Sasha

I wanted to write Sasha’s story, it felt important as she is a pivotal character for Tina in The Vampire Duology and the short story is meant to be read after these books. Sasha is the one who introduces Tina into the ways of the new world after Wolfie. Tall, blonde, melancholic and Russian, she is nevertheless warm and generous in a place where any weakness is seen as a disadvantage.

Sasha is the story of the older woman and indeed, in the nineteen sixties she is very much older at forty than she would considered now. She doesn’t have the flashy bravery of youth, she had the brief flash of heady teenage love and then the slow fading of hope as time passes. Her life might have been very different if she could have had children, she would have delighted in them, as she did in her nieces and nephews.

Instead, hers is the quiet endurance, the acceptance of her lot and the delight of tiny wins. So the queuing to find the baby’s wool for her niece’s baby, the amusement of hearing her comrades comments about others falling asleep in meetings. Woman throughout time have lived these lives and they are no less brave, no less worthy of attention than others more feted. She lives in a very different world to many of us today, speaking up is not an option in her society, tradition and family are important – even if you are upset by their actions.  

Being kidnapped by Kurt brings freedom from all of this. Cutting her hair is symbolic, the sudden sunshine allowing her to grow out of the darkness she’s been consigned to. Again, it’s not a mad love affair, she’s far too old and sensible. It is a compromise that begins the foundations of something that could become more. Of course, the tragedy is that it is never given that chance. Kurt is too young, despite his “being sneaky” and capturing her before others found her. Ansell’s protection afterwards gives her the chance to grow further and for far longer than she would have if she had remained entirely human.

So Sasha is not a love story of wild romance, it’s the story that many of us can relate to. The humdrum, the terror and the delights of being able to do what you want after you have been constricted for years. Sasha knew she wasn’t going to make it and her death provides Tina with the courage to stop Madam and the circle later on.  

We leave her in the walled garden, where the wind whispers through the birch trees above her grave - she was loved and in the end that is all many of us can ask for.

Sasha can be bought from both Kobo and Amazon.