Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.
Chapter Ten
Volgograd, Russia 1885
The bandwagon stopped in front of the Romanov's mansion and the horses whickered loudly. Alice stepped away from the curtain in her bedroom and hurried downstairs to meet with her family. She saw Yana waiting for her at the bottom, she looked different. Her hair was down, and Alice hadn't realised how incredibly long it was. It stopped just above Yana's hips and the colour was just so divine, it wasn't a dirty blonde nor was it a bleach blonde colour, rather an electric blonde. Alice envied her own handmaiden's beauty.
"Miss Romanova," Yana greeted her as she curtseyed. "Is there something you want me to do?"
Alice smiled, hopping off the last step, shaking her head. "You should come with us." She suggested.
Yana shook her head stubbornly. "I can't. Your father has asked me to stay and look after your brother, after all, he is a bit of an alcoholic."
"To hell with my brother, he can take good care of himself." Yana tried to hold back a smile but failed to do so. She shoved her blonde locks behind her small ears. "Go and pack your bags now. I know you don't have much clothes but I'll buy you some." Yana smiled bigger as her face instantly lit up.
She curtseyed again. "Thank you so much." She said before scurrying away to pack her things.
At that moment Alice's older brother approached her with a glass of bourbon in his hand. His face looked like a masculine version of Alice's, except his nose was quite broader and his eyes were argent-coloured instead of brown. They complimented his dark complexion and dark hair, along with his structural jawline. Surprisingly, he was dressed already, appropriate and formal too. "He can take good care of himself?" He repeated.
Alice nodded. "Yes because you will. Promise me you will." She demanded. Her brother remained still. "Isaak!"
Isaak chuckled half-heartedly and traced an 'X' where his heart was. "Cross my heart, hope to die."
"Stop drinking too, you'll burst your kidney and you won't even know it." She said and Isaak laughed, gulping down the last bit of his bourbon. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"
He nodded. "Yes, by the time you leave Volgograd I'll be in Ukraine with the rest of the soldiers." Alice didn't reply because she didn't know what to say. This was her first time being away from her brother, she had been closer to Isaak than she was with Daniil when they were little and they grew up to become best friends.
"It'll be boring without you brother." She said dejectedly.
Isaak stepped forward and kissed his sibling on the forehead, enveloping his arms around her. "Daniil's not fond of the word 'fun' but you'll have to show him what it means."
Precipitously, the front door burst open and a duplicate of Isaak showed up. Except this duplicate was Daniil. He looked identically similar except for the fact he was an inch taller and his hair was ruffled rather than gelled. "We have to go." He announced, his eyes met with his twin and Alice noticed Daniil's jaw tense up. "Can you hurry up?"
Alice swivelled her body around and gave one last embrace to Isaak. Pulling back, he gave a weak smile and said, "Don't miss me too much."
"Miss Romanova." Yana appeared from the side with her things and a hat, although she was talking to Alice her eyes were on Isaak. Alice smiled and motioned for her to walk closer to which the handmaiden did. The two strode to the door but before they stepped out Alice craned her head and said, "Goodbye Isaak."
Just before Daniil closed the door to initiate their leave he shot his younger brother a dirty scowl. "Take care of her will you?" Isaak asked, breaking the intense stare between them. Daniil reluctantly nodded and eventually he closed the door.
There was a knock on Stefan's now-open door. He rotated his body and saw that his older brother was standing tall with a disconsolate look on his face. Stefan placed Katherine's picture on his desk and folded his arms.
"You found anything?" He asked.
Damon shook his head. "Nothing, no death records or articles of a fire in Bulgaria in 1886." He replied.
Frustrated, Stefan pinched the top of his nose. "How is she?" He asked ignoring the subject for a bit.
"As much as I like the sound of her tears falling down her face, I feel the slightest bit sympathetic. But she broke one my chairs. However," Damon said emphasising his 'however' "I think she's stopped crying, I can't hear her sobs. Can you?" Damon queried and Stefan shook his head. "I did find a birth record of a Daria Romanova born in Volgograd, Russia." He said bringing the subject back.
"Does it say who her parents were?" Stefan pressed.
Damon presented his brother the printed copy of the birth record as he stepped inside. "Marko and Anya Aminasova, they gave the baby up for adoption straight away." He replied, he watched Stefan furrow his eyebrows at the paper.
He shook his head in disagreement and confusion. "That doesn't make sense, the baby's a Romanova and her parents are Aminasova's?"
"It's an anagram ditto. I actually believed in this '2 brains are better than 1' crap until now." A familiar, cunning voice said. The brother's glanced up and saw a weary-looking Katherine sloping against the doorframe of Stefan's room.
"What?" Damon asked.
Katherine sighed loudly and started to explain. "You remember Daniel don't you? Turns out there was another Daniel too who's probably still alive."
"A doppelgänger?" Stefan interrupted.
"A twin brother." She replied. "Daniel had a twin brother called Isaac but it used to be spelt with a K back then. He was a soldier that was due to be stationed in Ukraine the day Alice and her family left, so he had to make a choice. Marko Aminasov is an anagram for Isaak Romanov."
"And you happen to know this?" Damon said.
"I found his wife's diary. Yana Romanova."
Damon knitted his eyebrows and gaped his mouth open. "Alice's handmaiden?" Katherine nodded and then Damon joined the next piece of the puzzle together. "Anya is an anagram for Yana."
She folded her arms. "Don't act so surprised Damon, it was all too good to be true anyway. She was just like Alice, beautiful, smart, kind, that's why you got caught up in her silly web didn't you?" Stefan on the other hand, did act very surprised. It was typical for Damon to hook up with women but Alice's handmaiden? Stefan refused to believe it was true so he tried to block the thought away from his mind. "Anyway, she wrote in her diary that before she became their puppet Isaac and Yana had met in a war camp. Then you know, the typical damsel-in-distress fell in love, they got married young and in secret then eventually she gave birth to a daughter called Daria. Then she wrote about how she was afraid that Isaac's family wouldn't accept her because she wasn't rich blah blah, so she gave the baby up and signed up to be a maid, just so she could be with him every day. The end."
"Wait –" Stefan said. "You said that Isaac might still be alive."
Katherine stood upright. "Oh I forgot to mention that Isaac became a vampire soon after she gave birth."
Damon asked, "How?"
Katherine scrunched her face and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Yana didn't write that part in her diary."
A vibrating sound interrupted their conversation. It sounded like it came from Damon's pocket so he fished it out and answered Elena's plea. He walked away and left Stefan and Katherine by themselves.
She glared at him with a curious yet mischievous look on her face. "What's with you?"
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"You have that look." Katherine said.
"What look?"
"That look that says 'I'm sad so I'm going to write in my diary' look." She replied.
Stefan pursed his lip. "I'm fine."
Katherine scoffed loudly, unfolding her arms as she inched closer to him. "Sure you are Stefan. You are the epitome of fine." She said sarcastically.
"Katherine what do you want?" He quizzed her with a clueless expression.
She sighed and shrugged her shoulders with a disappointed look on her face. "I don't want anything from you Stefan. I just want some leverage so I can get over Nadia's death quickly. I hate this feeling."
"Katherine Pierce's true colours finally show." Katherine rolled her eyes. "You've been running for 500 years, I refuse to believe that you haven't thought about switching your humanity off."
"I have thought about it. Every vampire has, it's our biggest weakness. I've convinced myself that it's okay to deal with the emotional pain rather than bury it and feel it years later when I turn it back on." Stefan remained silent. "Of course you wouldn't know anything about that, they don't call you the Ripper for nothing." Again, Stefan remained silent. "You're scared aren't you Stefan?"
"Scared of what?"
"That she'll turn into you." Katherine saw his fingers flinch as he straightened his posture. "Has she seen what you're capable of?"
"She knows. Why are you even having this conversation with me?" He asked her, profoundly clueless.
Katherine took a big deep breath and looked up at Stefan's pea green eyes. "Because I'm trying to help you by finding the root of your problem with the whole Alice's humanity dilemma. Alice isn't capable of ripping someone's head off and you know it. She's too sensitive. Stop fearing that she'll become a Ripper because that'll stop you from getting her to turn it back on."
"Why are you helping?" He asked her.
She said, "I'm dying, I have no purpose being here anymore." Stefan didn't answer so Katherine sighed. "Look, Alice hasn't seen her brother for 128 years, she really loved him. Wouldn't you feel something if you saw Damon for the first time in 128 years?" She questioned him.
"How am I supposed to find Isaac? He could be anywhere." Stefan insisted.
Katherine displayed a petite paper with cursive writing on it. She had a smirk that crept on her face. "I may have missed the part where Isaac turned his daughter into a vampire. It's a good thing I ran into her in 1922 and befriended her."
Stefan took the paper and looked at the familiar address written on it. The same address to a house that Alice owned in North Carolina. He stared at the paper for a brief moment, then at Katherine before grabbing his keys.
"Alice…Alice wake up." Alice fluttered her eyes open, her vision was blurry at first but after fluttering her eyes a few more times the figure staring at her turned out to be Katherine. Alice immediately sat up and angrily charged at Katherine, using her speed to pin her up on the wall by the throat.
"What do you want?" She growled.
Katherine, who was struggling to breathe tried to remove Alice's grip but the more she tried the tighter Alice gripped. She watched her eyes become enflamed and red. "I…made you…breakfast." She coughed out.
Alice jerked her head to the glass of blood sitting on the coffee table beside the couch. Her eyes were slowly morphing back to its original state. "What?" She said releasing her grasp. Katherine stumbled to the ground and quickly followed Alice back to the couch.
She carefully observed as Alice hurriedly gulped down half of the glass before spitting it out. She coughed uncontrollably as her mouth sizzled like sausages in a saucepan. "I laced the blood with Vervain. Sorry, I must've forgot." Katherine mused with a smirk. When she saw Alice become enraged she rapidly fished out the fork in her back pocket, slamming down Alice's right hand onto the coffee table before stabbing the fork into it. The vampire yelled in pain. Katherine then took the other hand and stabbed another fork into that one.
Alice yelled in pain again, however, this time she laughed. "Is this what you call revenge? You kill my family, I kill Nadia, and then you stab forks into my hands. Real classy Katherine." She mocked.
Katherine peered over her and gave her a disagreeing expression. She took the half empty glass of Vervain-laced blood saying, "I would really watch your tone with me cupcake 'cause there's plenty more where these came from." And, with that, she forced Alice's mouth open and drained the blood down it. She heard her mouth sputter like fireworks. Katherine set the glass down onto the table and dropped her lightweight body onto the couch. "Your boyfriend's have asked me to keep you in the house and since you don't like me I thought I'd keep you pinned here instead."
"I know what you're doing Katherine. I'm surprised Stefan can't see right through you." Alice laughed at herself. "We both know you're only helping because you want Stefan to love you again. Well guess what 'cupcake' he's never going to love you."
"Let's take a History pop quiz." Katherine mused. "In 1864, who went to go look for Katherine Pierce after the founding families captured her? Was it a) Stefan Salvatore; b) Damon Salvatore; or c) both Salvatores?" Katherine leaned towards Alice's ear. "It was C."
"Stop talking your voice is giving me a headache." Alice retorted.
"Next question!" Katherine said. "Who went to look for Alice Reynolds when she didn't come back from Russia in 1886? Was it a) No one; b) Nobody; or c) Not a soul?" Katherine stepped off the couch and faced Alice but was unexpectedly hit in the face when Alice head-butted her firm. Katherine passed out on the floor.
"I got a question. Who hates the sound of Katherine Pierce's voice? Oh that's right, Alice Reynolds."
Damon switched the engine off and peered outside the window of his car. "Are you sure this was her house?" He asked.
"There's only one way to find out." Stefan replied, getting out of the car briskly. Damon followed in his footsteps quickly and the duo reluctantly walked up to the front door.
"What are we supposed to say to her? Hi we're here to see your Father who might help us save your Auntie from ripping people's heads off. Not exactly the best way to introduce her family." Damon said.
"We'll be elusive about it. " His brother advised. Stefan knocked rhythmically on the door.
No answer.
Stefan knocked on it again.
No answer.
Damon peeked through the mail slot and saw nothing but the stairs that once led up to Alice's bedroom. He closed the slot and elevated up. "There's no one inside."
Unexpectedly, the door moaned open and a familiar face appeared before them. It was Yana, but the fledgling version of her, and she had argent-coloured eyes instead of cobalt. They were piercing and both Salvatores had a flashback of their first encounter with Yana.
The door busted open and a young girl, possibly in her late teens, smiled at them warmly. Her face was structured perfectly, like a person had mathematically calculated where her cheekbones would be sculpted. Her eyes were big and dewy like, her nose was broad yet slim on the bridge; and she had the brightest smile.
"Can I help you?" She asked. Her voice was soft and tender sounding. So divinely beautiful.
"Uh –" Stefan mumbled. "We heard you were – um." He forgot his words.
"We heard you were new to the neighbourhood and we wanted to welcome you." Damon finished quickly, smiling at the end.
The girl giggled and opened the door wider. "Oh, you must be looking for Alice."
Stefan smiled too and nodded. "Yeah, is she um – is she here?" He stuttered again.
"She's visiting the town with her Mother but you're welcome to stay and wait for them." She mentioned. "But we only have Russian food." She said with an apologetic look.
Even though the Salvatores knew they were from Russia already they didn't want to appear creepy. "You're from Russia?" Damon exclaimed. "That's actually really surprising, your English is perfect."
"I teach English to Alice." She replied. "My name is Yana."
"I'm Damon Salvatore." He said, putting his hand out for Yana to shake it. She did. "This is my brother Stefan, we live six houses down from you." Damon was too busy chatting to notice a little kid a few metres away had fallen down and cut his leg. Stefan noticed it first and he rapidly warned Damon about it. "It's getting dark, I think we should get going."
"I'll tell Alice you stopped by Mr Salvatore." Yana said.
Damon shook his head but he could already smell the boy's blood drifting into his nose. "You don't have to call us that, honestly. It was a pleasure meeting you." He said smiling.
Yana exchanged the beam and said, "You too Damon."
"Can I help you?" Daria asked them.
Sorry this chapter sucks I just wanted Isaac and Yana's background out of the way. I'm not sure why I suddenly changed my story format to center lol. I'm sorry. Please please please please review as always! I love reading them.
I wasn't exactly sure how to describe Yana since I'm more of an emotional/feelings describing person so I based her appearance on Yana Kudryavtseva, coincident they have the same name? Aha, lol ok.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed.