Tatiana Bryzov Has Had Enough of Millicent

By Mr. David R. Dorrycott

the usual suspects copyright Mr. Simon Barber

Working at the English Consulate for her entire first break from Songmark, Tatiana Bryzov had quietly endured the snobbish tabby Miss Millicent. It had unfortunately gotten much worse in the last three days though. Especially since her sponsor, Major Thomas William Hawkins, had left on emergency transportation to England. His wife’s health, always fragile since the 1918 pandemic, had finally turned for the worse. Privately Tatiana wished both her sponsor and his wife good fortune, though when making reports to her controller she showed disdain for both. Had the People's Comissariat for Internal Affairs not trained her so well, she might have had troubles keeping her several faces separate. By now though she had formed a plan to deal with the snobbish, self centered tabby. A complex plan yes, one that required completely subverting the stuck up Miss Millicent. Yet a carefully crafted plan. One that would either get her into Amelia’s good graces forever, or earn her the British housecats hatred forever. It was truly a dangerous plan. Though she had studied Millicent carefully, there were always unknown quantities that affected any plan. Millicent for example, could be a Master Spy. Her act only that, an excellent act. In that case one of them would be very dead. Very soon. But this surviving alone had to end. Oharu’s experiences had shown her what Hell that was. Tatiana would not allow herself to one morning discover herself hopelessly alone. Not like Oharu. She simply couldn’t live a life like that.

Miss Millicent though was another matter. The tabby, her long dark hair always set just so. Was nothing more than an aide. Yet she had been placed as a buffer between Tatiana and any other embassy personal. Tatiana looked at the difficulty as a minor challenge, as Millicent had only once, and quite by accident managed to deflect her secret investigation. It was the constant badgering that was on Tatiana’s nerves. Finally she had reached her limit. It was time to act or give up. It was near leaving time on a Friday when Millicent, carrying her ever-present secrets bag stick her muzzle into the cubbyhole that had been given to Tatiana.

“We are now preparing to invade Moscow” the Tabby announced, that sickly sweet smile on her face. “You should warn your people, so that they may gather white flag material.”

With a speed that the tabby could never of expected Tatiana stood, leaned over her tiny desk, reached out with one paw to grab the tabby’s blouse while patting the thin door closed with her other paw. It was after all almost a closet the ermine had been given to do her translation work in.

Yanking the unresisting tabby in, Tatiana was pleased to hear her door snick shut behind Millicent. Still stunned, and now more than a touch frightened Millicent started to scream, only to see Tatiana raise one finger to her lips even as she released the tabby’s clothing. “We will talk” the Russian announced. “Now.” Her voice, though low, had absolutely no question in it as to wither Millicent had a choice in the matter or not.

“I will have you shot. Hawkins or no Hawkins” Millicent threatened.

In answer Tatiana opened her blouse, pointing to a white patch of fur on her left side, just below her breast. “Already been shot English toy girl. Burns” she answered. “Millicent” she began as she pushed her blouse’s hem back into her skirt. “Pravda. There are many things you do not know. Dah, is Pravda I work here only because of Major Hawkins. Dah, is Pravda he is gone for some time. Dah is Pravda I much wish his wife a full, complete recovery. Dah is Pravda I seriously want to rip your throat open with my teeth. These things are Pravda. Millicent, we must work together. I would speak to you in public place after work. Discuss difficulties.”

“Why should I desire to spend a moment with such a low born creature as yourself” the tabby responded.

Tatiana studied the English snob before her. Had there been a slight difference in her voice? Why? “Because Millicent. We do not speak. Then I sell you to Kuo Han. Tonight. Now we will have a little meeting at Parrys. We will share a bottle of vodka. We will in most polite fashion come to agreement. If it take several bottles of vodka. Because little Millicent, for all airs you put on in truth you are less than nothing here. You are a clerk. A child. A girl who is endured only because her father is Ambassador to Piccucapac.”

“That.. That isn’t the truth” Millicent denied. “I am much liked. I have a party to attend tonight. At the Swedish Consulate. I am expected.”

“Expected?” Tatiana smirked. “Yes. You are expected, is Pravda. Invited? When was last time any invitation comes to your paws? Pravda girl. When?”

Millicent glared, not wilting one bit. “Two months after my arrival. When they knew I would come anyway they stopped sending invitations. A saving of paper.”

“Parrys. Seven PM, on the deck. Or Kuo Han and lifelong collar by morning. Good-bye.” Having said that Tatiana returned to her translation, a report by a White Russian fishing captain of some strange creature he had pulled from the sea. She ignored the slam of her door as Millicent left.

Parrys was not the best restaurant on Casino Island, nor was it the worst. That distinction though was not its claim to fame. Its true claim to fame was a very bribable Head Waiter. An ancient Russian aristocrat who’s neck was very much wanted by both White and Red Russians. One simply did not play double agent as badly as he had and not make a few enemies. Yet he was trustworthy, for once bribed he stayed bribed, and he had the worst memory of anyone Tatiana had ever met. The day after of course. Parry’s itself was a small eating establishment that catered to madmen flyers and adventurous tourists. Its decor was broken aircraft parts, signed photographs of pilots (many now dead) and the occasional visiting Huntress. Her profession plied in a quite subdued way here. Millicent arrived promptly at seven as ordered. She had, the Russian noticed, at least investigated where she would be spending several hours. Her dress was fashionable, yet subdued.

Sitting without a word Millicent placed her purse on the table, a clear sign that she did not expect to remain long. “You have eaten?” Tatiana asked sociably.

“I will eat at the Swedish party. Later” Millicent answered, her voice strained. She was clearly upset about this meeting, yet she had kept it. “Speak your piece then let me leave. I must have time to change before the party.”

“Very well.” Gesturing with her right paw Tatiana ordered a bottle of Vodka from the Head Waiter, with two glasses. Millicent was a social woman. Her understanding of things Tatiana took for granted was either shaded by social disdain, or completely absent. “We will share one bottle” the Russian explained. “We will talk. We will come to an agreement. Pravda you do so irritate me Millicent.” You are also an idiot to drink on an empty stomach the ermine thought, knowing full well she herself had eaten a heavy meal less than an hour ago.

“Thank you. It is such an easy task.” Millicent waited in silence as the waiter carefully placed a small tray holding two glasses and a bottle of vodka between them. She retained her silence after he left, watching with little interest while Tatiana opened that same bottle. “You Songmark girls are all the same. Soiled laundry” she continued while her companion carefully filled both glasses to the half-way mark, then placed one in front of her.

“Drink, then talk” Tatiana ordered as she picked up her glass, swallowing half its contents a moment later. She was taking a calculated risk. Her People's Comissariat for Internal Affairs training had exposed her to the active ingredients of Nootnops Blue until she understood fully its effects upon her body. This bottle held an amount equal to ten bottles of Nootnops Blue. Not dangerous, but it would have an effect even through that training. She was ready to adjust her actions for that.

Picking up her own glass Millicent sipped, made a face (though in truth it was an expensive brand) then swallowed half her own glass. “So talk. I notice we are away from everyone else. The better to threaten me?”

“Nyet. No threats Millicent. Kuo Han was threat. Threat Pravda never happen. Oharu burn my soul I sell anyone to them. Krupmark, maybe she will only singe me some.”

“Oharu. That chip little pagan...” Millicent’s voice faded at the look Tatiana gave her.

“Oharu is my adopted mother. Watch what you say, or I treat you like you treat someone who bad talks your mother. Only worse.”

“She’s... But she isn’t old enough.”

“Adopted” Tatiana reminded her companion. “To me, an orphan thank to Iosif Starling and NKVD. That is very important to me. Millicent. You think I am enemy agent dah?”

“I know you are. I’ve read the reports on you and all the Songmark girls.”

“Ah, I did not know you have Very Secret clearance” Tatiana observed. “Thought only Secret.”

“If your going to leave a folder out, someone is going to read it” the tabby admitted. “You are an agent of Iosif Starling.”

“Was. When came here” Tatiana admitted, lifting her glass again. “Met Amelia. Met Helen. Met Oharu. Now I am agent of Amelia Bourne-Phipps. English spy.”

“Amelia.. English Agent?” Millicent laughed, absently following her hostess’s lead and finishing off her own glass. “She works for Spontoon. Dear Lady Amelia is a cheap traitorous criminal.

Tatiana kept her mouth shut, pouring more vodka. She had made a study of this self centered girls actions, listened when she talked. As a diplomatic aide she was a fountain of information, along with being a social gadfly. Leaning back she studied her guest. Ears beginning to redden, eyes dilating. Both alcohol and THC were beginning to have an effect, though as to what those effects would be the Russian wasn’t certain. Everyone was affected differently by the same drug, though this combination would lose its effects long before morning. “Amelia’s father is?”

“Sir Archibald Bourne-Phipps” Millicent supplied. “Who is most upset about his daughters turncoat ways.“

“You would think?” Tatiana gestured with her glass, sipping while Millicent drank. “Amelia was sent to create own spy web. I was first convert. Is amazing how one changes when one understands ruler is gangster. Is madman. Molly, Helen, even niece of Italian Dictator Maria her agents. You are fool Millicent. Big open mouth fool. What government admit anyone their spy? Make problems for that person. Make them seem unwanted. Else make them target.”

Abruptly frightened Millicent finished her glass. She believed that she was being given information that she was seriously not cleared for. Information that she should not know. Secretly reading a folder left out during lunch was one thing. Being briefed was quite another. Gratefully she accepted the refilling of her glass, finishing half of it in one gulp. “I am not a fool” she argued, though her conviction, like her glass, was less than full. She was sitting here alone with a known spy. Hearing about a network being built by her government that she should know nothing about. There was only one reason. She was expendable. They were going to expend her. This woman was going to kill her. If not Tatiana then another English agent. “I can keep my mouth shut” she continued. There was almost a begging tone in her voice now. Millicent hated it, but couldn’t take it back now. She was truly captured by this woman’s web.

Abruptly Tatiana stood, tossing several bills on the table. “We will go to someplace private, to continue talk” the Russian instructed her guest. Picking up the bottle and glasses Tatiana walked towards the road a few yards away.

‘Ten shells’ the tabby noted as she struggled to her own feet. ‘So much money.’ In her confused state she didn’t notice that Tatiana appeared completely unaffected by the drink, nor that she had never finished a third of her second glass, while Millicent herself had now swallowed three glasses. The last being full. ‘Running is useless. I am so very much dead. I will miss England’ she realized as she meekly followed the Russian. Maybe, if she followed instructions to the letter. Maybe it would be quick. All she had ever in her life wanted to do was marry a Diplomat. A Lord hopefully. Then live the pleasant life of those with breeding. And money of course.

Tatiana’s rickshaw delivered them not to some back ally or darkened corner of Casino Island, but to the front entrance of the McGee Resort. It was a place Millicent was aware of but had never entered. On the ride she had finished that bottle purchased by her hostess. Now barely able to stand she allowed the much stronger ermine to aid her to bungalow number five, ignoring the looks of those still about at the time. Somewhere along the way she remembered a toilet, and emptying her stomach into it. Then she was sitting in the bungalow, sitting on a chair with her hostess facing her.

“Never drink on empty stomach. Dah?’

“Dah” Millicent managed in agreement. She felt so very, very odd. As though her body wasn’t connected to her soul anymore. “You will murder me now?”

“Later” Tatiana answered. “Always time later. I have much use for you yet. Major Hawkins have much use for you. Later. Later I cut your heart out and eat. While you watch.”

Millicent knew she should be frightened, but those words. They sent a shiver of excitement through her. Could this woman know her secret fantasy? No, it was one thing she had never told anyone. It would have regulated her to a sanatarium for life. ‘But I would have lived such a long life’ she thought. “What use” she asked.

“I need contact in Consulate” Tatiana admitted. “You have almost right access. Amelia needs new passport. I need English passport. Many other things.” She settled onto her bed, sniffing. Was Millicent becoming excited? It could be expected under such a load of alcohol and unaccustomed drugs. It was an opening she could use, had been well trained to use in order to blackmail this primped up snob into helping her. So why not. “These things you will do.”

“I can’t do that” Millicent admitted. “Charles doesn’t leave his materials out. Not ever.”

“Charles?”

Millicent nodded yes. “He makes all new passports. I only deliver the papers to him and pick up the completed passports. I can lose paperwork, or mess it up if I want and am careful. But I can’t make passports.”

“You can add paperwork to what give this Charles?”

The idea was surprisingly new to Millicent. “Well, yes” she admitted. “I guess so. As long as it isn’t too many things at one time.”

Millicent, Tatiana noted, was calming. Her scent easing. So what had been the trigger. While she thought about this she continued her conversation. Soon the tabby would be getting tired. When that happened, she would sleep. Period. “You called Amelia Lady. Why? She is unmarried, her father still alive.”

“Oh yes it is” Millicent answered, a big smile coming to her face. “Though she does not know this as yet. I saw the report only this morning. Both her husband and sister in law were most publically executed by Our Majesties Government just a little while ago. So she is the only living heir to certain dark estates, title, privileges. A most darkened name she has now.”

This was news to Tatiana, as she barely knew the name. Amelia married? Since when. And Millicent had returned to her normal self while gloating over that news. Tatiana hated to admit it, but she knew nothing about whomever Amelia might have married or why they had been executed. More investigations. If she could get passports, oh what a slap in the face to Molly that would be. A fitting response to her last humiliation. And the tabby had started to become excited again. Only a little but... Prey Syndrom? Could a feline have Prey Syndrom Tatiana asked herself. It was unknown in carnivores, but a mind was a mind, if exposed at the right age. To the right circumstances. Or so the NKVD believed. But a feline? She decided to test her theory. “If you want to live my little pet, you will do as I want. If not then you will be my meal tonight. Do you understand?”

“I left a letter” Millicent warned, trying to stand. Her legs though wouldn’t hold her anymore and with a heavy thump she hit the hardwood floor. “I feel so strange” she moaned. Her scent though, built.

‘Prey Syndrom’ Tatiana decided as well known scent filled her rooms. ‘In a feline. Impossible. But usable, if kept under control.’ Kneeling beside the semi-conscious woman she whispered. “You are well aware that I must return to Songmark on Monday. After I leave this will happen. You Millicent, will arrange several passports over the next month. Lady Amelia requires a passport to return home. She must attend to her new estates. She will be taking four servants. Helen Ducros, Maria Inconnutia, Molly Procyk and Katrina Wei. You will bring me the papers here. We will fill them out together. We will make new names for those three then. You will slip them into your pouch. You will give them to your Charles. You will bring those passports to me. This is understood my little meal?”

“Won’t” Millicent argued. “Left a letter. Kill me. Eat me. Don’t care. Your going to die.”

Pulling Millicent into a more upright sitting position Tatiana reached into her own blouse, removing a pink envelope. Ripping it open she held up a single sheet of paper before the tabbies eyes. “This letter” she asked, triumph in her voice.

 “How...”

“I am a spy Millicent. I work for your country. Through Amelia. Through Major Hawkins but I am a spy. A well trained spy. Now, you will do what I need?”

Millicent blinked, tried to nod her head and thought better of it. “I see that I belong to you now. Why?”

“Because you failed to align yourself with another before I had need of you. Because you made enemies of potential friends. Because you angered all who might have helped you. Because, my little supper, in all the ways you could have protected yourself. You failed to even make any attempt.”

“When will you eat me” Millicent asked, her voice soft, abruptly that of a child maybe four, or five years of age.

“When I have no further use of you. When your existence is no longer to my pleasure.” Tatiana leaned forward, bringing her eyes almost against the tabbies. “When your very existence has no further importance, in any way, to me. Then I will carve a stake from you for my meal. You will cook it. You will serve it.”

Millicent, her mind confused worked though those words. Finally she thought that she understood. “It will be a long time. Wont it?”

“Yes, but it will happen. Won’t it.”

Millicent only whimpered her answer, throwing her head back, exposing her throat. “You have such beautiful teeth” she whispered.

Prey Syndrom Tatiana thought with disgust. If anyone could help this woman it would be mother Oharu. Until then... Opening her mouth as wide as she could Tatiana enveloped that offered throat, taking as her property that which was so freely offered.

At the feel of her teeth pressing upon her throat Millicent sighed as though in great pleasure. She had found the one she had searched for, though it was not some powerful African Tiger native as in her dreams. A tongue tasted her throat, her bared throat, her defenseless throat. She would do whatever Tatiana wanted. As long as it was for England, whatever she wanted. Quietly the civilized mind of Millicent drifted away.

Morning sunlight burned through Millicent’s eyelids. Where was she, this wasn’t her bed. Opening her eyes she found herself in a typical little tourist bed, nothing like her embassy supplied bed. And horrors of horrors she wasn’t alone. “Nothing happened” a well detested Russian voice announced from behind her. “I dislike sleeping on floor when good bed is available. We go see someone now.”

“We do nothing of the kind” Millicent argued, rolling from the bed. She was in her chemise the tabby noticed, though when Tatiana sat up there was nothing hiding her form. “You perfectly dreadful woman. You got me drunk, then dragged me to your room. Hawkins or no Hawkins. I shall see you thrown out this very day.”

“And never be eaten” Tatiana asked softly.

Millicent gasped, covering her mouth with both paws. “How... No one knows. I am certain. Your guessing.”

“You and I see woman. Today. Prey Syndrom not thing to play with my Millicent. You need help dah. I will see you get such help. Today.”

“Prey Syndrom? I don’t know what it is you think you are talking about Russian. I assure you that I have nothing like that.”

“Millicent look in mirror at neck, then say different” the Russian ordered as she too stood, gathering her brush. “LOOK!”

Shaken Millicent backed up, away from this obviously unhinged woman until she came level with the rooms full length mirror. Studying her reflected image she groaned in dismay. Her neck fur was matted, matted in the way that could only happen by one way. On each side of her throat were a series of groves in her fur. Groves that had been made by teeth. Russian teeth. “No” she gasped. “No.”

“Dah” Tatiana corrected, brushing her own fur. “How long you hide this? Is dangerous for anyone untreated. More so if work in secret areas.”

Millicent collapsed onto the floor. “Tell them. Get your revenge. I will be shipped home, sent to a Sanatorium. I’ll die there an old untouched woman. My family would never let me out. I am a disgrace.”

“How long” Tatiana repeated.

Millicent looked over to the closed door, then back to Tatiana. “I was four. We were inspecting a village in Dower Deflalio. Ten years of no rains had devastated that nation. In that village there were only children left. Well fed children. Their parents had given themselves, to save their children.” She sobbed. “I thought how Nobel a sacrifice. To freely give ones body, ones life so another could live. What is Prey Syndrom?”

Tatiana sat her brush aside, picking up her clothing from where she had left it the night before. “It’s a hazard of pure herbivores” she explained. “Rare, constant dream of being chased down by predators, taken down, eaten. It becomes everything. It can be used against the suffer, when done right. I never read an entry of a predator species being so affected pet. I will take you to be helped. I will do that one favor only. Only because I need you. Pravda.”

Spinning around, her paws to her throat Millicent almost managed a sneer. “So you will hold this over me forever. No thank you Russian. I managed my life with it this far.” Abruptly she grabbed her chemise, ripping it.. “Take what you want Russian, but my loyalty to Crown and King? Never.”

“Ah my poor flower. Crown. King. Country.” She walked closer to the English girl. “I will demand much from you. Very much. On my Honor I will never ask you to endanger your country, your King. Yours at least is a free country Millicent, for all the snobbishness you hold. Our revolution. Our Glorious Revolution. Stolen from us by a band of criminals. I am Russian Comrade, just as you are English. Never forget that. I am no longer Communist. I am RUSSIAN!” At her last words Tatiana grabbed the hanging chemise, her greater strength tearing it away as though it were tissue. “If I want I take. I not want. For now. So dress. Main Island is a long trip, we must hurry. She will be finishing her Shrine duty soon now.”

Millicent looked down at the ruined chemise laying at her feet, then to the Russian’s back as she dressed. Last nights conversations flooded back through her alcohol and drug muddled mind. “You... You don’t want me then? I remember what you said about Amelia and the rest.” ‘I remember your beautiful teeth’ she told herself.

Buttoning her dress Tatiana turned to face her companion. “Want? I am not Mother Oharu pet. I do not want a woman above all others. Need? Dah. Pravda is I need you. Desire? That I will not allow comrade, until Oharu has helped you calm your demon. At this moment no proof exists. You are not dangerous. I warn you English girl. You hold to me, I will help you. I will endanger you dah. I will protect, as best I can. Choose wisely. Now dress, or walk with me as you are.”

They had to wait more than an hour while Oharu finished instructing her students. Though Tatiana could understand the Spontoon being spoken, Millicent had never degraded herself more than to learn only the most basic words. Eventually the mouse walked over to them, greeting them warmly. “How may I serve you” she asked in that shattered voice of hers.

“I must speak with you mother. Privately” Tatiana answered. “She should listen to the water. While we talk.”

Oharu’s look told Tatiana all she needed to know. “Then take her there, instruct her. I will await you.”

Quietly Tatiana did as instructed. Settling Millicent down next to the tiny fall she managed a smile. “Close your eyes my pet. Listen to the water. Trust me if in this only, here you are safer than behind castle walls. It will only be little while. My word.”

With nothing better to do (though any Romance Novel would have been a nice addition) Millicent did as instructed, barely hearing the ermines departure. It was soothing though she thought, a soft hissing of running water. A sweet babbling as it tumbled from stone to stone. Comforting. It was almost as though the water were trying to talk to her.

“Daughter” Oharu asked as Tatiana returned to the gathering place.

Instead of sitting Tatiana fell to her knees. “Mother” she answered, and in her voice was truth, not simply repeating a title. “I have done evil. For no reason.”

Settling herself on a stone Oharu studied her adopted daughter. So far had the angry Communist traveled since her arrival upon Spontoon’s shores. She was a natural. She could, as the Buddha spoke of it, become truly enlightened. “You are my daughter. As much as if I bore you from my own body. I will never deny you. Tell me of this evil. That I may help my daughter make amends.”

Still kneeling Tatiana explained her actions, her intents, her plans. All that and how what she had stumbled across that had so made a disaster of her attempts. Of her plans. “I do not wish to kill her mother” the Russian admitted. “Yet she is so foolish. I could never depend upon her not to speak about this, to attempt to strike back. She is so... Emotional.”

“We are all emotional my dear Tatiana” Oharu admitted. “In this nothing is unexpected. This Prey Syndrom you speak of, explain please.” Listening Oharu learned what Tatiana suspected, discovering that it was simply a different name for something she had been trained to deal with long ago. “What you believe, what this is. I think may be different” she decided. “Please sit, you are not a servant to me. Nor ever again a slave. You are my daughter. This prey illness is a desire, a need to die for no reason. What you explain appears different. Leave her with me today. I will see what I may do. I warn you daughter, I may be able to do nothing at all. Speak with her now, explain. I will not force her.”

Tatiana looked into the older mouse’s eyes. “You will do all you may. This is all I may hope. I truly have use for her, but as she was. Not the confused, frightened child she is now. I shall return at midnight then Mother. Thank you. I truly do not wish her blood on my paws.” She stood then, walking down to the waiting Millicent.

“I am leaving you with mother for few hours” she explained to the now calmed feline. “She will try to help you, if you will let her.”

“If I do not” Millicent asked. “What then oh great spy. You’ll notify Amelia? She will arrange my most unexpected death? We despise each other Russian, she and I. She will laugh at my lifeless body.”

Tatiana sighed in exasperation. “Millicent. Why do you hate her? Pravda she is daft some times yes. Sometimes she does not see what is in front of her, but she is a nice woman.”

Millicent laughed. “Why? Why shouldn’t I? Her airs, her position. She is daughter to a Lord. My father is nothing but a career Diplomat. We are of no special breeding. My only hope is to marry into breeding, or I will end up some clerks wife. Stuck in a cheap row house somewhere in some forgotten city with kits around my knees. l spend my every waking hour in that Consulate. Not even a proper Embassy. Father has warned me that he may even ship me off to Nunui Hale. I do know what goes on, I see it flow about me. Intrigue, advancement, people being noticed. Myself? I wander about carrying my little Secrets case, as I have since the day I arrived here several years ago. No one even asks me on a date anymore. Its been over a year Russian, since I had a drink with someone who wanted to be around me. A year, and who is that? Amelia’s pet assassin. When you kill me, and Russian I already know too much, you will have too. When you kill me they will not even suspect her. Because no one suspects you are part of her team.”

“You can be too Millicent” Tatiana offered. “Oh not as an agent. Not out in the field. You have all wrong training for that. But you see things, hear. You attend parties. You hear things, see people. That is helpful. All you have to do is be polite. People will open up to you.”

“You wish me to be a spy? I am a Lady Russian. A LADY! Ladies do not spy. Ever.”

“Pfalzgrafin Schwarzkopf?”

“They shot her” Millicent reminded Tatiana.

“Pravda. Even mounted head on the wall. Did they not? Prussia give her a body state funeral. A State Funeral Millicent. That means even though she was a spy, they respected her. What would you get today, if I rip your throat out right now? A tiny plot on Casino Island. Short note to your father. Millicent, as an agent, a spy you meet people. You make contacts. If you are very good you marry well. I will not be spy all my life. Family is something I want. Oharu has given me part that. You let her help you. You think what I offer. Millicent. If you refuse help. If you refuse everything. I tell you Pravda this. You will die. Tonight. At my paws.” She stood up, looking down at the confused but still very proud feline. “I do not wish this. So you think.”

“I will never turn on my country like Amelia has” Millicent countered, though her counter was not quite as forceful as before.

“Has she? Is not Spontoon of interest to your country? Would not a network here be of use to your country? Millicent, you presuppose. Think. Why would England abruptly list Amelia as Person of Interest right after best spy is discovered. After best spy, student at Songmark with her, runs for life? I will return at midnight. In morning I will wake in my bed. You will be there, or floating in Sacred Lake, never eaten. This I let you decide.” She turned away from the Consulate aide, walking silently back up the path.

Pausing only to pay her respects to the great stone Tatiana hurried away from Great Stone Glen. Mother, daughter. Words she had never expected to use or be used with her again. So long ago, she would make Sterling pay heavily for that loss. Killing Millicent would be easy. Perhaps she should have already done that. But doing so without real reason would have upset Oharu. Oharu, the woman who had saved her from Nikki. Who had saved her from Kuo Hon. Who had saved her from herself, and Sterling. Oharu, who had not only shown her the beautiful face of love, but had taken her as her daughter. Had given her a family again. “I will not disappoint her” she growled at a pair of tiny eyes in the bushes.

Some time passed before Millicent saw the kimono dressed mouse walking down the path. She watched in silence as Oharu paid homage to that strange splinter of stone, as she walked the final yards down to where Millicent waited. Still in silence mouse sat near the feline, looking not to her but to the waterfall. “And now” the English girl asked.

“I do not force” Oharu answered. “If help you truly wish. Help I will give. Or we may talk. We may sit in silence, you may sit alone or run away. I will not hinder you in any way.”

“You are a spy. Just like that Russian” Millicent snapped. “Why should I trust you?”

“Incorrect child. I was a spy” Oharu corrected. “I am now Priestess in Training. Soon I hope to be full Priestess. If Gods accept me.”

“If they don’t” Millicent asked, truly interested.

“My skills are very few child. Religion has been my path since I was nine. At eleven I became Miko. Now I may be Priestess. If Gods do not accept me.” She leaned her back against one of the many stones here. “You are familiar with Spontoon term Hunter?”

“You would become a whore? Why?”

“My stomach needs food, my body clothing. Child, nothing in this mortal world is free. Not even the air we breath. I would become pansuke yes. Or die. I would find my choices very hard, for I have a daughter to care for now. You too have choices today.”

“I do not wish to die” Millicent announced. “I will not be disloyal to my country. What choices have I?”

“Did my daughter ask you to be disloyal to your country?”

“No. But she is Russian.”

“That is true. She has renounced her government. Not her people. She works now to free her people from the slavery of those who stole their revolution. Would you not do the same. Should that happen to your England?”

“Yes but... I mean... Oh I don’t know what I mean. Yesterday my life was ordered. I knew what I wanted. Where I was going. Now I find I am meat for someone’s table.”

“That excites you” Oharu observed, noting the scent that occurred almost upon Millicent’s uttering of those words. “Why?”

Millicent blushed so deeply Oharu expected to see her paws redden. “I do not know exactly why” she admitted. “It bothers me. Your daughter, I told her.”

“She explained what happened when you were four. This does not explain why such thought should cause you to react so. Will you trust me to help you discover why?”

“If not you will kill me, correct” the feline asked.

“No child. I cannot kill. For any reason. It is not a vow that stops me. It is what I am. To eat yes, a creature that has no intelligence. But you? Millicent I cannot kill. I offer to help you because my daughter asked. You must want this. I will not force you even to move one hair aside.”

“I was exorcized, twice” Millicent admitted. “Both times they told my parents the dreams would stop. That they had chased away whatever servant of the devil had entered me. For a while my dreams faded, but they are back again. Priestess, will you exorcize me as well? Will that save my life?”

“I do not believe any demon is within you, other than the one you have created yourself Millicent. I will try to guide you to a place it cannot follow. Only you may control it. No other may do more than bind for a time. Without help eventually it will destroy you. Millicent. My daughter would not kill you unless she had reason. Please. Do not give her reason. Do not hurt my daughter. Let me take one of those reasons from her.”

“Just one?”

“Millicent. One is all I am able to help you with. The other. That you must decide for yourself.”

Millicent bit her upper lip, weighing her options. On the one paw she could just run. Once she was back in the Consulate she would be safe. They would send her back to her father yes, and he would send her to Nunui Hale, but she would be safe. On the other paw, leaving would mean being unable to enjoy the life she had found here. Had begun to build here. Granted it was as Tatiana said, only because she made her own way. But she did make her own way. Then there was another paw. What if this woman. This pagan priestess was lying? Well, on that paw she was dead anyway wasn’t she. Certainly she was stubborn, but snobbish? Selfish? Not as she saw it. Then there was the paw holding this delightfully clueless newcomer Nancy Rote. Such an entertaining American, what with her little detective work. Another paw held adventure. She so much wanted adventure, most girls her age did. To really work with spies. Not just carrying papers from room to room. But gathering information. Information to help the Crown. And yet, on this paw was Tatiana. She already knew Millicent’s weakness. Even if this slant eyed spy could help it was only for her daughter. Adopted or not, her loyalty was as plain as Millicent’s own. Oharu was right about one thing though. If her government was overthrown by a bunch of backwater crooks like Russia had been, she would do anything to right that wrong. So perhaps Tatiana was right. But she would have to work with Amelia, and her right paw was certain that could never be successful. They each hated the other already.

It was a lot of paws Millicent abruptly realized. An awful lot of paws. If she accepted Tatiana’s offer she would be working for Amelia. Through Tatiana yes, but still. Well, perhaps she could arrange with Tatiana that Amelia never discovered this. It was adventure. She would be hob-nobbing again with other Diplomats. She already knew a few small things. Such as England certainly desired Spontoon returned to Crown rule. Had plans to base a large task force here as they did Singapore. It had the perfect harbor for such things, unlike the American Pearl Harbor with its single entrance and shallow draft. Tatiana would be returning to Songmark very soon, tomorrow in fact. So she would be on her own. And... Her entire body shivered in reaction. Tatiana had the most beautiful teeth. Such sharp dark black claws as well.

“If I allow this. This thing you want to do” she whispered. “You will not make me subservient to your daughter. You will not make me love her.”

Oharu leaned forward, gently placing one paw upon one of Millicent’s. “I will not” she agreed. “It would be a Great Change to make you desire her or not desire her. And only a God may make one love another against their will. By a law I follow I can no more make you desire her than I could make you love me. I would be cast down, thrown out of Spontoon. Not even allowed the life of a Hunter. It can be done yes, but I am yet not permitted such. No Millicent, if you have now or ever have feelings for my daughter. They will have come from your heart. Never mine.”

“Then what do I have to do?”

“That is simple. Place your body in a comfortable position” Oharu instructed. “Listen again to the water. Sleep. I will come to your dreams. Together we will see what has so twisted your soul as to feel death is love.”

“You won’t read my mind. Promise me that. I know Crown secrets I can not permit...” Pressure upon her paw quieted the feline.

“Millicent. Reading minds is not possible. We will be upon the dream plane. Have you never controlled one of your own dreams?”

“Yes. Many times.”

“That is where we will be. I will no more be capable of reading your thoughts than you mine. You are welcome to try. For if you are able, you will be the first in this worlds known history able to do so. I would be honored to meet the first true mind reader, though I would be frightened as well. You are as safe as in any dream. Now rest. I must now instruct my students upon herbal lore.”

Millicent waited until Oharu was out of sight before deciding. She could run, but she bet her entire lifes savings that Tatiana would catch her before she reached the coast. This slant.. No. She rearranged her thoughts about Oharu. This Priestess wished only to help. Nothing more. “Very well then” she said to the stones about her. “I shall sleep.”

Tatiana arrived at midnight, as she had been instructed. Oharu met her as she came down those ancient stone steps. “Mother?” the Russian asked.

“She sleeps. Come, we truly must speak.” Turning her back on Tatiana Oharu made her way to her gathering place, waiting until Tatiana was settled before speaking.

“Millicent. In her youth. Saw a mother cut her own throat. Take her own life, that her children might have food” the mouse explained. “Her father refused to give the lunches his group had brought, claiming that such uneducated creatures deserved starvation. Millicent took her own two sandwiches to give away, stumbling upon the mother too late to save her. Daughter. She has come to believe that giving ones life to another for food is greatest act of love. It has twisted inside her.”

“Mother. We all demons have” Tatiana reminded Oharu. “You have your Molly.”

“As you have Russia. A mistake was made by first priest. He, or she. I cannot tell, turned a wrong path. Believing a Demon a wrong ritual was used. Its use covered her darkness. Strengthened it. I have, with some effort released that mistake. I cannot in one sitting heal a lifetime of twisted paths. You must return her here, until she is free of this darkness.”

“It isn’t Prey Syndrom then?”

“No daughter. It is not what you feared. Had it been, at this age she would have been incurable.”

“I still must know mother. Will she serve me, or do I kill her now.”

Oharu’s eyes closed but a little, still enough to warn Tatiana. “You will not kill her. I have invested too much of myself. I call her life upon my own until she is fully yours. Yes, she will serve you. Not to save her life, for even now her greatest pleasure would be for you to rip her apart, devouring her still living body. No my daughter. Her reason is much different.”

Tatiana was a spy. A good spy. She was also a very good Songmark student. “She’s in love with me” the Russian stated. Her words were not a question, for the evidence was inescapable.

“She is in love with you. You have, in her words, such beautiful fangs.”

“Mother. I am not that way. I will have sons and daughters. I cannot be as you are.”

“You are Tatiana Bryzov-Wei. You are my daughter. You are Mother Russia’s only loyal daughter. You will be what you must be to save your homeland. This I am certain you can do. You need not marry her. Perhaps doing so would badly ruin her usefulness to you. Do not waste this woman my daughter. She has promise.”

Tatiana swallowed. Of all the things she had avoided. Yes Nikki had taken her pleasure from Tatiana’s body, as had Oharu. Once. In a much softer way. But she was not like her adoptive mother, who’s only thoughts were the soft curves of Molly Procyk. Molly who towered over Oharu by a full foot. It was of those like Amelia’s choice. Hard muscled, intelligent. Able to grant her the children she secretly hungered for. Yes, she could do this. Women were her second choice, but in honesty a freely made choice.

“Mother. I lied to her.”

“You do not work with the Priestess in Training Amelia” Oharu agreed. “You must do this. One day she may be greater than myself. She may be High Priestess. Daughter, never close your path simply because it is undesirable. It may one day be the only path open to save you. It is time now. Go to her. Take her to your home. To your bed. Touch her as you would the flutterby. Let her heart blossom for you. Do not strangle this bud before you taste its nectar. Use her yes, as you must for your Mother Russia. I think you may be a long time finding another such chance. Do not abuse her, and Daughter.”

“Mother?”

“You will bring her to me as often as you may. This darkness can be defeated, but it will take much time.”

“Yes mother. I will send her to you as often as I can. My word. As your daughter.”

Millicent woke the next morning with wonderful memories. Opening her eyes she found herself looking into the already open eyes of Tatiana Bryzov. Bryzov-Wei she now knew, though that name was Most Very Secret. “She promised she wouldn’t make me love you” Millicent whispered into those eyes. “We were both surprised to discover I was already in love with you. She offered to release me from this. I said no.”

“Why, because I have such beautiful fangs?”

“And you will bring me adventure. You will help me serve the Crown better. You will... Tatiana, there are many, many reasons. I can not at this moment count them all. She warned me I could never hold your heart only to myself. That you wished to marry, to have a family. This I much understand. Tatiana. You are my first true love. Perhaps you will be my only love. Perhaps we will both find others. Yet for now. In this time. In this place. Let me be yours.”

“It is good that you will work with me” the Russian admitted. “Mother was much right. Clipping your bud before I tasted your nectar would have been a terrible mistake.”

“Then what must I do for you. How can I help your Amelia build her spy network. How can I help England’s safety.”

“First I must have the passports I spoke of before” Tatiana decided. “You need lessons in social behavior. This I know of a place that can teach. It is not best of reputations Millicent, for its clientele is less than the best. Yet it will teach you as it has Amelia and Molly. You will go?”

“I will go any where you ask me to go. I trust you now. I know that I love you.”

Tatiana snuggled closer. She well knew how to use seduction to gain her goals, and Millicent seemed completely unprepared for Tatiana’s abilities. Like a farmers daughter thrown into a barracks of veteran solders, she was well out of her depth. “You must treat Amelia, myself as you already do. In public. On Main Island you are safe to show your true feelings my pet. To hold me, to touch me. We will train you to be a gatherer of information. Report what you learn to me, let slip some information I will give you to those in your consulate who should know. I report to Amelia. Now to first task. What names should we give these passports?”

“Lady Amelia’s married name of course” Millicent answered. “For you my love, as you want Katrina Wei will do, but I would put the Wei as a middle name. Perhaps Katrine Wei Ivanovicha. It is a common Russian name after all, Ivanovicha. You could never pass for anything but a Russian I am afraid. I would list you as her personal pilot and driver. Your Helen, she is America from the state of Texas. Personal maid would be best for her I think. Something like Susan Harkens would fit. Molly, Molly is so obviously a guard. Marzena fits her. Marzena Krygowski was a friend of mine. Maria would be her secretary, she is so much a writer. Italian names are very easy. They are so simple. DiLucca. Bianca DiLucca. It shall require two months to manage so many passports. Still I shall have them for you.”

“Do not forget yourself my pet” Tatiana whispered. “As one day you too must vanish back to England, least those eyes we do not wish to touch you come hunting. Now enough of talking, I am hungry. You my pet, taste delicious. This afternoon I take you to Madam Maxines for your first training class.”

Butterfly McGee, walking past a certain bungalow later that morning was pleased at the sounds she heard coming from it. Love after all was always desired over the other choices available.

The next weekend Millicent was walking by Tatiana’s office. Opening the door she looked in, watching as the Russian worked. “Crossword puzzles are not permitted while working. Or is that just a love letter to your controller?” She stepped back sharply when the door slammed shut, adjusting her blouse she walked on. Behind her several clerks simply shook there heads in dismay. Would that Ambassadors spoiled little brat never learn how to treat people?

Two months later Tatiana would approach Amelia. Carrying with her an offer, and certain fully legal passports. That though is a story that must be written by another, for this writer has reached the end of his path.