What a Difference a Year Makes (Revised)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

We let out a collective sigh as we landed at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport. We had been in the air for 14 hours and we were looking forward to disembarking. Don't get me wrong, it was a pleasant enough flight, what do you expect when you are flying on Abe Mazur's personal jet, but I just wanted to be back on solid ground.

The conversation that Dimitri had with Roman Yanbayev, Head Guardian at St Basil's, was enlightening. He filled Roman in on all that had happened in the meeting of governors and the outcome. Roman expressed his outrage and disgust that we had been treated like that. He had been a friend of Alberta's for years and knew that she was an outstanding head guardian and he had trained Dimitri when he was a student there so also knew his skills. Roman was also surprised when Dimitri and Alberta explained that the governors had let go of the three best novices in the academy, calling them some rather unsavoury names in Russian. The conversation lasted for nearly an hour but once completed we all had been accepted at St Basil's; Eddie, Mason and I as students and Dimitri and Alberta as guardians. Although this would be a step down for Alberta, she didn't mind "It will be nice to let someone else take the stress for once" she laughed out.

With that we went to our respective places of accommodation and packed up our belongings. None of us had that much so we were done within a few hours while Abe made plans to have the jet standing by at Missoula airport. We loaded up the two vehicles that we were going to be using, one wouldn't be enough because of our belongings, and got ready to leave St Vlad's for good. There was a crowd of people out the front of the academy some of them with smug looks on their faces Tasha, Jesse, Ralph and Lissa to name a few, others in a little shock.

Eddie, Mason and I had discussed what we would do if we had an audience on leaving so as we were about to get into the vehicles we turned round to the foremost crowd containing the people who had signed the letter gave a deep bow and waved "So long bitches."

So here we are, minus Abe who was going to be staying in Novosibirsk, piling into an SUV driven by one of Abe's guardians, on our way to St Basil's school in Siberia. Dimitri was really excited about coming back here. He was close to home and his sister Viktoria attended there. I must admit I was looking forward to meeting her and eventually the rest of my In-laws in person.

As we drove along Dimitri was pointing out certain landmarks and places that he knew of from his childhood. "We are getting really close now. We should soon see the walls of the school" he said. I could feel the excitement coming from him and hear the giddiness in his voice. "I can't wait to show you off Milaya. A lot of my old teachers and fellow students are still here and I can't wait to see their reactions" he said with a mischievous grin.

All of a sudden the trees gave way to huge concrete walls; grey and unwelcoming that seemed to go on for miles. Dimitri finally straightened up and looked through the windows.

"Holy shit! This is the school?!" I said with a shock. It was more like an army barracks than the academy type grounds we were used to at St Vlad's.

"Yeah, it was built in this style to make it look like it belonged to the human military. Nobody would question it so it was the best disguise. It's been upgraded in the different styles over the centuries but always resembling a military installation of some kind. Besides there are a lot more strigoi attacks around here because we have longer periods of darkness" Dimitri explained.

We pulled up to a huge set of doors with a gate house off to the side. We declared ourselves and were motioned through. The huge gates closed behind us sealing us in and I saw that we were on a country road with no sign of buildings. We drove for ten minutes before the first signs of habitation emerged, little outbuildings that housed vehicles, guardian stations and other bits and pieces. We drove a little further and the larger buildings came into sight. Pulling up in front of the largest building we all got out. Following Dimitri we entered the building and walked down the corridors until we got to an office. Dimitri knocked and opened the door.