Perfect night for company. (Alexis and Zakhar)

Alexis sat upon the edge of the fountain, enjoying the cool night air and the gentle splashing of water.

Her tiny form was completely overwhelmed by the water feature as she sat there, her legs crossed over each other and a glass of crimson liquid sat resting upon her knee. Wine was not to her tastes tonight and instead she decided to enjoy her meal outdoors.

It had been heated to body temperature and she could not help but let out a contented purr as she brought it to her lips.

The sky was clear and the moon lit up the grounds brightly, it was odd that for such a lovely night that more people were not roaming around. She had not seen anyone as of yet.

Company.

Zakhar wanted the company of someone that wouldn't antagonise him or stay silent as the grave as he tried to spark conversation. He wanted the company of someone that could hold a decent conversation. Someone old; as old or even older than himself. Someone that had life experience that they could share with him. Children these days had nothing going for them and their lives were so incredibly dull.

But to find said conversationalist the Lycan needed to search.

His search had taken him to the library and astronomy tower with no luck. Were there no educated people here that spent their evenings reading or watching the stars? Such a disappointment.

The Lycan was stalking back through the halls towards his room when he spotted a woman sat out on the fountain in the courtyard.

Would she be capable of decent conversation? Women these days were much better educated then the housewives from his day and age. It was possible she had enough education to keep him interested in a conversation with her.

But if she wasn't, then what would he lose? A few moments of the time that he wanted to use up anyway? That didn't sound unpleasant and with that in mind, he stepped out into the cool Italian evening.

Moonlight bathed his pale skin as his feet tapped against the flagstones paving a good portion of the courtyard.

"Evening," he murmured softly as he approached her.

The sharp scent of blood that usually clung to vampires stung his nose and warning bells rang in his head. This woman was a vampire. A strong one, at that, to cause such reactions in him. Hopefully that wouldn't dull the conversation that he craved. Zakhar was wary around vampires and he would jump to accuse or blame a vampire much quicker than he would another species but he could tolerate their presence if they didn't antagonise him.

He hoped this woman wasn't overly antagonistic in nature.

The sounds of approaching footsteps rung in her ears, she could tell by the way they walked that it was a male and the dull scent of fur that radiated off of lycans caught her nose on the breeze.

Her gaze peered at him through her silver veil of hair, though as he got closer she pushed the stray locks back over her shoulder and looked up at him with bright gold eyes that seemed to glow in the night.

"Good Evening."
She chimed in softly, her featured relaxed and calm.

Though violent and volatile by nature she had found that if you did not give lycan's anything negative to react to, most of the time they stayed calm, and if not, she was always ready to defend herself.

She brought the glass that rested on her knee to her lips again and took a sip.

"If the scent of blood upsets you I do apologize, you caught me in the middle of a meal."

She added, looking down at her half empty glass, she would be done with it soon and the scent should not linger too strongly.

"Nice night tonight." His accent as thick and it sounded very out of place compared to the mild accent the woman sported.

He perched himself on the edge of the fountain a little way from Alexis, turning his gaze up to the bright stars.

"Is fine. I've smelt enough blood to not mind smell." His eyes turned to the woman; one a dark, piercing silver and the other a filmy unseeing white. Blind. His lips quirked into a small, pleasant smile.

She nodded softly, her gaze following his up to the sky for a moment, admiring the stars.

"Indeed, very pleasant, it's a shame that Italy is so warm though. I miss the snow."

She replied, reflecting back to her home in Germany, it was always snowing, she was beginning to yearn for the blanket of pure white that covered everything.

"That's good then, there are those who are not fond of it, I find myself having to be wary in their company."

She gazed at his eye for a moment, smiling warmly at the man in return though silently she wondered how he received such a wound

"U vas yestʹ prekrasnaya aktsentom."

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'You have a lovely accent.'

Zakhar gave a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "We differ there." One thing he hadn't missed from Russia was the heavy snowfall in the winters.

The Lycan nodded softly. "Is understandable. Blood make many want to fight. Very good at stirring trouble with Volk."

Blood caressed and seduced Lycan's senses and caused rather violent reactions at times. It could be a dangerous thing to have around a volatile Lycan. He had been both witness and victim to its dangers.

He cocked his head to the side, his black hair swaying with his movements.

"Vy govorite na rodnom yazyke?" His mother tongue, in the very least.

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You speak the Mother tongue?

She chuckled softly and shook her head at him.
"What is there not to like about snow?"
Granted she was a vampire, the cold didn't seem to effect her as much as most.

"That is why I try to eat alone, or at least with other vampire's, it's hard to gauge the reaction that a lycan will have around such a thing.
And having a angry lycan pouncing at me is not what I would call pleasant dining company."

A small grin spread across her face for a moment as she took another sip of her drink, placing the glass back on her knees, her slender fingers idly stroking the neck of the glass.

"Da."
She replied simply, smiling over at him, brushing another stray piece of hair from her face.

Her hair use to to be all once length save for her fringe, except after her run in with that bounty hunter who set her on fair, her hair was more layered up the top.

"Being stuck in it with little cloth to cover yourself," was his reply. It was a pretty nasty experience that he ha gone through a few times in his younger, more foolish years.

Since then he had learned to take measures to not find himself in those situations and keep himself as warm as he could during the winters.

"Snow is pretty; is just too cold to stand for long periods of time."

Zakhar nodded. "Does not help that blood reminds us of hunt." Being around a Lycan in the mindset for a hunt was dangerous.

"Eto syurpriz. YA yeshche ne vstrechal cheloveka , kotoryy mozhet govoritʹ na rodnom yazyke zdesʹ."

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That is a surprise. I haven't yet met anyone that can speak the Mother tongue here

"Well then, that was rather foolish of you, wasn't it?"

She chuckled softly and shook her head. Not laughing at him but rather at the mindset of deciding to venture out in the snow with minimal clothing.

"I've never minded the cold, though I suppose that if you live in it long enough you build up a slight immunity to it.
I've always preferred the cold to the heat."

For more reasons that one, heat was too closely linked to fire for her liking.

"Russkiye ne tak uzh otlichayetsya ot nemetskoy , moy rodnoy yazyk .

Khotya ya i ne govoril chto eto dostatochno dolgogo vremeni."

She admitted, giving him a sheepish smile, hoping that he could at least understand her.
Her pronunciation was a little off, it's difficult adding the Russian accent when you already have a German one.

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'Russian is not so different from German, my own mother tongue. Though I have not spoken it is quite some time.'

He gave a shrug. "Eh, could not be helped. At least I still have all toes and fingers." he had been lucky enough not to suffer with frostbite.

He was thankful for that. Incapacitated hunters didn't bring home food.

"Cold is fine; I can deal with cold. Is freezing I have troubles with." Temperatures cold enough to cause major damage were temperatures that Zakhar avoided like the plague. He couldn't deal with those extremes.

"Vy govorite, eto ochenʹ khorosho dlya kogo-to, chto ne govoril v techeniye dlitelʹnogo vremeni," he complimented with a soft smile.

Though it wasn't perfectly clear to him, he could still pick up everything the woman was saying. He was impressed considering it wasn't her Mother tongue.

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You speak it very well for someone that hasn't spoken in a long time

"I suppose that is something to be thankful for at least."
Alexis replied with a gentle nod.

"Spasibo bolʹshoye , priyatno imetʹ kogo-to , chtoby praktikovatʹ yego."

She drank the last of the liquid from her glass before setting it down on the floor, a thought running through her head that made her eyes widen slightly.

"How rude of me, I don't believe I ever introduced myself, I'm Alexis Rozen, it's nice to meet you."
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'Thank you very much, it's nice to have someone to practice it on.'

"Da." He'd be very little without fingers to hold his weapons.

"Praktikuyte vse, chto vy khotite, eto khorosho, chtoby uslyshatʹ rodnoy yazyk snova." He had definitely missed the language in the two and a half decades it had been since he began travelling.

He made a tutting noise. How could the two of them be so rude?

"We are both at fault," he said softly, giving her another soft smile. So far he had enjoyed her company. "Is a pleasure, Alexis. I am Zakhar Avdeyev."

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Practise all you wish, it is good to hear the Mother tongue again

"YA budu , eto vsegda priyatno osvezhitʹ moi drugiye yazyki, ya,
kazhetsya, glavnym obrazom priderzhivatʹsya angliyskogo i nemetskogo
yazykov."

"So what brings you to this coven Zakhar? Another lycan to join Aleksandr's ever expanding pack?

It seems everyday more lycan's turn up on the door step, though I must admit, I have enjoyed the lycan's company much more than any other species so far."

A smile graced her lips as her mind wandered to Tahir for a moment, yes, she had definitely preferred lycan company.
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'I shall, It's always nice to brush up on my other languages, I seem to mostly stick to English and German.'

"Eto pozor, russkiy yazyk takoy krasivyy yazyk." So few people he had met outside of Russian knew the language. It saddened him. It was a truly beautiful language.

Aleksandr? His mind immediately jumped to one man. But that was impossible. Just a coincidence. Someone with the same name, is all.

It had been over half a century since he had seen the Aleksandr that he knew. He wouldn't be surprised if the man had died by now. He was already so old to begin with.

"I decided that we needed to settle down for a while. Travelling with teenager can be hard work." He liked Lino, but there were some things that made travelling with him difficult.

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It's a shame, Russian is such a beautiful language

"Eto, ya rad, chto u menya yestʹ prichina , chtoby ispolʹzovatʹ yego v
nastoyashcheye vremya , pomimo chteniya neskolʹkikh knig, kotoryye
vyzvali moy interes YA deystvitelʹno ne ispolʹzovali yego v nekotoroye
vremya."

She admitted, she decided that out of whimsy if she were to talk to Zakhar more often that she would continue to speak mostly in Russian to him, what was the point of knowing the language if she never used it?

"Well if you're looking for peace and quiet I'd suggest saying away from the pack, it's one thing after another with those boys, I get exhausted just watching it all, I don't know how my brother puts up with it.

Teenager? A changeling of yours?"
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'It is, I'm glad that I have a reason to use it now, apart from reading a few books which have sparked my interest I really have not used it in quite some time.'

Zakhar nodded with a quirk of his lips.

She'd enjoy talking to him in Russian and he's enjoy hearing her speak in Russian. it was a win-win situation for both of them.

"The pack is boisterous, da?"

He wasn't surprised. The bigger a pack got, the more rough and tumble they became. Sometimes it was fun playing with them but others he'd prefer to sit in a corner with a good book. Or spend some time with Lino.

"Da. New to our world. Only half year."

"Not the entire pack, a lot of the younger wolves seem quite tame, oddly enough, it seems to be Zeke and Aodh that cause most of the trouble."

She replied with a chuckle, shaking her head, those two were partners in crime.

"Only half a year? That's cute, a real pup then.
I hope they are adjusting well to being a lycan? Keep the other wolves away from them then.

Like any pack they tend to pick on the youngest members."

She tutted softly, rolling her eyes, lycan's were so cruel at times, vampire's didn't tend to pick on fledgelings, the change was difficult enough without being given a hard time.

Zakhar laughed. What a role reversal. Usually it was the older ones that were more tame. How amusing.

But the laugh cut short. Aodh? What were the chances of both an Aodh and an Aleksanr in the same pack?

"Is there also a Coilean?" he asked, almost jokingly. He really hoped not. Aleksandr he could get on with, but those twins could go fuck themselves sideways with a rusty chainsaw for all he cared. He couldn't stand either of them.

"He can deal with what is given to him." Lino could deal with a bit of bullying.

Her head tilted quizzically as is laughs cut short, had she said something wrong?

"Yes, Coilean is Aodh's brother, do you know the twins by chance?"

She asked gazing at him in slight confusion, he seemed to still be in a joking manner but the way his laugh cut off all of a sudden had her wondering if knowing each other was a positive or a negative.

"Oh take some pity on him, it can't be easy being that young in a coven full of those much older than you so soon after a change like that. Not that I can speak from experience I suppose."

She added with a shrug, she was a pureblood after all, she never had to change.

The Lycan gave a groan and slumped.

Fuck me, he sighed internally. The twins. How he hated those bloody Irish ublyudki! As soon as they found him here, he was going to get Hell from them. He'd give as good as he got.

"Da, I know them, unfortunately..."

Zakhar shook his head softly. "Lino is strong. He will survive bullying."

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Bastards

Alexis chuckled softly.
"Not fond memories I take it.

A little piece of advice, since I am fond of your company and don't want to see you ran out of the coven by them, avoid roaming around during the night.

The twins are pretty much nocturnal, spend most your time out during the day and you shouldn't have a problem avoiding them."

She'd not tell him that Aodh was dating her brother, if there was bad blood between Zakhar and the twins she didn't want Aeker getting dragged into it.

"Easy to do except full moon nights."

Aleksandr made everyone run as a pack. No exceptions. he'd be forced to deal with them then and he knew it'd be him coming out worse in those instances. He was nearly a third of their age and he hadn't had Alek's fighting training like they had.

He stood no chance against the twins.

But if the twins were living nocturnally now, he'd be able to avoid them for the rest of the month.

"Unfortunately I can not help you there.
I make a habit of going into town on full moon nights, the last thing I want is to be around a pack of angry lycan, it would be bad for my well being."

In the forest would be the last place on earth she wanted to be on the full moon, no force in heave or hell could make her go down there with the pack running around.

He sighed and rubbed his face.

Dammit.

He was going to be spending days after each full moon recovering from their beatings. He had suffered through the same treatment before. He had hoped to never have to go through that again.

But he had promised Lino that they could settle down here so he'd take each beating as it came until Lino wanted to leave.

"Zakhar, are you okay?"
She asked tentatively, she knew very little about lycan packs but she could see that the full moon was going to be hell for him, by the look on his face.

"If there is anything I can do to help, just ask, Aodh and I are very close.

If having a word with him will do anything to make your situation a bit better let me know, my words don't fall on deaf ears when it comes to him."

Though if Aodh really hated this man, she doubted there was anything she could do the help him.