SL Update August 2013

 Please follow the characters here at the following Twitter IDs: 

My partner in life and justice: 
@Roman_Zimojic

My dear friend and former boss:
@EricNorthmanSVM

His Children and my friends
@Jason_S_SVM and
@pamiraravenscroft 

@EtherealGuard_   A powerful guardian inhabited with Ari Rowe Godrik's spirit

My diligent and clever assistant
@Anya_Crane_
and her new and worthy husband
@OsgarCrane

They did it... no holds barred a success for the Authority and there's nothing that the Chancellory can say otherwise. Roman's efforts to mainstream are proving successful internally even if beyond the compound walls we still have a device that's capable of draining vampires and humans both. 

With taking on Dark Fae as a ward and allowing her to use her talents for vampires Roman has succeeded in opening to doors to mainstreaming yet a third species.  That her new husband it Earth Fae and Shifter and also proved his mettle perhaps even regardng a fourth.  Frankly... I'm trying to stay open-minded, given my experience with vampires for the most part,  but I hope the Universe is done dropping supernatural surprises at us. I don't know how many divisions a mainstreaming Authority could help along. 

The man that Osgar and Anya brought back was named Harold, emphasis on WAS. It took weeks but we set him up with the Washington D.C. human F.B.I. and the Bureau of Supernatural Afffairs and the Witness Protection Program to create a new identity, one safe from  humans and supernaturals alike.  All of it was on the assumption that the would turn over the evidence we needed, testimony about his brother's history before dying in my hands but not by them.  Who was Harold now, after his release?  That would be telling. Sorry. 

His brother's name had been Esteban and he had been plagued with illnesses and likely PTSD coming back serving overseas. Harold had turned to small crimes to send his brother money to help him survive as well as he could.  The crimes, however, got bigger and bigger... until they got past Harold's abilities and ended him up where we found him, a border prison that was bad by even those standards.   

A few months after being locked up, however,  Esteban and Harold's money position's had reversed. Harold shared how the money had started flowing the opposite way. Esteban was sending him money instead, into a trust account that was waiting for him on release.  And he had promised to hire a lawyer for him from Austin, TX - one from the capital familiar with border prison cases, a private one, not a public defender.  Somehow Esteban had moved up in the financial world at about the same time the draining device's first fatalities were emerging.  

When his memory failed on the name of the lawyer who had contacted him a short time before Roman glamoured it from him and then glamoured in his new life, repairing motorcylces and being an advocate for vampire and human co-existence.  

The attorney that'd been retained was named Aaron Savidge.  One ABA database inquiry later I looked up at Roman and wondered how we were getting to Austin, via his very private airline or if I might dust off my skills and portal us there.  Given who Savidge was it was going to be worth the trip. My few enhanced-fae talents may not fade but there was a rustiness of disuse to be considered.

That, at least had gone well, one thing had not. Word had reached us that Ari Rowe Godrick had been killed in the line of duty, her unit decimated by a pack of weres involved in a crime syndicate.  It had been an organized hit. The flash had come up on the inter-agency alerts and I'd read it with a quiet horror of grief and respect.  

She'd been my first exposure to telepathy before my own rarely used talents were sparked, without that, I would have checked myself in somewhere the first time it happened when the source was me. 

In terms of her death... the Northman's were going to be devastated, to say nothing of Godric and whatever I could do to help I would. The only thing I was unable to do was move with them personally when the dealt with the situation. Politics and position. I considered doing it undercover but the risk to Roman, the Authority, and myself were too great.

I was unsurprised when the call from Eric came, requesting the police report from the Sheriff of the Area where she died.  A request and a few favors later... the thumb drive was in my hand. I met Eric at the Viking's Helm on a nicely busy night and wished him well. I'd read enough to know it was weres and to know it was weres involved with organized crime.  What happened next I was willing to let go, even knowing what would be.  I enforced vampire laws; I didn't obstruct them and weres remained pack-minded and uninterested in blending in our encounters so far.  Their choice. One of the things I quietly appreciated in the darker part of my pysche is that with vampire senses to deal with evidence... justice rarely lost its way. 

What made me worry was the look in Jason's eyes. Whatever they did to deal with this now, Eric, Pam and Jason, no matter how bloody or whatever the body count, I think he was about to learn that even an ultimate revenge was ultimately unfulfilling.  

SL update 20 June 2013 New Lives and a New Life

A mission... there's always a mission, or in this case a job. Powerful as they are in the day, vampires have that vulnerability at night that gives me job security. I just didn't know where that would take me.

I went on that date. I accompanied @Roman_Zimojic to the opening of @VikingsHelm and he was what I've come to expect from male vampires - charming, witty, inevitably experienced, and a marvelous conversationalist only... he was ... better at... far better.  As in I-felt-myself-dissolving-in-his-gaze better.   There are times when you want the world to play fair and times that it doesn't that you don't want it to... and I was experiencing one of them.

I've noticed one of the things that does regrettably happen to many (most) vampires is that they sometimes lose not only sunlight and the ability to affect a thermometer but often their sense of humor over the ages. Maybe they've heard all the jokes? I don't know. Humor has been such a survival mechanism for me that I can't imagine spending eternity not laughing about something, well, someone. Toasters don't pull many one liners.

Imagine my relief - and maybe that's what won me over - to find that Roman Zimojic smiled and laughed as well as he wore a designer suit and therefore... twice over suited me just fine.


The opening of @VikingsHelm ?  Off without a hitch, a place for human and supe alike to mingle mix, barter, make deals, throw peanuts, and spill their drinks and occasionally their cleavage.  I had arranged the security - insisting on a vampire saferoom and the electrification of the fence near the tree line. If humans wanted on the premises with wooden stakes, they'd have to bring their own through the front gate, no snapping them out of the garden walkway.

The other directive on my mind, the birth of the Northman twins.  Amazing... they'd managed it. I got to be a witness to the first vampire/human hybrid children in history. World  - let's welcome the two most wanted children to come into you.

I understand @SookieStack_SVM can talk to them, or emote, with them on some level. I am already imagining the secret smiles behind @EricNorthmanSVM 's broad back already as they grow.  But their birth meant my job was over, the AVL and @NanVFlanaganX had had their cats and kittens, and nothng had come of their dire warnings thankfully.  Maybe the world had had enough shocks that one more they tolerated very well and maybe we'd played it well enough to manage the blow. I like to think I helped. What happened next let me assume I did.

The AVL turned that 30 page contract I'd signed before leaving for Russia only to ultimately come back and not need the International title in it over to the Authority at Nan Flanagan's request. I made her show me the paperwork trail because it was coinciding just a bit with the trail of kisses Roman Zimojic was leaving down the goose-bumps on my neck.  I don't mind favors that have to do strictly with business moving me up the vampire ladder... but I don't want anyone on the outside thinking they came because someone wanted to see up my skirt.

The Vampire Authority had an office in Shreveport and here I was, blinking and staring at a corner office on the third floor (most of the rest of it was underground) on a wing of the building that gave me a direct line of sight to Roman's evening corner office.







Okay... I think he twisted a few arms on the corporate geography but with above ground offices in so little demand - I'll let that one slide.  He is THE AUTHORITY afterall.

                                                          The nook has a psychological advantage I like to use... It's informal, designed for less guarded conversations and still offers the potential that a vampire could still let you out the window if I gave the word...




As for the private sector geography - Well, that has two meanings and feel free to assume. My office has considerations for "human needs" a private bath that includes a black and gold private shower. And with all that warm water already flowing around there - it certainly deserved a proper second christening.

That said I couldn't live there... I moved out of the Northman home to Shreveport, to a luxury hotel with a rooftop pool, maid service provided by the Authority, equipped with secure wi-fi, a vampire safe office and bedroom, and a king-size bed someone else gets to make.

   

The finest restaurants, his luxury penthouse, even a classic drive-in that had somehow survived the modern age - I still look at them through the eyes of the beat cop that was tossing a hood over my car hood not long ago, trading foul-mouthed threats while I searched them for weapons. Well, since they're not much on dining, at least vampires generally don't give a damn which fork I might have wrongly used.
But it's about more than being the boss's girlfriend who does know what she's doing. Something's going on in Shreveport and bound to be going on elsewhere. The Authority was being surveilled and we caught one of the people involved, only to have him suicide, rudely dribbling his churning, cyanide-laden bodily fluids all over my hand as I dragged him down a wall.

So, where do we start? We have a fake utility company vehicle and a corpse that at least yielded some ID.  Our dead perp was a veteran, homeless and recruited from a shelter, via a program funded by an anonymous donor who has since vanished or likes to think they have. Our perp had a brother, in jail now in a town that borders the Mexican border with Texas, run by a pair of rubes who hate vampires but who have a weakness for Fae. What there is of it in my blood wasn't good enough but my secretary - she's a woman of hidden talents.

The Sheriff (HUMAN Sheriff) there fessed up a few things to her that he wouldn't to me - (assuming he wasn't mumbling at some other vampire-loving bitch...) but I want this investigation to take a little bit more of a direct approach. Consulting with Roman, we're sending @AnyaHareston in to get a few more answers. She's going to become a law student researching cases, on a working vacation with her significant other - @OsgarCrane .

The mission is a bit of a test for all of us... Anya's come up with a few surprises of her own that caused a flutter of concern around the Authoriy. She's a Fae, a  Dark Fae, and has only come to that realization herself.  She's finding out what she's capable of and her loyalty hasn't come into question but the Chancellory is nervous and in the back of my mind ... maybe so am I. It's not so much that I doubt Anya or Osgar themselves but what else might be waiting to surprise her? I know the extent of my Fae nature - a bit of mind-reading and ability to sense the portals that have apparently just been spinning around the world all the time and to open a few of them. What Fae I had in me... well, a witch named Miranda gave it an expected boost, so I know I've hit my limit - about Anya we're going to have to see.

Okay folks... COMPLEX reasons all of you who RP will be familiar with if you've RPd for a while- most unhappily some of them left unknown to me... but I discontinued updating here and am now resuming as I can.

In any case, my PM has also gone back to school and for that reason I have also been remiss in keeping up this blog. Recently - I saw a challenge posted on my TL by someone who's turned out to be very special to me and thought this was a perfect means by which to meet it.

I'm going to do that a bit early for Valentine's Day but I have to grab time and opportunity while I can and impulse sometimes deserves to be obeyed.

TO @EricNorthmanSVM, @SookieStack_SVM, @Jason_S_SVM, @Nicole_SVM and @Roman_Zimojic - thanks for patience and a new start...

THAT SAID...

A brief update to let you know where Cassie is so far ::::::::
__________________________________________________________________________
Having returned to Bon Temps from Russia for a lengthy time due to political upheavals and great dissatisfaction with her presence in the court, Cassie has found herself in the employ of the local vampire Sheriff, Eric Northman. He and his beautiful human wife have taken on the task of bringing into the world the first Human/Vampire hybrid children, a boy and a girl. Cassie has put in place protections for when Eric is at rest during the day as there are those who, as one would expect, object to their union much less to the children Sookie now carries.

In the midst of their joy and her happiness for them and the chance to be a part of history, Cassie receives a courier who informs her that due to his inability to guarantee her safety, Alexei is ending their relationship with all the best wishes in the world for her. And while she knows that she can deal with being in danger, Cassie knows that Alexei cannot, that the pressures of the court will be far less for him if she becomes in their eyes his dalliance with a human woman not even of noble blood. Resigned, Cassie has thrown herself into her work which now includes the security, internal and external, of a pub that is a new business venture for Eric Northman and none other than a vampire known as the Guardian, leader of The Authority itself who has the goal of promoting mainstreaming of supernaturals into society.

Assuming it's just the natural charm that vampires can't seem to stop themselves from exuding, Cassie smiles and nods at his compliments and spoken appreciations. She is after all, a rarity to vampires and humans alike, one of the very few humans who has known about vampires long before the Revelation; she knows that her silence has been appreciated and that she can offer insight into his mainstreaming goals. She meets with him with Eric Northman and then alone, impressed by an office that in many ways mirrored one of her own, barely above Spartan in its efficiency and looking all the more efficient because of that.  But what there was of the objects there, she could tell his time had been spent nurturing a taste for things of refinement. Nor, she had to admit, was she immune to his manner of addressing her and of listening to her input, all of it done, by this vampire who ruled The Authority, with sincere respect.

The call to cover some details for the opening of the pub was no surprise, of course. ... and ultimately, neither was Zimojic's request that she accompany him to it.... not in professional capacity.   The request gave her one final pause. She asked him to hold and went outside, out to where the newly awakened, limited power to portal had once allowed her access back to St. Petersburg, to Alexei Romanov, and made one last attempt to bridge the six thousand mile gap with a still-strange-to-her wave of her hand.  It opened for a moment, long enough to let a last wisp of frigid air from the Russian countryside slip through, a final caress, a last fluttering of memory of a cool face that had rested against her breasts. ... and then it closed, not of her volition but some other's, some powerful fae or witch in the palace's employ locking a door Cassie herself, with her trace of fae blood and its accidental enhancement, didn't understand and couldn't overcome.

Sighing once and gently, she slipped the phone back in her hand and found Roman Zimojic there, patiently waiting, offering a response of "Wonderful!" when she told him she was, in more ways than he knew at the moment, free to accompany him and not in a professional capacity...

TBC 

SL update 4/22/12

** Just for the sake of better consistency folks... am changing this blog to third person perspective. ** 

@AppiusOcellaSVM . emerges again with another bit of input for @Alexei_Romanov1, this one in the nature of a mandate. Alexei's absence has weakened their bond and he demands that that weakness be done away with. He commands Alexei to allow himself be bitten and also to take his blood so that once again he would be under Ocella's full control and within the sphere of his awareness.   Later... perhaps just to demonstrate that nothing has tempered Ocella's cruelty in his absence... he drains a young female before him and orders Alexei to dispose of her and lie to the staff that it was an unfortunate... accident. 


Cassie, meanwhile, encounters another problem.  Her recall of @MirandaLaney, which forced her to draw her own blood with a dagger, an athame special to Miranda - who may not know the extent of her own power has had an unexpected effect.  That dash of Fae in Cassie's blood - enough to recall Miranda if needed, liked what it felt - and drew it in, enriched itself with it and left her with a bit of a mystery. Waking next to Alexei, she kissed him and headed for the shower, dressing, she grabbed up the athame and thought the radio had been left on or a monitor - and then slowly came on that realization that what she was hearing were the voices of those around her.  Assuming they were trying to reach Miranda because it was her dagger, Cassie recalls Miranda again and is told... to her shock, that the reason she is hearing voices is because she can now hear the thoughts of those around her.  


Shocked that that tiny bit of Fae could ever do more than spice her blood for vampires, she is given a decision  - whether she wants to enhance that new power.  Realizing what an advantage that could be in her work in relation to humans, she agrees and Miranda takes her through a few exercises to show her how to keep building on her new gift.  For the first time in her life... Cassie finds herself with a supernatural power of her own and comes to terms with it quicky but deeply, riding out from the palace on a huge copper gelding she carefully chose... because she saw that he was large, powerful, and a challenge to tame... just like her new gift. 


Filled with concerns, deep ones about the state of some affairs in the Romanov Kingdom, @Natasha_Cdr  goes to @Irina_IGRM to talk at length.  (See Natasha's Tales here: http://tashastales.tumblr.com/post/20352130597/about-me ).  


Natashas' concern is Cassie and that she lacks the basic understanding of how the palace protocols work and her lack of respect failing to bow to @OlgaNikolaevna_ , one of the most revered royal council members.  


Irina  calms her and explains to her that they are obliged to deal with her American quirks, that Alexei is different than royals in the past in choosing her, that not only is Cassie not going anywhere for the forseeable future but that she will certainly not be given the job to kill her...  Natasha continues to vent, needing her frustrations heard to the friend and colleague she has known for centuries, complaining to Irina of Cassie's boldness, sarcasm, and bragging and what she perceives as her lack of respect. Irina explains that in America... they have no monarchy and that it will take time for her to adjust and to consider that Cassie feels somewhat overwhelmed in the face of all those around her who have done the job she is taking on, in small part, for centuries.  She tell Natasha, if she were able to assign her "homework" - to greet Cassie with a smile and give her some time. She also informs her that she will have a word with Cassie. Agreeing but still unhappy, Natasha is happier to move onto a more enjoyable pursuit, sparring the Irina so that they might hone the hands-on protective skills that have served them for so very long. 


Still dealing with adjusting to telepathic powers, Cassie finds herself not only dining with Irina but of having the privilege of having the dinner prepared by Princess Katia herself, who is desperate to just be Katia.  Over a meal of roast chicken and vegetables and white wine - Cassie and @Katia_Andreev begin a language lesson focusing on simple social interactions, something Cassie has left undone yet in the face of learning military commands. Dining with the first human she's had one on one contact with for any amount of time finds Cassie struggling to conceal her new talent, especially as images of Katia's murdered family pass through the young woman's mind. Katis is struggling still to accept their loss and the loss of her freedom despite the gain of rank and privileges that becoming a royal has provided to her. The two women find a point of contact, of closeness and of laughter when absent gestures by both result in servants leaping to fill Cassie's wine glass and a bevy of kitchen staff surrounding Katia to see what the sudden snap of her own fingers meant she wanted or needed. 




Finally alone,  with much to discuss, Cassie goes to Alexei in his office and as they talk she sees the bite marks on his neck. Slow to heal as they are from his maker, she undoes his collar and asks that they are. Alexei confirms to her that Ocella has compelled him to reinforce their bond against Alexei's will. Cassie reassures him that she understands and Alexei reassures her that their are ways of "negotiating" around the bond, that they are difficult to master and he will have to reacquaint himself with them to be able to connect with her as he once did...to protect her from Ocella's wrath.  Knowing what a challenge that will be and how dangerous for him, Cassie asks if he would really risk that for her, tears streaming down her face, and Alexei reassures her he would.   As the only person in the palace who knows of Ocella's secret brutality to Alexei, Cassie struggles with the news but work demands both of their attentions.  She promises Alexei that later on, back in their chambers, when he is preparing to die for the day that she'll have something positive they can share. 


As dawn approaches and he joins her in the suite, Cassie tells Alexei they have something to celebrate and that her contact with Miranda's power has initiated a change for her... that she can now read minds. Alexei is happy for her but concerned that the change is overwhelming, especially in the light of everything else she's absorbing.  She reassures him that she'll deal with  it somehow, that in the end she knows it will be a huge advantage.   Reaching out for Alexei after they speak of being each other's refuge, Cassie is surprised when he doesn't respond then realizes that he is afraid of Ocella and what the consequences could be since he is still working on mastering how to work his way around the bond. Alexei quells his fear for a moment and takes her in his arms and asks that she speak to no one of what he's told her, to treat Ocella as the others do.  Ocella is loved and revered, that he is barbaric in private to the prince must be their secret... just as Cassie's newly emerged telepathy will be.  Cassie volunteers to simply act as a trinket he has brought back from America - a souvenir of sorts and regretting it mightily, Alexei agrees that would be best.   Feeling the pull of dawn... he lays down to die for the day, trying to relax as Cassie has advised, as she kisses his forehead and lays down to rest with her head upon his chest. 

SL update 4/1/12

At their last meeting Irina tells Alexei that I have something to share with him. When I see him again, I am still under the influence of the spell Kallisto has cast on the palace, barely sleeping and when I do plagued with nightmares. Worn down by its influence, worried about his reaction, I share with him the news that Nikita Steel and I have brought back the body of Rasputin for safe-keeping and that it is enscorcled, showing no sign of decay from the time he was buried.  


Alexei asks to be taken to the body and and to my relief is grateful that we have taken it there and deprived the witches of the power it still contains to this day. He then tells me of the history he shared with Rasputin, of being healed when no other could save him, of their bond that still lives for him to this day. He asks for a time alone with the man he used to call Father Grigory and I depart for our chambers, understanding his need. 


Feeling overcome by all the new responsibilities and attentions and even the benefits of her new status, Katia finds a way to escape them, even if she knows it's brief. I meet her in a palace corridor, looking flustered and  tense. I offer he a chance to keep working on learning self-defense and take her to her first weapon, a bow-staff.  After showing her a few stances with it, I want her to understand the full power one can have when striking with a weapon that increases ones' reach and puts physics in the favor of a more skilled hand. 


My first full force blow knock her on her backside and we laugh but she asks for some ice. I go ot ask the guards for it and when I  leave her alone in the gym, she bolts for the secret garage and her car and flees the restrictions and safety of Alexander Palace. 


The search begins and it is intense but in the midst of it, when all is being done that can be, Irina and Alexei take a few moments to reacquaint back in familiar territory.  They reminisce and reconnect, Alexei reminding her that home and alone they can be as they once were, at ease with each other and simply friends. Still damp from an accompanying snowball fight, they return to the palace in good spirits relative to all that is going on around them. 


Alexei's relief is short-lived. His next reacquaitance is not so pleasant. His maker, @AppiusOcellaSVM  has returned from a task settling disputes in a distant province. He is aware of me already and thinks me unworthy, that Alexei should be involved with someone who can advance him if not politically, at least financially. Alexei defends our involvement, explaining that I am not like other humans and that he believes I am best for him.  Ocella moves on and sets about on his primary goal, forcing Alexei to renew their bond that has been weakened and faded considerably. Given no choice, Alexei finds himself once again bound to a maker who used him cruelly and allowed others to do so as well. 


Not done with us... Kallisto and a weaker witch she is using for back up attack the palace. Her goal is to take back Rasputin's body. She levitates many of the guards into the air, killing and injuring many of them as they hurtle back to the grounds.  She blasts open the gates and the main doors, protected by a magical shield that protects her from the dozens - hundred- of bullets fired in her direction. Seeing her progress, I send most of the sqaudron of guards under my command to join the forces already around Alexei and my chambers, with two sent to secure the entrance to the nearest escape route. I then speak to the captain of the guard and work with him to draw Kallisto into a trap, baiting her to finally open the doors to the secured morgue with magic. 


The instant she does, she is blasted backwards and thrown across the hallway by the powerful wards that Miranda has cast over the room. To recover she begins taking the power of the other witch, enabling me to land several blows that bring her down. However, to enable her escape, Kallisto binds the weaker witch, disabling her completely and allowing me to arrest her and turn her over to the guards. 


Natasha, continuing the search for Katia, finds tire-tracks on a dirt road that match Katia's car and sends her forces to follow them on horseback. 


Walking through the infirmary, speaking with and offering what comfort I can to the troops who were injured in the witch attack, I decide that it's time to recall Mirancda. Going over her instructions one more time in my head, I prick myself with it, over my heart, and then drip the blood on Bon Temps on a map. The blood forms a thread back to the knife and I stretch it back toward me, back into the wound... and wait. 


Miranda arrives while I'm tied up with several things and helps us more than I imagined.  She uses her power to reinforce the drained wards surrounding the morgue that holds Rasputin's body and the family that we now know was not only Katia's but Alexei's. She also undoes the spell that has been giving humans nightmares and depriving them of sleep and then  uses the egg containing Romanov blood, that we now know to also be Katia's, to scry for Katia. 


Katia, having headed all the way to Moscow to access the huge library there, has meanwhile been hacking it to find property records. She locates a record of of ownership for Morgana far back in the records, the witch whose symbols appear on the outside of the Romanov-design egg that had held the blood.  The property is located in an area called Dubna. She feels happy and vindicated in her escape, in that it has proven that she can contribute to the safety of the Alexei and the monarchy but trouble soon follows. Another riot occurs, this one outside the library that causes its shut down while Katia is in the bathroom and no one is aware. She attempts to kick her way out the door but ends up injuring her ankle. 


With the spell to locate her successful, Natasha reports to Irina that they now have the ability to retrieve her.  Irina arranges for a small caravan to retrieve her from the library.  Finding her injured, Irina even allows her to drink from her to repair the injury.  Traveling back in the limo, Katia expresses her regret at the trouble but share with Irina that she has located a possible stronghold Morgana might still be using.  Irian receives the information with great interest and a solid appreciation for Katia's skills. Katia also reveals that she has left a chip in the Moscow computers so that they can access it at anytime without being traced. 

OOC: A Word about our form of RP

So great to have you all following and just a word about some of the dialog exchanges you might see. Our plot is very complex and we aim for our characters to be. For that reason, outside of the plot, you may see us engage in "in character" out of plot discussions/debates as a tool to help both followers and ourselves become more entrenched in the personas we've effected and provide those of you who are following us a better product. So if you see us having a heated discussion and don't see a where or an exact context, we invite you to just go along for the ride and learn a bit more about the participants!

Moving up in... another world...

PLEASE FOLLOW EVERYONE MENTIONED HERE!


Part of it was political in the aftermath of the situation with @FyodorGlazunov , part of it was to take advantage of my relationship with @Alexei_Romanov1 , but the AVL doesn't do things without thinking they can be executed properly. The upshot of which... I was still flattered by the next events that touched my personal and professional lives, which are now unmistably intertwined.


A few days after I had agreed to be courted by Alexei Romanov, there was a small reception at the Waldorf Astoria, designed to thank @MirandaLaney and @NanVFlanaganx for their help in taking Fyodor Glazunov down. We also intended to ask Miranda for her continued assistance since anyone else researching how to remove the curse of seeing his past victims from Alexei would be starting from scratch. She agrees much to our relief and then came my shock. Nan Flanagan arrives with a large file and a request that was as much an order - that I sign a contract with the AVL to become an International Security Liaison.


To say that humans being asked into positions of authority in terms of vampire security is rare ranks up there with the sky being blue and seaweed being wet. The AVL wanted to firm up its relationships internationally and who better to show human/vampire integration than myself after the Glazunov business. Aside from the flattered moment, however, I was thinking clearly enough on my own turn that I knew Alexei's thrown possibly being under threat made me want every available resource at our disposal. With so many vamps in the room, there was plenty of oxygen to spare and I took a deep breath and signed the required time of my life over to the AVL.


We arrived in St. Petersburg a few days later, to all the pomp and circumstance one might expect, saw that the jewels that had been taken were re-secured and I began to learn the lay of my new land. Of course... the palace itself was enough to learn.


Click to see the amazing St. Alexander Palace in St. Petersburg Russia here.


It was immense and laden with passageways and as much gloom as grandeur. Servants scurried about, guards everywhere but everywhere to the point where they became just background. There on the tarmac in the cold moonlight we are introduced to @OlgaNikolaevna_ , another royal who I can tell is barely tolerating me. She doesn't even exit the limo until Alexei emerges from the plane.


The next shock came just as hard as the cold of a that Russian winter, a call from @FyodorGlazunov , one that found him released. The bastard had retained enough friends on the AVL council and had so much of the blame for what I knew to be his actions on the dead Sheriff of Texas Area 8 that he had managed to free himself and return to New York basically unencumbered but still under some suspicion.  The one remaining question is what to do with @Nikita_Steel who is still in holding in one of the suites in the palace, ordering tray after tray of American Twinkies. I'm starting to think that the only reason she has a tooth left in her head is that being a shifter she must get a new set every time she changes.


... that question of @Nikita_Steel gets answered a few days later... days that were apparently busy for Fyodor Glazunov who has also pulled the strings to get Nikita Steel free as well. However there's a part two to that shock when he orders her, in a bout of suspicious altruism to remain at the palace and help us however we need. Something in the message, some phrase or gesture tells her that the order is real and to my utter astonishment, informs me that she'll be, as ever, obeying his command.


I am placed in the position of informing @OlgaNikolaevna_  that we've been joined, without our consent, by the shifter who spent the past few months attempting to kill @Alexei_Romanov . She responds with a comment about my competence that I counter would be better asked of Alexei and perhaps outside the door of the secured room where the royal Romanov jewels, including the ones that had held so much power, had been returned with my help.


In the midst of helping me settle in, and have some kind of normality in terms of a bit of culture shock and the in the wake of the Magisters' being freed and the shifter being assigned to help, I have the chance to become closer to @Katia_Andreev . Our growing friendship led me to be closer to the next tragedy than I'd imagined. Having fallen out of touch with them for longer than was usual, I was with Katia and @Irina_IGRM when we choppered out to her house to check on them.  There we found a  horrific scene, her immediate family slaughtered. Her father and brother had been burned and shocked, magical energies slammed thought their bodies, her mother pinned to the wooden kitchen door with knives, and her sister, who resembled her closely, brutally beaten to death, her body covered in traumatic impact wounds. On each of the bodies, there are carvings in the flesh of runic symbols as well.


The worse part of being around Vice work sometimes is that it overlaps Homicide. We secured the scene and began an investigation run by the palace and not the police given Katia's position. The bodies were moved to the morgue there until we can determine what kind of force was at play and why.


Help for that comes in the form I never would have expected days before: @Nikita_Steel . Her analysis of the scene done through photographs coincides with my own and provides some insights from the point of view of someone accustomed to having supernatural powers to commit murder.


@Nikita_Steel 's presence proves helpful once again a few days later when the sounds of a riot around the front gates of the palace, just after @Irina_IGRM are discussing the return of her weapons. We take on the rioting attempt from the upper floors of the palace, adding our skills to aid the palace guards. I sniper the attackers coming over the top of the wall and Irina gives in and tosses a gun to Nikita. She takes a few well-placed shots and then turns to aid Irina as a blast of supernatural energy erupts through the window and strikes her. Nikita drags her to safety and then leaps out of the window and joins the fray on the ground. The guards have fought back much of the attack and Nikita sets out as a wolf hunting for the witch behind it.


She comes back not long after, dragging the body up the stairs of the palace. I intercept her and we take it down to the morgue also. Nikita has also retrieved an important clue, a jewel-encrusted egg that is magically sealed. We call in @MirandaLaney and she manages to open it and suspend the contents inside, contents that Nikita identifies by its smell as human blood.  @Miranda Laney also recognizes the inlaid jewel pattern on the outside of the egg as having its origin with the Morganian witches that sought to control the Russian aristocracy centuries ago.  Katia had spoken to me of how Alexei's human father had banished them from Russian soil as we'd toured the portrait room and she taught me about his human family that had been murdered.


Going back out, Nikita picks up the scent of another more powerful witch the one we suspect is behind the riot. This time I accompany her as she tracks the scent to... of all places, a graveyard and to a specific grave.  Not just any grave however, the grave of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin - the infamous Russian mystic and the man Alexei called "Father Grigori" who had often healed his hemophilia bout when he was a human child. The taint of magic is strong about the grave and against my will but having no choice, we remove the stones and liberate the casket.


Opening it with her usual impulsiveness, we find to our amazement that the body inside has been tampered with twice. There is a large section of hair missing from the beard and the body shows no sign of decay from the time Rasputin was killed, apparently almost repeatedly.


Learn more about Rasputin here!


The power of Rasputin as a myth and perhaps as a mystic is being used  by the witch to influence the Russian people once again, this time even with him being dead. The properties around him are surviving and being utilized with force enough that Nikita, with me as a regretful partner, haul the casket onto the roof of my SUV and cover it. We take it back for safekeeping to the palace while I dread telling Alexei what we've been forced to do. I know that he had revered the man as a child and having to displace him from his grave was going to be an upsetting matter but less dangerous than leaving him as a resource for the witch.


The witch @KallistoWitch , an agent of @TheWitchMorgana has also, yet unbeknownst to us as yet, has cast a spell on the palace humans that  interferes with their sleep. When they do find rest, they are plagued with nightmares. I have found myself affected but we've yet to discover the cause. 


Alexei returns from handling a situation in a far province, a matter of massive taxes that had apparently been levied while he was absent searching for the jewels. He had found it necessary to even return homes to people that had been taken. Figuring he's been through enough, I spare Alexei the photos of the scene of Katia's family murdered - a choice that proves to be auspicious.


He insists on the details verbally at least and briefing him on events I show him photos of the egg the witch was carrying.  He recognizes a trademark Romanov pattern as a pattern interwoven with but subservient to the Morganic pattern that dominates most of the design.


I listen worried and then the computer in my new communications office alerts us to a message. The DNA I had submitted to the Russian police through Irina's contacts and to the medical databases available has come back with a match. It is the police records that have provided a match to the blood in egg - to our astonishment that blood with in it matches the blood of Katia's mother found at the murder scene... and one more record, older but even more astonishing - the crime scene of the Romanov family murders found in 1991. The tests have been checked and double-checked, the sources are one @Irina_IGRM truss and she has protected the Royal families of Russian for 1500 years. We suddenly have proof in our hands that @Alexei_Romanov1 is no longer the only survivor the the Romanov family massacre, that Katia is of their bloodline, too.  Alexei retires for the evening, before I can tell him that Rasputin's body is now in residence back in his palace.

Katia and Irina go to the computer room where Katia reveals a talent to her, that she is an excellent computer hacker who is eager to use her skills to protect the interests of the Romanov throne. 

Alexei calls Katia into his presence and gently informs her that she is his kin, that she will be elevated to that rank and take up residence in the appropriate rooms in the palace. Alone no longer, she with her recent pain, and Alexei with the pain he has born over a century, they embrace and begin their connection.


With the attack on the palace in mind and the addition of another royal to her protection plans. I approach @Irina_IGRM with a request, the ability to give orders to and make requests of the the daytime detail of guards that protects @Alexei_Romanov1 . She is aware that I can be trusted to protect the prince with my own life and tells me what that would entail to make sure I am aware of the responsibilities and the added knowledge base that it would require. I agree to take on the responsibilities, curbing my worry that I would have to rely solely on others to protect Alexei when at his daytime rest.


Having arrived home from supressing more of the rebellions inspired by Sergei Romanov's vicious and incompetent decisions, the captain of the palace guard @Natasha_Cdr , arrives back in St. Petersburg. She is unhappy with my presence there and @Irina_IGRM finds herself in the position of mediating our positions in terms of protecting Alexei Romanov and his thrown. 


 TBC