The New Arrival [Isabella]

[aiden]

Izzy smiled, the memory of a laugh in her eyes. "My father always told my brother and I that we were being raised in a sissy world." She kept smiling. "He used to watch those movies with me, and then tell me the originals afterward. He would say 'that's what the world wants you to think, but the real stories are closer to the way things actually work." Her smile faded slightly. "He wanted us to be prepared for the harsh nature of humanity. When people are scared, it's kill first, ask questions later." She shook her head. "Humans are so easily scared too, have you noticed that about them? I think they like to see something dangerous, pretend for a minute that is's something fantastic, and then go home, thinking they are safe and those things could never happen."

Izzy considered for a minute. She had seen something terrible in her life. Only one thing that was truly bad, but it would stick with her forever. But being around so many other creatures, she knew something bad would come of it eventually. "I think I'm in for a rude awakening in this place. I know bad things will happen, but I just can't leave. I want to be here...for my mom." She shut her mouth then, knowing that if she kept talking, it would get personal. Nobody wanted to hear a sob story, and she didn't feel like talking about it. Her shoulders stiffened. "There are a lot of bad people in the world. If I had the drive for it, I would probably do my own version of taking out evil, but I just cant." She looked up then at the sound of a vehicle stopping. "That's your new toy? It's very....black. And shiny." She smiled.

[Urjasz Volkova]

Stepping up to the van, Zakhar gave it two soft taps on the side. "Where ever I go, I need somewhere to stay should I be stuck outside in the day. It's a second home, but also a second storage place." With that said, he jogged over to his luggage and picking it up, jogged back. The van was a ford transit, custom made with bulletproof glass and metal. Opening the back doors, he flung his bags into the back. Climbing in, he checked the four shotguns on the side for ammunition, and then the six AK-47s on the other side. Closing the doors as he jumped out, he locked the van with the keys, the lights flashing twice. "Always need to be armed, like I've said before, my way of life. And if I intend to keep alive, old habits will stay just that, habits."

Casually walking towards the seat, he turned to her and asked "Tell you what, how about we go for a drive? I could drop you off whether you need to go, or give you a tour, well a drive around at least. I don't know all the landmarks and all that." Unlocking the van, he opened the passenger door for her, should she take him up on the offer. "I know I just locked it, better safe that sorry I guess" he joked. Taking a moment to take a breath, he asked carefully "Your mother, you think alot about her. Yet everytime you do the memory is shunned. I felt it was simply more polite to ask about it than just read your mind. Perhaps it would ease whatever is bothering you by talking about it, you know, sharing and all that. This is the only problem with telepathy, you know when someone is lying or troubled. It could help me yes, but having other people's problems always in my mind can get annoying. However, in your case, I'd like to help. Perhaps we can drive and discuss?"

[aiden]

Isabella thought the idea of a sun proof van was very clever for a vampire. Better safe than sorry and all that. She also knew a thing or two about being armed. But considering she was a werewolf, Izzy was always armed, in a sense of the word. Her body was a deadly weapon when she shifted. "I understand being armed. My father taught me how to use weapons as I was growing up. That's something I'm pretty good at really. I like daggers a lot." Izzy didn't prefer guns over knives. Knives felt like an extension of her claws, much more comfortable.

At first, Izzy was a little uncomfortable with the idea of going for a drive. She wasn't used to strangers at all and rarely made friends because she was never on one place for very long. But she considered the conversation they had been having and went with her feeling that it wasn't going to lead to disaster. "Ok, sure we can go for a ride, I guess." She picked up her backpack and got in the van. She smirked because this could have been a classic scene from the horror movies they had just been talking about. Her shoudlers were stiff at the mention of her mother though. "Well...I'm glad you asked rather than taking the information from my mind." She was quiet for a minute, trying to decide what to say. "She ah...she died a couple year ago. It was a hunter. After that, my family really never was the same. It upsets me, but it's just something I have to live with." She shrugged, a little uncomfortable talking about her mother, the women she resembled so strongly that her father couldn't stand to be around her now. "Maybe it would be easier to never know your parents..."

[Urjasz Volkova]

Closing the door behind her, he casually walked around the front of the van, climbing into the driver's seat. The door shutting behind him, he started up the engine and set off, not even aware if the Novosi had noticed or not. "I can not miss what I did not have. That is what they always told me, whenever I would ask. My parents could be alive, or they could be dead. But in every sense to me, they never existed, and I don't know if I should miss that or not. I am sorry to here about your mother, there are many hunters out there who think they are doing the human race a favour by hunting us down, but in reality they are provoking a full scale war. If humans hunt us down, we would have to use more force to get our food. They would never win, for their lives are weak and fragile. They only have their minds to be thankful for, but I use the same traps on different humans all the time. You'd think they'd learn from other people's mistakes. Funny, how reality chooses to differ."

The van was traveling at a fair pace, blending in with the other traffic around them. The moon barely showed in the sky, hidden by clouds of the night. "So, do you change only at full moon or can you do it whenever? Everyone is different, I've met all sorts of your kind. And here's another one, perhaps a lighter tone to all the death talk, but do you have a fella in your life? If so, I bet the traveling makes it harder. I myself haven't been with a woman for quite some time, in the respects of relationships. I've had my fair share, but normally it only goes as far as Novosi or other vampires. I never dared date anyone in the family for fear that they may be directly related to me, or worse, my parents. I must say I've never had the pleasure to make love to a werewolf, but no need to worry, I'm no rapist." As he said that, he took a quick look at the van and laughed, saying "Despite the appearances! Ah I got close to it once. Making love to a werewolf, not raping hahahaha, but she got excited and changed, apparently her alta ego werewolf didn't share the same kind of lust. Like I said, everyone is different. Some control the beast, others have no idea what it does."

[aiden]

Isabella stared at the lights going past the windows, taking in the city in glimpses as they drove past cars and buildings. She was excited to explore the place, too see the history of her parents early relationships. She wondered if anyone they had known still lived here. But then again, the talk of hunters reminded her that there could be some in the city, waiting to kill someone like her. She would have to be very careful from now on.

Izzy smiled, but it was more of a grimace. "Well...I can turn whenever I want to, but it's very rar for someone my age to be able to do that, and it take a lot of energy out of me. I think I can do it because my father is so strong. But on the bad side of that....I feel the call of the moon very strongly. Even a week before the full moon, I feel it in my blood. It aggravates me sometimes, because I get bitchy." She glared at the sky, ungrateful to the moon. But it could be a gift at times, she supposed.

Izzy laughed a little at his comment about being a rapist, with the van and all. "Well most serial rapists can't afford shiny vans. thiers are usually all rusty. And hopefully not full of guns." She was still smiling. "I couldn't imagine that...finding out after a while that the person you were dating was your sister, or cousin or something...too weird." She was quiet for a second then. A little embarassed at her life's lack of experiance. "Well...I'm not in a relationship. Traveling and all....I haven't been around anywhere long enough to really get to know people. And....well living with my parents, I never really was interested back then either. There just always seems to be something more important to do. As for my beast...I think I'm in pretty good control of that. I'm very much still my own person when I shift. Maybe that's because of my father too."

[Urjasz Volkova]

The van was making good time around the city, the Novosi car catching up behind. Zakhar knew they were there. They always were. Above the van, two black ravens flew around the rooftop, gliding every once and awhile past the front window. "Russian shapeshifters. The scouts of the Gorchakov family. They'll be over here scouting the American lands, seeing what places are best to inhabit. Watch out for the human form of them, they tend to be quite wild, they spend alot of their time in the air." As he drove, he peered forward out the window, taking a quick look at them. They're Novosi shapeshifters. Not vampires, but loyal to the Novosi. Novosi ravens have white lines crossing the eyes vertically, Gorchakov ravens have red lines crossing the eyes vertically. They'll be checking you out no doubt, the Novosi don't know if you're a thread or not. They no doubt know your species too."

As the van passed each streetlamp, the birds appeared in the light, disappearing into the dark and reappearing again. After a few more lights they disappeared into the dark and did not appear out the other side in the light. "They have done what they wanted to do. Anyway, your father, he sounds like the powerful type, anyone I should of heard of? Every year in Russia there is a meeting between the species, all sorts come to it. However, it is mainly a Russian-Europe thing, America is still a new country, and despite its human power, in the underworld of our kind, it is just full of travellers. Turning on the sat nav, Zakhar pressed the screen a few times, and a map appeared, with words in Russian all over it. "Ah good, my new outpost is ready for me. It's on the outskirts of town. Tell you what, if you need a place to stay, you're more than welcome to stay over. Don't have to now, but in the future if you need somewhere to go, feel free to come over. Here's the address-" he politely said, handing her a card with an address. One side of the card was in Russian, the other in English.

[aiden]

Izzy had never seen any other type of shapeshifter before, and particularly never a flying type. She knew about were leopards and lions and all of that, but she was surprised that there could be such a thing as a raven that was a shapeshifter. "That's very strange. I've never seen anything like it." she understood about them being wild. Her parents had always warned her that being in your were form for too long could turn you into something more animal than human.

Izzy watched the ravens as she thought of her father. It was a very complicated relationship that she had with him. "My father...he was once a very powerful alpha here. And if his stories are true, then also in a few other places across Europe. He is very old, but I bet there might be a few around here that might remember him." She had the faintest traces of a smile on her face. "He's a very strong person, and I think that makes him such a strong alpha. He cares so much for his people, his family or pack, that he would go to any lengths to keep them safe." She sighed. "I admire his strength and his character. I miss him a lot." She shrugged. "I don't know if you would have ever met him, his name is Logan." Izzy took the card he gave her and read the address. Not that it would help considering she didn't know the streets around here very well. "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. I think I have a bit more adventuring to do before I sleep anywhere though. I was actually planning to see if my father's old house was still up. Or if anyone is living in it."

[Urjasz Volkova]

Zakhar thought for a moment, going over the names of all the people he'd meet or worked for, but shaking his head, he replied "I don't think I ever met a werewolf by the name of Logan. If he was an alpha as well, I would definately remember him. It's bad for business to forget faces. No doubt he is a good man, he seems to of made you a good person. But I must ask, was he happy about you traveling alone? By the sounds of it he's quite protective, but that's only my opinion. It hard to let a child go. I should know, I have one somewhere. But it's the family rules that I should not get to know them. That is why they sent me here at the start of the cold war. I don't even know his name. I don't even know if he's still alive. Every time I go back, I don't know which of the new ones he is, I don't even know his face.

A tear wanted to form. It wanted to escape his eyelids and travel down his cheek, dropping onto the seat below. It wanted to. But it could not, the pain of not even knowing what feeling he should feel took away the motions of the emotions. He thought he'd found love in the past, but he did not know if it was the right feeling. He had felt grief, and it made him feel so human. "I remember his mother, how beautiful she was. She was a Novosi, one of the original sent to look after me. Sofia her name was. We made love during the second world war, our love was so passionate. I deeply loved her, but then I was sent here when she gave birth. I knew the rules, I knew it'd happen. But when Alexei died, who was my best friend in the world, I started asking questions about the system. They told me Sofia had been sent to Ireland, and during the 80's, had been killed in a terrorist bomb attack by the IRA. They had not even told me she had died." He stopped for a moment, swallowing hard, the tear finally forming. Wiping it from his cheek, he carried on "I used to only have one Novosi follow me. Alexei had that job. When he died, I went into a full breakdown. The added knowledge of Sofia's death pushed me over the edge. It was 12 years until I recovered from it. Only last year.... And now, I have more Novosi than I can count following me, each one changing shifts with another monthly, so I don't get attached. But this is the life I know, and no matter what I do, it will always be that way. It took me 12 years to realise that."

[aiden]

Izzy huffed out a breath of air when he asked her if her father minded her traveling alone. "My father....he is a very good person. But after my mother died..." She shrugged. Logan had spent less and less time with her after her mother died. Until it got to the point that he obviously didn't want to see her. "I know he loves me, but...I look just like my mother. It's hard for him. He loved her so much." She shook her head. "He knows that I'm strong enough to take care of myself. He taught me well."

Izzy didn't know if there was anything she could say to console her newfound friend. She couldn't imagine having a child and then losing it to somestupid rule. Her own family had been torn apart by loss, but to not even know...it would be terrible. "I'm sorry to hear about that. It must be hard. I don't know if i could handle that. It must be a very frustrating life." To have a child, and never know them. That was not something Izzy would ever allow of herself. After everything that had happened to her family, she knew that when she finally had one of her own, it would be the most important part of her life.

[Urjasz Volkova]

"It is a hard life, but it one I have learnt to deal with. I will not simply give up and die because life is hard. Anyway, it's for the best, I'd never let them leave their homes. I'm proud anyway, in my mind they are the perfect Gorchakov child. I'm a father and regardless of what is happening, I will be a proud father till the day I die." As he finished speaking, he turned the corner and was forced to slow down by traffic. This city is always busy, it's moments like traffic jams that allow people time to think about their lives. I'd love to be able to think about what could be and what has been. I'd love to think about the loved ones at home. But that is not my life. Yet strangely, I don't know if I miss it, for I never had it. How do you miss something you never had? If I were to find out the identity of my child, the family would have to let me go, and the Novosi abandon me, for I would be too much of a hassle then. One day I would like to meet my child, but if I'm not ready now, after two and a half centuries of life, what is to say he'd be ready to see me? At his age I was murdering the French invaders of Napoleon. That is how long I have been here."

The traffic moved slowly, but eventually the cause of the traffic came into view. A nightclub had police around it, tape all around the club. Public in night wear were being questioned by the police, and a man was being taken out the club by two police officers, his hands handcuffed behind him. Members of the public shouted abuse at him and he was swiftly put into the police car. As Zakhar drove nearer, a bodybag was taken into the club. "These humans are such confusing beings. My species kills for food, or at least a reason. The same applies to your species. But these humans kill for the sake of it. They see it as a way to declare who is the best, when in the end, death finds them anyway. But I suppose I can't talk, I have done bad things in my life. But they were always for a reason." He stopped talking, to think about the Tsar's son, a 13 year old boy who was turning after being given blood by a Novosi. No child must ever be turned, that is the rules. It was Zakhar's job to make sure he did not turn. It was his hardest job he's had to do.

[aiden]

Izzy was glad he had a good outlook on being a parent, even if he didn't know his offspring. Sort of like looking at the cup as half full. And she supposed he had a point about everything else too. You never know what something can be like if you don't have it. As she watched the crime scene pass by, Izzy shrugged. "I can't say I understand everything humans do either. Especially the murdering and violent crime and all that. It seems sort of pointless to me, but I guess it's just another part of population control for them or something."

Her father had interesting views on that as well. He's killed humans, hunters mostly, but at the same time he'd also been a firece protector of the innocent type. It was contradictory, but who wasn't at some point or other anymore? "I guess crime rates would be higher in a place like this. People packed together all the time, driving eachother crazy with all the noise. It's different in Colorado. We lived out of town, so it was peaceful and nobody bothers you our there." Izzy wondered, "What's it like where you're from? Do you live in the city in Russia?"

[Urjasz Volkova]

"The crime rates here are much higher than the humans think, their little wars are nothing like the rivalry of some of the immortal species. If a vampire gets fucked by another immortal, that grudge will continue till either one of them is dead, and during that process others will be dragged in, starting other grudges. It's an ongoing cycle, which will never be broken. Alot of people say that they believe in peace, and aim for a peaceful world. Truth is, if there was peace there would be no progress. Humans make new technology so they can kill the enemy, and new inventions come from those weapons. I have seen many wars, each claimed to be the last big one. They always carry on. Once you find where you stand, you'll be fine surviving. On the brighter side of life, the assholes in life just kill each other off and what with being immortal, their short lives will feel like nothing."

The traffic eased off and Zakhar was able to drive again at a steady pace. "My hometown is Alexandrov, part of Vladimirskaya oblast, a region of Russia. I never got to see much of the actual place, I was either sent elsewhere fighting wars for my leader, or I was too busy working to actually appreciate the place. I kind of wished I had now, but I've got plenty of life ahead to do that. I'm thinking, for my 500th birthday, take a century off for vacation. The family has already agreed to let me have it should I make it to it, so something good to look forward to. Not long to go now, just a few centuries. Time flies by when you're having fun." He smiled, enjoying the fact that centuries felt like decades to him. A whole century of rest sounded quite nice to him, afterall he has worked literally from work. As a child he was a diversion the older vampires could use. By his teens he could easily kill a grown man.

[aiden]

Izzy imagined that Zakhar was right. A grudge between two immortals would most definately be more dangerous than a human fight. It just seemed like humans had more of a desire to cause fights. Or maybe there were just more of them around, so it seemed that way to her.

"My father has been to Russia." She said, remembering his stories from those long ago times. "But that was a very, very long time ago. Before he met my mother and they had us." The us she was referring to were her and her twin, Kaleb. "He had another wife, I think it was in russia....maybe....but she died." He father had had a long life, and much too much heartache within it. "He says it's very beautiful. Maybe I'll go there sometime. But I can't imagine celebrating my 500th birthday in any way yet. I'm only 20." She laughed. 500 years! Izzy's head reeled at the thought of being that old someday. though, her father was older. "Your 500th birthday." She shok her head.