Rise of the Seventh Reich

by Jeremy Croston

  “These are Koenig’s men, the Seventh Reich. They’re just as durable as The Jackal.”

  “What in blue blazes is The Jackal?” I yelled as I got to my feet.

  We both began to take off, back down the way we entered the city. We needed to get to the river and get as far away from this place as we could.

  “The werewolf! He was listed in Perun’s book!” she yelled back over the gunfire. The Nazis weren’t giving up. “Maximus Brinza killed it with Radu and Abigail’s help. It had distinct facial markings that Perun described quite accurately.”

  Two more Nazis ambushed us as we crossed one of the final streets of the city outskirts. Cassie blasted them with something awful, but immediately slumped over. Grab the girl and go!

  Luka didn’t need to tell me twice.

  At least Cassie was a lot lighter than Radu.

  I also really needed to stop getting chased in situations that required me to carry people.

  You got this, Castor, I told myself. I heard the rushing of the Dniester River closing in. Right as I went to leap, one of those damn Nazis actually hit me. Right in the leg. I stumbled forward and, instead of a controlled leap into the rushing, cold water, it was an ungraceful flop. The cold river water took hold and tore us off into unknown directions…

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  T he worst part of my journey was that I never lost consciousness. I’d remember every rock I hit, every wave that hit me, every time I thought I was about to drown. It was pure, living hell. I barely kept a grip on Cassie in the frigid winter waters, but the Lord was with me.

  He was even more with me when something grabbed me and began to pull me against the river, towards the shore. This nightmarish trip was about to end. I just prayed that whoever, or whatever, was on the other end of this rescue was a friend. With a mighty heave, Cassie and I were pulled from the water, onto the safety of the shore.

  At least, that was my working theory - safe.

  “Holen sie sie ins camp, sofort!”

  “German… speakers,” whimpered Cassie.

  Neither of us were in a position to fight back. Could we have been captured by Nazis? The set of hands that grabbed me in the dark were actually quite gentle. If this was the enemy, they were being quite nice about their imprisonment. I felt Luka, and then my father, both try to communicate with me, but they were being blocked.

  Oh great.

  More magic was coming into my life.

  Another quiet voice spoke. “Wir sind fast da, hängen an.”

  Again, it didn’t feel malicious or foul. We were getting help, that’s what this had to be. I relaxed a touch as whoever was with us continued their journey through the Moldavian countryside. The trip abruptly stopped and we ducked into a small forest right off the river. A little ways further and we arrived at a little encampment.

  These were gypsies.

  Two women quickly started a fire and the men that were helping Cassie and me got us as close as we could get. A blanket was placed over Cassie’s shoulders, then one over mine. We were freezing, but this helped. If we weren’t hypothermic already, this would hopefully keep us from getting there.

  While we warmed up by the fire, three more women approached us. The lead woman appeared to be in her early forties; quite the beauty but there was definitely something haunting about her. This was a woman filled with regret and sorrow.

  “You both speak English, no?” she asked.

  Cassie’s teeth were still chattering good, so I answered for the both of us. “Yes ma’am.”

  She nodded. “Good. We’ve been awaiting you, Son of Dracul.”

  I’d never been called that before. “That’s just one part of the old family history,” I corrected her.

  “It is, but it is the most important part,” she countered.

  I didn’t feel like arguing with her, but in my mind, I was assuring all my ancestors that the Brinza side was what made me, me.

  “We are not here for the other side. My help can only be through the Draculs,” she added, trying to soften her stance a bit.

  “Who are you?” I asked through the shivers.

  She gave a small bow. “My name is Emma. This is my gypsy clan; a clan that specializes in the occult,” she told us.

  Cassie was able to get a few words out. “Y-y-you’re a witch.”

  A few of them men began to grunt and turn a tad hostile. Emma put her hand up and addressed them. “It is okay. They need the truth,” she said to them, still in English. Turning back to us, “A long time ago, in my youth, I was a practitioner. I no longer use magic; black nor white.”

  “But you were, once?” I pressed.

  “Yes. I was not a good person and my crimes are being paid for. It is through the crimes that I have gained knowledge for the Last Son of the Draculs. My mistakes and misdeeds can help you save the world, for now, if you let me.”

  We were in a strange encampment, surrounded by people who seemed to follow this Emma no matter what. If we said no, would they let us out, peacefully? Did we even have a choice?

  There is always a choice, Castor.

  My gut tells me she ain’t an enemy but she’s not on our side, either.

  Luka approved of my deduction. She is a conundrum. You know exactly what to do, Castor.

  Problems needed answers and that’s what he meant. It was time to get some answers. “We’ll stay and we’ll listen,” I told her.

  “Good. Warm up, eat, and, when you are ready, join me in my caravan. I will wait for you.”

  Emma turned around and headed back towards her makeshift home. Soon, people were bringing over more towels and food. The food seemed to really help Cassie who needed a boost after everything we’d just gone through. For me, I just wanted to get dry and get answers. One of the men threw another log on the flame; I scooted closer and put my hands out over it.

  Cassie moved closer, too. “They pulled us out of the river with magic,” she said, going along with my unsaid theory. “Someone here is still using arcane crafts, whether they want to admit it or not.”

  “Can you tell if Emma was the one or if she’s used magic recently?”

  She shook her head no. “A skilled user can cloak their intentions from others. The fact that she gave me as much as she did to make my conclusion is a tad suspicious itself. She wanted to out herself, to tell you that she once was a witch but no more. The facts are staring right at us, Castor.”

  “Let me remind you, it was your idea to find the gypsies.”

  “And I’m regretting that immensely.”

  Once we finished our meal of fish and berries, an older lady came over and took our plates. We were being treated as guests, but the feeling of prisoner came to mind more than once. The big guys constantly standing guard near us didn’t help with that at all. Soon, they began to mumble amongst themselves in German. Were they annoyed we were taking so long? Sorry fellas, we’d just got fished out of a river. We weren’t in no hurry.

  “I can feel my fingers again,” Cassie said, breaking the silence.

  She whispered something; I couldn’t make out what it was. It dawned on me it was a spell as my clothes finished drying out a lot faster than this fire would have done the job. The freezing feeling that had penetrated all the way to my bones was gone, replaced with a comfort and mellowness that brought a smile to my face.

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  Cassie stood up and stretched out her arms. “Is it okay if Castor and I go to Emma’s?” she asked, a quip of sarcasm laced in each word.

  One of the big guys just gave a short, stiff head movement. I took that for an okay and popped up to my feet. The faster we could get this over with, the faster we could keep moving on. I also made a mental note to ask Emma just where we were. Hopefully, we hadn’t drifted too far out of our way and we could get back into the heart of Moldova soon.

  One of the elders who flanked Emma upon her first appearance was standing vigil outside of her caravan. “Sie sind die Auserwählten,” sh
e directed at me.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German,” I replied.

  All she did was give me a toothless grin and move out of the way. Cassie looked as confused as I did. Judging from her expression, she either understood the words but not the meaning or was asking an unsaid question. Either way, it appeared for the moment that what the elder said wasn’t all of that importance. I pushed it from my mind and entered the home.

  At the far end of the caravan was Emma. She was sitting at a small table with two additional chairs pushed up. It was cramped; the walls were lined with volume after volume of different books, all in different languages that I couldn’t read. Cassie stopped at one for just a moment and slightly curled her lip. It was very clear where her thoughts on Emma leaned.

  "Please sit. Make yourselves at home."

  We each pulled out a chair and slowly sat down. For me, the main thought was how Emma was related to the Dracul family. The only true Draculs I knew were Abigail and Radu. Both had some dark tendencies but nothing like some of the other distant relatives that stories spoke briefly about.

  Could Emma be a part of the bad Draculs?

  "Koenig has no idea the horrors he is playing with."

  That wasn't how I expected this to go down. "What do you know of what Koenig is doing?" I asked.

  She placed her hand on an odd shaped wood block and traced it over the table. The wood was engraved with a great many intricate designs and patterns.

  "She's using divination," Cassie explained.

  "The one to bring back The Jackal will be the Harbinger," she started. "This was foretold by Vlad himself."

  Bloody hell, this is just what we needed, more freaking voodoo.

  Castor, can you hear me?

  Francisco? How did you get here?

  Emma, not one to take distractions apparently, grabbed some odd shapes stones and cast them onto the table. Francisco was dragged from my spirit world and to the table in front of us. He looked just as in awe as Cassie and I probably did.

  “A shaman, I did not foresee that possibility.”

  Francisco didn’t acknowledge her right away. “Where are you, Cassandra?” His deep accent returned.

  “Moldova, I believe,” Cassie explained while Emma sat quiet, “We were chased from the city of Kherson until we fell in the Dneister River. Some gypsies rescued us and here we are.”

  “Hmmm,” was all he answered.

  “They are safe, shaman.” Emma looked a little more closely. “What kind of shaman has touched the powers of Hell?” she asked.

  Francisco finally looked at her. “Dasselbe könnte man für sie sagen, zigeuner,” he said in what appeared to be flawless German. Hot damn, he was a surprise a minute.

  “Sprechen sie nicht über dinge, die sie nicht verstehen!” she fired back.

  “Whoa whoa, what’s going on? Remember, some of us don’t speak old Hitler’s preferred tongue.”

  “My apologies, Castor,” Francisco apologized.

  “We were having a disagreement,” Emma said as well.

  At least they were back to a language I spoke moderately well. “The four of us in this room have the same goal, I believe. We’re all here to stop Koenig, right?”

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  I placed my gun on the table. “People call me a cowboy and that might be the truth, actually. Point is, we’re staying in this caravan until we get a plan. First person to cause any grief problems will find out how quick a draw I can be? Comprende compadres?”

  It was nice to see a room full of people who actually feared me.

  “Bullets will not hurt me in this form,” Francisco said, reminding me his was just an astral figure.

  At least three quarters of the room feared me.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  “L et me get this right; if Koenig continues down this path, not just will the world be a bad place, but it could be the End of Times?”

  Emma nodded. “The Brinza clan believed heavily in the words and teachings of the Bible - do you?”

  Of course I did. “I’ve read every chapter and I know all about Revelations and the prophecies,” I argued back.

  “Are you saying Koenig is the Antichrist?” Cassie asked.

  “Not Koenig, Vlad Dracul.”

  I audibly scoffed. “Are you sure you’re the one who should be holding the Bible study? The Antichrist will charm the world of men, making them fall into a blissful state before he ruins the world.”

  “You think Lucifer gifted Vlad that much power without strings attached?” Emma continued on.

  “What type of strings?”

  Cassie’s question seemed to validate Emma and her train of thought. Even though the two of them did not appear to be on the same page from the moment we arrived in the caravan, Cassie was taking this very seriously.

  Emma deferred to Francisco. “Tell them what you know, shaman.”

  Why would he know anything?

  The gypsy cannot sense me, Luka whispered. She knows much; her aura is covered in black. She is deflecting to the shaman, to take the scrutiny off herself.

  Francisco was answering, however. “Da powers of Hell are not easily obtained,” he was telling everyone. “Great debts are owed to have them.”

  Francisco rolled up his sleeves and showed everyone the underside of his arms. One side was covered in harsh lettering from a language I didn’t know. The other side seemed to balance it out, with perfectly symmetrical shapes and designs. He seemed rather uncomfortable exposing these to us, but it proved a point.

  “One side conveys oaths to Hell and the other side shows the protection of Heaven. You truly are a breathing contradiction,” Emma observed.

  “You wouldn’t want zee payment for zeez,” he responded.

  “Back to Vlad being the Antichrist. The guy’s dead, simple as that.”

  I was on the receiving end of a look I was well accustomed to; one where I was out of depth. I was just a simple daemon hunter from a long line of daemon hunters. Magic had no place in my life. Or I wanted it to have no place in my life. Man, Abigail and Julia didn’t do a great job preparing me for the complexities of this nonsense.

  Emma and Francisco allowed Cassie to be the lucky one. She was well accustomed to filling me in. “You have Vlad’s spirit within you. Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean the contract is void.”

  It took a few moments to really hear what she was saying. “I think I got this added up here…” I trailed off. “No… no no no.”

  “Castor, the debt has to be paid. Hell will come looking for you.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me, Cassie?” I cried out.

  She put her hands up. “I didn’t know until a few minutes ago. Emma filled in the holes and the pieces began to take shape. I’m sorry,” she pleaded.

  Luka, Luka! I internally called out. Tell me you didn’t know, either.

  My grandpa remained suspiciously quiet. That’s when another voiced answered for him. We only wanted to protect you, Castor.

  Dad, why didn’t you tell me?

  Would you have wanted to go on knowing the terrible fate that was cursed upon you, my son?

  Tears began sliding down my eyes. I heard Francisco telling the others about what powers I held and who I could communicate with. I didn’t care. I needed to have a few more words with my dad while he was still here. Did Mom know, too?

  Your mother tried her best to protect you. She hoped the witch would be able to suppress the taint and block that awful fate from falling on you.

  Apparently, that hadn’t worked. “How do I rid myself of this?”

  The looks everyone was giving each other didn’t seem all that great. “Unless Vlad somehow survived, I don’t see a way for you to escape.”

  “There has to be a way, gypsy,” Cassie snapped instantly.

  I have to pull back but push the gypsy, my dad told me. Don’t allow her to hold onto the secrets.

  His voice drifted away, but the message resonated loudly. �
�What don’t we know, Emma?”

  “I do not understand, Castor.”

  Dad’s advice wasn’t going to be killed off so quickly. “You know a little too much for someone who has no ties to the family. I’m going to ask politely one last time, what aren’t you sharing? How do you relate to the Draculs, specifically Vlad?”

  She hesitated, which prompted me to grab my gun and cocked it. “It’s time for the not so nice way of asking.”

  “Our families intertwined. A witch, named Esmerelda, was once one of Vlad’s consorts. I have studied her, learned what she learned, and delved deeply into her history to discover awful, terrible things. To do so, I had to do equally awful and terrible things.”

  “What have you done?” Francisco’s voice boomed like a bass drum.

  “I have murdered, I have stolen, and,” she rolled up her own sleeves, “made my own deals. One day, I too will have to pay up.”

  Just great, each of us in this cramped room were tools of Hell. We were honestly one damned group of people. “And was it worth it?” I asked.

  “It is worth it for this moment. We can at least delay Judgement Day by ridding the world of Koenig. After that, well, God and Satan each have their own plans, do they not?”

  I shivered, a cold and awful feeling rang the length of my spine. “Maybe, but God gave us free will. I will be the only one who chooses what I do with tomorrow after today is settled.”

  “Back to Koenig,” Cassie interrupted. “We need safe passage to his fortress in Nazi Germany. Just the road there will not be easy.”

  Not that I didn’t appreciate the tangent, I still had unrest and questions. Both Emma and Francisco seemed to be happy to get back to the immediate problem at hand as they weren’t the ones having to live up to another family curse. God above, the Dracul side was a thousand times worse than the Brinza side. Why couldn’t Radu be saddled with this?

  Emma moved that weird wood block around. “Help is on the way. It has to be a group of three to finish the journey.”