Axis and Allies

Friday After Midnight

Chapter 21

I lingered in alpha wave sleep for some unspecified time, my mind urging me to wake up and my body fighting against it. I had been pushed hard over the past few days and had it not been for my energy drink potion I certainly would not have found my way back to consciousness. But since I used Beast Energy Drink as my base liquid for my potion rather than merely coffee I had an eight hour jolt of power running through me to draw upon not just a twenty minute sugar and caffeine high.

I almost found the strength to open my eyes the first time when I felt warm, wet sandpaper running over my wrists and then light tickles in the same area like an artist's paint brush running across the area. While it did not feel bad per say, the very teasing sensation of it was enough to rouse me toward consciousness. Unfortunately it stopped before I made it all the way back to opening my eyes and this left me floating between the two worlds of sleep and wakefulness without a clear decision of which one I should take.

Then there was a sudden painful jerk on both my wrists at once which I now realized were painfully tied behind my back. A second tug immediately after, stretched my shoulders back in an awkward angle and painfully made me yelp, which came out more as a dull moan since I realized at that point my mouth had also been gagged it seemed.

"Be still Ms. Carpenter and I shall have you free in a moment." In my slowly wakeful haze the voice speaking to me I knew was familiar and male but I could not place where I knew it from. I did, however, take comfort when I noted the sense of concern the voice conveyed.

"Thank you." I said, though it came out as "Murgle Pfft." My rescuer stopped his work on my wrists and removed the gag from my mouth before again returning to the ropes binding my arms. By this point I could also feel others tied equally secure on my ankles as well.

His frustration at the knots was obvious and I felt him switch his actions to a sawing motion. "They must have been tied by a boy scout." I said quietly and sarcastically more to myself than to my rescuer.

"I believe it more likely instead to be one of the Hitlerjugend." The voice whispered in response. "They are the ones known to you in history as the Hitler Youth."

I thought I now recognized the voice of my rescuer. "Heinrich?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yes Ms. Carpenter." He said then with one last tug I felt the bonds around my wrists break free and blood rush into my denied and therefore chilled hands. If you have never had circulation cut off and then restored let me tell you it hurts like little jolts of fire as they oxygen the blood carries reinvigorates the cells that are dying from its denial! However I did realize that the burning sensation I felt was good thing in the long run because the feeling and control were returning to my fingers. I had the feeling I would be requiring their dexterity in the near future.

"If you can scoot around so I do not have to step out of the shadows I will cut your ankles free as well. I suggest you lay back though and try to look asleep until you feel strong enough to stand up and run away." Heinrich's suggest was logical and allowed my body the chance to prepare itself for whatever was to come. The fact that I was alive, tied up, and somewhere in near total darkness that was not the Holocaust Museum I had been in did not provide me with a sense that my captor had meant good things for me.

I did what Heinrich said and laid down with my face by the marble floor with my hands still hidden behind me to continue the illusion of my captivity. The room I lay in was cloaked in shadows and only a small amount of light from emergency exit signs more than twenty feet always gave me any sense of the size of the chamber I was in. "Where are we Heinrich?" I had a sense of familiarity, almost déjà vous but my mind was still trying to reset and catch up to actual events it seems.

"We are in the museum." He said as I felt him sawing on my leg bonds furiously. "This is the location where you had told me to meet you when you called me at the hospital. I am sorry I was delayed but the duty nurse was gossiping right outside my door so I could not leave unobserved after drinking your potion. I must say you should sell this drink. It may not taste good but I feel thirty years younger!" I was not sure if I should take that as a compliment. While thirty years younger was nearly double my age that still left him feeling in his mid-sixties, almost three and a half times my age.

But the memory he shared brought much of the events clouded in my mind back into clarity. Heinrich had been my second call from Harry's place before I had left with Carlos. I had instructed him to drink the potion and to meet me at the Science and Industry Museum; Curtis unfortunately for me had been my first call with the same destination request. I did not really want to dwell right now on the fact that I had inadvertently put events in motion for my own defeat and current capture. I am pretty sure if Harry wrote a book about being a Wizard Private Investigator and important dos and don'ts, not calling you enemy to come attack you from surprise would rank up there as one of the most important lessons to always keep in mind.

"Okay, that explains how you got here." I said. "Do you have any idea on how I managed that?"

"You were brought here through the back loading door by the Hitler Youth poster child." Heinrich said. "I would not have even noticed if that very odd and resourceful cat of yours, or at least I assume it belongs to you, had not hissed at me to bring me around the back in time to see you being carried inside." He sat silent for a second to concentrate on the cutting right near my skin. "That Nazi's father and mother are also here, or that is what he refers to them as in German no less. That pair is currently torturing your rabbi friend, mostly through words though the occasional slap to keep his attention when his eyes wander off. I think they do this merely for the fun of it not because they want any further information." He said with disgust.

Finally the last rope came apart and my legs were free. The tingling in my hands was easing up but now my feet were feeling it. I had to rest a minute so I could walk without stumbling.

Heinrich placed Eric's Nazi dagger on the ground and slid it away from himself and into the darkness out of sight. "I had hoped never to touch another of those Hell damned blades but your need was greater than my disgust at my past." He said with obvious revulsion.

"You might want to keep it for protection." I offered doubting he had anything else since he had come here from the hospital.

"No." He said firmly. "I have come to realize that when your potion wears off I will likely collapse and die since the pain has become so great my body cannot take it without heavy doses of morphine." He sat there for a moment as I massaged the blood back into my legs. "I will not leave this world with my last acts tainted by touching something like that again."

"Fair enough." I agreed not seeing any room to argue with the man's obvious experience, slipped off my shoes and put them down, and tentatively got back up to my feet thankful to find my balance.

"You will need your shoes once you escape outside." Heinrich reminded me.

"I'm not going anywhere." I said. He looked at me in pale red glow of an exit sign light and understood I meant what I was saying.

I checked my bearings and realized I was in the flash and bang center of the museum where I had been scared days before. I thought this should have been a great opportunity. You know in the movies how the villain always drops the super spy, or in my case the cute and perky high school wizard apprentice, right next to a supply storage room with grenades and bullets to help him escape? Yeah well that does not happen in real life. I looked all around and there was nothing there at all, forget about whatever I found being useful enough that I could MacGyver into the perfect homemade weapon. Life just really is not fair!

"Looks like you have to do it the old fashion way Molly by relying only on yourself." Harry's voice teased me again. "Still think calling yourself me was a good idea?"

"Shut up Harry!" I whispered aloud in response.

"Who is Harry?" Heinrich asked.

"Someone who is going to get a long talk about allowing his apprentices to slack off on their training and not having them prepared for fighting Nazis, golems, and demigods was completely his fault." I whispered back. Either Heinrich was very perceptive and understood everything I meant, or he decided now was not the time to pursue this line of questioning even further.

"The I suspect that you have a plan?" He asked.

"Do I have a plan?" I said in mockery. "Of course I have a plan." I'm not sure he believed me but it sounded a whole lot better than being honest and asking him 'Does running and screaming we are all going to die qualify as a plan.'

"What can I do to help?"

Gotta admit I am really impressed by today's older generation. Guys my age would have either been seeking to escape, or trying to convince me one last make out session was the correct course of action. "Would you happen to have seen my backpack, a sword, or the guy this cape belongs to?" I asked. "And by the way what happened to my cat?"

"The man you are speaking of is with the others, well all except the Hitler boy, in the room directly to the east which is called the Science of Storms room." He replied. "Your friend is injured and unconscious and does not look like he will be of much help, but it did appear his bleeding had stopped. They have him tied up to a machine that shoots bursts of flame into the air. I think they plan to use it as a makeshift funeral pyre, though I suspect by their cruel nature that he will not be dead when the machine is turned on."

"Your backpack is there as well, but the sword is in the scabbard around your friend's waist. I would have preferred using it to cut you free rather than touching another of those vile daggers but I could not get close enough to him without being seen by the parents. If we are careful and quiet though, we can get you to your backpack."

Well that was something. "And the cat?" I asked.

"He ran off once you started to wake up." Heinrich said. "I do not know where he is right now." Yeah that was about par for the course. On the plus side he did bring Heinrich so I had to be happy with Mister for that. Of course I would have bought him a hundred cans of tuna if right now he was convincing a SWAT team to show up as well.

"If we only had a wheelbarrow." I sighed aloud.

"Like what you carry dirt in?" Heinrich asked me. "Why do you need a wheelbarrow? There may be one over in the farm section if you would like me to go retrieve it."

I almost said 'Then why didn't you list that among our assets. What I would not give for a Holocaust Cloak.' See when I am nervous I tend to resort to classic movie lines or song lyrics. Unfortunately, not a lot of people tended to catch on to these references in the middle of a life and death crisis.

"Forget it." I said realizing that trying to explain The Princess Bride at that exact moment was probably not a good idea.

"Where is Eric?" I asked him noting his confusion. "The Hitler Youth boy." I explained.

"Ah, he went in search of whatever item he tortured the location out of your rabbi friend." Heinrich said.

"Ishmael was tortured and still lived?" I asked incredulously. Geez that old guy is tough.

"Only his mind." Heinrich answered. "The boy appeared to have him in some sort of trance and was making him think of horrible things. His parents even helped supplying comments about concentration camps and slow walks to his death. It was during that as I was listening to this that I was able to sneak over to your gear and get the dagger to cut you free. Finally Ishmael broke down and told the three all he knew. The boy laughed at this and departed ten minutes or so ago to retrieve his prize."

Well that means the three were not together, though that was hardly the encouragement I was hoping for considering that one of the two remaining was a demigod. On the bright side if she was somehow defeated, the other two were relatively a piece of cake by comparison. That first hurdle though was of course a mighty big, let's be honest, a nearly impossible 'if.'

"You would not happen to know the name Nerthus by any chance would you?" I asked Heinrich remembering he was from Germany where the goddess had once been worshipped.

"The Pagan goddess?"

"Yes that is the one." I said. "In German stories of her, I am assuming she does not have any secret weakness such as she is deadly afraid of mice or anything like that does she?" It is not like I had ready access to mice or anything but hey I was grasping at straws here.

"Not that I recall." Heinrich said which of course was frustrating to hear. Okay God, you help those who help themselves, it's not like I am not trying here or anything. And sure if my dad needs something then you part the Red Sea almost. Yep I can add a charge of blasphemy to my rolls for Sunday, which of course is only important if I lived through the next few hours.

"I only recall she was vain and liked to have people worship her greatness as a goddess." He said. That was not surprising; based upon my memory of Greek and Roman mythology that is hardly anything unique that I could use as a weapon to defeat her.

"Yeah, I already have that." I said. Damn no demigod kryptonite. Okay my options were slowly reducing to zero, and those few that I might have all required me to get to my backpack and most importantly rescue Carlos. I figure a Warden, even an injured one, was more help against a demigod than a mere apprentice would be.

"Alright here is what I want to do." I said and Heinrich listened. "I will try to get to my backpack and also free my wounded friend." I said noting his look of skepticism. "I need you to sneak around and when the evil Ward and June Cleaver are looking at me, free Ishmael, and get him and yourself the hell away from here as fast as possible. Do you understand?"

"No."

"No, you don't understand?" Could the Leave it to Beaver reference have been too much?

"I understand that you are taking on the dangerous part and giving me the easier." He said. "What I do not understand is if I am going to be dead soon anyway why you do not let me attempt the suicide rescue on your friend and you get Ishmael away? He does not deserve this after all my people have put him through. And you frauline, while courageous, have a whole life before you to live as well."

"That option would be great if I were taking a vote and all things between us were equal, such as you having magical talent." I said. "You are right that Ishmael does not deserve this fate. However, the backpack has things in it that I can use for my magic. And Carlos knows me he does not know you so this duty falls to me. Since you were right about the Ishmael half then you must understand the importance of getting him away from here. Besides, you still wanted to ask his forgiveness which is the whole reason I gave you the potion and called you to come down here in the first place. Please do not dishonor the gift."

Heinrich hated my argument but he really could not counter it. The fact that I had magical tools in the backpack meant I had to get it. I did not need to tell him that the tools were pretty basic, he just needed to believe that they offered me a chance. And guilt works extremely well on those who are already suffering from it and Heinrich had a lifetime's worth it seemed. Any guilt I felt about lying was balanced out by knowing I was trying to avoid a horrible death and possibly afterlife for him as well.

"Alright, I will do as you ask. Give me a few minutes to get into position for I am not as spry as when I was your age." He said reluctantly. "What will you signal be?" He asked.

"You will most certainly know it when you see it." I said with a smile that was all the result of my Nick Bottom acting lessons. But in the very dim light he bought it and shook my hand before departing.

"God please protect the old men this night." I whispered a prayer. "And any extra luck for perky apprentices would certainly be appreciated." Yeah, there was no sudden blast of divine lightning taking out a demigoddess so I guess I had to figure this one out all by myself.

Now I must admit I thought of myself as a goddess on occasion, all girls do, but it is different to be facing off against a real one. Worse still is not know anything about the one you are about to be facing. I mean if it had been Athena or even Kali then I would have something to go on, but until one, or was it two, days ago I had never even heard the name Nerthus before. Accordingly I only had Ishmael's background story on her because of what Wiesenthal's team had collected, which was not all that much, and now a second confirmation on these basic facts by Heinrich.

I went over these details again while the old man made his way to his rescue point and a thought slowly came to me. It was not a plan, not in any real sense of that word, and certainly not one Harry would endorse for me if I explained it. On the other hand it seemed just like the type of thing Harry himself might do with his own back up against the wall. And considering that this was the only potential option to prevent a Nazi god from being born tonight, I figured I really had nothing to lose if it failed. Guess that Nick Bottom stuff was going to come in handy after all.

Heinrich probably expected me to first sneak in and get to the backpack while Eric's parents were focused upon tormenting Ishmael for his failures. That way I could use my few magic charms to keep their attention while he performed his own mission as well. Yeah, that had been my first thought too. But I realized it really gained me nothing. It's not like I had Harry's blast rod or staff in my pack. So I went with incredibly foolish option number two.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and ignore the 'are you insane' questions parts of my mind were asking me. Then I strode boldly into the candlelit room, my bra covered chest thrust forward in defiance, Carlos's cape billowing a bit around me, and my blonde hair brushed back as if I feared nothing and no other being; demigoddesses included. I even hummed a song loudly both to calm my nerves and project my indifference, okay it was Old MacDonald Had a Farm – the only song I could think of at the moment, but I figured the demigoddess probably did not know it so who cares.

My showy arrival did not of course go unnoticed, just as I had expected. "Ah Ms. Dresden you are awake and have freed even yourself I see." Ms. Brown, aka Nerthus, looked at me and now seemed more to my eyes than the scared young woman who had come to Harry's office less than a week ago. Human eyes sometimes oversee things they do not comprehend. I had thought her only a normal customer so I had not been looking for telltale signs of evil goddess therefore had ignored them. Now though, knowing who and what she was I saw her completely revealed as deadly, powerful, and of course beautiful. As nearly a comedic side note the father also drew his gun, a Lugar of course, I guess they got them for a special discount rate, and started to point it toward me as well as if the goddess's power would not be enough.

Nerthus seemed to notice this too and the minor suggestion of insult did not escape her. "That will not be required my dear." Nerthus said causing him instantly to stop in his obeying of her command.

"Is your training of him responsible for that or do the Nazi's breed their perfect man to take orders like a well broken golden retriever?" I asked with actual laughter added to my mocking tone of disdain. "If the Nazi's have this Stepford Husbands thing down I might want to put one on order myself, a little younger perhaps with a tighter butt, but I do have to admit I do like their submissiveness."

The less than cordial yet prideful Doctor Manuel, Curtis/Eric had never given me his first name only his occupation, tensed slightly at my jibe but still pointed the gun toward the ground and waited as Nerthus had commanded him too. I had not really expected the turn your opponents against each other merely by causing dissention ploy to work, but hey I might keep them from guessing my real objective here and that would help me.

"It is funny you should speak of merging bloodlines like that my dear." Nerthus replied. "When I appraised you at our first meeting and felt the tingle of your magical talent, quite impressive compared to so many others, I had considered you as potentially a suitable match for my son. Unfortunately as I learned over time by your association with old men and self important virgin wizards your taste and eye for finer things appears questionable."

"I am not self important." I said defensively and not happy everyone was tossing the whole virgin thing around.

"Not you dear." She said. "I was referring to the wounded one you brought with you."

"Carlos?" I said suddenly shocked by this revelation. Could that be true? Oh my god the Love Nest number was suddenly a hundred times funnier than it had been when I had first listened to it. "Are you sure about that?" Hey it's not like he was going to share this information, and if you can't trust the evil genius goddess about to blast you to bits to be honest with you about your friend's sexual experiences then who can you trust?

"My dear the smell of his purity is even more powerful than your own." She said taking a big whiff as evidence. "I must say after so many years that is a fragrance I never grow tired of." She paused to look at his bound atop the fire display and I had to admit while I was thinking over the implications I too had nothing more to say on the subject. Oh he is so going to apologize for ruining my make out session in the car even if it had been with a hot psycho Nazi who now probably had plans to kill me and everyone else.

I'm not sure I liked knowing that every powerful being could sense my sexual status just by scent it seems. Sort of like the worst possibilities made real if those x-ray glasses they sold in comic books actually worked. "Come on really?" I asked though staying in character. "Isn't the sacrifice a virgin thing just a trifle worn out to you Pagans after three thousand years or so?"

"You of all people really must thank him for his personal restraint in this area." Nerthus continued. "He now fits our requirement to sacrifice one pure of body and soul yet blessed with the spark of magic. Because of that you will not be the sacrifice as I had first intended when I sent you after Eric. I had searched this city for days looking for anyone with a magical spark, but I had only found those incompetent boys who the golems had killed and while they were useful to help us locate the watch, I would have found them to be an insulting sacrifice. I do not doubt Barter would feel the same way. Now that those five are dead, I believe my dear that you and your unconscious friend are the only wizards remaining in this city."

"Actually he is from out of town." I said keeping her attention firmly on me as I noted Heinrich begin to move toward Ishmael. "But even still what is it with this whole virgin sacrifice thing?"

"You people have advanced in your knowledge of the world so far yet still you have forgotten so much." She said shaking her head at the irony. And of course I could not really argue with her seeing how she had been around for a few thousand years and had observed all this and I had not.

"The value of virginity is not merely for its unique taste, much like veal I think you would find, but it is because you humans put such a high price upon this status. It is the value you give it that makes it worthy to give to us. Just like your gold is merely a shiny rock. It had no inherent value when it was created, except in your mind you decided it did so today it forms the basis of your monetary world." Nerthus replied. In a very odd way what she was saying made sense.

"The desire for a virgin sacrifice is to demonstrate your willingness to sacrifice something you yourselves find incredibly valuable, not just the virginity, but the life of the individual as well which makes the offering that much more pleasing." She smiled and stared though me. "You cannot deny its importance Ms. Dresden. You yourself have come into breeding age but still you take no physical pleasures. Why is that if not because what I say is true? Are you not waiting for your first time because it will mean so much?"

And I though sex talk with Murphy was embarrassing. You gotta give Father Forthill credit. He never asked for a whole lot of details with any sins admitted to. You said you had lustful thoughts and he slapped a standard penance on you, case closed. The Pagans' forgiveness process I guess was that it is better for situations to be called out and discuss before everyone on The View. Well sorry Barbra Walters, this wizard apprentice really has nothing to share on this subject.

"Yeah well it's not like you let your son sow his wild oats either." I shot back.

"That is slightly different because we could not afford any chance there would be progeny left behind if he ascended to godhood." Nerthus replied. "Through his training and devotion to the Red Shirt's teachings his mind and his body were molded to meet their needs. Such things as sex for a man his age merely provides distractions that were both unnecessary and also counter-productive to their goals. I am not sure I agree, but by my contract with them I could not interfere in their plans."

"Oh yes about that contract, speaking girl to girl, why exactly would a Pagan goddess agree to support a Nazi cause. It is not like you share the same values or anything?" I asked. Okay the girl to girl comment got me a raised eyebrow by comparing myself to a goddess but she let this pass and responded none the less.

"Since you are one of the gifted I shall explain." She said. I could only assume gifted to her meant magically talented. "There are rules that we may not interfere in your world unless we are called upon specifically. Some of my kind violate those rules and the rest of us punish them harshly for their crime. But by the established rules if one of us is called, and if the ones calling us offer a deal that is acceptable, then we may stay in this world for the defined period of time to meet the conditions of the contract."

"So you can appear long enough to perform a service or answer a question?" I asked for clarification to keep her talking. I could not let my eyes turn from the goddess but I could see from my peripheral vision that the two old men had still not escaped for some reason so I had to keep her talking and not looking around.

"In some cases this interaction is merely as simple as you suggest, but there are weaker powers in your own world that normally serve these needs." She said. "In my own case the Red Shirt Schertel required someone to bear their half-breed child and since I had symbolized ancient German fertility I appeared to them to be the perfect choice."

"I understand their need." I said. "What I do not understand is why you would agree. What do you get out of it? Sex with a mortal? That hardly seems a bargain worthy of your power."

"Of course not." She replied. "Though that act was hardly the worst three minutes of my immortal existence I had ever spent." She laughed. Well if that revelation did not take away part of the mystique of creating the 'perfect man' then I do not know what did.

"I have missed the worship and the acclaim of your kind." She said quite honestly. "There is real power in having being like yourself that realizes their own mortality and limited life spans to take this precious time to stop and offer honor to one of my kind. We gain strength and status over our peers by the number of such prayers offered to us."

Of course that failed to actually come into existence as Schertel had offered since the Reich had fallen. "And just how is that great deal working out for you?" I asked sarcastically thinking that this type of jibe worked to my advantage.

"Yes I must admit that the other side hardly lived up to their portion of the bargain seeing as their thousand year empire lasted barely a decade." She replied. "But by the rules of the agreement I made with them, as long as Red Shirts still exists, I am free to wander your world waiting for them to fulfill their side of the bargain to have an entire population acknowledge my greatness. Only if they no longer existed would the contract become null and void and I would be forced to return."

"No wonder Simon Wiesenthal's group focused so heavily upon them." I said aloud. "Not only would he stop their plans for creating a god but he would send you back to the Outer Gates as well."

"Yes he was indeed and annoying, if effective, little man." Nerthus replied. "There are only perhaps a dozen of the Red Shirt members still alive counting the second and third generation who have joined. I had to help hide the Brazilian village they live in to keep his hunters from finding and extinguishing them like they tried and almost succeeded with Eric's grandfather Josepf."

"I assume you were appropriately paid for this extra service?"

"Let's say I found it not in my interest to be sent back to the Outer Gates as you call them with nothing to show for my time here." Nerthus replied. "Such an event would drain me of status and therefore power among my peers. For better or worse my own fate is tied to this group's now so I must do what I can to help them succeed."

I thought over what she said for a moment. "I understand, really I do, but I think you missed a rather key clause in the contract you signed." I said with a new smile that was not all acting.

She looked at me skeptically but with a slight hint of concern since I was a wizard. Let me tell you it is such a rush when you can make a demigoddess blink first!

"And what would that be?" She asked. "If you think I will allow you to live now that you know about the remaining Red Shirts then it is you who has made the critical error of judgment. Just like you are foolish to think I do not know about the old man trying to rescue your friend behind me but who is unable too because of the paralytic spell I have placed the old Jew under Ms. Dresden or should I be honest and say Ms. Carpenter?"

Well so much for Heinrich's part of the plan. But hey I still had my final roll of the dice. With a toss in the air I put all my chips on the table and went for broke.

"Ms. Carpenter is fine." I said in reply. "In fact my name is Margaret though my friends call me Molly. You can continue to call me Ms. Carpenter though." I said to purposely be insulting.

"Yes, the poor breeding becomes more evident over time." Nerthus said in response. "I am not sure what it was that Eric found attractive in you."

"According to him it was my quick mind." I replied. "For example have you heard this one? I Margaret Molly Carpenter, at present the entire population of Chicago's native wizard community, hereby acknowledge the greatness of the Pagan goddess Nerthus for in serving as the ideal breeding factory for a perfect bastard of a failed political movement." I said. Okay, not Four Score and Twenty Years Ago but it's not like I have my own speechwriter on hand at the moment either. The dice landed on the table with a bounce as the two of us read the numbers rolled.

She stood there for a second and looked at me as the words I spoke registered in her mind. All I said was true, at least as she believed it to be. By her own account Ishmael had destroyed all others in the city that Nerthus knew of worthy of the title of wizard in this politically recognized and defined border, therefore I was in fact the entire current population. That I acknowledged her greatness was true also, though only in performing as a surrogate baby factory. By all aspects I had met the conditions of her stated contract.

"You will regret…" And with the lack of excitement of a soap bottle popping Nerthus was gone, returned to wherever she had come from. There was no big flash of energy, no whirlwind vortex, hell not even a sixty foot marshmallow man to acknowledge her passing. She was simply gone and all her power with her; which unfortunately included the mind control leash she had over Eric's father.

"That was very impressive and resourceful Ms. Carpenter. It is time for you to die for the glory of the Reich." God if that was not a worn out speech. Of course the fact that his gun was coming up to point at me did not make it any less valid. I tried to summon up magic for inserting another shield into the barrel but I knew as I called it I would be too late.

"I will kill you first you Nazi bastard!" Ishmael said drawing the attention of both of us as he broke free of Heinrich's supporting arm and charged the slightly younger man holding the gun. Heinrich was a step behind but thanks to the potion I gave him now feeling more nimble it seemed and only to a second to chase after Ishmael.

This distraction and delay were just enough for me to fling a shield to make the gun explode, unfortunately at that moment Eric's father spun the gun away from me, meaning the nine millimeter shield appeared in midair not in the barrel where I had intended, and the pistol turned it toward Ishmael. The gun barked once and then both old men went down.

Heinrich, thanks to the energy drink, bumped Ishmael away to the side, knocking the old man down and therefore took the bullet himself. A black spot appeared on his white button down shirt right where his liver would be and he looked down dumbfounded at it before a well of deep red, almost black blood began to pour out. He slumped, first to his knees and then almost falling to the side as Ishmael scrambled back up to his own knees and around to catch and hold this stranger leaning upon him before Heinrich fell back completely onto the marble floor.

Rage burned through me reigniting all my senses. I know you probably think that as a wizard I wanted to burn the old Nazi alive, which is probably what Harry would do. But I needed a more physical expression of my rage. Only that would allow for the outlet of wrath and fury now burning within me.

Two quick steps brought me toward the doctor just as his gun was spinning back around toward me as he sensed my approach. My hand shot up, straight edged and hard just as Murphy had taught me. It struck forward like a scorpion's tail striking right at the Adam's apple in his neck with a distinctive and satisfying feeling of cartilage being crushed. My hand came back into position for a second follow on strike if it was required.

It was not. The middle aged doctor's eyes bugged out as he dropped his gun that went bouncing a few steps away and grabbed at his neck. His breathing came out in wheezes, gasps and then gargles, along with a little pink froth of blood as he too fell to the ground. That was enough proof for me to stop caring about him, grab my backpack that had some bandages in it, and rush to my two friends ten feet away on the floor. Carlos would have to wait just a little while longer it seemed.

"Why did you do this?" Ishmael asked Heinrich pressing hard on his wound to try and stem the blood that was leaking through his fingers. I am no doctor but I could sense the wound was not a good one.

"Please." Heinrich responded. "I fought for them in my youth, but I loved a Jewish girl. I let their hatred and their dreams keep me from her. Keep me from telling her. They killed her and I never told her how I felt. I lied to her. I lied to myself. Please…forgive me…"

I could see the conflict in Ishmael's eyes as well. He was clutching someone who had fought for the side who had sacrificed his people, even his very own family. Yet now not only had this stranger sacrificed his own life to save Ishmael's, he was begging for the rabbi's forgiveness not for ending the life of his Jewish love, but merely for not taking enough action to save her life. Having lived through those times and seen camp guards beaten for even smaller human kindnesses toward the Jews, Ishmael had not doubt that against that type of evil the old man dying in his arms would have been killed back then if he tried.

In that moment I saw Ishmael come to realize that not only those who had suffered in the camps carried a lifetime of guilt and pain around with them. But to forgive the man dying in his arms and to get him to let go of his guilt would mean Ishmael would have to let go of his own as well and forgive those he thought of only as his enemy. And for more than sixty years this belief had been what had sustained him through his trials.

"There is nothing to forgive my friend." Ishmael said wiping away the tears that formed in his own eyes as he watched this former enemy dying in his lap. The pain in Heinrich's eyes seemed to lessen as he accepted the words and closed his eyes with a smile on his face ready to die. His breathing kept going, but with blood pooling about him told me it would not be much longer, minutes at most.

A single gunshot rang out behind me and I spun expecting to feel the bullet pass through me because the doctor had regained his weapon. Instead Eric stood over his father, the gun pointed at his former patriarch's now exploded head and then looked up at me.

"You killed your father?" I said shocked and uncertain what the hell was going on except that Eric of course had the gun. I drew in magic for another shield if I needed it.

"I did." He said tossing the weapon away as he sensed my ability to counter its effects. "Since you did such a good job and saved me the effort of disposing of my mother I figured it was only right I step up and finish off my father." He said with a smile of a predator.

"Why?"

"As they told you family ties would only be distracting." He said holding up the pocket watch on the chain for me to see. "I am becoming a god this night. I have no desire to leave such a pathetic example of humanity behind to try and claim its parentage to me."

He began to draw magic into himself as well. "Now I guess that leaves me only having to deal with you."