"Wow, this place is yours? We all thought it was being built for some type of new training or a holding cell or jail of some sort. There have been so many rumors about it because of how it had been built." Mai says as we walk into the building.

 "They built it the way I would want my own home built is all, along with some special features for other types of supernaturals if they happened to be visiting or students here. Like special cells in the basement for young werewolves who were still trying to keep or get their beast under control. The same for vampires who might be experiencing bloodlust or still working on their control when faced with high emotions or exposure to blood. Strigoi do not seem to have these same problems as they all want to suck any creature they meet dry except for witches or nature-based magic creatures. Something in their blood is just awful for them and they are not able to stomach it, so to speak. Vampires do not seem to have this same problem. In fact, some vampires will hunt those with powers because it can infuse them with some of them for a while. Not all vampires are like this, luckily. You Moroi and dhampir seem to have a built-in strigoi detector, some stronger than others. It makes you feel sick or as if you have stomach cramps or are on your period. The rest of us have to use our senses to detect or find them. The mountain ash used is to help protect against magic effects or, if closed off, to make a magically protected area that most supernaturals would find very hard to pass through, even in a transformed state. The small medical facility in the back, of course, is used for healing mostly but could be used also for torture to extract information or even some types of magic rituals." I explain to her as I walk to a wall of boxes, picking certain ones out to be opened first.

 "Were you serious about the laptop and desktop computers? I really do not need anything that fancy and truth be told, I can do a lot just from this phone if I really needed to." Mai says as she was trying to think about what to ask after all the info she had just been told.

 "Very serious about it. I knew what you had done in Alaska, well, parts of it, and what it involved, but did not know part of the squad was all up there helping either. The government could not just kill them off without someone looking into it and causing problems, but on the other hand, they did not like the fact they were trained to have morals and would follow them even above orders. Killing someone for hire is one thing, and some of us have our codes that go with it. Theirs was they did not kill innocent family members. Their higher-ups tried getting them to do just that and they refused to quote regs on how that was their rights by law. So now the government in charge is looking for more indiscriminate killers to do their jobs. So far this has not gone over too well as they tried it using strigoi first, and when several of their soldiers turned up dead along with the targets, they put an end to that." I tell her as if it was not such a big deal.

 "So you know the people I was talking about? Or at least one of them? What do you mean most things die when beheaded, that implies there are things that do not?" Mai asks, a little frightened of what the answer would be.

 "First things first, my dear. There is a place in the kitchen to set up the computer. It should all be in these boxes I have set aside. While you do that, I need to move the rest of them to the middle of the room and then check the place for hidden bugs and cameras. This is standard practice whenever we move or set up shop someplace. It has gotten more difficult over the years with the advances in modern tech, but will be even more so now that the world knows about witches and other magical creatures. After that, we need to show you the weapons room and get you coded to open it if need be and there will be needs for you to do it. As moroi go, I know you have your own elemental magic. Yours is earth or stone, however, someone wants to put it, and from what I have found out, you are a lot better at it than you let on. There is also a new silver alloy that is very good at storing or putting magic to use. I use new lightly as it has been around for hundreds of years. Just very few were able to use it or produce it till of late. Like everything, there is good and bad with it. Great for magic and fighting, but not so great as a vampire or werewolf deterrent as it does not burn or poison them as true silver does. Silver just does not hold an edge or hold up in combat as other metals do." I tell her as I am moving boxes in the living room and making sure she is setting up the computer in the kitchen. 

"Are you using the second computer for a firewall for the rest? I would do that to make the whole system more secure for us and harder to be hacked into. Yes, I use earth magic, but I am not a true full-blood moroi as most of the others are. Sometime in the past, one of my ancestors was a human. I believe he had strong elemental magic in his blood and I am one of his last living relations. For the most part, I think most of the human bloodline has been bred out of my background, so to speak. Dhampirs cannot breed with each other but can with others. Moroi children of these unions are raised as moroi for the most part as almost always they gain an elemental power. A few have not, but as you can imagine, they are not looked upon the same as a true moroi is." Mai says as she is working.

 "Yes, please set up a proper firewall for the computers. Make sure to use all the quick-release fittings as everything has to be able to be dismantled and moved within an hour's notice or destroyed. Three bugs so far and one camera. How did I know? Everyone that knows me is trying to figure out what I am or what makes me different." I say mostly to myself.

 "Will I get a chance to see you change? It is safe being around you when you do correctly?" Mai asks her face a bit pale.

 "What the hell do you know of this, Mai? Out with it as you found something to suggest this. When you get done telling me, then I want you to go get rid of however you figured it out so there are no traces of it, you understand?" I tell her, a bit shocked that she might know my secret.

 "You are a skinwalker or a berserker, maybe both I am not sure but other than research you have done on your computer for contracts, about the only other thing you have ever looked up is stuff on those things and none of it seems to tie into a contract you took in the last 37 years. Then you seem to have looked for software that would destroy pictures of you found on the internet by using facial location methods. This is a bit odd as it is for pictures that would date back to when the first cameras were ever made. That is just over 201 years ago, so that must be a mistake, right?" Mai says, looking down at the floor.

 "Damn, I knew those damn things would be my undoing someday. Yes, Mai, I am over 201 years old. In fact, I have been a hunter since around 1000 AD. To give you credit, you are one, if not the only living person I know that has figured that out. There are others that know, but only because I knew them back then also. I am only telling you this so you do not go digging to look it up, as I believe you are one of the few that could. As for seeing me change, and how safe you are that is a whole different story. My spirit or totem animals have kept me alive many times when I should have died. There are others kinda like me, but none the same." I tell her.