn’t even realize that this guy was just a copycat killer. No one refused to acknowledge that fact but me and Radu. “I can’t believe those jerks down at the station wouldn’t even listen to us,” I fumed.
“Nathaniel,” he grimaced. “The world’s not ready to accept that vampires are real, that those stories from long ago are based in fact. How do you think the city would react if they knew about the werewolf in Central Park we had to put down?”
It didn’t matter. Radu claimed that my hot headedness came from my father, Castor Brinza. I hoped that was true. I’d lost both him and my mom, Cassie, to the church when I was younger. Radu had raised me afterwards.
Don’t even get me started on my feelings about the church.
“Forget that the killer’s a vampire,” I grumbled. “I just want those idiots to acknowledge the fact there’s a second nut job.”
“They won’t. That’s why it’s our job to find whoever this is and kill them.”
Radu was sitting behind his desk, sharpening the Santae Crucius. It was still weird having him walk down the street with a sword strapped to his hip, but the Big Apple was full of weird things. No one ever really noticed him.
I was cleaning my guns, the one thing my dad told me to always do right before he died. He’d given them to me as my tenth birthday gift with the understanding he’d teach me how to use them. We’d lost out on that. Still, I wasn’t a half bad shot myself. I’d spent countless nights at the gun range, getting better and better with them.
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