On 12th June 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armee forded the River Niemen and crossed the Rubicon - its invasion of Russia had begun. Charged with delaying the enemy's inexorable march on Moscow, a group of Russian officers summon the help of the oprichniki, a band of mercenaries from the outermost fringes of Christian Europe.
As rumours of a plague travelling west from the Black Sea reach the Russians, the Oprichniki - twelve in number - arrive. Preferring to work alone, and at night, they prove brutally, shockingly effective against the French. But one amongst the Russians, Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, is unnerved by the mercenaries' ruthlessness. . . and as he comes to understand the true, horrific nature of these strangers, he wonders at the nightmare they've unleashed in their midst. . .
As rumours of a plague travelling west from the Black Sea reach the Russians, the Oprichniki - twelve in number - arrive. Preferring to work alone, and at night, they prove brutally, shockingly effective against the French. But one amongst the Russians, Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, is unnerved by the mercenaries' ruthlessness. . . and as he comes to understand the true, horrific nature of these strangers, he wonders at the nightmare they've unleashed in their midst. . .
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The next moment he was upon him his eyes blazing his mouth open to reveal his fangs.
Osokin began to pray not that he would live but that he would truly die . . .
Turkmenistan 1881: the fortress city of Geok Tepe has fallen to the Russians. Beneath its citadel sits a prisoner. He hasn't moved from his chair for two years. Neither has he felt the sun on his face for more than fifty . . . although for that he is grateful.
Into this subterranean gaol marches a Russian officer. He has come for the captive. Not to release him but to return him to St Petersburg -- to deliver him into the hands of an old old enemy who would visit damnation upon the ruling family of Russia: the great vampire Zmyeevich. But there is another who has escaped Geok Tepe and followed the prisoner. He is not concerned with the fate of the tsar or Zmyeevich or the officer. All he desires is revenge.
And other forces have a part to play. A group of revolutionaries has vowed to bring the dictatorship of Tsar Aleksandr to an end and with it the entire Romanov dynasty. They call themselves The People's Will . . .
Osokin began to pray not that he would live but that he would truly die . . .
Turkmenistan 1881: the fortress city of Geok Tepe has fallen to the Russians. Beneath its citadel sits a prisoner. He hasn't moved from his chair for two years. Neither has he felt the sun on his face for more than fifty . . . although for that he is grateful.
Into this subterranean gaol marches a Russian officer. He has come for the captive. Not to release him but to return him to St Petersburg -- to deliver him into the hands of an old old enemy who would visit damnation upon the ruling family of Russia: the great vampire Zmyeevich. But there is another who has escaped Geok Tepe and followed the prisoner. He is not concerned with the fate of the tsar or Zmyeevich or the officer. All he desires is revenge.
And other forces have a part to play. A group of revolutionaries has vowed to bring the dictatorship of Tsar Aleksandr to an end and with it the entire Romanov dynasty. They call themselves The People's Will . . .