“Have the boys stick her in a holding cell. We’ll torture the shit out of her to make sure she hasn’t talked to anybody else. And get me a new chair. This one has holes in it.” Stricken kicked Kerkonen in the ribs, just to make sure she wasn’t faking. This really was a disappointment for him. A werewolf is a terrible thing to waste. . . . But that made Stricken think of something. There was another werewolf out there he was acquainted with who was supposedly the biggest baddest werewolf and Monster Hunter around. Yet he had—surprisingly enough—not gotten in on the hunt for Franks, and Stricken had been so very personally disappointed by that. Looking at Kerkonen’s body gave him an idea.

“Will that be all?”

“One other thing, Sarah, get me the phone number for Monster Hunter International. I need to make a call.”

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 14

Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt,

Holy Roman Empire, 1709

“Send out the monster, Dippel, or we will break this door down!”

Most of the angry mob was armed with torches and farm tools. They did not concern him. It was the men in front, dressed in weathered steel breastplates and helms, armed with pikes, swords, and firearms who interested him. He could recognize that those mortals had the spirits of warriors. He’d fought them in the before time. Did they not understand that he was no longer their eternal foe?

“They’ve come to destroy you, my son.” Konrad Dippel was disheveled and filthy from his escape from the mob and flight through the forest.

He peered through the narrow window at the force arrayed against Castle Frankenstein. “Who are they, Father?”

“Fools who do not understand the importance of science!” Konrad Dippel raged. “They would destroy that which they cannot comprehend! They are hunters of monsters, and a dread beast has been preying upon the village. Women and children have been devoured. They have heard rumors of your existence, and now they blame you for these atrocities.”

He thought of The Deal which had been struck. If it was an intruder, it had to go. “What if I were to destroy this other monster for them? Would they accept me then?”

“They will never accept you. I will not see my work undone by these shortsighted fools. You must flee from this place. Run away, and never return.” Dippel unlocked his son’s chains.

He studied his naked wrists and marveled at the small measure of freedom. He could have snapped his manacles long ago, but he’d been waiting for this day. “I will save the village,” he stated. “I will destroy the other. The humans can accept me or fear me. I do not care.”