Maleva was an old gypsy woman who traveled with her caravan. Her son, Bela, who worked as a fortune teller was also a werewolf, and Maleva was charged with not only keeping others safe, but keeping him safe as well. Bela was killed by Welsh aristocrat Larry Talbot, who beat him to death with a silver-tipped walking stick. Maleva presided over Bela's funeral and even exchanged words with a priest who expressed displeasure with the gypsy's pagan funerary practices. Maleva noted that these were customs that the gypsies had clung to for over a thousand years. "I could not change them, even if I wanted to", she was quoted as saying.

Maleva approached Larry Talbot and explained to him how her son was a werewolf. She further illustrated that anyone who survives being bitten by a werewolf, would in turn become a werewolf themself.