My Immortal The Vampires of Berlin (32 page)

“Correct,” General Krebs replied. “But Operation Tristan has begun. Adolf Hitler will soon return to life in a far more powerful state. Your only hope is to surrender.”

The mortal enemies stared at one another. Then Chuikov realized something.
If the Germans had a weapon, they would use it.
They wouldn’t negotiate anything with anybody.
“Go ahead. Use your weapon,” he dared. “Let’s see how it stacks up against a Soviet armored division.”

“General Chuikov, just so you understand—I have personally seen a demonstration of Hitler’s supernatural capabilities. They are quite impressive,” Krebs added.

Chuikov grinned. “I’m waiting. Unleash your incredibly scary supernatural weapon. Conjure up the plagues of locusts, tornadoes or whatever you got. I’ll wait here with my men on the front lines.”

Sgt. Mikitenko took a hand grenade from his belt and looked around nervously. The other Russian soldiers pointed their weapons at General Krebs and waited for something spectacular to happen.

But nothing did.

“Well?” Chuikov asked. “Where is your magical super-weapon? Where are the lightning bolts?”

Krebs cleared his throat. “The deployment of Tristan will take some time. The operation had to be moved to Prague at the last minute.”

“Prague?” Chuikov laughed. “Soviet troops are entering Prague as we speak. Your operation is over. But let me give you a message to take back to Joseph Goebbels. Tell that murderous propaganda spouting son-of-a-bitch that I am going to display his head in Red Square. In a glass case.”

Then, in a brilliant flash of strategic insight, General Chuikov turned to his troops and did something that instantly affected the lives of millions of people. “Sgt. Mikitenko! Notify the Kremlin!” he shouted. “General Hans Krebs just formally offered the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The war is over—the Soviet Union is victorious!”

Victory!!!
The Russian troops cheered wildly and fired their rifles into the air! Vodka bottles appeared, soldiers started dancing and celebratory gunfire rang out all over the place.

As the pandemonium spread, General Krebs broke out in a cold sweat and grabbed Chuikov’s sleeve. “But that’s
not
what I said, General Chuikov. I am here to offer
you
the opportunity to surrender to Germany.”

“And I made you a counteroffer, which I then accepted on your behalf. I have no more time to talk to insane clowns. This concludes our meeting. Goodbye.”

Then Chuikov went back to his steak.

Joseph Goebbels had a nervous breakdown when he heard the news about Germany’s surrender on the radio. He and his wife Magda then murdered their kids by making them eat the cyanide-filled candy that Hitler had given to them at his farewell party. The wicked pair left the
Führerbunker
hand in hand and committed suicide just outside the front door.

General Krebs returned from his ill-fated mission to the Soviet lines and saw the bodies of Joseph and Magda lying in a ditch. Realizing that the war was truly lost, he went down into the bunker and poured himself a stiff drink. When the glass was empty, he shot himself.

Later that afternoon, Soviet loudspeakers announced Germany’s unconditional surrender. Leaflets containing the order were distributed to the dazed defenders. With the exception of a few scattered areas of desperate resistance, the Battle of Berlin was over.

73

Vlad’s eyes were closed and he had long since stopped responding to his questions. Wolf didn’t think the vampire was dead yet, but he was definitely fading fast. What seemed like a beacon of hope now struck fear in his heart.
If the Nazis can render a powerful vampire helpless, what chance does a mere mortal have against them?

Suddenly, Vlad’s eyes opened and he spoke. “The End of Days is upon us.” Then he fell to the floor and burst into flame. Vlad the Impaler was gone.

For the first time in his life, Wolf gave up. He accepted that his fate was to rot in a jail cell in Prague Castle while the Nazis inflicted further death and cruelty upon the world.
This is where it ends
, he thought
. It’s over. Screw it.

He closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to drift to happier times back in Heidelberg with his family.

74

The second phase of Operation Tristan continued in Prague Castle. The guards strained to hold the girl down as Heydrich read from the spell book.
“I COMMAND thy Evil one! Come forth! When blood comes not, Demons come not! Thy Evil one, COME FORTH!”
he shouted.

“I COMMAND thy Evil one! Come forth! When blood comes not, Demons come not! Thy Evil one, COME FORTH!”
the guards repeated.

Suddenly, the bed shook violently and the spell book flew right out of Heydrich’s hands. The portrait of Frederick the Great fell to the floor. Eva opened her eyes and sat up. “
You’re going to bleed tonight
,
Heydrich,
” she said ominously.

As the panicked guards struggled to push her back down, the room was briefly filled with an intense red light that emanated from the girl’s eyes.

Eva was fighting for control.

75

The steel door moved. At first, Wolf thought he imagined it. Then he put his ear to the door.
It’s definitely vibrating
. It was almost like someone was trying to push it open from the other side. He peered through the small window, but there was no one there.

He shrugged it off. Then the door shook harder and became impossible to ignore. He stepped back as the vibrations accelerated until the door hitting against the frame sounded like a machine gun. Finally, the door snapped off its hinges and crashed to the floor.

Wolf cautiously stuck his head out of the cell and peered down the hallway. Nothing. He had no idea what had just happened, but he instinctively knew that somebody just gave him a chance—and he was going to take it.

He moved with stealth through Prague Castle. His main problem was not having a gun. If a guard spotted him, his only hope would be an immediate and vicious attack.

That theory was tested when he turned the corner and ran into a guard who was carrying food and water for the few prisoners that the Nazis actually wanted to keep alive; Wolf not being one of them.

Fueled by adrenaline, Wolf rushed the guard at full speed. Food went flying everywhere. Wolf fought like an animal, even viciously biting the guard’s hand and clawing his face. After few seconds of desperate fighting, Wolf got the hapless guard into a stranglehold and snapped his neck.
One down
, he thought as he dropped the lifeless body into the brown puddle of rat stew that covered the floor.

Wolf caught the guard posted outside of the cellblock by surprise, but he was strong—that one succumbed only after Wolf pushed his thumbs deep into his eye sockets.

As he wiped the blood and eye fluid from his thumbs and the guard’s submachine gun, he heard somebody yell.

It was Heydrich.

76