A Serbian Gypsy, he becomes a member of the Talamasca under Aaron Lightner’s tutelage.
Yuri is tall and slender, with black eyes and hair. His father is dead and his mother is a prostitute who dies while he is young. When he is still a boy, Gypsies kidnap him and teach him to steal in Paris and Rome. He also sells himself to men to get money, clothing, and a potential means of escape from the Gypsies. He makes up stories about himself to pleasure others, and is reminiscent of a character Rice developed early in her writing career.
At the age of ten, Yuri’s life changes. He meets a young man and tells him stories until Aaron Lightner arrives to be with Andrew when he dies. Yuri returns with Aaron to Amsterdam, then London, receiving an Oxford education and learning the ways of the Talamasca. When he is twenty-six, he becomes a member of the Order.
His colleagues call him “the invisible man” for his ability to blend unnoticed into so many cultures. Able to speak many languages, he becomes one of their premier investigators and couriers. He and Aaron develop as close a bond as father and son, and Yuri makes himself familiar with Aaron’s work on the Mayfair file. When Lasher is born into the flesh and leaves New Orleans, Yuri visits Donnelaith and then reports to Aaron that Rowan and Lasher had been there.
He decides to meet Aaron in New Orleans, but the Talamasca Elders forbid it. Surprised and alarmed, he decides that his friendship takes precedence over any orders, and he goes anyway. The Talamasca excommunicates him and prevents him from accessing their files. He realizes that something must be seriously wrong with the Order, if they would behave so mysteriously, and joins Aaron in resisting the Talamasca investigators sent to take over the Mayfair case.
While in New Orleans, Yuri meets thirteen-year-old Mona Mayfair and falls in love with her. However, he feels it is his destiny to discover what has happened in the Talamasca, so after Michael kills Lasher, Yuri returns to London. When no one hears from him for three weeks, they fear for his life.
As it turns out, Yuri had gone to Donnelaith first. One night he caught sight of the Little People dancing around a fire. While he was watching, a man shot him in the shoulder. The man was Lanzing, an assassin that Marklin George had hired to get rid of everyone who knew about Lasher. One of the Little People, Samuel, saw what happened, killing Lanzing, and cared for Yuri. As Yuri recovered, he told Samuel about the corruption in the Talamasca, so Samuel took him to London to tell Ashlar the story.
They meet at Claridge’s, where Yuri tells Ashlar about the Mayfair Witches and shows him Mona’s picture. He is vulnerable to falling under the dominance of strong men, and he feels attracted to Ashlar despite the fact that Ashlar’s nonhuman nature slightly repels him. He immediately regrets telling Lasher about Mona because he fears that Ashlar may go after her as a potential mate. (He is also concerned that the Talamasca also might try to get her, to breed another Taltos.) He calls First Street and learns that Aaron Lighner has been murdered. Overcome with grief, he also fears for his own life.
When Ashlar goes to Donnelaith overnight, Yuri leaves the hotel. Rowan Mayfair and Michael Curry fly in to meet him and he calls Stuart Gordon, a senior member of the Talamasca, to join them. Ashlar intercepts and identifies Gordon as part of the corruption.
Yuri goes along with Ashlar, Rowan, and Michael to the Norman tower where Stuart keeps the female Taltos, Tessa. When Rowan kills Gordon, Ashlar puts Tessa under Yuri’s care, then tells Yuri not to try to find him. Yuri takes Tessa to the Talamasca Motherhouse in London to make his report about how Stuart Gordon and his accomplices created the illusion that the Order was engaged in sinister activities. He accuses Marklin George and Tommy Monohan of ordering Aaron killed, and he helps the Elders ensure that no such interceptions of communications can happen in the future. Yuri decides that the Talamasca is his home and, as much as he loves Mona, he cannot be with her
Back to Index of Members of the Talamasca involved with the Mayfairs
Back to the Vaults
Main Page of the Talamasca
Home Page
