A Rumour in St. Petersburg
Me: Four words. I just read "Tempted". I'm one of those people who when something sad happens in a book or movie I almost completely reimagine the ending, so characters don't have to die, I can think of the strangest ways to resurrect them, but that's not for now, I may publish that idea in the future though...
GUYS, ON THIS PAGE ARE IMPORTANT DETAILS ABOUT THE STORY SETTING, ETC... SO READ THEM BEFORE GOING ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER WHICH IS THE FIC. AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE THERE IS ALSO A SMALL PROLOGUE! There are also OC descriptions here too.
Anyway, I felt so sorry for Dragon in "Tempted", I nearly cried. For those of you who haven't read it, I'm spoiling it for you: Anastasia is killed. There, now you'll have to go out and read it, and I know these two don't get a lot of what LittleKuriboh would call "screen-time", but I felt that these two characters, along with Lenobia are such strong characters who get dragged into everything, and she should have survived. The one actual proper relationship in the book down the drain lol. Anyway I'm rambling...
As it so happens I am a strange person who can dream up anything for minor characters but dislike writing major ones, so this one is about how Dragon and Anastasia meet.
NOTES!!!!!
The story is set in the summer of 1918, at the House of Night of Valencia, which is on the east coast of Spain. Anastasia is obviously Russian, and Dragon is half Spanish, half English. I have no idea what they really are, but they are in this story.
Dragon's first name is never given in the books, other than the initial, which is D. So I called him "Alejandro". Logical aren't I? Remember, Zorro was named after Dragon, not the other way around :) And also remember he doesn't get the nickname "Dragon" until he Changes, and this story starts when he is still a fledgling.
Also, I don't own a copy of "Marked", so I can't remember much about their physical appearances, so that is pretty much made up, as is Anastasia's Mark, which I think was never described in the books.
OC BIOS! (In order of appearance or mentioning:)
Name: Señor Dimitri Mihailov
Age: appears around mid-late twenties, is actually around 200.
Nationality: Spanish mother, Russian father.
Role: Professor of Fencing at the House of Night of Valencia, Anastasia's many times great uncle, and a distant relative of the Romanovs, he is also Dragon's mentor.
Affinity: Exceptional vision & perception. Superhuman agility, speed & strength.
Appearance: Tanned skin, around six feet tall, dark hair but light blue eyes.
Mark: Two eagles, left wings over his brow, tail feathers over his temples, the right wings extending over his cheeks and their heads turned towards his nose.
Name: Sacerdotisa (High Priestess) Rosalina
Age: Appears mid-twenties.
Nationality: Spanish.
Role: High Priestess of the House of Night of Valencia. As a person she is incredibly rational.
Appearance: Long think dark brown hair, dark brown eyes (like Catherine Zeta Jones in Zorro)
Affinity: Earth.
Mark: Delicate rose-branches curling from her forehead around her eyes around her cheek-bones.
Name: Ved'maverkhovnaya Zhritsa (High Priestess) Valentina
Age: Appears mid-twenties.
Nationality: Russian.
Role: High Priestess of the House of Night of St. Petersburg. She predicts Anastasia's survival and informs Mihailov. She also provides medical aid afterwards.
Appearance: Tall, slim and blond, hard icy face.
Affinity: Empathy, Precognition.
Mark: Unknown
Name: Juliane (pronounced "Yoo-lee-ah-nuh") Werner.
Age: Appears early twenties.
Nationality: German
Role: Juliane is the Horse Mistress at Valencia, and is known for being incredibly frightening. She has no role in this story, but she may appear in that future one I was talking about... Her attitude and habit of allowing students to call her by her first name are traits passed to a future associate of hers, Lenobia.
Appearance: Tall, slim, but physically strong "enough to take on Dimitri Mihailov in a wrestling match". She has a blond haired, blue-eyed Aryan appearance.
Affinity: Horses
Mark: Unknown
Name: Madame Adélaïde Ségaèle
Age: Appears mid-thirties,
Nationality: French (very French...)
Role: Mistress of Sorcery at the House of Night of Valencia (somehow manages to teach French simultaneously...) Anastasia's favourite professor.
Appearance: Wacky, the kind of person who would be an Art teacher. Lots of colourful scarves skirts and bangles. She has very long curly blond hair and green eyes.
Affinity: Sorcery
Mark: A symmetrical Eye of Horus on each cheek, and a line under her eyes to mid-temple, like Egyptian make-up with small Egyptian designs around them.
PROLOGUE
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova is the fourth daughter of Tsar Nicolas II, who aged 16, was Marked. Embarrassed, and unwilling to move to a House of Night away from her family, she conceals the Mark with make-up and suffers daylight, continuing her human life. Only her third older sister, Maria ever finds out, and helps Anastasia to gleam what she can about the vampyre society from books in her father's library. Her father abdicates the Russian throne in February of 1917. After being moved from house to house under house-arrest by the Red Army, on 17th July 1918 at Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Anastasia's family was killed by firing squad at the order of Yakov Yurosky.
