From Russian aristocrat to war criminal in London (Fortidsemne) - Raphael

To say Yakov's life since the death of the Romanovs had been easy, wasn't true to any extent. Maria had died, his lover left him and whatever kindness and purity had been left behind from his time as a guardian angel, had long since left him. He had desperately moved around to different countries, hoping to somehow find a new meaning with his life, but nothing prevailed, and he had been alone. At least until he moved to Germany, and only a few months had passed before Hitler rose to power.

Now, he hadn't exactly thought what the man said was right, but Yakov had followed him nonetheless, and look at where that had brought him. He was walking with a straight back, even as soldiers pushed him along the corridors of the building and his hands were shackled in front of him like he was some sort of war criminal. He didn't know where exactly he was, but there was no way he was going to show weakness in front of these men. His clothes were dirty and torn and no replacement had even been offered. His outer shirt, jacket and shoes had all been taken from him when he was first captured, so he was walking barefooted on the cold tiled floor.

So far they hadn't gotten much out of him. He acted like he didn't understand English, and spoke Russian instead, but sadly they hadn't been doubting that he was on the Germans' side. But he kept at it either way, if nothing else, then just to frustrate the Englishmen around him. He was pushed along until they reached a door which was opened and he was immediately pushed inside. The room was way too white, and Yakov squinted slightly while his eyes got used to the light. "Doctor, we found another one," one of the soldiers said, and Yakov huffed. Another one? "He doesn't speak English, but we believe his name is Jakob Römer," he added, and Yakov rolled his eyes. "Meenya zavoot Yakov Bogdanovich Romanov, predydushchiy angel-khranitel' iz Nikolay II Aleksandrovich Romanov. Vy mozhete vse kooshite govno ee oomeeite."

Raphael had been hard at work for most of the past couple of years. As soon as he had proven his worth to the British laboratory team here, in testing and preparing Todd for them to send him into war, they had put him in charge of the team overseeing the few supernaturals they discovered. they were few and far between, but still, every time a new one got in, Raphael was overly excited to get to experiment on other races. Today he hadn't had any big things yet, the last supernatural they'd had their hands on - a werewolf - had been sentenced to death for treachery to the crown, so he didn't have any 'toys' left to play with right now. This meant he had spend his time getting the laboratory back in tip-top shape, cleaning and reorganizing things.

He heard the steps outside of the door several seconds before the door was opened, which gave him enough time to put down the scalpel he'd just cleaned, and turn around to see the soldiers pulling a man of about his own height with them into the room. He nodded, the weakest of smiles pulling at the corner of his lips when they announced to him that they'd found another one. His gaze traveled to the man when he spoke, and as it did so, he took a deep, long breath, carefully sniffing the air. Even before he heard Yakov talk, he had recognized the smell, and his smile grew just a little. An angel... And from what he himself said, a fallen one, too. Just perfect - he hadn't had an angel in forever! Last time he'd played around with one had been before he got this job - back when he's still been ruled by his hunger more than anything else.

Then his gaze was returned to the soldiers. "You can leave us. Now." he told them, his tone of voice not to be argued with. As soon as they let go of Yakov and turned their backs on them, and walked out of the door, he was at the door in an instant - using his vampire speed - and locked it behind them. Raphael's smile grew a little more, but it was a cold, sinister one. "Is that so. Well, welcome to my laboratory, Yakov. Oh, and that dying thing? Already tried it." yes, he did understand Russian, and spoke a little of it, too, but he had enough respect for the language to not try to talk it more than absolutely necessary.

// Outfit, men med helt sort hår (farvede det ikke dengang).

Yakov didn't seem bothered by the vampire, although he probably should. But the past few years had hardened him to a point where he didn't give a shit about it. By all means, he should've died in Yekaterinburg 23 years ago, and so far he hadn't had much luck in surviving. Maria was dead, Julian left him and since then, he had been alone.

No, he just stood with his back straight and his chin lifted with an arrogant air to him. His dark eyes followed the man closely, and he huffed slightly at the reply. "Then you still have shit to eat, no? And besides, I didn't say you could call me by my first name, did I? And here I thought you Brits had courtesy down to an art," he said cooly and raised an eyebrow. He didn't have much of an accent, to be honest, he was fairly good at the languages he knew. He just didn't really feel like speaking it unless he felt it was needed - and letting soldiers know that he knew their languages wasn't necessary if you asked him.

"So, what do you want from me? I'm guessing that I wasn't put here to give up nazi secrets that both you and I know I don't have." he asked turning to look at the vampire. For a prisoner who was believed to be a Nazi, he was neither malnourished-looking or very beat up. Yeah sure, he had a few bruises here and there, but they were already healing which was what had alarmed the soldiers of his supernatural nature in the first place.

Raphael did notice the lack of fear from the angel in front of him - the way he was standing, the way he spoke, how calm his heartbeat still was, and, of course, none of the acrid smell sweat tended to get when people were afraid. All this just attributed to his keen interest in in the man before him, looking forward to the experiments he was going to perform on him in the near future. A small smile spread on his lips with the comment, and he shrugged as he  walked back around to stand in front of the angel. "Brits in general, yes. I'm a Irishman myself, you see. It's not quite the same." he simply told him, before his eyes were back to studying Yakov from head to toe.

Raphael's eyes snapped back to his face with the question, and his smile grew a bit more crooked, more wicked-looking. "Oh no, no that is indeed not the reason you're here with me. No, you see, I'm running this little part of our operation, supervising anyone that's... More than ordinary, that we find. People such as you or myself." he said, just the slightest glimmer of gleeful madness in his eyes, before it was gone again. "So my mission here, part of my vision, is to see what really makes you tick. How much you can handle, and if we can use any of it to our advantage. i already made a blood demon so much more dangerous before we sent him out against the Nazi..." he might as well just tell him, after all. Because, first of all, he loved to talk about his plan, and second of all, he really had no chance of escaping while Raphael was as fit for fight as he was right now.

Yakov listened silently to Raphael's words and tilted his head ever so slightly. Well, he guessed they were right to send him here. Normally, people who didn't have a keen sense of smell wouldn't realize he was an angel. He didn't have the calming aura, he rarely ever used his wings and he seemed too rough around the edges. What angel would ever let a man who murdered needlessly lead them? Well, fallen ones would. But what probably ticked them off on him not being a human, was probably his healing abilities. They had roughed him up a fair bit, but the only thing that was visible from the abuse was that he was a little more skinny than usual, and his skin was a little dirty. That didn't point to angel though, but naturally, a vampire would know immediately just from his smell.

"Well, I'm not exactly as strong as a demon, a human would be able to kill me, and I'm a fallen angel, so I don't have God on my side either," he mused out loud, still not budging from the pressure that the vampire was trying to put on him. "I'd say using me is a waste of time," he then added.

Raphael's eyes never left the angel in front of him, observing his every move, every twitch of a muscle with keen interest. Even as he stepped back, folding his arms across his chest and leaning on the corner of the table, his gaze never wavered from Yakov. For just that moment, there was no malicious intent to be seen, just pure curiosity and interest, almost a fiery passion burning behind it, thoughts swarming in his head about how he should test out this one, what would be the most effective methods. He wasn't surprised that he had fared better than others, but still, that degree of healing was better than it had been with the last angel he got in here, so he came to the logic conclusion that there had to be something else about this Yakov.

"You don't have to tell me twice. I heard you the first time, and I smelled it on you the instant you entered the room." was all he had to say about Yakov blabbering about being a fallen angel again. "I do know all that about your kind already. What I'm interested in is what other things you might be hiding." he told the Russian, a knowing smile on his lips as his eyes lingered on the almost-healed bruises. "And even if you should prove a waste of time, I won't let angel blood just go to waste. That'd be sad."

Yakov raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly as Raphael spoke about figuring out what he was hiding. Yeah as if he could. What an egocentric blockhead. "Good luck," was all he replied, leaning against a nearby table with his hands on his thighs, unable to do more than that because of his wrists being bound together.

What really pissed him off though, was the talk about his blood. He had been chased around more than enough because of it, and honestly, it was drab to deal with. But nonetheless, he didn't comment on it, keeping his interactions with the man to a minimum. As long as he thought that Yakov wasn't worried about what he might find out, he might lose interest. How he would get around becoming vampire-dinner, was an entirely different problem that he would get to later. Right now was just all about dodging interest. Besides, he couldn't really overpower the vampire, just hope that he didn't realize his blood wasn't normal.

The angel's rather short, snarky reply only really managed to make Raphael's smile a little bit broader. That was really just a confirmation that he was hiding something, after all. And he was sure as hell going to find out what, though he already had that hunch that he probably had something to do with healing, considering how well-healed his injuries already were.

"Thank you, but I don't think I need luck to be on my side for this. I have my methods." he calmly said, before he stepped closer to the angel and motioned for his hands. When he eventually got them - whether by Yakov's own free will or by simply grabbing them - he pulled out a small key and unlocked his wrists. "And I don't need that to keep tabs on you, so we might as well just throw them away." he casually said, placing the handcuffs on a table nearby. "Now, you have two choices. Either you come willingly with me, or I'll force you. And as for where to, it's the examination room right over there." he gestured toward the set of doors in the wall opposite from the door he'd been escorted through. He had, after all, his quite handy ability ready if the angel resisted too much. Nothing like a good ol' slowing down of someone's heart to make them topple over when they tried to flee or resist.

Yakov was obviously hesitant to give the vampire his hands, but did it nonetheless. He kept a sharp eye on him though, ready to retaliate if needed. But no, his hands were simply freed from the restraints, and he immediately pulled them back from the vampire, as if disgusted by his touch. His wrists were slightly sore and had faint red lines where the cuffs had been after he had struggled against on the way. Within seconds the lines were completely gone, though and you couldn't tell they had ever been there.

When Raphael gave Yakov the choice - walk with dignity or be forced - he raised an eyebrow in scepticism. He was a proud Russian, but walking willingly into the arms of the enemy wasn't very high on the list of things he wanted to do. "Why don't you humour me and tell me what you're going to do first? Both of us have all the time in the world after all," he asked, crossing his arms over his chest, as he leaned slightly on the table to his side with his hip.

Raphael waited patiently for the angel to decide, and once he had, and the cuffs were off, there was perhaps just the ghost of a smile playing at the corners of the vampire's lips, seeing how quickly Yakov pulled his hands back from him. Stubborn little one. Most were... At least in the start.

His eyes were locked on the faint lines that quickly disappeared, though, and the ghost of a smile grew into a small smirk. Interesting. Angel healing wasn't that fast, usually. So the guy did have some extra healing properties. Now he just had to figure out what exactly it was that made it so. His eyes rose to meet the angel's again when he told him of his proposition, now merely waiting for an answer.

"Oh, just some experimentation. Really all standard for what usually goes on in here." he started out, while straightening his clothes. "But for the report I have to start out with a standard physical exam, just like the ones done on every human passing through upstairs. It's boring, I know. Not at all as entertaining as experimentation, but it has to be done." he shrugged, and walked over to open the door into the examination room next to the room they stood in. . "So, your choice?"

Yakov was obviously not too keen on just following along. His pride made him stubborn as ever, but even so... he did get up when Raphael told him so. Because he was also too proud to be dragged along, forced into what could possibly be his untimely demise in an embarrassing manner.

So after a few moments of consideration, he pushed himself away from the table and walked into the open door. No use spending his energy on trying to run with no possibility of getting away. His arms were crossed over his chest in annoyance, and he constantly kept taps on where Raphael was, so he wouldn't be surprised by any sudden action - at least so he'd know where any sudden attacks could possibly come from.

"So, what are you gonna do first, doctor?" he asked, almost sounding bored, but honestly, he just kept his emotions under lock.