Blood Moon [a Twilight Saga FanFiction]

Death to the Führer

(Authors Note: I do not speak German; therefore anything that is said in German will be a full piece of dialogue written in English, in italics within quotation marks. Not to be confused with just a single word italicised amongst regular words, which is an emphasised word or a sentence in italics outside of quotations marks being a thought.)
(TRIGGER WARNING: the following chapters consist of talks of Nazi Germany and the Jewish community, readers are advised to be mindful and skip these chapters if the topic/s are sensitive for you)

I FOUND THE CAVE I LEFT VERITY IN, but it was empty. I followed their faded scent straight into town.
     What are they doing here? With Johann? I thought as I kept following the fading scent. It wasn't old either, at most twelve hours old.
     When I found them, they were in the Führer's office. Johann was against the far wall, Verity on the other side of the room to him, Igor in the middle with a very noticeable mark down his neck and arm. I could smell the blood before I even slid through the open window. Hitler's wife, children and dog were dead.
     "Guess you decided to finally kill the Führer," I attempted to joke as I could feel the tense atmosphere. No one laughed, but Igor did turn to me and his face stretched in the big smile that brightened my world.
     I didn't bother to check the bodies. I couldn't hear any heartbeats other than Verity's in the room.
     "Verity said you needed to get to Carlisle," Igor said, as he pulled me into a tight hug.
     "I'm sorry. I couldn't wait for you. He was in trouble," I explained.
     "It's okay. You came back, so it's okay."
     "Like I could leave you to take care of a newborn by yourself."
     He kissed my shoulder, then my neck, and before he could kiss anywhere else as every touch was sending static and heat throughout my entire body, I stepped away from him. I looked towards Verity and she smiled confidently at me.
     "So Uncle Carlisle is okay now?" she asked.
     "Perfectly safe." I'll tell Igor about what happened later, I decided. Then I turned to Johann, who was still crouched against the far wall, his hand over his nose and mouth, staring at the still faces of the victims.
     "Mrs Farkas..." Johann said, staring at me.
     "You can call me Lizzy now, Johann. We're family," I walked up to him and crouched in front of him.
     "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't mean to hurt any of them!"
     I pulled Johann into an embrace as he mourned the dead.
     Yes, we were right. He was too good for this world. I immediately felt immense guilt for keeping him. He deserved more than this, deserved to be buried and missed. Deserved to have his mother cry for him at his grave, knowing she was mourning a body, not an empty box.
     "I am sorry," he cried.
     "It is only natural, Johann. It is okay. It is okay."
     "I don't want to. I don't want to kill. I don't want to kill."
     "Shh. It's okay. We won't let you become the monster, Johann. We never will if you don't want to."
     He nodded against my shoulder and I helped him stand when we heard the approach of soldiers.
     "He's not alone," I stated, hearing Adolf's familiar steps among the soldiers.
     "We only want the Führer, nobody else," Igor growled.
     "You should have thought of that before you chose his office of all places," I responded.
     "Very well, gentlemen. I shall see you all tomorrow night," Adolf said just on the other side of the door.
     His comrades departed and he was finally alone.
     I moved to hold Johann again. I noticed how tense he was and ensured my grip was tight, not that it would be much help if he snapped again.
     Verity and Igor moved to either side of the door.
     As Adolf came through, his heart jumped when he saw the bodies and ran to his bride. His face became pale and his eyes swam in fear.
     "No," he whimpered.
     Igor closed the door and when it clicked locked, Hitler finally looked up and saw the four of us.
     "Igor? I had been given the news that you were dead."
     Igor ran behind him and pulled his head back to reveal his neck.
     I tried to be quick in covering Johann's eyes and pulling him back, but not quick enough. Johann snarled deeply, knocked me away and pounced over the table. Igor was smart enough to get back to not get hurt as Johann approached and got his teeth around Hitler's carotid. Of course, the Führer tried to fight back when he could, but he was no match for a newborn.
     Igor and Verity ran to me and helped me stand, Verity, cringing at the noise of Johann finding new places to sink his teeth into.
     Once he was drained of all his life, his corpse was dropped to the floor with an echoing thud, even I noticed how after, Verity's heart was the loudest thing in the room.
     Johann turned and before I could even step, he lunged but didn't make it all the way. He must have known. Igor was in between him and us, prepared to protect our daughter. Once Igor had Johann in a headlock, I was by his side.
     I saw the tension in his neck, the thirst in his eyes.
     I saw the lack of breathing, the fear, the sadness.
     "Liz," Igor warned as I took a step closer to them.
     Johann's eyes snapped over to me, the apology pleading.
     I rested my hand over Igor's on Johann's neck. "It's okay," I said. "He won't do anything else."
     When Igor didn't remove his grip, I looked into my husband determined eyes, unblinking, then he slowly let Johann go.
     I took Johann's hand once he let go of Igor's around his neck and tried to give him a reassuring smile.
     "Come with me," I said and led him towards the window he had pushed me into. "Look out into the horizon. See the forest?"
     He was still tense.
     "Think of that forest. Think of just how green those trees are to your new eyes. How, even though they're so far away, and even though it's night, you can still see that those are trees. They're not invisible to you, not hidden in the shadows of the night. And even, this far away, they're still so green. Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
     He shook his head, his jaw going relaxing first, then slowly, eventually, his muscles.
     "And think that in that forest, so far away physically, there's hope. Hope for new lives, hope for a better day, hope for a new world. And there's love. Love of family, of self. Love of another. All of that in that forest all the way over there. Think of that. How peaceful it looks from this far away," I continued.
     He was completely relaxed by then. I grabbed a cleaning wipe I could smell inside Hitler's desk and cleaned the access blood of Johann's chin. I then burnt it with one of the matches we always kept handy before returning to a gazing Johann.
     "Isn't it beautiful?" I asked and he nodded. "Now, look up."
     He did and his eyes went wide and his lips spread into a grin. He gasped and just like that, I knew he wasn't aware of it, but he was breathing with blood around, humans not even 2 yards from him, and heartbeats around.
     "That's beautiful," he said. "Mars!" He reached out of the window and pointed to the red star.
     Verity laughed softly behind us.
     "How can I see this?" Johann asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the clear night sky.
     "Magic," I answered and leant on the window beside him.
     He wasn't wrong though, it truly was a beautiful sight.
     "This is what I draw, Johann. I draw the beauties of this world that humans cannot see. But beauty has two sides, so I make art of both. You cannot have darkness without any light," as I spoke, he turned back to Hitler's body. "You cannot have a good person, without a bit of darkness inside them. Everybody has bad stories, everybody makes mistakes." I rested my hand on his shoulder. Hopefully, he saw it as comfort and support. "Everybody does things that they cannot control, and when it is out of our control, it is not our fault. You are not to blame."
     Johann looked at me with now a small smile on his lips.
     "Why do I find it hard to believe that you have ever been anymore but a good person?" Johann asked.
    I had to laugh at that. "You have no idea," I said. "I've killed people, Johann. I was under a curse while I was human and it made me kill people, paint the walls of London with their blood, and then drink what was left. It made me very sick, and I should have died from the consumption. I remember that every day, every night. Every time I look at my brother I remember how he found me on the street one night... he saved me. Unfortunately, not before I had already killed ten people."
     "You were cursed," Johann said.
     "Exactly. I couldn't control myself, and it's because of what happened I've become the woman I am. Afraid to hurt anyone with the potential of life. I can see in your eyes how much you hate yourself for what happened. But it wasn't your fault. The first year of being a vampire is exactly like that curse. There are only a few things that can stop you in your act. For me, it was my brother, for you, well you just found two things."
     "Two?"
     "Whatever stopped you from attacking Igor, and then you looked at the sky and stars and breathed. Remember those things, Johann, when you feel like you're about to lose control. They will save you."
     He nodded and looked back to Igor and Verity.
     "I'm sorry," he said.
     "I've seen more terrifying things," Verity said warmly.
     Igor chuckled and reached his hand out to Johann in welcome and comfort.
     "Let's go home," he said.
     Johann took his forearm and the four of us ran.