My Immortal The Vampires of Berlin (22 page)

“Never!”

“You don’t understand—the girl brings the End of Days. The prophecy foretold this!”

“The girl is innocent!”

“Kill her! Before it is too late!”

“For you, it is too late.” And with those words, Sebastian lifted Dumitra up out of the water with super-human strength and slammed her down onto a jagged branch of the tree. The vampire fought for her life as he pushed the branch through her. Blood poured from her mouth when the wood finally poked through her chest.

“Kill the girl,” she gasped with her last breath.

“Good riddance,” he replied as Dumitra’s body burst into flame and disappeared. Unfortunately, a dry branch of the tree also caught fire.

“Shit-shit-shit!” he cried. Sebastian desperately tried to douse the flames with water as the searchlight swept across the river towards the blaze.

Eva pointed at the beam and her eyes glowed red. Just as the light got to them, the sound of shattered glass filled the air. The searchlight went dark forever.

Sebastian was astounded. He had read occult books when he was a kid, but none of them mentioned vampires with extreme telekinetic powers or supernatural healing abilities. He was beginning to figure out Eva was much more powerful and important to the world than just a mere vampire.

51

Wolf and Axel tread water with their backs to one another, as if they were in the ocean surrounded by sharks. They might as well have been.

Without warning, Rodika launched out of the water and hit Wolf, knocking the invaluable backpack full of ammo out of his hands. Wolf dove after it as Axel hit Rodika in the back of the head with his rifle.

Rodika spun around and attacked Axel. She grabbed his jacket, but her hand burned when it brushed against his Iron Cross. With the furious vampire distracted by her injury, Axel hit her between the eyes with his rifle butt. Her head flew backwards and there was a loud snap. He thought he broke her neck. “Take that!” he screamed.

Axel watched in horror as Rodika violently popped her neck back into place. Then she ripped the rifle right out of his hands and broke it in half.

Axel was stunned by the sheer strength of his adversary. Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes and said a prayer as Rodika closed in for the kill.

At the last possible second, Wolf broke the surface of the water in front of the vampire and slammed the crucifix against her face!

Rodika screamed and knocked the cross away as her face burned. The stunned soldiers watched the wounded vampire launch out of the water, transform into a bat and fly away.

52

Tokolovskii took a swig of vodka as the raucous festivities continued around the fire. Then he broke into the death chant that started every battle and ended every night of drinking.
“More dead Germans! More dead Germans! More dead Germans! More dead Germans!”

“
More dead Germans! More dead Germans!
More dead Germans!”
the crew shouted in response.

Yuri hated that stupid chant. He wanted nothing to do with the crew when they were drinking, but with the searchlight out of commission, he decided to try to shut the party down for the night so they could rest. The next day’s battle would be like none other—the Nazis trapped in the city center had nothing left to lose. They would fight to the death like cornered animals, which would make them extraordinarily dangerous. The crew would need to be fast, alert and extremely lucky to have any hope of survival.

“
More dead Germans! More dead Germans! More dead Germans!”
the men shouted again.

Yuri pulled the bottle out of Pavel’s hands. When the young gunner from Belgorod tried to get it back, Yuri threw it into the fire. The only problem was that his throw was off. Way off. The bottle missed the fire and smashed between Tok’s feet. Broken glass and vodka went all over the place, but mostly on Tokolovskii.

In stark contrast to Yuri’s sudden fear of death or dismemberment at the hand of his tank commander, Pavel thought the bad throw was hilarious. He broke into a laughing fit and fell off the ammo box that he had been sitting on. “Ha-ha-ha-ha.”

Tokolovskii stood up with his fists clenched. “Shut the hell up, you illiterate serf. It wasn’t that fucking funny.”

The gunner was just drunk enough to be belligerent. He belched loudly. Then he dug his hole deeper. “Sorry Tok, but that
was
really fucking funny. It looks like you peed your pants.” Then he made another critical mistake. He laughed again. “Ha-ha-ha-ha.”

Tokolovskii clenched his teeth and tried to control his growing rage. That failed. Steam came out of his ears and he screamed at the top of his lungs. “You miserable cretin! I’m going to teach you a lesson that you will never forget!”

Pavel immediately jumped to his feet and assumed a karate-like defensive stance. “Bring it on, Tok!”

Here we go again
, Yuri thought. He scrambled out of the way as the angry men ran at each other and collided like rams. They fell to the ground, wrestled and threw desperate punches, neither able to gain an advantage.

Just as Tokolovskii got the upper hand by attempting to strategically remove Pavel’s left ear from his head, a familiar voice rang out. “Stop fighting! That’s an order!”

The men stopped trying to kill one another and looked up into the angry eyes of Major Federov. Federov prided himself on visiting his men before each battle, but he hated this crew—they were always drunk and causing problems. The raging fistfights that broke out amongst Tokolovskii and his band of idiots were well known.

In what had become known as the “Incredible Kursk Incident,” three of them jumped out of their T-34 to settle their differences
during the battle
. That episode would have ended in a court martial but for the fact that they eventually climbed back into their tank and knocked out three more Tigers. The men were belligerent drunks with no respect for authority. But they were extremely good at killing German tanks; a trait that made them valuable to Federov.

“Put the vodka away, Commander Tokolovskii,” he ordered. “We have an important battle ahead of us.”

Tokolovskii remained indignant. “Major, don’t you have someone else to harass? Perhaps some new recruits from Kamchatka who haven’t learned how to tie their boots yet?”

“You drunken son-of-a-bitch,” Federov replied. “I’m warning you—your tank better be ready for battle at 0600. Stalin wants the
Reichstag
taken tomorrow. I intend to accommodate him.”

“Relax. We’ll be sober, awake and ready to kill as many Nazis as you want tomorrow.” Tokolovskii then briefly interrupted himself to kiss the German woman a few more times before continuing. “Well, we may not be sober. But the rest is true,” he said.

The crew laughed at their commander’s insolence.

“Stop drinking and let the woman go. You should have a guard posted. The Nazis are trying to break through our lines all over this city. If you’re not careful, they will slit your throat.”

Tokolovskii smiled. “Major, it may look like we have just been enjoying ourselves all night, but we have had a guard posted this entire time.”

“That’s true,” Pavel added.

“Yuri, tell Major Federov about your brave efforts to keep the Red Army safe. Tell him how you protect us against fascist threats in the river.”

Federov stared at Yuri.
This should be good.

“Well ... the searchlight was working. I searched for German soldiers in the river for about five minutes. Then the light blew up. I don’t know what happened—it just exploded on its own.”

Federov stared at the broken glass that littered the ground. “Nothing just explodes on its own. The searchlight exploded because you are drunk,” he replied. “This crew is always stinking drunk. But let’s make one thing clear. Tomorrow is an important day for the Soviet Union. If you are drunk, I will make an example of you. All of you.”

The smile disappeared from Tokolovskii’s face. “Yuri, get the tank ready.”

Federov walked away, immersed in angry thoughts.
This renegade crew is trouble. Perhaps their luck will run out tomorrow.

53

Wolf lay on the riverbank, completely exhausted. After surviving the journey down the river from hell and combat with a vampire, he didn’t know if he had enough energy to stand up again, let alone continue to the Brandenburg Gate. He closed his eyes and drifted off...