Origin
Von Kreist is nearly a century old. He was once a Prussian officer who served in World War I. During the war, a brash Von Kreist made a bet with a devil in a game of cards which he seemingly won, thus achieving his heart's desire: to live forever. Unfortunately for Von Kreist, his immortality came at the price of steadily decaying alive, and so he has deteriorated over the years into a carcass of a man seeking nothing but to satisfy his jaded, evil desires.
Creation
Von Kreist was created by Grant Morrison, Mark Miller, and Amanda Conner. He first appeared in 1997's Vampirella Monthly #1.
Major Story Arcs
Ascending Evil
When Monsignor Pesaro, head of the New York vampire clans, wound up in territorial war with Don Fattoni, he sent Von Kreist and his vampire minions to kill the Don as an example for all other crime families who would oppose them. Von Kreist and his minions stormed the Don's mansion, tearing through everyone and everything that stood between them and the Don. He then decided to have some fun with Fattoni and his daughters by having him choose which one of his two daughters, Dixie or Pixie, would live and which one would die. Fattoni reluctantly chose for Pixie to live, but Von Kreist shot her then so that Fattoni would be forced to watch her die, while Dixie would live knowing that Pixie was more precious to her father than she would ever be. With Pixie dying, Fattoni begged Von Kreist to save her, and so he had his minions feed off her so that she could resurrect. Von Kreist then put a gun to Dixie's head and forced her to kill her father. His twisted desires finally satisfied, he spared Dixie's life and took her sister's body with him. Pixie would later return as a newly-turned vampire who served under Pesaro and Von Kreist.
Dixie was found and trained by Vampirella to fight so that they could take down Von Kreist together. Von Kreist, Pixie, and his minions however wound up overpowering the two and had Vampirella sedated and dumped into the Hudson River. Then, as a test of Pixie's loyalty to the clan, Von Kreist requested that she kill her sister. Pixie seemed more than willing to kill Dixie, but at the last moment she had a change of heart and instead stabbed Von Kreist in the eye. He retaliated by decapitating her, thereby killing her permanently.
Vampirella then reappeared, having survived her ordeal, and together with Dixie she managed to slice Von Kreist in half with a jagged piece of debris and left him to die.
Hell on Earth
Von Kreist later resurfaces, recovered and whole, and aids Mistress Nyx in her plans to invade the Earth with her vampire followers from Hell.
After Nyx is defeated by Vampirella, Von Kreist managed to escape, most likely to return once again someday.
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