Chapter Eleven: Further Tales of Darkness

"I can only hope that I can be of some assistance to this team, Colonel Newkirk," Angel replied, with some warmth shining in his otherwise brooding eyes.

However, Hogan could only shake his head back-and-forth. "I understand where your confusion about my name comes from; please, don't call me Colonel Newkirk," he replied.

Angel could only look at Hogan in a slightly quizzical manner. "But, Newkirk just told me that your new name is Colonel Edward Andrew Newkirk. I don't understand; don't tell me that you're one of those vampires who take a new name, and then decide not to use it."

It was then that Carter took the opportunity to jump into an already-confusing conversation. "But, if Newkirk is a corporal, then how can he be a colonel? I mean, we only have one Newkirk, and there's one Hogan, right?"

Hogan couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at his sergeant's statement, while allowing the usual twinkle to shine in his bright green eyes. Placing a hand on top of Carter's shoulder, he replied, "Carter, I'm still Colonel Hogan. I suppose I never really put much thought into it, but Angel's right." Still, letting his hand drop from his man's shoulder, he turned to Newkirk with a questioning expression registering upon his face. "Newkirk, is there any correct protocol for this? I realize and accept that Colonel Hogan is dead, but none of you has ever called me anything else. Plus, Carter's right. I didn't think about the confusion that two Newkirks in the team would cause."

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Newkirk replied in rather a sing-song voice that he kept reserved for only the Mighty Hogan Art Players. As soon as he had begun quoting the famous line from "Romeo and Juliet," all eyes had fallen upon him. Looking at all of his friends, he could only smile and nod his head. "I know it may not seem like me, mates, but you do learn some things from the theatre." However, one sharp glance from Hogan was enough to cause Newkirk to fess up. "All right, all right, so I didn't learn it from me time as a performer. It was Mavis who read the book to me—she's more of the literary type than I am, anyway."

"But that doesn't exactly answer the question, does it?" Carter asked, his focus glancing between Newkirk on his left, and Hogan, who was still standing by Angel.

"Actually, I think it does. So, it's settled. To avoid any confusion, I want all of you to still call me Colonel Hogan when you address me using my name….That's because I know one of you will still call me Gov'nor, and another of you can't help but slip up and call me boy," Hogan replied, looking warmly between both of his vampiric men. "Anyway, it's been a long day, and I could certainly use the sleep." With that, he began to make his way out of the tunnels, and back into the barracks. After approximately thirty seconds, however, he came to a complete and utter standstill; this caused two of his men to stop behind him, as well. Turning around to see who wasn't falling in behind, he could see that Newkirk had moved closer to Angel on his right, and that Carter was also standing next to his own friend's right.

"Aren't you two coming up to your bunks? I remember you telling me once that the older a vampire gets, the less time he needs to spend sleeping. But Carter, as a younger vampire surely you must be as tired as the rest of us are after this long day. And Newkirk, I'm going to need you to watch over Carter while he sleeps, so he can't hurt anybody by accident."

While nodding his head in agreement to his commanding officer's statement, Newkirk spoke up. "That's exactly what we 'ad in mind, sir. But, who's going to watch over me? If Carter's sleeping, Gretel could 'ave me do some 'arm long before 'e wakes up. No, we're going to stay down 'ere for the night. Angel is the only one that Gretel 'asn't taken control of. 'E's the only one that would be able to protect me from causing any 'arm to the rest of the men in the barracks. Besides, not only that, but you know what our most important rule is."

"Above everything else, maintaining secrecy is essential," Newkirk, Carter and Hogan said in unison.

"Newkirk is right," Kinch said while sighing. "If Golden or Loup had to reveal themselves to stop either Carter or Newkirk from hurting somebody, there would be more unanswered questions than we could drop one of Carter's bombs on. I know our true, human friends, like Baker and Olsen, would hopefully be able to accept us for what we are. But I don't know if I can say that for the rest of them."

"Boy, you're telling me! Most humans I've met, who learned of my secret, aren't exactly keen on the idea that vampires live with them. I remember one time, there was a fire in the apartment where I was staying at in Muncie. Let's see, this was…" Carter paused, trying to remember the year that it had happened. Before anybody could stop him from continuing what they would know to be another one of his lengthy ramblings, he continued his story. "…two years before I was drafted into the army. Like Newkirk, I knew that I couldn't live at home anymore. It was a pretty decent apartment, but it did have its share of mice. I can second Newkirk's opinion, sir—I really wouldn't recommend drinking from them. But I didn't want to be a monster anymore. Let's just say that Newkirk's story is similar to my own—too much killing was involved," he sighed, trying to keep composure over his emotions. Finding that it was necessary to stop, Carter looked down at his feet, trying to brush away his own memories of his earlier, darkness-filled life.

After about twenty seconds, Carter could feel a warm hand, one of friendship, being placed upon his shoulder. "Go on," he heard his commanding officer say gently.

"Between my education at Rutherford, and then the business school I told you about, I was able to get that job at the drug store. You know me—I've never been the life of the party. If I wasn't shy around people, especially girls before, I certainly was now. I mostly kept to myself, because boy, it certainly wouldn't make for good business if I attacked and drank from every customer that came into the store! I mostly kept to myself before I was changed, but that only increased afterwards. I know what most of my regular customers would call me when they didn't think I was listening—cold, aloof. Still, I think they enjoyed the fact that my store was clean, my prices were low, and that I had a big quantity of items.

Plus, I was probably the only storekeeper in town who had this policy: if they didn't have the money to buy what they needed, they could trade in animals. I got everything from mice to cows. I had a couple of employees, and I made sure that their needs were met as well. Sometimes I think Sundays were my busiest days, even though the store was closed. I think I have my heritage to thank for that; my Sioux grandparents taught me how to use every part of the animal. I would sell the meat to the butcher or give it to my employees for food. I would skin the hides of the animals that had them, and sell the leather in order to pay my employees. The blood, of course, I drained and kept for myself," he said, his eyes momentarily turning their greenish shade of desire, before he had to force them to return to their regular color.

"But it was never enough. The vampire in me wanted more than just cow's blood and mouse's blood. I would try to satisfy my desire from the animals—I didn't want to allow myself to kill anybody innocent! Still, there was that fire. Most of the people in my apartment made it out, but there was an elderly couple that was trapped. They lived two apartments down from mine….It would have been so easy…so easy to help them…to get them out of the building." Carter found that he had to stop, as he was beginning to choke on his own words. Taking a meaningful, deep breath, he continued. "After that, I didn't trust myself to be around any humans. I moved to a house just outside of Muncie's limits, and I stayed there for a while. After awhile, I found that this wasn't the sort of life that I wanted to live. I missed running my store, and I missed my old apartment. I gathered all the courage and strength that I possessed, and I moved back to the apartment. By this time they had finished repairing it. Even though we were in the middle of the Depression, the damage wasn't so bad that it would be too expensive to fix. I had lived in my old apartment for just a couple of weeks when the draft notice came. The elderly couple was the only ones who found out what I really was; the army was completely clueless. When I wasn't in training, I would sneak out to find the blood that I needed to stay alive. So, here we are," he sighed, finishing his own past story.

"Here we are," Hogan repeated, almost as though it was a matter-of-fact thing to say, though of course it wasn't. He had learned more about his two vampiric's men bloodthirsty past, and the inner turmoil and guilt that came along with it, in twenty-four hours than in all the months that he had known them.

"But, then you met Newkirk, and I remember you said that he taught you everything you knew about being a vampire. I'm glad that he was there to help you learn how you manage your desire for blood," Hogan said warmly, placing a hand on his sergeant's shoulders. "Ok, you can sleep down here for tonight. If anybody asks, I'll just tell them that you're putting the finishing touches on a mission."

"Sir, is there anything else that you would like me to do, besides keeping watch over Newkirk?" Angel asked with genuine concern showing in both his voice and his face.

Hogan rubbed his head for a couple of seconds, thinking hard about what fate might bring to his two men during the night. After that amount of time had passed, he could only shake his head back-and-forth. "I don't think so. But if you need me, you can come up into the barracks and into my quarters; you have permission to enter both buildings. Or, better yet, try to reach me by projecting your thoughts telepathically, since you're not exactly dressed in an Air Force uniform. Speaking of which," he said, turning to Kinch.

"Already on it," the sergeant replied, about to head to the room where they kept their uniforms. "What do you want him dressed as?"

"Oh, an American, preferably nothing higher than a Sergeant," Hogan replied. Shifting his glance from Kinch to Angel, he said, "Once again, I want to thank you for coming on such a short notice. This really means a lot to Newkirk, and to me too. I—"

However, Hogan was abruptly cut off by Olsen yelling down from the barracks, "Colonel, Klink's coming!"

"Ok, everybody into the barracks. Except for you three," Hogan said, indicating to the three vampires with a swift movement of his hand.

Everybody could tell that Klink was in rather a hurry; Kinch, who was last in line behind Hogan and LeBeau, had barely enough time to hit the hidden mechanism that closed the tunnels before Klink came bursting into the room.

Turning to face Hogan, who was still standing by the bunk, Klink did his best to glower at them. It was one of the few times since Hogan had discovered Klink's other secret that his Kommandant's glower appeared to be genuine.

"Hogan, you and your men are up to something. I want to speak to you in my office," he said, while taking a quick inventory of his prisoners that were present—and two that were not. "Hogan, where is Newkirk and Carter? If your men have escaped…"

"This isn't an escape, sir. If it was, would I be here talking to you about this non-escape? Of course not! As a good officer, I would have gone with them," Hogan replied, in his customary sarcastic reply. He couldn't help but smile inwardly as he saw Klink's expression grow angrier after hearing his Senior POW Officer's comment. He also knew that a little over a month ago, this exchange would have truly annoyed Klink. Now, it was more of a game that they played, merely for the sake of keeping up appearances as Kommandant and prisoner.

"Never mind. In my office. Now!" Klink barked, moving his hand in his usual frustrated manner. Making sure that Hogan was leading the way, Klink fell in behind him. To Hogan's surprise, Klink remained absolutely silent as they marched across the camp, up the steps of the Kommandantur, and over into his office. Hogan opened the door before going over to stand by the window, making sure that neither guard nor prisoner could hear them. Following his spy counterpart in, Klink made sure that the door was closed before turning his attention on Hogan.

"Friend or foe?" he asked.

"Sir?" Hogan replied, not sure at what Klink was trying to get at.

"After roll call, I could sense that you had a visitor. This person didn't have Tiger's scent, or the scent of any flier that I've ever encountered before," Klink said, while pacing back-and-forth in front of his desk. Stopping his pacing, he turned his attention directly upon Hogan. "If it's an intruder, do you need my help? After all, I remember how the Engels behaved almost a month ago."

Hogan sighed, and he knew that in this battle against Gretel, Nimrod would make a highly valuable ally. "I'm afraid it's worse than that, Wilhelm. Much worse."

It was then that Hogan filled his friend in on everything that had befallen Carter and Newkirk in the space of one day—both of his men being tricked into attacking him by Gretel's magick, his being poisoned by Gretel's vervain, LeBeau's heroic rush to the hospital to get a fresh supply of blood, and finally Angel being invited into camp.

"Wait a minute—Gretel did WHAT to them and to you?" Klink shouted, unable to hide the anger at hearing that three of his friends were or had been in danger because of Gretel's black magick.

For a couple of seconds, Klink's eyes shifted into those of Eagle's red irises. He could feel his protective rage towards them building up and increasing with each and every passing second. Worse than that, he could feel the convulsions begin to overtake his body, and that sweat was pouring down his back.

Immediately, Hogan understood what was happening to his Kommandant. "Sir, Angel's watching over them; there's no reason to get angry. You don't want to do this," Hogan said, hoping that he could stop his friend's transformation into the ravenous Eagle before it was too late.

"But Gretel! We should have…we should have killed her when we had the chance!" Klink cried out. "We should have known that she wouldn't leave you or your men alone!" The convulsions didn't seem to be at a stop, and Hogan watched in horror as the initial transformation from man into wolf began to take place.

Rushing quicker than humanly possible to stand directly in front of his Kommandant, Hogan placed both hands squarely on Klink's now-furry shoulders that were sticking out of his uniform. "Sir, remember your meditations! Remember the breathing exercises that Newkirk taught you!" Hogan said, looking his Kommandant right in the eyes while trying to keep calm for him. "You can stop this transformation, it's not too late!"

However, before Hogan could say anything else, all aspects of Klink were gone and Eagle had taken his place. The grey wolf lunged at Hogan, pinning him down on the floor. Hogan tried to push Eagle off of him, but it was to no use. Eagle was just about to bite down on Hogan's neck, when Hogan summoned all his strength in a move of pure self-perseverance. Throwing Eagle off of him, the wolf landed against the other side of the room with a whimper. However, that didn't keep him down for very long. Getting back up, Eagle began to circle around Hogan, studying him as he had once studied the members of the Engels that he had fought against.

Suddenly, and without warning, two of Hogan's men rushed into Klink's office. Hogan barely had time to register that they were LeBeau and Kinch before they were about to begin their own transformations, ready to defend their Colonel.

"Mon Dieu! Didn't I tell you the Kraut wasn't to be trusted?" LeBeau asked with anger in his voice. Inwardly, however, he had to force himself to correct his sentence. Non, that isn't the case. Klink and Nimrod are still ok in my book; it's Eagle that can be a danger sometimes.

"I'm glad to hear you think that," Hogan said, just barely side-stepping Eagle who had made another lunge at him. Turning around, Eagle tried again to attack the colonel, all the while completely ignoring both Kinch and LeBeau. This time, however, Kinch managed to pin him down, tackling Eagle to the floor as though he was tackling one of his opponents in a boxing match. Eagle growled at him, and tried to turn himself around so that he could bite the sergeant. However, Kinch proved to be stronger than he was, and Eagle was unable to free himself from the sergeant's grip.

"Sir…Wilhelm, I know you're still in there. Please, let us continue to help you. You didn't lose yourself in the heat of the battle while you were fighting against those bloody Engels, and I don't believe you're lost to us now," Hogan said, with absolute pleading in his voice.

"The colonel is right, sir. You're still our Kommandant, still a fellow spy. You're all those things, but a person who lets the beast within you control you is one of the things that you're not," Kinch said, hoping to reason with the part of Eagle that still held Klink, trapped deep within.

"Colonel, regardez! I think it's working," LeBeau said, pointing excitedly, albeit cautiously, at Eagle's eyes. "They're changing between red and yellow." After about thirty seconds, Eagle's eyes had changed to yellow and stayed there.

It was then that Hogan couldn't help but pick up on Klink's thoughts. Robert, help me! I don't want to hurt any of you! Please, stop me!

"We're right here Wilhelm, and we're not going anywhere. We've always been there for each other." Turning his attention from Eagle to Kinch, who still had him pinned down just to be on the safe side, Hogan ordered, "Go and get Klink another uniform." Sensing that Eagle was no longer a danger to anybody in Klink's office, he loosened his grip on the grey wolf and made his way to the door. Opening it, he proceeded to leave the room and then quickly hurried over to Klink's quarters. Fortunately, Hilda had already retired for the night, so she was nowhere to be seen.

Within the space of a minute, Kinch had returned with a new uniform. By this time, Klink had transformed from the beast within back into his regular, human self. Handing the uniform over the side of the desk, Klink quickly began to dress, before getting up and making his way to the window. Looking outside, he could only sigh to himself. "The moon is full tonight," he said, unable to face any of the three men behind him. He could sense that they were staring at him, and he could only hope that they had sympathetic, instead of angry or fearful, expressions on their faces. "But I know that isn't an excuse for losing myself to Eagle. It's just that…" he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

"It's just that you were concerned about us, and unfortunately your emotions got the better of you. Wilhelm, it's like I told you once—we're still learning how to control ourselves. After all, you should have heard the admissions that Carter and Newkirk made to me today," Hogan said while walking up to stand next to Klink. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, Klink couldn't help but turn around, although he still felt that he was unable to look Hogan in the eye.

"I've heard some information about Newkirk's past with Angel, and Carter's own past as well. But this is the second time recently that this has happened," Klink said while sighing. "But still, sometimes I wonder. Will I ever learn how to completely control Eagle? Or am I stuck between two worlds, not being your stereotypical werewolf, but not being able to be a shape shifter at complete will either? If it wasn't for the good that Eagle is capable of performing…well, sometimes I wish that I had never been attacked that fateful night, all those years ago."

"Sir, I know exactly how you feel. I still remember the pain that my changing into a vampire caused me. It may have been a month since I completely accepted who I am…and now I don't mind it one bit," Hogan said warmly, with the usual twinkle shining in his eyes which still retained their greenish shade from his most recent confrontation. "Still, my memories of me killing those two agents are likely to stay with me for a ruddy long time, if not for the rest of my life."

It was then that LeBeau also walked up to his Kommandant, and extended a hand in friendship. He was glad to see that Klink shook it, all the while speaking, "I'm sorry I called you a Kraut, sir. I was just upset to see that Eagle had taken control of you again."

"LeBeau, you didn't have to apologize. I understand where you're coming from. But, thank you," Klink said, replying warmly to the corporal's sincere statement.

"Would you like us one of us to spend the night with you? Newkirk and Carter have told us that's what they usually do when you lose control of yourself. But, since they're out of commission, I volunteer. After all, it might help to be with another shape shifter until morning," Kinch said, waiting for Klink's reply.

He could sense that his Kommandant was about to reply in the negative, before he changed his mind. "Thank you Kinch—I would like that."

"I'll see you in the morning, sir. Hopefully, a new day will mean a new beginning. Most importantly, hopefully Gretel will prove to be less dangerous and we'll be able to stop her, once and for all," Hogan said. With that, he began to make his way over to the door, with LeBeau following close behind him.

"Good night, Robert. And thank you," Klink replied, leading the way to his quarters.

As each person made their way to either their quarters or their bunk, all four of them found themselves heavily preoccupied with what the next day would undoubtedly bring. Hogan found himself trying to think of different plans that he could use to stop Gretel. LeBeau found himself hoping that Carter and Newkirk's teeth would be found soon, so that life could go back to normal inside the camp. Kinch hoped that a repeat of the events that had just unfolded wouldn't be repeated, while Klink could only hope that he would be able to keep his emotions under control. They knew that a long day awaited them; however, after the horror and excitement of the day, all four found that sleep came easily, and that surprisingly, only pleasant dreams entered into their minds.