Once we reached the cafeteria everyone dispersed. They all went to find the friends that were lucky enough to be transferred with them. The only St. Basils' student to stay around me was Victoria.

"Do you mind if I sit with you. I'd go hangout with my brother but he is on duty." She said nodding towards the far wall.

"No problem. Let go grab our treys."

At the table I went around and introduced everyone.

"Hey! What about me?" Christian asked.

"What about you?" Turning to Victoria I added, "You don't need to know Christian."

That got a laugh from around the table.

"Anyway. Everyone this is Victoria. She is one of the St. Basils' transfers and Guardian Belikov's little sister…. So don't piss her off."

Next to me Victoria's eyes went wide. Poor girl probably never thought she we befriend someone like me.

We all spent lunch in a buzz of conversation. Not my of my friends have been out of the country. Let alone a place like Siberia. There were many questions about the environment and how cold it was. Most of these questions came from the Moroi. Questions like: What's the Strigoi population like? And: Are all the guys like your brother? Came from the Dhampirs.

I could tell when the bell rang how overwhelmed Victoria had become. She was beginning to look like a single Strigoi facing down a league of our best guardians. Feeling bad for her I looped my arm through hers and dragged her off towards the gym. She clearly needed some quiet time.

"What are we doing here?" She asked.

The gym was empty just as I had thought. The stillness in the air surrounding us.

"Well the gym is the best place to get your thoughts together. I figured you could use some time in here after that lunch."

Victoria looked around taking in her new environment. "It's so different from our gym back home."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It has much more space for sparring. We recently started using more and more props. The gym has gotten quite crowded."

"Well then," I said heading over to one of the far corner cabinets. "Let's spar."

I threw gear her way, her reflexes just fast enough to catch them.

Suiting up I could feel my nerves start to bubble up. Victoria, being Dimitri's little sister, has a lot to prove here. Her brother is know as a God on campus and he lives up to that. She will have many novices gunning for her.

"Let's see what you got." I said.

We circled each other for a few minutes, sizing one another up. The first move was made by Victoria. She rushed my left side and aimed a kick with her right leg. It wasn't a bad first move but you could tell she was unsure of it. She wobbled slightly on contact and gave me an easy shot at her ribs.

Her recovery was quick. She rolled back fast and began circling me again. This time I initiated the next set of attacks.

That sparing was short. It took me just under six minutes to place my hands over Victoria's heart and proclaim death. The fight barely caused me to break a sweat but the same was not true to my counterpart, who was huffing and puffing on the floor.

"Not bad." I said offering her a hand up.

"Yeah right. How did you do all that. I have never even seen most of those combos before."

"I train with a mentor twice a day on top of the normal classes."

I walked towards the guardian closet where I knew Dimitri has a stash of water bottles. I think he started doing that after he realized I would always forget to bring one.

"They must be crazy talented."

"Well people don't call your brother a god for nothing." I said.

Sprays of water came flying from her mouth. "You train with Dimka?"

I laughed at her reaction.

"Yup."