by R. M. Garcia
“I told you I knew a lot about you.” Gestapo moved to stand over Lazarus’s flattened body. “Every Source knows that the sure way to defeat you was to make you doubt your own faith. What I didn’t expect was how easy that would be.” Gestapo leaned down and sank his fangs in Lazarus’s neck and began to drink. He pulled away and reveled in the richness of his blood. “I also know that the blood the courses through your veins is alive, as alive as any humans. I was not the head of the third Reich secret police for no reason. I am always prepared. I always have a plan.” Gestapo sank his fangs back into Lazarus’s neck and drank as Lazarus screamed.
Several floors beneath the penthouse, Donnie, Espee, and Nox raced up the stairs with minimal opposition. They were nearing the top when Donnie stopped. He punched through a wall and pulled a Reich vampire through it. He immediately sank his fangs into him and drank him dry. Having never witnessed this before, Nox and Espee backed away in apprehension. Donnie looked at them and smiled. “Keep moving! I can hear Father Dom catching up to us.” Donnie continued running up the stairs. They reached an enormous set of double doors shaped from marble. Each door had carved into it an eagle sitting upon a swastika. They were already open, so Donnie walked right in. His sight was immediately drawn to a man in a regal Nazi uniform, sitting on a golden throne. Donnie spotted Lazarus lying at the foot of the throne. Gestapo was using his body as a footrest. He was badly beaten and looked like a dried up corpse. Donnie was shocked when Lazarus turned his head and mouthed the word “run.”
“Welcome,” Gestapo said. “I am pleased to finally meet you Donato Guerrero.” When he received no answer from Donnie, Gestapo continued speaking, “I am surprised you came alone as well.” Donnie looked around and tried to spot Nox and Espee, but they were simply gone. They had been right behind him.
“I cannot say the feeling is mutual,” Donnie replied as he entered the chamber. He was disappointed that his allies had abandoned him, but he didn’t blame them. Gestapo had defeated Lazarus, what could they hope to achieve now?
“Donato Guerrero, did you know that your name literately means a warrior, gifted to man by God? I found it very amusing.” Gestapo readjusted his legs purposely driving his heels deeper into Lazarus’s back.
“Cut the chitchat, you Nazi piece of shit,” Donnie said as he entered further into the massive room. “Let’s dance.”
“Wait, please listen,” Gestapo pleaded. “I have things to say to you.”
“Too bad I’m not up to listening,” he replied. Gestapo snapped his fingers, and two Reich vampires entered into view. Donnie recognized Frieda right away and bared his fangs at her; he had never seen the other woman. Anna and Frieda walked into the light. Frieda was cradling a child in her arms, and Anna was holding CeeCee. She was gagged and was struggling against Anna’s unyielding grip. Anna removed CeeCee’s gag.
“Oh god! Donnie,” CeeCee screamed. “Please save Donna!” Anna placed the gag over her mouth once again.
“Now, do you feel like talking?” Gestapo asked. “If you move an inch closer, Anna will break that oven dodger’s neck, and Frieda will do something unpleasant to the child.” Donnie looked at CeeCee and at baby Donna; he was sure he could save one, but not both. His mind raced trying to come up with a solution to this problem, but every outcome resulted in one of them dying.
Donnie clenched his fists in frustration and took a deep breath, “talk.”
“You were very clever, disguising your activities in Miami under Lazarus’s name.” Gestapo again readjusted his posture and kicked Lazarus with his heels as if trying to fluff a pillow. “I would not have expected two of you. If it were not for a marriage certificate, I think both you would have succeeded in ending me.”
“Shucks!” Donnie remembered that the marriage certificate had been left in the Thing when Abbie sold it.
“Let me ask you a question, Donnie, may I call you Donnie?” Gestapo asked. “Why are you fighting us?”
“You really have to ask?” Donnie replied. “You killed my wife, and you took her soul.”
“Is that all?” Gestapo replied casually. “I can give you her soul. Will that satisfy you?”
“Give me her soul?” Donnie wondered what his game was.
“Wait, you don’t know what you are, do you?” Gestapo leaned forward in his chair genuinely surprised. Lazarus tried to struggle under Gestapo’s feet, but he moved his boot over Lazarus’s head and slammed it onto the floor.
“I am a vampire, I am a Foundling,” Donnie said defiantly.
“Really, do you know who birthed you?” Gestapo eagerly asked. “Was it Abbie?”
“Yes,” he replied. “It was not her fault.”
“Wonderful, just as I thought, you were her black spot,” Gestapo said. “See Lazarus, this is how your wonderful God treats you.”
“What does that mean?” Donnie asked.
“She has committed a mortal sin, and now I control her,” Gestapo explained.
“How and why do you get to control her?”
“You know so little,” Gestapo said and shook his head. “Let me explain. First thing, you are not of my Bloodline.”
“I’m not?”
“No, every member of my Bloodline experiences a change, a physical change. Most of the time, it is barely notable, but if your eyes were not blue or your hair was not a shade of blonde, after you awoke into undeath they would have been. So clearly you are not of my line.”
“Go on.” Donnie now knew why Abbie’s baby browns had turned blue.
“Second, the war between heaven and hell never truly ended, it merely changed, and it became a contest. He who controls the most souls rules everything. So if my Lord Lucifer manages to gain more souls than The Lord Creator, then he can assume power and bring about a new world.”
“That will never happen, evil always loses.”
“Historically, that is correct, and since the Lord Creator cheats, he will always have the power he needs to retain control.”
“God doth not cheat!” Lazarus yelled.
Gestapo quickly stomped Lazarus’s head repeatedly until he stopped squirming. “Silence, he does cheat. Even the vilest of souls can gain entry into heaven as long as they repent their sins in purgatory. So you see, my Lord will never gain the upper hand under these conditions. Only souls that refuse to repent in time or which are so monumentally evil, are sent to hell.”
“Abbie isn’t evil,” Donnie said. “Why can’t she repent? She was in purgatory?”
“Ergo, the true purpose of the Bloodline Sources,” Gestapo said. “We are bound to purgatory, and when one of our vampires is destroyed, their souls become ours to command. We hold them locked away in purgatory until their allotted time to repent is over, it is taken as a refusal to have their sins forgiven, and then we can send the souls to hell or store them until the time is right. Score one for the bad guys.”
“So why make a vampire in your Bloodline, just to have it killed later on?” Donnie asked.
“Very astute, Donnie,” Gestapo replied. “You may think that Foundlings are mistakes, but that is far from the truth. It is how we harvest the right souls.”
“Are you telling me that every Foundling is created on purpose?”
“Yes,” Gestapo replied calmly. “They are our very own herd of souls. Once they are blotted with black spots, we harvest them. The more stained the soul, the less time they receive in purgatory to repent. The process works very well, except when they escape.”
“Bastard,” Donnie said softly. “Seems like a lot of work for just one soul.”
“Yes, it would seem so, but you see there are special souls.” Gestapo smiled as he could see that he had fully captured Donnie’s attention now.
“What do you mean special?”
“Hmm, you know so little, they should have explained more.”
“Screw them. I’m talking to you, the one who wanted to talk, so flap the gums!”
“No patience, very well.” Gestapo could see that Donnie
was easily agitated, and he would use that against him. “There are special souls that are born or reborn. They are called Prime Souls. These souls become people, become of great importance to the human race, either for good or evil. Our Führer Hitler was one such Prime Soul, another prime soul was Martin Luther King Jr. They are predetermined to do great things, and they are worth many times the weight of one normal soul.”
“Quality over quantity.” Donnie understood what Abbie meant about Lily being special. She had to possess a Prime Soul.
“Exactly, and when that prime soul returns to earth after spending some time in hell,” Gestapo said. “They return darker and angrier. Their potential for good is diametrically shifted to evil. The more evil the world experiences, the shakier its faith becomes, and the easier it becomes to manipulate.”
“Souls get recycled?”
“Yes, it especially seems to happen with the Prime ones,” Gestapo said. “Now you understand.”
“Now that you have gone through your villainous monologue,” Donnie said. “Let CeeCee and the baby go, and let’s fight.”
“Enter into combat just like that?” Gestapo asked. “I should just give up my upper hand?”
“What upper hand?” Donnie asked.
“I have your friend and her child. I will not hesitate to order their deaths,” Gestapo said.
“Do it,” Donnie replied and watched as CeeCee’s eyes went wide. “I know that CeeCee and the baby will go straight to heaven. I have no doubt of that, thanks to you.” Donnie began walking toward Gestapo. “I rather they were there, than in your clutches. I’ll just make sure you never do this to anyone ever again.”
“But you will be responsible for their deaths, just as you were responsible for your parents’ deaths.” Donnie was stopped in his tracks.
“What?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Gestapo answered. “You received just as much of a choice to become what you are as Lazarus had, which was none. They made you, just like Lucifer made me. Unlike Lazarus, they made sure any potential weaknesses were eliminated.”
“It’s not true,” Donnie replied. “They would never put me through something like that on purpose.”
“I will wager that they picked you, even before birth, to become their puppet.” Donnie could not help recall the story of how his parents met and could now felt that Gestapo was right.
“I won’t believe this.”
“Why not, look at everything? Your beloved falls into my hands, and you come at me with everything under the pretense that her soul will be lost.”
“No.” Donnie began to shake. “It’s not true. It can’t be.”
“Don’t listen to him, Donnie,” Lazarus mumbled a moment before Gestapo stomped on his head, breaking his jaw.
“You never had a choice, but I offer you one now, Donnie,” Gestapo words slipped off his tongue as if uttered by a viper in the Garden of Eden. “Join us, and I will let your friends go and grant you dominion over your loved ones’ soul. You can keep her as your pet forever. You are after all a Source just like me.” Donnie contemplated Gestapo’s words carefully.
“You know, you almost had me,” Donnie said. “Right until the moment, you called my wife a pet. Your offer is tempting, but I just can’t get over the fact that you ordered her death, that you burned her on a roof, that you made her suffer when a quick death would have served your purpose, and that you made me watch.”
“What are you saying?” Gestapo asked.
“I’m saying, take your bullshit offer and shove it up your Nazi ass!” Donnie said. “I don’t care what you do. I’m going destroy you if it’s the last thing I do!”
“Very well, if that is your decision, then I have no choice but to make you suffer,” Gestapo proclaimed as a black portal formed next to him, and he reached his arm through it. His arm became translucent and ghostly as it passed to the other side of the portal, when he pulled his arm back his hand was firmly grasped around something.
Donnie watched in horror as realized what he pulled through the portal. “Abbie!” Her form was not solid, she appeared to be a ghost; he could clearly see through her form.
“I never lost her, you fool. I could see her in any purgatory no matter what form it took,” Gestapo said angrily. “Your suffering begins by watching her being dragged to hell.” Gestapo began to lower her and a pit opened up underneath her feet. Donnie could see the warm glow of embers stretching out of the pit.
“No!” Donnie cried out.
“Last chance,” Gestapo paused and held Abbie by her throat suspended over the entrance to hell. “Submit to me, and I will spare her.” Donnie looked at Abbie and could see the panic in her eyes as she looked down. What was she seeing underneath her?
“I . . .”
“Yes,” Gestapo said coldly. “Say it, I want to hear that you are broken.” Donnie looked around the room. CeeCee nodded to Donnie, but didn’t know if she wanted him to submit for the baby’s sake or to fight. He looked at Lazarus who could barely move now. He looked at Frieda who looked at him and then at the baby and mocked him by licking her lips as she looked at the baby. He found himself involuntarily praying.
“God or The Great Spirit, or whoever you are, please help me.” Donnie closed his eyes. “I’m your servant, but I can’t do this alone, just a little help, anything.”
“Get ready to taste my holy steel, you unholy bitches!” Father Dominick cried out as he stormed into the room. Gestapo looked at the portly priest and tilted his head in confusion. Father Dominick hurled a shiny cylinder at Gestapo. As it flew over his head, Donnie could tell it was a fire extinguisher. Time slowed for Donnie. Everyone watched as the fire extinguisher flew at Gestapo. With his free hand, Gestapo batted the cylinder out of the air. The force of his blow made the fire extinguisher rupture, and the pressurized water within sprayed all over Gestapo and Lazarus. Gestapo screamed in agony as the holy water covered him.
“Hammer-throw champion 1985!” Father Dominick yelled out.
“Kill everything!” Gestapo yelled. “Too bad, Donnie, you could have saved herrrraarrrggggg!” Donnie watched as something massive bit into Gestapo’s ghostly arm and shook him violently as it lifted him twenty feet in the air. The bite forced him to release Abbie. Donnie moved as fast as he could to reach her, but it was too late. She was falling into the fiery pit. Suddenly a pair of translucent turquoise paws grabbed her and pulled her back into the ghostly portal she had been pulled through. Punu, Donnie thought. Gestapo managed to pull himself free and pulled his now mangled arm out of the portal. A moment before it closed, Donnie spotted the head of a large bear. Wi-na-go winked at him as the portal closed. Donnie looked over to Frieda, who had lifted her head and was bringing her fangs down into the baby. His eyes shifted over to CeeCee, and he watched as Anna snapped CeeCee’s neck; she began to fall lifeless to the ground.
“Noooo!” Donnie yelled and rushed Gestapo. Gestapo seeing Donnie’s charge morphed into his stone form. Donnie hit him like a raging bull and they crashed together through a marble pillar. The force of the rush pulverized the entire pillar into mere dust.
Father Dominick pulled Father Benny’s twin axes and moved toward Anna. He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye and was relieved; Espee and Nox were engaging Frieda. Espee struck Frieda with sudden force sending her sprawling violently across the marble floor. Frieda flailed her arms wildly after the surprise attack, and baby Donna flew high into the air. Nox performed an acrobatic leap and caught her in mid-flip. “Got her,” he cried out. The pair simply appeared out of thin air.
“What!” Frieda exclaimed as she looked up and discovered that it was Espee that had decked her and knocked her to the ground, yet again.
“You tried to kill a child, you tried to burn me, and you touched my man,” Espee said as she cracked her knuckles. “Bad choice, bitch.”
“You again,” Frieda said as she got up to her feet. “I was hoping you didn’t survive the roof, but I can remedy that now.”
Frieda assumed her stone form and prepared for battle.
“Do you know why a thousand-year-old vampire is so fearsome?” Espee asked. “You’re about to find out.” Frieda took one long look at Espee, turned, and ran into the darkness. Espee began giving chase and yelled, “Nox, get the baby and Lazarus out of here!” Espee ran after Frieda. Nox looked around trying to decide how he was going to get everyone safely out. Donnie and Gestapo were exchanging tremendous blows upon one another. Even though he was over fifty feet away, he could actually feel the shockwaves from each blow. Nox looked over to Lazarus, who was beginning to stand now, as he began running toward him, a flash of steel caught his eye. Father Dominick was in action now.
“I recognize you, harlot of hell,” Father Dominick said as he closed with Anna. “You’re the undead whore who killed Father Hubert.”
“Was he the one I ripped in half, or the other one I ripped in half?” Anna sneered at him in contempt.
“Oh, making jokes, Jezebel,” Father Dominick retorted. “Let’s see who gets the last laugh. Ha . . . ha-ha-ha!” Father Dominick lunged at Anna, swinging both axes. Anna kicked CeeCee’s corpse up at Father Dominick. The body hit him, and her dead weight was enough to topple him over. Her body ended up on top of him, and momentarily pinned him down. Anna morphed into the die Mauer and moved on Father Dominick.
“Now fat man,” Anna said. “It is time to join your fellow misguided brethren.” She brought a fist down on Father Dominick’s head. He moved his head at the last moment and barely avoided the skull crushing blow. She pulled back again to deliver another strike when she was impaled by a fiery arrow. She screamed in pain as the shaft easily burned its way through her shoulder.
Gestapo delivered a devastating knee to Donnie’s chin and then followed it up with a vicious kick. Donnie flew back and landed at Lazarus’s feet, moments before he fired the arrow from his bow made out of Faithfire. “Oh, you have to teach me how to do that!” Donnie said as he kicked the golden throne at Gestapo. The heavy seat spun wildly as it traveled at its intended target. It shattered when it stuck him squarely in the chest and knocked him off his feet.
