{"sf1_id":774655,"sf2_id":null,"title":"An Alarming Entrance","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":3118,"posted_at":"2014-10-28T15:22:00.000Z","tags":["Church","Discovery","Feral","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","deception","russia"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/774655-an-alarming-entrance","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/774655","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=774655\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#56 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nI had a psychotic episode and sat at the computer for many hours until I broke my space bar; fixed it, and resumed writing. I have I think, five chapters written for this series as of now. I will post one a day, maybe two, depending on my mood. More research is necessary before I can carry on with the rest. I need to get these two out with their were-hides intact. Right now, as of the last written part, that isn't looking so good.","content":"                When\nthe plane landed, two very subdued individuals got off with their luggage,\namidst apologies from the pilots for the bumpy ride. The two made their way\ninto the airport and straight for the security checkpoint.  They had their forged documents handy, and the\ncloser they got to entering the country, the more nervous Edward became. He\nknew some Italian, but hardly enough for him to pass as being from the Vatican.\nAnd Maggie; she hardly fit the appearance of anyone from the church.                Of\ncourse, she wasn't supposed to be. She was with him in an unofficial capacity.\nThankfully, they were using their real names, Edward Peterson and Maggie Peterson.\nIt made keeping their names straight an easier task. He was a deacon, hence his\nhaving a child, and she traveled where he did. Since the papers were signed and\nsealed from the pope, few people would have the nerve to question them. The\nRussians might be one group who would.                Since\nthe photos were new and looked just like them, the paperwork was accepted\nwithout question. But as they passed through the metal detectors, the alarms\nwent off. A few hands went to holstered guns as they were asked to step though\nagain. Maggie patted herself down and found the only thing she had that was\nmetal was her ring. She handed it over and stepped through. The alarm was\nsilent.                Edward\ndid the same. The security detail looked at the nondescript rings and smiled.\nSilly religious stuff, they were sure. But when Edward walked through the\ndetector again, it still went off. He shrugged and stepped back though.  He knew the routine and began stripping where\nhe was. When he was down to his boxers, he stepped though one more time. Again,\nthe alarm went off.                A\nRussian with a thick accent spoke to him in English, since his papers said that\nhe spoke it as a primary language. \"What is scar?\" pointing to his chest.                What\ncould he tell him? That he had been recently impaled by a sword? He had to make\nsomething up and quick. \"War wound. Afghanistan.\"                The man\ntook a wand and ran it across his chest. It beeped like it had struck gold. The\nRussian smiled. \"Shrapnel. You're lucky to be alive with that much inside you.\nNext time make a note of it in your papers da? It will save time and much\ntrouble.\"                He got\ndressed again and they walked away through the cavernous airport until they\nmade it to the outside. Neither of them spoke during their walk. Maggie finally\nburst out with \"What the hell was all that about?\"                \"How\nthe hell should I know? Apparently that sword left parts of it behind? Leonardo\nsaid it was a nasty piece of business.\"                \"It was,\nand I examined it, and it was all in one piece. There is something else going\non here.\"                \"Like\nwhat, pray tell?\"                \"Like I\ndon't know.\"                \"Not\nhelpful Mags. And why did the rings set it off too? They're pretty small to set\nthe machine off so easily.\"                \"That I\ncan't answer either. I suppose it has something to do with the makeup of them.\nWe never did get to have that alloy tested.\"                \"Well I\ndon't like it. When we get back to Rome, I'm having a talk with the old master\nand see what he has to say.\"                \"You do\nthat. For now, we need to get a taxi to take us to our destination.\" Maggie was\noften leaning towards the practical side as of late. There was no point in\nworrying about it for now, because whatever the problem was, they were no in\nthe position to deal with it. He was alive, so whatever reason the alarm went\noff, it wasn't causing him any trouble.                They\nflagged down an orange and black taxi and climbed in. The driver turned and\nsmiled, showing a gap in his teeth. \"Kuda ty idesh' moikh druzey?\"                Maggie\nspoke to him in return. \"Yesli vy govorite po-angliyski, chto bylo by\npredpochtitel'neye.\"                The man\nsmiled wider. \"English? Sure. I speak good English. Where do you want to go?\"                \"To\nchurch. More specifically, the Church of St Catherine.\"                \"OK.\nYou hang on. And welcome to Russia!\"                The car\ntore into the near lane and sped off north towards the city. Edward leaned over\nand whispered to Maggie. \"When the hell did you learn Russian?\"                \"I have\nbeen, online. I'm not great at it, but did you think we'd be automatically dancing\nthe troika once we landed? You need to look ahead at future needs, not just\nwhat each day is going to bring. Sometimes it makes all the difference what you\nbring to the party.\"                He was\na little irritated with her candid appraisal of his shortcomings, but he\nchalked it up to her superior ability to see into the future, if that was\nreally a thing.  She shut up and enjoyed\nthe ride. St Petersburg was a pretty nice city, as far as he could see, though\nhe didn't like large metropolises after his stay in New York.  New York City was probably twice the size of\nthis, the home of the former tsar's Winter Palace. At nearing five million\npeople, it was plenty big.                The\ntaxi flew through the streets like the politsiya were after them. When they\nfinally pulled up to St Catherine's Church they found it sitting on the side of\nthe largest street in the city, Nevsky Prospekt. It's lovely yellow and white\nfaçade was not as imposing as had been St Peter's in Rome, but then it was\nprobably a matter of dumb luck that the building had not been torn down after\nthe revolution in 1917. So it was a small miracle it was still standing at all.                They\ngathered their bags and paid the taxi driver who tore off back into traffic\nlike a maniac. Not knowing exactly where to go, the two of them walked into the\nfront doors. Through the narthex into the nave they walked, carrying their bags\nwith them. Inside, it was filled with chairs instead of pews. Maggie looked\naround at the subtle colors on the wall and exclaimed, \"It looks like an Easter\negg in here!\"                \"Shhhhh!\nThis is a church, and while you may not believe the way others do, that's no\nreason to be disrespectful.\"                \"I\nwasn't! It's kind of neat looking; not all somber and stuffy like a lot of churches.\nAnd look at the domes! They remind me of eggs too, only from the inside.\"                She was\ncorrect. It was a surprisingly clean interior, and brightly lit. Not that a\nbuilding had anything to do with saving men's souls, but it was a truly likable\ndesign, and obviously very old. As they were standing there, an old bearded\nman, dressed in black, came out of a side door and approached them. Spying\ntheir bags, he bowed. \"Father Demetri Volikov at your service. I assume you are\nthe emissary from the Vatican?\"                Emissary.\nThat sounded funny to Edward's ears. How the hell did he end up becoming\nanyone's emissary, much less the pope's? \"Yes, that's me. I'm Edward Peterson\nand this is my daughter, Maggie.\"                He\nextended his hand in a cool greeting. \"It is most unusual to have someone who\nhas a child. The church has been very set against that sort of thing.\"                Maggie\ncouldn't resist. \"Some popes had kids, didn't they?\"                \"Yes,\nas a matter of fact they did, and we do not speak openly of it.\"                 \"I\ndon't know why not. It's not like it's a secret or anything. I heard it first\nhand from...\" Edward kicked her.                \"Not\nnow dear. This kind man was talking.\" His voice was tight.                \"It's\nalright. I understand the impetuousness of youth. Shall I escort you to your\nrooms and then you can maybe tell me why you are here.\"                \"You\ndon't know?\"                \"The\nVatican was kind enough to tell us you were arriving, but not the reason for\nyour visit. It has upset the routine here just awaiting your arrival. The\nsooner you could tell us, the sooner we can fix the problem.\"                \"Oh,\nthere's no problem. We are doing a fact finding trip, and we were told to stay\nhere while we were doing it. Pope Francis was quite adamant about it. So\noutside of filling two rooms, we'll not be in your way.\"                The man\nsighed with relief, and while it looked like he had more questions, he wisely\nkept them to himself. \"I am relieved. I thought perhaps there had been a\ncomplaint lodged.\"                \"None\nthat I was made aware Father Volikov.                 He\nvisibly relaxed. \"That is good. I was afraid that someone had reported\nsomething amiss.\"                Maggie\nwas in a mood. \"Why, is there something that needs reporting?\"                He\nstiffened again. \"No.\"                Edward\nside-kicked her. \"Hush!\"                The\npriest said no more as he led them to their rooms. He tried to be gracious, but\nhe made off as quickly as he could. Maggie glared at him as he power-walked\ndown the hall.                \"I\ndon't trust him.\"                \"It\ndoesn't matter. I have a feeling we'll only be in town for a few days. After\nall, what can we expect to find that the KGB didn't root out during their\nreign?\"                \"I\ndon't know. But there has to be some sort of clue here for us to find.\"                \"Maybe\nMags, but don't get your hopes up. I mean, think about it. If your grandmother\nis still alive, she's back in the states somewhere. She probably brought with\nher everything of importance that she could. \"                \"You\nmight be right, but we're here so we might as well make the best of it.\"                \"Agreed.\nBut for now, I think I want to kick back and relax.\"                She\nsmiled. \"Oh?\"                \"Not\nlike that. After everything I did to you on the plane, I'd think you'd want a\nbreak!\"                \"Oh, I\ndon't know. I learned something up there, and that is that I do have limits. It\nscared the hell out of me, but it made me think how cocky I've been. Ring or no\nring, I think I'm going to be playing it close to the hip from now on.\"                \"You?\nBe discrete? What's this world coming to?\"                She\njumped up on him, putting her arms around his neck as her legs wrapped around\nhis midsection. \"With age comes wisdom. And it comes with experience as well.\nI've learned a lot in the past weeks, and it seems the more I learn, the more I\nwant to add to it. It's like my brain has been expanded to the size of a\nwarehouse.\"                He\nlooked her in the eyes. \"I think we've both changed. But while you're getting\nwiser and more mature, I seem to be regressing to something dark and\ndisturbing. I don't like it.\"                She\nleaned back and with one hand, ran a finger down his chest. \"But I do like it,\nas long as it isn't trying to shove its cock into my mouth from the region of\nmy pelvis. Then it's a little much.\"                \"That's\nwhat I'm talking about. If my ancestor really went crazy and terrorized France\na few hundred years ago, then who's to say it won't happen to me?\"                \"No\none. So get over it. You need to get a grip on yourself and quit worrying what\nmight be, and make things happen that you want to happen. Sitting down and\nworrying about it does absolutely no good to anyone. Especially me!\"                She was\nright, as she often was. That got him thinking about this Rasputin fellow. All\nhe really knew was from incidental information, and that made him out to be\nsome sort of insane, indestructible seer. He could see where he and Maggie had\nsomething in common. But that was where it ended. If her grandmother was truly\nthe lost tsarina, she would have to be somewhere around one hundred and\nthirteen years old, and Rasputin, if he were alive, much, much older. But then\nshe said that she never knew her grandfather. If so, then what of her mother?\nHow old was she? Apparently a lot older than Maggie thought, and probably a lot\nolder than her father knew. It was all very confusing. But then he thought of\nVerona, and how old she was in real time versus her appearance. That made it\nworse.                 \"Whatcha\nthinking silly man?\" she said with a concerned face.                \"Too\nmuch I guess. I'm trying to figure out too much.\"                \"All in\nyour head? I wouldn't bother trying. We need a few more facts before we can do\nmuch more than surmise. I wish I knew what happened to Grandma Anna. She could\nprobably save us a lot of trouble.\"                \"That's\nthe truth. I feel like, now that we're here, that I have no idea where to\nstart.\"                She\ndropped down and patted the bed. \"Rest first, think later.\"                He sat\ndown and kicked off his shoes. The bed was small, enough for one, but she\nkicked off her shoes as well and snuggled in with him. They slept until\nnightfall.                When\nthey awoke, they were faced with what to do with themselves. Both were feeling\nrefreshed, and in no way prepared to go back to sleep. And they were hungry.\n\"Father, what say we go out and see the night life?\"               \"Maggie,\nas great as that sounds, I don't think I'd be allowed to take you into any\nbars.\"                \"I\nsuppose not. Then why don't we just go down and visit the Hermitage. It's down\ntowards the river, and it has as part of it the old Winter Palace.\"                \"It\nwon't be open this late, will it?\"                \"No,\nbut it beats sitting around here, unless you'd like to do something else?\" Her\nintent was clear.\"Fine, we'll be tourists. I don't think I'm ready to get\nintimate just yet, not until I think I can keep it together.\" So they got\ndressed and walked from the church down towards the museum complex. There was a\nlight drizzle coming down, almost a mist, as they made their way down toward\nthe river. The traffic was still busy as cars darted to and fro, but there did\nseem to be one which kept passing them by repeatedly. Edward noted it and\npointed it out to Maggie. She nodded.                \"I\nnoticed it too. I told you I didn't trust that priest fellow. I think he's up\nto something and he thinks we're here to investigate him. I wonder if he and\nthis car are connected?\"                \"I\ncan't say. Hey! What say we hide the next time we expect it to come around and\nsee what happens?\"                \"Sounds\nlike fun!\" So on the next pass, they hid themselves and waited to see what\nwould happen. Sure enough, the car came around the corner and slowed to a near\nstandstill. A window came down and a head poked out, looking both directions up\nand down the sidewalk.  There was some\nshouting from inside the car before the window went up and the car drove off.                From\ntheir perch on the roof of the building they were sitting on, the scene was\nwell observed. Edward snickered. \"I don't think they expected us to vanish\nunder their noses.\"                Maggie\nkissed his ear. \"Nope! It was a good thing there was no one around to see us\nscale the drain pipe.\"                \"So\nwhat do you think they want?\"                She\nshrugged. \"I guess we could jump on the car and find out.\"                \"And\nattract attention to ourselves? No, I think we'll let them stew and continue on\nour way.\"                \"On the\nrooftops?\"                \"Why\nnot? They afford an excellent view of the ground, and it'll still get us to our\ndestination. Just make sure we avoid all the wires cross the streets.\"                She\nbowed. \"After you.\"                They\nmade their way across the rooftops, jumping the side streets when the traffic\nwasn't thick.  They finally stood on a\ncorner overlooking the Hermitage. It was lit with a thousand lights, taking\ntheir breath away. \"Just think father, grandmother lived in that once upon a\ntime. Can you believe it?\"                He\npulled her close. \"I think I can. After all, we freed Leonardo da Vinci from a\ncryochamber of his own design, and we've battled against some pretty imposing\ncharacters. We both descend from royalty in one form or another.  Heck, we just recently had an audience with\nthe pope! So I guess I'm not surprised by much anymore.\"                \"Can we\ngo down and look at it?\"                \"Sure!\nWhy not? It'll give us a head's up for when we visit it during regular hours.\"                They\ndropped to the sidewalk like panthers, stepping out into the light with bold\nsteps. They crossed the street, looking for the car that had been following\nthem, but it never made an appearance. The stepped onto the lighted grounds of\nthe complex and stood in awe of the scale of it. \"I can't wait to see the\ninside. I'd love to be able to walk the same halls that grandma did as a kid.\"                \"I'm\nwith you. I'll buy tickets and we'll spend a day here.\"                They\nwalked in silence, viewing the palace with full blown wonder. Edward had heard\nof it, but he had never had a reason to be interested before now. The size of\nit was beyond belief. He couldn't even imagine a single family living in it,\nthough he knew there were plenty of palaces across Europe that were equally\nimpressive. He had always been a down to Earth kind of guy and such excess\nseemed, well; excessive. But it was from a different time, and there were\nplenty of modern buildings that were equally ostentatious.                 Their\ntravel brought them back around to their starting position. \"Where to now\nMags?\"                \"I\ndon't know. Let's just walk.\" And so they did, heading back up the sidewalk at\nstreet level back towards the church.                Not far\nfrom the Hermitage they passed a tan stone building that looked a lot like all\nthe others, but there was one that had signs, in red, blazoned on the side.\nThey were advertising for a bar within the building, and Maggie saw them and\nwent nuts. \"Look!\"                Edward\nsmiled at the name. \"Who knew?\"                \"Can we\ngo in?\"                \"You're\na little young I think. Besides, I don't know that our IDs will work for this.\"                \"Can't\nwe try? I'd love to be able to tell the master that we sat and had a drink in a\nplace named after him!\""}