They Used Dark Forces (21 page)

For three days Malacou allowed Gregory to emerge from hypnosis only for brief intervals. Each time after doing so he soon ran a high temperature, and it was evident that he was hovering between life and death. On the evening of the fourth day Malacou brought up a copy of the Sephirotic Tree on ancient parchment and, while Kuporovitch watched him with extreme antipathy and Dr. Zetterberg with ill-concealed cynicism, he hung it up over the head of Gregory's bed. Erika remained in the background, her fine features drawn with anxiety, but her expression noncommittal.

This diagrammatic representation of the mysteries of the Cabbala consisted of a diamond-shaped framework carrying ten circles in each of which were inscribed Hebrew characters. Pointing at it, Malacou said:

‘Behold the Key to all Power, from the Beginning unto the End, as it is Now and shall Be for Evermore. The symbols in the lowest circles represent the Kingdom and the Foundation. Those above, Honour and Virtue. Proceeding upwards, Glory, Dominion, Grace, Intelligence, Wisdom and, finally, the Crown. By these I shall conjure the entities untrammelled by flesh to spare our brother to us.'

Exchanging glances of embarrassment Kuporovitch and the Swede withdrew, but as Malacou began to genuflect in front of the Tree and murmur Hebraic incantations Erika knelt
down. The first great love of her life had been a charming, gifted and highly intelligent Jewish millionaire, and she had come to respect his beliefs. It was his having been taken to a concentration camp that had caused her to denounce the Nazis publicly and she would have shared his fate had she not been the daughter of a Bavarian General and a friend of Goering, whose influence had saved her.

The following morning there could be no doubt that Gregory had taken a turn for the better. He was no longer sweating and his temperature had dropped to near normal. On the sixth day after the operation the surgeon expressed himself as satisfied with Gregory's state and he was sufficiently recovered to say good-bye to his loyal friend Kuporovitch. After dark that evening Khurrem drove the Russian and Dr. Zetterberg to Grimmen.

Before the operation Gregory had been putting on weight, but it had taken a lot out of him, so for the next fortnight he was again in a very low state and made only slow progress.

For appearances' sake Erika had to pass a good part of her time with Khurrem, but the pretence of going in the afternoons for long, solitary walks enabled her to spend a few hours every day with Gregory. During them she often read to him and always brought him such war news as came in. The Russians were still advancing and had taken Kiev, but the Allies were making little progress against the tough resistance of the Germans in southern Italy.

Sometimes they talked of Khurrem and her unhappy state. She was still drinking heavily and Herman Hauff continued to press her to become engaged to him. It was Erika's opinion that Khurrem might have agreed had it not been for her father. The mutual interest Khurrem and Hauff shared in running the farm efficiently made a bond between them and there was no proof that Hauff really had murdered his wife. Admittedly he was a Nazi, but in other respects he was not a bad fellow and, as Erika pointed out, Khurrem's husband had also been a Nazi.

She was also inclined to believe that, quite apart from the question of Hauff, Khurrem's unhappiness was in some way due to her relations with her father. He unquestionably
dominated her completely, yet he made no attempt to stop her drinking. Erika was convinced too that in spite of all that Malacou was doing for Gregory his influence was a sinister one, and although she tried to conceal it, she found it difficult to hide her growing aversion to him.

Her instinctive feeling that Malacou was an evil man caused her to worry about his hypnotising Gregory when dressing his wound, and she tried to dissuade him from continuing to practise thought transference with the doctor. But by that time Gregory had developed the power to an extent that enabled him even to hold short conversations with Malacou by telepathy; and he was so fascinated by his progress that he would not agree to give up these intriguing sessions.

By mid-November he was again able to sit up and his new wounds had healed sufficiently for Erika to massage his sadly wasted limb. During that week, too, his general health showed a sudden marked improvement. Malacou told him that this was because the Earth was about to enter the Sign of the Zodiac ruled by Sagittarius, which ran from the 21st November to the 20th December, and was especially favourable to all matters concerning the thighs and legs.

Ever since Gregory had sufficiently recovered from his operation to enjoy his periods of consciousness the sight of Erika had re-aroused in him the emotions natural to a lover and she had eagerly returned his endearments; although owing to his state, they had had to confine themselves to kisses and caresses. But by November 25th his urge to make love to her again in the fullest sense had become so strong that he pleaded with her to let him.

At first she would not hear of it; but for the next few days he continued to beg her to undress and lie down with him, swearing that he would remain quite still, so that he should not strain his leg, and leave it to her to play the man's part.

Tempted as she was to agree she protested that, although by exercising great care she would not harm him, she positively dared not from fear that Malacou might suddenly come in and surprise them. Promptly, he assured her that his telepathic faculties would give him ample warning of the doctor's approach.

At that she shook her golden head and laughed, ‘No, no, my darling. You cannot persuade me that while locked with me in love's embrace your mind would be capable of also keeping cave for Malacou. If we are again to take full joy of one another it must be at night when there is no chance of our being disturbed.'

‘But how can we?' he frowned. ‘Even if you could get away undetected from the Manor there is only one door to this ruin and it's always locked. To ask Malacou for a key would give the game away.'

After a moment she said, ‘Everyone at the Manor is in bed and sound asleep well before midnight; so no-one would know if I crept downstairs and let myself out. And as this is a ruin I'm sure there must be other ways of getting into it than by the door. It is Malacou's day at the clinic tomorrow, so I'll take the opportunity to explore.'

On the following afternoon, when she came to him, her big blue eyes were bright with excitement and she said at once, ‘I've found a way in. At the head of the stairs outside this room there is another door. It leads out on to a lead walk parallel to the roof of the Castle chapel. Stefan told me that while he was cooped up here with you after you got away from Peenemünde he used to take his exercise there, because one can't be seen from below. At the far end of the walkway there is a gap in the battlement and its fallen stones form a big pile on the ground. From the ground to the leads is only about fifteen feet and I was always good at climbing, I'm sure I could scramble up it and come to you that way. Oh, darling, just think of it! I can hardly wait. I'll come to you tonight.'

With many kisses Gregory urged her to be careful. Then when she had left him he did his utmost to concentrate on a book, so as to lessen the likelihood of Malacou picking up his thoughts of the promised joys to come.

For him the evening positively crawled by and after he had turned down the incandescent burner beside his bed he found it impossible to keep his mind from forming pictures of Erika's lovely form.

It was with good reason that before she was out of her teens she had become known as ‘The Beautiful Erika von Epp', for
it was not her oval face alone, with its smooth forehead crowned by waves of true golden hair, her great laughing eyes and rich, full lips that made her a living masterpiece of art; from small feet and ankles her long legs curved up to splendidly rounded hips and above her narrow waist her torso blossomed into two firm, smooth domes that stood proudly out so that they would have fitted perfectly into outsized old-fashioned champagne glasses.

At last, soon after midnight, the door creaked slightly and she slipped into the room. When he turned up the light he saw that she was wearing only a warm, belted, camel hair coat over her nightdress. She was still panting slightly from her climb, but looked all the more lovely with her hair dishevelled. Her eyes were liquid and sparkling; her cheeks rosy with excitement. Smiling at him she slipped off her coat, then, stooping quickly, took the hem of her night-dress in both hands and pulled it off over her head.

He shut his eyes then opened them again and breathed, ‘If this were my first sight of you I'd think Venus had come to earth again.'

Kicking off her shoes, she ran to him crying, ‘Think of me as Venus, then, and I'll transport you to heaven. Oh, darling, it's been so long! You can't think how terribly I've wanted you!'

‘And I you!' his voice came huskily as he stretched out his strong arms to her.

Throwing herself on her knees beside his bed, she put her hands on his biceps and checked his movement. ‘Oh, be careful! For God's sake be careful! You swore you would lie still and let me love you. You've stormed the gates of paradise often enough in the past. This time they'll open for you, but oh, so very gently.'

Raising her chin she opened her mouth and offered it for his kiss. He took her face between his hands and drew her lips down on his. Her breath began to come quickly and she closed her eyes. Then as he released her she rolled back the sheet and lay down with him on his sound side. Leaning over she kissed him again and again while his hands caressed her body. When they could restrain themselves no longer she knelt up and, as she had promised, transported him to heaven.

Next day he awaited her coming with some anxiety. But all had gone well; she had accomplished her downward climb without accident and got back to her room without disturbing anyone. After long kisses and talking over the delights of their midnight encounter she said:

‘I've news for you, and rather disturbing news at that. Khurrem told me this morning that she has promised to marry Herman Hauff; but only because he forced the issue. Apparently, after the Peenemünde raid, when the Gestapo were hunting for you and Stefan, as you had both stayed here before moving to Wolgast, they came here and would have arrested Khurrem and her father had not Hauff used his influence to protect them. Yesterday he threatened that if she wouldn't become engaged to him he would withdraw his protection and report that he had overheard them saying the sort of things that people aren't allowed to say about Hitler.'

Gregory frowned. ‘What swine these Nazis are. Poor woman, I'm sorry for her.'

As Erika lit a cigarette she gave a slight shrug. ‘I don't know. She doesn't love him, of course, but I think it's rather a relief to her that matters have come to a head. It's telling her father that she's dreading. Quite apart from his antipathy to the idea of her marrying an S.S. man, I'm sure that he wants to keep her to himself. It's certain he will be furious.'

‘I don't doubt it. But after blowing his top he'll have to agree. Physically he is a coward, and he told me himself he'd even commit murder rather than be hauled off to a concentration camp. Did she go so far as actually to settle on a date for their wedding?'

‘No; but Hauff insists that it should be before the New Year, and that's not much more than four weeks from now.'

When Gregory asked Erika to come to him again that night she firmly refused, giving as her reason that too much excitement was certain to be bad for him, and that the sooner he could build up his strength the sooner they would be able to get away. For some while they argued, but she remained adamant and told him that for the time being, at least, he must remain content with her coming to him twice a week.

Malacou paid his usual visit to Gregory next morning and,
although he said nothing about Khurrem, it was evident from his manner that she had told him of her engagement. However, with him he had brought Tarik, who was carrying a pair of crutches and a sling. Between them they got Gregory up and supported him while he tried the crutches out. On this first occasion, having been bed-bound for so long, he could hardly stand alone, but the following two days he managed a few faltering steps.

During these trials the doctor continued to look black and sullen, but Gregory paid little heed to this moodiness because he was so entranced at the prospect of being able to walk once more and, between whiles, with joyful thoughts that on the fourth night from her first visit Erika had promised to come to him again.

That evening after Gregory had had his meal and Tarik had taken away his tray, knowing that Malacou's mind would be fully occupied with his worry over Khurrem, he turned down his light, lay back and let his imagination have free play anticipating the joys of the coming night.

Soon after midnight he was roused from his semi-dreaming state by the sound of hurried footsteps outside and next moment his door was flung open. Recalling the caution Erika had used on her first visit, he feared for a moment that something had gone wrong and it might be someone else. Hastily he levered himself up in bed and turned up the light. Framed in the open doorway Erika was standing. But she was trembling violently, her eyes were wide and staring and her face was drained of blood.

‘Darling!' he cried, ‘what on earth's the matter? You look as if you'd seen a ghost.'

‘No!' she gasped. ‘No; but something worse. When … when I climbed up on to the walkway I saw chinks of light coming through the chapel roof. I … I clambered over on to it and knelt down near a rent to see what was going on. Oh, Gregory, a Black Mass was being held there. Or, at least, its Jewish equivalent. Instead of a cross, the Sephirotic Tree had been nailed up above the altar. To either side there were Hebrew candlesticks with seven branches and the candles in them were black. Malacou and Khurrem were there wearing robes covered
with the signs of the Zodiac, and Tarik was standing to one side swinging a censer.'