The Spinetinglers Anthology 2009

by Неизвестный

  Marie broke down again – only stopping when Eva shifted slightly, if not waking up. “My deepest sympathies,” said Hawkins, offering his handkerchief again, “What utter brutes... but do go on.”

  “Papa survived,” said Marie wiping her eyes, “But being Jewish, wasn’t given proper medical treatment... so he remained bedridden after that. He made Helga and Kurt flee to England, they await us there... but I stayed on to nurse him despite his protests.”

  Taking handkerchief back, Hawkins frowned at Marie’s bare ring finger. “But your beloved did not stay with you?”

  “N-no, Papa was far too ill to travel you see, but... but Wilhelm still left us for America. My family and I were eventually sheltered by this wonderful couple who despised the Nazis and all... oh I’m sorry, Arthur! This must be all so distressing!”

  “Of course not,” said Hawkins despite a faint tremor in his voice, “It... I just know what it means to both leave and then lose family... a wife and two daughters. But pray continue.”

  “My deepest sympathies,” said Marie before staring downward, “I... I buried my Papa over a month ago. in a secret place where he could rest in peace. Our good friends then arranged some passports for... b-but I can’t believe I’m telling a stranger all – ”

  “Your secrets are safe with me Marie... and are we not friends now?”

  “Well yes, yes of course. But it’s just –”

  “You have told me so much and I so little,” said Hawkins with a nodding smile, “Well... I am merely a doctor of sorts. Now returning from a sojourn in Austria and visiting an ailing colleague in Amsterdam before –”

  “Oh I’m so sor –”

  “You apologise far too much dear lady! But thank you, and consider it a miracle he has endured this long. And then... then I return to England.”

  “Then we are all on our way there! And where –”

  “Well some things are best left private fräulein” said Hawkins quickly, but then resumed his smile. “Though it would please me to escort you and Eva to your ship?”

  “Oh yes, yes of course, Arthur!” said Marie clasping her hands together, “That would be wonderful!”

  “Excellent! Now pardon me if you will... I wish to stretch these old bones of mine!”

  Slowly getting up – his hat near tipping the ceiling to show how tall he actually was – Hawkins then left the compartment. Suddenly flickering, all three wall lamps then went out completely, Eva again murmuring in her sleep as her mother merely smiled.

  It really is going to be fine now, princess, thought Marie, kissing her daughter’s forehead, the conversation with Herr Hawkins having eased so many of the past hours’ tensions. Her eyelids quickly growing heavy again, Marie then rested her head against Eva’s – neither Schienberg detecting the sound of slowing carriage wheels.

  ***

  “WAKE UP FRÄULEIN!”

  Marie awoke with a start, a harsh light almost blinding her. That idiot, she thought – “You’ve already checked our tickets, Herr Inspector!”

  “No, not an inspector, fräulein,” sneered an unfamiliar voice, “Only a mere captain...”

  The light leaving her eyes, Marie instantly recoiled as a round-faced figure in black uniform was lit by flashlight from beneath. The shortest of three SS officers then stepping back, his companions barged into the compartment – one burly and unshaven, the other fresh-faced and blond – both training their bayonet mounted rifles left and right. Glancing opposite, Marie just barely noticed Herr Hawkins, now since returned, the old gentleman’s face murky at best.

  Stepping back inside, the round-faced officer tapped the nearest wall lamp with a black-gloved finger, and a dim light illuminated the compartment. “Ah, these old steam trains,” sighed the SS captain, “But not to worry, Germany will soon have the finest diesel powered fleet in Europe... out with the inferior and in with the new, eh, fräulein?”

  Now near paralysed with fear, Marie struggled to part her trembling lips – the blond officer bringing his bayonet blade close to her neck. “Y-y-yes,” she finally managed, “But w-what do you want with –”

  “OH, COME NOW! NO GAMES!” said the SS captain, switching flashlight off, “Did you seriously expect to evade us that easily? Yes, our Berlin associates only missed you by a hair’s breadth, but wired ahead to say two Jews had slipped by them... so we embarked at the last station. Oh, those incompetent idiots disgrace their uniform! We are lucky an informer alerted us to your presence....”

  A shiver running down her spine, Marie then looked to Herr Hawkins again – the old gentleman’s stony demeanour betraying nothing. The SS captain merely chuckled, the sound high-pitched and hyena-like. “Oh no, fräulein,” he then said, “It wasn’t this old bastard... another member of your parasite race on the run?”

  Shaking her head slowly, Marie then looked down – Hawkins again showing no reaction.

  “Well, no matter,” said the SS captain. “No, your Judas in question was a station vendor. Apparently the weasel has a trusted talent for sniffing out – ”

  “This is stupid, Karl,” said the unshaven officer, his voice gruff as his appearance. “We should have taken them straight off the train! And now we’re making the whole damned journey to Holland?”

  Unclenching jaw, the SS captain faced his lower-ranking companion. “Of course not, soldier, we disembark at the next station! The region has better facilities for –”

  “But that’s still hours away! I have –”

  “BE QUIET, JOSEPH!” snarled the blond officer – his tone vicious in so young a voice. “That’s your commanding officer you’re addressing!”

  “Mama?” said Eva suddenly, the stirring child blinking her eyes open. Upon seeing the SS officers, she frowned at first, but then smiled. “Oh... hello, sirs!”

  “N-no princess! Don’t – ” began Marie before feeling cold steel tip her neck, the SS captain only grinning – his white teeth perfect.

  “And hello to you child,” he said crouching down before Eva, “But what is your name, little Jew princess?”

  “Eva, sir!”

  “Ah excellent, like our Führer’s beloved... and do you know who I am?”

  “Oh yes, sir! Like Mama always says... a stinking Nazi pig!”

  Eva then blew a raspberry to tease a smirk from Hawkins’ statue face, the unshaven officer even sniggering to make his blond companion bare teeth. Unclenching jaw, the SS captain then rose back up. “Come now, fraäleins,” he said, “This carriage is now otherwise empty and I have two separate compartments awaiting you both... and some time to kill.”

  The unshaven officer licked his lips. “Yes, come play with us, pretty Jews...”

  “Oh no...” said Marie shielding Eva, “Oh n-no please –”

  “GET UP, JEW BITCH!” said the blond officer knocking Marie’s hat off with bayonet.

  Shaking his head, Hawkins then began to rise. “Now that’s quite e –”

  A bayonet slashing his forehead and knocking own hat off, Hawkins was then kicked to the ground – the unshaven officer sniggering again as Marie began sobbing and Eva spluttered tears of her own. “Now come along quietly fräulein” said the SS captain, “Least your clever little princess suffers worse than the old ma –”

  “Oh no, captain,” growled another voice; Hawkins suddenly reseated to lick blood from one taloned finger, his ears just as sharp. “Old I am, but certainly no man...”

  The lamp shattered; red eyes sparked pitch black, and both huddling Schienbergs heard a deep snarl, bangs, crashes, wails, screams of mercy, unmerciful shrieks –

  Then silence.

  “M-m-mama?”

  “It’s all right, princess... just stay still.”

  Blindly finding her hat before the two remaining lamps suddenly flickered back to life, Marie masked Eva’s eyes as a macabre scene revealed itself – a faint moan drawing the older Schienberg’s eyes upward. Herr Hawkins now pressed the ceiling like a giant gecko, one of his furry hands holding the writhin
g blond SS officer – the older man’s mouth clamping younger man’s neck like a big cat with fresh kill. Letting his gurgling prey thump blood-flecked floor, Hawkins then crept to the wall opposite the Schienbergs – both remaining SS officers’ bunched hands now pinned to velvet by snapped bayonet blades, their screams muffled by own black ties. “My turn, gentlemen,” said Hawkins with eyes growing red as his lowering jaw, his teeth becoming wolfish fangs.

  “STOP! S-STOP IN THE NAME OF GOD!”

  Marie now held up the blond officer’s swastika armband – the creature before her hissing, then retreating to an uppermost corner like a disturbed spider.

  “Oh never, dear Marie,” growled Hawkins, his forehead wound now knitting itself closed. “Never in His name... but why do you put faith in that symbol? To protect vermin who treat your own people as such?”

  “N-no, but... but they’re still human beings! Not like –”

  “Me? Oh come now fräulein... monsters need neither fur nor fang to be considered thus!”

  Marie shook her head. “W-when I was a child, Papa told me stories of those who feed by night... the vam–”

  “Oh, Marie,” said Hawkins blinking blood eyes blue, “But where is he now?”

  Her vision blurring with tears, Marie lowered the armband slowly; both SS officers’ moans growing increasingly frantic as their supernatural tormenter inched his way downward again. “Oh, you National Socialists have fire, but no honour,” said Hawkins, “And personally, I would have you all impaled...”

  “Is y-your name even Arthur?” said Marie – the armband now lowered halfway.

  “No, Marie,” said Hawkins, his white hair now grey. “A mere alias... and you?”

  “Marie Schienberg, b-but... but everything else is true.”

  “I know dear fräulein, I know... as are my sympathies still.”

  Marie finally tossed the armband into corridor, both SS officers now thrashing their legs despite injuries. With his hair and moustache now midnight black, and previously pale skin ruddy, Hawkins finally stopped and grinned – his wolf teeth reappearing and any dripping saliva mingling with the SS captain’s tears. Placing one spindly hand over each man’s forehead, Hawkins lunged forward... only to laugh heartlessly as he yanked both tie gags free to loud coughs, then low whimpers. “Consider yourselves lucky gentlemen! The pretty fräulein has tempered me and... and I have already supped my fill for tonight.”

  Wrenching both bayonet blades free to painful squeals, the now youthful Hawkins crunched down upon the blond officer’s ribcage. “I am a sight,” he said removing blood-splattered overcoat to drape over the corpse beneath, “And now captain, if you could remove your jacket...”

  Needing no further instruction, the SS captain quickly – if painfully – complied, Hawkins then slipping the long black leather over his own black shirt and tie.

  “Ah, better,” he said, flipping the jacket’s sharp collar upward, “This rather suits me... yes?”

  Nodding most defiantly, both SS officers gritted teeth – less from pain – as Marie quietly bandaged their pierced hands with black ties. Licking his jaw clean with an elongated tongue, Hawkins then looked to Eva – the girl now sitting with both knees drawn up to her face. “Oh Eva,” said Hawkins stooping slightly, “Do not fear me...”

  “Are y-you the Devil, sir?” said Eva raising her head slightly.

  Hawkins smiled before shaking his head. “No, little princess, merely His former student... but did you know I was once a prince?”

  “N-no sir.”

  “Oh yes! And such a mighty one... though alas, now only a mere count.”

  “Like Monte Cristo?” whispered a now wide-eyed Eva, Hawkins first nodding and then blowing a raspberry to tease the child’s smile out even more.

  Rolling her creased sleeves back down, Marie rejoined her daughter, the Schienbergs’ fellow passenger staring both SS officers down onto their knees. “And now gentlemen,” said Hawkins, “I ask that you depart this train immediately...”

  “W-what?” said the unshaven officer, “But y-you can’t expect....”

  “My hairy friend,” growled Hawkins, one of his thumbnails then turning razor-sharp to scrape a little moist SS stubble clean away, “You have disrupted an otherwise pleasant journey, so cease your pathetic whining... lest you wish to become the third female present.”

  Eva frowned at her mother, Marie just shook her head as the SS captain gawked towards the window. “But p-please mein Herr,” he said trembling, “These forests are full of wolves and –”

  “Oh do not fret, captain!” said Hawkins grinning, “My friends will not harm you... if I forbid it. But as for any hardships or possible starvation, well... you must both learn what you inflict daily.”

  The unshaven officer looked to Marie. “No please, p-please tell him fra –”

  “Get up, Nazi bastard,” said Marie with little malice. Seizing each SS officer by the shirt collar, Hawkins then easily spirited both from the compartment – the Schienbergs hearing first dwindling wails, then a chorus of howls. Reappearing to claim the blond officer like a rag doll, Hawkins briefly vanished again before suddenly reframed in the doorway. “So what now?” said Marie spreading newspaper over the floor – the main headline turning crimson.

  Closing the door behind him, Hawkins simply resumed his seat. “Well, Marie, we obviously continue onto Rotterdam and there I take my leave of you. But –”

  “And that’s it?” said Marie standing up, “You simply expect us to forget about –”

  “Oh, fräulein,” sighed Hawkins, “Something far fouler than me or mine currently creeps across the world... do you really think anyone would care for your fairytales?”

  “W-well no, but I just can’t –”

  “You will forget in time, Marie Schienberg...even if I do not.”

  “No, I w –”

  A flash of fangs hushed Marie, though she remained standing. “I... I pity you, Herr Hawkins,” she said, “Your life... such an existence must be so lonely.”

  Hawkins exploded upwards - his face livid, eyes ablaze. “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SO!” he roared down like a thunderclap, “THE POWER MY KIN AND –”

  “AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?”

  His beast features dissolving, Herr Hawkins slowly sat back down. “Touché fräulein,” he said nodding, “You are brave indeed... and would make a fine kinswoman. I could restore you to the happy girl you once were? And much more...”

  Touching the white streak in her hair, Marie pondered Hawkins a moment, but then frowned. “Can you bring back my father, sir? And what about Eva?”

  Getting no reply, Marie then resumed her seat and let Eva snuggle against her shoulder, their fellow passenger refitting his trilby hat before fixing his sights on the darkness outside. All became quiet again bar the hurdling heartbeat of train axle... the sound teasing Marie’s eyelids lower and lower ’til sleep took her again.

  ***

  “Wake up fräulein.”

  Marie opened her eyes slowly, memory jolting her forward. “EVA?”

  “I’m here, Mama,” said Eva, turning away from a now daylit, if rain-splattered, window. “Oh, you’ve been asleep forever!”

  “Indeed fräulein,” came a second voice, a droplet shadowed and now grey-as-the-sky haired Hawkins smiling opposite. “It nears midday, as do we to our destination...”

  Merely nodding, Marie then stretched the blood back into her arms – keeping her eyes on Hawkins. The train indeed slowed gradually – the sight of rushing wet countryside soon freezing into the bustling backdrop of Rotterdam Central train station. Politely refusing Hawkins’ offer of assistance, Marie grabbed both her suitcase and a protesting Eva’s hand; the Schienbergs hurrying from the compartment, through carriage and slowly emerging out onto the platform. Looking around, Marie saw little Nazi presence, Herr Hawkins emerging within the still swirling train steam – his moustache now snow white and almost equally pale face lined once more.

  “So dear fräuleins...” he
said, looking around also.

  “Yes,” said Marie taking a step back, Eva frowning. “Um... it has been a pleasure –”

  “Indeed... but my offer to escort you both to your vessel still stands?”

  “No,” said Marie shaking her head, “But you did save us, so thank –”

  “Oh spare me, fräulein! Those fools got what they deserved, and I some sustenance! I may even pay their Führer a visit someday... teach that Berlin pup to respect his elders!”

  “Yes... yes indeed,” said Marie smiling, “But thank you, nonetheless.”

  Hawkins’ hawkish features softened slightly. “And thank you for your company Marie, it... it has been most refreshing in more ways than one.”

  Nodding as she began turning away, Marie then paused. “There is one thing...”

  “You have but only to ask!”

  “Your real name sir?”

  Bunching his bushy eyebrows at first, Hawkins slowly smiled. “Well, not that you will hinder my affairs anyhow... let us just say it begins with the fourth letter of the alphabet and ends with the first. But no more than that...”

  Quickly counting fingers, Eva then wrinkled her nose. “Oh... so your name’s really Da, sir?”

  Herr D laughed – an again cruel, if now sincere sound. “Oh little princess, you would warm the blackest of souls! Come visit my castle someday and leave some of that happiness you bring... despite my own late daughters’ more exotic tastes. Well fräuleins, I do have a rather large piece of luggage to collect... so farewell!”

  Tipping his trilby, Herr D then stepped backwards – other people criss-crossing the platform not seeming to notice the old gentleman merging with train steam before vanishing entirely. Turning away, both Schienbergs then moved towards the station gates.

  “Well Eva,” said Marie, “Would you like to see a little bit of Rotterdam? It’s a good six hours before the boat departs!”

  Smiling at first, Eva then frowned. “But shouldn’t we hurry Mama? The soldiers...”

  “Don’t worry princess,” said Marie holding head high, “We’ve handled worse.”