This is my first Eastern Promises story. It will be multiple chapters long. I hope everyone enjoys and reviews. No flames though, just constructive criticisms. Enjoy!

Click, click, click...

The sound of worry beads clashing against each other, as my hand mindlessly flicks back and forth. I have been letting my mind get away from me lately. Mostly about a certain woman. Anna...

I can remember the last time I caressed her face, that night beside the Thames, I can remember the last time I touched her creamy hand, starkly contrasted against the scars, callouses and tattoos on mine. Our touch has lingered just a second too long. They were the hands of a woman who had never known the hardship of life behind the iron curtain. They were the hands of a woman whose father and uncle wanted to make sure she never knew the hardships of life in Russia.

My thoughts float to her more than ever these days. Semyon was prosecuted and faces the rest of his life in prison. Kirill, on the other hand, came up dead not long ago. Alcohol poisoning. Time had passed so fast yet so slow. I remember her and Christine I remember how Anna's sense of justice nearly saw her killed. Christine, little Christine, so close to death herself. I thank God for Kirill's weaknesses.

Kirill's weaknesses... they are the reason that I am sitting on the throne. The reason the mole is in charge. Slowly, the Vory V Zakone has been crumbling. Police raids here, arrests there, and no one knows who the leaker is. All I have had to do is sit back and watch. The sooner the Vory crumbles, the closer I am to going home. The closer I am to being able to see Anna again... No, I cannot tell myself that, I have to protest her, whatever the cost. There may be people after me forever.

But even as I say that to myself, I know that I will go to her. The kiss we shared beside the Thames was to promising. I remember her brown eyes, her blonde hair. I remember how confident she was on a motorbike. She was strong, courageous, the kind of woman you don't find in Russia. Anna was a Russian girl who thought and acted like a Brit.

I never met Anna's father, Ivan. I did not need too though because, unfortunately, we both knew what life behind the curtain had been like. We both would have done anything to protect Anna. We both loved the same woman, one of us like a father, the other like a lover. I did not need to know Ivan, because we both loved the same woman...

I had, however, become acquainted with Stephan, Anna's voracious Russian uncle. He had not been fond of me, back in the restaurant. Then again he was the kind of man that showed fear through anger. That fear had abated somewhat when I had installed him in Scotland to keep him from being killed. He was never told who I really was, but he had spent enough time in the KGB to know what I was. An agent. I learned from him, during the ride to Scotland, that he had been deeper involved in the KGB than Anna and Helen were aware. As far as they knew, he was in the axillary. He had been far more involved than that, and so, no words were needed to convey who I was working for.

My head and heart were now warring with each other. What I would not give to run my lips across her once more. To hold her hand once again. To see the differences in us. Pure and tainted. Angel and demon.

I take solace from knowing that everything will be over soon. The Prince has died and the court will soon fall... and the King will be victorious.

So this is the first chapter. The next will be the chapter where Anna and Nikolai/Mikhail meet again. I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of 'What Mother Russia Demands'. If you like this story, check out my other story 'I Would Never', which is in the Schindler's List fandom. Thanks! Review, review, review, review,review!