Chapter 12: Putting it Together

It was late afternoon before Hogan was let out of bed.

Tiger had slept most of the day, and Hogan had eaten the meals brought to him one-handed. She'd had one heck of an ordeal, and he didn't want her disturbed. His chest was still tight even as Tiger supported him as he walked through the castle. Those four had sure been prepared for everything.

Though Hogan was amused when Newkirk told him what the Duchess had done to explain their absence from camp.

Apparently, the woman had a sense of humour.

'The only thing I can't work out,' LeBeau was saying as they sat around the castle's dining room table, debriefing, 'is why she was so interested in religion in the first place.'

'Oh, she wasn't,' Hogan said.

'Eh?' Newkirk asked.

'She was only interested in my religion,' Hogan said. 'Like they said, one of the steps in this…' he pulled a face, '"Forbidden Curse" was excommunication. She was interested in my religion so they knew what kind of preacher to be on the lookout for. Cause once they pulled him in, they were getting ready to move in on us.'

At that moment, the Count came in to grab something out of the cabinet. 'Yes, but you're not part of an organised religion, aren't you?'

'Nope,' Hogan said. 'How'd you figure that one out?'

'You didn't strike Crina as the religious type,' the Count said.

'Crina?' Kinch asked.

'The Duchess.' The Count found what he was looking for. 'That's her real name: Crina Barsarab.'

They watched him go.

'Barsarab?' LeBeau mused. 'That's sounds familiar…'

'That's not surprising,' Kinch said. 'Vlad the Impaler was from the House of Barsarab.'

'Wasn't Dracula based on Vlad the Impaler?' Carter asked.

'Unless Dracula was a real vampire and Crina happens to be his daughter,' Hogan said.

'Hang on,' Newkirk said. 'That guy was a prince. Why would his daughter only be a Duchess?'

Tiger answered that one. 'If she was born out of wedlock, she would be given a social demotion.'

Hogan nodded. 'She said that her father was a warlord who taught her about battle tactics and psychological warfare. I'd say that Vlad the Impaler was a warlord that definitely knew about psychological warfare.'

'Gotta admit, it does seem to add up nicely,' Kinch remarked.

'Hm, yeah,' Hogan mused. 'And that would bring us to the question of why they decided to get involved.'

'Especially with how diverse they are,' LeBeau said. 'There's a Romanian, an Austrian, an Englishman, and a Scotsman.'

'Speaking of which, where's Varney?' Hogan asked.

'Oh, he went back to camp,' Newkirk said.

HH

Stalag 13

Varney was cleaning up outside the Kommandant's office at the end of the day when the phone rang.

'Stalag 13, Kommandant Klink speaking.' Klink started. 'Oh, General Burkhalter! What a pleasure to hear from you, sir!'

'Shut it, Klink!' Burkhalter snapped. 'I heard that Count Karnstein was coming to have a look at your camp. I want to check the validity of this rumour.'

'Oh, it is quite true, sir!' Klink gushed. 'He is coming to see what about Stalag 13 makes it so escape proof. He has a lady friend staying in the area to wait on him.'

Burkhalter cut him off before he could get into one of his gushing rants. 'Hm, and how long has this lady friend been around?'

'A few days, sir. I expect the Count will be here shortly.'

'He had better be,' Burkhalter said. 'I am coming down to meet him personally.'

Klink jumped. 'You are coming here, sir?'

'Of course,' Burkhalter said. 'Count Karnstein is hardly ever seen. His operations are top secret and often performed in the Fuhrer's own name. Yet nobody knows what he looks like. I want to get a very good look at him.'

'Ohhhh!' Klink gasped, awestruck. 'That's amazing. I had no idea the Count was such a high profile member of the Fuhrer's inner circle.'

'Shut up, Klink, and just get the camp ready for my arrival.' Burkhalter hung up.

Varney heaved a sigh.

As soon as lights went out, he'd have to go.

HH

Carter had decided it was kind of cute.

The colonel was just letting Tiger change his bandages with no complaint. He'd looked at the scar where they'd had to open him up with casual interest but he had no further interest in it. Of course, everyone knew that Col. Hogan was sweet on Tiger. They'd all joked on more than one occasion that it was a good thing her name sounded like a term of endearment.

If the colonel was dealing with any of his marks and yelled out "Tiger" in a moment of passion, the woman he was with would never realise it was another woman.

As Tiger tied off the bandage, Col. Hogan sighed and pulled his shirt back on.

'You rip my stitches and I'll kill you myself,' the Count quipped.

Hogan grinned as his men chuckled. Tiger smiled and laid her hands on his shoulders as Hogan buttoned up his shirt. 'We're just waiting on Varney?'

'Yes,' Ruthven said.

'I'm here.' Varney walked into the room. 'Oh, by the way, Vasilli, when you go to "inspect" Stalag 13, put your Mean Face on. Burkhalter's going to be there.'

'Looking me over, huh?' the Count asked.

'Yup,' Varney said.

'Oh, well, I guess that's what I get for being invisible,' the Count remarked.

'Not to mention every time you appropriate buildings from the Nazis in Hitler's name,' Crina pointed out. 'I mean, it's only for a certain amount of time, but you still do it on a fairy regular basis.'

'Burkhalter's arrogant and condescending,' Hogan said. 'But he also falls all over himself to suck up to Hitler.'

'Thanks,' Vasilli said with a thoughtful look on his face. 'I can use that.'

Kinch looked at Varney. 'You know, when you told us everything else, you didn't mention you got captured on purpose.'

'That's because I didn't,' Varney said. 'I was serving under an idiot. I just took advantage of it.'

Hogan smirked. 'But you did get yourself intentionally shipped to Stalag 13.'

'That, I plead guilty to,' Varney said.

'Why?' Tiger asked. 'You all came here to stop them. But…why put yourselves out like that? Especially for people you don't know.' Her grip on Hogan's shoulders tightened.

He reached up and rubbed her hand.

It was actually a really good question.

'Because,' Vasilli said, 'we promised Crina's father that we would never let anyone enact the Forbidden Curse ever again.'

'Again?' Newkirk asked.

'There are four of us,' Crina said. 'We were born as human as you are.'

Ruthven said, 'We became dhampirs because somebody enacted the Forbidden Curse on our parents.'