by David Bishop
When all four of us were together, Eisenstein outlined his plan in a whisper. "There are three Rumanians inside, in the room nearest the side door. I've visited a few dacha like this, and they tend to have one large room with an adjoining bedroom and kitchen. Our sole target is Constanta; the other two must be eliminated as soon as we get inside. Yatsko, you and I will throw open the shutters covering the largest windows. Sophia and Zunetov, once you hear the shutters opening, go in through the door and shoot Constanta's guards with the silver-tipped bullets. I know you've only got six each, but use as many as you need to finish them off. Yatsko and I will come in through the windows and corner Constanta. He's stuck inside until sundown, so he can't escape. Any questions?"
"Do you think this will actually work?" Yatsko asked doubtfully.
Eisenstein grimaced. "It has to."
Three minutes later Sophia and I were kicking in the cabin door, ready to open fire. Constanta was backing towards us when we entered, retreating from the wintry sunshine spilling in through the windows. He saw us and lashed out, knocking the pistol from my hand before fleeing into an adjoining room and slamming the door after him. That left his vampyr guards. One was on fire, screaming and howling as daylight burned him alive. The other snarled at us while trying to pull his comrade to safety. Sophia shot the burning vampyr, using all of her bullets. He exploded into dust and ash as I retrieved my weapon from the floor.
At the same moment, Eisenstein and Yatsko crashed in through the windows. Before Yatsko had time to straighten up, the second vampyr was on him, biting at his face. I emptied my pistol into the creature, which shrieked furiously before exploding. Eisenstein was first to reach Yatsko. He had curled into a ball on the floor with his hands over his face.
"Ivan, how badly did it hurt you?"
"D-Don't look at me," Yatsko whispered. "Just kill me... while you still can."
"Not until you show us what happened," Eisenstein insisted.
Slowly, hesitantly, Yatsko uncurled himself. "Happy now? Like what you see?"
The right side of his face had been gnawed away by the vampyr in a matter of moments. The upper jaw bone was exposed, as was the cheekbone, each of them strangely white amidst the blood. The skin was torn apart all the way to Yatsko's hairline and his right eyeball was missing. I watched in horror as his teeth began to change, elongating into fangs.
"Grigori, kill me," he pleaded. "I don't want to live like this, like one of those things. Do me that mercy, yes?"
Eisenstein swallowed hard. "Are you sure?"
Yatsko nodded. "I can feel the infection spreading already, the bloodlust growing inside me, boiling in my veins. The hunger: it's getting stronger by the second." He closed his remaining eye. "You haven't much time."
"Shoot him," Eisenstein urged Sophia and me.
"We're out of bullets," she replied.
"Hurry," Yatsko urged, dropping his knapsack and submachine gun to the floor beside him. "I can't hold this back any longer."
Eisenstein rested his sickle against Yatsko's neck. "Forgive me."
He ripped the blade sideways and Yatsko's head tumbled to the floor. Moments later both the head and body were replaced by a cloud of dust and ash, each particle glistening in the sunlight that filtered through the broken windows. Behind me hinges creaked on the door through which Constanta had fled.
"Everybody get into the sunlight, now!" Eisenstein ordered. Sophia and I joined him by the windows as mist drifted into the room.
"Sophia, do you still have your drinking flask?" I whispered. She smiled and undid the bottle's lid, flicking a few drops of holy water into the air. The liquid sizzled as it passed through the mist, drawing an angry howl from Constanta. He coalesced into human form, smoke rising from burnt sections on his face.
"Curse you," he snarled. "I thought communists did not believe in God."
"I was christened in an orthodox church," Sophia replied. "I still believe."
"I look forward to the day science finally destroys religion, once and for all," Constanta said. He contemplated the remains of his guards. "Well, if you've come to kill me, it's a little late. My work here is done. Most of my brethren have already moved on to other battles, other parts of the war. My thralls are being redeployed along the Ostfront, as the Germans like to call it. The seed of the Sire is spreading. Soon it shall consume all who would oppose it."
Eisenstein retrieved Strelnikov's necklace of garlic from my knapsack and threw it at Constanta. "Put that on."
The vampyr folded his arms. "Why should I?"
Sophia tipped more holy water into her left hand and threw it in his face. Constanta cursed and snarled, wiping the liquid from his features and burning his hands in the process.
"Put it on," Eisenstein commanded. Reluctantly, the vampyr did as he was told, picking the necklace up and slipping it over his head, careful to keep the garlic away from his exposed skin.
"That's better," Eisenstein said. "You see, we don't plan to kill you... yet. We are taking you prisoner. While we wait for our comrades to reach this cabin, you will tell us about the deployment of your disciples and thralls. Afterwards we will hunt them down and destroy them, until not a single vampyr remains."
"And why should I tell you anything?" Constanta inquired snidely. "You haven't enough holy water in that flask to torture me effectively."
"There is more than one faith in the world," I said, unclasping the five-pointed badge from my ushanka hat. The hammer and sickle emblem was emblazoned into the centre of the star: gold on red. "This is the symbol of my beliefs. I would sacrifice my life for what it represents. Is that enough to hurt you?"
I grabbed Constanta's arm and pressed the badge against the back of his hand. It burned the vampyr, the stench of burning hair and skin rising from him. Constanta pulled his lips apart to display his fangs, but shied back when I shifted the red star up to his snarling face. "I'll take that as a yes."
"It will be dusk soon," the vampyr lord hissed. "I have others of my kind coming here to meet me. You shall not escape them!"
"The late Captain Maga, I presume?" Eisenstein asked, smiling broadly. "He's the one who told us where to find you, djavoli, before we killed him."
The floor beneath us trembled as another explosion shook the ground nearby. "That was close," Sophia said. "The fighting can't be far away."
Constanta stared at Eisenstein, his eyes narrowing. "I know you, don't I?"
"We've met before."
"I drunk from you, near Ivanovskoe," the vampyr said. "You should have turned long ago. How have you resisted the effects of my bite? The call of blood is too strong for mortals. Most succumb within moments."
"My faith has kept me pure," Eisenstein exclaimed.
"Liar," Constanta said, gloating. "I can see in your eyes you've drunk blood from another human to stay alive, as we do. How can you walk in daylight without burning?"
"I believe!"
"In what? The Nazarene who sacrificed his life for a misbegotten flock?"
"My faith is older than that," Eisenstein said, slowly unrolling the bandage from his throat to reveal the silver Star of David buried where Constanta had bitten him. Eisenstein dug his nails into the flesh on either side of the emblem and tore it free, wincing in pain.
"I believe in the faith of my parents and of their parents; the faith of all the generations that came before them, stretching back thousands of years. Wearing this emblem is the reason I was sentenced to spend the war as part of a penal company. But it has kept me from giving in to your hellish influence and it shall be my redemption yet!"
Eisenstein strode towards the vampyr and thrust the Star of David against Constanta's forehead, letting it burn deep into his skull. The Rumanian screamed, both hands trying to beat Eisenstein away, but the Jewish soldier was a man possessed.
"You tried to turn me, you bastard! I have suffered more torments than I ever thought possible because of you. Now I shall repay every moment of pain and anguish and fear. Die, you godless fiend
!"
An explosion rocked the cabin, then another and another. I looked out of the broken windows and saw troops emerging from the forest. Beyond them the sun had dipped below the horizon, another brief winter's day already over.
"There's a squad of soldiers approaching the cabin," I called to Eisenstein.
"Good," Sophia said. "The sooner our troops get here, the better."
"Those aren't our troops," I said, squinting to see their insignia in the gloom. "They're not German, either. Those aren't Wehrmacht uniforms."
"Then who the hell are they?" Eisenstein demanded, twisting round to see.
I felt my stomach lurch as the truth struck me. "Rumanians."
"Bojemoi," Sophia gasped. "There must be a dozen of them!"
"I told you I had others coming to meet me here," Constanta said, forcing Eisenstein's hand away from his face. "Captain Maga was but one of my disciples stationed inside the blockade." The vampyr lord threw back his head and screamed, his voice an unearthly howling wail. It was the same cry that had raised the dead against us.
Outside, the vampyr ran towards the cabin, their fangs glinting in the twilight. Constanta finished his summoning cry, smiling at each of us in turn.
"I only let you have your fun to give my men time to get here. Now, it is our turn."
Chapter Fifteen
Eisenstein ran to the room where Constanta had originally taken shelter. "This is the bedroom. We can barricade ourselves inside!" he called from the doorway. "Zunetov, drag his lordship over here. Sophia, bring Ivan's knapsack and the PPSh. We'll need every weapon we've got. Move!"
I propelled Constanta across the room, using my red star badge to force him towards the bedroom while Sophia grabbed Yatsko's discarded equipment. I risked a glance back at the shattered windows. The other vampyr were almost upon us.
"Come on!" I shouted at Sophia, urging her to move faster. I shoved Constanta through the doorway and Sophia followed us in. Once we were all inside, Eisenstein slammed the door and tipped a wooden bed frame over in front of it, blockading the entrance. The bedroom had a single, rectangular window that faced east. "We have to barricade that too," I shouted, pointing at the glass.
Eisenstein strode to a sturdy wardrobe standing in a corner. "Give me a hand with this. Sophia, keep watch over the hauptmann." The hefty piece of furniture was even heavier than it looked, but with a mighty effort Eisenstein and I shifted it in front of the window. As we finished I heard glass smashing and fingernails scratching at the back of the wardrobe. Eisenstein gave a grim smile of satisfaction. "That should keep them out until our comrades get here," he said.
"How soon you mortals forget," Constanta gloated. "My kind can transform themselves into all manner of creatures. We can become a mist no thicker than a few molecules. You can never shut us out, not once we've been invited inside."
"That's why you sent Maga a letter summoning him here," I realised.
"Precisely. All the others received similar letters, similar invitations. You have not barricaded them out; you have merely created your own death trap." As the vampyr lord spoke, a wisp of mist appeared beneath the door, oozing in from the main room of the cabin. Another found its way past the edges of the wardrobe, insinuating itself into the bedroom.
Eisenstein shoved Constanta against the nearest wall and pressed his sickle to the Rumanian's throat. The skin sizzled and burned as the blade's silver edge dug into him.
"Order the others to stay out or else I take your head off. Silver kills your kind, so I've little doubt it can hurt you too."
"I've told you before, fool. Even if you kill me, I shall be resurrected by my master. The Sire's power is like that of the gods themselves. I can be resurrected from the smallest speck, even from ashes. I can never be truly killed."
"Maybe, maybe not," Eisenstein replied. "But I doubt even you can grow a new head quickly, you godless bastard. Tell your disciples to stay out."
Constanta stared into his captor's eyes but Eisenstein did not waver, did not submit. "I will do as you ask. But be warned: eventually my disciples will take matters into their own hands. Even I am not indispensable for our crusade to be a success." He gave a low, wailing cry and the two clouds of mist slowly withdrew, leaving the way they had entered. Eisenstein removed his sickle from Constanta's neck, letting the vampyr step away from the wall.
A brace of explosions shook the ground beneath our feet and shards of glass fell from the broken window behind the wardrobe.
"That came from the east," Sophia said, hope in her eyes. "This area could be liberated by morning."
"You will not live that long," Constanta predicted. "You will let your guard down and my disciples will overwhelm you. It is inevitable."
"Shut up," Eisenstein snapped, gathering all the knapsacks in a corner to assess our supplies of weapons and ammunition. I had brought Uralsky's small crossbow and stock of wooden bolts, while Yatsko's knapsack contained a heavy hammer and half a dozen sharpened stakes. Sophia had half a flask of holy water, while Eisenstein kept his sickle close at hand. We also had several bayonets. All our other weapons - rifles, submachine guns and pistols - were next to useless against vampyr.
"We've more than enough here to kill a dozen of Constanta's men, but only if they attack one or two at a time. If they all get in at once..."
"As I said, you will not survive until dawn," the Rumanian sneered, one hand rubbing the angry red scar the sickle had left on his neck.
"And I told you to shut up!" Eisenstein snapped.
"What's the matter? Not had your taste of human blood for the day?"
"I'm warning you," Eisenstein snarled, aiming the crossbow at Constanta's groin. "Another uninvited comment and I take you apart, one piece at a time."
Sophia sank into a corner. "How long until dawn?"
"Twelve hours, fifteen; maybe more," I said quietly, standing where I could keep watch over the door and the wardrobe for any new vampyr intrusion.
"We'll be fine while we have him as our captive," Eisenstein insisted, pointing at the hauptmann. "He's the key to everything that's happened."
"What was your plan?" Constanta asked. "Take me back to Leningrad so I would confess my involvement in the German war effort? That's no secret. Everybody knows the Rumanians formed an alliance with the Axis forces."
"But vampyr involvement in the Great Patriotic War is a secret," Eisenstein retorted. "Our people deserve to know what kind of creatures we're facing. They would redouble their efforts to vanquish the fascist invaders if they knew the monstrosities the Germans have enlisted to help Hitler's insane warmongering!"
"Perhaps," the Rumanian conceded. "But you would never get me to confess to anything I didn't wish to say. Your faith and your weapons might hurt me, but they are not enough to kill me. I am one of the undead; I have nothing to fear from you. Even if you found some way to destroy me forever, another would rise in my place, and another and another if need be. We are legion."
"What is your crusade?" I asked. Constanta turned his attention to me, arching an eyebrow at my temerity in questioning him. "You told us you were not indispensable for the success of your crusade. And you told the general your kind do not believe in the German cause. You have our own quest, your own crusade. What is your crusade?"
"You overheard my conversation with the general? That is unfortunate," the vampyr said thoughtfully. "But you will not live long enough to share that information with anyone else."
"Answer his question," Eisenstein growled. "You obviously consider yourselves to be our superior. Enlighten us. Tell us about your great crusade."
"What I told the general was the truth. We do not believe in the German cause. We allied ourselves with Hitler and his Nazis simply because they were winning the war by the time the conflict reached our borders. Had the battle been flowing in the opposite direction, we would have put aside our traditional dislike of the Russians and allied ourselves with the Red Army. That might still happen, should the current situation around Leningrad
and Stalingrad prove to be the shape of things to come. Even if the Nazis lose this war, we shall emerge triumphant from the conflict. We are the future, not you mortals."
"How can you hope to win?" Sophia asked. "There are millions of us for every one of your kind. You can never overcome such odds."
"While the living keep killing each other, the undead only grow stronger. We are creating an army of thralls to do our bidding once this war is over. In the chaos and anarchy afterwards, the vampyr shall rise up and claim their rightful place as the true master race of Europe. Then our influence shall spread even further. Already the Sire has several of my blood brothers fighting in places like the Pacific Rim and the Atlantic."
"Today Leningrad, tomorrow the world - is that it?" Eisenstein asked.
Constanta smiled. "Something like that. It will take decades but our time is coming. The end is in sight for humankind. The age of the vampyr beckons."
"Never," Eisenstein vowed. "We'll never give in to the likes of you: a parasitic subspecies with grand ideas about its station. You survive by feeding off the likes of us. Russia used to be exactly the same: the aristocracy getting fat and bloated, feeding off the lifeblood of the people. But twenty-five years ago we had a revolution to get rid of parasites like you. We won't let ourselves be enslaved again. Your crusade is doomed to failure, djavoli."
The Rumanian smiled, his eyes fixed on Eisenstein's exposed neck. The area where the Star of David had been strapped was already recovering, the scorched wounds reforming into tiny, hungry mouths. "You cannot fight off my influence forever, human. Soon you will be my thrall, until death do us part."
