CHAPTER VIII.- BLOOD BROTHERS.
The ambient inside the coffee shop was far from being quiet. People gathered around circular tables, grabbing firmly their cups with hot liquid inside of them, chatting and laughing without a care in the world. Loners were sitting at the bar, drinking their coffee silently, most of them reading books or newspapers.
We followed our new Russian acquaintances to one of the small tables in which we hardly fit, sitting elbow to elbow. Viktor ordered 6 Irish cream lattes and waited for the waitress to go away before taking his coat off and starting speaking.
"Sorry to drag you all around the Red Square, but it was too dangerous to meet you inside. Things aren't what they used to be; the times are changing".
There it was again, that phrase; my senses sharpened at the very mention of the word "dangerous". Klaus straightened in his seat, Johann shifted and Stefan shot a meaningful glance at me.
"We know that, that's why we called you", I exclaimed in a more hostile way than I expected.
"Yes, but…" Viktor's response was interrupted by the waitress appearance carrying a tray with the 6 requested lattes. We all nodded politely and she disappeared behind the bar.
"What I was saying is that you don't know how things have been around here. They've been wrong for a long while now, longer than anywhere else in the world. Volturi spies are constantly roaming around the streets; normal people don't notice them or are too used to seeing suspicious individuals and know better than to mess with them. But my mates and I aren't fooled that easily".
"I wonder what that Italian scum can be doing so far from home. I thought rats couldn't stand the cold", hissed Stefan.
"Rats will be rats; cockroaches can stand almost anything, even a nuclear bomb", responded Viktor with another metaphor.
"But why hasn't anybody done anything about it?" asked Johann, concerned.
"You cannot lock up a criminal before he strikes", explained Viktor, who apparently liked speaking with metaphors. "They haven't done much yet, so there's no way to blame them for anything. They're just waiting, observing, looking for something, perhaps".
Klaus, who had been quiet during the whole conversation, suddenly came to life. "Haven't done much? That means they have already done something. And to all that, where is Yuri?"
"He had some things to take care of first. He's not going through his best time, so we decided to give him some space; after all, you don't lose a brother every day".
My body stiffened involuntarily and I unconsciously glanced at Stefan as if I could protect him from any threat just by watching him intently. He sensed my gaze and looked back, smiling discretely.
"Now I understand, someone was missing; I remembered this short-haired boy with a fine nose. I remember him especially because of his unusual hairstyle. He had a small Mohawk, didn't he?" concern hadn't abandoned Johann's voice; on the contrary, the anxiety in his tone was now almost palpable.
"That's Vasiliy, Yuri's brother", confirmed Viktor.
"Sure, how could I forget? He was the youngest of the group…"
"Before Sasha", clarified Viktor. "You'll see, that's part of the problem. Vasiliy's been gone for almost two months now, the same date when the Italian bastards started wandering about".
"Ok, it's an interesting story but I would appreciate if you could start from the beginning", I requested, earning a disapproval glance from Klaus and a raised brow from Viktor.
"We used to be a clan of three when we met Klaus and Johann by coincidence; we were passing by Germany thanks to my job and by 'we', I mean Yuri, Vasiliy and me. We hadn't found Sasha until a year ago, when I had already quit my former job, so he's quite new. We were just starting to get used to being a clan of four when these Volturi bastards appeared and our territory became threatened; they wanted us to give constant reports on our situation, they tried to find out if we had any abilities they could use but we always refused to cooperate with them. They came to check on us sporadically but one day they came to stay; they seemed to have lost interest in us, just roamed around the city until one day, Vasiliy disappeared". Viktor's eyes got clouded by grief. Sasha looked down at his coffee, which was getting cold.
"We wanted to go hunting but he insisted to stay at home", Viktor went on. "By the time we got back, there was nothing but an empty room and snow scattered over the floor. We looked for Vasiliy for days, though there weren't many trails to follow".
"So you assume the Volturi kidnapped him?" asked Stefan in a business-like tone.
"Who else could it be? We are vampires, not many people could care for our existence", replied Viktor, his brow furrowed in concern.
"What about the people of your old work, Vik?" hazarded Klaus.
"I don't think so, most of them are already dead", the Russian vampire answered.
"What did you use to do?" inquired my mate as if he had just read my mind. Viktor took a sip from his coffee and hesitated before answering.
"I used to be a spy, KGB spy, to be more precise. And when I met Klaus and Johann…well, it wasn't a total coincidence. The Stasi had asked for my services and I couldn't refuse, at least not easily; during those years, I was already in a bit of trouble". It was hard for me to tell if Viktor was actually speaking in an apologetic way because of his cool eyes and calm visage.
"Anyway, most of the people that could give me any trouble are already dead, as I mentioned before".
"So if the Volturi actually kidnapped Vasiliy, what would be their objective? What would they expect to achieve? To pressure you into something, perhaps?" Stefan started thinking out loud, trying to solve the enigma. He didn't know though that Viktor had already solved it on his own. The Russian vampire smiled to him, his eyes reflecting hopelessness for an instant.
"They realised Vasiliy had certain 'abilities'. We didn't know much about them, but we knew that sooner or later, they'd find out. Aro can be many things, but he's not stupid and Vasiliy had certainly a lot of potential".
"What kind of abilities?" Stefan kept on pushing further.
"He could get anything he wanted with a single thought, turn men into puppets just by looking them in the eye. We never knew the real extent of his power but we knew for sure he was strong", Viktor took out a cigarette and lit it. "Still, Yuri was always protecting him".
"I'm sure he was", I muttered, louder than I had planned, turning everyone's attention to me. "I mean…I would if I had a brother", I added in order to get their gazes off of me. Viktor smiled reassuringly.
"You lost your entire clan, right?" Viktor stared at me with his deep eyes like he was looking right through me. "How did you cope with it?"
"Vengeance is the sweetest balsam", I responded in the metaphoric way the Russian seemed to like, gazing down into my coffee, already cold. That seemed to please the Russians since they both smiled.
"Perhaps I shouldn't be saying this but since the incident, Yuri's become more protective of Sasha. He follows him almost everywhere and treats him like he used to do with his blood brother". Sasha shifted uncomfortably to Viktor's words, visibly embarrassed by them. The older vampire took another sip from his cup. "Anyway, you shouldn't mention any of this in front of Yuri; it's a delicate subject for him".
"What is it exactly they shouldn't mention in front of me?"
A hand pressed my shoulder down. I turned around irritated and Stefan adopted a defensive position, as defensive as it could be in such reduced space. Viktor smiled affably, his mouth full of coffee; he downed it quickly so he could receive the newcomer.
"Yuri, sobrat! Come join us!"
I slowly turned around to find a pale boy with a smirk in his raspberry-coloured lips. He was even paler than Viktor and his dark hair was very short, military-like. He had small eyes with uncommonly long eyelashes; a small spot adorned the right side of his mouth and very light stubble, almost imperceptible, was starting to form over his upper lip and at his chin. He wore a military-green coat with plush neck. The boy suddenly stretched out over me to grab Sasha's cup with coffee, taking a sip from it just to spit it out.
"Bog, this is terribly cold! Why would anyone want to drink it?" The boy put the cup down as Sasha smiled.
Yuri made his way to the other side of our table, grabbed a chair from a nearby spot and sat beside Sasha, reducing the already inhumanly little space we had. I ended up flattened against the wall, with half of Stefan's body over me. Yuri lit a cigarette before looking back at us.
"So, who are these exotically-looking foreigners?"
Well, update time! Hope you liked this one. I just wanted to say thank you for the support, your views and reviews certainly make me feel better. I'd love to know more about what you think, so don't hesitate to leave a review!
Here are the few foreign words I included. I'm barely starting with Russian, so if there are any corrections you wish to make, I'd gladly accept them.
Sobrat-Fellow
Bog-God
Cheers, everyone!
