Free George Washington Werewolf by Kevin Postupack Page B

and I watched from the window as… as he was butchered without mercy. And for twelve years I thought… I believed that I had imagined it, you know? That it was some young boy’s nightmare, for how could it be otherwise?”
    “So… when did you …”
    “I was twenty. A young officer… a Captain in the Prussian Army… My fiancée, a beautiful young woman was… was attacked and murdered by a beast, and I was bitten like you and like you I survived,” he laughed bitterly.
    “And it was a werewolf? ”
    “What else? And I became one as well…”
    “But…”
    “No General, there are no buts… it’s what the French call a fait accompli . You’ve been bitten , General… I’m so sorry. And especially that it was me who did it. I know this is something that’s… well, unforgivable . But at least I can tell you a few things to… well, to help you… accept it.”
    “ Accept it? How? How in God’s name am I to do such a thing, Baron, if what you say is true?”
    “It is true, General. Next month when the moon is full you will change exactly as I did last night. You saw what happened. You saw what I became…”
    Washington took a breath.
    “But… there must be… there must be a…”
    “A cure? ” Von Steuben laughed. “The only cure is death, I’m afraid.”
    “But, I mean I shot you!” Washington insisted. “Last night! In the head at point blank range!”
    “The beast, for whatever unholy reason, cannot be killed by bullets or knives…” Von Steuben explained.
    “But when you were bitten… what happened to… to it? ”
    “I cut off its head with my sword. The beast may be killed by decapitation… and then its head must be separated from its body and the body burned. This is the only way that I know of to kill it.”
    “Other than…”
    “Other than…”
    “Well, suicide…”
    “Suicide, yes… You have no idea how this has occupied my thoughts over the past twenty-eight years…”
    “So, I mean why didn’t you, dammit?” Washington stood up now, irate. “Those men in the woods the other night… that was you , wasn’t it?”
    The Baron nodded.
    “ How? How in God’s name? How can you… murder people like that? Innocent people! How can… How can you live with yourself after doing such things?”
    “I can’t! ” Von Steuben said. “But I’ve found to my everlasting shame that I can’t kill myself either. I’m… I’m weak , General Washington. I’ve killed countless men in battle without batting an eye, men who were my enemy , but… I don’t have the… the courage to do this thing that must be done. And I stand before you now not fit to see the sun, to breathe the air. In fact, would you do me the honor, General Washington?”
    “Baron?”
    “Take my pistol, sir…” The Baron handed Washington his weapon. “Do it, General. Please …”
    And George Washington stood there with gun in hand, as he stared at Von Steuben.
    “I can’t take it any longer! Please, General!”
    Washington cocked back the hammer and raised his arm, the gun pointed at the same spot on the Baron’s forehead.
    “DO IT!” Von Steuben shouted. “ DO IT! ”
    “I… I CAN’T! ” said Washington. “I can’t…” And he shook his head and put the gun aside.
    Von Steuben nodded his head.
    “Then there are things I must tell you,” he began. “Things you will need to know…”
    “But I mean, if you have this cage , why do you still…”
    “You’ll find as the days of the month wear on, as it gets closer to the full moon you will get terrible headaches, muscle aches, gut-wrenching pain so severe as to be almost unbearable. In fact you’ll feel as if you are about to die. But of course you won’t . You’ll just suffer unbearably until the full moon, and then when you change …”
    “What? What happens then?”
    The Baron let out a breath.
    “Well, at first I… I had no desire to be… to be a killer . To kill innocent people like my father, like my… fiancée. So I