The sound of the rain pelting down on the old tin roof drowned out the steady hum of the generator that worked hard to keep the beer cold and the lights lit. It would be hours, possibly days, before they could move on. Fortunate then, they all had a story to share to pass the time.

~ ~ ~

Xia closed her eyes and savoured the slow burn as the vodka made its way down her throat, momentarily distracting from the relentless pounding in her brain. And the heightened senses, hyper energy levels, and the hot flushes. God, the hot flushes. It took real effort to refrain from face-planting in the ice bucket behind the bar.

At least all the weird crap gave her something to keep her mind off her father's disappearance. Three weeks he'd been missing, and the Police still had no leads. She wasn't even convinced they were truly looking.

A subtle waft of coffee, caramel, honey and mint worked its way through the stale beer and sweat. Xia looked up, expecting to see her best friend beside her. But Kalinda was still talking to the bouncer at the door. Over fifty metres away. The super senses thing harked back to pre-puberty days. She'd grown out of them soon enough. But with the stress of her only family missing, her hormones were sending her, and her senses, crazy.

If only her father were there, he'd have one of his weird green concoctions for her to drink and she'd be good as gold by morning. It could be a coincidence the symptoms had returned following his disappearance, but Xia wasn't a big believer in coincidence.

Xia ordered another drink as she waited for Kalinda to make her way through the crowds to the bar. It was only early evening, but the place was filled with after-work drinkers. Mostly men in suits. Xia's favourite.

She tapped her fingers against the side of her glass, eager to get out on the dance floor amongst the people. She'd always enjoyed physical contact, giving and receiving hugs, holding hands with her friends and so on. But the last week or so the feeling had morphed from something she enjoyed to something her body craved. She physically needed to be in that crowd.

Finally, Kalinda made it to her. Dressed as she was in a tight, white bandage dress, there were no prizes for guessing why she took so long. Xia held her finger up, prompting Kalinda to twirl. "Girl, you look hot! I didn't think you were going to make it through in one piece!"

Kalinda gestured to Xia's running clothes before opening her arms in offer of an embrace. "I can see you need a cuddle, but what's doing? You thinking about joining the 'active wear' crowd? I want to say you look good anyway, but honey, you look like crap. Still not getting any sleep?"

Xia shook her head against her friend's shoulder, before reluctantly moving away. She gestured to the bartender to bring Kalinda a drink.

"Did you try the pills I gave you?"

"Yeah. No good." Another symptom of her father's disappearance - insomnia. It was like she was amped up on speed. Or so she imagined. At first Xia put it down to stress and anxiety, but no matter what she did, she couldn't slow herself down enough to sleep. "I went for a long run, then stopped back here. Hopefully a few dozen drinks and a couple of hours dancing will help. And if that doesn't, at least I might find someone to keep me company through the night..."

Kalinda grinned and held up her glass in salute. "Honey, with a body like yours you could wear a potato sack and still have guys lining up to tear it off you. Give me a sec to catch up, and we'll hit the dance floor."

An hour later and Xia was feeling calmer. The feel of bodies writhing together, the rhythmic beat of the music, and the flashing lights served to dull her senses. She lost herself as she danced, freeing her thoughts to the sensations.

As they danced, Xia felt herself being pulled to the edge of the dance floor. She couldn't explain the sensation, but she fought against it, forcing herself to remain in the centre of the crowd. She maneuvered herself in a way to see what was affecting her body so strongly.

Her eyes immediately found the source - two ridiculously hot men. The kind of men who looked like they'd be able to keep her entertained all night long.

Before she could say a word to her friend, Kalinda grabbed her arm and gasped. "Xia! Do you see those guys over there?"

Xia smirked. Kalinda was always on the ball when it came to scoping out potential hotties. "Oh I see them. In fact, I'm certain I saw them first. Would it be wrong to call dibs on both of them?"

"Yes. No. I don't know, it doesn't matter. Those guys were at the pharmacy today, looking for your father."

Okay, now Kalinda had her attention. Kalinda worked as an assistant at her dad's pharmacy, and had been managing the place for Xia since he disappeared. "What did they want?"

Kalinda shook her head. "I don't really know. It was the lunch rush. They waited in line, asked where your father was, and when I said the Police didn't have any news they kind of looked at each other, said thanks and left. I got the impression they didn't know he was missing. But it was busy. I assumed they were industry reps of some kind so I didn't give it any thought."

"But now they're here too. Coincidence? Or do you think they followed you?"

Kalinda didn't get a chance to reply before they saw the men stand. One paused and turned in their direction, before shaking his head and walking out with his friend. These men knew her father. They were causing some weird visceral reaction to her body. There was no way she was letting them walk away.

She grabbed Kalinda's hand. "Come on."

"We're following them, aren't we?"

"Yep"

Kalinda did a little squeal. "Yay! It's been too long since we did something dangerous and stupid!"

"I don't think they came down this way. There's nothing here but old warehouses."

Xia ignored her friend's complaint and kept walking. She'd picked up the men's scents from where they'd stood at the bar, and wasn't having any problem following them. She wasn't going to question that right now. If those men knew anything about her father, she was going to find out. Plus there was that whole magnetic pull she'd felt towards them. Whatever that was, it wasn't normal.

She held her hand up to stop Kalinda. The scent trail led towards what appeared to be an abandoned building. With a guard by the door. And cheering coming from inside.

"Let's go around the back and see if there's a way inside."

"Hang on." Kalinda was tapping away on her phone. "Here we go. It's a fight club."

Xia looked to the warehouse, then back to her friend. "Like an underground thing? And you just looked it up on the Internet?" She shook her head.

Kalinda laughed. "Nothing so dramatic. It's all legal. Have you heard of Mixed Martial Arts? It's a club for that, and they hold regular fights here." She looked over at the warehouse. "I guess when you're paying to watch someone get their head beat in, you don't care so much about what the building looks like."

"So we can go in?"

Kalinda shook her head. "Tickets for tonight's fight are sold out." Her gaze settled on the guard by the door. "Maybe we could—"

"Hey Red! You're next up on the card. Better move that tight little arse of yours if you're going to be strapped up and ready to fight on time."

Xia looked at the guard, touched her hand to her red hair and turned to Kalinda. "Huh. That was convenient."

"Yeah, let's not question it. Once we're inside we can find those guys and figure out how they know your dad."

As they moved towards the entry, Xia once again felt the strange pulling sensation. This time in the direction of the guard.

She looked him over. He wasn't an unattractive man, but he definitely wasn't the type to rev her engines. She could cross physical attraction off whatever was creating the pulling sensation. She couldn't tell if the feeling was two-way, either. If it was, the guard didn't give anything away to suggest he felt it too. He just opened the door and stood to the side to allow them through.

"So I think maybe this wasn't the best plan." Xia looked from her wrapped hands, to the fight cage, to the bloodthirsty crowd, before finally focussing back on her friend.

"You'll be fine. You win fights all the time."

Xia's laugh was laced with hysteria. "Ah yeah... verbal stouches. I lay them out with my fast tongue and razor-sharp wit. I've never even done boxercise at the gym!"

She looked over to her competitor who was slamming her fists into padded gloves worn by a large, muscle-bound man. He was working hard not to be pushed backwards by the force of the blows. "This is a bad idea." She tried to take a step back, but was blocked by her friend.

"You can do this. It's timed rounds. You don't have to take her down, just stay out of her way until the timer goes off, okay? Kalinda guided her up and into the cage, then scurried back down to the safety of the sidelines and flashed two thumbs up.

Xia shook her head and turned back towards the wildebeest waiting to end her pathetic existence. After that there was a flurry of activity until she found herself, standing in her shorts, sports bra, and bandaged hands, staring into the dead eyes of her opponent. Okay, so maybe they weren't dead. They were actually kind of pretty, considering they belonged to a woman who beat up other women for a living.

"You're not Red."

Xia didn't say a word. Not that she thought it'd matter at this stage either way, but her throat was too dry to speak.

Her opponent laughed. "Honey, I don't know who you are, or how Red managed to find a doppelgänger stupid enough to take her place, but the outcome is going to be the same." She shook her head in disgust. "I can smell the fear dripping off you from here."

Funnily enough, Xia could smell it too. Literally. It smelled metallic and tangy and made her want to gag.

A referee stepped up to the women and reminded them they knew the rules. Xia wanted to claim she didn't, but again lacked the ability to form words.

A bell rang, and she took off. Xia surprised even herself with her speed as she ran, ducked, weaved and jumped to avoid the wildebeest's attack. She imagined the footage of her antics being dubbed with Benny Hill music and spread across the Internet. First thing she'd have to do when this was over would be cancel her social media accounts.

Maybe she could do this. Maybe she–

Xia didn't want to wake up. The moment her head hit the mat she'd been assailed with memories harking back to her childhood. Memories she hadn't even known she'd repressed.

Along with those memories had come Kostya. He'd been her imaginary friend. Nothing more than a cute voice in her head. But he'd also been her only friend.

She couldn't remember when or why she'd stopped talking to him, but she could hear him clearly now. Only his voice was deeper. Smoother. Encouraging her to wake up.

She didn't want to wake up and lose him again, but her head throbbed and she needed water. And there was the magnetic pull again. Stronger than she'd felt before. Almost too strong to resist.

She cracked her eyes open, but the light was too bright. She tried to call out to Kalinda, but her throat was too dry. Something hard pushed against her bottom lip. She opened her mouth and cool water trickled in. A few more sips and she could swallow properly.

"That's it, Allycat, little sips."

Allycat? The water felt so good, and so real, trickling down her throat. But the only person who'd ever called her Allycat was Kostya, and he only existed in her imagination. She'd asked him once why he called her that, and he said Ally was short for her real name, Alexia, and the cat was because tigers were big cats. That raised more questions than it answered, but Xia liked that he had a special name for her, so she didn't worry about it.

"Enough?"

Xia nodded. The small movement causing her head to ache more. She was so confused. The voice was real. The water was real. "Kostya?" Her voice croaked, but she needed to know.

"Shh, sweetheart, yes it's me."

"But, how? You're not real." Xia forced her eyes open, but she struggled to focus.

"You don't remember the facility?"

Xia's vision cleared. Holy hotness, she had to still be dreaming. Real men did not look that good. "I..." She shook her head, again regretting the movement as her head pounded.

"You were only young when the Professor got us all out of there, probably only around six I think."

"The Professor?"

Kostya ran his fingers through some of her hair, and she felt herself wanting to turn her face into his touch. "George Xenides."

"You mean my father? You know my father?"

Kostya tilted his head as though listening to something outside the room. "Your friend is coming back. Do you trust her?"

"With my life."

Kostya nodded. "She has been working with my men, trying to piece together what we each know to work out what's happened to your father. I will let her explain." He rested his hand against her cheek a moment longer, removing it just as the door opened.

Do not mention our telepathy. I do not have this link with my men. It is unique to us. I think we should keep it between us until we know more about what's going on.

Xia blinked as she acknowledged his message, then directed her attention to Kalinda who breezed into the room like she owned the place.

"You're awake! Finally. I know you've been tired, but honey now is not the time to be taking a two-day nap."

Two days? "Wha—" Xia looked from her friend to Kostya, who nodded.

"You had us worried, Xi. I wanted to get you to a hospital, but these guys wouldn't allow it. I didn't understand why, so I gave them some grief, but I understand now. Honey, you aren't going to believe what's going on."

Xia waited, knowing Kalinda would keep talking. She didn't have to wait long. As Kalinda prattled on about the apparent drama following her pathetic efforts in the ring, the urge to physically reach out to Kostya was overwhelming.

"So short story, your father used to work at some dodgy genetics lab. They did experiments loosely based on Il'ya Ivanov's eugenics work. Apparently, while the world thought it was shut down, they moved their experiments underground. POW camps provided subjects. They gave up trying to impregnate women, and instead looked at introducing animal DNA into men. The animal they used was the Siberian tiger."

Xia rubbed her forehead. "You're going to have to dumb it down more for me."

Kalinda shook her head. "I'm getting there. It's taken me two days to wrap my head around all this. I'm trying to make it as simple as I can for you."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Continue."

"Thank you. So, the war ended, the POWs were released. The experiments hadn't shown any changes in the subjects, and it was considered a failure, so the scientists let the subjects go to avoid attracting any attention to their work. But they never stopped watching them completely.

"They kept watch over the years, discovering subtle changes in the descendants of those initial POW test subjects. Nothing major, just enough to suggest changes in their DNA. Enough for them to capture and breed some of those descendants.

"The changes were even more noticeable in the new offspring. From what they guys have told me, they believe their DNA is almost half tiger. They grew up in the lab. They don't know what your father's role there was exactly, but they do know he helped free them."

"You're part tiger?"

Kostya reached out and picked up her hand. "Not just me. We call ourselves Chimaera."

Xia's head was swimming. None of this made any sense, and yet it made so much sense. She swallowed and cleared her throat. "Me too?"

Kalinda answered. "We think so. It'd explain that crazy speed you had before you ran headfirst into a closed fist."

Xia cringed. "I told you it was a bad plan."

"Maybe, but we know so much more now than we did. The guys think they know who has your father. They're already making moves to find him."

Kostya's hand tightened around Xia's. "You're not alone in this. You're one of us. We're not sure how. Until you, we believed the mutation only occurred on the Y chromosome - that it only affected male offspring."

"Clearly I'm not male."

Kostya smirked. "Clearly."

"The green smoothies. Dad must have been feeding me something to suppress my tiger genetics. I only started having symptoms after he disappeared. Please tell me it all gets easier to deal with."

Kostya smoothed the hair back off her forehead. "I'll be here to help you adjust."

"You two got chummy very quickly." Kalinda nodded to their joined hands.

Kostya loosened his grip but Xia didn't let go. "I can't explain it, but I need to touch you. It calms me. I felt a pull to the men at the club, and to the guard at the door. But nothing as strong as what I feel now."

"I feel it too. It's part of our animal magnetism. We are drawn to each other and find comfort in each other's presence. It's how I tracked down all the guys after we were separated when your father freed us. It's what caused my men to be drawn in to the bar you were at. I would be surprised if it didn't contribute to you following them here. And it's what's going to help us find your father. He's one of us too, Xia."

Xia was relieved she finally had someone helping track down her father, but there was still something she didn't understand. "What about the fighter that didn't show up. The one I apparently look just like. Red?"

Kalinda laughed. "Apparently, they found her hiding out at her boyfriend's house. Her manager booked in the fight, but Red wants out of the business. She thought a no-show would tank her career. The fact you look so much like her was just a freaky coincidence. Just think, without that happening, we never would have made it inside and found you your family."

Xia smiled. Her family. "I can't wait to meet them all." Her eyes drooped. "Right after I have a nap."