Princess of Apocalypse Read online

  Unknowingly, I’d positioned myself in between my gang and their object of hate. Where was Tatiana when you need her?

  “Five against one?” Dimitri said behind me. “Why not inviting your entire football team?” How could his voice sound so calm, while I was a nervous wreck? Maybe because this was my fault. What was I thinking coming here alone?

  Before I could think about it, my palms were on Jake’s chest, trying to push him backwards.

  “Luke, hold her for a moment.” And that was it. Jake simply grabbed me under the armpits and before I could have even issued a word of complaint, I became airborne and simply handed to his teammate like a toy. Luke stepped behind me and held me in an iron grip on both upper arms. Before me dating Jake, Luke had been my big crush and any physical contact like that would have left me at the edge of fainting. He was tall, blond, his skin golden-brown and his eyes royal blue. Now, however, his touch was only raising a feeling of annoyance turning rapidly into hatred.

  “Jake, there was nothing, he’s innocent”, I cried, tears filled my eyes.

  “Shh.” It was Vicky. “You don’t have to protect him. We all saw what was going on here.”

  “Nothing went on”, I shouted at her, wanting to make her understand.

  The evil grin on Dean didn’t slip my attention when he passed me. “He topless, you two at a romantic spot at the lakeside… doesn’t look like nothing, Izzy.”

  “There was nothing between us, I swear!”

  “Not your fault”, Dean laughed and brushed through his black curls. “You’re only a chick.” I hate Jake’s macho gang. Dean was the worst. The only attribute going in his favour was this Will Smith look; the two could have been brothers, only the three-day-beard was missing.

  “Hold him up”, Jake said to his comrades. To my surprise, Dimitri didn’t object, not even blinked with an eye when Dean and John got hold of one arm each. Jake didn’t wait for long. Quick as lightning, and with full power he struck Dimitri in the face. Dimitri’s head flicked backwards and when he came back up, his lips were bleeding. But there had been no scream. Maybe he was used to worse, he definitely was, judging by the scars plastering his body.

  “That was for looking at her, asshole!”

  “Please, Jake”, my voice was a pleading, but my boyfriend was immune to my begging. The next punch went in the stomach, which made Dimitri bent over. Again he made not a single sound.

  “That’s for your fantasies about her, freak.” Which fantasies?

  Another punch bottom-up followed and brought Dimitri back up.

  “NOOOOO!” It could have been me screaming, but it wasn’t. It was Tatiana. She ran down the path, but before she could enter the clearing, Danny caught her and held her with both his arms slung around her neck and chest from behind. Tatiana has changed back in her gothic outfit and had her hair put up in a bun, hold together by a fancy hair pin that looked like a medieval dagger. Sure enough, this wouldn’t have passed the school’s X-Ray machine.

  “Oh”, Jake’s voice sounded sweet, too sweet. “Can’t your cousin rescue you this time, freak?”

  “Dimitri, listen to my voice!” Tatiana said, panic swinging with it. “Stay calm, don’t give in.”

  “Jake, stop it!” I shouted and tried to get free, but Luke’s reflexes were too quick. In comparison, Luke was a giant eagle while I was barely a sparrow, desperately trying to free myself out of its claws. He would’ve been able holding me back with no more than his little finger and the thought made me furious.

  “Oh, we’ve just begun”, John mocked. “I think he didn’t quite get the message yet, what do you think, bro?”

  “I believe he’ll kill you in a moment.” That wasn’t Jake and all our heads swung around. Out of the forest entered seven men, each with a bald head and some cryptic tattoos on the neck, arms and fingers, head, even the face. Nazis was the first thought that crossed my mind, but here in California? I never saw skinheads before, but that’s how they must look, just more frightening than the stories I’d heard about them. No one ever mentioned the reddened shadows under their eyes, the pale colour of their skin or the sharpened yellowish teeth showing when their leader spoke. They wore steel-capped boots and those typical bomber jackets, despite the fact that it must have been scorching hot underneath their outfits, they showed not the slightest sign of any perspiration on their bald heads.

  To my reassurance, Jake and his gang regarded the new arrivals with calmness that bordered to indifference, heavily in contrast to Dimitri, who for the first time was all panic. “Run”, he breathed out, his articulation wet with drops of darkened blood. “Run you fools.”

  I glanced over to Tatiana, who was even paler than her usual colour of a white bed sheet, almost transparent. That can’t be happening, she muted among her shaking lips.

  “Jake, listen!” This was Dimitri. “Listen! Take the ladies and run, now!” His last words were a scream, an order, but either Jake didn’t take orders from his torture object or he was deaf on both ears.

  If it was Dimitri’s panicked voice, or Tatiana’s frightened glance, I couldn’t tell, but my heart started to pound heavily.

  The leader of the Nazi pack made a few deliberate steps forward, building himself up in front of Jake. “You better tell your slave”, his chin jerked in Dean’s direction, “to hold him tighter, otherwise he gets free. Those half-breeds are unpredictable.”

  “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?” Dean let go of Dimitri as if he’d burned his hands on a suddenly glowing iron pot.

  “Don’t”, Dimitri mumbled, but Dean was already on his way. Within seconds he’d crossed the distance to the leader of the Nazi pack, getting in between Jake and the Nazi. “YOU’LL BE SORRY FOR IT. I’ll KICK THE HELL OUT OF YOU.” But the leader didn’t look sorry, and neither was he scared. He didn’t even reward Dean with a single glance, just moved his head slightly to glance around the foaming volcano called Dean in order to face Jake. “Call back your slave!”

  “Don’t be stupid, Dean”, Dimitri said. “You’ve no idea what you’re in. He just wants to mess with you.”

  Enough was enough; Dean exploded and pushed the Nazi leader with both his palms into the chest. Dean was strong, his biceps trained for years in the school’s gym and it came to no one’s surprise that this single strike was enough to catapult the Nazi leader backwards, where he landed hard on his bum in a bed of pine needles and pointy pebbles.

  “Can I have him now, Lucifer?” asked one of the Nazis’s to his leader, his eyes loaded with excitement. He wetted his lips as if he wanted to say, can we eat him… that made no sense. The leader, Lucifer, just shook his head and the excitement in his comrade’s eyes extinguished like a bedside lamp gone off. Disappointment was written all over his face.

  Behind me, Luke started laughing and the rest of the gang joined in. Not Dimitri. He lowered his chin to his chest and shook his head in what can only mean resignation. I didn’t understand and my glance wandered to Tatiana, where I noticed the same hopelessness. Tatiana’s shoulders had crumbled like Anny’s did when mum took away her favourite toy when she’d been naughty. “Danny, please, let me go, save yourself”, she whispered, but loud enough for me to hear. Didn’t they get it? We won! Dean is kicking this Nazi’s bum. And then there is Luke, he can easily take two to three of them at the same time. And once their leader surrenders, the rest of the mob will follow, right?

  “Bloody slave”, it escaped the leader and he came back up.

  Dean glanced over his shoulder at Jake. “This mother-fucker is mine.”

  Jake answered amused with two thumbs up.

  Then the scene came thick and fast, so fast, I couldn’t even trust my eyes. At the same moment, where Dean turned back his attention to the Nazi leader, this one was already standing right in his front. I had not even seen him moving, and judging by Dean’s expression, he neither. Even more horrible, the eyeballs of the Nazi leader turned to darkest coal, filled with centuries of hate. Like the little boy in my dream the other
night. There was no time drowning in those thoughts. Dean’s right fist reached back for another strike, but it never got executed. The Nazi leader’s right hand slapped from right to left once and Dean simply stopped moving, solidified to a statue. My eyes wandered from Dean to the leader, whose nasty grin exposed his razor sharp teeth. Razor sharp were also his fingernails, which had turned more into dark red fangs than fingers. A fluid was dropping from each nail to the forest floor. It dawned on me when Dean finally turned around, exposing his slashed throat. Blood ran in waterfalls over his white shirt, he wanted to say something, but all what came out was a gush of more blood. His pupils went up, whitening his eyes; then he collapsed.

  Vicky and Lucy started screaming hysterically. Danny joined in a second later, but his hands were still around Tatiana’s neck, now rather holding her as a protective shield.

  My mind was completely blank. All I could think of where Tatiana’s words earlier. That can’t be happening. Was I dreaming again? I squeezed my eyes shut and when I opened them, the scene was the same.

  The Nazi leader turned to his companions. “Get them, boys!”

  Again, all came down faster than I could comprehend the happenings. Lucy was the first of us who escaped the shock and started running only that her run came to a sudden halt when one of the Nazis stepped in her way, his eyes as black as his leader’s, and… grabbed for her head and turned it around as if it was no more than the head of a doll. Her attacker didn’t give her any further thought, simply let her drop to her knees, all life’s energy left her body, then she collapsed. Off he went to his next victim, Vicky. Vicky screamed and kicked after him with hands and feet, but to no avail. The man was quicker and more agile than her. Within no time he had caught her and nailed her to the ground. Another Nazi joined his comrade and put over her head a black linen bag, which he knotted close with a string. She was still kicking at her attackers, when one of them slung her over his shoulder and started running. Seconds later, they disappeared in the green of the forest.

  And all I’d done was watching in horror how my best friend was getting abducted. Embarrassment broke through my fear and got me out of my petrifaction. There couldn’t have been a better moment. A Nazi had made it to me and Luke. Luckily, Luke was still there. I made a few steps backwards, stumbled over a cut off branch, which sent me to the ground. Rather disappointing, my former crush couldn’t care less about me and took off. He didn’t get far. Two Nazis got in his way. He hit after the closest and got him in the face. It was a powerful punch, nicely centred in the middle of the chin, but the Nazi appeared completely unimpressed, pushed forward, his hand with the dagger-like nails aiming at Luke’s chest, too quick for Luke to react. The fingers burst through Luke’s shirt, his skin; I heard the cracking of bone, the entire hand disappeared in Luke’s ribcage. His face turned into a grimace of surprise, shock and pain. With a jerk backwards, the hand got free and in it rested Luke’s not beating heart. The Nazi presented it to Luke and made him watch how he drained his life force between his fingers. Without a scream, Luke plummeted to the ground. The Nazi let his heart drop on top of the crumbled body — I had to gulp. He went off to his next target — me. Again, I was petrified. All I could do was watch at his dark eyes, which showed not a sign of white. His companion joined him and together they made their way closer to me, one holding another black linen back in his hand, the same that had been put over Vicky’s head.

  My heart was pounding hard in fear to be ripped out and squeezed the same as Luke’s, my breath came harsh and to the point of hyperventilation. I tried to get back to my feet, but somehow slipped and went back down. In panic, I crawled backwards, never taking my eyes off the two. Only a couple of meters separated them from me. One blink later, one of them, the one who’d killed Luke, was on top of me. I hit after him, tried to push him off me, but to no avail. Beating against solid rock would have showed more impact. Suddenly, there was a foot in the Nazi’s face and he rolled off me. In his place appeared Dimitri, his hand outstretched to me. Without another thought, I took his offer and he pulled me up. “Stick to me, if you wanna live.”

  Behind him, I made out the other Nazi approaching with brass knuckles. “CAREFUL—“

  But before I’d even started screaming, Dimitri had already spun around his own axis and landed a punch in his attacker’s face. There was a crack of breaking bone and the man stumbled backwards, black fluid running out of his nose. Black blood?

  The other Nazi leaped up again, shoved in his pockets and got out a butterfly knife.

  My heart stopped, when he advanced on Dimitri. “TAT”, Dimitri shouted and my eyes automatically searched for the redhead. Danny was still holding on to her, but not really, more like a shield to protect himself from the Nazis that drew nearer. “TAT”, Dimitri repeated and made a step away from his attacker. At this moment, Tatiana kicked against Danny’s knee, which got her free. A heartbeat later, she cartwheeled in our direction, her hair getting loose, cascading around her like a waterfall of fire instead of water. She stopped half-way and threw something at me. The silvery thing somersaulted in mid-air. A knife, I noticed and squeezed my eyes shut in order to brace for the impact. Instead, I sensed an air draught at my left cheek, then a dull sound behind me. I veered around and there was the other Nazi, who Dimitri had kicked off me earlier. He must have recovered and then had sneaked into my back to have an easy game with me. Only this time, he was holding a knife in his hand. But instead of getting closer, he’d stopped in the middle of his step. It took me a moment to realise that there was a knife rammed into his forehead. The thin blade was not even looking an inch out of the wound and ended in a fine metallic hilt with guard to either side. At first, it looked like some engraving on the hilt, but then I noticed it were symbols that didn’t tell me anything. Only on the second glance I noticed, it was Tatiana’s hairpin. A slim film of black blood drifted out of the corners of his mouth. The Nazi started screaming, black smoke forming around the dagger. The Nazi’s head yanked backwards and more smoke escaped his mouth. His scream muted any other noise to the point that I had to cover my hands over my ears.

  Stumbling backwards, I tried to gain distance and reassess the situation. Jake, I remembered. He was my best shot: strong and powerful… desperately I scanned the scene for him and found him fighting side by side with his brother. A fight, the two most powerful and strongest athletes of our school had just lost. John and Jake had been overpowered by two Nazis each. John’s lifeless body was hanging from one of his attacker’s shoulders. Jake was bleeding from a cut over his eyebrow and screaming for help. There was no resemblance to my superhero boyfriend anymore. The Nazi in his back, pulled a black bag over his head, which made Jake even more panic-struck, he kicked after his captor with vigorous screams, but this one took a club from his belt and brought it down over my boyfriend’s back head. Jake’s screams broke up and he sunk into his captor’s arms. He, too, was flung over one’s shoulder and with quick steps the Nazis stole away from the clearing.

  When my attention returned to the immediate scene in front of me, the other Nazi had leaped on Dimitri, burying him under his weight, the blade of his knife at Dimitri’s throat. “HELP!” It was me screaming. I was all panic and started running. “DON’T”, I heard Dimitri calling after me. “Stay with me, Elizabe—” The words died in his throat, I didn’t dare turning around to check on him. Most likely, the knife had punctured his windpipe. All I wanted was to escape the scene, bringing myself into safety and back to my parents. The thought of my parents crying over my grave pushed me to new strength. Never had I been considered a good runner, this time, however, I would have scored top marks. My lungs were aching, running out of oxygen fast, but to my astonishment, I kept on running. In no time, the clearing was far behind me and the battle noise subdued. I didn’t even feel the sharp pine needles and low hanging branches scratching my arms and feet, hitting me in the face and neck. All I had to do was keeping the pace up for another two or three minutes max. The camp was cl
ose by, just around the next corner.

  A split second later, my euphoria was cut off abruptly and I staggered over a rock and sprawled to the ground with arms and legs spread to either side. Immediately, I leaped up again, my glance shooting over my shoulder. Adding to my horror, I found the rock I had been stumbling over, just that it wasn’t a rock at all, but Danny’s head, severed cleanly off his body, which lay only a few feet away. Worse, his murderers, three Nazis, were gathered around him, now changing their aim towards me.

  In the next moment, I was on my feet again, continuing my run, but something or someone grabbed my legs from behind and sent me one more time to the ground. “HELP!” Maybe the teachers would hear me, but what could they do against those monsters. Before I could even get up, I felt a boot in my back that squeezed all air out of my lungs, the little that was left. I kicked, hit, cursed, cried, all at once. Then it went dark. The bag, I noticed. I tried to pull it off, but at this moment, I felt a terrible pain in the back of my head, an explosion of pain erupted that numbed any other sense. Dizziness to the edge of puking engulfed me. Last I remembered, I was heaved off the ground and carried away in long and quick strides that lured me into a painless sanctuary of darkness. I’m dying were the last words I recalled forming in my mind, before I surrendered to the fast approaching blackness.

  Chapter VIII

  Hijacked

  “Vashe Imperatorskoye Vysochestvo , mogu li ya imet' etot tanets?” A good looking young man dressed in something that suspiciously looked like a formal guard’s uniform with plenty of gold embroidery at the sleeves reached out a gloved hand for mine. His jacket had a deep blue, matching the colour of his eyes and his pitch-black hair was carefully parted in the centre. Man might not be the right word I noticed on the second glance. He had a carefully maintained moustache, which made him look much older than the smooth skin adoring his eyes suggested.