Three Nights of the Vampire- The Complete Trilogy

by Amy Cross

  “Please!” she sobbed. “I'm begging you, tell me you understand!”

  “I don't understand any of this,” I replied. “I don't even -”

  Suddenly I heard another scream from inside the building.

  “What's happening in there?” I asked. “What's he doing to Matthias?”

  “Why don't you go in and find out?” she replied, slowly letting go of my arm, as if she was testing to see whether I'd try to run. “It's not like you have any choice, anyway. If you try to run, I'll stop you. If you refuse to enter the house, I'll drag you in there myself. Not because I want to, Chloe. If it were up to me, I'd help you get away, but...” She paused. “I can't even describe it. It's just like... Whatever he wants me to do, I'll do it. And right now, he wants you to go into the house.”

  Turning, I looked toward the huge building. Row upon row of dark windows loomed high above, and I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me from one of them.

  “Let's make this easy,” Belinda said, putting a hand on my shoulder and trying to guide me toward the large front door. “I don't want to fight you, Chloe.”

  Walking with her, I realized that I had no choice.

  “Apparently this mansion was owned by some crazy Nazi guy during the war,” she explained. “I don't know the details, but anyway, that's why it's been left abandoned these days. I guess Mr. Zieghoff, whoever he was, did some pretty bad stuff here, so now no-one wants to take the place on. It's weird, but maybe it's to do with the vibes of the place. You have to admit, it feels pretty freaky here, right?

  “I don't need to know about all of that,” I replied, as we stepped into the shadow of the house and approached the front door.

  “Sure, but -”

  “I just want to get this over with.”

  “I never knew you were so popular,” she continued, as if she was trying to make small-talk. “Do you seriously have no idea why this Hugo guy is so obsessed with you? I mean, don't take this the wrong way, Chloe, but you never really struck me as the kind of person who'd end up with some moody vampire tearing the world apart so he can get to you.”

  Stopping at the door, I took a deep breath.

  “Please don't try to run,” Belinda said after a moment. “I don't want to have to hurt you.”

  “Then don't,” I replied, turning to her.

  “I can't help it.” There were fresh tears in her eyes. “If he told me to smash your head open right now, I'd have no choice. You don't know what it's like, to have someone controlling your thoughts like that.”

  “Is he controlling them now?” I asked.

  “Not right now, but he's watching. And listening.”

  “Can he hear me?”

  Reaching out, she opened the door, revealing the gloomy, under-lit interior. “Just go and see him,” she continued. “There's really no other way.”

  “Aren't you coming inside?”

  She shook her head. “He wants me to sit out here like some kind of obedient little guard dog. It's not as if I can refuse.”

  I watched as she made her way back toward the stone plinth and climbed up. I could hear her sobbing, but I had no doubt that she was telling the truth. If I tried to run, she'd turn on me, so I stepped through the doorway and found myself in a large, high-ceilinged hallway with a huge chandelier on the floor, having apparently crashed down at some point. A spiral staircase dominated the far wall, and the ever-darkening evening sky could just about be seen through the large windows. It was clear that the house had been grand once, although it seemed to have been left in a state of disrepair.

  I waited.

  Silence.

  “Hello?” I called out finally, stepping forward. There was dirt and glass on the floor, and the more I looked around, the more I saw that the house seemed to have been damaged at some point in the past. There were cracks on the walls and sections of missing plaster, and a little further ahead there was a large hole in the floor-tiles.

  Reaching a door to the side of the stairs, I peered along a dark corridor.

  “Matthias?” I said cautiously. “Where -”

  Suddenly I heard him screaming, and I quickly realized that he was upstairs somewhere. I took a deep breath, before making my way to the foot of the stairs and looking up. The screams had stopped for a moment, but I knew I'd have to go up sooner or later, so I figured there was no point delaying the inevitable.

  Slowly, with a growing sense of fear in my gut, I made my way upstairs and finally reached the landing. I immediately spotted the words 'Nazi scum' daubed on one of the nearby walls. It was clear that at some time over the years, vandals had broken into the house, and when I looked over the railing I saw the chandelier far below. Evidently someone at some point had cut it down, and it wasn't hard to imagine that in the years after the war, the people of Paris must have seen the house as a symbol of the Nazi forces that had once occupied the city.

  Making my way along the nearest corridor, I listened out for signs of life, but the mansion seemed to have fallen silent again. I wanted to call out again, although I quickly realized that it might not be smart to advertise my presence. Then again, I figured that Hugo – whoever he really turned out to be – already knew that I was in the building.

  As I reached the door at the corridor's far end, I felt a brief, frantic buzzing sensation in my left ear. I flinched, but the sound quickly faded. I was starting to think that Antoinette might have been right, that somehow I was hearing a distorted version of Matthias's scream, and after a moment I realized that I'd instinctively reached out to put my hand on the nearest door-handle. I hesitated for a moment, before slowly turning the handle and pushing the door open. At the same time, I couldn't shake the strangest sense that I'd been to the house before.

  Stepping through, I found myself entering a large banquet hall. A long table ran through the center of the room, with empty chairs on either side. The only brightness came from the large windows on the hall's far side, through which low evening light was now streaming, casting long shadows. Stepping forward, I looked around but saw no sign of anyone, even though I distinctly felt as if I was being watched.

  A moment later, I looked up and saw a balcony high above, running around the edges of the room.

  At the far end, a dark figure stood watching me, although it immediately turned and slipped out of sight as soon as it realized it had been seen.

  I stepped forward.

  “Wait!” I called out, but it was too late.

  The figure was gone.

  Suddenly hearing a shuffling sound nearby, I turned and saw some kind of large cage in the corner. Making my way over, I spotted a figure slumped on the cage's floor, and even before I'd made my way around to the other side I'd already guessed whose face I was about to see.

  “Matthias?” I whispered, kneeling to get a better look at him through the bars. “Matthias, wake up!”

  I waited, but he didn't stir.

  “Matthias!”

  I tried reaching between the bars, but the gap was too tight.

  “Matthias, it's me,” I continued, keeping my voice low. I glanced over my shoulder, to make sure that no-one else was nearby, and then I turned back to him. “It's Chloe,” I whispered, gently tapping on the bars. “Please, you have to wake up!”

  I paused, before slowly realizing what I had to do.

  “We need to get out of here,” I stammered. “I have to rescue you!”

  Getting to my feet, I made my way around the side of the cage and saw a large metal lock. When I tried the door, it failed to open, and it was clear that without a key I wouldn't be able to get Matthias out.

  I looked across the room again, to make sure we were still alone. All the chairs at the long table were empty, and I couldn't see anyone in the shadows, so I moved back around to the other side of the cage and got down onto my knees again.

  “Matthias!” I hissed. “I don't know how to get you out of here! I need you to wake up!”

  Suddenly his eyes began to
flicker open, and he stared up at me.

  “Tell me what to do,” I continued, trying not to panic. “I don't have a key for this thing, so -”

  “Go,” he whispered, his voice sounding impossibly weak and frail. “It's too late for me. You have to...”

  He gasped, as if a fresh wave of pain was bursting through his body.

  “I was wrong,” he continued. “About everything. I knew he was... I knew he was out of his mind, but I didn't think... I didn't think he'd go this far...”

  “Just tell me how to get you out of here,” I replied. “Matthias, please!”

  He stared at me for a moment, before glancing past me. I saw a flicker of anger cross his face, and I turned slowly to see that there was now a figure sitting at the far end of the table. His face was hidden by shadows, as the sun dipped below the horizon outside, but I could tell that the figure was watching me.

  “Is that him?” I asked, turning back to Matthias. “Is that your brother? Is that Hugo?”

  “Go,” Matthias said with a sigh. “You might... still...”

  I waited for him to continue, but after a few seconds I realized he'd lost consciousness.

  “Matthias!” I hissed, bumping the bars before glancing at the figure again and seeing that it was still in the same place, apparently content to simply watch me for now. “Matthias,” I said again, turning back to look into the cage, “you can't leave me like this! You have to show me what I can do!”

  Again I waited, but this time there was no response.

  Keenly aware that I was still being watched, I turned and looked at the figure. Dust was floating through the air between us, but as the light outside continued to dim, I was slowly able to make out more of the figure's face. I could see two dark eyes watching me, but the rest of his features seemed terribly scarred and damaged. There was no hair on his head, not even eyebrows, and he seemed impossibly thin, as if the remaining flesh was clinging to his bones.

  Cautiously, I got to my feet.

  “Chloe,” he said suddenly, his voice croaking slightly as if he was in pain. “It's so nice to see you again.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Matthias

  “Run!” I shouted, reaching out to Chloe's mind. “Get out of here! The plan didn't work! Hugo was too strong. It has to be just me and him now!”

  I waited, letting my thoughts race through the house, but I was already too weak to find her.

  “Don't come for me,” I continued, even as I felt myself losing consciousness again. “I'm dying anyway. You have to run and never look back!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chloe

  Stepping closer to the table, I kept my eyes fixed on the figure at the far end.

  “You made me work for this,” he said after a moment. “Look at me, I've almost wasted away.”

  He turned his head to one side, letting me see the thick, knotted scars than ran across one side of his face.

  “I have survived things that would kill most vampires,” he continued, turning back to me, “even if I have lost a great deal in the process. My looks, for one thing, but also...” His voice trailed off. He flinched slightly, as if he'd been momentarily struck by some unseen discomfort. “I must confess, and this might not come as a surprise to you, but I have struggled somewhat to retain my sanity. As bad as things might seem right now, I can assure you that anyone else would not have managed nearly so well.”

  “Are you Hugo?” I asked cautiously. “Are you Matthias's brother?”

  “I have no brother!” he spat angrily, before quickly regaining his composure. “It's true that we were slopped out from between the legs of the same mother, but these days that is as far as our connection goes.”

  Gasping, he got to his feet, and I heard his bones creaking as he began to make his way around the table. He was wearing a long dark robe that ran to the floor, and he seemed awkward and ungainly, as if every step was agonizing.

  “I think there's been some kind of mistake,” I told him, slowly moving around the table so as to keep well away from him. “I don't know who you are. I've never seen you before in my life, and this whole mess, whatever it's about, is nothing to do with me.”

  “It isn't?” he asked with a faint smile.

  “I don't know you!” I said firmly. “I don't know any of you!”

  “They say I lost my mind,” he continued, limping further around the table. “They're right. After everything my brother did to me, after everything you did to me Chloe, I'm afraid my mind fractured into a thousand pieces. But that was then, and now things are different.” He paused. “I was lost in darkness for so long, but eventually I gathered the pieces up and put my mind back together. Now it's as good as new. Better even. All the original parts are still there, but I managed to make some improvements. Of course, once I'd put it all back together, I found that I had a few pieces left over. I tossed those aside.”

  “I don't know who you are!” I told him yet again, still backing away around the table. “You must be looking for another Chloe, I don't know how the confusion happened, but -”

  “Silence!” he shouted, cutting me off. “I know what my brother thinks! He believes me to be so insane, so beyond help, that I can't distinguish one reality from another. He thinks I see you and assume you're...” He paused again, clearly in pain. “I know full well why you don't remember me, Chloe. I know why you have that stupid, gormless look on your face. It's not your fault. In some ways, I even feel pity for you. You'll never understand, not really, because I won't give you the chance. You'll simply fade from existence before you have a chance to wreak so much misery and cruelty on the world.”

  Shaking my head, I looked over at the cage and saw that Matthias still hadn't stirred.

  “No-one has ever done what I'm about to do,” Hugo continued, inching closer. “To reorganize the world... I don't know whether I'll remember the truth, or whether I'll be swept up in it all. Either way, you'll be prevented from committing the terrible crimes that even now are brewing in your soul.”

  “You're wrong,” I replied, glancing at the door and trying to work out whether I could run. Sure, Hugo seemed weak enough, but then I'd still have to deal with Belinda.

  “Look what you did to me!” Hugo shouted suddenly, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling the fabric aside to reveal a scarred, hollowed-out chest. It was as if most of his ribs had been torn away, along with his internal organs, leaving just some clumps of meat packed around his spine. Near the top, a heart-like shape was throbbing wildly, and I winced as I saw spikes poking out from its surface.

  My eyes widening with horror, I stepped back.

  “You tore me apart!” he continued, limping toward me. “You and Matthias led me into that macabre trap, and then you left me to die! You didn't care about my sanity, or my future! You saw fit to end my life and -”

  “No!” I shouted. “You're wrong! I don't know what you're talking about, but I never saw you until tonight!”

  “Liar!” he hissed.

  “I mean it!” As he edged closer, I continued to make my way around the table. “Please, you have to look at this rationally. I've never seen you before, so somewhere in all of this there has to be a mistake! The first I knew of you and your brother was about a week ago, when my friend was killed!”

  “Do you see Zieghoff?” Hugo replied.

  I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, before realizing that he was looking up at a large, torn painting that hung at the far end of the room. The painting depicted a tall, proud man wearing some kind of uniform. After a moment, I saw that the uniform featured Nazi swastikas.

  “This was his house,” Hugo gasped, leaning against one of the chairs. “This is where he carried out some of his abominable acts. Somewhat fitting, don't you think? The man was an occultist, he led one of the Nazi units that was dedicated to exploring the art of witchcraft. A madman, you might say. Look at that painting, Chloe, and tell me it doesn't mean something to you.”

  Staring at th
e painting, I saw only the angry, shadowy face of its subject.

  “I've never seen that man before in my life,” I stammered. “Until a few days ago, I'd never even heard of him.”

  “Liar!” Hugo shouted again, still trying to make his way around the table to reach me. “You recognize him in your soul! I know you do! You can't make me believe that you could ever forget!”

  He stopped suddenly, his eyes wide with fear.

  “No, of course,” he muttered finally, as if some new thought had entered his mind. “I'm forgetting myself. I'm mixing up the...” His voice trailed off for a moment. “Perhaps my mind isn't quite as strong as I'd hoped,” he added with a grin. “Perhaps there are some areas where the connections don't quite fit together properly. Nevertheless, I'm sure of my plan, and now I have you here. I have waited, and now the moment has arrived.”

  Glancing at Matthias again, I saw that he was still crumpled in the cage.

  “My brother is dying,” Hugo explained. “He has only a few minutes left. He waited for this day, and now he's powerless to do anything. He'd be weeping now, if he could stay conscious. As things stand, I will simply have to content myself with imagining his screams.”

  I was about to ask what he meant, when I spotted movement up on the balcony behind Hugo.

  “Who is that?” I whispered, as I saw a figure rushing into a door, its figured obscured by a white cloak.

  Hugo turned and looked up, but the figure was gone now.

  “Do you think I'm that easily fooled?” he asked, turning back to me. “I've played your games before, Chloe. I know you inside out, and I understand every move you're about to make. I've seen you when you're desperate, and it's not a pretty sight. Fortunately, I'm about to wipe you from history, so at least I won't ever have to deal with you again. I'm going to break the cycle and make this madness end.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, before glancing toward the cage. My first hope was that Matthias would be stirring, that somehow he might be able to help me, but after a moment I realized that not only was the cage's door wide open, but Matthias was nowhere to be seen.