Two for tragedy. Volume 1 - стр. 9

– You're wrong: Mariszka is in my hands! – my brother merrily parried, putting his arm round his beloved's waist.

– You scoundrel, always thinking only of himself! Cedric, your brother is an incorrigible possessive! – Mariszka said just as cheerfully at Markus's remark.

We laughed. But suddenly I noticed that Mariska was looking at the two strangers with a fleeting glance.

This caused me to smile slightly. I knew why she had brought them – to marry one of them to me, and I was unpleasantly surprised by these attempts to interfere in my life.

– These are my friends from Russia: Emma and Samantha," Mariszka introduced her. I greeted the girls delicately, saying all the appropriate words about the joy of our acquaintance and so on, but I did not kiss their hands. I felt unpleasant that they had agreed to take part in this adventure, and I let them know that I had figured out their plans, ignoring their beautiful, outstretched hands to me.

The guests tried, with mild surprise, to pretend as if they had no claim to a kiss at all, but they failed rather badly. I knew that in their hearts they were thinking that I was behaving badly to the ladies. But that was to my advantage.

– Cedric, we hear you're going to Russia? – Emma asked me, smiling sweetly.

I noted with annoyance that they must already know almost everything about me. Apparently, Mariszka or my mother had had an entertaining conversation with them about my humble persona.

– I'm going to," I answered coldly enough.

– If you have any uncertainties about Russia, you can ask us: we have lived there quite a long time and know a great deal about the Russian character. Russians are very different from other mortals," Samantha put in.

– How so? – Markus chuckled.

– All Russians are optimists. All of them. But words cannot express everything about the mysterious Russian soul: you need to spend many years on its research, but even then you will not understand it.

– And the blood of Russians? Does it have characteristics inherent only to it? – I asked, still relaxing a little. Talking about the country I had dreamed of travelling to had taken my fancy, and for a while I let my guard down.

– Naturally, but again, I can't tell you what it is – you just have to try it," Samantha smiled at me.

– How did you get to Russia? – Markus asked. Apparently he, like me, was seeing them for the first time, and I was relieved that he wasn't in cahoots with them.

– We're American, but we moved to Russia seven years ago," Emma told him. – It was Samantha who talked me into it, and I must say I have never regretted it.

– And how did you like Russia? – I asked.

– It's a wonderful place to live a modest and quiet life. We live in St Petersburg, but we have been to many cities. – Samantha smiled dreamily and sighed. – A paradise for vampires, believe me!

– How many of them are there? – The conversation was getting to my liking.

– One clan, but quite impressive and numerous. They live in Novgorod and almost never leave the country. It's the Kravitsky clan. Their head – Anton Kravitsky is considered to be a descendant of the Russian prince Alexei Kravitsky, but we know that he himself is.

– How do the Russians feel about us? – Mariszka asked.