Zane's Redemption

Zane shuddered. It sounded too much like something he knew. “As the Nazis did in their attempts to create their Arian super race: select tall, blond men and women with above average intelligence, physical strength and beauty and have them produce babies.”

Quinn nodded. “Only this time, it’s not blond and blue eyed individuals they want, it’s mostly hybrids. They’ll take vampires too, but only extraordinary ones: stronger than others, more lethal, more intelligent, more skilled. They want to breed these traits into the next generation of hybrids.”

“How did you find out?”

Quinn shrugged. “A disgruntled vampire who was rejected by their program responded to one of my contacts.”

“Disgruntled? Not exactly the most reliable source of information. People like that are known to exaggerate.”

“He seemed genuine.”

Zane frowned despite the fact that Quinn had an uncanny ability to figure people out. “Doesn’t sound right to me. If I were to try something like that, I wouldn’t exactly broadcast to every possible recruit what this is all about. Only once somebody is accepted into the program, would I give the recruits more information, and even then only what they needed to know.”

Quinn looked as if contemplating his words. “My informant strikes me as the kind of guy who does his own digging around if you know what I mean.”

A vampire who stuck his nose into things that didn’t concern him? Well, at least Zane could find out what he knew. Didn’t mean he had to believe it.

“Does he know who runs the program?”

“He didn’t know. Only those who are accepted get to eventually meet the top brass.”

At least that sounded right. “What else did he know?”

“The location of their headquarters is secret. Only the few at the top know. Everything is kept secret: the number of recruits, the number of new hybrid babies produced.”

“Does he know anything at all? What is the goal of this group? There has to be a reason why they’re doing this.”

“I think we can guess from the symbol they have chosen: it’s indeed a Swastika, a broken one, as indicated by the line running between the two pieces. One thing the rejected vampire was able to find out was that the symbol changes over time. Every few years, a new pin is issued, and each time the line grows fainter and the two pieces of the Swastika move closer together.”

Zane cursed. A symbol like that could only mean one thing. “They’re trying to resurrect the Third Reich.”

“Maybe not exactly, but they’re taking ideas from it to create stronger, more indestructible hybrids. And because they aren’t full blooded vampires, they can be out in daylight. They can blend in with the human population and propagate in their midst, unchecked, unhindered. Imagine how powerful that will make them. And the rest of us, the full-blooded vampires, are hamstrung by being able to counteract them only at night. If this superior breed has any designs on world domination ...” Quinn didn’t have to finish his sentence.

“The ultimate master race with the skills and advantages of both the human and the vampire species, but without any of their weaknesses,” Zane breathed. And there was no doubt in his mind that his biggest enemy was behind it. “Franz Müller, he’s their leader.”

“You don’t know that.”

Zane gave a bitter laugh. “The scheme is evil.” He tossed his friend a glare, and continued, “If anybody is capable of pulling something like this off, it’s Müller. His background fits; he’s got the medical knowledge to understand what traits would work well in a breeding program, and he’s got all the connections. He and his colleagues could have started this right after the end of the war. Once they figured out that they could breed with humans and create hybrid children, they had all the tools they needed.”

“You make him out to be some sort of Über-villain. He’s nothing of the sort. Aren’t you taking this personal vendetta a little too far? He’s only a vampire who’s eluded you so far.”

Zane shook his head. “Don’t underestimate Müller. You underestimate him, you die. He’s evil to the bone. And his ambition only fuels the evil in him. If he’s got something in his mind, he’ll do it. It was his research and cunning that led the program at Buchenwald. He was the one who figured out how to create vampires after one of the guards stumbled on a vampire feeding on the prisoners. He was the one who saw an opportunity there. And he took it.”

Quinn put his hand on Zane’s forearm. “But a master race? Don’t you think that even for Müller that’s too much to chew on?”