His mother would have given her last heel of bread to see the inside of this place. Nikita had given the life of his closest friend - though not willingly.
Shortly after I published White Wolf, a concerned reader reached out to let me know that Chekists were "the bad guys." I assured her that I knew that, and that, if she read the book, she wouldn't find me sympathizing with Soviet secret police. Chapter Four, "The Captain," is a short one, and so this gives me a chance to highlight some of the real history, and inspiration, that went into the novel.
I don't want to bore anyone with an annotated history paper, so I'll try to keep things as breezy as possible. Here's what you need to know: post-revolution, Stalin formed a secret police whose main function was to ensure that Russians behaved like good little Soviets. They weren't out there walking beats, apprehending criminals; for the Bolsheviks - for any communist leadership - independent thought, action, and self-determination are the enemies of the collective. The Cheka spent their days pillaging the homes and secret stores of the Russian people. They pulled up floorboards, took squirrelled away grain, vodka, jewels, valuables...and if there were women in the house, they availed themselves of them, too. There were Chekists who enjoyed this - like Commander Beria, who I include in later chapters, and who was killed by his own men, eventually - but there were lots of young men who went along to get along. I can't believe I'm about to quote The Mummy here...but "better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path." Thanks, Benny.
We don't learn anything about Nikita's political affiliation in this chapter, but we see his leashed anger, and grief, and we know he doesn't want to be doing what he is. If you're thinking, why did I make one of the series' main characters a Chekist? There are a couple reasons.
I always wanted Alexei to be a central character. It would have made sense to start the Russian leg of the series pre-revolution. But Nik and Sasha needed WWII to happen, so they could exist. And I was inspired by two things. One: the real history of the USSR's search for supernatural artifacts. Everyone knows that Hitler had his boys experimenting with the paranormal. But I don't think it's common knowledge that, under Stalin's orders, the Soviets were quietly but seriously searching for a paranormal answer of their own. Keep in mind that at the beginning of the war, Germany and the USSR were allies. Communism and fascism are nothing but separate branches on the same Marxist tree. After their falling out, the Soviets decided to concoct their own supernatural answer to whatever the Germans cooked up.
Obviously, they didn't create a werewolf. Or did they? We'll never know. But that was a huge inspiration for me.
The second bit of inspo was, somehow, nerdier. My divorce from the Marvel Cinematic Universe was finalized years ago. But in 2014,15, 16, I was obsessed. I loved the concept of the Winter Soldier so much that I went out and bought comics.
.jpg)
These two panels actually gave me goosebumps. "We have our winters."
I always find it irritatingly short-sighted when I see people on social media say that the Soviets were "good" because they fought Hitler. Soviet leadership was evil, but in WWII, the West was going to take whatever help it could get. And one thing history has taught us about Russia is that no one can conquer it over land via traditional, old-school methods. I'm looking at you, Napolean. There are some really cool stories about some badass Russians who took on the Germans, most especially the female sniper units, which inspired Katya's character, but it was Russia itself, the landscape, its winter, that bogged the Germans down in a permanent two-front war. You aren't just fighting men, you're fighting winter. You're fighting the land.
We meet Nikita here, fresh off another failed mission to find a supernatural artifact. He's dressed as Chekists were back then, meant to intimidate: all black, long leather trench coat, gloves, hat. We'll learn later that he's a White, rather than a Red, and what that means for him personally. But in the meantime, we're with him when he first meets Monsieur Philippe, the first of many real-life historical figures to grace the pages of this book. The major general here is also a real-life dude.
Timeline wise, this meeting takes place after the Red Army managed to hold off the Germans at Moscow. The Nazis never made it all the way into the capital, but the army took a major manpower hit. At this point, conscripts were brought in from Siberia to fill the ranks, so even if he wasn't turned, Sasha would have wound up a soldier anyway.
There's so many characters in this series, but I see Nik as the central character. Like I said last post, he's the glue that ties it all together, so I'm super excited to be digging into the flashback section of this book. Nik might be my absolute favorite of all my many characters, so it'll be fun to spend some time in his head.
Also, far warning: I view myself as an entertainer, and I don't comment on politics or current events, because no one is here for that. I want to provide an escape for readers. But I'm not down with the Soviets, or communism in general, so...be prepared for that.
