by Melos,Alana
Even as I thought that, I knew it was wrong. This would pass. I was transfixed with their emotions, but when left to myself? A pale shadow of this, if there was anything there at all. I wasn’t empty like I’d said so many times before, but what I had to fill me was nothing compared to everyone else. Such self-reflection was usually beyond me. I didn’t care. I was what I was, and I went about my life fulfilling my needs. I had nothing beyond that. I hadn’t needed anything beyond that until now. Was there more? Should there be?
The vampires kept feeding, discarding one human for another until the sheep all lay in pieces on the floor. I knew why they were mostly unclothed as their bloody feast had left the vamps covered in crimson liquid. Their attentions turned sexual after their hunger had been sated. One woman grabbed another, kissing her hard then bending to lick the blood off her partner’s breasts. A man bit the first woman from behind, thrusting into her with a smooth, swift motion. Another couple screamed their pleasure as a man grabbed a woman roughly, bending her over a corpse and fucking her. Two men sat near the middle of the blood circle, kissing each other intently as they drank from each other’s mouths. They shared the wolves’ savagery and desire to be free, to be themselves, to be hunters flying across the night sky. Blood was their food, wine, and drug rolled into one; survival and satiation their aphrodisiac. I had the feeling normally this was a much longer process, but time pressed. Nazferatu kept himself apart, but he made a sharp gesture with his hand. Adira, ever his shadow, began to collect the vampires, bringing them back to their senses.
When the wolves had finished their transformation, they shook the blood out of their fur. The crimson spattered across the entire cavern, ceiling to floor, wall to wall. The pack reached into their duffles, pulling out strange pieces of armor and clothing. They donned their regalia, pieces of armor to cover their hearts, metal gloves to fit over their hands, and barbs and spiked chains to wind around their arms, making the most vulnerable parts of them protected, or a weapon. One wolf I saw had on one of those German spiked helmets, with holes cut out for his longer ears. They bobbed absurdly as he walked, and I laughed, their joy at being free still very much with me. They were magnificent, and I walked towards the closest of them, wanting to put my hands on their fur so as to feel the muscle underneath, and to marvel at the magic which let them do this amazing transformation.
As I walked into the circle, the closest pricked their ears and scented the air. One great beast jumped down and landed in front of me. Now that I could see one of them closer up, I saw his jaw had lengthened some, and his snout a little more extended. It didn’t swallow his human features, but it melded it perfectly with the lupine ones to be a union rather than only one or the other. His eyes were bright amber, glowing fiercely. When I looked at his hands, the fingers were shorter and thicker, each tipped with a black rounded claw which looked hard as metal. I could see the musculature underneath his midnight fur and, if I dared, I could trace the line of his chest down to his abs and pick out each of his muscles one by one with a finger.
“Look,” he growled, his voice low and rough, but understandable. “A tasty little treat.”
“I’m an ally,” I said, looking up into his eyes, unafraid. “You’re beautiful. I wish I was like you.”
That got him to blink and he laughed, which sounded halfway between a human chuckle and a wolf’s or dog’s chuff. “Brave, little thing,” he said, but he clapped me around the shoulder and squeezed me into his side. He was strong… really fucking strong, and I felt like I was being crushed as if I were an aluminium can. “Howl with me!” He tipped his head back and howled. I closed my eyes and let myself feel him, to taste his happiness and madness, and when I opened my mouth, the howl came out of me as well, sounding thin and reedy next to his. It was swallowed up with all the other noise in the room, but it was good to let it out, to indulge not just in my cruel side as I had with Nazferatu, but also the good things: in living life, and being alive. I forgot how that felt, simply playing the Game and outwitting my enemies and living to laugh at them.
When he released me, he offered me his hand. I shook it, looking it over with great interest at the bone structure, to see how it had changed in his transformation. “Rory,” he growled.
“Caprice,” I told him.
“Ready to cause some mayhem?” he asked, grinning wolfishly.
“Always.” I smiled up at him, “They won’t see us coming.”
Chapter Thirteen
The wolves ran on their own to the Reich’s headquarters where the portal awaited us, and the vampires drove. We rode with them, squished in between dead bodies which almost looked human. I’d never seen my Nosferatu so full of color, so I assumed that meant they had fed overmuch… that they’d fed until they couldn’t hold any more blood in them. It was still dark out, though just barely, and I knew at the first hint of sunrise the vampires would have to turn control over to their mortal hosts. A couple of questions later, I’d found that it was night time where they were attacking in Prime: Imperial City.
The plan we’d made was two fold, and simple. Gerard talked it over with Adira, and they had agreed it was the best and safest course of action. Regulus and I would make our way to the control room and be ready to take it over at a thought. We would spend our time learning how to operate the portals, both of us, from reading the minds of the technicians there, just in case one of us died during the assault. When the occult troops attacked, they would fall upon their former brethren and rip them to pieces, attacking the biggest threats first. More than likely, that would be the heavy infantry. They couldn’t use artillery the way it was set up, and the tanks and assault vehicles would be useless since they didn’t want to blow up their own building.
That left ranged and hand to hand. If they were smart, they would use automatic weapons and cut our people down...no matter if they hit their own or not. Panic made things unpredictable. It was impossible to know which way a person would leap until they’ve leapt. These were trained soldiers however, used to the thrill and insanity of battle, never knowing what they would face from world to world. Axis was sending the best of the best.
As we drove onto the grounds, I looked over at Rebekah on my right. Her mask lay around her neck, and her goggles up on her hat so I could see her face clearly. Her reaction to the transformation had been one of horror, and I knew she was going to break. Yet… the closer we got, the more set her jaw became, the more shadowed her clear eyes. She had no doubts in her mind about what she was going to do. I couldn’t read her mind, but I could see that in how straight she sat, and how calm she was.
“You ready?” I asked her.
She turned and smiled at me, a killer’s eyes with a doll’s grin. “I’m always ready,” the Siren replied.
“These are your people,” I said, and the vampire in the driver’s seat glanced back to look at me. “Are you sure?”
“I came from here, yeah, but this isn’t where I belong,” she said. Rebekah turned her eyes forward as we pulled in, coming to a stop just outside the massive garage entrance to the portal room. “I wasn’t born a killer. They made me one.” She clapped me on the shoulder and laughed, “Now it’s time to say thank you!”
I watched her as she exited. I was wrong, I sent to Gerard. She is your kid.
He shrugged and got out, adjusting his cap and uniform. I slid out behind him, making sure my new sword was hidden under the trenchcoat. I had the knife and the P98 as well, as back ups. Still energized from the vampire blood I’d drank before, I also ate as much as I could to the point of feeling bloated. I didn’t want to run out of juice in the middle of a fight. Using my powers while on an adrenalin high always made me run through my physical resources two times as fast. If I didn’t get so into it, I would last longer… but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun either.
Regulus and I moved in and away from our companions quickly, distancing ourselves from them. People moved everywhere in these early pre-dawn hours. Scanning their minds, I saw they
were making the last minute preparations. Everyone was geared up, and while a thread of fear ran through them, it was tightly controlled, like it should be in a soldier’s mind. Yes, they may be going to their death, but it was for the Fatherland.
I don’t know how they live like this, I sent to Regulus. How you did. I don’t understand it.
You resist order, Reece, he replied. That will always trip you up.
That’s not true, I sent, moving through the crowd with him, heading towards the control room. I’m ordered. I keep my life tidy.
You keep your life compartmentalized, true, but it’s just so one hand doesn’t see what the other hand is doing, he sent, waves of faint amusement coming from him. That you can make sense out of chaos doesn’t mean you make order out of it. It just means you’re… reality challenged.
I’m not crazy, I huffed at him mentally. I was about to say more when another mind brushed against mine. I switched to thinking in German in a second, glancing over to Gerard. He’d felt the same, and strengthened the connection between us as I couldn’t divert my attention away from the barrier in my mind.
Schattenkraft, he thought. Checking the invasion force, one last time. Looking for traitors.
How many? I asked, scanning the room, trying to find the source.
Two, I think, he replied. It’s hard to tell. There are so many minds here. He squinted as he joined my visual search.
Unless they are simply scanning those closest to them, they’d have to be somewhere they can see the whole room, to pick and choose their targets since there are so many here, I reasoned. Regulus nodded in agreement, and upnodded towards the control room. We made our way through to the stairs up as quickly but as casually as we could. Each second which ticked by was another second where our plot could be discovered. I kept myself calm and focused. First we found them. Then we neutralized them.
The soldiers at the door to the control room glanced at my ranking and insignia, and let us in without another word. We took off our hats and tucked them under our arms and moved to joined the two Schattenkraft already at the window, watching the vampires insinuate themselves amongst the troops. The wolves were well known to be a whole regiment, and thus they stayed together… but they took a spot near the middle, forcing out other soldiers as they claimed their territory. There were a lot of them, a few hundred, though not all of their number. Not all of them could make it, which was a damn shame, but this plan was made on the fly, with what we had at hand. They’d sent word to their brethren to run and hide, to seek refuge after they had left.
The telepathic officers scanned the crowd, their eyes flicking back and forth. They were both women. One was short and dark haired, the other taller with red hair. Both had a serious and intent expression, making them twins in a way. Other than the brief touch earlier, they didn’t bother with us, too focused on their task.
They’re lower rank than you, Regulus sent. Command them to come with you, to go interrogate someone.
Will that work? I asked.
One of the things you dislike so much about order is obedience. It’ll work, he commented. We need to get them away from the control room and take care of them, so we can do our part.
He fed me the words to say, and I cleared my throat. “I am… concerned about the Occulten colonel,” I said coldly, almost clinically. “Come with me. His mind is strong, and I do not wish to leave this to chance.”
Even though my senses screamed this was the wrong thing to do to turn my back on them, I did as Regulus urged and walked towards the door, as if I expected them to obey. Much to my surprise, they did. I wouldn’t have, but then again… I wasn’t a soldier. That sort of blind obedience wasn’t bred into me as it was them. They fell into step behind me, and Regulus behind them. We left, and walked at a slow, almost leisurely, pace down the stairs. Instead of turning towards the open gathering area, I turned the other way down the hall at the bottom.
“Where are we going?” the redhead asked, suspicion in her words.
“We have him isolated, to read him better,” I replied, using the words Regulus gave me.
The explanation seemed enough for them, and we moved down the hallway, passing other soldiers. Too busy, they didn’t bother even looking at us. I stopped at a closed door, which I hoped led to an office of some sort, or at least a private area. I sensed no minds on the other side, and when I glanced over the three behind me, Regulus nodded slightly in approval, so the door must have been a good choice.
I opened it up and stepped inside, reaching underneath my trenchcoat to grip the hilt of Nazferatu’s sword. They followed. As with most telepaths, they were in perfect command of their minds and thus able to process their reactions quickly. As a result, it took them only a millisecond to realize what was going on. The redhead drew her gun as I drew my sword and struck backwards, through my coat at her. My strike hit home just as she scraped the barrel of her gun free from the holster. Regulus stepped up behind the dark haired one. Instead of going for a weapon, she shouted a mental warning, striving to warn someone, anyone, that traitors were inside the compound. That stopped when he jerked her back roughly and shoved a knife into her temple. Did anyone hear? We had no way of knowing.
I yanked out my blade and turned. She had her gun trained on me, but couldn’t pull the trigger thanks to my partner, who attacked her mentally as I did physically. The redhead died slower, but Regulus forced her to stay inside her own head, smothering her with his mind as I disemboweled her. I hadn’t the power to divert to do more than watch, but he had her well in hand with no need to be subtle. Blood splashed at my feet, and I sighed in annoyance. Together, we dragged the bodies further into the empty room and dropped them. I cleaned my blade and the bottoms of my boots off on one of their uniforms and put the sword away. My hands were bloody, and I wiped them off as best I could, but they were still stained. I didn’t want to take too much more time, so I pulled out the gloves which went with the uniform and put them on.
“Good enough,” Regulus said. “We only need another five minutes, at most.” When we left, we locked the door behind us, hopefully none the wiser. The walk back to the control room became an exercise in control. I resisted the urge to look around to see if anyone was watching us. Tension mounted as we waited for our discovery, that the Schattenkraft’s warning had been received by someone. As we returned to the control room, none inside looked at us amiss, and we took our places by the window, hats under our arms, as if we were scanning the crowd like the operatives before us had. Only when another minute had passed did I allow myself to relax and focus on the job.
In the room behind us, there were a half dozen technicians. With the Schattenkraft taken care of, we only had the two guards at the door to deal with. The technicians behind us weren’t fighters, and they should go down easily… in theory. In practice, things never went the way you wanted them to.
Yes, you are, Reece, Gerard sent to me, continuing our conversation from earlier. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I personally like it. But you’ll burn yourself out if you don’t slow down. You’ll slip up, get caught, get killed… you have to be careful, and this is anything but.
You’re just a coward, hiding for so long, I sent, rolling my eyes at my reflection in the window. The door didn’t bust open. No one came for us. We must have gotten away with it… at least until we got a stroke of bad luck and someone discovered the bodies. We didn’t need much longer, but it would be fate’s little joke to be taken down just before achieving our goal.
I could sense him shaking his head, though he didn’t move in realtime. I like living, so I play it safe. I told you, you were self-destructive. More fool me, I followed you here. And look where I am. He scoffed mentally, If I didn’t think there was a chance, I’d report it to the Reich in a second and get a pardon.
You have to take chances, I sent. Otherwise, you’re not going to get anywhere, Ger.
I took a chance on you, he sent, his reflection smiling just the smallest bit.
&n
bsp; I smiled to acknowledge that truth, then gave a big sigh. We should get to learning. Should be easier for you, since you just have to get the updates.
With that, we set our minds to scanning the technicians, learning everything we could about the procedure for starting up the portal. They had safeguards built in, keys that had to be turned at the same time and so on, hence the need for so many technicians. What made it even more complicated was that not all of them knew the entire procedure. They only knew bits and pieces, and were severely discouraged from learning more. I couldn’t help but to shake my head at that paranoia. Regulus might call me crazy, but this whole world was crazy.
Regulus kept his hooks in the technicians he scanned, but once I was done, I turned my attention to the crowd below us, trying to pick out the officers. The leaders should go down first, to cause the most confusion. I marked them as best as I could from my vantage point, when I sensed Nazferatu thinking hard at me.
Yes? I sent, opening up the connection.
Ready? he asked.
Just say the word, I replied. I touched the hilt of his sword under my trench coat. It might not see too much bloodshed today, but I hoped it would. Like Rebekah, I could feel my mind clear and knew I had a focused look upon my scarred face… battle sharpened me.
Now, the vampire thought. Regulus and I moved, he towards the techs, and I towards the door. I opened it just as the first shots rang out, with a scream to punctuate them. “There are traitors among us!” I exclaimed to the guards, pointing down the steps. Like fools, they turned away from me, taking the time to draw their weapons first. Mine was already out. The blade cut through the first guard’s back with ease. The tip of it poked out of his chest. His partner turned, looking at me in surprise and raised his weapon. I ripped it out of his hands with my teke, then withdrew my sword from his friend. His confusion outweighed his fear, but his fear was still delicious to me. I slashed, and a red line opened up across his neck. Blood spurted with his heartbeat, then slowed to a trickle as he crumpled to the floor and died.
