Adiel and the Führer: A Thought-Provoking Tale of Alternate History by Elyse Hoffman

Author:Elyse Hoffman [Hoffman, Elyse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Project 613 Publishing
Published: 2024-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

“Reinhard, is everything all right?”

Everything was most certainly not all right for Reinhard Heydrich. His landlady had been disappointed that he hadn’t gotten her the wine last night, he had forgotten to take his wallet back from Kaia, and he was apparently an insane child murderer.

Was. Could be. Would be. There was an insane child murderer lurking somewhere in his soul like a parasite waiting to conquer the entire organism, and knowing that meant that Reinhard now hated the feeling of his own skin. Hands that had once easily been able to flourish a signature felt heavy and clumsy now that he knew he had (could have, would have) used them to butcher one-and-a-half million children.

(That was an incomprehensibly large number. Six million was equally hard to fathom. Even one would have shocked him. One little Kaia Goldstein was one too many.)

Reinhard felt sick down to his last molecule: really, the fact that Kaia had taken his wallet probably didn’t even matter anymore since he doubted he was ever going to eat anything again. He hadn’t even been able to down a drop of coffee, which meant that he had a blistering headache in addition to everything else. He probably should have stayed home, called in sick, but he had hated taking sick days in the Navy and he wouldn’t take one now. Not when it was so important that he be allowed near Hitler. If he lost that job now…

So he had gone to work, and walking into the Brown House had been an indescribable experience. Not quite like walking into a lion’s den, no: lions didn’t hide their true nature behind friendly smiles and vows of camaraderie. A lion ate you, he didn’t turn you into a cannibal.

So when Dieter strolled over to Reinhard Heydrich’s desk and found the typically pristine Nazi Lieutenant looking worse for wear (Reinhard might have assumed that he looked like a walking corpse, but he had seen walking corpses last night and by no means did he come close), it was only natural that he showed concern.

“I’m fine,” lied Reinhard, and Dieter winced at the Blond Beast’s tone: viciously angry like a viper. It could hardly be helped. Just yesterday, he had regarded Dieter as a friendly enough fellow, and the men around him as annoyingly stupid at worst. But now Reinhard knew that every man in the Brown House was evil, including himself.

“Are…you sure?” Dieter said, glancing nervously to and fro, making sure that the men who worked at the desks beside Heydrich had run off to their breaks before he leaned close and muttered. “Er, not to offend, but you sort of look like you got hit by a car.”

“I’m fine, I just got up on the wrong side of the bed,” Reinhard insisted, sitting back and raking his hands through his hair.

“You look like you fell off the wrong side of the bed,” Dieter sighed. “Did you get stuck in the rain last night or something? You should just ask Himmler to head home early if you’re sick, he won’t mind.

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