Chapter Text
Kaldenstein is a place.
It’s in some godforsaken corner of Bavaria, a tiny village huddled underneath the shadow of what was, of course, a predictably imposing castle. Even mostly out of his mind with fever, Steve appreciates the thought that went into the design of the castle, which still retained all the ancient fortifications that it would have needed in the Middle Ages.
Steve Rogers hasn’t felt this sick since he was given the serum. It was some kind of new HYDRA weapon that had been aimed at Bucky. Steve had taken the hit instead, trusting that the shield would absorb most of the force. But apparently, this particular weapon wasn’t meant to blast a man down to component molecules, the way they’d seen other HYDRA weapons do.
What might have killed Bucky made Steve sick instead - sick the way he hadn’t been since the serum, sick in the way he’d been when he’d been 110 pounds soaking wet (and no, Bucky, I wasn’t ninety - give me some credit for the additional weight, huh?), asthmatic and pretty much, as Bucky put it, the dreamboat for every germ out there. And since their life in general since this war began was a SNAFU, the radio was out, therefore, they had no way to call Peggy to get their ride home.
But Steve was the only real casualty as far as this mission went. Everyone else was on their feet, loaded up with enough ammo and supplies to see them through a march back to friendly territory or at least until Morita got the radio fixed. And Bucky was okay.
That was all that mattered.
And the rest of the situation was that it was winter and the weather was getting worse and none of them wanted to end up being popsicles, so shelter and a chance for Steve to recover and for Morita to repair the radio was the priority. With Bucky or Dum Dum alternating in helping Steve to walk - Bucky had given Steve his trademark Glare of Death when the latter tried to attempt walking on his own, not wanting to be a burden on the team - it was Bucky who temporarily took command.
The first tell was that Kaldenstein was completely empty.
Empty villages aren’t a new sight in a war. People run the hell away when a war’s on their doorstep if they have somewhere to go. Or they get taken away and they don’t come back. Steve makes sure they save what civilians they could, if they come across them while taking out HYDRA bases and given that it’s HYDRA, that’s a lot of civvies. They all tell themselves that they do what they can, even if it’s not really enough.
Pretty much all they can do, without going crazy with guilt.
But Kaldenstein is empty in a way that raises the hair on the backs of their necks. The buildings - the homes, the shops, even the little church, are standing mostly whole, except for the occasional broken window. There are no lights or signs of movement within the houses. The air is still, almost expectant.
Morita glances at the castle that seems to hunch over the village and is the first to crack wise. “I’ve seen this movie, Sarge. If Dracula’s holed up in there, we’re gonna scram.”
Bucky snorts. And Steve, who knows the Secret Barnes Family History is also hard put not to laugh.
"It’s just a movie, man," Jones drawls. "Ain’t gonna worry about no imaginary bloodsucker with plastic fangs - I’m saving it up for HYDRA and Nazis."
"We’re living in a fuckin’ comic book with a super hero captain and fighting against super villains. What are the odds?” Dum Dum adds in.
"The odds are that you better not jinx us, because we really need to hole up somewhere for the night," Bucky responds. "Bela got the accent wrong anyway."
Steve’s attempts not to start laughing makes him start wheezing and gasping for breath like he’s got asthma all over again. He finds himself focusing on Bucky’s voice, calm and quiet, the same way he’s eased Steve through each attack before.
"Quit that, you punk - we got you. Okay? Just keep breathing, Stevie. You just keep breathing for me."
"Still…a jerk," Steve manages, but he follows Bucky's instructions anyway, matching him breath for breath. Bucky lets Steve put a hand on his neck, fingers on his pulse, allowing him to breathe in sync with Bucky's heartbeat. They've done this countless times when Bucky was still afraid he'd lose Steve every time he so much as sneezed in winter. It actually helps calm the two of them down.
The rest of the Commandos are used to the sight and after glancing to make sure that their Captain is still okay, leave both of them to it, taking their customary protective stance around them.
Dernier chuckles and says something in French about them being adorable cabbages. Nearly all of them have picked the language up from hanging around him so long. Dernier is proud that they've all gotten the "proper" accent down pat, wearing away even at Falsworth's schoolboy accent. “Adorable Cabbage” is a familiar enough rag that it makes both Steve and Bucky smile.
It’s Jones and Falsworth who make sure the inn they found was empty and clear before leading the rest of the Commandos inside.
The second tell is that the inn still has all of its supplies. Pillows. Blankets. Beds. Food. Wine. Even clean water and soap. There are plates and glasses. Silverware. Clothes. All the things that might have been taken or looted away are present - like the inn’s owners and guests just went out for a while and are coming back any second.
Most of them are too relieved at first to take note. They’re hungry, thirsty and cold. Warm beds and enough water to be actually clean are nothing short of sheer heaven to all of them. Even Steve doesn’t protest when Bucky wipes his brow with a cloth dipped in cold water, wraps him up in a blanket and makes him eat and drink.
"It’s strange, though," Falsworth observes, even as he sips at the delicious soup that Dernier has managed to cook from the supplies in the kitchen. Steve has had some of that soup too and already he’s feeling a lot better. "All of this food and everything else you’d think you’d take with you if you were running from the war. They’re all here. But where are the people?"
"We didn’t run into any civvies from that last HYDRA base," Morita muses.
"Maybe they’re all in the castle?" Steve offers. It makes sense. Almost. That was what castles were built for anyway. In the Middle Ages, during times of war, the villagers could flee into the castle and certainly Kaldenstein’s castle still looks like it could withstand a siege.
But even as he says this, it’s not sitting right with him. If the villagers of Kaldenstein were in the castle, then why did this inn still have all its supplies?
And he glances over at Bucky, who’s sipping at his own soup. He knows his best friend’s expressions and they’ve known each other long enough to know what the other is thinking. They’ve both grown up on the stories that Bucky’s Romanian grandfather has told them.
And then Jones walks in, with a Bible in his hands. He flips it open to show the first page and the writing…
German is another language that they’ve all learned during this war.
Kaldenstein is cursed. If you value your soul, you will not spend an hour beyond sunset in this place.
That last one wasn’t a tell anymore. It was confirmation.
Bucky swears. And he barks out orders. “Board up the windows! Block all the doors! Kill the lights!”
"We regroup here, in the dining room, when you’re done," Steve adds. "Nobody goes off alone, understand?"
It’s past sunset. Too late to just grab what supplies they could and keep moving. To their credit - the rest of the Commandos don’t question orders. Answers can wait. They just have to get the job done first.
"I’m sorry, Steve," Bucky tells him. "I shoulda seen it from the start. This is exactly like what Grampy used to tell us — “
"It’s not your fault," Steve answers. "And maybe, there’s still a chance we’re both wrong and the fellas can laugh at us tomorrow — "
There’s a howling in the wind and Steve could’ve told himself it was wolves and his own admittedly overactive imagination. Steve’s a huge fan of horror stories and comics, knows all about the phrase "chill your blood." He's read that phrase so many times that he’s pretty much dismissed it as overused and cliche but god damn it was, apparently, accurate.
But there was something in that sound, something lost and inhuman and oddly enticing and it sends ice right down Steve’s spine, even as his feet wanted to move towards that voice…. that voice that was calling…. calling….
Steve gasps as Bucky slides his rosary over his neck, gasps like he’s been doused with cold water and is now wide awake.
"Don’t you take that off, punk or I’m kicking your ass."
Steve's all too familiar with that look in Bucky's eyes. He's not going to argue.
"There’s someone out there," Falsworth calls out. "A woman. We better let her in!"
"No!" Bucky snarls out. "We’re not letting anybody in here. Anybody who tries to come in, we shoot, you understand?"
"She’s a civilian!" Dum Dum protests.
"She ain’t human! Look at her. Look at her clothes! She looks like she’s goin’ to some dinner party and we’d freeze our nuts off if we went out there right now and you can see her bare feet and she’s standing on top of three feet of snow!”
"There’s another one out there!" Morita says. And his face is pale. "Sarge. Tell me we just didn’t step into a Dracula movie."
"You guys said we’re already living in a comic book. Vampires are in comic books too, remember?"
"Oh fuck me," Dum Dum crosses himself and brings out a holy medal of his own.
"There’s garlic in here - does that work on ‘em?" Jones asks.
Bucky shakes his head. “About all it can do is make pizza taste good. We’d do better with any holy relics - rosaries, medals — “
Dernier holds up a picture of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It had been sitting on what was apparently the inn's family altar.
"We survive this, I’m going back to church," Falsworth mutters.
"We shoot with the intent of making them stay down. Wound them badly enough, they’ll be stuck there until morning. Jones - that 30 cal of yours will do the trick. You rip ‘em apart and we’ll worry about staking and beheading when we’ve got the sun to back us up. For now, the name of the game is to stay alive and standing our ground in here until sunrise,” Steve orders.
"There’s more of them out there!"
Jones is right. With sinking hearts, they peek through the boarded up windows to see what amounts to probably the whole village. Men, women, children - in various states of dress and in some cases undress. Many of them were barefoot, all of them pale as the snow they’re standing on, all of them looking in their direction with undisguised hunger….
There’s another man - tall and well-dressed, though in decidedly old-fashioned clothing, standing in their midst. There’s intelligence in that gaze and then he smiles and it’s an awful, awful thing, that smile, baring yellowed fangs and a long black tongue that snakes out to lick at blackened lips, smacking in anticipation of his meal…
"FUBAR, definitely FUBAR. Moving fast in the direction of TARFU," Morita is muttering.
"Merde,” is what Dernier whispers and then crosses himself and begins the Ave Maria in the same breath.
Steve’s still aching all over and that fever of his isn’t going away yet. But he hefts his shield grimly and readies his own gun. “We’re not going down that easy.”
The vampires attack in waves. They seem to be coming from all over, jumping from the other houses and buildings. The Howling Commandos make their stand and they hold their ground for as long as they can. They’re counting down the hours to sunrise but it seems like a long ways off and they’re running out of bullets. Bucky makes headshot after headshot, making every bullet count - even a vampire can't recover quickly if their brains are blown out their skulls.
But it's still no use. Steve quickly realizes that the ammo isn’t going to last them the night. Bucky makes Dernier build up the fire. Fire’s their next best weapon in place of bullets.
It dawns on Steve that the Church in the village is the only building that the vampires seem to actively avoid. Jones still has enough bullets in that 30 cal and Falsworth still has enough fuel in his flame thrower tank to cover all of them and get them inside the church. Steve’s got his shield and fever or no, he’s still got super soldier strength and reflexes.
It’s their best chance.
The plan’s a good one. Dum Dum, Dernier and Morita get to the Church first - Morita and Dum Dum are the only two other people in the group who’ve got a rosary and a holy medal. Dernier holds up the Sacred Heart image high, making the vampires hiss and leap back in fear.
Steve uses his shield to actually break vampire necks, shoving it hard enough to rip through flesh. Blood splatters on his uniform and on his cheeks and he spits. Peripherally he can see Jones and Falsworth make it to the Church.
He hurts, Steve hurts all over - the fever’s getting worse, he knows it, but he needs to make the last couple of feet - he needs to make sure Bucky makes it along with the others and he falls to his knees —
Bucky’s at his arm, pulling at him. “Not without you, punk.”
Steve smiles. “Jerk — ” And then, there’s another vampire - what apparently used to be the village priest - sneaking up on Bucky and Steve raises his shield —
— something sharp claws at the back of his neck and he’s dragged back - the beads from Bucky’s rosary around his neck scatter into the air - and the last thing he hears is Bucky screaming his name.
Steve doesn’t remember the rest. All he knows is that he wakes up inside the Church, head pillowed on Bucky’s lap and Bucky has this look in his eyes, same look he gets whenever Steve used to get sick in the winter - fierce, scared out of his mind and tenderly protective all at the same time.
He's never told Bucky this and probably never will but that look is what kept Steve going through each illness, fighting for breath with every cough. He knows no matter what happens, Bucky's got his back. Sickness and in health. He tries not to think too hard about how that last part sounds an awful lot like wedding vows and how right it feels anyway.
The sun’s up. The rest of the team’s safe. And Morita’s got the radio fixed and they are getting the hell out of Kaldenstein and never watching another Dracula movie again. Ever.
It’s Dum Dum who fills the gaps in Steve’s memory. He and the rest of the team can say what happened, although they can’t explain it.
They say that Bucky grabbed Steve back from the vampire who got him, stood over his body with Steve’s shield. Bucky snarled something out in a language that none of them knew. And there was what they called a “ring of light” and every vampire who got near turned to ash.
Morita says that the guy they figured was the head vampire - Count Kaldenstein himself - for want of a better name - looked fucking terrified. Jones says that Kaldenstein had screamed “Forgive me, Lord, I knew you not!” before he too disintegrated.
Bucky doesn’t know where the “ring of light” came from. He says he never did a thing, only thought that he’d be shielding Steve and that the vampires were gonna take him away over his dead body. So nope, everybody better get any fancy ideas outta their heads. They got lucky, was what this was. It was an act of God that they made it out of Kaldenstein alive and they were gonna be grateful and forget about it.
For a while, Steve dreams that he saw Bucky’s eyes turn to gold and that he snarled something in Romanian about dragons or being the dragon but he chalks it up to fancy and never mentions this particular bit of information when he finally tells the Kaldenstein story to the rest of the Avengers.
Of course, Tony ditches the “Dracula” thing and starts referring to Bucky as “Bucky the Vampire Slayer” for the next several weeks though.
-end- (for now!)