“WAIT, IVAN NO!” Yelena screeched as the elder vaewolf dived at her. This was the same occurrence that happened every time she came home. He forgot that she was part of the family. “PLEASE STOP!” He was still yelling at her and still trying to stab her. Luckily she was fast as she shadow stepped all over the house. Finally, she found a room just far enough away and shut the door quietly.

Yelena crawled into the closet and sat in the corner. She would hide there until it was safe. It appeared like Celeste and Nemesis weren’t home just yet. Maybe she should have waited until she knew it was safe… Since when did Ivan get to come home so much anyways?

The vaewolf was a beautiful woman standing at five feet even. She had long tresses of dark chocolate hair and Celeste’s red eyes. Her lips were painted a blood red and her outfit was elegant. At least it used to be before Ivan started to chase her. Yelena closed her eyes and she found herself dosing off. She didn’t know how long she would be in the closet but she figured that Ivan would be screaming about her to Celeste… Celeste would stop him and she would be able to come out of the closet.

“Traitor, traitor, Imma stab you!”, Ivan shouted gleefully at the top of his lungs as he hunted her. She thought that she could just barge into the house whenever she felt like it, even though it had been years since he last saw her? Blasphemy! Mama Volkov would surely want her dead, at least in the recesses of his mind did he believe that to be the case as he nearly made contact with his dagger on her arm. “Little rabbit, you can run but sooner or later I will catch you this time!” He leaped over various furniture, knocking down vases and other objects during their chase. The house looked like it had been ransacked but still, he couldn’t catch Yelena.

At one point, he tripped and fell flat on his smug face, making it easier for her so escape. “Damn rabbit! I will find you and stabby stabby your face!” Ivan spat before getting up and started to sniff her out. Despite seeming like an idiot, he was an effective hunter, which granted him his place in the Volkovs. His job was rather simple- kill those that the alphas wanted dead, particularly those of the family that had betrayed them. He searched all around, save for the private rooms and offices of the masters, but there was one place that wasn’t off-limits and that was the new guy’s room.

Ivan didn’t care that the other man was a beta for he was here first, therefore in his mind, he was his superior. He opened the door and could smell her scent and decided to check everywhere first before the closet, to make sure he wasn’t thrown off on purpose. He tore apart the bed first and looked under it, and then the drawers were searched through. Each move was made as noisy as possible for all nearby to here as he waved his dagger around and practiced his stabbing motions as if he was a child pretending to be a swordsman.

Meanwhile, a particular beta arrived back home from his service for the evening at the Bastion. He had some ideas for Nemesis to open a sort of chain of churches throughout Revaliir as a means to spread His word around and gather more followers. Perhaps his brother didn’t wish for all this “unnecessary” attention but to Reaver, it made sense to him. He came home to see the place being a mess before he ran up, calling for Celeste or Nemesis. So far no answer but as he reached the top of the stairs, he smelled that someone was close. No, two people. And it was coming from the direction of his bedroom. An annoyed growl left his lips as he identified one of them as that insane fool Ivan. The other, though, was a mystery that would soon be solved when he flung the door open and stared at the man that was goofing off and practically destroyed his room.

“Ivan, LEAVE!”, he roared with green eyes seeping into black.

“Huh? But…I have to find the rabbit so I can stabby…”

Reaver didn’t want to hear this nonsense and he made his point clear the moment he launched himself over to him, clasped his hand around his throat before lifting him up and slamming him to the floor. “LEAVE!”

Ivan got up and dusted himself off. “Fine, but when you see her, let her know that I’m waiting.” He stuck his tongue out at Reaver, who merely death stared him before he took his leave. Slamming the door behind him, the beta was still looking at his door when he called out, “Alright, come on out now. He’s gone.” He had no idea who the hell Ivan was chasing, and quite frankly he didn’t care. Unless he heard from one the alphas themselves or someone of capable thought like Sergei or Ayla, then he wouldn’t put up with that man’s antics.

“Why is Ivan chasing you, rabbit?”, he asked as he inspected the damage to his room.

Finally, Ivan had entered Reaver’s room and she snapped awake. She was attempting to keep herself calm as her heart would give her away if not her smell first. She curled up as close as she could to the back of the closet and waited. If anything Celeste had taught her how to hide herself and be an effective spy but Ivan was trained to come after people like her. It’s what made him so scary.

Once Reaver had chased off Ivan Yelena crawled her way out of the closet. She was small and lithe, she didn’t really look dangerous as the other Volkovs in the house. Her red eyes were held a really gentle and soft look as she looked him over. “Because Ivan keeps forgetting I exist,” she sounded exhausted. “So when he sees me he thinks I’ve betrayed the family. I go away on special trips for Lady Celeste a lot. I’m her other Beta Yelena.”

Her eyes scanned him over. “I thought they would be home so I thought it was safe to come back… I should have written home first but I didn’t expect to be left alone with Ivan. I am so sorry about your room and the house. If I had stopped shadow-stepping he would have stabbed me again. He almost killed me the last three times.” She held up her arms and showed him all the defensive marks that she had from Ivan. “He puts wolfsbane on his weapons for strays and it tends to leave scarring.”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m the youngest Volkov besides Sergei so I can’t defend myself very well against Ivan.”

Despite always have been known to have a level head in comparison to his brother, Reaver's personality seemed to have changed just as much as his blood did when Nemesis turned it. His newfound aggressiveness started out bit by bit at first but individuals like Ivan were able to draw it out in more doses. If he had his way, Reaver would have snapped his neck the moment he saw him, but there were rules that they all had to follow. As annoying as it was, he would have to let him live. But his anger soothed enough to deal with the one that the oaf was hunting down like a madman, and to his surprise, she was such a tiny woman. Why in the nine hells was he chasing her down all over the bloody house?

He got his answer as he cleaned up whatever he could of the mess before starting on the bed and threw the sheets onto it. "I shouldn't be surprised to hear that; Ivan's attention seems to be all over the place at times." So she was sired by Celeste, as Ivan was. Fortunately, the madness didn't seem to take hold of her as the other beta. That was a relief at least. "Well I wish we had met under different circumstances, but I'm Reaver. Sired by Nemesis, who we have a long and winding relationship with before any of you were born, Celeste may be included."

He too was shocked that the alphas weren't here, leaving that fool to run amok in the house. Speaking of which, he knew that they would eventually get home and wonder what would happen. Perhaps Nemesis not so much. He was drawn from his thoughts and eyed Yelena. "No, this isn't your fault. Ivan is unpredictable. I haven't been here long in the house and I know that much." He frowned deeply when he saw the scars that ran down her arms and sat onto the bed as he felt out her personality. There was some trouble figuring out why they had changed this woman- at least from his understanding, the Volkovs was a strong breed. Even Ivan was an effective killer, as troublesome as that could be to believe at times. She was so meek and quiet but he had learned over the years also not to take things at eye value. 

"You say that you are sent on special trips, right? What kind?", he asked, seeking to dig deeper as he went over to the closet and rummage through that of priest wears and certain ones that he donned when he was sent on assassination missions. 

“Ivan has always been like that since I was a little girl,” she answered honestly. She had lived with the Volkovs since before she was turned. She was practically the adopted child of Nemesis and Celeste. “You might be right. When it comes to the alphas I do know that Lady Celeste isn’t nearly as old as Serafina. She is wise though beyond her years.”

When Reaver reassured her it wasn’t her fault Yelena held her hands in front of her and gave him a smile. She was young and continued to act as such even in her fifties. She was aging mentally a lot slower now that she was turned. He sat down on the bed and asked her a few questions. She took her time trying to formulate exactly what it was she had been doing. Soon Yelena was helping him pick up from Ivan’s attack.

“I’m trained a spy and I’m the Volkovs’s poison master. I can also be an effective assassin on the quiet end when Ivan can’t be sent.” She rubbed her arms a bit and stood up. “I must be a lot different than the others…” She knew he had to be thinking of it. “I was brought into the house when I was nine. My father tried to sell me to Celeste and that earned him death but Celeste and Nemesis decided they couldn’t leave me there… So they brought me back here and raised me. When I turned eighteen they gave me the choice to join the family so I could stay because my uncle wanted me to come to live with him. Celeste really doesn’t like my family anymore so she was urging me to accept.”

She blushed a bit and rubbed her neck. “I’m fairly weak for a Volkov but I do try. I’ve spent the last five years dating a bump on the log so I could poison his family and put him in power so Nemesis can dictate their finances better.”

Reaver could only look at her with disbelief; the fact that she had been able to survive Ivan's antics for this long was astonishing. But to his knowledge, Sergei was an only child, so he pondered how she was able to be since she was little. He wasn't going to question it, especially since she was Celeste's beta. His brother's taste in strong mind and will women hadn't changed, it seemed. "I don't envy you in dealing with him for that long. Probably should get a badge or something for it though." 

Her mannerism was certainly like a young blood's, that much was for sure. Or perhaps he was just too old and out of touch with how the world worked now. Either way, he chuckled slightly amongst himself before he sought out for answers, which she would soon give him. Reaver listened as he finished picking up what Ivan had knocked down without merit. "I see, so you don't come home often, hence the Ivan situation. Ah, it can't be helped though since you are only doing what you are told", he shrugged it off, "You lot are an interesting breed. You…Ivan…Ayla… I even find her a bit odd for the reason that she's stuck with her mate. Our alpha male is also someone that's been odd, even now." He folded whatever clothes he needed and placed them into the drawer. Her tale wasn't out of the norm, but the end certainly is since Celeste chose to keep her and offer her the turning. It also may have helped that the couple had yet to had a child back then, so for the three of them, it was a blessing in disguise. 

"Weak…strong…it doesn't matter. From what I've seen, loyalty and purpose are what this family is about. Nemesis had learned those lessons well, took him long enough though. Don't worry your pretty little head about it, Yelena."

Reaver looked at her for a moment before he came over towards her. "You are timid, which might make it easy for Ivan to mess with you. If he tries to stab you, stab him first. He seems to respond to pain quite well from what I've seen."

The moment he heard a door open, his eyes flew over to his own, "Sounds like someone's made it home." It was then followed by an "IVAN!" and a few explicit words which all but confirmed Nemesis's arrival downstairs. "Seems like the fun is about to happen, let's go", he spoke leading the way until he made it downstairs in time to see Ivan with a hand around his throat, thrashing about while Nemesis looked at him with hateful eyes. "What happened…" His voice was cool and calm despite his actions and upon seeing Yelena, he dropped Ivan and sighed. "Yelena…I see now. This oaf didn't hurt you this time, did he?" 

“Ivan has always been that way. Ayla used to punch him when he would scare me when I was a kid. Nemesis actually banished him for a while until I could settle down.” There was a chuckle from her lips as she thought back about it. Celeste and Nemesis had treated me far better than her real parents ever had.

Yelena nodded as she moved to help Reaver now. “Ayla loves Ivan in her own way but throughout the years she’s almost killed him a half dozen times before she changed her mind.” It was always fun to have her family around, once Ivan stopped trying to stab her that is.

Reaver made her feel better about her role in the family and she nodded. “I still make some mistakes once in a while but I’m also still learning. Espionage is a hard thing to learn and master.” Once he approached her she went stiff a little not knowing what he was up to. She was rather timid he wasn’t wrong about that. “I’ll remember that.” She offered up a smile and nodded.

“Aye,” she looked around Reaver and waited for the yell. “It’s Papa.” Her voice said it in a whisper as she lurked downstairs with Reaver. Once Nemesis addressed her she shook her head. “No Papa. Reaver stopped him. I’m sorry about the house I was trying to get away from him.”

Leaving Reaver’s side she approached Nemesis with no problem at all. She only hesitated near Ivan and moved away from him to give her adoptive father a kiss on the cheek. “The paperwork and everything for the trade deal is on your desk. I diverted all the funding from the Liones to us as you wanted.” She put her arms behind her back. “It was getting hairy the last few months so I had to ghost him. He actually proposed.” She rubbed the back of her neck and laughed.

“Killed myself in a carriage accident. Fire, charred body, he’ll never know the difference… First time setting a body on fire though, it stinks." She was like a doting daughter telling her father the adventure she went on. "I used that woman from that one family that Mama doesn't like for the body. I can't remember their names right now. I made sure they can't figure out it was us." She moved like the shadows just like Celeste taught her.

Nemesis glanced over to Yelena when she came down the stairs. “I hadn’t expected you home so suddenly. Had I known, I would have sent Ivan on a mission.” Preferably into an active volcano, though he was wise not to speak of such matters in front of his wife at times. Ivan squirmed about, still trying to escape. “But…but…she hasn’t been home in forever.” Nemesis still had his attention elsewhere, but responded just the same, “You fool, she’s a spy! Of course, she’s gone for long periods of time!” It had been explained to him several hundred times and either Ivan couldn’t retrain the information or he was simply stupid. If it was up to Nemesis, he would have decided that it was truly the latter option. But at least Yelena looked unharmed this time, which was fortunate news for her “brother” considering what Celeste would have done this time.

“Fret not over it. Ivan will be cleaning this up.” This time he turned to face the man and he bore his eyes straight at him. “Isn’t that right, Ivan?” “But I hate cleaning”, he whined before his throat was squeezed tighter. “Sure, sure. Where’s the broom?” He gave his alpha a silly grin right before he was dropped onto his feet and he scurred about, but not before he looked Yelena’s way and stuck his tongue at her. Nemesis gave him a swift kick in the rear and sent him on his way to start cleaning.

“I’d imagine. The boy was never a smart one, to begin with, and I had a hunch he might be the sort to be clingy.” He’d have to overlook the documents later on, but he trusted her word that she completed her mission. “You’re being rather careful. Not into killing and simply taking what you need?”, Reaver asked, there was no malice in his tone but he carried fresh memories of how his brother used to operate. “No, I play a much subtle game here. Patience didn’t come to me quickly, but it has netted a lot more gains”, he simply replied, noticing that Ivan was sweeping up the mess he made before turning to the group, having a softer face towards Yelena. “Lovely. She’s always hated that woman. Not sure why, but it’s beyond me to care about it. She should be home shortly so that you can give her the good news yourself.

”I also see that you met Reaver. Aside from his terrible jokes, he might be able to show you a thing or two about espionage, given that he has over two thousand years of experience on his belt.”

]“I’m hardly a teacher, Nemesis.”

“And are you doing anything else of importance in the coming days?”

Reaver rolled his eyes, “If she wants to learn then fine. Also fine if you are ordering me to.”

“Oh, it’s not an order, just a thought.” Of course in Reaver’s head, such play with words didn’t seem like he was given the luxury of an option.

Yelena gave a thoughtful look to her adopted father as he made the comment. “Oh no, it was my own fault for coming home without sending word first. I was just so excited to be able to get a bath in my own tub and sleep in my own bed. Not to mention wear my own clothes again.” The girl watched as her ‘older brother’ got in trouble and even his butt kicked. “Alright, thank you big brother, Ivan, for cleaning up.” Was it cheeky? Absolutely.

There was a furious nod from Yelena as Nemesis described the man she had been sent to. “He tried to crawl into my bed once and I did everything in my power not to crush his sad little neck,” Yelena had a low voice as she held a frown. “I did kick him across the room but thankfully he couldn’t remember. Knocked him out cold but didn’t break any of his bones. I wish I had though… Gosh, Papa he really was a little creeper, still is. I feel sorry for the woman who has to marry him.”

The soft face Nemesis gave her made her smile up at him. He was the father she had never had before the moment Celeste and he took her in. They did everything that a family would have and she was there as a big sister for Sergei when she could be. “I will!” She was ecstatic about seeing her mother once more. “Oh, Reaver? He saved me! He chased Ivan away. I was hiding in Reaver’s closet waiting until you got home.”

Her eyes lit up when she heard he might be able to teach her. “That sounds like fun! I can show him around the apothecary room!” She reacted in excitement as she took Reaver’s hand and started to pull him. “Come! I can show you!” She was young, headstrong, and vibrant. She did have a tendency to be timid but right now she was excited. “I haven’t been in there for a few years now! I can’t wait to be in my own bed either.” She gave a sheepish smile to Reaver as she pulled him along more.

Yelena was excited about having someone to share interests with as she unlocked the door to the apothecary room. “Here it is!” There were several plants around that were obviously poisonous. On the wall of the room was a painting of a very young Yelena sitting next to Celeste and Nemesis. Each of them either having their arm around her or holding her hand. “This is mine and Celeste’s room. We do all of our potion-making here!”

She took him over to a potted plant that was huge. It had large Venus flytraps. “Look at them! We’ve been growing them since I was a little girl because I liked it and Mama takes care of it for me when I’m not here!”

Ivan glanced up to his “little sister” and made a gruesome face while running his finger across his neck. Of course, Nemesis caught sight of that and growled at him. “Clean…up…” The assassin saw this and whined a bit before continuing with his duty. But this was not over between him and Yelena; they were far from over in his mind. Once he became vindictive, it was like trying to get a wolverine off you back.

The god had felt some remorse for her plight, namely the suitor that she had to fool and his sickening ways. Had there been any other way at the time, he would have pursued a method that would have left him dead instead of his parents. “His usefulness will come to an end at some point; when that arrives, I’ll gladly share the news of his death with you.” But at least now she was safe and sound back home where she belonged.

Reaver shrugged it off, “All I know is that a certain someone was making an ass out of themselves at the expense of my quarters. Heaven knows that I wasn’t aware of her until afterward.” He wasn’t a hero nor did he paint himself as such. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”, Ivan cried, “I was the good one! She hasn’t been seen in ages”

Nemesis place his hand onto his face and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. If Celeste didn’t get home soon enough, she would be down one less beta, he swore. “Ivan, she’s BEEN ON A MISSION! We’ve told you this several times now.” While those two went at it, Reaver found himself being pulled away from the chaos and ended up in the apothecary room. She seemed to have made a change in mood rather quickly, but she was far younger compared to himself, he had to remember. It was one of the few rooms he had avoided up to this point, and clearly it was something sacred to both Yelena and Celeste. He looked around, entertained as one could be when walking into a room filled with dangerous flora as possible. “Much patience, time and care went into them, I see.” Poisons weren’t really his thing, but at the same time, he could appreciate the dedication they had here.

“How long had you been away?”, he asked as he continued to study the venus flytraps.