| carnage was a young boy. I saw a soldier walk over to him and point a revolver at his temple.
I didn't wait. I smashed the window and jumped into the basement slaughterhouse, and I felt other following me. Gunfire erupted again. Anselmo and his group came in through the inside door and joined in the fray, though there wasn't much left to do. The soldiers fell quickly, and I must admit that some of them were killed despite Anselmo's orders that guards be spared. The whole place was littered with bodies. We checked them all for survivors. Of the family, only two had lived through the massacre, the boy and one of his sisters. Four soldiers were dead, but most survived. About half had injuries. "Hey, boy, are you all right?" I asked the boy. He just stared into space. Sights like this were not something a child's mind could handle. I left him be. The girl was unconscious with a large bruise forming on her forehead. I told Andrei to wrap them in blankets and get them to the car. Once done, I turned to deal with the soldiers. The Lieutenant had survived the battle, and I began planting memories in his head. It was long and convoluted, but I hoped it would be enough. I saw that the other survivors were also having their memories rebuilt. Some of the dead soldiers were being stripped, and their bodies would take the place of the living. I finished by giving the Lieutenant his orders to proceed with his mission, supervised the clean-up and removal of the corpses, and then told our men to leave. I watched Andrei while they were cleaning the basement. He was wrapping he old man in a blanket and taking a long time. I was going to scold him for being slow, but I forgave him when I saw what he was doing. He knelt by the old man and wiped the blood from the bullet wound, then kissed him goodbye. I bid him stay and assist me in the necessary rituals. Of the thirteen souls released in that place, five were summoned and saved. Andrei took special pleasure in binding the soldiers. He took close care of the rest, as the Stroganov family had long ben friends of the Romanovs. Once that deed was done, we left the Ipatiev House and returned to our state of anonymity with our two mortal guests in tow, knowing that the Brujah would move heaven and earth to find the Romanov family, and that their failure would leave a bitter taste, and our revenge was at hand. The only survivors of the Ipatiev House Massacre was Anastasia, the third daughter of the Tsar, and Alexei, the 13-year old heir to the Romanov Dynasty. The dead included Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, daughters Olga, Tatiana, and Maria, Botkin, the family doctor, Demidova, the lady-in-waiting, and Trupp, a family footman. Four soldiers were also killed in the fighting. The soldiers carried on with their mission, but the Domination work was hasty and sloppily done, and there have been drastic inconsistencies in their stories later. In any case, the bodies were first dumped down a shallow mine. The intent was to move the bodies to a second mine but weather interfered, so the soldiers buried the bodies in a hasty grave. Alexei and Anastasia Romanov continued to live in Giovanni protective custody, as did hundred of their family also rescued from across the country. Alexei was granted the Kiss as his twenty fifth birthday present. Anastasia never completely recovered from the night her family was killed and always desired to return to the world of the living. Alexei eventually granted her request, ordering that her memory be wiped of all Giovanni knowledge. She lived on for many decades, eventually dying in 1984 at her new home in New England. Although it took Alexei twelve years to become one of the Giovanni, he was always active in the Family and coordinated Romanov activities. When he became one of the Family proper, he formally assumed control of the Romanov bloodline. Since that time, the Romanovs have been the dominant family in Russia, and is currently in a war with the Brujah over control of the Russian organized crime syndicates. And what about Anastasia? That's a big BIG story, fillied with rumor and counter-rumor, shabby DNA testing, interrogations, and a lot of other bunk. She next appeared in Berlin when she tried to commit suicide by jumping off the Landwehr Canal. She was hospitalized for two years, during which time several of the staff noticed she bore a powerful resemblance to the royal family. After some questioning, the admitted she was indeed Anastasia. There is much more about this remarkable woman and all of her family in her Wikipedia entry. |
| The Romanovs |
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| I thought Anselmo was insane at first. The world was falling apart and we were in the middle of it. But the more I thought on it, the more I realized he was right. We were never going to beat the Brujah here. They had too many numbers and too much support. Instead, we break their nose and rub it in their own shit. Let them spend eternity knowing we got the better of them. And there wasn't any real effect we could manage that would serve that purpose. It had to be something symbolic.
July around Ekaterinburg was lovely, but we didn't have much time to enjoy the scenery. I watched the servants deploy around the little farm, mostly good Pozharski boys. No servants would be going to the house itself, not yet. That was an honor reserved for ourselves. We hadn't yet gotten into position when we heard gunfire inside, lots of it. We had arrived too late. Anselmo waved and charged the building, and we all followed. The guards fell quickly. I reached the house without a sound. There was a little window there at the base of the wall, and I could see flashes along with the gunfire. I looked in and felt my blood go hot. Nearly a dozen men and women of all ages lay on the floor, bullet holes in their heads and chests. In the middle of this |
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