What surprised me most was the fact that I didn’t die like I did so long ago in the police station. Instead, I suffered, gasping for breath, what little blood I had in my system poured out and drenched the ground. The pain in my chest was like… well it was like getting shot in the heart. German soldiers stood around me talking about what to do with our bodies. One man asked if he should call a medic, but an officer told him not to bother and to take us outside of camp and dump us.
“Geh und füttere die Wölfe,” one man said. *Go and feed the wolves.* We were carried outside of the gate, one man holding my torso and another my legs; they drug Akerman’s limp corpse by the boots.
They threw me beside Akerman’s body, “sollen wir ihn wenigstens erschießen?“ *Should we at least shoot him?*
“ Nein, er hat unsere Männer getötet, lass ihn leiden.” *No, he killed our men, let him suffer.* I was left in the woods, with only the dead and the predators for company. The bullet should have come out by now, but it wasn’t even moving. I looked down at the area I had been shot. A single hole in my clothes masked in blood. I attempted to extend my claws to cut the fabric away, but no matter how hard I tried they wouldn’t extend. My hands shook with pain, more pain than I even thought possible. I had been shot countless times before over the centuries, but not once did it feel like this. I reached down to my hip for my knife, drawing it from its sheath and carefully cut away the shirt buttons. I pulled back the fabric, the wound had closed.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” I said to myself. I knew the bullet was still inside of my heart, trapped by rapidly repairing flesh, which was probably what was keeping me alive, and drowning me in agony. With each trembling and shallow breath, the pain intensified. I glanced down to the knife. “This is going to be horrid.” I placed the sharp edge of the blade to my chest, directly where the bullet had pierced. I placed my other hand on my wrist to steady myself. I pushed the blade down, “AHHHHAgahhAHH!” I had to be quick, faster than my flesh could heal, I removed the knife and dropped it to my side. I forced my hand into the cut and dug around until my nail his something solid. I grabbed it and drug it out, “AH..ahha!” With one final tug I freed the bullet from my heart, which thankfully doesn’t beat or this whole process would have been far worse.
I let the bullet and my hand fall to my side as the last of the pain subsided. I closed my eyes, the moon was still high in the sky, and darkness cloaked Akerman and I. I knew I was going to be weak, and I knew it was going to come soon. I looked over at Akerman, “…no. Never one of our own. No one good.” I slowly rolled over and away from Akerman, then forced my arms and legs to move and lift me up. “I’m sorry Akerman, I won’t do that to you, but that doesn’t mean I can take you with me.” I was far too weak to carry him, and soon I would be too hungry to think or care. I looked around and listened for the camp. The sounds of marching and yelling came from the East. My mission was to destroy the artillery so that the troops could march, but that doesn’t mean I had to stop there. I lumbered towards the camp, hunger rising in my throat, and began to think of a plan. I couldn’t fight yet, I needed to eat first, and there was no way I could leap over the walls yet. I needed to get closer to the gate.
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Ten minutes of slogging through the mud later, I arrived at the gate. Hidden in the cover of darkness, I turned the corner and saw my targets. My plan was simple, earlier there were two guards at the gate; I could mind control them to draw out a third man, then feed on all three. After that, I can jump the walls and do what every instinct and muscle in my body is screaming for, to begin the hunt.
I limped and stumbled my way towards the guards, “Hallo Soldaten, hör gut zu.“ *Hello soldiers, listen carefully.* I was going to use the magic that I used to make Reeds and Jefferson forget seeing me recover from the trap in that abandoned building, to place these men under m control. I stared deeply into their eyes and saw them fade into a pale green then back to normal. “Gehen Sie in Ihre Basis und bringen Sie jemanden mit, um mich zu treffen.“ *Go into your base and bring out someone to meet me.* They each saluted and marched into the camp to carry out their orders. I leaned against the base’s wall for support. The wait wasn’t long, maybe less than seven minutes, but it felt like an hour.
“Was muss ich sehen?” A voice from around the wall spoke. *What is it that I need to see?*
“Es gibt etwas sehr Wichtiges, das Sie sehen müssen, Sir. Nur Sie können es reparieren, Sir.“ Another voice replied. *There is something very important you need to see sir. Only you can fix it sir.* As soon as he was within reach and on my side of the wall I pounced, or more accuratly fell, onto the new man. He was wearing an officer’s uniform, decorated with quite a few medals and badges. Whoever he was, he was high ranking.
“AHH!“ He yelled. I was weak, too weak for it to be a clean and efficeint kill. He was even able to hold me off, I turned my head towards the two men I already had under my control.
“Halt ihn fest,” I said while using that power once again. *Hold him down.* Their eyes flashed green once again and they followed my command. Each one grabbed his arm and jerked him to the ground.
“Was tust du? Lass mich gehen!” The officer demanded. *What are you doing? Let me go!* I sank my fangs into his neck and injected my venom. He seized up sharply, then remained very stiff and still. Even if I was weakened my paralytic was still effective.
Moments ago, I was sickly and pathetic, literally starving, but now as his blood entered my system. I felt as if someone had breathed life into me again. His heart stopped beating and I let him fall to the ground. I stood up with much more sure footing and a stable stance, then walked to the next man. He didn’t try to fight back, or even scream. I drained him dry in less than a minute, as well as the final man. Only ten minutes had passed, and I stood fully refreshed over three corpses. I looked down at the bodies and thought back to the morgue. That creature was apparently made from leaving venom in a dead body, but a single thought occurred to me, “What would it do to the living?”