A Partisan's Fight - COMPLETED!

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Rubbing his sore leg, Markus sighed. He knew what kind of dangers the people he'd grown rather fond of were facing. Here he was, sitting on a comfortable bed and waiting. Waiting to hear what news his friends brought back to him — assuming they even made it out alive.

The sound of approaching footsteps brought his face up to watch his open door. Lotte stood in front of it, Hans in her arms. She gave him a sobering look. "You are not the only one feeling useless."

He sighed again, forcing himself to stand up. Pain wafted through his leg, sending him back down to the bed. "I would not be much use right now anyway." He patted Albtraum's dark head.

"I should not envy them, but fighting sounds a whole hell of a lot better than sitting here waiting." Lotte glanced back down the hallway, nostalgia filling her voice.

"We both have reasons to join the fight. Neither of us have been treated pleasantly by those filthy people." He glared at the wall, the pain reminding him of why he didn't love the people who were grafted effortlessly into his heritage.

"Not all of those filthy people are bad. Do not forget that, Markus." Her words were firmly direct, yet perfectly controlled and nonthreatening. In fact, they calmed him down a bit, easing away some of his anxiety.

"That is true." He pinched the bridge of his nose, allowing himself to snap out of the pity party mindset. Refocusing on Lotte, his gaze drifted down to Hans. He was growing too fast all ready. He prayed that Mina would get home safely. If it was the last he did, he'd get the three of them out of that country and somewhere safe. Even if it meant dragging the woman he loved out kicking and screaming. He'd be all right with her hating him, but he'd never forgive himself if he let anything more happen to her. "How is Hans doing?"

Lotte didn't have time to answer. Albtraum's fur raised on the back of his neck as he let out a low growl. Something was far from being all right.

A loud banging on the front door echoed through the house further proving that something was amiss.

A cold shiver coursed through Markus. Swallowing, he stood up quickly from the bed, ignoring the shooting pain through his leg. "I doubt that's our friends."

Lotte's terrified wide eyes met his. She held onto Hans tighter. "What do we do?"

"Where is that hiding spot Aldrik was talking about?" Markus put his hand on her shoulder, hoping that it would help calm her down.

Nodding her agreement, she looked pointblank at the huge bookshelf on the other side of the room.

"Of course he would put it behind something that heavy." Markus growled as he limped over to the handcrafted piece of furniture. He ran his fingers along a shelf. "How did he expect you to push this out of the way and hide behind it?"

Gently pushing him out of the way, Lotte pressed a button underneath a book directly in front of him. She glanced up at him briefly. "Aldrik is smarter than you give him credit for."

The bookshelf parted in the middle, leaving plenty of space for Markus to slide a panel of the wall to the side. The sliding door was perfectly concealed within the wallpaper. Nobody would guess it was there.

"Remind me to tell him he is a genius." He put an arm around Lotte's shoulder, helping her into the compartment. He paused, as the front door was broken open. He could hear yelling as the clatter of footsteps filled the house. "Albtraum, come on, boy!"

The dog jumped up into the hole in the wall, Markus quickly following after him. He pulled his leg in just shy of the bookshelf closing up from Lotte's fast clicking on a button on the wall. He pulled the panel shut just in case the soldiers filing into the house figured out the bookshelf.

Pinching his eyes shut for a moment to compose himself, he rubbed his throbbing leg.

"Are you coming?" Lotte looked back at him from making her way further from the panel door.

Twisting around he could make out her petite figure moving down a tunnel. Glancing back at the closed panel, he silently crawled after her. "Where does this go?"

"The tunnels." Lotte kept crawling forward until she found steps and stood up.

"Really? How long has he had this done?" Markus was surprised. He had no idea that this existed. He was maybe a bit impressed with Aldrik's ingenuity. Just a little bit.

"The tunnels have been around for decades, but when things started to change in Germany he made sure this part of the house was added in. Things just were not safe for me otherwise." She shrugged, continuing further down the steps.

He followed her, silent for a little while. "Smart."

She paused and turned back to him. "He might come off as being aloof and untrusting, but Aldrik is one of the smartest, most caring people I know."

"You do not have to convince me, Lotte. I know you love him." He stared into her murky brown eyes, not completely sure of what was hiding in them. He cupped her face and brought his to her level. "He is going to come out of this alive. He will come back to you."

He could see her understanding riveting through her gaze back at him. What he wasn't expecting was her free hand slapping his hand away.

"That was sweet, Markus, but we have been over this. Do. Not. Touch. Me." She reminded him, flashing a sweet smile and moving on.