"Next stop New Hampshire," I said to Dimitri with a nervous grin as we took off again. After a major delay taking off from Court, we'd finally taken to the sky at 9 pm. It was the day all new Guardians started their allocations, so the airfield had plane after plane lined up, moving Guardians out to their new roles all over the country.
We were in one of the Court aircraft headed for Syracuse, New York. Once we'd landed, we'd waited on the tarmac a couple of hours. Three Guardians had got off, another two eventually boarding. The second batch had been running late, hence the delay.
After that, we'd flown to Albany, where everyone except us disembarked. Even the pilot! We'd lounged and hung out onboard for another couple of hours, it being the middle of the human night. Eventually, a new pilot arrived, and now we were continuing, headed for Concord, New Hampshire. Honestly, it would have been quicker had we driven from Pennsylvania!
Our instructions had been as brief as they were explicit. Exit the terminal at Concord and find the SUV with a particular license plate. We each already had a set of the keys, but I knew there was no way Dimitri would let me drive! We were then directed to drive to a particular address in Meredith, where we would be met.
"Nervous, Roza?" Dimitri asked, lifting the armrest between us, chuckling warmly as I climbed into his lap.
"A bit," I conceded. Now it was happening, all my doubts were coming to the surface.
I sat cuddled against Dimitri peacefully, lost in my thoughts. It wasn't long before I had to climb back into my own seat and then we were touching down.
"Welcome to New Hampshire, Comrade," I whispered, leaning forward and kissing Dimitri gently.
"Our home for the next five years," Dimitri replied with a reassuring smile.
The terminal was tiny, and since we didn't need to stop to collect our baggage, we walked straight out to the carpark in the very first of the sun's rays. There were maybe two dozen cars parked, so it was easy enough to find the vehicle that would be ours.
"Oh! Brand new!" I swooned, looking at the pristine shiny black paint and gleaming windows. "Do I get to drive?"
"Nope!" Dimitri smirked, stowing our bags in the trunk and climbing into the driver's seat before I had much of a chance to object.
"Fine. Guess I'll enjoy the scenery," I grumbled, taking a deep breath and inhaling that new car smell.
The car had all the mod cons. Bluetooth, GPS, kick-ass stereo, an all leather interior and even a fully retractable moonroof. I already loved it.
Dimitri set the navigation system for the address in Meredith, and I spent the forty-five-minute drive pairing our phones, downloading our music onto the car's speaker system and programming the radio.
"It has satellite radio!" I moaned, quickly tuning in to my favorite station from when Lissa and I lived in Portland. I was flipping through the other options on the entertainment system when I unbuckled my belt and jumped up onto my knees, looking over the back of the seat at the rear of our headrests.
"Shut the fuck up!" I gasped in amazement.
"Roza! Language!" Dimitri snapped in surprise. "What is it? And put your belt back on!"
"There's TV screens in the back of the headrests!" I told him in shock. "I love this car!"
Dimitri smiled, and I knew he felt the same way. This was a big step up from the usual Guardian transportation. And it was all ours!
"This is beautiful," I said as Dimitri drove us down the sleepy streets of Meredith. It was a tiny little town nestled on the edge of Lake Winnipesaukee, and in the breaking dawn, it was breathtaking.
"But it's small," I huffed, my nerves starting to get the better of me.
"Concord isn't too far away, and Manchester is not much further."
"Manchester?"
"The most populated city in New Hampshire," Dimitri explained. "It's just over an hour south of here."
"And you know this how?"
"It's called the Internet, Rose," he teased, giving me one of his panty-dropping smiles.
A couple of minutes on, Dimitri pulled into the parking lot of a closed restaurant, Lavinia's. It looked nice. Upmarket.
"Are you sure this is right?" I asked, peering at the GPS.
"This is the spot," Dimitri confirmed. There was our vehicle and one other in the car park. I was wondering whether we ought to get out when the driver's door on the other vehicle opened and a guy in his early twenties got out yawning. Dimitri wound down his window as the guy approached.
"Belikov and Hathaway?" he asked wearily. He looked tired but nervous – an odd combination.
"That's us," Dimitri said in a friendly, professional voice.
"We expected you hours ago. Follow me back to the training center," he said, canting his head to indicate his vehicle. "If you lose me, just pull over, and I'll loop back."
Without any further discussion, the young man climbed back into his SUV, backed up, waiting for us to do likewise before pulling out onto the main road.
Dimitri followed him through the town and then off onto a side road. We seemed to be following the edge of the lake, and best I could tell we were headed south, back toward Concord. After maybe five minutes we branched away from the lake, following smaller and smaller roads. I could see water occasionally through the trees, but I didn't think it was Lake Winnipesaukee anymore.
"There are lots of smaller lakes and waterways around here," Dimitri explained.
We'd driven about fifteen minutes when we pulled up to a fence with a timber arch structure over the gates reading 'Camp Yarrawonga.' The SUV in front of us slowed, and the deceptively rustic timber gate glided open, letting both vehicles through. I turned in my seat and saw the gate slide effortlessly closed behind us.
"Comrade?" I said nervously.
"Uh ha?"
"What do you know about summer camp?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Comrade, I think we're going to be living at a summer camp for the next five years."
If Dimitri didn't recognize a kid's vacation camp when he saw one, I sure as hell did. Sure no Dhampir or Moroi I knew had ever been to one, but there were plenty of movies where they featured. I was already picturing cold, drafty cabins, and sitting around campfires singing Kumbaya. Oh, Vlad! What hell was this?!
The vehicle we were trailing stopped beside what looked suspiciously like the main building. I was willing to bet there was a mess hall in there! Pulling up beside it, Dimitri gave me a reassuring pat on the leg before turning off the vehicle.
"It's ok. We're here together," he placated, recognizing my rising panic.
He stepped out, coming around the front of the vehicle to open my door for me. Always the gentleman. The young man from the other SUV stepped out, waiting for us to come around.
"You can leave your things in the car," he said. He wasn't rude, but he wasn't exactly friendly, either. But I suppose he had been sitting in a carpark waiting hours for us!
Dimitri nodded, and together we followed him up a set of broad steps into a rough sawn timber and stone building emblazoned across the front with 'Yarrawonga Lodge.'
Inside was exactly what I imagined – a huge communal space with long dining tables and bench seats at one end, and an open common area at the other. Sure it looked a bit more upscale than the summer camps I'd seen in movies, but there was no doubt that that was what it was!
The young guy led us over to a woman sitting at one of the tables. She was the only one in the vast space, although the stale scent of food in the air suggested the tables were normally used for meals.
The woman looked up and smiled.
"Nice to see you again. Let me introduce myself. I'm Felicity Auman."
It was her! The human I'd seen on my run at the compound back in Wyoming.
"You must be Guardians Hathaway and Belikov."
"That's right," I said in astonishment. "You were at the compound in Wyoming, weren't you?"
Dimitri looked at me in surprise. I'd never mentioned meeting a female there.
"Yes. That's my parent's house, but I'm stationed here, now. Welcome to Camp Yarrawonga," she said gesturing around her.
We both must have looked a little confused because the next thing she was laughing.
"I'm sorry – you two have the same look on your faces that I did when I first saw the place," she explained. "Please take a seat and let me tell you about what we do here."
I sat on the bench seat opposite Felicity, Dimitri seating himself beside me.
"The family bought Camp Yarrawonga some ten years ago. As you've probably guessed, it was an old summer camp, and in some ways it still is."
"The family?" I asked.
"That's what we call ourselves. Our roles run in families, and with so much inter-marrying over the years, pretty much every Alchemist, as you call us, is related in some way or another," she explained. "Alchemists is how you refer to us, but we call ourselves the family."
"Ahh, much like all the Royal Moroi call each other cousin?"
Felicity shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so."
"When they bought it, this place was used as a summer camp, of sorts. Family members at high school intending to be field-agents would visit here over the summer months to be introduced to aspects of our field training. We still do that, but this location grew to become part of the official field-agent training, too. Agents in training spend six to eight months in their final year here before they graduate."
Dimitri and I were nodding. So far everything made sense.
"Field-agent training is a competency-based curriculum, but it takes six months minimum to get through it, although some take a couple of extra months. Finally, as of this year, we're starting a short refresher course for our field-agents. The plan is we'll bring them back in for two or three months to get them up to scratch with some of our new procedures. Between the summer camp, the training, and the refresher course, we'll be running pretty much year round with a short break over Christmas."
"So the camp participants are what? Fourteen through eighteen?" Dimitri asked.
"That's right. The agents in training range from seventeen through to about twenty. They can't work as a field agent until they're eighteen. Our graduated field agents are of all ages, but for the refresher courses, we're going to start with the younger ones – so up to about twenty-five. Our Leadership Council believes the younger family members may be more open to working with Dhampirs, so we're starting there."
"So what do you see us doing?" I asked, giving Felicity a tentative smile. While I didn't think we were best buds, she didn't seem too freaked out to be sitting and talking with us.
"We're hoping you can run a combat class for fitness and self-defense, but also serve as a sort of introduction to Dhampir and Moroi culture. The Leadership Council want to work more cooperatively with the Moroi government to handle the Strigoi threat, but it's hard when most of us have never met a Dhampir or Moroi before."
"So is there a curriculum or anything like that we'd need to follow?" Dimitri checked.
"No. That will be up to you to develop. I know it might take you a while to work out what we need. More than anything, we're hoping you can talk about being Dhampir and living in the Moroi world. There's a big difference between reading something in a book and actually talking to someone who's lived it."
"So we'll be like camp counselors?" I asked. Somehow the idea seemed so demeaning.
"Maybe a little for the summer camp," she admitted. "Once the field-agents in training arrive, in addition to your combat lessons, we'd like you to do a class once a week about Dhampir and Moroi culture, talking about different aspects of how things operate in your world. It doesn't have to be formal - just more demystifying things, you know?"
"We can do that," I agreed. "So how many classes will we run? What times?" It was time to get down to brass tacks.
"There's ninety here at any given time. We've tentatively put aside three two-hour blocks in the schedule every Monday through Friday. We thought three two-hour lessons a day, thirty in each group?"
Dimitri and I looked at each other. Two hours was fine for Dhampir, but most humans would struggle with such a lengthy physical training session, especially at first. But we could break it into practical as well as theory sessions, plus Q and A.
"We can work with that," Dimitri confirmed. "When are we starting and what equipment do you have?"
"Thursday? And we have a gym," she replied standing up. "If there's anything you need that we don't have, you can order it. The Leadership Council will approve any reasonable request. They've made it clear they need this project to be a success and will resource it accordingly."
"Yeah, we got the same message from our end," I said with a smile as we also stood.
Felicity started out by showing us around the mess hall. She said we were welcome to take our meals here or in our quarters, and that most teaching staff did a combination of both. Leading us out onto the verandah of the Lodge, she pointed out various parts of the training center. I had to admit in the early morning sun, it was beautiful.
Set out in a horseshoe shape on the edge of a lake, the Lodge was the largest building on the site, set in the direct center of the camp and furthest from the water. In front was a large open area, with a lawn running all the way down to the lake.
On one side of the Lodge was a large building, which Felicity explained was the gym. A similar structure was on the other side, which was apparently made up of science laboratories and classrooms. On either side of those were dormitory buildings, five on each side. According to Felicity, each had nine individual rooms, two bathrooms, and a communal living area and that was where the students, for want of a better term, were accommodated.
The next two buildings on each end were the teacher's quarters. On the outside, they were identical to the student living quarters, but Felicity explained the rooms were larger, and each room had its own bathroom. There was also a communal kitchen and living space for the six occupants to share.
"Is that where we'll be?" I asked.
Felicity looked a little uneasy.
"Um – well the rooms are all taken," she said not meeting my eyes. "Well – I mean there is a spare room in each, but we leave them for visiting staff. We get them from time to time, so we've left one room in the women's building and one in the men's…" she rambled.
Ok. So no one wanted to live with the Dhampir. Fine.
"Oh? One's for men, the other women?" I asked.
"Yes. That's the men's," she said pointing to the right, then changing to point to the left "and that's where the women sleep. It's the same for the dorms. I hope you don't mind, but we've put you and Guardian Belikov in a cottage down the end? It's closest to the water, and a bit more self-contained than the rest of the accommodation. It's just the two of you in there, but it's nice – it's been refurbished for your arrival, but if you really want, maybe we can get you rooms in the teacher's dorms…?"
"Actually, I think us in the cottage together would be best," I said quickly. "The Guardian Council will probably want to talk to us privately sometimes, and it will be easier for Dimitri and me to coordinate what we're doing if we're in the same place."
Felicity looked relieved, as did Dimitri. Sneaking around the Guardian dorms was one thing, but there was no way we'd be able to sleep beside each other every night in a segregated block, even if the rooms themselves were private.
"Shall I take you down there now? We can check out the gym on the way."
We trailed Felicity into the gym, and it was like I'd died and gone to workout heaven. All the equipment was new or in great condition, although it had the look, and smell, of a space that wasn't used very often. I could immediately see where we'd put some dummies and a sparring square, but the place was bright, well ventilated, and would be a joy to work in.
We continued down past the men's dorm blocks, then the male teacher's block, until we arrived at the cottage Dimitri and I would be sharing. And there just weren't words. It was gorgeous!
Nestled more within the trees than the other buildings, the single-story timber building was almost in its own little world. It had a deep verandah at the front, topped by a pitched roof with wide eaves. For the snow, I appreciated. Because while it was sunny and pleasant here now, in winter, it would be every bit as cold here as it was in Montana.
Pulling a key out of her pocket, Felicity opened the front door, letting us into a cozy sitting room. It had a couple of dark leather sofas, an armchair and a coffee table complementing a stone open fireplace. It all looked a bit bare at the moment, but once we added our things, it would be perfect.
Adjoining the sitting room was an open kitchen with lovely timber cabinets, stone bench tops, and stainless appliances. It was all brand new. Like the sitting room, the area was filled with natural light from the abundant windows. Off the kitchen was a pantry and laundry with an adjacent mudroom. Again this would be a blessing come winter, and in summer it would be the perfect spot to store towels, as we were a hop, skip and a jump from the lake.
"There are two bedrooms. I'm sorry about the size difference," Felicity said apologetically. We followed her into the first, and it was huge. With a king-sized bed, an entire wall of closets, an open fireplace and a door to the bathroom, I could already see Dimitri and I spending hours together in that bed.
The bathroom was a decent size, with a shower as well as a separate claw-foot bath. There were twin basins, plus a toilet in a separate room off to one side. The bathroom had a second door opening back out into the sitting area. The next door along was the other bedroom, and Felicity was right - it was a lot smaller. It had room for a double bed pushed against the wall, a small desk, and not much else. There wasn't even a closet. I could already see us putting a fold out bed in there and turning the space into a study.
Both bedrooms had plain, and if I dared say it, worn bed linens on the beds.
"We didn't know how you wanted to decorate," Felicity said when she caught me looking at the linens. "It's all clean, and there's a generous budget for new stuff, but I figured you'd want to go choose your own bedding, so I had the beds made up with some spare linens. We have an account at Macy's - perhaps you could go tomorrow and choose things to your taste?"
"That's very thoughtful of you," Dimitri said in his deep, accented voice, eyeing the bed longingly. It was about 7 am and we'd had a long journey on little sleep, plus we were switching time schedules. All either of us wanted to do was eat and go to bed!
"We want you to feel at home here. It can't be easy being away from everyone you know and love."
The tour of the cottage over, there was not much left to do other than unpack.
"There are some staples in the fridge to get you through a day or so. Otherwise, breakfast is 6.30 – 7.30 am, lunch 12.30 – 1.30 pm and dinner 6.00 – 8.00 pm. You're very welcome to join us in the Lodge."
"I think we might just bring the car down, unpack and crash," I said with a yawn. "We've been on night hours, so we need to transition back to a daylight schedule."
"That must be so difficult," Felicity said sympathetically, leading us out of the cottage but giving us each a key.
"I actually love daylight," I confessed. "I can't wait to be back on a human timetable!"
We trailed Felicity back to the Lodge before thanking her and promising to join her for a meal once we woke. Then we climbed into the car and carefully drove down the pathway, noticing the first of the students watching us curiously as they came out of their dorms. Dimitri pulled up at the rear of our cottage.
"I think I'll check if I can build a carport out the back here," Dimitri mused. "That way we can park and bring groceries through the mudroom, and the car won't block the views of the lake. I'd like the car undercover…"
"How about you get me undercover," I grumbled, getting one of my bags and letting myself into the back door.
"Let me do the bags, you check out the food," Dimitri ordered. We were both starving!
"Lasagna and salad?" I asked, looking at a huge homemade dish of lasagna in the fridge along with a Greek salad. Such a thoughtful gesture. I'd have to thank Felicity.
"Sounds good," Dimitri confirmed, taking his bag and mine into the larger bedroom as I rummaged around the kitchen finding plates, cutlery and even paper towel to cover the dishes as I nuked us each a huge slice of lasagna. I found placemats for the table and some paper napkins, so while Dimitri pulled out our immediate necessities from our duffels, I brought dinner to the table.
"Our first meal in our new home," Dimitri said with a smile, coming to sit opposite me at the table.
"Do you like it?" I asked nervously, gesturing around me. I was almost embarrassed to admit how much I loved our new place.
"I love it. Like I love you."
We ate in happy silence, relishing the tasty, wholesome food. Once we were done, we sat for a moment, texting our friends and family that we had arrived, were safe and would be in touch soon. Then we stacked our dishes in the half-size dishwasher, ensuring everything was put away. The kitchen was just too gorgeous to leave messy!
"Let's shower and go to bed," Dimitri proposed, grabbing my hand and pulling me through into our bedroom. He'd already switched on the fan, closed the curtains, and had our towels and wetpacks out ready. I trailed him into the bright bathroom, and we stepped into the shower together. It was a walk in type, and I was thrilled it was large enough to accommodate us both easily.
We took our time, soaping one another down and enjoying the luxury of being able to shower together. This was our first wash down in our first home. I wanted to enjoy it, even if I was too tired to do anything more than clean Dimitri and let him clean me!
Both of us done, we dried off, and I mentally decided to put some of Baba's over the top allocation gift to use buying quality bath sheets when we went shopping. I was sick of using the small threadbare ones provided by the Guardian linen service, and now we were here, there was no reason we had to. I pondered the old world new world differences now we were here. A lot of things were going to change for us.
"Roza – stop," Dimitri ordered as I went to walk through into our bedroom. I was naked, but the curtains were closed, so it didn't matter.
"Comrade?" I asked, looking at him quizzically but nonetheless stopping where I stood.
With no warning, he picked me up bridal style and carried me through the doorway into our bedroom, placing me gently in the middle of the bed.
"I am so happy we're here together, ангел," he crooned, closing the door to the bathroom and the other to our bedroom before climbing into bed beside me. "So so happy."