1
:: July 17, 1918 ::
:: St. Petersburg, Russia ::
It was the time of night when dawn was just beginning to consider spreading over the silent city of St. Petersburg, but the darkest parts of the hour still clung stubbornly to street corners like a choking black oil, spilling into alleys, windows, and even the icy greenery of the Summer Garden. The white marble statues guarded the winding pavements, beautiful creatures standing at graceful attention, but indifferent to the passing of time, the scurrying of small animals and birds making preparations for the coming winter months, and the two women who were huddled beneath a playful Psyche and slumbering Cupid.
The older of two, a long-limbed dark-haired woman in her prime, was quietly shushing the shivering, sobbing young girl she held in her arms, ignoring the blood that was steadily soaking into her heavy silk kimono. She had done her best with makeshift bandages, but it was clear that the girl was going to need medical attention if she were to survive the night. “Shh, darling. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
It was if the girl didn’t hear a word she had spoken - instead, she clung to the woman, eyes squeezed shut but unable to prevent the tears of pain and distress that seeped down red-streaked cheeks. The woman, after a few minutes of attempting to console the girl finally just held her, rocking her back and forth, knowing that no words would provide comfort to a girl who had just seen her family executed in front of her, who had barely escaped the slaughter yet was still prey for death’s waiting claws.
As the time continued to pass and the dark gray light of dawn threatened to reveal them, the woman briefly wondered where she could possibly escape to with the easily-identifiable girl in tow. If her face didn’t give her away, the amount of blood and jewel-encrusted clothing certainly would raise questions amongst the Bolsheviks that she simply couldn’t answer. Where had their travel companion disappeared to so quickly and silently? If he had meant to get them to safety, he should have known that St. Petersburg was hardly the place to be - while she had not been back to her beloved home country in months, she knew of the turmoil that was taking place on its soil ever since the end of the Great War and the abdication of the tsar. For the young girl not to be Yekaterinburg would result in chaos, much like the confusion and fear that had spread when she and her companion had arrived in the basement cellar.
As the girl continued to tremble and the woman wondered how long it would take before the Reds came across them, a gray shadow silently approached them from behind the mounted statue of the mischievous Psyche. He was nearly upon them before she realized someone was approaching - she gave a small start and a sharp intake of breath before narrowing her eyes at the man. “Where have you been?”
The man ignored her irritation as he knelt down next to them, stoically replying, “Looking for a doctor. I have one back in Edinburgh. We have to make haste though - the Reds will know that we have her.”
The woman frowned - the man’s quiet and heavily accented Russian made it almost impossible to understand him. “I think they already know from the way we pulled her out of that basement.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m not speaking about those Reds, Miss Pavlova.”
Anna felt her blood run cold at mention of the notorious vampire court - she had only encountered one of them up close before and that experience in London was more than enough. How quickly their masks could change into hideous monsters! Then again, she supposed, humans were the same way - after all, hadn’t they just seen the royal family and their faithful servants brutally gunned down in a dingy, smoke-and-blood-filled basement? In one fell swoop, Russia’s monarchy had come to a gory end...save for the quivering teenage girl in her arms, now the last of the Romanov line.
“We’ll have to travel quickly,” Anna murmured in English, quickly glancing down at the girl whose shivering was now not just from the cool summer night but the onset of shock. She hoped that she hadn’t heard the warning about the vampire court, too distraught in her injuries and grief to notice or care. “Can you distract them? People will want to know where she disappeared to.” She met the man’s eyes for a long moment, unafraid of being pulled into soulgaze with him. After all, her first experience into the world of magic and the like had been because she had looked into his eyes for far too long.
After a few quiet minutes, the man nodded. “Yes, it’s taken care of. We are making sure no one looks for her.” He sighed and for a brief moment, looked much older than his forty-some-odd years. “The world will have to believe she is dead, along with her family.” He paused momentarily, absently stroking the girl’s stained strawberry-blonde hair. “There will be no hiding that a gateway to the Nevernever was opened in that basement though - if she wants to cause a stir, she will spread rumors of an escape.”
As he was speaking, Anna slowly slipped out of her kimono with the liquid grace that she had developed over years of training in the ballet and wrapped it around the girl’s shoulders. She had arrived from the steamy climates of South America, and even though it was summer in Russia, it was nowhere near as warm as where she had come from. Her lightweight dress was woefully inadequate in the cool night, and she couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran through her as she slowly helped the girl to her feet. The man wasn’t impressively tall, but he was still strong enough to scoop the girl up into his arms, ignoring the diamonds that rained from her corset and scattered to the pavement. He made none of the reassurances Anna had, instead mutely nodding his head towards the northern end of the park.
As they hurried as fast as they could towards the unseen entrance to the Nevernever, the girl began to slowly stir out of her stupor, trying to wipe the trickle of blood that ran down her face from the nasty cut on her forehead. Her pale eyes didn’t focus on anything in particular until she finally caught sight of Anna, and quietly murmured, “You’re the ballet dancer.”
Even at their brisk pace, Anna turned her head slightly towards the girl and smiled. “Yes I am, darling. Now hush. We need to get you somewhere safe.”
But the girl wasn’t done. “Did you save Mama and Papa too?”
Anna felt her heart clench in her chest and she ignored the warning look the man gave her - instead, she only smiled again, unable to help the sadness that plagued the corners of her lips. “You must be silent, Nastenka.”
“Please tell me - Alexei? Olga? Maria? Tatiana? They are all safe, tell me. I saw them...I saw them...” Tears prickled at the edge of her eyes, and she tried to squirm away from the man’s grip. The movement caused friction against the numerous cuts and bruises on her body, and she let out a cry of pain which quickly dissolved into a half-screamed sob, “Tell me! I demand you! Where is my family?”
Anna’s heart went out to the poor girl even as they neared their destination where she would be safe, but the ruckus she was causing would surely bring the eyes and ears of guards their way. And how would they explain any of their appearances? She, a world-famous ballerina that should have been half a world away, or her, the mischievous but grievously wounded youngest Royal daughter, or even the man whose on profession made him recognized the world over? She opened to her mouth to shush the girl again, but as it turned out, there was no need. In the middle of her cries and protests, the girl’s lids fell over suddenly dazed blue eyes, and she slowly fell limp in the man’s arms.
At Anna’s curious yet still offended look, the man simply pursed his lips together. “It is a sleeping spell only, Miss Pavlova. Until we find a place that can grant the Grand Duchess asylum, I would rather not bring all of Russia falling upon our heads.”
“Is this part of the war you keep hounding us about?” Anna retorted bitterly, gesturing at the fitfully-sleeping teenager - even a magically-induced slumber couldn’t scare away the demons. “I would think nothing could be greater than our entire world at war, and for so much to change.”
“It’s only in fond and faint memories that you will recall the years of your youth, Anna. A single world at war is the least of my concerns - and the others of our group agree. It is why you all volunteered to help prevent this happening a thousand times greater, a thousand times over.” His Russian was still halting, imperfect, but Anna understood the gist of what he was saying. She pretended that it was because of the cold that gooseflesh appeared on her arms, but both of them knew better, though he was too much of a gentleman to say so.
Instead, he continued, “Did you know the Summer Queen asked for this girl in name? Not another member of her family, but her. Dark forces surrounded this family - I wish I could say everything happened to them because of politics, but unfortunately...” He shook his head, a furious look in his dark eyes. Anna knew that it wasn’t because of the senseless murders but of this game he played with a person he still told them nothing about.
She put a hand on his arm, bringing him to a halt. “We are not your pawns. How many more will have to pay with their very lives before you realize this? Albert and Sir Doyle have been working so very hard to create this...alternate dimension, and you simply don’t see it.” She gestured plaintively to the girl he still cradled in his arms, the cuts to her clothing from sharpened bayonets, her diamond-filled corset shattered from bullets to her chest, her hair matted and tangled from the blood of her mother and father and siblings and servants. “Look at her. You use her to gain a favor from the faerie queen of summer, this child. Can you sacrifice her so easily? Can you sacrifice us so easily, after everything we’ve done to help you fight this invisible war? Tell me please, Harry - what are you fighting for?”
He narrowed his eyes at hers, his uncommonly intelligent face a flurry of emotions before settling on the same expression he usually wore - a calculating calm that spoke nothing of the fires that ran deep. Before Anna could speak again, existence ripped open in front of them. There were no words of magic spoken, no fireworks, no lights. The pathway that had been in front of them simply was replaced by a six-foot-high oval leading to a place of moon-drenched greenish-black grass peppered with love-in-idleness and small little orbs of multicolored lights fluttering amongst the high, thin stalks of greenery.
Anna had only been through the Nevernever once or twice before (not including this bloody night), and both times had been through territory dominated by Winter. This was something different, and she peered at the magical wonderland in surprise before giving the man a betrayed look - had he even listened to her? After all, it was no wonder that he had only used her because of her ethnic and linguistic ties to the girl.
“You are no better than they are,” she said quietly, the wonder of the scene in front of her quickly turning bitter in her mind. The man said nothing for a few seconds before he shifted the girl in his arms, pulling her closer to him.
“I am fighting for a chance, Miss Pavlova,” came the short reply before he walked into the twilight. Anna hesitated for a second before following him and the unconscious Anastasia Romanov into the heart of Summer.