Vladimir's POV December, 1724. Somewhere in Durbent. FLASHBACK Pain. Never in my life have I felt pain such as this. it was in every single nerve ending, running rampant in my blood and in every breath I took. What had gone wrong? The morning had been the same. The weather was dreadful, rain whipping about, signaling an incoming storm, but that's par for the course for Durbent’s weather. Then a frantic call for help in my mind had thrown it all to hell. Nikitin and I were having a routine meeting when Malchi’s breathless yell for help had shattered my eardrums. It took a few seconds to realize that he had contacted me telepathically. Nikitin shared my look of distress. Malchi must have contacted him as well. ‘What’s wrong brother?’ I asked him in my mind. Malchi, Nikitin and I were brothers. Not in blood, because I was the only son of my mother, but Malchi and I share a father. Nikitin cam along much later. He was Malchi’s first stray actually, but he has proven himself invalua

Vladimir's POV(Continued)   “What the fuck?!” I yelled out, more from shock that she’d dared to hit me rather than from the force of the hit.“Sorry.” Her eyes held more shock and confusion than I felt. A quick glance around showed me that we were still inside Ülenurme Airport, Tartu.Right. So I had been struck by unwanted flashbacks in the airport terminal right after we exited the damn plane.Well, that was embarrassing. It’s a good thing my self conscious days were long behind me.“You were just so still. I almost thought you were frozen, but then you started making those hacking sounds, like you were dying or something.”It had felt like I was dying. To this day, I still have no idea what had kept me alive. Perhaps Alyna and her cronies had gotten over confident and thought me dead long before I actually was?No. Not Alyn

Vladimir's POV(Continued)    "You are not welcome here. I demand you leave." The auburn aired woman -and obvious leader of the trio- gritted out as she glared down at us."Is that so now?" I drawled, taking a leisurely stroll towards them.I took perverse pleasure in the unconscious way they shrank back from me. "And who are you to tell me where I am welcome?""Magdalene Rilba, head of security." She tilted her head up defiantly.I took another step forward just for the hell of it. The scrap of human specimen with the pockmarked face lifted his fingers threateningly. His aura darkened to gray, a pale imitation of the color of a storm.Average.Just like the furious little red head glaring at me, they were all average in powers. Whatever means she came by her position as their leader, it was not because of her abilities.Average.Whatever a Puhvel

“Vladimir.” I corrected swiftly. “I was in the neighborhood.”“Oh, really?  How fortunate for us.” He nodded his head, a small crease above his brow. “I am betting that you wanted to see the sights. The museum is still open, I believe. I will have one of my people take you there.” He snapped his hands and one of the witches guarding him walked forward.The rest of the room -except for the oblivious Josie-, waited with baited breath, dreading my reaction.If I wanted to be a nice man, I would leave, letting rumours fly that Ivan was able to succeed where his daughter failed. However, I was not a man. And second, I was here to ruin them all.My congenial smile spread across my face. “It would be nice to see the city from a native’s point of view. Thank you for the offer, Ivan.”Shock spread across his face at my easy acceptance. All Kora was able to express was her confusion. &ldq

Josie's POV(Contined)    “What?” I gaped at him. I’d heard he was rich, an actual oligarch, but it didn’t sink in until this moment. Not until I was staring at a house -nay. Mansion- that spanned acres. I haven’t been anywhere else on the property, but I have seen houses like this on the lifestyle channel. It probably has an indoor pool, a tennis court, football court and a lounging court where fellow insanely rich assholes like him sit and discuss how much better they are than everyone else.“Josie! We meet again my darling!” Lilya, the effusively loud sister of Vladimir boomed as she rushed out of the house.I’m not certain what to think of Lilya Sedof. She was the exact opposite of Vladimir, loud and chirpy where he was cold and austere. They were both pale and striking in appearance though. Where Vladimir was unfairly handsome and masculine,