Pollard jumped back up at inhuman speed. “You are not the only one who is infused with celestial power, Brinza,” he spat.
I’d seen this before. He’d even admitted to doing whatever it took to serve the church in a prior confrontation. There was something very sinister about him, I stood by that.
“You’re making me choose a path that many would not walk, Brinza.”
“I’m not making you choose anything. You’re the one who wants to embrace evil. You’re just using me as an excuse to do so,” I responded.
That hit a sore spot as he used the sword to hit the ground and send dirt and rubble up towards my face. I had to shield my eyes from such an underhanded move. In that moment, Pollard used the pommel of the sword and connect with my jaw. One of my lower back teeth flew out, as well as a good deal of blood with my gums. I spit the excess out, staining the ground red. In retaliation, I spun out the flail towards his knee. It caught him on the side and smashed in the metal protecting it.
He let out a cry as his knee went an odd angle, one that suggested it was no longer attached properly to the rest of his leg. This was confirmed when he fell to the opposite knee, a nasty grimace chiseled into his face.
The Frenchman was pissed off.
Pollard reached over and ripped the left gauntlet away from his arm, exposing the skin underneath. There, just like Emma and Francisco, were daemonic markings. “A man of the church?” I snapped. “Look at you, covered in the markings of Hell.”
He said nothing as he traced his finger over the first one. A strange noise filled the air, almost like the buzzing of a thousand bees. “You hear that, too?”
“What have you done, Pollard?”
“These markings are from Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. Some within the church disapproved of the High Inquisitor to allow his body to be sacrificed in such a way, but the power of thy enemy to destroy thy enemy is worth it.”
The buzzing sound was getting closer. “God won’t accept you inside His beautiful halls for this, Pollard.”
He scoffed at me, chuckling as if I told some joke. “And you think He will accept you? The very vassal of the Dracul power? No, Brinza. Your fate will be much worse than mine.”
With that, he traced his finger over the third symbol and disappeared within a cloud of reddish-black smoke. Cassie was huffing and puffing as she ran up beside me, seconds after Pollard’s escape. She looked as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Perun’s book talked about what Pollard just summoned,” she gasped.
“Where’s Julia?” I asked, my first concern about my family member.
“She’s with the gypsies, probably back at the caravan by now. That’s what we need to do, get out of here before…”
Whatever she was going to say, it was interrupted by a large beetle-like bug that zoomed directly at us. Cassie sent a fire spell at the giant bug, reducing it to ashes in just a second. The buzzing grew louder and I had a sneaky suspicion what the culprits were.
“Cassie, just what in blue blazes was that?”
“That was a Hellfly. They can only be called by Beelzebub and those who are considered dark priests,” she answered.
It sure wasn’t the time to worry about Pollard and his affiliation, though this did set up a lot of warning flares. “Just how many of them would it take to create that noise?”
Her eyes were big and her mouth kind of gaped open for a second. “A few thousand, I’d imagine.”
“What can we do?”
“We run back to the caravan and hope that Emma isn’t as rusty with her magic as she appears to be.”
That was as reasonable a plan as I figured we’d have. We didn’t waste any time and began hoofing it back. Every so often as we traversed the rocky terrain, one of the Hellflies got close to us but Cassie took it down. It was painfully obvious that the cost of killing one of those creatures was high, as she was starting to show signs of wear and tear. Coupled with the journey back without Nicholae’s guidance, we were burning up energy left and right. Finally, as we crossed the last little ridge, we saw the caravan; they were ready to hit the road.
Emma was out front and when she saw us; she didn’t waste time meeting us halfway. “Who summoned the Hellflies?” she asked briskly.
“The church did, Pollard,” I answered, basically pushing the words from my mouth as I had little breath from the hike.
“Cassie, do you have much left?”
“I can make do, if you can assist.”
Emma linked arms with Cassie and turned right as the Hellflies made their disgusting appearance. The swarm of large, twelve eyed bugs was jetting straight at us. Each bug had at least four wings and horrible pincers that were dripping a green goo. I began to pray, hoping beyond hope whatever they would do would work.
“Ardens Uro!” Emma yelled.
Emma’s forearm lit up for a second and the light raced over to Cassie. From there, it exited the two women and formed the biggest fireball I’d ever seen. Like a comet, it flew in a perfect arc towards its target, the Hellflies. The moment the fire collided with the bugs, an explosion ripped through the mountainside, too bright to even watch and too loud to even comprehend what you were hearing.
Chapter Thirty One
**Nazi Germany; 1942 the year of our Lord**
“T his is as far as we can safely take you.”
We were in the outskirts of a little farmside German village. Like an evil devil looming in the distance, a castle sat which was rumored to be Gerhard Koenig’s base of operations. The fact that the gypsy caravan brought us this close was a welcomed boon. After the fiasco in the Northern Italian Alps with the church, I figured they’d drop us. Instead, they gave us a safe place to rest, recuperate, and devise our final plans.
It took weeks, maybe even months for Julia to fully trust Cassie, which I highly doubted she did. She only told me she did as a way to quell any potential arguments since we were this close to the heart of the devil. Besides, the books that Perun had gifted Cassie acted as a sort of bonding moment for the two of them.
As fall was settling in around us, the days got a bit shorter as winter started its slow approach. The war efforts outside of Germany could still be felt here. The closer we got to Koenig’s lair, the less we actually saw of any Nazi soldiers. However, we all agreed that there was something unnatural about this place, something that didn’t belong here. Every night, Emma would walk the circle around the caravan, making signs and symbols that she explained were wards to keep evil spirits out.
Just what evil spirits was she trying to ward off?
We were about to get our answer.
It was late when Emma told us we’d gone as far as we could go with the gypsies. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, ma’am,” I thanked her.
“Your gratitude will be felt when this war is over and daemons of yesteryear no longer walk this Earth.”
Julia bowed her head. “There is much work to make sure that happens, including burning out the rats that infest the hallowed walls of the church.”
There was also the unspoken role I played in things to come. I knew what my daddy had told me, but I still had lingering thoughts that crept in from time to time. Was my life really worth that of countless others? Was I being greedy by not ending the threat the moment the war was over? These were questions I could never answer and sought no council on, either.
In the few seconds where no one felt the need to add anything, we heard a muffled scream that was quickly silenced. Then another. Something was attacking the sentries around the encampment. The three of us, Julia, Cassie, and I immediately set out towards the location of the last scream. Waiting for us was the Russian with no one else in sight.
Yet.
“More blood of Dracul, most excellent,” he said as we approached.
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here.”
“Castor Brinza, as un-delightful as always.”
Another yelp, this time on the other side of camp. Julia bared
her fangs at him. “Call off whatever you have or I will personally drain you of every drop of your blood,” she threatened.
But the Russian showed no emotion. “Your meaningless words have little use here and now,” he answered, almost bored. “He knows you are here. This is just a welcome reception.”
“Everyone down!” Cassie yelled.
We ducked just in time. A large creature landed hard beside the Russian and would’ve taken off a head or two had we been standing upright. It was The Jackal, no longer hidden with a mask. His deformed face was out in the open for all to see. It was weird seeing an animated corpse show as much of an expression as he was. The Jackal seemed agitated, annoyed, and even in pain. Could he also be a prisoner of this cruel half-life?
The Russian pulled that weird magic stick they’d stolen in Japan out of his pocket. “The more The Jackal struggles against my control, the more violent he becomes. This does not bode well for you,” he warned.
Break the artifact and let the wolf be free, Luka whispered to me.
Back in Moldova, I’d tried and failed to do so. God was granting me a second chance to get rid of this implement of devilry. I just needed to get The Jackal away from the Russian long enough to overpower him and snap it. The challenge in that became evident when the wolf lunged at the three of us, swiping his God-awful claws every which way. Offense was also his defense, making it very hard to do anything but back pedal and defend ourselves.
That’s when the full force of the gypsy caravan came into sight. I’d known there were about sixty, maybe seventy men in the group, but I’d never really seen them all out at once. Everything was on a rotation basis and like a fine-tuned machine, never stopped. Yet here, every single able-bodied man had a weapon of some sort in his hand and they were marching like the possessed towards our spot.
For the first time, the Russian showed fear.
He shook the magic stick as hard as he could. “Attack, no survivors!”
God was with me today.
As the Russian shook the stick like a damn fool, it slipped out of his hand and dropped harmlessly on the ground. Without even pause, Perun’s guns were out and I double tapped that thing.
POP!
POP!
SNAP!
The twig bounced in the air, two sides falling away from each other as it came back down. If there was fear in the Russian’s eyes before, he literally may have crapped himself when his only hold over The Jackal split into two harmless pieces.
Whatever was holding The Jackal under control no longer was. The beast turned away from us and began growling at the Russian. “You… no longer… con...trol me,” he wheezed.
“Koenig and I gave you life again!” the Russian roared.
“An...d now I t-t-take… yours…”
In one swift move, The Jackal napped the Russian’s head clean off. A geyser of blood shot up from the neck, no longer having the head as a stopper to hold it. The Jackal cackled and howled in his glorious victory. Then he rounded back on us.
“I c-c-crave… gyp...sy blood.”
“I think not.”
Emma appeared beside me; I had no idea how she got here so quickly. The Jackal was surprised by her appearance as well. “You,” he gasped.
“The only one returning to the grave tonight is you, wolf,” the head gypsy said with quite a bit of venom.
“How are...you… alive?” The Jackal asked.
“None of your business, daemon.”
This was an odd exchange, as Emma never said she’d known who The Jackal was. It wasn’t the time to ask probing questions, not with a bloodthirsty dead wolf in front of us. Everyone tensed up, ready to see what The Jackal was going to do next. That’s when Emma put her hand out in front of me, as if to stop me from attacking.
“We will handle the creature. Go, get to Koenig and end this.”
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
The amy of gypsy men surrounded us, ready to do battle with the nightmare in front of us. That was all the answer I needed to take her instructions. The Jackal began to hiss and growl as the men with pitchforks, torches, knives, and a few swords began to converge. I was nervous about the whole situation, after all it was an undead werewolf on the loose, but Julia tugged on my jacket and indicated we needed to go.
A full-scale assault began moments later.
The three of us peeled away from the commotion and began moving in the direction of Koenig’s castle. There was a small village between us and Koenig, so we made the decision to skirt around the edges. The less chance Koenig knew where we were, the better. It was apparent he knew we were close, as the Russian and The Jackal had been dispatched to take care of us, but he didn’t know the gypsies were handling his monster without our assistance.
Under the cover of the cloudy fall night, we raced closer and closer to our final destination. We passed the hamlet with little trouble, yet we had no idea what was awaiting us down below, in the gully that separated the normal people of Germany and the mad scientist that worked so close to them. As we made our approach, our eyes could not believe what was here.
“My God, how many do you think our down there, Castor?” Julia asked.
I didn’t make a sound. “I believe Koenig has called in reinforcements,” Cassie answered for me.
He sure had. Camped out in the gully we had to go through, the entire Seventh Reich was ready and waiting.
For us.
Chapter Thirty Two
“W e have no other way but through Hell itself,” I commented.
“How are we going to get through an entire Reich of daemonic Nazis?” Cassie asked. “I was there when Koenig was beginning his experiments, I’ve seen firsthand what these men are capable of.”
Julia bristled at Cassie’s admission to her association with the Nazi scientist. I always kept in the back of my mind that Julia was pretending to like the witch and that when this was over, would she try to kill her?
“There’s no way around,” Julia observed.
A dark reality set it. It was just the three of us; Koenig had the entire power of the Nazi regime behind him. This was never a man against man battle, no matter how I thought about it. This was a man against an entire country sort of conflict. Stranded out here as we were, we couldn’t do a damn thing. My anger over this realization began to boil over, that is until Luka stepped in.
There is never an impossible situation. Just have faith, okay?
How he expected me to have faith in a time like this was beyond reason, but just hearing his voice was a nice distraction for a moment. It kept me centered, it kept me cautious of what lurked within. After a deep breath, and a second, my mind was clear again.
I still had no plan formed to deal with the Seventh Reich, but my mind was free of hate.
“Does anyone else hear that?”
Julia and I both looked over at Cassie. “Hear what?” we asked in unison.
She didn’t give us an answer. She pointed up and stayed silent. Neither of us heard anything, no wait! That was the sound of a fighter plane.
“Airplanes?” Julia asked.
The Seventh Reich below us noticed the noise. The soldiers below began to scurry to their guns, ready for an attack. Just who would be ballsy enough to fly into German territory to attack Koenig head on?
Three planes flew over, guns rattling down towards the gully below. Those were Allied planes, flying with the Union Jack on the side! The pilots did a hard turn and began to take a second strafe, coming back this way. They unloaded more fire into the large legion below us, picking off soldier after soldier. As they came in low over us, I saw the smiling face of Paddy in the first plane.
The second plane was piloted by none other than Radu.
As they continued their aerial assault, we were in for yet another surprise. A large contingency of men were marching not too far from us, straight from the village that led into the gully. There were at least two, maybe three hundred men with rifles and different flags sewn into their u
niforms. At the head of this small army were Sam Gill and Joe Jordan.
“An Irish birdy said you might need some help bringing this hellhole to the ground,” Gill yelled from across the field.
“Uncle Adolf doesn’t even know what’s hitting him in his own backyard,” Jordan added.
I couldn’t have been more surprised and happier! My friends had come to the rescue and providing us a way in. “How did they know we were here?” Julia asked.
The only thing that came to my mind was Francisco and how he’d become good friends with Paddy. Somehow, someway, that old shaman got an SOS call out and the blasted cavalry arrived. Complete with Radu flying a freaking war bird.
The Seventh Reich was in complete pandemonium. Leaving their post in front of Koenig’s castle, they began to rush up the sides of the ridge and engage with the Allied forces that Gill and Jordan were leading. A full-scale battle was erupting in this quiet German countryside and we were the front row spectators to the event. The Germans had superior numbers, yet the Allied forces had the high ground and the planes. Whatever advantage of numbers they had; it was nullified by a brilliant plan.
There was no question Gill was responsible for that.
Now was the time for action. With the Nazis occupied and no longer focused on a small task force, we could move in on Koenig’s base and end this once and for all. Gill was firing shots off from his rifle, but still nudged the guy beside him. A few helmets were thrown our way. “Put those on, the mortars will be arriving any moment.”
“Castor knows all about mortars,” Cassie joked.
I put the helmet on and gave my best snarl I could muster. Julia pushed me forward; there was no more time for pause or antics. The time for action was upon us.
We weaved through the various battles as best we could. Julia, without her father’s sword, was using her fangs as needed. Cassie and I supplied support via spells and bullets. The further we ventured onward, the less trouble we ran into. Soon, the remnants of Koenig’s daemon army were engaged with our friends and we had a free run straight into the front of the castle. A plane flew overhead right before we entered; the pilot turned and revealed himself to be Radu. He pointed at me and my heart. He gave me a thumbs up motion before rejoining Paddy.
Rise of the Seventh Reich Page 18