43. Drova

43

DROVA

D rova could barely contain her excitement as she and Pavel headed for the door.

She was in!

Well, sort of.

Being relegated to observation wasn't exactly what she'd hoped for, but it was a foot in the door.

"If we encounter any Doomers," she said, practically bouncing on her toes, "I can freeze them in place. Or better yet, make them eat dirt." She winked at him.

Pavel snorted. "Or their dirty socks."

Even Peter, who was gathering his materials from the desk, cracked a smile at that. "Pavel, why don't you show Drova around the facility and introduce her to the team? Her training starts now."

Wow. She was really in.

"Let's go," Pavel said.

His professional demeanor was back in place, all hints of joking and familiarity gone. She needed to adapt her expectations now that they were working together, and she needed to get over her crush. Maybe in a few years, when she was over twenty and part of the Guardian force, he would start regarding her as a desirable female.

Or so she hoped.

She was still Igor's daughter and a powerful compeller, and who wanted a partner like that?

The thought dampened her exuberant mood over being provisionally accepted into the force. There was a good chance that she was destined to be shunned by all the males in the village, and if she ever wanted to get any action, she would have to do it the Kra-ell's old-fashioned way and issue an official invitation to the males she desired.

She wouldn't issue it to Pavel, though. Never. She would never want him to just service her as an obligation. With Pavel, Drova wanted everything. She wanted what her mother had with Phinas and what Vanessa had with Mo-red. They were proof that even pureblooded Kra-ell could form loving, exclusive relationships, but she would be the first to do so with one of her own and not an immortal.

It might not be fair because there were far more males than females, and if everyone paired up, many males would remain without partners, but that was a worry for another day. Perhaps the immortals would find a way to change the Kra-ell genetics and even out the birthrate ratio of males to females.

"This level has most of the classrooms," Pavel explained, pointing out various rooms as they passed. "Combat training, tactical planning, weapons instruction, explosive materials, and everything else a soldier needs to know."

"When do I start classes?" She sounded eager, but she couldn't help it.

Pavel's expression softened slightly, reminding her more of the friend who came to study with her and shared drinks with her, than the official Avenger. "There is a hand-to-hand class later this evening, and you are welcome to join. Before that, we can work out in the gym."

They descended another level, and the sound of gunfire reached her ears.

"That's the firing range," Pavel said, slipping back into instructor mode. "We train with both traditional weapons and some special accessories that William's team has developed."

Through a glass partition, Drova could see several Guardians practicing with what looked like standard-issue firearms. But as she watched, one of them picked up something that definitely wasn't store-bought and attached it to the gun.

"What is that?"

"A range enhancer," Pavel explained. When she leaned forward for a better look, he added, "You'll need extensive training before touching any of the advanced equipment."

They moved on to a large breakroom, complete with comfortable seating areas and a row of vending machines. "This is where the Guardians decompress between lectures and training sessions and sometimes after missions." Pavel walked over to one of the machines. "We even have one for our kind. It dispenses small packets of synthetic blood."

"It's cool," she said, taking it all in.

Drova wanted desperately to belong here, to be one of the warriors.

Then she remembered what he'd told her about their missions and the kind of monsters they would be hunting, and her eyes flooded with a red haze and her fangs elongated.

"What's wrong?" Pavel asked, his tone shifting from professional to concerned friend.

"I thought about what you told me about the missions." Her hands clenched into fists. "I want to tear those pedophiles apart with my bare fangs and claws. Make them suffer."

Pavel's expression hardened. "I understand how you feel. Believe me, we all do. But that's not how the clan operates. Our orders are to capture them for interrogation."

"Why bother?" With an effort, she forced her fangs to retract. "Why not just thrall them and be done with it? Any immortal could rip the information right out of the humans' heads."

"It's not that simple." Pavel guided her to one of the comfortable couches. "Thralling only accesses recent memories and then only the visuals. We need deeper information—account passwords, contact lists, Bitcoin wallets. The kind of stuff that requires more intensive questioning."

"Torture, you mean." She wasn't bothered by the concept. These monsters deserved whatever they got.

"The clan prefers to call it enhanced interrogation." His lips twisted slightly. "But yeah. The idea is to take their money, their resources, and everything they have and use it to help rehabilitate their victims. It's not just about punishment. It's about justice and recovery."

Put that way, it made sense. "That's actually smart."

"The clan's been fighting trafficking for a long time, so they know what they are doing. The new division is going to deal with the end users and the intermediaries, so adaptations will be required, but they are not starting from scratch." He rubbed his jaw, suddenly looking less sure of himself. "I've been going out on missions only as a backup, and I can't wait to be in the forward team."

"Are you ever scared?" Drova asked quietly.

"I'm scared of messing up. I'm not scared of confronting Doomers. We are stronger than they are, and they can't infiltrate our minds, but they do have weapons, so we should always proceed with caution."

"Yes, definitely."

Drova had no idea what it meant to proceed with caution when being fired on, but she assumed that was what training and Kevlar vests were for.

"Come on." Pavel stood up. "I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."