Disclaimer: You know the drill everybody and everything belongs to someone else, except me of course. No money is being made of the story. It's just for your enjoyment only.
Warning: Bad language, violence, and sexual content.
Chapter 13
We drove out of the city and through the country side. It was a fifteen to twenty minute drive to Anita's house. We made a left turn onto a gravel road. Even though it was still dark, I could make out a two-story house down the driveway. We parked behind a bunch of cars that were sitting along the yard. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She glanced at me, then rolled her eyes.
"I wish they would stop hogging up the driveway and get rid of some of these cars," She moaned.
"You know whose cars these belong to?" I asked.
"Yes. They belong to members of the pard. They all live here with me now," She answered.
"Wait a minute. From what my father tells me, you live at The Circus," I replied.
"I've divided my time up between here and The Circus. I stay here doing the week and stay with Jean-Claude on the weekends," She said.
"Oh," I retorted. I just sat there for a moment before continuing. "Will you be going back to The Circus tonight?"
She glanced over at me and said, "No. I will be staying here tonight, so I can keep an eye on you."
I looked at her and couldn't tell if she was worried about me or still mad at Jean-Claude. I wanted to tell her she had other things to worry about then me. That I could take care of myself, but I didn't. We sat in the car for some time not saying a word to each other. She gave a sigh then put her head against the steering wheel. We were unaware that something was wrong until we heard shouts coming from around the house. Anita sat up and was going for her gun when something hit the roof of her jeep, causing us to jump. We both looked out the window to see the silhouette of two people fighting. One of them was thrown against the jeep into the windshield. Glass went everywhere, making Anita and me scramble out of the vehicle.
We finally made it out of the car when I noticed more people coming this way from around the other cars. Anita came over to my side and pulled me away from the jeep just before one of the individuals was slammed into the passenger side of the door. Anita clicked off the safety of her Browning and fired twice in the air. The shadows that surrounded the cars stopped in their tracks. The two forms who were fighting stopped in mid-motion. Anita was pissed and for some strange reason so was I.
"Alexandra, can you get my flashlight out of the glove compartment? It's dark out here and I need some light to see what's going on," She asked.
I glanced over to her form and said, "I can do better than that."
I conjured up my wand and said, "Lumos." A bright flame appeared from the end, lighting up the area around us. I could see the bodies of the unknown figures standing there with shocked expressions on their faces. Anita glared at me and I answered that glare with a smile. She shooked her head and turned back toward the two men who damaged her jeep. The first guy she came to was the same height at Anita. He was slender with a few muscles, which made him look almost like a girl. His hair was past the shoulders, almost down to his waist. It was wavy and done in a dark brown color. Anita then turned her stare toward the second man, who was about my height maybe an inch taller. His upper body was short like mine with very long legs. That earned him the nick name Mr. Long Legs. He was bigger than the first man with more muscles. His hair was short, but it was longer on top coming down to cover his eyes. His hair color was lighter than his tan, it was between a dirty blonde and the color of the first man's hair. They were both wearing blue jeans and nothing else.
Anita walked over glaring between the two. I felt sorry for those two cause Anita was already fired up from her little talk with Jean-Claude. They knew she was highly ticked so they didn't move a muscle. "I don't know what the hell's going on here, but someone better start talking fast," she yelled.
The little short dude with the wavy hair stepped up in front of her and started to rub his cheek along Anita's hand. He then ran his tongue over her knuckles like a pet cat would do to their human. She looked at him and rubbed her hand across his cheek and behind his ear. Then she ran her tongue over his lips. I don't know much about pards, but I get the feeling he was the leader. The others started to crawl from where they were and came over to Anita and their leader. They each greeted her like she was a long lost friend who finally came to visit. One stood alone away from the others and he was eyeing me up and down with a repugnant expression. I bet you can guess who that was. Yep, old long leggy himself.
I didn't like the way he was staring at me. His beast was starting to show through. He had that glaze to his eyes that all cats get when they're about to pounce on something. I've seen it too often in my own cats. The idea struck me and before I had a chance to move, he was on top of me pinning me to the ground. He had leapt over the pard, hitting me in the chest. Anita was stunned at what had just taken place. I was one step ahead of her because Mr. Long Legs was flying off me, screaming in pain up against a tree. I used a lightning bolt spell mixed with a moving spell to electrocute his butt. Then I sent him flying into the nearest tree. I had done this in the amount of time that it took Anita to realize what happened, while aiming her gun at the center of his back.
I was off the ground and facing him before he could come at me again. I threw open my shields and called forth my magic. I began to glow, not knowing that I was changing in the process. I was glowing blood red and the fire within wanted to be freed. Oh great, Dragon's Flame. The only element I dreaded having any power over. Someone touched me on the shoulders and I jumped. I twirled around to find Anita glaring at me. The rest of the pard had backed up a little from us.
"Ok Alexandra. You can seal the volcano up now. Caleb isn't going to try anything else tonight. Are you Caleb?" She said looking over at Mr. Long Legs, while still aiming her gun at him.
So his name was Caleb. He began to shake from the electrical shock I gave him. He kept staring at me, but nodded his head in understanding.
"Are you going to introduce us Anita," came a voice behind us?
We turned around to find the short guy standing there. He had a huge smile on his face like he was trying not to laugh.
Anita glanced at him, then back at me. "Alexandral, this is Micah. He's the pard's Nimir-Raj. Micah, this is Alexandra, Maximus's and Zelda McGregar's daughter. She's also a new member of the pack, so if anyone harms her, they will have to deal with me," She said glaring at Caleb.
Micah looked at me for a second or two, then glancing back over at Anita. "Why are you protecting her Anita? She's pack, not pard. You are no longer the pack's lupa, only their bolverk. That's the Ulfric's job," he said.
Anita glared at him and said, "I know that Micah, but we have a problem. Richard is in jail."
Micah just stood there with a stunned expression on his face. When the news set in he asked, "What happened?" He acted like he didn't believe her.
"He was arrested for the murders that I've been investigating. Dolph arrested him tonight and said I was protecting him. I tried to tell him it wasn't Richard, but he said that until I had solid proof that Richard wasn't behind it, Richard was being locked up," she replied with an irritated tone.
"Then what does she have to do with this?" Micah asked. I was beginning to dislike this guy and wanted to say so, but I kept my mouth shut. Anita wasn't too happy with him right now either. I think it was because he and Caleb trashed her jeep more than him asking a bunch of questions. Me, personally didn't like the tone he was using while asking his questions. I thought he was being awfully arrogant.
"She has everything to do with it. She's my proof that Richards innocent," Anita told him.
"What do you mean she's proof that Richards innocent?" Micah said angrily.
"Tell him Alexandra," she demanded with her back turned toward me.
I glance from one to the other then finally replied, "I know who the real killers are and where they are headed."
"How?," Was all Micah could say.
"Because I'm an International agent and they tried to kill me about three weeks ago. They disappeared when the bust went down," I answered.
"What bust?" He asked.
"That's none of your business," I told him.
"Well I'm surprised they let a werewolf into the government, especially as an agent," he smirked.
I glared at him and said, "Sorry, that's a little secret of mine. If I told you, I would have to kill you." Micah's mouth almost dropped to the ground at that comment. Anita had to clear her throat to keep from laughing at Micah's expression.
Finally he smiled, coming over to greet me. I lifted an eyebrow at him wondering what made him change his mind about me. I regarded Anita and she nodded her head. I was a fast learner, so I had the pards greeting down pat. I greeted him in return then the rest of the pard. We rubbed our cheeks together, then licked down the jaw line. We finished up by rubbing our heads under each other chins, then rubbing our bodies along each other's. Caleb came over to join us wanting to be included on the greeting. I glanced over at Anita and pleaded with her on allowing me to skip this one. She tried to hide a smile behind her hand. She shook her head no, so I had no other choice but to greet this arrogant fool. I turned back to see him wearing a smile across his face. I wanted to smack it off him so badly, but I behaved myself and greeted Caleb. To my surprise and the others, he behaved himself.
Anita came over and pulled me to my feet saying, "Sorry guys, but the show's over. We've got work to do."
"But I haven't been fully introduced to everyone," I said.
"You can socialize later. Right now we have bad guys to hunt down," She replied to my protests.
She started walking towards the house with me on her tail. Something occured to me. "You never did find out what all the ruckus was about," I said coming up beside her in the gravel driveway.
She turned her head towards me and replied, "You know, you are right. I never did find out why Micah and Caleb were fighting. I guess we'll have to find out once we get inside. Micah is always making me forget things, especially when he looks at me with his eyes through his hair. I'm a sucker for that look."
I just looked at her like she was crazy and was thinking that, "I thought my life was a little screwy." I had heard rumors about Anita from the council. About how she was The Executioner, a necromancer, a human servant to a master vampire with vampire powers of her own, along with being a lupa and bolverk for the local pack, as well as being the queen of a pard of leopards. I could not believe that there was someone else like me, but now I knew I was wrong. The difference between us was that she used a gun to fight her battles, I used my magic for mine even though I have skill in weaponry.