Sanctuary to the Lost and Damned
Chapter 23: Dogs and Men Part 2
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Alucard sat in his throne-like chair. His thoughts traveled back to what he could still remember from before his defeat. (Despite his efforts most of these memories were still absent from his mind.)
He could remember Mina, and how he had believed she been the reincarnation of his lost love, his soul mate. He could remember hearing more than 500 hundred years ago about how false intelligence of his death in battle, had led her to commit suicide by jumping into the river. He had decided to wait for her no matter how long.
He could still
He could still recall seeing her image on the locket of the then young English solicitor by the name of Jonathan Harker. It was then that he believed that he decided when he went to England to meet her. Though he could not recall anything after that until he arrived on a Russian boat named Demeter. He eventually did find her. Upon seeing her so he came to believe that she was his destined mate.
He thought about Jonathan Harker. An overly logical, and naϊve man. He had been an interesting person, much more interesting than the novel by this Bram Stoker portrayed him as. He was the very first protestant the vampire encountered. Though his memories of that man were blurred in places he could recall meeting with the man on two occasions which the book did not mention.
The first time he had encountered Mr. Harker, had been in a dense forest just outside of Munich, Germany; (though he knew that the man did not know that it was him.)
The last time he had met the man had been outside his feudal castle in Transylvania. Though this memory was blurrier than the first encounter he had a vague awareness of the man begging him for something. He seemed to remember some tears in the man's eyes as he did this...he wondered about this and since it was not included in the book; and with his memories filled with so many gaps, he no longer had any way of knowing what that was about.
For some odd reason the name Countess Dolingen was struck in his mind. Though he did not know who she was, he had a feeling that she was a vampire.
He thought again about what Mina would look like now. She would be an old lady, around 60 years of age. Probably wrinkled as a raisin, but she would still be Mina. He still wanted to meet with her, even after all this time, just to see her...
He then thought about how Abraham had forbidden him from meeting the Harkers, from Mina, that day. 'Damn Catholics,' he thought. The vampire might have reminded himself that Abraham had converted to the Protestant religion when he immigrated to England, but he preferred not to. In his mind that man would always be a catholic. He had decided that Protestants were more favorable, with all the humans that he found more pleasant, such as Jonathan, Mina, Alfred, Walter and even Arthur, belonging to the religion.
His memory traveled back to the last encounter with Jonathan. He had not been with the others then... (1) The vampire held up the book, Dracula, written by Bram Stoker. He wondered how much of the book was true as far as his past went.
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The butler Alfred was polishing the table-top of a sitting room table, when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
A nine-year-old boy emerged from around the door.
"Good evening Mr. Parker." Walter greeted the butler.
The old man laughed. "I have asked you to call me Alfred, Walter."
"Good evening Alfred." Walter greeted the man again.
"Good evening to you young man."
The boy opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly closed it.
"Was there something that you wanted to say?" the old man inquired.
"Sir..., I mean Alfred; I want to know about that vampire, Alucard."
The old man put the cloth down. He then motioned for them to sit on opposites sofas. The old man took a deep breath. "What have you heard?"
"Not much...I mean he is a vampire, and I've heard that he has been with the Hellsing organization since its beginning...and he is special."
"Special?"
"I heard Alucard referred to as Arthur's special servant."
The butler wondered how to answer this question. He knew what was meant by the term special servant; he knew that it was referring to the vampire's lack of freedom, but it was not difficult for the boy to misunderstand this as a term of endearment.
"If you want to know about Alucard, You should really be asking him."
"I know but..."
"You don't trust him."
"No."
"Understandable, He is a vampire: the very thing that we hunt, but it is not in Alucard's personality to betray his allies. But there is more isn't there?"
"Yes. The mission of the Hellsing organization is to destroy the unholy undead, yet he works for Sir Hellsing as a hunter. Why is that?" Walter asked with an eye brow unintentionally arched. "It seems sort of...Hypocritical..."
The butler could understand the confusion. "Hypocritical? Many would call it logical, for who else can understand the actions and predictions of such more than a vampire itself? Alucard enjoys many of the hunts which he takes part in." the butler saw the boy's mouth opened again to ask more questions. "He is an expert on the matter and as such he is an exception to that mission..." the butler quietly continued.
"Why does he hate us? Humans I mean? He is always..." the boy crossed his arms to signal uncomfortable.
"Insulting us?" the old man finished. The old man then chuckled. "He does not hate us. That is Alucard's way. There are many things about Alucard which you will gradually learn. The first is that he will return what he receives... with interest. If someone is cruel to him he will seek revenge with greater cruelty. If someone in a group is the first to attack, he will wipe out all around that person, the entire group sometimes. The same is true for those who are kind. I have always treated him well, so he has always been kind to me. There is the occasional poke here and there, but as I said, that is his way and something I have come to expect. "
"So I just need to get used to it?" Walter was not sure that he like what he was hearing, but this man had lived many years without much hassle form that vampire who he regarded as a pain in his side. So it was certainly worth a listen.
"Alucard's reason for these remarks usually results from revenge or entertainment. If you are kind to him he will be respectful to you. If you react in an entertaining way he will repeat his behavior." the butler chuckled. "You will learn soon enough." the old man patted the boy's head affectionately. Walter did not mind this since he understood the action for what it was.
Walter thought about this for a moment. It was true that he had been a bit snippy with the vampire, who as he thought about it had been kind to him on a few occasion, but he had never drawn a line between the two concepts.
"I hear that he has been training you." the old man looked at the clock in the corner. "Shouldn't you be with Alucard now?"
The boy looked down at the floor. "He has...He wants me to learn by myself..." the boy was very embarrassed by this.
"He wants you to learn on your own." the butler rephrased as he watched the boy. "This is a good sign Walter. It means that he has faith in your capabilities."
"But I don't know where to start. I guess that I hoped he would point out the important points...or something."
"Where did he say to start?"
The boy thought about this. He looked at his companion. "Warriors with philosophical teachers."
The old butler put his hand to his chin in a thinking gesture. "I think that I have just the historical figure to study; Follow Me." the old butler guided Walter towards the library.
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The doctor woke up in his underwear lying on one of the barons sofa's in one of the many rooms.
He sat up. His hands came to his head as he became aware of an ache in his head. The Doctor had never had any more than a few sips of wine with Montana max or the baron, but the previous night he and werewolf, Schrödinger, had split three bottles of strong wine between them.
He head throbbed. He felt like crap. So much so that he wondered if he would ever drink again, if this was the result.
He remembered very little of the night. What he did remember made the scientist blush. He hoped that Schrödinger did not recall the events of the previous night; if he did the doctor was in for an awkward conversation when he met the werewolf next...
Becoming aware that he was lacking most of his clothing, he wrapped himself in a large blanket and existed out the room making his way towards the bedroom that he had been assigned by the baron.
As he moved through the halls he was nearly stopped by several maids, who despite having lived there for the last 11 years had never seen the man.
The doctor thought about his life before the contract with the baron. He had worked in a restaurant. The place had had steady business...the work had been good. It was paying the billing...but he loved science. He did not believe psychologically that he could live his life any different than what he had. He did not believe that he could go back to living his life as a junior chief. It wasn't that he didn't like to cook, for he did but it simply was not his calling in life.
He opened the door to his room. The door made a distinctive sound of non-use as it opened for the first time in months.
The doctor looked around the room. There was a layer of dust blanketing everything, from the floors to the curtains. There were many cobwebs through the corner of the bedroom. This did not bother the scientist, who walked onward to the wardrobe in his quest for clothing, leaving footprints behind him in the dust.
The doctor also had many of his clothes in a trunk in the basement, but this room being closer it seemed only logical for the man to go there instead.
He opened the wardrobe door to discover a large number of dead moths, (and some other insects) at the bottom of wooden furniture. He held out a shirt. He could see numerous holes in it, which he had no doubt had been caused by the moths. He flung the destroyed shirt onto the dusty floor he pulled out a pair of pants. They too were destroyed, this time by mold. He grabbed another similar shirt with a similar problem, quickly discarding it on the floor with the others. This behavior of the doctor's continued on until the entire wardrobe was empty and a pile of clothes lay on his floor. The impact of all the clothing hitting the ground had thrown up a great amount of dust into the once stagnant air. The doctor sneezed. As the force of the sneeze caused his head to jerk downward his eyes momentary took a quickly glance at the drawer in the bottom. The doctor had forgotten about the drawer.
He bent down. Then opened it. Inside, in plain sight was a wooden box. He lifted the lid off the box. Inside was a set of clothing. He now could remember the baron buying these for him as a gift.
He lifted the box out. As he did so, he saw another box underneath it: a metal box. He put the set of clothes on his bed returning for the metal box. The doctor did not wonder what was in this box, for he had had it for as long as he could remember.
He grasped the sides of the metal box and pulled it up and out the drawer.
He sat down on his bed with the metal box. He examined the box. There was nothing special about this box, other than the fact that it bore his family's crest.
He opened it. Inside were a few items which were of great value to him.
There was also something else, which was not so much important as it was significant. There was a letter which contained one of his professor's skepticism about his talents. The doctor had always been the top of his class. A professor, he recalled, had been absolutely convinced that he had cheated on all of his assignments and even the final exam. That man had made a move to expel the boy. Luckily the Doctor had made a quick an impression on the director of that university. In the end the director had sided with the doctor. But the notion that he was so incapable, the idea that anyone would question his success as an assessment as a measure of failure bothered the scientist at night. He knew that he was brilliant, but he wondered why had not found the answer to either of the two projects which had occupied 35 of his life.
He hand then pulled out a rune on a small stone. On this stone was tied to a strip of paper. He then a slip of paper which held a mathematical equation on it. It was a speculator equation. I had changed so many lives with its brilliance and ingenious, unfortunately it wasn't his work. It was been made by one of his famous ancestors. That man had been a mathematician...and later he learned an alleged sorcerer.
The doctor did not always know of his family's history, how his mathematician ancestor had left Scotland under social banishment and how the man had found a place in Germany where the rest of the doctor's line continued on.
He had heard that the man had been accused of using the dark arts, of sorcery, and most interestingly, of necromancy.
The doctor thought about this for a minute. Necromancy...the ability to brings the dead back to 'life' and force them to do your bidding...It had an appeal, but the doctor considered that the goals of the baron and Second-lieutenant could not be reached, then neither could this destination of un-death.
He had heard stories of physicians digging up dead bodies to study their anatomy, he reminded himself that since the study of human physiology from a dead body was illegal for much of history, this was how much of the human body's workings were learned. It was a way to use the dead to serve the living. But to dig someone up to make use of was an idea which the doctor endorsed. It wasn't like he had never excavated a grave before...the body had been taken very shortly after the woman had died.
The doctor's thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of footprint nearing. They stopped in front of his door. Next the doctor saw an envelope being slipped under the door. Then the footsteps started again this time moving away from his door.
The doctor got up from the bed, walked over to the envelope. He bent down to pick it up. As he did this he noticed that there was a discoloration of the wood. The floor was strangely pale near this envelope. He moved the envelope momentarily aside. As he did this swiping motion some of the dust cleared off of what were a small pile of other envelopes. He collected all of them and brought then over to the bed, where he sat down and examined them.
There were five altogether. Two were sent from his parents and the other three were from his brother, seven years his junior. He opened the ones from his parents first. These ones were always the easiest to read. They usually gave support to him for his efforts to science. They of course asked him if he had met a special lady yet, but as his parents he had expected such questions. He hasn't met any woman who attracted him...He wonder briefly about this before moving on to the brother's letters.
These letters had a bit more variety than his parents' did. He reasoned that this was because his parents had completely settled down in their life, while his brother a sophomore student at Munich University was continuing to have his life changed. One of his brother's letters talked about fact that his sibling had a girlfriend with whom he was considering marrying. The next was a request for the doctor to join his birthday celebration. The doctor then realized that his brother's birthday had already passed three weeks ago. He looked at the date of the letter. It had been sent four months before the event. The doctor scratched his head. He wondered how he would explain missing his brother's birthday, especially with so much notification...He supposed that he would simple tell his brother that it 'got lost in the mail.' Such things did occasionally happen so it was not very outrageous. He did not truly believe that his brother had really expected him to attend anyway, but judging from his letter his brother would be a little disappointed.
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Schrödinger was in a worst state than the doctor, for he awoke in front of the Baron's manor lying completely naked on the lawn. But unlike the Doctor he was not alone. He was surrounded by werewolves; one of which was his new wife, Siobhan.
She stood there above him, with her Hands on her hips, wondering how her husband had come to be there. Moreover, what he had been doing that he did not share her bed on their wedding night.
The werewolf could recall less about the evening than the doctor. He did not even recall if the doctor had given him the job. He had had a couple of cups of beer before the wine he shared with the doctor.
Schrödinger had slipped away from his own wedding to speak to the doctor. (He later attributed this partially to the alcohol). Some of the werewolves had been saying that the baron was leaving for Berlin to meet with Hitler, himself. The werewolf wanted to talk to the doctor before the baron left, in case the aristocrat took the scientist with him.
He could recall when he left the party, His wife was talking to Gleeson, and Rita had been trying to convince Hans to have some wine from a cup. The werewolves had been both surprised and glad that she had brought so many bottles of wine, even beer with her for the celebration, though she had been focused on getting the only werewolf who didn't drink, to consume some alcohol.
He had only intended to be gone a few minutes, he was sure that the doctor would give a simple 'no', but when the doctor suggested an interview, he got excited. He did not expect the interview to last the entire night. He certainly did not expect for the scientist to engage in a night of drinking with him. At first he wasn't bothered by the prospect of his wife smelling alcohol on his breath, as everyone was drinking at the party, well except Hans.
Next thing the werewolf could remember was waking up on the dew covered grass with the curious looks from his pack- mates and his wife looking like she might kill him with her ill intent.
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Stralsund, Northern Germany...
Schrödinger slept over the lap of his new wife.
He and his wife had paired up in the watch of the mysterious entity which had seemed of greater importance to the doctor than she did to their master.
Siobhan sat watching the enigmatic figure which as far as she knew had come into the possess of one of the baron's closest friend, more than eight years ago.
The female werewolf knew nothing about the feminine figure which she was guarding. She did notice that the entity seemed to favor the BBC radio station which she frequently listened to. The creature does seem to prefer her speaking English to her. The werewolf wondered if 'she' understood German...
Schrödinger watched the figure with concern. She wanted badly to know who 'she' was.
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Schrödinger was thrown off his wife's lap as the female werewolf reached for her dart gun.
"Oww" he cried out as his head hit the floor followed by his body with a great thud.
When he looked up to see what the problem was he saw his wife in an aggressive posture. Before her was the thrashing bound figure of the entity which this male werewolf had heard his wife refer to as 'Shiva'.
He watched in horror as a strap broke.
His wife then swore in a Gaelic dialect. "Throw me another one!" he shouted at her husband referring to the medicine filled darks which the doctor had both supplied and fashioned.
"Another one...You have already hit 'her' with one?"
"I've hit 'her' with two already and she just keeps fighting." Siobhan shouted angrily at her husband.
"Twice? But the doctor said only-" the male werewolf knew that with humans a least giving someone too much of a drug, or anything, would kill them. He then watched as 'Shiva' broke yet again another bond.
"I need another dart! Albert!!" she yelled with a mixture of fear of the entity and furry at her husband.
"Her husband grabbed one and threw it to her."
She reloaded her gun. She fired. She might have asked him to grab a gun, but she knew with his aim he was more likely to hit her instead.
As the dart hit the entity the figure almost instantly became completely still.
Albert approached the entity. He stared up at the figure as his wife left the room and returned with some more straps of leather. If Albert were paying attention, he would have noticed that some of these were actually belts. She then started to strap up the figure paying special attention to where the bonds broke.
"Is She...Is She dead?" Schrödinger asked her.
His wife might have rolled her eyes, but she simply sighed. Though she loved her new husband, she knew that the werewolf could be an idiot sometimes.
"Of course She is."
"Right..." Albert remembered what the doctor had told them about the figure.
"We need to call the doctor." Siobhan told her husband.
He glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was 3:35am"What Now? He'll be a sleep."
"It doesn't matter. This needs to be dealt with. Hand me the telephone."
Her husband got the telephone with the cord and all and carried it over to her. He then stood a few feet away from her.
The female werewolf sat back down on her chair. "If you still plan to sleep here, darling, I think that you should get over here."
The werewolf rested his head on his wife's lap again.
He heard her start dialing the number of the doctor.
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over the past week the werewolf, Hans, had accompanied the baron to some meetings and even some of the baron's visiting of Berlin, the man often complained that he didn't see enough of his country's capital.
The werewolf sat on a bench outside a room where his master, the baron, was meeting with some party member official, a General if he was listening correctly.
A German shepherd was sitting in front of the werewolf. It had decided to sit by 'silent Hans' instead of continuing to roam the Reichstag without a human master. (0)
His left hand held a book which he had continued reading, while his right absentmindedly patted the obedient dog.
He heard the sound of heavy footsteps moving towards him.
He looked up from his book. His eyes were met with blue ones behind a set of glasses and a distinctive grin which was turned upwards which, his close associates understood was a pleased look for this man.
The werewolf then examined the other characteristics of this man. He was a short, overweight man with blond hair. The supernatural creature quickly noticed that he was also a soldier. His military insignia told the werewolf that this man was a Second-lieutenant. The werewolf's eyes fell to his identifier tag on his uniform.
It read: Montana Max
The werewolf felt that this face was familiar to him somehow. The creature continued to stare at the soldier hoping to recall where is that he had seen this man before.
"Taking a good look at me are you?" the fat man said sound amused. "I have seen you before, night warrior. You stand guard for the baron at 'the gatherings'."
The werewolf didn't turn his attention back to his book, nor did he care that he had so rudely stared at the man before him. He put down his book. He could recall this man now from one of the first the meetings. Even the werewolf had to admit that either this man had gained weight since then or the black cloak had a slimming effect on this man which would make any magician very jealous.
He was curious about this familiar figure that seemed so interested in him, possible more interested in him than he was in the fat man.
"What are you called?" the fat man asked the silent werewolf who did not reply. "That's right, that's right...you are the one who does not talk. The baron speaks about you often. He brags about you. He has told me that you are very strong and quite the rebel." the soldier approached. He then picked up the book the werewolf had been reading. "'All's quiet on the western front?' that is a banned book. You are reading it outside the office of the man who banned it and only a few doors away from the Fuhrer's own office. If they catch you with it you shall be imprisoned, or shot."(1) The soldier smiled. "But you already know that don't you." the soldier handed the illegal book back to the werewolf.
The werewolf was still watching the fat man with interest.
the werewolf found it curious that a lowly Second-Lieutenant would find an audience with such a high member of the party, but then again this man was had attended the secret meetings at the barons home, most of which he had stood guard over, this suggested that despite his low rank he had some influence, though how much the werewolf hadn't a clue.
The fat second -lieutenant then looked at the dog. He knelt down and started to pat the canine.
"She's a beautiful dog, don't you think?"
Hans did not answer.
"Do you know whose dog she is?"
Hans didn't really care about whose dog it was.
"She is Blondie, the Führer's dog." the fat man explained.
Hans now looked at the dog. Though it was an odd feeling for the werewolf to know that he had been patting the dog who belonged to the supreme dictator of Germany, he looked unfazed to the second-lieutenant.
"She doesn't sit with most people. She seems to like you. A good sign I think."
Hans knew that many others would have disagreed with this, but Hans knew that that the man had meant this as a complement.
"Do you know the difference between men and dogs, night warrior?" The fat man then started to rub the dog's belly. "Dog's are completely loyal to their master. They obey whatever they are told."
Hans then examined the fat man's military uniform as he thought that this description also fit that of a soldier.
The fat man understood this. "I understand, you think that that this is the duty of all soldiers. The truth is that even if all soldiers are physically human they are not all truly men, many are merely dogs in uniform."
The dog then started to nudge Hans for attention.
The fat man continued, "A man is different from a dog because he chooses to be loyal and obeys because it benefits him in some way. A career solder may be such because he desires to defend his home land or perhaps because he enjoys war..." Hans saw an odd, dreamy look come over the fat mans' face as he thought about war. "But, he does it because he chooses so, not because he thinks that his master would be pleased. That is how I believe a soldier should live. That is how a military unit should operate."
Hans then started to scratch the dog behind her right ear.
"You and your kind interest me. You are now both human and beast, so you seem to have a choice which ways your people lean towards in nature. You want to be as human as possible. I can tell this about you."
The dog then started to nod Hans to be scratched behind the ears, but the werewolf was too interested in the fat second-lieutenant to notice.
"Werewolf. Human. What is the difference?"
The werewolf continued to listen to the fat man. He knew that he was not the same as he had been when he was since he had been bitten, but the difference between the two seemed plain to the werewolf.
"In essence what makes a human, human is will." the soldier explained. "A dog's will is his master's will, not his own. It is Will which makes a human truly human and so as a half-wolf you have partial will. I wonder, silent night warrior, are you more dog than man or more man than dog?"
Hans had never considered before that in his life, he had any choices. The baron had always treated him and the pack like intelligent dogs and nothing more. Though he had always wondered if there might be something more to his life than what it currently was, he had never heard anyone so much as mutter anything could ever be different.
"I have a vision. A marvelous idea came to me." Hans then watched the same spark return to the second-lieutenant's eyes. "I think that the results of this should be guarded over, as you have done for the Baron."
The door opened. Out stepped the baron with a pleasant smile on his face.
Han watched as the blond fat man approached the aristocrat. "Baron."
"Second-Lieutenant." his smile faded. "What brings you here? Has something happened?"
"Oh no." the fat man put his hand up to signal that all was well. "Party business; I seem to be a bit early" the fat man sounded very bored by the activity.
"Some are saying that there is going to be a war. What have you heard." the baron knew that the Second-Lieutenant always heard relevant and most of all, true, news before the aristocrat ever did.
The fat man grinned. "I have heard that too. It will be marvelous if it does happen."
The baron cleared his throat. "I am not a soldier. I do not see what good a war will do, though, I am a loyal party member, and I will do whatever mein Führer instructs."(3) The baron added quickly.
"As will I," the fat man turned his attention to Hans. "This is your bodyguard?"
"Yes, he is. For a few weeks now. Perhaps you should get a body guard. We live in dangerous times. " the baron suggested to the second lieutenant known as Montana Max.
"Oh, but I do plan to do this." the fat man smiled as he locked eyes with Hans. The baron had missed this as the aristocrat tried to keep the dog, whose entire kind, he hated altogether away from him.
Having seen the dog leave the small group, the baron looked up and saw the fat man look around him. "But I do want to know, how goes the creation of our furry friends."
"The doctor tells me that all is well, but I don't agree." the baron sighed unintentionally. "Is he really the best as you have told me?"
The baron thought back to the first time he met the doctor. He recalled just sitting there across from Montana Max and the 16 years old doctor. He had been more than just a little surprised and angry when Max had told him that the boy in front of him was the doctor who he had selected for the special project. The baron had been expecting, well... he had been told that Max was bringing the perfect candidate; a 54 year-old man who was nominated (and considered very likely to win) a Nobel Prize.
The baron had been quick to comment on the boy's age even asking him if he was old enough to shave. It was true that Max was two years younger than this doctor, but that was a fact that didn't matter to the baron, for the Max family had a sort of immunity having had assisted the Barons family for nearly 4 generation already. More over the baron had written up a ten year contract for a gifted scientist, he did not believe that the boy, who was only 5 year-older than his daughter was experienced enough for the task.
Max had, nevertheless endorsed this doctor and convinced the baron that he would be the greatest thing to happen to Germany since Mozart. The baron being a frequent opera patron was able to understand the reference. Ultimately he had believed Max.
The baron knew that Max was a man who had a sort of magnetism that attracted people to him and to his ideas, no matter how far-fetched they seemed at first; the baron often wished that he had such skills.
The fat man smiled. "Indeed, Doctor Napier is more than qualified. That reminds me Baron. I have been thinking about...a new direction for your plans."
"New direction?"
"Yes. We should discuss it tonight over drinks I think."
"Yes. Yes, we should meet."
"Come to my apartment tonight. We will discuss that and the rumor I'm sure that you have heard...the one about Poland." as the baron turned away from the Second-Lieutenant he heard the fat man add something, "Oh and please do bring Hans. I have a feeling that he will be quite helpful to us in the times to come."
As Hans followed the Baron, he glanced over his shoulder at the Second-Lieutenant, who was grinning at him. He struck Hans as odd that the fat man seemed so pleased with the idea of war and ever odder that the man would look at him so strangely, it was as if the man were informing the werewolf of a position, but never actually offered it...
The werewolf began to wonder if this fat second-lieutenant was sent to him by some force. Though who had sent him Hans had yet to decide. In his mind it was either God...or the Devil.
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END of Ch23
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AN:
(0) - the Reichstag is the German parliament it is similar to America's whitehouse...
(1) - 'All's Quiet on the Western Front' was a German book written after the first world-war, which has been turned into a movie and translated into many languages. During Nazi rule in Germany it was banned because it criticized war.
(3) - 'mein Führer ' means 'my leader' in German. Leader refers to Hitler in this case. I should probably mention that unless I specify that German speaking individuals are speaking English you should assume that they are speaking their native language. (That probably goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyhow to make sure that everyone knows this.)
I will not translate German speech into German for you as it would get too confusing and I would be translating it back into English beside it...or beneath it. It would just be too long and just too much work for both me and you. I will add words here and there of the language when it seems appropriate, but I will translate somewhere either in text, or in the Author notes.
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