More Than Meets the Eye

  “After Peter, there were no more elite wereleopard fighting units. We survived, but in very few numbers. We hid in the freedom of the mountains and the forests. But, as with all things, this too came to end. The boarders expanded, people came and went. We kept to ourselves, but it is hard to stay in complete isolation, as I am being sure you know. When the Nicholas became Czar, he was dealing with revolutionaries, and World War I was in the making. Turmoil and tribulation for all, not just leopards. And with him comes the Rasputin. He was evil wizard. He was going to rule Russia through the weak Nicholas. He sought to do so with the aid of the leopards, but he understood the mistake that Peter made; that the leopard would be detected by the fae, by wizard or mage alike. Rasputin was son of a son who had worked on the experiments during Peter’s time. But, this Rasputin, he has an idea that is most evil; use fae to fool the fae.

  “But you can only do that if first you find the correct type of fae. So, there is one obstacle he must overcome. He must find a certain type of fae that will borrow scent from something else to hide behind. The second obstacle he must overcome is that even if he does find the correct type of fae, this perfect fae/leopard union will not be happening in nature.”

  “No, it is practically impossible,” Dietrich said, all of his attention riveted upon Anna, him practically sitting on the edge of his seat with anticipation.

  “Dah, this is correct. It will have to be done with magic. But what magic, how much and at what time to use it is the big trouble. He needs to experiment. So, he builds secret laboratory. He searches far and wide, and locates the perfect fae that will be suiting his needs. He was able to convince a naïve young fae woman to come and work for him under the assumption that she is to come work with a great scientist who’s main goal, on the surface, was to protect the many endangered species of Russia through a special breading program. He chose her on purpose, for she is also half mage. He is thinking that the combination of the mage elemental powers combined with the fae magic is what will be required.

  “Now, this young assistant was a song fae. These beings are more romantic in nature, and can be a little, what is word? Ah, gullible. Well, this young fae, she was being easy to manipulate to his purpose, at first anyway. You have to be understanding that the science of preservation was new concept during this time. She was so excited to be a part of it, to be at beginning of new thing. She was caught up in the science of preservation not knowing that Rasputin was intending to use her to help create master assassin breed.

  “In the meantime, Rasputin find and capture wereleopard and bring him to lab. The fae lab assistant, thinking to have actual Amur Leopard coming, was most excited. When she find a man in cage, she was putting the two and two together. She also realized that she was about to become an active part of experiment as well. You see, Rasputin did not count on her having brain. She was scientist, and knew when she had been, how do you say? Knew when she had been had.

  “Now, this human/fae was beauty. Black hair like raven, skin like the snow, eyes gray as the steel. She used her fae songs as well as her mage magic to charm her superiors. She makes them happy with her work, and they begin to trust her. They even let it slip that she is to mate with wereleopard. When superiors not looking, she let the wereleopard go free, and she goes with him, for they have fallen in love.

  “Now comes the part that concerns my daughter. The reason Peter could not have the success is because he was needing the magic of the fae and the mage both to create the being that he wanted. Peter failed because the wereleopard is like the werewolf; they either are or they are not, there is no in-between. The gene is carried from parent to child. But a fae with the powers of an elemental mage can do things that defy reason. The fae and the wereleopard had a child that exhibited traits of both parents. Natasha’s father was this child, My Yuri.”

  “Yuri’s parents, they hid for a time and when the Rasputin, he is killed along with his associates, they think they are being safe.”

  Anna took a moment before continuing. “Consequently, I was not knowing any of this until we chose to be mated but it did not matter. We settled with his parents, we were happy for many years.

  “During his lifetime my Yuri, being part mage, he is learning from his mother certain things. When we were mated, she tried to teach me some things, but I have no talent for it, for as you know, mages are born not made. But I managed to learn some spells that were not elementally dependent and it helped me to get by.”

  A cloud settled upon Anna. “Then suddenly, we are being hunted again. There is cult in Russia that has been formed from those that follow after Rasputin. They are religious zealots who believe that they can reform his legacy. Part of that legacy includes the creation of the assassin wereleopard, who are to deliver the world into their hands. When the time is right, they still believe that Rasputin will reincarnate and rule the world. My Yuri, he is being their prime target. Since I was his mate, I was sought also, as well as his parents.”

  “We split from his parents. I do not know what happened to Yuri’s parents. I have heard that they made sure that they died before any experiments could be made on them. My Yuri and I ran away together and run many years until I became pregnant. I could not run anymore, not without putting my baby’s life in danger. And we also knew that since Natasha would be her father’s child she would be in as much danger as he was. That is when we decided to come to America. We split up and ran again. I came to America first, before anyone knew of my pregnancy, Yuri leading those who were chasing us away from me. He was to meet me here, but was captured instead. He was captured, oddly enough, by the politburo, which accused him of being a revolutionary. He was sent to Siberia with other political prisoners. He tried to escape, but was killed in the process.”

  Anna became quiet again. Maven reached over and gently patted Anna’s knee in consolation. “I sense the truth of this. Thank you for telling us.”

  Dr. Dietrich nodded. “I recall seeing the papers on Ivan’s as well as Peter’s experiments. I had no idea that Rasputin had met with success. I had heard rumors, of course, but no evidence could be found.”

  “Are you doubting my account?” Anna asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

  “Oh, no, no my dear. I am saying that he was very cautious. He was a slippery wizard, that one. Perhaps at a later time, you could give me a little more detail. I would like to document your mate’s account. Hm, if we could but find the laboratory or some of those notes of his,” the doctor’s voice trailed off, his mind already working out the details of the new possibilities that Anna had laid before him.

  “Dah, I will help if I can to rid the world of such evil.”

  Jake spoke, concern creasing his brow. “I’ve heard of bounties being set for wereleopards. I mean, there is always some kind of bounty somewhere for werewolves, but leopards were mostly unheard of in this country until, oh, twenty, thirty years ago.”

  Anna nodded. “Dah, this is why. The zealots look far and wide searching for us everywhere, taking any wereleopard they can find, hoping to find my Yuri, my Natasha. But I take care of bounty hunters,” she said grimly.

  Jake gave her a crooked, understanding half smile. “I’m sure you do ma’am.”

  Avery leaned in. “But the spell that kept Tasha from changing. How did you manage it? And for what reason?”

  “Dah I am almost forgetting that. Well, as you can imagine, I could not risk our detection. As far as the United States Government was concerned, I was political refugee. No need for them to know different. But we are different from the werewolf in this respect; we make partial change minutes after birth, and will change back and forth for the first week or so until we stabilize. Then we do not change again until the time of puberty, while the werewolf does not change until the puberty sets in. Well, I could not have the baby change in the middle of bus station, or on train, so I did some research. I am very good at the research. I discover a spell that would temporarily prevent a were-being from changing. So, I got a
ll of ingredients and prepared for baby’s arrival. I had to deliver on my own, which was terrifying, but I am Russian wereleopard in new country so I manage. Natasha changed into leopard then back to baby. I do spell and Natasha does not change again. Now, I am poor at doing the magic, but as I say, I manage to get by. One thing I know for sure, is that a blood spell is one of the most strongest spells to be made.”

  “Ah, I understand where this is going. And the most strongest of all spells is based on that of the blood of a child,” Maven said.

  “And a newborn child is the strongest. That is why a black witch is so dangerous, because they have no qualms about killing the innocent to make their spells so powerful,” Avery finished.

  “Dah, I made spell, and added my blood to the blood of the baby to make it even stronger spell. This is how I know my Natasha is in trouble, because the blood connects us. It is only after I cast spell do I find out that this spell cast with the blood makes it very strong. Usually spell will wear out after few years on child, less on adult. But with blood, it has longevity of about twenty five years.”

  “It’s held on five years longer than it’s supposed to,” Jake remarked.

  “Maybe because of the human, fae, wereleopard mix, it skewed the spell even more,” Avery said with interest.

  “Dah, this is what I am thinking,” Anna said with remorse. “I should have told her. But I fear at all times for her safety. I think I am keeping her safe, that as long as she does not know what she is, no one else will know either. And then there is timing. When is good time to tell baby she is not like other children, that bad people seek us always?

  "But anyway, I am thinking time is close, but I do not have connection that I had in past. It is like bad phone connection; sometime is there, sometime is not. Then I feel the fear from my Natasha, and with that, something else, something primal, and know that I cannot wait any longer. So I come.”

  “Just in time,” Jake said, as he tugged on his ear lobe absently.

  “Just as you say, wolf boy,” Anna replied.

  Avery shook his head. “Magic like that has the potential of going very wrong.”

  “Magic always does mage.” Anna gave him a tired smile. “Magic always comes at cost, and undoing what has been done, well there is even more cost to pay. But, the time had come for my Natasha to change. I feel that it was worth the risk,”

  “I must agree,” Henry said. “Avery, if Natasha had not changed, if she had waited for this spell to wear off, she could have been badly damaged, if not physically, then certainly mentally.”

  “Dah,” Anna agreed quietly. “I am ashamed. I should have told my Natasha all, but I thought that the less that she was knowing, the safer she was being. I never wanted for her to be loosing mind.”

  Maven leaned towards Anna. “But she is well, and I am certain she will forgive you for trying to keep her safe.”

  “I wonder if Richard Roberts knows about her,” Avery mused.

  “About her being a wereleopard?” Jake shook his head, “He thinks he’s after a werewolf.”

  Ann sat up straight, alarm on her face. “What are you saying? Is there a bounty hunter after my Natasha?”

  Jake cursed Avery with his eyes. “We don’t know, ma’am, but someone has been following her for the past few days.”

  “Ah, well, I have taken care of bounty hunters before. I can take care of yet one more.” Anna settled back and finished her sandwich.

  Chapter 20

  With Tasha’s changing safely behind her, business went on as usual, except for just a few exceptions; Anna took up residence with Tasha. Also, Tasha was unusually on edge as she discovered she could see, hear and smell clearer and with more distinction than ever before. It was a bit of a distraction, and Tasha, usually focused, was seldom, if ever, distracted.

  With great effort, Tasha turned her attention to their most resent case. A Mrs. Smith was concerned that her husband may be cheating. Apparently, Mr. Smith had a regular late night business meeting every Thursday night. According to Mr. Smith’s GPS, his meetings were being held at an abandoned factory. Odd place for a meeting, thus the services of Jake Wolf, Private Investigations was contracted.

  Tasha’s job, at the beginning of every case, was research. She proceeded according to protocol.

  She began with a series of questions, such as, what kind of factory had it been? Who owned it? What was the connection between the factory and Mr. Smith? So many questions, and Tasha, being distracted by the newness of her, decided that a field trip was in order.

  As she stepped out of the back door of the office, car keys in hand,

  Tasha got the oddest tingle in her gut. She was certain that is was magic and it made her wary. She had the distinct sensation that someone was searching for her. Or had found her and was watching her. She was too new at experiencing magic to know which one for sure.

  Tasha got into her car and eased down through the alleyway and onto the street. She caught a glimpse of the dirty landscaping van. But she’d seen him following her previously, so why would he need magic now? “Bastard,” she turned onto the street and on to her excursion.

  ####

  Tasha drove out to the abandoned factory, but not before making sure that Richard Roberts wasn’t in her rear view mirror. The last thing she wanted was to get cornered at an abandoned factory by him. She then wondered if that was why he had decided to use magic; she had always been able to ditch him in the past.

  The drive wasn’t a long one, and she wasn’t gone for long. She just wanted to get at look at the derelict structure. It looked abandoned; though the yard was free of weeds and debris, there were only a few windows intact, covered with dirt and grime. The rest had been boarded up with plywood. The doors were chained and locked. A temporary fence had been erected with notices to “keep out” and “no trespassing”. Inside the fence was a large sign indicating that the property was for sale. Tasha jotted down the name and number of the realtor and smiled slightly. She knew the realtor. More importantly, the realtor knew Jake, and had a thing for him. “Oh, Jake is going to hate me for this,” she chuckled as she headed back to the office.

  ####

  Once back from her drive, Tasha relayed the information she had learned to Jake via text. She had been correct, he was not exactly pleased to know who the realtor was. It meant he was going to have to search the realtor out for the purpose of asking her some information about the property. And that realtor was going to misconstrue his looking for her as him taking an interest in her. It was going to be a long visit for Jake.

  At closing time, Jake had still not come back from his meeting with the realtor. Tasha closed up shop and walked up the flight of steps that led to her apartment. As soon as she was within the safety of her own walls, she explained to her mother what had happened earlier in the day as she had left the office. Tasha took a peek out of the massive window that overlooked the street. She saw no sign of the landscaping van.

  “Mom, you keep an eye out.” Tasha warned.

  “I always keep an eye out. This is why I have lived as long as I have. Now, what is this tingling in your body parts that you spoke of?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never felt it before.”

  “Hm, I am at loss. Now that my spell is no longer affecting you, you may simply be able to sense more of your surroundings. I do not feel this, this tingle, but you have other blood in you. Handy it may be, no?”

  “It could be.”

  “Still, do not put complete trust in feeling alone. Continue to use all senses that you have. You are new to whole fae thing, so you may be, how you say, short circuiting?”

  “Maybe.”

  ####

  Jake was a little more concerned than her mother had been when Tasha was finally able to tell him about the way she felt when he came into the office the next day.

  “Tough night?” Tasha asked him as she placed a cup of coffee on his desk and sat in the guest chair across the desk f
rom him.

  “You have no idea. I wasn’t able to meet the realtor at her office. She insisted I meet her for dinner. A potential client dinner is what she called it. I played along. Big mistake. I spent the whole time trying to keep that gal’s hands from roaming all over. Damn I swear she had about ten of them.”

  “Ah, the things you suffer for your craft,” she teased. “But were you able to find out anything?”

  “Only that Mr. Smith used to own a corporation that had an interest in the factory. It was like a silent partner type of deal. He has agents that deal directly with any sales questions, so he really has no reason to be there anymore. I will be checking it out Wednesday night.”

  “Why Wednesday? His wife said that Thursday’s were his usual late night.”

  “Because I want to check things out in their normal state before he shows. Then I’ll go out again on Thursday.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  The front door’s alarm chimed, indicating someone had opened the door. Tasha got up and poked her head around the doorjamb of Jake’s office to see Detective Gil Marshal strutting through the office. She waved him back and he headed their way.