My Immortal: The Vampires of Berlin

by Lee Rudnicki

  “What the hell are you doing?” Tokolovskii asked, annoyed that Yuri couldn’t bring himself to enjoy even one night of mayhem with the rest of the crew.

  “A report came over the radio. Some Germans escaped into the river in this sector.”

  “Then they are fucking drowned. Drink with us.”

  Yuri pulled a lever and the spotlight came to life, its intense beam pointed straight up into the sky. “Don’t worry, Tok. I’ll make sure the fascists don’t sneak up on us.”

  Besides his burning desire to avoid getting mixed up in the inevitable drunken brawl, Yuri had another reason for working overtime, as it were. When he first picked up arms for the Soviet Union, the war wasn’t personal; it was a distant conflict that barely touched his life. That all changed when the Nazis wiped out his family at Babyn Yar. After he got that news, Yuri wasn’t inclined to take part in any celebrations until every last German soldier was either dead or on his way to a Siberian prison camp. The vodka could wait.

  “Good luck on your fishing expedition,” Tokolovskii said, reaching for the bottle. There was still time left in the war. He was determined to enjoy every last minute of it.

  46

  The River of Death

  The squad drifted past burning buildings as explosions and gunfire rang out all around them. Berlin was in ruins. The debris of war littered the water, including many burned and mutilated bodies. Still, they managed to find levity in their journey.

  “Is the dog-paddle your primary combat swimming technique?” Sebastian asked.

  “When I joined your half-assed squad, I didn’t realize that I needed aquatic capabilities,” Axel replied as he struggled to swim.

  “I didn’t say it was going to be easy.”

  “You didn’t say it was going to be impossible either.”

  “Don’t worry, pilot. We’ll get you some swimming lessons when this is all over,” Wolf said.

  “Asshole,” Axel replied with a smile.

  Wolf pushed the decapitated body of a Russian soldier away and grabbed a tree that was floating in the river. The men draped Eva across a thick branch, keeping her head just above the water. “With luck, we’ll pass right through the Russian lines. Then we’ll make our run for the airfield,” Wolf explained, not quite believing his own words.

  Just ahead, a searchlight cut through the fog and swept across the river. The beam got closer and a huge explosion gave the sky a momentary orange glow.

  “They’re searching for us,” Axel said.

  As if on cue, the searchlight swept right towards them. Unfortunately, Axel and Dieter were on the wrong side of the tree—there was nowhere for them to hide.

  “Get down!” Wolf yelled. The men took a deep breath and dove underwater as the intense beam closed in.

  47

  How to Die Alone

  As the bat descended through the clouds, a flare flew through the air below and reflected on its underbelly. Suddenly, the creature changed direction. It had detected something just below the surface of the swirling water.

  Dieter held his breath as the searchlight illuminated the water around him. Just when he thought his lungs were going to burst, the water went dark again.

  He shot to the surface and gasped for air. Dieter immediately realized that the others were gone. He looked for them, but the smoke and fog that cloaked the river limited visibility to a few meters. Then reality sank in. He was alone.

  Suddenly, there was a huge impact in the water, like a meteor. Then he heard something swimming incredibly fast, right towards him.

  Dieter turned towards the splashing noise.

  “Axel?” he shouted, desperately hoping to hear a response from his friend. But it wasn’t his friend—something was swimming towards him faster than any human being could possibly move.

  The kid aimed his rifle into the fog and screamed. “Help! Help me! Mother! Help me!”

  48

  Tank Camp

  Yuri swept the searchlight across the river. He was exhausted, but there was no point in trying to sleep. Tok and the others would drink. Then they would fight until one or more of them were bloody. Then—and only then—would they would sleep. That’s what always happened.

  “Yuri, come drink with us!” Tokolovskii yelled.

  “Get over here!” Pavel added.

  “I heard something in the river!” Yuri yelled back. “I need to stand guard. We could be ambushed!”

  Tokolovskii knew that Yuri was avoiding him. “There is nothing in the river except dead bodies,” he shouted back. “Take the fish out of your big ears and come drink with your crew. This war isn’t going to last forever.”

  49

  Outrage

  Wolf and Axel swam through the dark water and searched for Dieter. Suddenly, they heard him cry out. “Mother! Mother! Help me! It’s going to get me!”

  Axel freaked. “That was Dieter! That was him! I heard him! Dieter!” The pilot was on the verge of hysterics.

  “Calm down!” Wolf said. “Don’t panic! Keep your voice down!”

  “But I heard him!”

  Wolf slapped Axel across the face. “Get a grip, pilot. I need you to not lose it right now—we’ll find him.” Axel was capable of causing extreme chaos when he was riled up. Wolf knew that he had to keep him calm at all costs. “Take a deep breath.”

  Axel took a few deep breaths.

  “You okay?

  Axel nodded.

  With the situation momentarily under control, the men looked for Dieter. A few minutes later, they found him; a bloody chunk had been carved out of his neck.

  And with that discovery, their most immediate threat was no longer a Russian searchlight and the situation was no longer under control. In fact, the river adventure had just changed categories from miserable-but-potentially-survivable to irreversibly-fucked-up-and-hopeless.

  “Stay calm,” Wolf said. “We’ll get out of this.”

  “I’m okay,” Axel replied. “But I have one question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Do vampires have aquatic capabilities?”

  Then it was Wolf’s turn to lose control. “What do you think we’re dealing with here, a fucking house cat?” he shouted. “Look at his shredded neck! I think it’s obvious that vampires don’t give a rat’s ass if they get wet!”

  With Wolf no longer playing the role of the voice of reason, Axel’s world was turned upside down. He had felt safe in the water. The knowledge that they were still vulnerable to the vampires pushed him over the edge.

  Axel screamed and fired his rifle into the fog. “Arrrghhhhh! Arrrghhhhh! I will murder them! Arrrghhhhh!” Exactly five shots later, the roar of gunshots was replaced with the click of an empty chamber.

  “I’m out of ammo!” Axel cried.

  Of course you are, Wolf thought.

  50

  Dumitra

  Eva woke up. Sebastian was relieved until she spoke. “They are coming for me,” she said ominously. A split second later, something grabbed his leg and violently pulled him underwater.

  Sebastian struggled to see his adversary through the murk as the searchlight swept across the surface. Then he saw Dumitra—her teeth were clamped onto his leg.

  His lungs burned as he fought desperately to get the vampire off of his leg. As his blood filled the water around them, he kicked her nose as hard as he could. The blow from his combat boot knocked Dumitra’s head backwards and enabled him to get away.

  The two figures surfaced, gasping for air and fighting desperately as the searchlight and flares illuminated the river around them. Dumitra threw a devastatingly powerful punch, but Sebastian dodged the blow and grabbed her arm. She then pivoted and bit down on his forearm like a bear trap, trying to reach bone. As their eyes met, Sebastian bared his fangs. Stunned by the realization that he was also a vampire, Dumitra released her grip. “You are one of us!” she cried.

  “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

  Rodika

  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

  More Dead Germans

  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
>
  The Plan

  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...

  A few minutes later, Axel emerged from the water and collapsed on the ground next to him.

  Sebastian came out last, cradling Eva in his arms. She was still out—she fainted again after taking out the searchlight, her energy drained. He wondered if she had been poisoned or was under some sort of supernatural attack that he couldn’t perceive. In any event, they had to get moving. “Let’s go,” he called out. “Rise and shine.”

  No one moved.

  “No rest for the wicked,” he shouted. “Get up!” When still nobody moved, he kicked Axel in the leg. “Get up, pilot! Let’s go—we’re not out of this shit yet!”

  Finally, the men stirred. As Axel got to his feet, he touched his chest and panicked—the Iron Cross was gone! “Major, I’m so sorry. I lost your medal,” he said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Wolf replied.

  Axel was devastated. “That decoration meant everything to you,” he cried. “It meant everything to me. I am so sorry, Major Kepler.”

  Wolf stared at him in disbelief and wondered how a young man who had lived through so much that day—shootouts, getting his face burned off and fighting a vampire in a river of blood—could possibly be worried about a silly piece of iron. “You’re alive, son. That’s all that matters right now. Nothing else. Do you understand what I am telling you?”