These are the things that we know.
I have a personal rule with regard to researching for a historical novel - well, two, actually. One: always triangulate sources (at minimum), so that I'm never relying on one source. Obviously, this is a fictional story, and I do play fast and loose with facts on purpose, but I also like to include as much of the black-and-white truth as I can. Two: always do three times more research than you need. I learn more than I end up sharing, parsing down factoids and tidbits to keep the story on track.
I prefer to write in a limited POV, fully embedded style so that even objective facts are relayed through the biased perspectives of whichever character is currently walking us through the story. I wanted to drop immediately and completely into a historical perspective when it came time for Nikita to take the reins, so I wanted to give the audience a few background notes to start.
It's important, here, as our prologue begins, to understand the state of the world as it stood, then.
For our personal purposes, it's important to understand two true statements:
On December 30th 1916, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by a group of nobles led by Felix Yusupov, husband of the tsar's niece. His body was found a few days later in the Neva River. He'd been shot in the head at close range, according to autopsy reports.
In the wee hours of the morning on July 17th 1918, in the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia, ex-Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, ex-Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children were roused from sleep and escorted by guards out of the home, across the courtyard, and into a basement. Nicholas carried his ailing son, Alexei, in his arms. In the basement, Bolsheviks read Nicholas his death sentence, and then murdered the entire family.
I think I might have always found the tragic tale of the Romanov family fascinating, given its inherit mysticism. But when I was in middle school, I had a social studies teacher who was obsessed with the Romanovs. We strayed far from the syllabus that semester, watching documentaries about Rasputin, about the family, about the revolution as it unfolded. She'd traveled to St. Petersburg multiple times and brought her personal slide shows to share with us. I got bit by the bug, and I've been intrigued by the Russian royals and their terrifying "Mad Monk" ever since.
I saw one review years ago that expressed "why should I care about the Romanovs?" Well. To put it bluntly, I care, and I'm steering this ship. So...
A preferred question, for me, is "why Alexei?" Partly because plenty has already been done with Anastasia, and I like to sidestep convention when I can. Partly because Alexei was the heir, and I needed another prince in my character lineup.
But mostly because of Rasputin. Alexei was the one with hemophilia; he was the one with whom Rasputin spent untold hours locked away. If Rasputin is a vampire, who better and likelier to turn than Alexei?
And if EVER a real-life figure could have been a vampire, it's this guy.
This is where we start. These are the things that we know. And then we meet a different prince.
Prologue
"Are you a prince?"
The man smiled, and his teeth were very white, and the eye teeth, especially, were very sharp. "I am, yes." He crouched down so that he was on eye level with Sasha; his eyes were sky-colored. "And who might you be?"
Again with the melodrama, but I'm not going to go into any detail about Val here, because I very intentionally kept him mysterious in the prologue. Of the many characters I've written, he's one of my absolute favorites. We won't learn it until later, but his chance astral meeting with a small Siberian boy here will rewrite the course of his own destiny. He's bored, petty, and damaged enough to knowingly offer a boy to a monster...just as he's tender enough to love that same boy many years later, and align himself with his cause.
For now, though, he's bored. He'd like to throw a match into a pool of gasoline and see what happens, just to watch the flames dance.
"Christ," he gasped.
The visitor grinned, flashing his fangs. "Close, but not quite, I'm afraid."
The fun thing about the seance scene is that, prior to Val's appearance, all three characters present are real-life figures.
Before Rasputin journeyed to the capital, Tsarina Alexandra sought the mystic healing powers of a Frenchman known to history as Monsieur Phillippe. Those close to the family found his presence concerning, and he was eventually driven away. There's been much speculation as to his true identity, and even some DNA testing, but no one can say definitively who he was.
It was afterward that sisters Milena and Anastasia (Militsa and Stana), who'd married Russian royalty, introduced the family to Rasputin.
