Viktoria said downtown wasn’t far from where they lived and was easy to walk to. The day was clear and cool, with enough sun to make being outside pretty pleasant.

“We don’t get a lot of visitors,” she explained. “Except for Moroi men, but most don’t stay long.”

She added no more, but I wondered about her implications. Were these Moroi men off to find some action with dhampir women? I’d grown up thinking of these women, dhampirs who chose not to become guardians, as disgraceful and dirty. The ones in the Nightingale had certainly met the blood whore stereotype, but Dimitri had assured me that not all dhampir women were like that. After meeting the Belikovs, I believed him.

As we approached the center of town, I soon discovered another myth shattered. People always talked about blood whores living in camps or communes, but that wasn’t the case here. Baia wasn’t huge, not like Saint Petersburg or even Omsk, but it was a real town with a large human population. Hardly a rural camp or farm settlement. The whole setting was astonishingly normal, and when we reached downtown, lined with small shops and restaurants, it too seemed like any other place in the world people might live. Modern and ordinary, just with a slight village feel.

“Where are all the dhampirs?” I wondered aloud. Sydney had said there was a secret dhampir subculture, but I saw no signs of it.

Viktoria smiled. “Oh, they’re here. We have a lot of businesses and other places that humans don’t know about.” While I could understand dhampirs going unnoticed in big cities, it seemed remarkable to pull that off here. “And lots of us just live and work with humans.” She nodded over toward what looked like a drugstore. “That’s where Sonya works now.”

“Now?”

“Now that she’s pregnant.” Viktoria rolled her eyes. “I’d take you to meet her, but she’s grumpy all the time lately. I hope the baby’s early.”

She left it at that, and I again wondered about the dynamics of dhampirs and Moroi here. We didn’t mention it again, and our conversation stayed light and even teasing. Viktoria was easy to like, and in only an hour, we’d clicked as though we’d known each other forever. Maybe my connection to Dimitri bound me to his family, too.

My thoughts were cut off when someone called Viktoria’s name. We turned to see a very cute dhampir guy crossing the street. He had bronze hair and dark eyes, his age falling somewhere between mine and Viktoria’s.

He said something chatty and conversational to her. She grinned at him and then gestured to me, giving my introduction in Russian. “This is Nikolai,” she told me in English.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, also switching languages. He gave me a quick assessment in the way guys often do, but when he turned back to Viktoria, it was clear who the object of his affections was. “You should bring Rose to Marina’s party. It’s Sunday night.” He hesitated, turning a bit shy. “You’re going, aren’t you?”

Viktoria turned thoughtful, and I realized she was completely oblivious to his crush. “I’ll be there, but…” She turned to me. “Will you still be around?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But I’ll go if I’m still here. What kind of party is it?”

“Marina’s a friend from school,” explained Viktoria. “We’re just going to get together and celebrate before we go back.”

“To school?” I asked stupidly. Somehow, it had never occurred to me that the dhampirs out here would be in school.

“We’re on break right now,” said Nikolai. “For Easter.”

“Oh.” It was late April, but I had no clue what day Easter fell on this year. I’d lost track of the days. It hadn’t happened yet, so their school must have their break the week before Easter. St. Vladimir’s took its vacation afterward. “Where is your school?”

“It’s about three hours away. Even more remote than here.” Viktoria made a face.

“Baia’s not so bad,” teased Nikolai.

“Easy for you to say. You’ll eventually leave and go see new and exciting places.”

“Can’t you?” I asked her.

She frowned, suddenly uncomfortable. “Well, I could… but that’s not how we do it here-at least not in my family. Grandmother has some… strong opinions about men and women. Nikolai will be a guardian, but I’ll stay here with my family.”

Nikolai suddenly gave me a new appraisal. “Are you a guardian?”

“Ah, well.” Now I was the uncomfortable one.

Viktoria spoke before I could come up with anything to say. “She killed two Strigoi outside of town. By herself.”

He looked impressed. “You are a guardian.”

“Well, no… I’ve killed before, but I’m not actually sworn.” Turning around, I lifted up my hair to show them my neck. In addition to all my regular molnija marks, I also had the little star-shaped tattoo that meant I’d been in a battle. They both gasped, and Nikolai said something in Russian. I let my hair drop and looked back. “What?”

“You’re…” Viktoria bit her lip, eyes contemplative as she groped for what she wanted to say. “Unpromised? I don’t know the English word.”

“Unpromised?” I said. “I guess… but technically, aren’t all the women here?”

“Even if we aren’t guardians, we still get marks showing we completed our training. No promise mark, though. For you to have killed so many Strigoi and have no loyalties to a school or the guardians…” Viktoria shrugged. “We call it being unpromised-it’s a strange thing.”

“It’s strange where I come from too,” I admitted. Unheard of, really. So much so, that we didn’t have a term for it. It just wasn’t done.

“I should let you two go,” said Nikolai, his lovesick eyes back on Viktoria. “But I’ll see you at Marina’s for sure? Maybe sooner?”

“Yes,” she agreed. They said their farewells in Russian, and then he loped off across the street with the kind of easy, athletic grace guardians often acquired with training. It reminded me a bit of Dimitri’s.

“I must have scared him off,” I said.

“No, he thinks you’re exciting.”

“Not as exciting as he thinks you are.”

Her eyebrows rose. “What?”

“He likes you… I mean, really likes. Can’t you tell?”

“Oh. We’re just friends.”

I could tell from her attitude that she meant it. She was completely indifferent to him, which was too bad. He was cute and nice. Letting poor Nikolai go, I brought up the guardians again. I was intrigued by the different attitudes around here. “You said you can’t… but do you want to be a guardian?”

She hesitated. “I’ve never really considered it. I get all the same training at school, and I like being able to defend myself. But I’d rather use it in defense of my family than Moroi. I guess it sounds…” She paused again to think of the right word. “… Sexist? But, the men become guardians, and women stay at home. Only my brother left.”

I nearly tripped. “Your brother?” I asked, keeping my voice as steady as possible.

“Dimitri,” she said. “He’s older than me and has been a guardian for a while. He’s over in the United States, actually. We haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“Huh.”

I felt horrible and guilty. Guilty because I was keeping the truth from Viktoria and the others. Horrible because apparently no one from back home had bothered to pass the news on to his family yet. Smiling at her own memories, she didn’t notice my change in mood.

“Paul actually looks exactly like he did at that age. I should show you pictures of him-and some recent ones, too. Dimitri’s pretty cute. For my brother, I mean.”

I was sure seeing pictures of Dimitri as a little boy would rip my heart out. As it was, the more Viktoria began to talk about him, the sicker I felt.

She had no clue about what had happened, and even though it had been a couple of years since she’d seen him, it was clear she and the rest of the family loved him like crazy. Not that that should be a surprise. (And really, who couldn’t love Dimitri?) Being around them just one morning had shown me how close they all were. I knew from Dimitri’s stories that he was crazy about all of them, too.