Lycanthropos

by Sackett, Jeffrey

  And the days passed, and Kaldy awaited the full moon, as Weyrauch pried and Petra experimented and Blasko worried and Louisa sulked and Schlacht killed.

  And then at last the full moon was less than two days away.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "So?" Helmuth Schlacht asked, as he sat behind his desk and methodically cleaned his pistol. "You have read the report from Berlin. What do you make of it?" Schlacht seemed angry, though he had thus far given no indication of the source of his anger.

  Weyrauch frowned thoughtfully as he read the brief letter which S.S. headquarters had just received from Professor Langhorst, the internationally known and respected philologist. Petra Loewenstein, who was seated in the chair next to his, craned her neck in an unsuccessful attempt to read the paper which he was holding. "It is...confusing, to say the least," Weyrauch commented.

  "To say the least," Schlacht nodded. "Does it offer a clue as to Kaldy’s origins?"

  "It may," the minister nodded slowly. "It may at least help us to establish a date for his...well, not his birth, but…"

  "Herr Doctor," Petra asked, "may I...?"

  "Oh, yes, certainly, certainly," he replied, handing her the letter. She read through it quickly, and then handed it back to him without comment. "Any thoughts?"

  "No, I’m afraid not," she replied. "I’ve heard of the Magi from the Christmas story of course...the so-called Wise Men, I mean, but…"

  "Has it ever occurred to you, Gottfried, that our friend Kaldy is playing you for a fool?" Schlacht asked.

  "N...no, Helmuth," Weyrauch stammered. "Why would you think...?"

  Schlacht allowed the pistol to drop heavily down upon his desk, and both Weyrauch and Petra started slightly at the unexpected thud. "Let us review the facts, shall we?" the S.S. officer suggested coldly. "Kaldy agrees to cooperate with us, agrees to allow you to attempt a hypnotic regression so that we might uncover the source of his power. He claims, of course, not to know his own origin, a rather unbelievable assertion, in my opinion. And what are the results of the regressions and the subsequent questioning?"

  "Well..." Weyrauch began to reply to what he knew to be a rhetorical question.

  "Shut up, Gottfried!" Schlacht snapped. Weyrauch seemed actually physically to shrink down into the chair as Schlacht went on. "He tells you a few foolish stories about Nostradamus and Dracula and Merlin...think about it, Gottfried... a French prophet, a Rumanian vampire and a British wizard!"

  "But Helmuth, I assure you..."

  "He has been lying to you, you stupid idiot!" Schlacht shouted. "He has been telling you fairy tales. Astrologers and vampires and magicians! God in heaven, Gottfried, can you really be this gullible?!"

  "But…"

  "And now, according to Langhorst, he now brings Jesus Christ into his private little joke! The Magi, Gottfried? The goddamned Magi?!"

  "H...H...Helmuth, he...he didn’t say anything a...about the Lord..."

  "Oh, no, of course not," Schlacht spat. "That would have been too transparent, too easy for us to see through...or should I say, too easy for you to see through. It is all crystal clear to me."

  "Helmuth, please," Weyrauch implored, beginning to sweat profusely. "There are a variety of interpre..."

  "Listen carefully, you dung brain!" Schlacht said as he snatched the paper from Weyrauch’s trembling hand and began to read it aloud. "‘The phrase you transcribed, though the transliteration is poor, seems to be in the Gathic language of ancient Iran; at least, it is similar to the language used in the Gathas, the oldest section of the Zoroastrian scripture, the Avesta.’" Schlacht looked up. "Following this so far?" he asked sarcastically.

  "Helmuth..." he began cautiously.

  "Good." He looked back down at the page. "‘The phrase translates as ‘Conquer the evil within, battle the evil without.’ It is, to the best of my knowledge, part of a ritual incantation, or possibly a prayer, of the Zoroastrian priesthood known to us as the Magi, from the Greek magoi. The word is related to the Latin magus, meaning magician.’" The Colonel looked at his cousin’s husband and asked, "A relatively clear series of sentences, don’t you think?"

  "Of course, of course. But I fail to see why you..."

  "You fail to see almost everything, Gottfried!" Schlacht screamed. "The next thing we know Kaldy will be telling us that Christ Himself turned him into a werewolf!"

  Weyrauch allowed himself a slight, tentative smile. "I hardly think so, Helmuth. Theologically, such an assertion would be…"

  "Gottfried, shut your stupid maw and listen very carefully to me." He leaned forward over his desk and Weyrauch tried to withdraw even farther back into the cushions of the chair as Schlacht said, "I included you in this project because I needed someone with medical knowledge whom I could trust to keep what he knew to himself. But I most emphatically did not expect to have a subordinate who would allow himself to be duped by a subhuman freak!" He paused and closed his eyes, as if seeking to restrain his fury. "The moon will be full in less than twenty-four hours. Now, Fräulein Loewenstein here has done her job quite well, and we have a formula which should have the sort of effect we have been seeking. We are going to test it today, first on a Jew and then, if it doesn’t result in death, on a select group of volunteers from my own command. If all goes as planned, we should have our invulnerable soldiers before the week is out, and then we will have no further need for Kaldy or his friend Blasko." He paused meaningfully. "And if you have not been able to discover anything of use about the origin of this condition, I will also have no further use for you. Do I make myself clear?"

  "H...H...Helmuth..."

  "I have tolerated your stupidity and Louisa’s treasonous impertinence for as long as I intend to," he said coldly. "If you do not come up with some reliable facts about this creature, I’ll ship you and Louisa off to Auschwitz myself."

  "What about Kaldy?" Petra asked softly. "And what about Claudia?"

  He turned to her angrily. "What about them?"

  "We have to be able to destroy them, Herr Colonel," she replied. "They are dangerous. They are deadly. They must be killed."

  "If worse comes to worst, we’ll just send him off to Mengele, and the female with him, once we’ve captured her," he said. "There is a way to kill anything which lives. I have confidence that Doctor Mengele will find it." He turned back to Weyrauch. "Now you go back to your little Gypsy and tell him that I do not intend to indulge him any longer. And get me some intelligent facts, Gottfried, or so help me, you won’t live out the week! Now get out of here!"

  "Helmuth..."

  "RAUS!" he screamed, and Weyrauch leapt from the chair and rushed out of the room. A few moments of strained silence ensued, after which Schlacht turned to Petra and snapped, "Report!"

  "Yes, Herr Colonel," she said quietly, well aware of the fury which simmered beneath the cold surface of the S.S. officer, and not wishing to excite it. "As you know, we have been conducting experiments over the past four weeks..."

  "I know that, Fräulein," he interrupted. "I made certain that your daily reports were sent to me in Bucharest. Do not tell me what I already know."

  "Yes, of course. Sorry." She paused and then asked conversationally, "How is the relocation of the Romanian Jews going, by the way?"

  "I was there merely to advise the Iron Guard," he replied. "The Romanians can deal with their own Jewish problem...not that this has anything to do with the subject at hand."

  "No, of course not," she conceded. "Well, I’ve become reasonably certain that the deaths of the test subjects were a result not of the relative ratios of the chemicals, but of the concentration of the solution itself."

  "And so you have diluted it," he said impatiently. "I know. Go on."

  "Yes, and I believe that I have achieved a level which is both effective and non-toxic. Though we won’t know for sure until we have tested it."

  He nodded. "What leads you to believe that it is effective and non-toxic? You have not yet injected it into a test subject."

&n
bsp; "I grew a culture from human cells. When I infused the host environment with the solution, I found that the cells ceased to multiply but did not deteriorate, not even when an electric charge was passed through them."

  "Meaning?" Schlacht asked.

  "Meaning," Petra replied, "that after absorbing the solution, the cells both ceased the normal process of growth and also displayed a resistance to breakdown."

  He smiled. "Good, Fräulein. Excellent. And the test subject? Is he ready?"

  She nodded. "Yes, your men have him trussed up in the laboratory. One word of warning, though Colonel..."

  "I need no caution against creating creatures, Fräulein. We have an ample supply of wolfsbane."

  She shook her head. "No, not that. By diluting the enzyme, we may have weakened its effects. We have no way of knowing for certain what level of effectiveness the solution will have..."

  "Until we test it," he finished for her. "Well, let us do just that." Schlacht rose from behind his desk and walked to the door. He held the door open for her and she nodded her acceptance of the courtesy. Schlacht glanced at his adjutant, Corporal Vogel, and the latter fell into line behind Schlacht and Petra as they left the anteroom and went out into the corridor.

  As they walked from Schlacht’s office toward Petra’s laboratory, she said, "There are, of course, new problems with which we shall have to deal if this test is successful."

  "I have thought of a few," he said. "What are your concerns?"

  "Well, if we are able to accomplish what you wish us to accomplish, we will have the ability to create your invulnerable soldiers; however, when the full moon rises, they will pose a threat to everyone, not merely the enemy. They will be the enemy!"

  "Am I correct in assuming that you are about to suggest that we stop our research until we have discovered how these creatures can be killed?"

  She smiled at him, deciding to be flattering. "Herr Colonel, you can read me like a book."

  He was duly flattered. "A not uncommon skill among true leaders, my dear."

  "Yes, you are correct, of course. These creatures are invulnerable, but when they are in their wolf forms they are also murderous, deadly, dangerous."

  "We have the wolfsbane. We can control them."

  "Yes, one or two," she objected. "But you are envisioning an army, Herr Colonel. Is there enough wolfsbane or a sufficient number of guards to deal with a thousand of these creatures, or ten thousand, or a hundred thousand?"

  He laughed. "Your observation is interesting, Fräulein, but basically foolish."

  She bridled slightly. "Hardly that, I hope!"

  "If this test is successful, I shall begin to build my new elite corps from Schutzstaffel volunteers, dedicated National Socialists, loyal soldiers. Is it so difficult to foresee establishing a procedure to be followed before each full moon of one binding another with chains and wolfsbane, and he then being bound by a third and he by a fourth, and so on? If it is done by squad, how long would it take before all were bound?"

  "But the supply of wolfsbane..."

  "Please, please," Schlacht said, feigning impatience but secretly enjoying enlightening the woman. "When an army moves, it attends to the most minute details of supply. Food, ammunition, fuel, medicines, clothing, weapons, machinery, all must be projected, allocated, produced, transported. Do you really think it an insurmountable obstacle to add a monthly supply of wolfsbane to an already extensive list of needs, a list from which we will be able to subtract the food they will not need to eat, the medical supplies they will not need to treat the wounds they will not have?" He awaited a reply, but none was forthcoming. He stopped walking and placed his hands upon Petra’s shoulders, turning her gently to face him. "I know that you wish to have the pleasure of killing the creature that killed your family. Rest assured that once I am satisfied of the success of our experiment, we shall capture this other werewolf, and we shall discover a way to destroy her and Kaldy." He smiled. "Besides, you are, of course, correct. The day may come when our...our pseudo-lycanthropes will have served their purpose and may indeed present a danger to the Reich. We certainly must know how to dispatch them when and if that day comes."

  She bowed her head slightly to signal acceptance. "I am pleased that our goals still converge, Herr Colonel. But I must say that I feel it would be safer to discover how to kill them before we set about creating an army of them."

  Schlacht began again to walk toward the laboratory. "Your concern is noted and appreciated." She followed behind him wordlessly as Vogel, ever the silent and attentive subordinate, brought up the rear.

  As they approached the laboratory on the ground floor of the Palace, Gottfried von Weyrauch was tapping his foot impatiently as a guard unlocked the door to the dungeon cell in which Kaldy and Blasko were being held. The minister entered to find his wife sitting on a stool beside the old Gypsy, laughing as Blasko recounted some apparently amusing experience from his past. Inasmuch as Blasko was speaking Romansch and Louisa was responding in Italian, Weyrauch had no idea what either of them was saying. They looked at him as he entered the cell, and the pleasant smile on Louisa’s face was replaced by an expression of distaste. Blasko fell silent and watched Weyrauch as he walked past them, ignoring them completely, and stopped before Kaldy, who was sitting on the floor in the corner. Kaldy was leaning back against the rough stone wall of the cell, staring off at nothing. Weyrauch mustered up as much imperious authority as he could manage, and snapped. "Colonel Schlacht and I have come to the conclusion that you have been playing us for fools!"

  Kaldy’s head moved slowly in Weyrauch’s direction, and after gazing impassively at him for a few moments, Kaldy said, "I am sorry to say that neither you nor Colonel Schlacht need any assistance from me in such matters."

  "Herr Kaldy, I am quite serious, and quite annoyed," Weyrauch said angrily. "I have obtained a translation of your, shall we say, rather cryptic statement of a few weeks ago, and I am at a loss to explain it in any way other than to assume that you have been fabricating the tales you have been spinning." He harrumphed. "I don’t believe that you’ve ever really been hypnotized by me at all! I think you have been indulging your whimsy by making up stories!"

  Louisa had been giving Blasko a running translation of what was being said, but she stopped speaking Italian and addressed her husband in German. "What are you talking about, Gottfried? What’s this about a translation?"

  "Herr Kaldy seems to think that we are foolish enough to believe that he was one of the Wise Men," Weyrauch said, laughing humorlessly. "Those words he spoke in the midst of that very convincing display of emotional fatigue were part of a ritual incantation of the ancient Magi."

  "The Magi?" Louisa said. "The Wise Men from the Bible? You must be mistaken, Gottfried. I’ve read the Christmas story a hundred times, in both Matthew and Luke, and there are no incantations..."

  "Oh, Louisa, be quiet!" he said firmly. "You don’t know anything about these matters! Just keep your mouth shut and stay out of this!"

  He was attempting to be overpowering in his wrath, but Louisa knew him too well to be impressed by him. She stood up slowly and walked menacingly towards him. "And just whom do you think you’re talking to?!"

  He fell back a step, away from Kaldy, his ill-fitting mask of masculine dominance crumbling before his wife’s anger. "Louisa, I didn’t mean..."

  "Gottfried," she said coldly, "it is hard enough for me to live up to my own disapproval of divorce! Don’t add to my burden by making it hard for me to live up to the Biblical prohibition against homicide!"

  "Now, now, my dear," he simpered, "all I meant was that such historical and religious matters were things with which you are unfamiliar..."

  "Fine," she said, closing her eyes and attempting control her anger and her hatred of her husband. "Then why don’t you enlighten me, Pastor!" She seemed to spit the last word at him. "What’s all this about the Wise Men?"

  Weyrauch sighed, resigned once again to having lost face and resigned as well to hav
ing to explain to his wife a rather intricate bit of religious history. "Well," he said, "St. Matthew doesn’t use the term ‘Wise Men.’ The Greek word he uses is magoi, and it’s just centuries of custom which makes us translate that as..."

  "Yes, as ‘Wise Men,’" she finished for him impatiently. "So? Who were they?"

  "Well, the Magi were a class of priests in ancient Persia. They existed for centuries before Zoroaster, but eventually became the dominant figures in the rituals of the Zoroastrian religion."

  "Dzardrusha," Kaldy muttered pensively in a far away voice.

  Weyrauch turned back to him, startled. "What did you say?"

  "Dzardrusha," he repeated. He frowned and seemed perplexed.

  The minister felt his customary academic fascination asserting itself, and he knelt down beside Kaldy and asked, "Is that Zoroaster, Kaldy? Is Dzardrusha how you say the name Zoroaster in Persian?"

  Kaldy shook his head slowly from side to side. "I don’t know, Herr Doctor."

  "Then why did you say that word?"

  "I don’t know, Doctor." He shook his head again, vigorously and with frustration. "You were speaking about Zoroaster and the Magi and the word just bubbled up in my brain." He paused. "Dzardrusha. Dzardrusha." Kaldy sighed. "I don’t know what I’m saying."

  Weyrauch’s brow furrowed in thought, and then his eyes widened. "Wait...wait..." he said excitedly, "perhaps there is a connection…perhaps…"

  "Gottfried, will you kindly include me in your contemplations?" Louisa demanded.

  He looked up at her. "Do you know anything about the Parsi religion?"

  "The what?"

  "The Parsi religion, the religion of ancient Iran, the religion founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster."

  She shook her head. "Not a thing."

  "Well," he said, rising up from his knees, "there was a prophet in ancient Persia, some three thousand years ago. No one knows for sure when he lived. Some scholars think it was as recently as twenty-seven hundred years ago or as early as four thousand years ago. It is certain that he lived after the Aryan conquest of Iran, which was at least four thousand years ago..." He paused. "I use the word ‘Aryan’ correctly, by the way, not as the Nazis use it. There really were a people called the Aryans, you know. They conquered Persia and India at about the same time..."