"But ye stood there and watched," Robby growled. "Ye helped tie me to the chair with silver chains. Did ye enjoy the smell of my burning flesh?"
Stan's jaw shifted. "Nyet. But I tell you this. If they catch me here, talking to the enemy, they will do things to me that make your torture look like...walk in the park. Instead of thirty pieces of silver, they will take thirty pieces of flesh from me, and the first piece will be my tongue."
"Then let me kill you now and save you the misery!" Robby lunged toward the stairs, but ran into Angus's outstretched arm.
"Enough, lad," Angus hissed softly. He turned toward the Russian. "Are ye thinking of betraying yer master?"
"If you mean Casimir, I never met him till he came here to America and said he was our leader. I am not killer. I never was. I was...farmer. I stayed with Russian vampires because I am Russian, and they helped me learn how to live here."
"And ye learned how to kill mortals," Robby grumbled.
"I never killed," Stan insisted. "I feed from mortals, that is true. But I never kill mortals."
Zoltan snorted. "He expects us to believe that?"
Stan stiffened. "You are one to talk. You killed my best friend at the Battle at DVN. I lost another friend in South Dakota. You Vamps act like you are...better morally, but when it comes to war, you do the most killing."
Phineas cocked his head with a grimace. "He has a point there. We've been whipping their ass."
Angus shrugged. "They're bloody fiends. They deserve to die."
"Then I can kill him now?" Robby muttered.
Angus ignored him. "Ye have two minutes, Stan. Talk."
"And then I can kill him?" Robby asked a bit louder.
Angus shot him an annoyed look.
"I came to America seven years ago," Stanislav began. "Me and three vampire friends from Moscow. We wanted...new life with no tyranny and no terror. We went to coven in Brooklyn so we could learn English. We hoped to get jobs someday and our own place - "
"The American dream." Phineas pretended to wipe away a tear. "I'm getting choked up."
Stan scowled at him. "But all we found was more tyranny. Ivan Petrovsky liked to capture mortal women for food and sex. If we did not follow orders, he would kill them. He killed so many, and he abused the vampire women. I was glad when Katya and Galina murdered him."
"So you just fell in with the wrong crowd." Phineas rolled his eyes. "Where have I heard that one before?"
"My friends and I, we hated following orders from the ones you call Malcontents, but we knew if we try to escape, they would kill us. I lost two friends in battle. And last night - " Stan glanced away, his eyes watering. "My last friend died. Nadia killed him because he was blond."
Phineas winced. "Tough break."
"Isn't she the one who stabbed Toni?" Emma asked Zoltan, and he nodded.
"Nadia is crazy bitch," Stan growled. "And Casimir put her in charge of the coven."
"Bummer. So what do you want from us?" Phineas motioned to Stan's white-blond hair. "Some L'Or¨¦al hair color? I'm not sure you're worth it."
"I want asylum. If you can hide me from Malcontents, I will tell you everything I know."
The Vamps grew silent as the Russian's request sank in.
"Doona trust him," Robby whispered. "He did nothing while they tortured me."
"Robby has a point," Angus said, regarding the Russian sternly. "Ye've never given us reason to trust you."
Stan glanced nervously about. "You checked the area? It is clear?"
"Yes," Emma answered. "What can you tell us? Do you know where Casimir is hiding?"