Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, Teen Wolf: The Series or Twilight. The latter two I take a few elements of their vampire and werewolf lore from. But to be clear this is not a crossover.
Content Warning: Violence and quite a bit of language.
Prologue
When Ivan was about 10 years old his father thought it was time to teach him how to hunt. Ivan's father was a tall, burly and stoic man. Ivan's shorter legs almost couldn't keep up with his father's pace and at times he had to sprint so he wouldn't get left behind.
It was dark and the only thing illuminating the path ahead besides the moon was the oil lamp his father had brought. The only sounds between them were the slight snapping of branches and the crunching of leaves left on the path. Ivan ducked under a stray branch that his father had walked through, as it came back to smack him in the face.
Every so often his father would glance back, his steely grey eyes meeting Ivan's. He could see his thick black mustache and eyebrows before he looked ahead again and continued walking.
After what felt like hours they stopped at a clearing.
"Father, I won't be able to see. How am I going to know what to shoot?" Ivan hadn't questioned why his father had brought him out of bed and into the forest right outside of their town to go hunting in the middle of the night. Father gave orders and the three Braginsky siblings followed them, he gave no room for argument.
Father didn't say a word as he shoved the rifle into Ivan's arms. Ivan stumbled backwards but kept his balance. He felt the weight of the rifle and gazed upon the instrument in wonder. Ivan had never held a rifle before; Father had taken him hunting with him during the day and sometimes at night. Ivan would watch his father shoot down opossums, racoons, coyotes, and deer, because his father told him too, and he would have to gather the dead animals for them to take home to eat.
Father was a woodcutter at the factory, and maintained the machines. He only had a few days off to partake in his favorite pastime. Ivan worked sweeping chimneys to earn them a little extra money since his mother couldn't earn anymore. She died giving birth to Natalya.
"If you can shoot animals in dark, you can shoot in daytime. Try your best." Father said. Ivan swallowed the lump in his throat and copied how his father had instructed him to hold the rifle. They went behind the trees and left the clearing open. Ivan listened, his heart thumped in his chest, but soon there was a slight rustling of some nearby bushes.
Ivan squinted trying to make out the shapes, his father moved the lamp toward that area.
The rusling continued and Ivan aimed at the bush, finger on the trigger, lips pursed.
If I miss it, we won't have breakfast.
A shot rang out and soon the sounds of flapping wings could be heard. Ivan looked up towards the sky to see ravens fleeing from the trees. Ivan looked back to see his father searching through the bush. Ivan lowered his rifle, and watched as his father pulled out the bloody caucus of a brown hare. Father raised it high, and for the first time since his mother passed Ivan could see a smile break out on Father's face.
Ivan let out a laugh, "I got it?" Father nodded and walked out into the clearing, preparing to cross it to join Ivan.
Ivan's small joy was short-lived when in an instant his father was gone. All Ivan saw was a blur run across his vision before his father was not in the clearing anymore. The wind whipped with how fast the creature moved, and momentarily blew Ivan's hair upward.
"Father?" Ivan tightened his grip on the rifle and grabbed the lamp that had been left in the clearing. Ivan looked around only to see nothing but trees, until he heard the snapping of some branches over to his left. Ivan ran in that direction, noticing a trail of fallen branches and knew he was going the right way.
"Father!" Ivan yelled running as fast as he could with some hope that he could catch up to that blur. "Father! He continued to call out, going deeper into the forest, running through thin branches, not even bothering to see about the scratches they were causing on his arms.
And soon Ivan came into another clearing and slumped down to his knees. His chest was aching and his heart was beating so fast it hurt. He took in a few breaths before looking around again. Ivan was surrounded by the darkness and his lamp was growing dimmer, it would need more oil soon. Tears blurred Ivan's vision and he shook his head, "Go away! I need to find Father! I can't do it if I can't see." Ivan furiously wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Ivan heard the faint rushing water of the river nearby and walked towards the river. Maybe he could find someone nearby who could help him. He made it out of the edge of the forest. He could make out a shape closer to the river's outer banks.
"Hello?" Ivan said as he approached the figure. It did not make a sound but Ivan continued forward. As he got closer he could see it was a person. They were laying on their side, back towards Ivan. He recognized the clothes of the person, the tan button up shirt his father was wearing tonight. Ivan moved the lamp over and illuminated the back of the person's hair, black and shaggy. Ivan swallowed and continued to walk around until he met the steely grey eyes of his father.
"Father!" Ivan shook the man's shoulder harshly, watching for a reaction but could only see his lifeless eyes staring soullessly back at him. His skin was also really pale. Ivan's eyes welled up with tears, he screamed for his father, "Father! Father, wake up! Father!"
Ivan changed his screams to cries for help. And soon, Ivan heard the sounds of snapping branches, and heavy thuds. Ivan sniffled and gripped his rifle tighter as tears ran down his cheeks.
Out of the clearing stepped a blond haired man with brown eyes. Ivan had seen the man around town but did not know his name. The man gasped upon seeing them both, and ran over to them in haste.
"I'm going to check his pulse." The man knelt down beside Ivan and felt his father's wrist. The man frowned when his eyes shifted to Ivan.
"Do you live close by? I could take you home."
"No! I won't leave father." Ivan shook his head.
The man put a hand on Ivan's shoulder, "He's dead little boy. There is nothing we can do."
Ivan stood up and so did the man, he glanced back at his father once more. He offered to carry Ivan on his back, Ivan only agreed so he could continue to cry and the man wouldn't be able to see him.
"What were you and your father doing out here at this time of night?" The man asked after they were plagued with silence. Just the crunch of fallen leaves and twigs as the man continued to walk back towards town.
"H-hunting." Ivan said, just above a whisper.
The man hummed in response. "Did you catch anything?"
"A-a r-rabbit."
"You did?"
"Mhmm." Ivan nodded, "A-and then Father got attacked. A blur took him and killed him."
"A blur? Like a large animal?"
"I never saw what it looked like. I only saw a blur, and he was gone. I-It was so fast."
"I'll tell the doctor and he'll be able to say what animal attacked your father."
Ivan soon felt the heaviness of sleep fall on him. He tried to keep his eyes open, but soon he rested his head on the man's shoulder and closed his eyes.
When he awoke he was in bed and the sun was high in the sky, outside of his bedroom window.
It was a silly dream.
Ivan smiled, and the door creaked open. His older sister, Irunya opened the door. She had a smile on her face but Ivan noticed her eyes were red and puffy.
"Get ready for school, Vanya. Breakfast is downstairs."
"I will Nyah."
Irunya nodded and closed the door. Ivan jumped out of bed and grabbed a sponge and a towel.
Ivan went across the hall to the bathroom. He got into the wooden tub and started scrubbing himself with soap and the sponge. Ivan got out and brushed his teeth, scooping toothpaste out of a jar.
Ivan went back into his room with his towel on and changed into his clothes for school. Ivan came back out and went into the kitchen. His little sister Natalya was sitting at the table in a blue dress with ruffles. She was eating oatmeal.
"Ivan, you're going to have to take yourself ánd Natalya to the schoolhouse." Irunya said placing a bowl of oatmeal in front of him when he sat down.
Ivan swallowed a spoonful of oatmeal. "What? Why?"
"Because I have to go apply for a job at the factory."
"But you didn't have to work before. Is father's money not enough?"
Irunya furrowed her eyebrows as her eyes became wet. "Did you forget?"
"Forget what? I had a bad dream, that's all." Ivan spooned more oatmeal into his mouth.
Irunya turned away from him and proceeded to sob.
"Why are you crying sister?"
"She was crying when she told me father's dead." Natalya said before drinking a glass of water.
Ivan squeezed his eyes tight and shook his head.
No. That wasn't real.
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Ivan watched as they lowered the wooden coffin into the ground. Ivan willed himself not to cry as the clergymen started to sing. The towns people surrounded his father's grave, heads bowed. The ceremony went by in a blur until a mysterious man gave Irunya a pamphlet at the end. Everyone else started to disperse.
"I heard Mister Braginsky died under mysterious circumstances." The man smiled, almost in a creepy way. His eyes were as red as apples and his hair was dark brown. He wore a black bowler hat on his head and was dressed in a burgundy suit.
"It was an animal attack. We don't need you poking your nose in our business, Mister Popescu."
"I think you might want to look into it, Miss Braginsky. The supernatural are sneaky and we can't let them go in punished."
"Hark! Stop with your foolishness! We do not want any part in your witchcraft." Irunya crumpled up the pamphlet and threw it into a nearby trash bin. She grabbed Natalya's hand and walked in the direction towards their house.
Ivan was interested. He wanted to know what the "supernatural" was. He knew what attacked his father was not an animal. No animal was so fast he couldn't see it. Ivan grabbed the man's sleeve. "I would like a pamphlet." He said.
Mr. Popescu turned around and looked down at Ivan. He gave him a smile. "Here you go lad." He handed Ivan the pamphlet. "I'd put it away if I were you." He gave Ivan a wink.
Ivan stuffed it down into the pocket of his pants with a nod. He hurriedly caught up to and followed Irunya back home.
The next day when Ivan was walking with Natalya back home from school he decided to go in the direction of Mr. Popescu's shop.
"We passed the house. Where are we going?" Natalya asked.
Ivan shushed her, "We are going back. I just want to go somewhere really quickly."
When they entered the bookstore, Mr. Popescu was behind the counter.
"Hello little ones. I see you've read my pamphlet young Braginsky."
"Ivan, sir." Ivan pulled the pamphlet, crumpled up, out of his pocket. He smoothed it onto the counter. "I would like to kill vampires." Ivan said, his tone serious and his expression as angry as he could muster.
Mr. Popescu smiled and shook his head, "You're too small now to take on a vampire. But I can give you something to read. Know thy enemy as they say." Mr. Popescu got up from his spot behind the counter. He disappeared into the back of his store. Ivan frowned.
"What's a vamfire?" Natalya asked. The young girl was only six years old and she rarely smiled. She stared at Ivan, with her dark blue eyes. Sometimes she creeped Ivan out.
"Vam-pires, they're the monsters that killed Father. I'll kill them all." Ivan looked at her and narrowed his eyes.
"Can I kill them too?" Natalya asked.
"No, you're a little girl. Girls don't kill monsters."
"But I want to kill the vamfires big brother! I want to do it with you!" Natalya stomped her foot.
"No!" He said to her. Natalya screamed and Ivan covered his ears, "Shut up! Shut up!" He said, shaking his head.
Mr. Popescu returned, "What is going on here?"
"Let me kill the vamfires with you big brother!"
"Oh little one, vampires are scary. Stay far away from them now. Read and you will see." Mr. Popescu handed a big book to Natalya which stopped her screaming.
Ivan dug into his pockets and pulled out a few pennies and placed them onto the counter. Mr. Popescu smiled and accepted the change.
"Come again." He said.
"Thank you, sir!" Ivan said before snatching the book away from Natalya. She couldn't read yet anyway.
With that they left the store and went back towards their home.
A/N: Irunya is Ukraine. I read a Tumblr post that said that this was one of the possible names she was given instead of Katyusha. So I'm rolling with it in this story at least.
I hope its clear Irunya's nickname is pronounced (Nuy-uh) and Natalya's is (All-yuh).
Thank you for reading!
Criticism Welcome.
