There it was again. The same sounds, the same warmth, a beautiful midday that once again unfolded in all its splendour in one of Patriarch Stein’s rooms. Birds were chirping and warm rays of sunlight fell through the glass of the tilted window between the drawn white curtains. But this time there was no ambience of freshly cut, wonderfully fragrant flowers on the bedside table and no comfortable, ornately decorated wooden double bed. No, this bed was even simpler than a hospital bed and rustic and although the feeling of déjà vu was very strong, the image faded - this was not like the room of Patriarch Stein’s estate. It was more like the room of a celibate monk, colourless and mundane, furnished only with a pretty, light brown ceramic jug and an empty glass on the windowsill.


    With this sight in mind, Samantha slowly pushed herself up in her bed. "Nurse?!" she immediately exclaimed in confusion, not sure exactly what was going on. "Have you misplaced me?" There was no answer or response as she parked her bare feet on the cold stone floor and looked down at herself. She was still wearing her patient clothes and felt a little wobbly on her feet. "Not so strong pills my arse, I’m going to puke."


    "Ahahahaha, the birds!" came the sound of laughter through the window from outside. "I want colourful feathers!"


    "Way too loud," groaned Samantha, her head pounding and rubbing her temple. "Who’s that?" Nevertheless, she managed to leave and propped herself against the edge of the window, only to see first the bars in front of the glass and only then a snow-white garden with bare trees. "Hey, you there! Hello?!"


    Suddenly, several men and women in lined winter clothes looked up at the calling voice from the fourth floor and waved cheerfully. "Look, I bet I can throw all the way up there!" said one of the women, making a fastball and throwing it against the bottom edge of the window.


    "What are you doing?" complained Samantha, banging on the glass and earning more laughter, childish noises and rather grotesque behaviour from the adults.


    "Not so loud, all of you," an older woman with a dark complexion, clearly dressed as a nun, tried to quell the mob. "Always remember: we are as quiet and peaceful as winter itself."


    "And the birds?" cackled a woman of about 30 with dishevelled hair. "They have such beautiful colourful feathers."


    "Most of the birds are in the south," explained the nun with a smile, gathering up the flock of childish-looking adults without making physical contact. "But now up, shoo, shoo, dinner’s waiting."


    Samantha called down again. "Hey, you there! Where am I?!"


    The nun merely looked up mutely for a moment, but otherwise ignored the call and disappeared with her group into the walls, whose fa?ade clearly spoke more monastery, with a hint of modernity.


    "HEY!" Samantha snapped, banging several times against the glass, which was extremely sturdy. This was no ordinary glass. "HELLO?!" At her words, the courtyard became really lively as voices from other windows returned her greeting and she stomped determinedly to her front door. It was a heavy metal door with a locked viewing flap at head level and one at stomach level, like in a prison. "HEY! OPEN UP!" she demanded as the door was locked and she began pounding with her fist.


    It took a while for the face slit to be unlocked and the taut but also somewhat round face of a tall man to appear. "Please be a little quieter," the stranger asked gently. "It’ll only upset the other patients at the sanatorium."


    "Patients?! Sanatorium?!" Samantha clenched her fist. Had what Oskar had predicted really happened? She didn’t care right now, even if she seemed like a crazy person. "Let me out, but now!"


    The patience and composure of the man, who was at least 1.95 metres tall, was like something out of a picture book. "I’m asking you again, please restrain yourself ... it’s not what you might be afraid of. I promise you that."


    Samantha had had enough of it all! She angrily pushed her slender hand through the slit in her eye and waved it around wildly, but the man simply backed away. "That Doctor Santoro is behind this, that’s for sure! I want to get out of here!"


    "Calm down," the stranger repeated and stepped up to the door. He was not deterred by the fierce hand and opened the heavy metal to enter.


    Instantly, Samantha not only withdrew her hand, but also took a defensive, crouching stance. "Just one step closer!" she warned quietly, but what was she supposed to do?


    The guy was definitely not just huge, with wide hips and powerful shoulders, but looked extremely powerful. He was wearing a simple, short-sleeved shirt and braces were stretched over his shoulders. The red-bearded stranger, with short dark blonde hair, let the situation sink in for a moment, probably giving her time, and without another word, he peacefully extended his arm for a handshake.


    "Are the psycho games starting now?"


    Unconcerned, the man held out his hand and there was something about him. The calmness he radiated was a little strange. Was he a monk? Was this really some kind of monastery and that’s why he seemed so relaxed?


    Nevertheless, Samantha didn’t think for a second about grabbing his hand and instead dived past the man in a flash without him trying to stop her. The corridor outside was long, in both directions, with the same doors everywhere, and it reflected a clinically clean wing.


    However, there were no barred doors or other barriers in sight, so Samantha ran as if driven by the devil and glanced back.


    The stranger glanced after her and then set off at a steady walking pace in pursuit.


    It wasn’t difficult to catch him after the first corner, but new faces came into play from the front. An older man of Spanish origin, shorter than she was, was walking along the corridor in a modest monk’s habit and he was not alone - Peter Brown was with him!


    "PETER?!" Samantha stopped abruptly and blinked in disbelief.


    Peter threw his arms open exuberantly. "SAM!"


    "Woah, woah! What’s going on here Peter?" Samantha immediately raised her hands and took a step back. Her emotional world was a mess, on the one hand overjoyed at the familiar face and at the same time extremely suspicious as to why he was here.


    At least Peter seemed to realise this and merely made a slow advance. "Everything’s fine Sam, really. I know about everything, vampires and whatnot. There’s no danger to you here," he promised as the monk came to a halt at his side and fell silent.


    Samantha swallowed and looked back as the giant rounded the corner, keeping a little distance from her. "I’m tired Peter, so bloody tired," she implored, after all this back and forth over the last few weeks. "... You know about this?"


    "I’ve been told a lot," Peter nodded, but he still kept his distance and gasped in amazement. "Far too much. It needs to sink into my head first, but if you’re worried - these are the good guys: No vampires, no monsters, no black magicians, but all good people."


    In the end, it was just part of the game, this world that Samantha had slipped into and even though she was facing the good guys here, she was in tears because of this constant back and forth of emotions. "I can’t take it anymore Peter."


    "Hey, hey Sam, no need for tears," Peter said and came over to the woman. He put his arms around her, reassuring and protective at the same time. "I know it’s been hard for you lately, but you’re really safe for now."


    Not that Samantha melted into tears and cries now, but the embrace of her patrol partner did her good and with a little more patience for the right moment, the older monk now spoke in a mild and raspy tone. "This really is a sanatorium, my dearest, but you are not here because we think you are ill. This is a hidden base of the Knights of the Vatican."


    "Knights of the Vatican?" Samantha mumbled into Peter’s jacket before pushing away from him gratefully. "Some kind of order of the church?"


    "That’s right, my child. We are fighters in the battle against the darkness that haunts this world," the monk revealed cryptically, but otherwise spoke relatively normally. "We always keep an eye on the society of the night, demonic presence and whatever other evil there is that is a part of God’s green earth and beyond. Think of us as the police force against supernatural evil."


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Police, hu?" Samantha murmured slightly snappishly, but the words resonated with her. "And the police kidnap innocent people in a night and fog operation to an asylum?"


    "Rescued is much more like it," said the monk sympathetically. Despite the cool temperatures in the corridor, he was even wearing worn leather sandals. "Doctor Santoro is one of our contacts and if she hadn’t intervened, you would have been killed by a vampire four hours later in the middle of the night. But this way we were not only able to save you, we were able to send this unclean creature to hell."


    Only four hours had passed between Samantha and her death? "Thank you," she said gloomily, in the face of such a close call. "It’s just this rollercoaster ride I’m on. It’s really wearing on me and if I seem ungrateful for it, I’m sorry."


    "If anyone understands your trials and tribulations in dealing with the night, it’s definitely us," the monk crossed himself simply. "And let he who is without sin cast the first stone."


    "Brother Caballero," the giant stepped forward in the background. "My task is done. Shall I check on the children?"


    "A good idea Hagen," the monk nodded and commanded the big man to bow in a gesture. "And your achievements will be mentioned by me to the guard and the archbishop." At Caballero’s statement, Hagen rubbed the back of his head and went his way.


    "Is he ... harmless?" asked Samantha cautiously.


    "Hagen is one of the few monks here and reports directly to me. If anyone is harmless, it’s him."


    "But he didn’t look like a monk."


    "Appearances are often deceptive."


    "It’s good to have that cleared up," agreed Samantha, but there were more important things to do now. "Now the only question is - what’s going to happen to me? They tried to kill me, so I won’t be able to return home?"


    "Unfortunately not, and for your own good, we wouldn’t allow that either," said Caballero, looking at Peter. "But I think we have an acceptable solution for you."


    Waking up again in a strange bed, again involved with this new world that Samantha had unwittingly discovered, she instinctively knew what that solution might be. "You want me to join you."


    "Your partner was not understating things," Caballero nodded, impressed. "You are extremely clever and very resilient. Surviving this zombie attack on your own is not something many people who are not familiar with this matter can do."


    "How did you know about the zombies? Only that patriarch Stein knew that."


    "Because we had heard rumours that zombies were on the loose in these woods," explained Caballero. When he heard the name Stein, his attention seemed particularly piqued before he walked with a stooped step to one of the corridor windows. "Our knights didn’t find the undead, unfortunately, but after what happened in that farmhouse and then the missing police unit... we have experience with situations like this, my dear."


    "If you know so much, I’m sure you also suspect that the patriarch has made me an offer," Samantha mentioned openly. She had no reason to hide this and wanted to show that she was unwilling to accept an offer from the church.


    "Oskar Stein is very persuasive and an extremely powerful vampire for a reason," Caballero admitted thoughtfully as he watched the snowflakes begin to fall outside. "But since you were in hospital and they wanted to kill you, you turned down his certainly tempting offer. All the more reason why we want you to join the Knights of the Vatican. You are pure."


    Before Samantha replied, she looked at her partner. "Don’t tell me you’re in? Did they recruit you too?"


    "Brother Caballero had to tell me so that I could reassure and convince you," Peter admitted honestly. He then took a chain from under his shirt, at the end of which hung a golden cross with a red heart and two crossed swords. "But the knights also tested me last week and were so pleased that they offered me the chance to join them, and I did."


    "Why?"


    "What why! Sam! Haven’t you realised yet?" Peter stumbled in disbelief and waved his arms around. "Our world is full of evil! Jailing criminals is a good service to society, but this is about the defence of humanity!"


    "You’re acting like we’re on the verge of extinction," Samantha shook her head. "I can’t say that this new world excites me or doesn’t scare me, but Patriarch Stein treated me well and didn’t give me the impression of an evil vampire."


    "Sly and cunning, he certainly is," Caballero said, turning to the woman. He never raised his voice or became snide. He even had respect for such an adversary, but he kept his cool and possessed a kind of grandfatherly demeanour. "And I have to admit, usually one of the less nasty boils of the vampires. But a boil is still a boil and he and his children have already caused great suffering to mankind and the Church."


    Samantha didn’t take sides, but she did mention the story she had been told about Oskar. "I’m still young, but if someone were to kill my husband, I don’t know what I would do. Of course the patriarch and his clan would take revenge."


    Caballero knew immediately. "Nobody forced the Tenebrae to commit this theft. Stein reaped what he sowed."


    "He didn’t know and deeply regrets it."


    "Insight is a good thing, even if it only arose because of his heavy loss, but ignorance is no defence against punishment," Caballero clarified, comparing it to civil society. "That’s what they say even in the police force, right?"


    "Maybe so, but listen," Samantha sighed and hung her head before putting her arms on her hips. "What do you expect? That I’ll arrest vampires in future because they’ve sucked too much blood? Or come straight in with a stake and a cross?"


    "I wouldn’t have put it that simply," Caballero smiled wanly, but there was probably something to this statement. "But that’s exactly what we want. You would still be a guardian, a keeper of law and order, except that our judgement is usually final: vampires, demons, black magic and many more horrors have no place in this world."


    Respectful but perceptive, Samantha tried to hold Faith accountable. "I’ve already learnt that there is much more than most people realise. The only question is, if it all has no place in this world, why did God create it in the first place?"


    "None of this is the work of God," Caballero replied with an open mind. There was always wisdom in his voice. "God gave the world many tools, but some people lost their way and degenerated these tools, just as the fallen angel Lucifer fell from heaven and with his impact created the damned flames of hell, from which new atrocities arise every second, fuelling the sins of mankind and poisoning the earth so that many more abominations arise. Without us, who knows what would have become of humanity."


    She couldn’t lie, but that was a pretty convincing lecture. "So you’re telling me that you and the knights are saving the world from the end?" Samantha doubted anyway. "And if they’re standing up for good - why haven’t they won yet?"


    "Because evil is not so easy to defeat."


    "At least you’re not trying to tell me fairy tales," Samantha admitted. Still, she was hardly convinced, and what’s more, to her the offer sounded like coercion compared to Patriarch Stein’s. "But you wouldn’t let me go home if I said no?"


    "It’s for your protection."


    "And what does that look like? I stay in the loony bin?"


    "Within these walls you would be free to do what you want," said Caballero, but he didn’t understand this refusal. "But somehow you don’t seem to like the fact that we want to save you from death?"


    "I’m not saying that, but you want to deprive me of my freedom. Stein, on the other hand, gave me the choice, even with the prospect of my death."


    "Let me tell you a little story about Patriarch Stein," Caballero began, inviting Peter and Samantha to walk with him for a while. "In 1867, Oskar Stein reduced St Bartholomew’s Cathedral in Frankfurt to rubble. For the people, it was an unfortunate fire, but in truth it was more than that. Two of Stein’s children had been up to mischief in the city for months, kidnapping, killing and torturing for fun alone and in the name of the apostles. The church finally seized the two and made an example of them. In his anger, the patriarch attacked the cathedral, killed hundreds of innocent people and slaughtered many knights and members of the church - do you think that’s fair?"


    This short, but heartfelt story really opened up a completely different side of the vampire leader to her. "That’s... terrible," Samantha admitted. "But from what I’ve heard, his children are very important to him."


    "Does that justify such an act? A good father would have brought these children to justice himself!" Caballero shook his head. This love from Stein clearly didn’t wash with him. "And there are so many more stories, with so many other vampires and creatures of evil. Do you know why the Titanic really sank?"


    " ... because of an iceberg?"


    "It was an attempted ritual," Caballero said, clasping his hands together in prayer. "May the souls of this disaster rest in peace."


    "What kind of ritual?"


    "Harry Houdini wanted to open a gateway into the void and allow beings of chaos to invade the earth. Only by joining forces could the Knights and Ultima Bellator stop this black magician."


    Names and names didn’t exactly make things any easier for Samantha. "Houdini ... like when someone talks about a mysterious disappearance?"


    "One and the same. To the public, Houdini was an escape artist and skilful pocket magician - in reality, a cruel, black magician and a powerful one at that."


    "Somehow everyone you mention is powerful," Samantha realised and stopped. The new information had to sink in, even if it had all been a long time ago.


    Caballero made no secret of this fact and leant forward appraisingly. "Of course, these are the most extreme stories and now you think about the fact that there are many more of them and infinitely more that may not have had such serious consequences, but were and still are a threat to the salvation of us all and the peace of the world."


    "So you know how to land a knockout blow," Samantha replied, leaning against the wall next to a window and supporting herself on her knees. She had to admit - what was the work of a policeman compared to the protectors of the world? And this wasn’t like Oskar, where she would have been working for a man and his own ends, with the prospect of a little personal vigilante justice. This was about the bigger picture and she started to think about it.


    "Sam, I’m not deeply rooted in faith now," Peter said, overwhelmed, but trying not to overdo it. "But the fact that you survived, that I’m your colleague, that we’re here now - somehow I think someone was keeping an eye on us."


    Samantha didn’t want to say it out loud, but in her case it was a ghoul named Raug who saved her, and he had hardly been an emissary from heaven. "We are who we are, Peter. If everything was some kind of providence, life would be pointless. I don’t quite believe that."


    "True, Mrs Rockford," Caballero agreed. He may have said a prayer and dressed like a humble clergyman, but he didn’t seem like a fanatic. "I think what Initiant Brown meant was that you’ve both been given a path that you’ve travelled on your own and now face a new task as a reward."


    "I could cope with that," Samantha nodded. The fact that she really had no choice this time played on her mind. Even if the knights let her go, she would be dead or in the asylum within hours or days at most. "First, I want to hear more history, over a proper meal. Tell me about the knights, the church, vampires, anything you think is important. Then I’ll decide."


    "Food sounds marvellous," laughed Caballero, rubbing his flat stomach. "I love to cook and today is stew day."


    Samantha smiled politely. "And while you’re cooking, could I get some decent clothes?"


    "Sure you could, what are your clothing sizes? I’ll let the nuns know."