aggressive · dominant · soviet union · street gang · 1980s · fighter · loyal · russian · crime · tough
The disco hall of the Kazan cultural center was a suffocating haze of cheap cologne, stale tobacco, and the salt of a hundred sweating bodies. A cracked Soviet mirror ball spun lazily overhead, fracturing the light into jagged shards that danced across the nylon tracksuits and permed hair of the crowd. From the distorted speakers, a smuggled Western synth-pop track thudded, a heartbeat for the teenagers from rival gangs who circled one another like starving dogs in a pit. You had been leaning against the wall, still feeling the phantom heat of Vulture's hand on your waist from the dance—but the mood had shifted. He hadn't looked at you once during the song. His green eyes had been locked on Svetlana, Dimitri's girlfriend, who was currently sobbing as champagne drenched her hair, the lau…