Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Unholy Wars; Dawn ❯ Claire Fuchs rising ( Chapter 2 )

Somewhat of a false start, there’s more than one side to every story so here we find ourselves, about one year back from Kazuki’s dilemma on a small farm in the Austrian country side on August 13, 1943.

Claire sat by her mother’s bed side, listening to the rain as it pattered against the window behind her. It was as if the sky was crying for her, the moon hid behind the dark clouds as the tears fell. In the bed in front of her Claire Fuchs’ mother lay dead. Claire had stopped crying hours earlier, her tears had just dried up. In her hands she held the letter from Berlin; her father had been killed in combat by the allies.

Claire bit her lip. She was short, with a mere five feet of height. She was shapely though, her breasts were full D cups, her hips had a womanly figure to them, and her stomach was flat. She had a pixy face and her large glasses made her look cute, her hair was a beautiful blonde mane the extended down to the small of her back. She wore ugly clothes; it was as if God had purposely put her in such a poor house as a joke. A beautiful girl like her should live in the city and wear nice clothes, not an old button-up shirt and a pair of ratty jeans. Claire sighed.

“Well, bye mother. I’ve gotta go make my own way in life now.” Claire placed her hand next to her mother’s corpse, no longer even feeling sad. Claire sat next to the woman who birthed and raised her; her mother’s corpse, and she was unable to feel sad or even cry anymore.

“You know they say when a human’s tears dry up they become a monster.” A cruel voice said behind her, Claire turned to see a tall figure cast in shadow. She could see that the man was wearing a trench coat and he also wore glasses similar to her own. The man smiled, Claire saw his teeth catch the light. “You have a touch of destiny young lady. I can take you away from this sad reality you live in; I can take you to another plane of existence. I can make the pain end.”

“Are you coming on to me?” Claire watched, frightened by this trespasser, “How did you get in here? Why are you in my house?”

“Young lady, what does that matter? What are you going to do about it?” The man pulled out a Luger pistol and pointed it at Claire, “Would you shoot me?”

Claire wanted to run away, get away from this man but she was trapped behind the bed and the man was blocking her only exit. She wanted desperately to run from this monster that had a pistol pointed at her; then the man turned the pistol so he was holding it by the muzzle with the grip towards her, offering her the weapon. Claire began to panic; she could hear her heart thumbing violently with panicked fear, so loud she almost couldn’t hear Hister talking.

“Well, would you?” The man still held the pistol as if he was presenting it to her, “Young lady do you have the courage to fight? I am a monster, you don’t have a hope in hell of beating me or surviving combat against me; even if you do snatch my pistol from my grip you can’t win.”

Claire lunged forward and gripped the pistol; she gripped it firmly in her left hand, with unbelievable instinct she adeptly slid her left trigger finger into the trigger guard while pulling the pistol from the intruder’s loose grip. The weapon felt strangely natural in her left hand; as if all her life she was meant to hold a gun. She just as adeptly undid the safety and aimed the pistol at the man’s head and pulled the trigger.

-Click – Claire heard the dull sound of an empty chamber, a dry fire; the gun wasn’t loaded. The dull terror settled into Claire’s mind as she pulled the trigger again and again and all she heard in the world was that sound, the sound of true hopelessness; that dull click of the hammer not striking a primer.

“Sorry I haven’t been able to get anymore 9millimeter rounds lately so I’m sorry but the magazine is empty.” The man sat down in a rocking chair in the far corner of the room, his face still obscured by the shadows of the poorly lit room. Claire examined him as best she could; he was well over six feet tall, maybe a full foot and a half taller than her and he was obviously well muscled and thickly built from how heavy his boot steps were. She sensed a terrible aura of violence radiating off of the man, a bloodlust or a predatory feeling seemed to seep from him in noxious invisible waves. He spoke again, his voice was deep and harsh; very firm with no taint of polite society in it; it was the voice of a true barbarian.

“My name is Ludwig Van Hister, I am a mercenary and what you could call a type of werewolf-like creature.” Hister spoke as softly as he could. Claire processed more information about him; Ludwig Van Hister, what a powerhouse name. Fits him well I guess, though he seems a little crazy.

“I’m Claire; Claire Ann Fuchs, I’m a farm girl.” Claire tensed up, vaguely realizing she was still holding the pistol. She was scared, alone and depressed… if the gun was loaded she might consider eating a bullet rather than deal with crazy Ludwig right now.

“Well Claire, you may call me Hister.” Hister stood up tall as he spoke, “I have a proposition for you, little girl. It’s simple really; I will turn you into a werewolf like myself. In return you will get strength, speed and never age again also I will grant you three favors. All I ask in return is your loyalty and devotion until the day you fall in battle.”

“What?” Claire began shaking; Oh, God… he’s a real nut job! What I wouldn’t give for a nine millimeter bullet right now…

“Claire, I’m offering to make you into a Rheinlander Wolf; the most feared creature on a battlefield for only your loyalty; in return you will never die until someone kills you on the battlefield, and you get to remain forever young.” Hister stood up and dropped something narrow on the bed; it was a magazine for the Luger, with one round in it. “Here are your choices; accept my offer, try to kill me with that bullet or kill yourself with that bullet. There’s no middle ground here young lady.”

“You said I have a touch of destiny, what is my destiny?” Claire looked up at Hister and she spoke in her trembling voice to him. Claire nervously picked up the magazine and ejected the empty from the Luger; slowly she inserted the fresh magazine and loaded the round into the barrel.

“Well I’m no psychic, I just have this feeling deep in my gut about you; I can tell that you have big things in store for you, and that your potential as a Rheinlander is great; maybe even Beta or Alpha great.” Hister stepped into the light, revealing his stern face and wild long blonde hair. Hister’s eyes were a light blue color, almost grey and those eyes while as wild as the rest of him had certain intelligence about them, showing that deep in this man’s soul was a grand plan, and he knew exactly how to implement it. “Well? What do you say young woman; will you throw away the baggage of your mortality and see how high you can climb or will you die as a lonely and forgotten farm girl?”

Claire stared at the pistol in her hands and thought deeply. Finally a wide grin snaked itself across her face. Me die here? No, there’s more out there and there’s something waiting for me, a great opportunity is knocking on my door and all I got to do is open it.

“Me? Die here in this miserable place!?” Claire stood up and tucked the pistol into her waist band, “Fuck this place, I was leaving anyway. And, as you said all my tears have dried up; I’m already a monster by your standards I guess. What do I have to do?”

“You have to be bled in; blood in, blood out.” As Hister spoke three more towering men entered the room, “These three will bleed you in; they are your new family.”

“I am Wolfgang Blitz.” A tall man with a pirate-like outfit with many knickknacks hanging from his person spoke first. He seemed to radiate nothing but desire; a burning passion could be seen roasting behind his eyes. He had dark red hair tied into dreadlocks with even more knickknacks tied into them and he had a black bandana wrapped around his forehead. His blue eyes were ringed by thick black eyeliner, and he had a goatee beard.

“I am Caspar.” Another one of them said; he was strongly built with a square jaw and since he was wearing only worker’s clothes Claire could clearly see the defined musculature of his bare arms. On his lips a lit cigarette was perched and his jaw was lined with a light 5 o’clock shadow. His hair was blonde and slicked back, giving him an almost formal look to his head and he wore thin framed rectangular glasses. Tucked into his belt was an old Mauser C96 ‘broom handle’ pistol and hanging loosely from his left shoulder was an old looking muzzleloader with a bayonet fixed on the barrel.

“I am Karl Peter Geist, the scientist.” Claire clearly saw this man’s emaciated form; his whole body was a frightening skeletal motif complete with a large cow skull hung from his neck. His face was narrow and skeletal in design; he was a scary looking man with long wild white hair. But the most striking thing about him was the fact that, growing from his shoulders in sheer impossibility were not two, but four long thin arms.

“Well; sister are you ready to bleed?” Wolfgang said and looked right in Claire’s frightened pixie face, snapping his fingers to try and bring her back to reality, “Shall we get started?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Claire managed to choke out as she took her glasses off and set them nervously on the night stand. “Be gentle though, I am a lady.”

“Well, that’s good; I’ll start you off then.” Hister gripped Claire roughly by her shoulders; the shocked girl jerked her head to see that Hister’s face had become something far more sinister, more animal. Before she could decipher the details he bit down hard on her neck, blood poured from the wound like a fountain and Claire began to gurgle out her pain as blood filled her mouth; then, suddenly the pain was gone. Claire’s eyes widened as she came to realize that she wasn’t dying anymore; she’d had her jugular severed and the bleeding was stopping on its own.

“Whaa, ahh?” Claire was still choking desperately on her words, but instead of the blood loss making it feel like her life was leaving her she felt; energized, as if life was coming to her. Claire lurched forward in Hister’s grasp and spat out the blood that was choking her. She felt a sharp pain in her legs, and she heard a sickening snap, like a bone breaking. Hister let her fall from his grasp. Claire found that she was having trouble standing up like normal; then she felt a sharp pain from her whole face and she heard that sick snapping again.

“Should we start on her yet?” Wolfgang watched as Claire’s mind began to panic; don’t worry sister, the first time aint easy; and oh baby does it fucking hurt. I know you’re not in a good place right now.

“Not yet, let her turn more.” Hister watched as Claire fell to the ground and tucked herself into the fetal position as the change continued, “She’s young, wait until she has her fur then bleed her in.”

“Listen to that moan, she’s havin’ a rough time down there,” Karl looked at Hister as Claire vomited sporadically and her face elongated into a muzzle, “Are you absolutely positive she’s Rheinlander material?”

“Are you sure of your place?” Hister took on heavy step over Claire’s writhing form towards Karl, “Since when can you question my decisions? When did you let your head swell so big? You’re nothing compared to me, you aren’t even a Rheinlander! And this is the first turning I’ve done in a long time; she’s handling it better than the ones who I bled to death.”

“Tsk, I wasn’t second guessing you,” Karl smirked, “I’m, curious is all. She just doesn’t look the part to me, especially not an Alpha or Beta; but if you’re sure she can cut it that’s all I need to know.”

“Just remember your place, Karl.” Hister sat back down in the rocking chair, “I don’t trust you or Schrodinger for that matter. You just sit back and get ready for one hell of a fight, when she’s ready to be restrained I’ll let you know.”

“Really?” Karl smirked, “Somehow I highly doubt that.”

“If she gets her paws on you, you’ll swear the devil and all his demons had you in a beat down.” Hister said as he leaned forward and looked Karl directly in the black pupils of his eyes, “She’ll beat your ass to death if you aren’t careful.”

“That’s nice to know.” Karl could barely contain his smile. He’s right to not trust me, to me he’s a road block on my way to perfection; Schrodinger though… He’s got more to worry about there then he does with me. I’m surprised he already picked the snakes from the grass. But to insult me, saying that this bitch has what it takes to prevent me from climbing to the fucking top? Fuck that shit, get those stupid thoughts outta your skull right now: I’ll say it again; With my hands I’ll be the one to call out my victory from the mountain tops of the fucking world.

“WHAT IS GOING ON!?” Claire suddenly and violently threw herself up into the air; her face was now a defined wolf-like muzzle with a black dog-like nose and her ears had become canine and had migrated to the top of her head. Her eyes were wild with pain and fear and through her new muzzle she screamed her painful fear with sharp fangs bared.

“Can we restrain her now?” Wolfgang looked to Hister. She’s screaming pretty loud here, thank god we’re not near a road or someone would think we’re killing the poor child.

“No, she is not yet in need of restraint,” Hister grinned, “she has a while yet before such measures become necessary.”

Claire slammed back to the floor; her whole body was alive with harsh and violent pains. She began panting rapidly with her face pressed so hard against the hardwood flooring of the house she could actually hear the wood splintering. She felt a sharp pain from her rear that caused her to not only scream but howl out in anguish. After that pain she settled down enough to be able to turn her head to see what gave her such a pain, she also reached one arm to feel around as she found her vision was too blurry. To her horror she felt a bushy tail. Her vision became more and more blurred, but something deep inside herself was talking to her, comforting her; letting her know that after the pain what she was gaining was much greater.

“MY GOD!” Claire screamed again, this time out of frightened realization of what she was becoming; then she felt a dull tickling sensation spread over her body. And she realized why moments later when she saw that it was her body being covered in shaggy rust colored fur. Then a single over powering thought rushed into her frenzied brain, she screamed out, “Ich bin die Herrin der tausend Meter töten, die Blut-rot Scharfschütze Prinzessin. Ich schieße gezeilt.”

“Now restrain her! That was her release command!” Hister howled to his men, a sharp realization overcame him; she’s got more potential then I even guessed. ‘Ich bin die Herrin der tausend Meter töten, die Blut-rot Scharfschütze Prinzessin. Ich schieße gezeilt.‘ . Shit fuckin’ A man; she’s basically saying ‘I am the mistress of the thousand meter kill, the blood-red sniper princess. I shoot to kill.’ I fucking knew it; she is destined to be one of us, she will be my sniper. I knew it from the moment she held that Luger.

Karl grabbed the still writhing wolf-girl and threw her through the wall, plaster and wood chips showered from the massive hole as Claire was thrust into the crying world outside. Wolfgang rushed outside; only vaguely realizing that the rain had become a savage downpour as he went to help the new wolf.

“Welcome to the world, little sister!” Wolfgang went to punch Claire but suddenly recoiled as the rusty streak of rapid movement lunched pass him. Wolfgang stared with a dull horror as he watched Claire gripped her paw-like hands around Karl’s neck and he watched as she effortlessly thrust the giant to the ground. She’s fast, and unusually strong.

Claire thrust one paw to the sky and violently smashed Karl’s face in with a sickening crunch. As she brought her paw back up for another blow Wolfgang saw a thick red line following the movement; she’d drawn blood on Karl Geist. Then two of Karl’s four arms thrust up against her neck and propelled her into the sky. She brought a heavy foot-paw onto Karl’s chest, and then Wolfgang heard Karl howl out.

“You little BITCH!” Karl leapt up, slamming two of his massive fists into Claire’s chest; she hit the ground and leapt up staring him down as he adjusted himself. Karl’s face was mangled and his left eye was filling with blood, his nose and the whole left side of his face was bleeding and the bones were most likely broken. Karl frowned, “So this is why Rheinlanders can be such pains! When you fucking turn you go nuts! Well I aint holding back, shit no!”

“Karl, you will not kill her!” Hister stepped outside, Caspar close behind.

“Fuck you,” Karl held out his hands and a spear and two cutlass swords appeared, “she’s a tough enough fucking cookie, I can’t restrain this little whore if I hold back!”

“That’s why more than one of us bleeds the new members in you idiot!” Hister frowned, “If you kill her, I’ll be forced to kill you, just accept the help of the others!”

“No fucking way!” Karl tensed into a battle position with all his blades ready, “I will not fucking allow this little bitch the satisfaction of being able to hold me off!”

“I’ll handle this cunt,” Karl turned to Hister with the look of the devil himself in his eyes, “and don’t anyone else get in my fucking way!”

As Karl turned Claire rushed towards him with even greater speed; before he’d realized what was going on she was right in his face. She’d leapt and dug her back claws into Karl’s chest to give her a stable platform to launch her assault from; and then she began slugging his face into hamburger meat. Once Karl realized what was going on he grabbed onto Claire’s face with his one free hand and threw her off of him.

“Damn your black fucking soul!” Karl shouted and took in a deep breath and once Claire landed he lurched forward and screamed, “DER GEGEN WIND! KLEIN GIFT!!”

A large blast of energy rocketed towards Claire, but she calmly reached out with her right paw and grabbed the deadly projectile, forcing it away from herself as she slowly advanced toward him. A wide grin spread across her muzzle as she saw the look of terror on Karl’s brutalized face.

“No motherfucking way.” Karl watched in sheer disbelief as Claire threw his attack to the side and it exploded harmlessly meters away. Karl found himself unable to move, frozen in place by the look of bloodlust on Claire’s face as she stalked forward, calmly drawing out the Luger and taking aim.

“Reise, reise.” Claire said numbly as she fired the only round in the pistol’s magazine; she hit Karl in his back molars, causing pieces of enamel and copper to spray from his mouth.

“YOU BITCH!” Karl screamed and prepared to rush her, but instead she fell weakly to the mud with a dull thump.

“Good job,” Hister walked calmly pass Karl towards the fallen Claire, “she’s subdued now.”

“Tsk,” Karl held his aching face, “you’re welcome asshole, my fucking lord did she hit back hard.”

“Only Betas go that nuts when they turn,” Caspar stepped over to Claire and gently brushed her blonde hair, “she’s a beta, alphas are more controlled when they turn. You should be taking notes Karl.”

“Do me a favor and rip out three of you own vertebrae and eat out your own fucking asshole Caspar.” Karl snapped his middle finger up as he talked, “Fuck you and your bloody ignorance!”

“You’re calling him ignorant?” Wolfgang chuckled, “He aint the one who got his face hammered in now is he?”

“Fuck you too Wolfgang!” Karl chuckled as he flipped Wolfgang off, “I managed to subdue her, didn’t I?”

“Not really,” Hister had Claire in his arms, carrying the sleeping wolf like she was a child. “I’d say that she wore herself out beating you to a pulp. But I will give you that she has an amazingly high offensive striking power.”

“And her pads,” Karl pointed to Claire’s smoldering right paw, “they’re tough, her ultimate defense; they’re what allowed her to deflect my attack so easily.”

“I hoped you’d notice that,” Hister let a toothy grin spread across his face, “she’s a neat one aint she? But she’s our sniper now; she’ll need a good rifle.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Caspar smiled, “I think I can get my hands on a Mauser for her here soon.”

“A Garand would be much better, or one of those new Gewehr ‘43’s,” Hister carried Claire back into her house and gently set her down on an unoccupied bed.

“Why?” Caspar walked up beside Hister, “I’ll have a much more difficult time getting one of those then a Kar-98.”

“Well,” Hister set the Luger next to Claire’s left paw. He sighed and said, “She’s left-handed, you saw her firing the Luger didn’t you?”

“Oh shit,” Caspar frowned, but smiled when he looked at Claire and jokingly said, “well sister you’re already being a little pain!”

“Well we could always take the job I’ve just gotten offered for us,” Hister turned to see Pierre, aka Schrodinger sitting on the dresser. He wasn’t very tall and he had a weasel-like aura about himself and his voice, still heavy with his French accent was like that of a snake-oil salesman. His blonde hair was neatly combed and he wore a decent enough suit; which was unusual for him to do.

“Oh,” Hister chuckled, “what job might this be?”

“See for yourself, boss.” Schrodinger took out a neatly folded document and handed it to Hister, on the document was the imperial eagle of Germany; boldly gripping the swastika housing circle. Hister opened the document and quickly scanned it; it was signed by Adolf Hitler and Himmler.

“This is big,” Hister grinned wide, “from the looks of this I’ll have access to anything I want; from the biggest submarine to the lowliest foot soldier. Hitler wants the strength of the Rheinlanders working to insure that the Nazi flag flies high over Europe and the world. He wants me to create my own army of Rheinlanders to serve the proud German empire.”

“The mythical force of the Siegfried line comes to life…” Wolfgang said absently

“Schrodinger,” Hister pointed to his subordinate, “I need you to gather our scattered forces, find Muller, Alcula and Draus.”

“I’ll find Klaus,” Wolfgang said, “I have a good partnership with the guy and I know where he is.”

“Good,” Hister looked to Caspar, “Caspar, Claire and myself will go to Germany and start to get everything set up, we’ll then hit the death camps and start to experiment with turning different people. And I want to hand pick a few from the SS to be Rheinlanders.”

Schrodinger grinned wide as he stared at the sleeping Rheinlander, welcome to the family, bitch!