To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. - Nietzsche

PART Six

Carter squirmed under the intense stare of Colonel Hogan. The older man hadn't said anything since he had called him into the office, just stared at him. There was a lot of things in the Colonel's face, fear, confusion, just plain bone deep tiredness.

Finally Hogan asked. "How did you know? "

Carter shrugged. "I tried to tell you. My Uncle Walks With Ducks is a vampire, a different kind than Newkirk. See he is a UmberVampire, they feed mostly on animals. Down south they call them chupacabra, seem to think they are small little weird creatures. "

"Does Newkirk know you know?"

"I don't think so. I could never figure out a good way to tell him. He's been so quiet lately and before that I thought I would give him some space. You know give him time to get used it the idea. " Carter rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, avoiding meeting Hogan's stare. "I don't think he really was though... I don't think he likes it very much. But I imagine he is awful hungry... "

It was mind blowing to Hogan. The complete and under acceptance all over Carter's embarrassed face.

Carter swallowed a few times. "I want to ask you... are you scared of him Colonel? "

Hogan nearly chocked on his own spit. It wasn't usually in Carter's nature to see things so clearly or get to the heart of the matter so quickly. He decided to play stupid. "Why would I be scared of Newkirk? "

Carter took a moment to gather his words carefully. "All things considered sir, why wouldn't you be?

Whatever Hogan had expected Carter to say, this wasn't it. "Come again? "

Carter patted the spot on the bed next to him. Hogan obeyed on a whim, sitting next to the young man. "I mean you find out you are sharing your barracks with a creature that your brother used to tell you stories about to keep you up all night. That what he eats is you. Why wouldn't you be scared? It's only natural. In my family part of becoming an adult is learning about Walks With Ducks, you remember me mentioning that he was a vampire? "

Hogan rolled his eyes but humored him. "Yes I recall. "

"You are told everything, all the good and the bad, from the time he lost control and killed the neighbor's sheep to the time he found cousin Tom in the snowstorm, that year the snowdrifts reached the roof of the barn. Then they give you time to think about it for a few days and Walks With Ducks come to see you to ask if you ever want to see him again. Those who didn't want anything to do with him eventually left and didn't come back much. " Carter spoke slowly, lost in old memories. "I was terrified when they told me. I mean this man had been around me my whole life, immortal and blood thirsty. And who could blame me? When he came to talk to me I had every intention of telling him to leave me alone... I would leave everything behind but I would be safe. " Carter frowned, disappointment with his younger self etched across his brow. For a long moment Hogan wasn't sure he was going to start talking again.

"So what happened? " He jarred the Sargent back to the present.

"Oh sorry Sir. He came to the door and my mom let him in. She smiled at him the way she always did, offered him some coffee and left us alone. We made ackward small talk..and he left an hour later without me telling him. "

"Why?"

"Because when my mother gave him his coffee I realized, my uncle had been the same since before I was born, only how I looked at him had changed. "It was like a Sunday special on the radio, the kind of thing that would only make sense to small children and Sgt. Carter. Rational people would be too busy being terrified out of their minds.

Hogan thought for a long few moments. "Carter... I can't help but feel a little maneuvered... "

"Why is that sir? I wasn't even planning on talking to you. "

Hogan sighed, he couldn't help but believe him. "Go get Klink will you? We are going to need his help. "

"Oh because werewolves smell so well?"

"Carter... "

"Yes Sir? "

"Sometimes you really frighten me. "

Alder was, unhappily, on a collar and leash. He led the way with his head out of the window of the staff car, one bark for left and two for right. They were driving at the insane speed only achieved by a terrified Frenchman trying not to think about anything, including the wolf in the passenger's seat. Or the fact that he had just been told his best friend was a vampire and the camp kommendant is said wolf in the passenger's seat.

Even Alder looked a little car sick as they took the turn into Hammelburg at nearly 80 miles an hour. He jumped out the window as soon as they slid to a stop, wobbling a little as he tried to walk straight. He growled at LeBeau, ears back.

"Ne prenez pas ce ton avec moi, chiot." LeBeau wasn't too steady himself.

Carter, Hogan and Lunch eased themselves out of the back. Hogan had a distinct green cast and Carter was crosseyed. Kinch kept a hold of the side of the car.

Alder shifted back into Klink, wearing a black ensemble close to that of the prisoners.

"That's a neat trick Kommendant. I didn't know skin walkers could change with clothes on. " Carter gushed.

Klink snarled. "Ordinarily we can't. Most wolves are just mad beasts, a great deal of them cannot even take a true wolf form. " He then colored with embarrassment. "But I am a wolf claimed by a vampire. It allows me certain extra abilities. "

"Okay... " Carter took a moment to process this and then decided it wasn't interesting so he began to walk into town.

Klink followed, sniffing the air like an with hay fever. The other three exchanged confused looks and began to follow, Hogan calling after Klink. "You are still wearing your leash! "

VanHelsing was missing a fang, his face twisted and mangled on one side under his heavy beard. Several of the teeth, fang included, had been torn out and badly healed.

Newkirk watched him though the haze of laudanum and blood. He was no longer in the bedroom, though he didn't remember moving. His back still throbbed under the haze of heavy painkillers, agrivated by how he hung strung up by runed manacles. They crackled with energy, it danced over his skin. He began to drift in and out of consciousness even before VanHelsing pulled out his dagger etched in silver.

It was a practiced motion, ceremonial, almost reverant and he took to the flow of blood like a wino to the jug.

And Newkirk thought his experience in the castle with VonSchloss had been creepy.

When it happened he half attributed it to bloodloss. Klink burst in, lease and color clashing with his black 'hunting' outfit. Hogan held on, attempting to slow the Kommandant. He looked for all the world like a toddler trying to keep ahold of a large kite.

Klink barked out a particularly vulgar German curse and lunged at the vampire. Hogan managed to let go of the leash just in time for Klink to come flying the opposite direction. The German Colonel hit the wall with a snarl and a strangled whine. But he was immediately charging again, this time as Alder.

Helsing was half stoned on the drugs he had injected into Newkirk's bloodstream but he dodged Klink with ease, grabbing a hold of Hogan instead.

The human saw stars before he realized his head had impacted the floor and a searing pain in his neck.

Strong hands grabbed the chains holding Newkirk up and yanked them out of the ceiling. The iron rings snapped. Newkirk would have fallen but for the fact one of the arms attached to those hands wrapped around his chest. Skin tore with metal as Newkirk's bounds were ripped from his wrists.

The chain became a weapon. The stranger threw the manacled end, striking VanHelsing hard enough in the head to daze him. Klink struck again, jaws grabbing the vampire lord by the back of the neck.

In the hall Carter and LeBeau heard teeth crushing bones. It was an unmistakably, viserale, instinctual sound. The Frenchman turned green. Carter just started to move faster.

End of Part Six

You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. - Friedrich Nietzsche