How are my wonderful readers doing? I bring you more of your (hopefully) favourite Russians, Germans and of course, Romanians! Thanks for the support and to Blood Thirsty Angle for the beautiful reviews. Y u no review sometime? ;) Anyway, back to the reason why you come here. Enjoy!

CHAPTER IX: NEW ALLIES, OLD ENEMIES.

The smoke coming out of Yuri's cigarette made my nose wrinkle. Having such a fine sense of smell it was a real pain dealing with strong aromas; I could say it's one of my weaknesses, if I could call it that way, though Stefan says I'm just picky.

"So", Yuri started, smoke coming out of his mouth while he spoke, "you two lost your clan and now are looking for revenge".

Stefan and I nodded. The Russian boy narrowed his eyes and lifted the cigarette to his lips.

"And what do you expect to get from us, precisely?"

"We expect to have you as our allies", answered Stefan in a calm but firm tone. Yuri just kept on narrowing his eyes.

"We never collaborated with the Italians, what makes you think we'd collaborate with you?"

"Yuri…" Viktor scolded the younger vampire.

"No, really, I already lost my brother and I don't intend to lose my clan for someone else who I don't even know!" Yuri seemed quite upset; still, Stefan knew better than to lose his temper.

"We are aware of your loss, that's why we propose you this deal. Klaus and Johann have already agreed to help and I'm sure that with your assistance, we'll soon get a nicely prepared army…"

"Army? You must be insane then. Vampires have used armies against them before and failed", expressed Yuri in self-conceit.

"We know that, we were one of them", I replied, a hard look in my eyes. That made Yuri shut up for a while after which he took a last puff from his cigarette and put it away with a smirk.

"My, my, you really are THOSE Vladimir and Stefan".

I snorted. "Why does everyone doubt about it? Isn't our appearance enough proof of who we are?"

"Impostors abound; they would say anything to drag you into battle. Anyway", Yuri went on, lighting another cigarette, "if you really want our help it'll have to be on our terms, otherwise there'll be no deal". The boy's gaze suddenly drifted away, like he was following something. He quickly stood up, excusing himself and exiting the place abruptly.

"Well, 'manners' could hardly be his last name", I expressed sardonically. He had seemed quite rude to me.

"He's just shocked because of Vasiliy's disappearance", added Sasha in a protective way. "I better go after him to make sure everything's alright".

Sasha was standing up when Viktor grabed him by the wrist. "Don't", he said, "he would kill me if he knew I let you go out alone".

"It's ok; I'll just go get him…"

"Aleksandr!" Viktor warned him and Sasha snorted, going back to his seat. "I'll go get him myself".

Viktor exited the place, leaving a resentful Sasha on the table. He glanced up and found me watching him curiously; he gave me a sideways smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Yuri sees Volturi everywhere", he started, trying to justify his mate's behaviour. "Since Vasiliy's vanishing, I can hardly do anything on my own. Viktor talks about Yuri becoming overprotective but he's not far from being just like him".

I smiled in the most sympathetic way I could manage before turning to the windows on the other side of the place, trying to get a glimpse of our Russian colleague's location.

"You seem so used to human stuff…" I heard Johann say; the boy sounded sincerely astonished with the Russian's behaviour. Sasha chuckled.

"I suppose we got used to pretending. This latte for example; it means nothing to us, just flavoured water, not comparable to blood, but pretending to like it as a human would has saved our lives a few times".

I grew more and more anxious as minutes passed by and neither Yuri nor Viktor returned from wherever they were. Klaus was also alert and so was Stefan; the only ones who seemed completely unaware of danger were Johann and Sasha, deeply concentrated in their conversation.

"Shouldn't we be looking for your friends?" I inquired but then, the door was suddenly opened. Three coated figures entered the room gracefully, one shorter than the others. Their faces were hid thanks to their coat's hoods and they walked randomly around the room. I stiffened when I saw the hands of the shorter figure, thin, delicate hands with a perfect manicure. I quickly glanced down to my coffee, adjusting my own coat around my neck so it covered as much as it could of my hair. Stefan did the same and tried to push me further against the wall so I didn't stand out that much; me and my bloody patent-blond hair. I heard the waitress address the hooded trio, offering them a table.

"It is fine, we're just looking around".

The voice of the shorter figure made my blood boil. I wanted to jump over her and snap her neck right there; I started to tremble anxiously, anger threatening with taking over. Stefan pushed his body harder against mine but I was finding it too hard to control myself.

"Is he ok?" I heard Johann ask. I slowly turned to look at the hooded ones and right when the small figure was about to look my way, Stefan grabbed me by the coat and pushed me to the door, leaving some roubles on the table to pay for the coffees.

The cold Russian night air hit me like a blade. I felt just as if life had gotten back to me. My body started gradually relaxing as Stefan pulled me away from the coffee shop. When we were at a reasonably safe distance from there, I turned to look at him. I was enraged to say the least, and even when I knew he had saved my life, I was too bewildered to think about it.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I objected, completely out of myself.

"Saving your life! Didn't you see who those guys were?"

"Of course, but apparently you didn't! It was that bitch of Jane and two more Volturi guards!"

"Exactly! If you had done anything, they would've submitted you in a second!"

"That's ridiculous, they were completely off-guarded! We could've taken that girl down once and for all! One less Italian to worry about".

"Yes and one less Romanian!" Stefan rage actually hit me this time, but it was accompanied by concern. I launched myself against my lifetime friend, both falling to the snow. By that time of the night, the thin layer of snow had turned into a considerably thick one, staining our coats as we fought. I was nothing but a mess of teeth and claws and Stefan was doing his best to contain me; more than a fight, it looked like a psychiatrist trying to calm down a mentally ill person. I kept on hitting my mate compulsively until composure started coming back. After my outburst of rage, I felt tired, defeated and layed flat on Stefan's chest.

"I was so close, so close…"

Stefan shyly put his arm over my shoulders.

"You're not a coward, you don't kill someone who is off-guarded", he repeated softly.

"They murdered our family cowardly; they deserve to die the same way…"

"I know, but we're in our way to revenge, we just have to wait…"

"How long, Stefan, how long? I think we've waited enough…"

My mate remained quiet; I knew he understood my impotence and also I knew that seeing me this way was painful for him, but my defences were down when Jane and her guards made their big entrance and things had gotten out of my hands. I had to admit, though, that lying like that was relaxing, in fact, I could do it forever…I lifted my head from Stefan's chest and helped him up.

"We better go looks for the others", I said. "They might be worried".

"I can't believe you actually agreed to help them".

"What else could I do? They have a point. They have faced the Volturi before; we could get vital information…"

"Don't call them like that! Volturi…it makes me sick! They're nothing but scum, don't care for their family name, don't care for anything!"

*Sigh* "Anyway, if you want to have the slightest chance to find Vasiliy, you'll have to make small sacrifices".

"As if that wasn't what I've been doing my whole life…"

"Are you going to help too or not?"

"Yes, yes, whatever…what about Sasha?"

"What's with him?"

"Did he agree?"

"Yes, you're the only one still doubting".

"We've been spies, we know better than to trust people just like that. You're the eldest, you should know".

"I do know! But I'm telling you this is our only chance! Besides, with Sasha's help I don't see why we wouldn't succeed".

*Gasp* "You told them?"

"Of course not, I'm not such an idiot".

"Never said so, just thought you had too much faith on the Romanians".

"They came with the Germans; they're supposed to be trustworthy".

"And since when are those Germans trustworthy? Do I have to remind you in what situation did we meet them?"

"I'm aware of it. Still, I think it's our only chance"

"As long as you haven't told them about Sasha…".

*Snort* "I already told you I haven't! I remind you I created you and I deserve at least a bit of trust".

"It's ok; it's ok; knowing that eases my spirit".

"You just have to trust me. Soon we'll find Vasiliy…"

"…and we'll be able to stop this farce…finally"