The Gray Path

Chapter 4

by Krss, published in Q1, 2001

Sunday, 26th May 1994
Same day

The car was running down a dusty forest road at a painfully slow speed and Gerde was beginning to have doubts. "Grace, are you sure we took the right left at the main entrance?" Grace put a hand over her mouth to stifle a chuckle at her companion's unconscious pun. Gerde continued to complain in all innocence. "We have been going for too long and there is no lodge. And we will soon be out of..."

"Oh, I don't know..." interrupted Grace, squinting to the road ahead to catch a glimpse of any sort of building. "Let's drive a little farther, and if we still don't get anywhere we'll turn back and try the other two roads."

They drove on slowly, looking carefully around.

"Wait, I think I see a sort of cabin through the trees on the right!" Grace suddenly shouted. "Let's stop and check it out!"

Gerde stopped the car at the side of the road. "We were almost out of..." Grace started towards the cabin not paying any attention. "...gas, anyway!" muttered Gerde to herself.

It wasn't as close as it appeared to be, and their high heels weren't quite the thing for walking over grass, dry leaves or broken branches. Gerde uttered a noise of disgust when her expensive leather shoe got stuck into a pool of reddish mud. She pulled it out with a plop, but the rash movement made her lose her already feeble, one-foot stability, and she landed onto a thick thorny bush nearby. She muttered some vicious thing in German which Grace didn't catch.

"My God, Gerde, what's that rotten stench?" asked Grace, sniffing the air into the direction of the bush.

Gerde got up, fixed her disturbed attire and sniffed in the same direction. She crawled her nose in dislike. "I do not know, it seems to come from that little cave behind the bushes. A wild animal's lair, I think."

"Let's better go around it and take that path instead."

After a couple more unpleasant encounters with hanging branches and small forest animals the two women arrived to the front of the large house.

"It is large... Is that what we are looking for?" asked Gerde.

"Let's look into the barn, maybe we'll find some clues there."

The barn was deserted, but it smelt like it had not long ago been inhabited by horses. The first thing that caught their eye was a nicely arranged gun rack on the opposite wall.

"That must be it!!" exclaimed Grace, excited. "We must get into the house now, and keep it quiet, we wouldn't want to scare them away too early..."

"But we came here only to find the lodge and then return with help!"

"Oh, there's been a slight change in the initial plan..." smirked Grace, grabbing a gun from the stand. "Tsk, tsk, how careless of him to leave the guns lying around like this... Too sure of himself for his own good." She picked up a sturdy-looking rope hanging among other household appliances on another wall.

"Grace, this is serious! We really should go and fetch some help, Kommissar Leber or even Mayor Habermas. It is too dangerous!"

"I won't fall into the same mistake again, Gerde, I know who we are up against now. We can't afford to lose any more time on explaining all the thing to others. And we aren't in real danger. Gabriel will not harm us, and von Glower won't risk upsetting Gabriel."

"So what shall we do?"

"First, there's a big chance they aren't here after all, but we'll assume they are. And if they are indoors they are probably in human form, but they can change anytime. So take the talisman; you will need it to keep Gabriel off. It seems he is affected by it, but von Glower isn't. I'll take care of the black one. We'll let him live for now, because Gabriel will surely not give us a hand in killing his friend, and that will put him into eternal purgatory.

So.. bottom line is, I need to shoot von Glower without killing him and you must stun Gabriel with the talisman long enough so that we can tie him up and get him to the car."

"I wish it was as simple as it sounds, Grace..."

"Me too... But since we're here it's worth a try."

They tiptoed over to the left base window at the front and Grace sneaked a look inside, keeping the gun handy in case she was spotted. It was a large room, but all she could see of it was a huge fireplace and two comfy chairs in front of it. It seemed empty, but as she couldn't see past a large wooden staircase on the right she couldn't tell for sure. She stood there listening for a long time, but there was no sound.

"I don't think anybody's down here, Gerde. Let's find a way to get inside."

She noticed the glass of the window was hanging a little loose in its remaining few fixing nails. The nails and the glass were out in no time and with a minimum of noise. They carefully climbed inside through the hole.

It looked like a haunted house from a cheap late-night movie. The filtered light coming in through the few small windows only added to the eeriness of the place. The wind whined through the hole where the glass had been. Grace's heart began racing in fear as she started towards the foot of the staircase.

They could be waiting in the darkness, watching me...

A small noise behind made her jump, and she quickly turned around to see Gerde looking apologetically at her. Grace made an angry face, turned back and continued her advance, knuckles white from gripping the gun. There was no one hidden behind the old staircase.

Grace looked at Gerde and motioned up the stairs. Gerde swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded in consent. It was that annoying sort of staircase that didn't give you the chance to see what was on the upper floor until you finished climbing all the steps.

Grace put her foot on the first step and flinched at the creak that seemed loud enough to wake the dead. She took off her shoes and tried again. It was a little better, so Gerde followed her example.

It seemed like an eternity since they had started up that spooky flight of steps. They walked on tiptoes, keeping their heads low, wincing at every little squeak. And was it Grace's imagination, or were the curtains downstairs quivering just a little?

It's the wind... the glass is missing, remember?

They were climbing towards darkness. Grace stopped a little, leaned against the railing and pressed a shaking hand over her beating heart. She listened for any sounds coming from the first floor. It was as silent as a grave. She was surprised to feel relief creeping its way up. She gave Gerde a look and recognized the same feeling.

Oh God, I'm getting too old for this spy business.

The small dark corridor into which they stepped seemed to close upon them from each side. The unventilated air brought new proof that the lodge hadn't been used in a while. Still, they couldn't take the risk of someone actually being behind one of the six doors. They stood in the middle of the hall facing opposite directions, each of them clutching her weapon.

"At 3. 1, 2,.... 3!!"

Each of them flung open one of the nearest pair of doors. As they had expected, the rooms were empty. They waited for a movement from the other rooms, but none came. Confident, they proceeded to open the remaining four doors. The lodge was deserted.

Gerde cleared her throat. "Maybe they are gone to hunt into the woods."

"Let's snoop around a little, then get ready for their return."

The search of the rooms was unrewarding. The dressers were totally empty and the beds had not been slept in for a while. Now that the danger seemed to have departed and the darkness had been replaced by reassuring daylight, Grace was disappointed.

"And I was so sure they were here! This is such a perfect hideout!"

"Grace, will you please come here. I think there are some things inside this drawer," Gerde's voice rang from the first room on the right.

Grace rushed into the room and looked inside the drawer. There was a pile of old pictures and a black leather-bound notebook. She took out the pictures. They were hunting pictures, most of them showing von Glower with persons she didn't know or care about, but she managed to recognize slightly younger versions of Preiss and Hennemann in a couple of them.

There was one particular photograph that caught her eye. It was taken in front of a cabin that slightly resembled the one they were in. Von Glower had his arm around some sandy-haired man's shoulders and they were both grinning into the camera. Grace turned over the photo and saw a note. "Garr und mich, Hofjagdloge, 1983"

"Garr and I... What does this word here mean, Gerde?"

"Let me see... Oh, it's hunting lodge. Like the one we are in now."

"So the club has another lodge somewhere... Wait! Gabriel's research on missing persons! Didn't Ubergrau mention two forests with such cases? One of them was the Bavarian National Park -we're here now- and the other... I don't remember its name... but it must be where the second lodge is located, because..." and she stopped for breath, "... because we already know the Black Wolf was responsible for those missing persons!", she ended triumphantly. "We must get there ASAP!!"

"Please calm down, Grace. We cannot be sure of anything you just said! We do not know if the lodge really is in that forest. And they could have already left the country. And even if they are where you say they are, we cannot find a small cabin in a huge forest by ourselves."

"Oh Gerde, stop being so pessimistic! If the other lodge is anything like this one, I'm positive they went there to hide, at least for a while. They would prefer it over this, I mean - look how quickly we found this one. As soon as we get back into Munich I'll ask Ubergrau for the exact area where the cases took place. That ought to narrow down the search a bit."

She started for the door, but was stopped by Gerde.

"Are you not interested in this book?"

"Oh, right, how could I forget?" She reached for it and opened it at the first page. It had only a year written in the middle - 1994. "It must be a diary!" She browsed through the pages of German writing until the last entry. The date was 20 Marz. "It's the night Gabriel got bitten by the wolf!"

She handed the diary to Gerde. "Please, could you translate this last entry for me?"

"Certainly...

20th March

We have just returned from the hunt. Gabriel is already showing the signs of the Change. I had to give him a powerful sedative but now he is finally asleep. How I wish I could keep him here, but unfortunately his presence would arise too many questions. I only hope the ones who will nurse him do not turn him away from me. I knew this would come, but I did not think it would be so shaking. I must go to sleep now.

...

My restless sleep brought me another nightmare of Ludwig. His face was ghostly white, his lips bloodless, water was dripping from his hair and his skin was covered in wrinkles. His handsome eyes were looking blankly past me. He came towards me wielding a silver sword, but the dream ended abruptly before he could strike. How he must hate me, even more now that I have Gabriel.

I see the morning light filtering in through the curtains. I must drive Gabriel to München before the men wake up. They must not see him in this state."

"How delightfully touching!" sneered Grace. "The scruples of a serial killing werewolf will never cease to amaze me. This will make an appropriate addition to the Schattenjäger library, don't you think?"

"It is time to leave now, Grace. I do not want to stay in this evil house more than it is necessary."

They put back their shoes, closed all the doors, tried to replace the glass into its frame -but failed and left it lying against the wall instead- and after a disturbing return trip to the car they finally sprawled onto the comfortable car seats with sighs of relief.

It was Grace's turn to drive. She turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. "What's the matter?" she frowned.

"I believe we are out of gas, Grace..."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

"But I tried to..."

"Now what? We are in the middle of nowhere, near a werewolf lair, no phone on a ten miles radius and out of gas!"

"I thought I saw a telephone in the big room with the fireplace."

"Oh... I didn't see it. Of course, I was too busy searching for the boogie man behind the stairs!" She drew in a deep breath. "Okay then, as much as I'm beginning to hate this, we have to go back to the house and make a call."

After a new displeasing trip to the lodge Gerde managed to place a call to Werner Huber, explaining their location and requesting his help.

"We must wait for him here. I think I will sit here by the fire to warm myself a little. You can go upstairs to lie down for a while. You seem really tired, Grace."

Grace went into the farthest room on the left and threw herself on the bed. The room was silent and intimate. It smelled of fresh wood and something else which seemed sort of familiar.

Wait a minute! I know this smell... I could recognize Gabriel's hairspray anywhere! His head must have been on this pillow!

She looked with interest around the room in which Gabriel had experienced his first pains of the Change. She could almost picture Gabriel unconscious on the bed and von Glower at his side, petting his hand, leaning down to plant a sweet little kiss on his forehead.

That is simply sick.

She didn't realize she was drifting away to sleep until she turned over and saw Ludwig lying next to her, his elbow on the pillow and his hand sustaining his head. He was dressed in the garments of 19th century noblemen. She wondered sleepily why she felt no fear at his sudden sight.

He stood there for a while, silently watching her, and then slowly began to unbutton his blouse. Grace tried to avert her eyes, but she found herself physically incapable of doing so, and she had to lie there watching each of his movements with a strange excitement.

When he finished revealing his chest, he gently reached out and took her hand. He pressed it against his skin, and she felt cold metal inside her palm. She moved her hand aside to look under it and saw a small silver medallion hanging from Ludwig's neck.

He leaned over her until she could hear his breath and whispered a single word before he vanished.

"Silber..."

Lying in the back seat of Werner Huber's car on the way back to Rittersberg, Grace's confused mind dwelled on more than just the silver medallion.

Last update: October 24, 2007

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The Gray Path

Chapter 4