Wolfgang. He remained the big fly in the ointment.

Hi would wait till he thought it was safe, all the Nazis on Gebäude Zwei's first floor tucked in their coffins. He planned, as he waited, how to reach Eva's quarters. He assumed that Gebäude Ein, housing Hitler, Eva, and the Schutzstaffel brass, was off limits except for official business, which, again Hi assumed, was conducted at night. He had seen two Schützes standing guard--actually one was sitting at a picnic table and quickly got up--in front of Gebäude Ein when Dorsch brought him out through the double-door entrance that morning. But Gebäude Ein, as the Countess had incidentally informed him, had a rear door, only a few feet from her quarters. When leaving that morning, Hi saw that it was latched from inside. And while Dorsch lingered in the Countess's chamber, Hi, who knew he had to get back in the building to Eva, had had the presence of mind to step quickly over and unlatch the rear door.

Hi had waited long enough. He stole down the Gebäude Zwei corridor to the drink hall, which contained plain wooden tables and benches. From there he could exit the building, through a door facing the jungle, its foliage only a few yards away. Peeking out the door, Hi waited till one of the Schützes on patrol had walked past, then he hurried out on tiptoe to enter the tangled vegetation. Hi made his way laboriously, as quietly as possible, through the thick undergrowth surrounding the compound, till he had circled around to within several yards of Gebäude Ein's rear door. After again waiting for a Schütze to pass, Hi left the cover of the vegetation and hurried to the door. It was still unlocked, he slipped in. Then he went, as the Countess had directed, to the first door on the right. He quietly opened it and entered.

Eva's quarters, like the Countess's, were a pleasant little oasis among the compound's stark chambers. There were drapes, some mahogany and rosewood furnishings, and bamboo mats. But none of that got Hi's attention. He walked straight to the open coffin, and looked down at sleeping Eva, in a white nightgown. It was eery to see her this way, so similar to the fake Eva lying dead back in Buenos Aires. But this Eva, at least, was undead. Reaching into the coffin, Hi took her upper body gently in his arms, and she awoke as he raised her into a sitting position.

"Hi!" she breathed with surprise, delight, and alarm all at once.

Hi softly kissed her lips as he held her. "Hello, Eva. I'm going to get you out of this place." Eva looked at him questioningly, at his eyes, his complexion, as she put a loving hand to his face. "Yeah, I'm a vampire," he smiled. "I hope you don't mind that I slept with the Countess last night."

"You mean you made love?"

"Isn't that part of the initiation?"

"She is only required to bite."

Hi couldn't believe it. "You mean I've been raped?" He then wondered about Eva's own initiation into vampirism. "Did you sleep with her too?"

"I slept with Hitler. Sad to say." It then hit her, how much danger Hi was in, and that he had actually joined the undead. "Oh, Hi, how could you--"

"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "I'm counting on a cure. For both of us, once we get out of here."

"A cure?"

"Yeah. Wait till you hear what it is."

"Tell me. Please."

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. The knocks seemed urgent but were not too loud, so as not to awake others.

Eva pointed Hi anxiously to a closet. He quickly entered it, leaving the door slightly cracked open, while Eva got out of the coffin. The door opened and the caller walked in, not waiting for Eva to respond.

It was Wolfgang, in his Untersturmführer garb. "Ah, you are up, Señora." He smiled as she regarded him warily.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I must speak with you."

"Then come back at a decent hour."

Staying, Wolfgang closed the door. "I must speak with you now." He stepped toward her, Eva took a step back.

"Who do you think you are," she said, "barging in like this?"

They stood looking at each other. "As always, I am a man with your interests in mind."

"What are you talking about?"

Wolfgang took another step forward. "You will never guess, Señora, who I saw last night, being escorted to the Countess."

Eva stood her ground. "I'm sure I could never guess."

"Hi Hickenlooper--the friend in Buenos Aires whom you had me fetch for you."

"Really?" There was no interest at all in her tone.

"Why has he come here?" He stepped closer. "Only for love would someone take such a risk."

Eva tried to turn away. Wolfgang grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He was smirking.

"It is my duty, Señora, to have the Führer informed." He slipped an arm around her waist. "I could be persuaded, however, to keep your acquaintance confidential."

Wolfgang tried to kiss her. Eva kneed him in the groin as hard as she could. He let go, she stepped back and glared at him, as he grunted, bending slightly in pain. She had enjoyed doing that even more than when she did it to Cuco Rivera.

Hi, continuing to restrain himself behind the closet's cracked-open door, shook a fist as a silent hurrah.

"Swine," Eva snarled at Wolfgang. "How dare you come into my quarters, in the dead of day, thinking I would yield to such blackmail."

"But you will yield, Señora." Wolfgang was mad now, and grabbed her again. "Would you dare to scream for help?" Eva tried to fight him off as he held her. "Could you deny what I would then tell the Führer?" He held her tighter as she struggled in vain. "You must think of your friend if not of yourself."

Wolfgang suddenly felt someone grab his arm, turning him around with a vampire's daytime strength, Eva slipping out of his arms. Hi's fist smashed straight into Wolfgang's nose. Blood poured onto the oaf's black shirt as he staggered backward to the wall.

Wiping blood from his nose with a sleeve, Wolfgang glared at Hi, who stood waiting for Wolfgang to counter. "It's a fair fight now, Wolfie," Hi said.

"Hickenlooper." Wolfgang drew his SS dagger from its sheath. "Did you know," he said, smiling through blood as he brandished the weapon, "that a Schutzstaffel dagger in the heart is as good as any stake?"

"Yeah?" Hi drew his dagger. "Vampires shouldn't walk around with 'em. They might trip."

Wolfgang moved toward Hi. "They are needed. For vampires like you."

Wolfgang lunged with his dagger. Hi, deftly dodging the blade, plunged his dagger into Wolfgang's side. Hi's dagger came out as Wolfgang pulled back.

Wolfgang looked down at his bleeding but harmless wound, then looked back up, with fiery hatred in his eyes, at Hi. Wolfgang lunged again. Hi was the faster and more agile of the two, and Wolfgang's dagger thrust missed its mark, but his bulk slammed Hi against the wall. The two men grappled. Eva desperately jumped Wolfgang from behind. Wolfgang threw her off, but the distraction gave Hi all the opening he needed. Hi plunged his dagger into Wolfgang's heart. The Untersturmführer froze for a moment, eyes bulging, locked on Hi. As Wolfgang staggered backward, Hi left the dagger in him, buried to the hilt in Wolfgang's blood-pouring chest. The Untersturmführer dropped his own dagger, and his hand moved feebly upward as if to try to remove Hi's. But the hand never got there. Wolfgang fell to the floor.

"So long, Wolfie," Hi said. "It's been a real displeasure."

But Wolfgang was now as big a problem as ever. The oaf's blood was all over Eva's floor, and on Hi's uniform too. What was Hi doing in Señora Perón's quarters?

As he and Eva watched Wolfgang die, Hi wondered desperately what to do next.