Chapter VI: Waiting

Having made sure Amelia was safe, now came the hardest part, waiting. He had managed to call Dimitri and tell him to leave the mansion with the rest of Amelia's envoy. He would feel better when Dimitri got there, that way he could deal with all the politics, and let Malachi focus on Amelia. He had spoke to Nina, who had been extremely worried about them, so worried that she had already left Amelia's mansion in New York, ahead of a group of Death Dealers, and was on her way to Hungary. However due to the political problems with Vampires traveling internationally it would take them a while to get there. He sat at Amelia's bedside, stroking her hair.

"Do you remember when we first got to New York?" He asked her "How excited we all were, even though you pretended not to be. A new beginning that's what you said. But it wasn't a new beginning because you're lying here. In this country you first left because you found the decadence and ambition of Kraven to taxing. It's not right, because of him you're lying here." As he kissed Amelia's hand a single tear rolled down his face. "I knew as soon as Matthew told me Soren was meeting us that things would go wrong. I should have killed that freaky little Bastard when I had the chance."

Malachi thought back to time when Amelia's slumber seemed like an eternity away, when life for the New York Coven was good. To a time more than fifty years ago, when an evil regime was on the verge of conquering Europe, and the land that had been Amelia's home. This regime had a specific idea of what the world should be like, and anyone who did not fit into this regime was punished, severely. Jews, Gypsies Catholics, Homosexuals among others. However there were other groups that these men hated, immortals, both Lycan and Vampire. When the country's masters seemingly sided with this regime Kraven called on Amelia for help, how well Malachi remembered this time, his first trip to Hungary, his first mission away from Amelia since he had been sired, more than forty years previously. How he remembered……

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Budapest 1942

Malachi stood in the hall of the great mansion, he stood tall looking around at the aristocratic Vampires lounging around smoking, his Death Dealer escort stood behind him, refusing to make eye contact. Anyone would have thought there wasn't a war on. His attention was then drawn to a group of people coming down an ornate stair case. The lead man was tall with shoulder length black hair; he wore an open collar black shirt and had long nails. "You must be Malachi" the lead man stated.

"You must be Kraven." Was Malachi's response.

"How was your journey?" asked Kraven?

"Fine."

Kraven smiled "I see your not one for small talk. I'm assuming Amelia has made you aware of our situation?"

"I'm fully aware and ready to complete the mission." Malachi began coldly "Have you assembled my team."

"Ah yes" smirked Kraven "I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"About what!" demanded Malachi

"Though I appreciate the faith our Lady places in you, I think it would be better if Soren here were to lead the mission." At that, the short long haired man flanking Kraven stepped forward. He was pale, with a cold piercing stare.

"No" was Malachi's simple response.

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean I will be leading the mission as planned, so tell your angry looking Elf to stop staring me out." Malachi awaited Kraven's response.

"Soren is…."

"I'm sure Soren is very capable, however the Princess has declared that I am to lead the mission, and I intend to, unless of course you are challenging the will of Lady Amelia. Which you would never dream of doing, would you Kraven?"

"Of course not." Hissed the Steward of the Hungarian coven.

"Alright then!" smiled Malachi "Come along Soren, we have work to do."

Soren cast a glance towards Kraven, who responded with a simple nod. "Very well." Sneered Soren.

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"How is she?" A concerned voice asked Malachi bringing him out of his thoughts and back into the Ziodec medical facility.

Malachi turned to see Dimitri standing in the door way with his security. "Not to good" was Malachi's only answer "What's happening at the mansion?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sighed Dimitri

"Try me"

"Well…" Began Dimitri trying to find where to begin "Viktor's awake"

Malachi's head snapped round "How is that even possible?"

"Honestly, I don't know"

"What of Kraven?" Demanded Malachi

"That's an interesting development, he and his men left the mansion."

"That is interesting Dimitri" sighed Malachi as he took Amelia's hand in his "Sit down Dimitri, Amelia is going to want your report when she wakes up. Did Soren leave with Kraven as well?"

"Yes he did" said Dimitri as he pulled up a chair on the opposite side of Amelia's bed "You should have killed that little bastard when you had the chance."

"Don't I know it." He muttered under his breath.

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Hungarian countryside 1942

Malachi, Soren and two death dealers lay hidden in some bushes overlooking an army facility. There was a huge barb wire fence that surrounded the complex. The complex itself was a series of small barrack like buildings and a stone factory with a huge chimney.

"Okay we all know what we're doing." Malachi began to address his team. "Rigel, Samuel when we jump the fence I need you guys to take out the guards, remember stay quiet for as long as possible. Soren me and you are going to head to the Barracks at the back of the complex, we need to free Eli." Everyone was ready. "Go"

The four Vampires ran towards the complex, jumping the fence in a single bound all four men made it into the perimeter, the Death Dealers went off to distract the guards while Soren and Malachi went on to their objective. As the two passed the structure with the chimney they came across two piles, one of Lycan carcasses, the other a dusty skeletal pile of Vampire remains. "What the hell is this?" asked Soren.

"Genocide Soren" replied Malachi "They're killing us as well as the humans."

They finally made it to the barracks where their intelligence had told them the man they were to rescue was being held. Soren picked the lock and the two entered a dark room. The door slammed behind them. "Shit!" Both men spat in unison.

All the lights came on, the Vampire they were supposed to be saving was chained to a chair, the rest of the room was filled with SS men, wielding machine guns, flame throwers and swords. "Gudden Tag" an SS officer stepped forward. "My name is Heidenreich, I am the commandant of this complex." He was a short wiry man, who would be nothing were it not for his uniform. He carried a walking cane, it had a black shaft, with a silver handle, the handle was shaped like an angel on a pedestal, and at the bottom of the shaft was a solid silver point.

"Well gentlemen, I am delighted you have come, with who am I speaking to?"

"I'm Malachi, this is Soren, we're here for Eli"

"I'm afraid I can not allow that." Smiled the SS officer.

"Then we have a problem" Stated Malachi "Nice cane" he smiled.

The SS men looked worried, they were right to be, both Malachi and Soren, displayed their fangs and hissed, they both lunged towards the soldiers, the room erupted into gunfire, flame and blood. There was carnage everywhere.

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Malachi and Dimitri had been waiting by Amelia's bedside for hours, it was the waiting that he couldn't stand. There was nothing to do now but wait. The facilities security were deployed, a team had been sent to track down Kraven and his men, Nina was still days away, and Amelia showed no signs of improving. What was he to do? Luckily he would not have to wait long to decide.

"Sir" a strong voice called out, Malachi turned round to see Sergeant Volkof standing before him.

"Report" Malachi commanded.

"Sir, my team has just got back from the train station, and I have some disturbing news."

"Explain yourself Sergeant" asked Malachi

"There was nothing there sir." Reported the Sergeant

"What do you mean nothing there?" the Vampire scorned "there was a massacre on that train!"

"The train was empty sir." Repeated Volkof "There were no bodies, there was no blood. The Council Members, the Lycans your security, all gone."

"Did you recover anything?" Asked Dimitri, involving himself in the conversation.

"One moment sir" Volkof began "Private!" at this a young man in similar black combat fatigues came running into the room, with two large clear bags. "This is all we were able to recover sir" Volkof said pointing at the bags, "One MP5 assault carbine, standard issue for Death Dealers, and one walking Cane, with a removable blade, Solid Silver, with an angel shaped handle, a very unique design."

Malachi and Dimitri exchanged glances and laughed a little "Thank you Sergeant." Said Malachi managing a smile, "The cane is mine, I left it behind when our lady and I made our escape, I didn't think I'd ever see it again."

As Volkof handed the cane back to Malachi he asked "where did you get it sir?"

"Not to far from here actually Sergeant, it's a souvenir from my first trip to this country." After examining his retrieved item for a moment, Malachi changed the subject "Have you heard from the second team Sergeant?"

"Not yet sir, but they're not due to check in for another half hour, I'll be sure to inform you as soon as they make contact."

"Very good, dismissed." As the sergeant took his leave Malachi turned his attention back to Amelia "look what I got back my lady" he said holding up his walking cane.

"How long have you had that thing now?" asked Dimitri?

"A whole lifetime Dimitri, a whole lifetime." Was Malachi's sad response

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Hungarian Countryside 1942

Malachi and Soren were able to make easy work of their would-be captors despite their superior numbers and fire power. The two vampires were able to carve a gory path through the SS men that stood before them. Soren had removed his outer coat during the conflict and unleashed a furious assault with his twin silver whips, literally using them to tear the throats out of his opponents. Malachi's weapons were less impressive to look at, but effective none the less, he had two hunting knives that he used to disembowel the soldiers. After a couple of minutes of carnage Malachi and Soren stood in the middle of the bloody gore-filled room, with only the SS commandant and a carpet of corpses between them and their target. The commandant was terrified, he reached for his side arm, which Soren quickly whipped out of his hand.

"You don't want to do that" remarked Malachi

"I..I have reinforcements" the terrified commandant stuttered

"No you don't." Smiled Malachi "We've got a couple of guys working on that."

"What do you want?" the commandant asked

"We want Eli" Stated Malachi "You kidnapped yourself a very influential Vampire,"

"If you take him you'll have the whole of the Reich after you." The desperate Soldier threatened

'Well then" began Malachi as he moved towards the commandant "Its to bad you wont be around to see it." At this Malachi grabbed the soldier and tore out his throat with his teeth. He broke the chains that bound the elderly Vampire to the chair "Come on Eli" he said "we got a long journey ahead of us."

"I knew Princess Amelia would not forget about me." The old Vampire choked.

"We should leave" hissed Soren.

"Hang on a minute" said Malachi as he began to shift through the mutilated bodies of the SS men.

"What are you doing?" Demanded Soren

"Here we go!" Said Malachi as he removed something from the pile of corpses, he held up the cane that the commandant had been carrying, wiping the blood off of the angel shaped handle he held up his new trophy to the other two Vampires in the room, "Nice Cane" he smiled.

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"Sir we have a problem!" said a very anxious Sergeant Volkof, as he stood at the door to Amelia's room.

"Report!" demanded Malachi as he and Dimitri stood to greet him.

"Director Holtz has been in contact with us sir" began Volkof "They've run into some problems."

"Lycan or Vampire?" asked Malachi.

"Although there was minimal Lycan resistance most had gone to ground, the resistance was from humans."

"Were they government troops?" asked Dimitri.

"No, they couldn't have been." Malachi answered him "Ziodec has always been given free run of this country."

"We are unsure who these men are aligned with" continued Sergeant Volkof "all we know is that Director Holtz and his men have suffered casualties and are on their way back here."

"I assume you've dispatched reinforcements to meet them sergeant?" asked Malachi.

"Of course Sir"

"Good, I want you to increase security around the Lady Amelia and Dimitri; I intend to speak with Mr. Holtz as soon as he returns."

"Do we need extra security here?" asked Dimitri.

"Dimitri, these last few hours have been the strangest of my life" said Malachi, I don't want to take any chances. Carry on Sergeant."

"Yes Sir" was Volkof's only response.

Malachi had left Amelia's room and was waiting in Holtz's office, luckily he did not have to long to wait as within ten minutes a furious Director Holtz was bounding towards the office, flanked by men.

"What's going on Mr. Holtz?" demanded Malachi.

"We were ambushed!" the director hissed, his fangs clearly visible.

"By whom?" Malachi asked calmly.

"I don't know, but when I find out I'm going to.."

Malachi held out a hand to cut him off "Mr. Holtz I appreciate your upset but for the sake of Amelia's security I'm going to have to ask you to calm down and tell me exactly what happened."

Holtz took a deep breath, sat down and began to explain "As your aware all of our cars are equipped with homing devices, we were able to track Kraven's limousine and a number of other veichles to the entrance of a series of tunnels that run beneath this city, I lead my team there to find Kraven and get some answers."

"I know all this" said Malachi "What happened when you got there?

Holtz continued his story "when we first entered the tunnels, we ran into the last of the Lycan that didn't have the strength or the ability to escape the battle, they were easily put down. We moved through the tunnels, there were dozens of corpses, Vampire and Lycan. We were able to identify the body of one of the Lycan, it was Lucian."

Malachi stared at him in disbelief "Lucian's been dead for centuries."

"Apparently not." Holtz commented.

"Carry on" continued Malachi.

"I left three of my men to prepare Lucian's body for transportation, back to this facility. Then we made a more disturbing discovery."

"What could be more disturbing than that?" asked Malachi.

"Next to the room we found Lucian was the opening to a sewer, in that sewer we found a decapitated body. It was the body of Lord Viktor."

"Viktor's dead!" Spat Malachi "It thought he was supposed to be the strongest there is?"

"Well someone was able to best him." said Holtz as he lit a cigarette "Anyway that brings us to the men who ambushed us. As we prepared Lord Viktor's body for retrieval, a group of men began to fire at us; four of my men were killed. We were able to fight our way past them and back into the tunnels. As we were making our way back to the entrance we saw more of them, they were removing all the bodies, recovering all the weapons and they were cleaning the blood from the walls."

"Cleaning?" repeated Malachi.

"Cleaning" confirmed Holtz "We were unable to recover the body of Lord Viktor, or any of the Death Dealers."

"I take it your aware of Sergeant Volkof's findings?" asked Malachi.

"I am aware" said Holtz "I think we can assume that the same people are responsible for removing the bodies of the Council as well."

"I think that's a very safe assumption Mr. Holtz." Said Malachi " You didn't happen to stumble across Kraven's body did you?"

"I'm afraid not." Sighed Holtz.

"Pity"

"I do have something that may cheer you up though." Smiled Holtz.

"What?" asked Malachi?

"Private!" Holtz commanded, as a guard came in carrying something, Malachi's eyes widened as the guard placed the objects on the desk in front of him. "We found then in the hands of a mauled Vampire, I assume they're familiar to you?" Asked Holtz.

"Yes they are." Sighed Malachi, as he looked down at the Bloody Silver whips that were in front of him. "So Soren's dead?"

"You don't seem to happy about that." Observed Holtz.

"No, Mr. Holtz, I'm not" hissed Malachi "I would have much rather killed him myself."

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Hungarian country side 1942

Malachi and Soren were able to get their rescued vampire out of the camp and back to the agreed rendezvous point, Rigel was already there waiting for them.

"Where's Samuel?" Asked Soren

"Dead Sir" responded Rigel "an SS soldier decapitated him."

"Shit" snapped Malachi "Well we don't have time to mourn, we all now what we're doing, Eli and I are gonna head to the Airfield, make it into neutral territory by sunrise."

"I'm afraid there's been a change of plan" Smiled Soren "Eli is coming with us, Lord Kraven desires an audience with him."

"I don't think so" laughed Malachi "We're going back to New York, and any attempt to stop me is a direct challenge to Lady Amelia."

"Lord Kraven expects the Germans to win this war, and when they do all ties with New York will be severed." Sneered Soren as he unveiled his Silver whips "your going to have to come with me Eli."

Malachi pulled out his hunting knives and stood ready to face Soren, they circled each other and displayed their fangs. Soren signaled to Rigel to attack Malachi, as he pounced Malachi drove one of his knives into Rigel's gut and delivered a straight kick into his face. "Just you and me then Soren."

"Stop this madness!" yelled Eli "We don't have time."

"Shut up old timer" hissed Soren as he whipped Malachi's remaining knife from his hand. Malachi made repeated attempts to take him on however he was repelled each time as Soren was able to drive him back with his whip, tearing the flesh from his body every time. After several attempts Malachi was able to grab hold of one of the whips, and despite the searing pain of sharp metal tearing into his hand, he was able to pull Soren towards him, delivering a head but to him, Malachi felt Soren's nose explode under the pressure of the blow. Being the larger Vampire Malachi was able to pin Soren and deliver a series of sickening blows to the Vampire. He held him by the throat and hissed "You place far to much emphasis on weapons Soren, remember we've already got weapons." At this Malachi sank his teeth into Soren's neck and pulled out a large chunk of his throat. Then he was forced to stop, he could hear the sound of barking, he knew the Germans were coming.

"We must hurry" screamed Eli.

"I'm coming" hissed Malachi. As the two Vampires began to walk away Malachi turned to see Soren struggling to his feet. "Give me that cane" he snapped at Eli, as he snatched his trophy from the withered Vampire. He drove the silver point through Soren's knee to make sure he could not follow, after doing this he turned and headed into the woods towards the air-strip and the Plane that would take them to neutral Switzerland. "Try and keep up Eli" Malachi shouted still clutching the cane.

Malachi and Eli were able to make it to the airfield on time, where a German double agent was waiting for them. "Come on" the agent snapped.

Malachi helped Eli onto the Plane and was about to board himself when the agent stopped him "No weapons on the plane"

"Oh this is for my friend, he can't walk without it"

The agent inspected the cane and unscrewed the handle revealing a silver blade.

"That is so cool." Exclaimed Malachi "I'll see to it that your paid double if you let me keep it."

"Very well, just get on the plane."

As Malachi and Eli sat in the cargo hold of the plane, Malachi nursed his wounds and hissed "Eli. Next time I'm in this country remind me to kill that little bastard."

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Malachi made his way back to the room in which Amelia was recovering, it had been more than twelve hours since the lycan attack, Amelia showed no sign of improvement, Malachi himself was beginning to feel weary, his wounds were healing but he was still feeling immense pain. He entered Amelia's room and found Dimitri pacing the floor.

"Check these out" Malachi told Dimitri as he threw the Silver Whips onto the bedside table.

"Soren's?" asked Dimitri

"Indeed" responded Malachi as he sat by Amelia

"Any sign of Kraven?"

"No but Victors dead" said Malachi somewhat unfeelingly.

"I better inform New York then" said Dimitri

"You better" replied Malachi

As Dimitri left the room Malachi took Amelia's hand, and placed his head on the bed next to hers. He allowed himself to briefly drift off into unconsciousness as a hundred thoughts ran through his mind. Not just to do with Amelia, but Nina, Kraven even whether or not he could trust Holtz. He allowed his thoughts to drift to Nina, his reason for living, such a delicate flower, yet the source of all his strength he couldn't wait till she got to Hungary, he'd have his paramour by his side. He remembered back to the time he first laid eyes on her. Her fangs and full lips soaked in blood, her raven black hair unkempt and knotted, her piercing blue eyes full of fear, her succulent body covered by rags not wanting any contact with men, human or vampire, yet despite all this there was an instant bond, a connection it was obvious they were soul mates. He could quite happily think about Nina for hours; however something happened he wasn't expecting. He felt something, on his hand he looked down to see Amelia gently squeezing his hand, he got and smiled "my lady" he whispered "my lady are you okay." There was nothing for a moment until Amelia's eyelids began to flutter. "Oh thank you Amelia." Malachi sighed with relief as he kissed her forehead.