They parked in the shadows under a copse of pine trees, after an hour long journey through the backwoods of British Columbia. Valya had motioned for Dimitri to stop once the trees had become so thick that the sounds of the forest surrounded them and they could barely see the sky through the leaves.
"What now?" he asked.
"Now," Valya said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, "We walk."
It was a more arduous walk than Dimitri had anticipated. The terrain was rocky and dark, with unexpected twists and turns that even he couldn't see in the dense forest. But Valya seemed to know the way, and he was relieved that she was allowing him to follow instead of hogtying him to the roof of the car as she returned to whatever clandestine outpost she lived at. He had no doubt her knot tying skills were survivalist-level.
"Is it far?" he asked after half an hour of hiking.
"You should have asked that in the beginning," she said. "For all you know, I could be leading you out here to kill you."
"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done that a long time ago," he replied. "Your mother wouldn't have raised a fool."
"That's the best thing in life a girl can be; a damn fool," Valya said, glancing out into the distance.
"What?" Dimitri swatted away a mosquito.
"The Great Gatsby," she answered. "You know, for an avid reader, you don't seem to know much in the way of literature."
He scoffed, surprising himself. Dimitri didn't often lose control over his demeanor and appearance, but it seemed to happen most often around Rose Hathaway. Or descendants of hers.
Suddenly, Valya stopped cold.
"Stay here," she advised. "The snipers will kill you if you go any further."
Dimitri looked to the trees. There was no evidence of snipers or even any human intervention to begin with. He put his hand on her shoulder to hold her back. "I'm coming with you."
She snorted. "Like hell you are."
"You wouldn't have led me this far if you were going to make me wait outside," he replied. "This is not a negotiation, Valentina."
She stared at him for a moment, her eyes filled with defiance and conflict. Then she tore her shoulder from his grasp and said, her sarcasm biting, "Whatever floats your boat, cowboy. Die by sniper fire, see if I care."
They exited the tree line.
As Dimitri had predicted, there weren't any snipers beyond the forest, but a squat building made from concrete and painted to blend in with the surrounding terrain. He glimpsed the dome of a greenhouse a ways off and a gravel road disguised as a field of wildflowers. Valya stormed up to the building and found a panel similar to a keypad, but before she could enter any sort of code, a voice came from the speakers.
"Halt. You do not belong here," came the voice. Dimitri could sense a tinge of compulsion even through the speakers. "Return to your home immediately."
"Relax, it's just me," Valya said into the speaker with her finger pressed on the ancient, weathered button beside it.
A crackly voice different from the recording they had just heard answered. "Fuck, Valya. You're in a huge amount of trouble."
He could see her roll her eyes, then she glanced his was, clearly contemplating something. Dimitri chose to find a spot to stare at on the wall. She bit her lip and pressed the button again.
"Yeah, I figured." Valya sighed and shifted her weight. "Let me in anyway? I promise I'll go to Josiah as soon as-"
"You might want to scratch those plans, Valgal," said the voice. "Pollock was on security detail, saw you coming up through the back trail, and woke Josiah up. He's pissed."
"You call me Valgal one more time and you will catch these hands, Arden, I am not even fucking with you." Valya sighed. She lowered her voice and said through gritted teeth, "Just open the goddamn door."
"Your funeral, Valya."
A beep sounded from behind the wall of concrete and something shifted within the mechanisms that operated the front gate. How had it never popped up on Court's radar before? He fiddled with the edge of his sleeve.
"I know you're judging me, Belikov," Valya said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Dimitri paused for a moment before speaking. "I'm not."
"You've got those judgy eyes on," she said.
He snorted. "No judgy eyes."
Valya clenched her fists, then let them go slowly. "Whatever. Just-"
He tilted his head to the side, trying to get a read on her expression but failing.
"Just stay behind me," she said with an odd, protective tone to her voice.
The doors opened completely, wide enough to fit an entire car between them,, revealing the uncertainty of a dark hallway. He could feel the cool air flowing from deep within all the way out, leading him to believe that a majority of it was underground. The more he gleaned from Valya about where she lived, the more he became confused- and even impressed. Court was the center of Moroi civilization. As far as he knew, there wasn't anything more solid than it.
But the past couple of days had taught him that there was a lot that he didn't know.
Valya took off down the hallway at a brisk pace, leaving Dimitri in the dust.
"I told you to stay behind me," she said, scowling.
A buzzer went off and the door behind them closed. The hallway was illuminated only by the faintest of lights. Dimitri couldn't see the far end.
After a few minutes of walking, a man a few years younger than Valya popped his head out of a door along the hallway, presumably the guard room. He was wearing a grey and blue uniform with an empty gun holster strapped to his leg and a name tape reading 'Arden.'
"Hey Stasla, you are not going to like who is waiting up on level four for you," he said. Arden crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorjamb. "Josiah almost burst my eardrum on the comms."
"I don't give a flying fuck, desk jockey." Valya flipped the bird in Arden's face as she passed by. She continued without stopping, Dimitri in tow, until the end of the hallway.
"Nice to see you too!" Arden shouted after her. "And who's that guy you brought with you?"
Dimitri smiled lightly and turned to look at the guard over his shoulder. He gave Arden an almighty snarl.
"Don't do that," Valya said in a warning tone. They wound around a corner into a better-lit section of the building.
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."
Dimitri felt an ominous tug in his gut as they continued on, the floor gently sloping downwards. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, but what he saw didn't bring him any answers. The lights were simple fluorescents, the walls concrete, and the occasional mark of three straight, white lines appeared at eye level. The same logo that was on Valya's backpack.
"Liking what you see?" Valya asked casually.
Dimitri shrugged. "I'm not seeing much of anything."
"Just you wait," she replied. He could hear secrets in her voice.
They took a sharp turn and the corridor narrowed before spilling out onto a terrace with iron railings as thick as his wrists. The compound opened up into a warehouse-like room filled with shipping containers of various shapes and colors, stacked on top of each other in what should have been precarious positions, but something told Dimitri that the builders had had stability in mind. There were lengths and lengths of string-lights propped up by the roofs of the shipping containers to form makeshift lanes and alleyways, peppered with the occasional lantern and paper decoration. A large clearing in the far corner of the space held a boxing ring where people were sparring.
There were people everywhere: in the roads, in the shipping container houses, on the tops of the roofs. A mixture of dhampir, human, and Moroi lived in the compound, with uniforms similar to Arden's dotted here and there.
Valya led him down towards a spiral staircase that connected to the makeshift streets. There was more noise down amongst the houses, voices and laughter and music.
"Is this a cult?" Dimitri asked. He glanced at his surroundings with suspicion.
"Lighten up a little, will you?" Valya asked. She weaved through the houses with expertise towards an unknown destination. "Just because it's not Court, doesn't mean it's suspect."
"So it is a cult." Dimitri cracked a smile.
She scowled. "It-"
"Valya!" someone called from the other side of the space between the box cars. "Did you send your reports from the Ural mission yet?"
"If you couldn't tell, I'm a little busy right now!" she shot back.
"I'm not the one asking here!" The person in question was standing in the doorway of a dark orange house with a few other residents, beers in hand. "Josiah is up my ass about getting them to the archives and he told me you were on report duty."
Valya spun on her heel, her hair whipping into Dimitri's face. "I said, I'm a little busy right now. Josiah can suck my left toe if he wants the reports so fast."
"Valya," Dimitri put his hand on Valya's shoulder, but she didn't respond. "Valentina."
Valya jerked her shoulder out of Dimitri's grip and turned to look at him. He glared at her, his face made of stone.
"Perhaps you should talk to Josiah," he said in an even tone. Whatever his daughter had gotten herself mixed up in, he wanted it resolved as soon as possible. The sooner he could get to the bottom of this and bring Valya back to Court, the better.
She faltered for a moment, attempting to decode his expression, then nodded. She backed away from the orange container house.
"I'll see you at mess later," she muttered. Valya edged past Dimitri towards a different street. When they emerged, Dimitri grabbed her elbow, bringing them both to a standstill between boxes.
"You need to start telling me what's going on or I can't help you," he said.
"It's classified," Valya retorted. She drew herself up to give an illusion of strength. "You don't have clearance yet. You actually don't have any clearance at all; you're a Court guardian. You shouldn't be here."
"I have to be here." Dimitri glanced around and lowered his voice. "You're my daughter-"
Valya took a step back from Dimitri and looked at him with an incredulous expression on her face. "You choose right now to become a father figure? It's a little too late, buddy."
Dimitri flinched. "I want to figure out what killed Rose as much as you do. We have to work together."
"No, you don't get to call her that." Valya pushed her finger into his chest. "You call her Stasla, or nothing at all. You were gone all these years; you don't get the right to call her by her first name."
Dimitri stood, stunned. Rose's new name didn't sit well in his stomach and everything, from the way the compound was laid out to how Valya spoke of her set off red flags. He had been too reckless with this mission. He was always reckless when it came to Rose.
Rose.
How he missed her.
"Valechka!"
A shout came from someone nearly halfway across the warehouse in the walkway they were currently on. A man lifted up his arms and waved to Valya. He was Moroi, with tan skin the same rare colour of Abe Mazur's and long, dark hair pulled up into a bun. A few pieces had found their way out of his hair tie and brushed along the edge of his jaw. He was handsome in a way a statue might be: sculpted and sharp.
"Sasha!" Valya shouted. She ran towards him at full speed.
It was like a light was turned on in her when she saw Sasha. Dimitri saw, for the smallest of moments, a glimmer of his wife. Valya seemed so... free. He'd almost forgotten what that looked like.
"You have three seconds to explain where you went or-"
Sasha was interrupted when Valya launched herself into his arms with a bright grin on her face. She buried her head into the crook of his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist, sending them both spinning.
Valya whispered something in his ear. She gripped him fiercely.
"You were only in Russia for a month." He ran his fingers through her hair. Sasha pulled away from Valya's embrace for long enough to look at her. "What have you been up to since taking the wrong plane in New York, Valechka? Josiah is all up in arms about it."
"Reenacting the second Home Alone movie," Valya said. She hopped down from her perch and strung a lazy arm over his shoulders.
"You should have enough taste to know that's not the one worth reenacting," he replied. Sasha turned his gaze to Dimitri, who had walked up to them slowly. "Is he the reason why I was up late tracking plane data from Newark with Hershey?"
Valya cocked her head to the side. "Did they reinstate your clearance? I thought you had cleaning duty from now until the end of time."
"I snuck in after hours," Sasha said. "Hersh is a good friend; she was really worried about you."
"Yeah, whatever." She shrugged, sullen.
Dimitri cleared his throat and looked at Valya with a raised eyebrow. "Are you going to introduce us, Valentina?"
Sasha eyed Dimitri warily, but looked to Valya for an answer. He seemed to defer most decisions to her, leading Dimitri to guess that Valya was a higher rank.
"Belikov, this is Aleksandr Amin. My- we work together." Valya bit her lip. "Sasha, this is Dimitri Belikov, my... father."
She seemed to get the word out with some difficulty. Despite this, something fluttered in Dimitri's heart when he heard it.
Sasha let out a low whistle. "...fuck."
"Excuse me?" Dimitri said in a warning tone.
Valya made a swift cut-off motion with her hand at Sasha. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in close, whispering something in her ear that Dimitri couldn't quite catch.
There was something about Sasha that struck Dimitri as curious, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. The way he and Valya moved around each other gave off the idea that they were involved romantically, but everything else, from the way they spoke to each other to their actions, told a different story. Valya and Sasha had known each other a long time.
"We have to go," Valya said. She grabbed Dimitri by the wrist and pulled him back towards the stairs. "Josiah will be up on level four waiting for me, and all visitors have to go through him."
"I think it's a little too late for that," Sasha said. He pointed to the terrace one level up that jutted out of the wall near the stairs.
A dhampir near Dimitri's age paced near the balcony railing. He had hair that hung near his collarbone and curled ever so slightly at the edges, but was graying at the temples, and wore a button down shirt and weathered brown trousers that seemed more fit for an excursion with Indiana Jones than a military compound. A gold hoop glittered in one ear.
Josiah, Dimitri thought.
Valya stopped in her tracks and blanched when Josiah spotted her. He pointed with a strong finger covered in golden rings.
"Valentina Belikova," Josiah bellowed. It reverberated around the warehouse with a deafening boom. Everything clashed to a halt.
"Shit," Valya said. She gripped Dimitri's wrist without realizing it, then let it go. "Sorry."
Josiah dashed down the stairs connecting the balcony to the main floor and strode towards Valya, who still stood tense and frozen. Valya was visibly attempting to relax her posture as he closed the final few yards between them.
Up close, Josiah wasn't what Dimitri had expected. He'd thought the leader of Corinth would look hardened and large, like a warrior of sorts. Instead, Josiah's face appeared noble and beautiful, albeit pushing 60 years of age. It was as if the cherubs in Renaissance paintings had been allowed to grow older. His face as well as his hands (and, Dimitri assumed, the rest of his body) was covered in small scars.
"You are in an incredible amount of trouble, young lady!" Josiah roared at Valya.
"Hey Pops," Valya said with a weak, quivering attempt at friendliness. "How's it been?"
"Don't 'how's it been' me, Valentina!" Josiah gestured wildly. "You disobeyed direct orders, used Corinth funds to buy not only a plane ticket but a new pair of Beats headphones-"
"All the cool kids have them." Valya shrugged.
"-and sent the entire compound into a state of lockdown," Josiah finished. "If I found out you did anything else in direct violation of our laws, you will be demoted so low, the trainees will laugh at you."
"'Good to see you too, Valya. Glad you didn't die, Valya,'" she mocked. "Can't I get a hug from dear old dad?"
"You're grounded," Josiah said flatly.
"You can't ground me!" Valya was astounded. "Where the hell am I going to go? I don't have another mission scheduled for a month."
"You're off that mission, and every other mission until the end of time. You're lucky I don't confine you to your unit until you're thirty," Josiah retorted.
"I'm twenty-three, Pops," she pointed out. "That wouldn't take too long."
His face softened and he pulled her in for a bone-crushing hug. "I am so relieved that you're safe."
"Ha, ha," Valya poked him in the side. "You're getting soft in your old age."
Dimitri crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed with what was unfolding. If Valya had called Josiah her father, what did that make him? Josiah was a dhampir as well, so it was just as impossible for Rose to have a child with him, but Valya existed. Was it possibly that she had other siblings running around too?
"Hey," Sasha said, sidling up to Dimitri as Josiah and Valya had their reunion. He held his hand out. "Aleksandr Amin, agriculture. Pleased to meet you."
Dimitri glanced up at Sasha and slowly, skeptically, took his hand, returning the gesture. "Dimitri Belikov." He paused. "Head Guardian."
"So you're... her dad." Sasha said, his eyes wide. "Cool. Rad. That's... yeah."
Dimitri stared at Sasha. "Yes. It is quite... yeah, as you put it."
"I know Valya's been wondering for a while where you were, but she could never squeeze it out of Stasla. Even had me try a few times, but family dinners are never my kind of thing, so..." Sasha's voice trailed off. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm sorry, what is the nature of your relationship with my daughter?" Dimitri demanded, quickly losing his patience with Sasha's answers, or lack thereof.
"Boyfriend," Sasha replied. "Of five years."
Dimitri clenched his jaw. He tried not to think about how he and Rose were barely together that long themselves. Thankfully, Josiah interrupted the conversation, saving Dimitri from saying any of the thoughts he had swirling about his head out loud.
"Thank you for bringing Valya back to us," Josiah said, shaking Dimitri's hand. "I'm Josiah Hollis, the current leader of Corinth. Welcome to our home."
"Dimitri Belikov," Dimitri said, his words coming out with more of an edge than he had originally intended. "Head guardian of Court and Valentina's father."
The muscles in Josiah's neck clenched ever so slightly, a movement that was almost imperceptible to the human eye. He dropped Dimitri's hand and stood, his hands clasped behind his back.
"We have a lot to discuss."