"Vampire?"

Jake and Chance had both always thought that such things only existed in myth and horror flicks. Then again, so did many of the other creatures they had encountered in the past several years. Mummys, aliens, giant bugs, a volcano demon... There seemed to be no end to the strangeness in Megakat City.

The human nodded slowly. The raven on her shoulder looked curiously at the kats, then flew off to look around the hanger, his avian curiosity seriously getting the better of him. Nakela looked at Sarita, who was now laying down, leaning slightly off her wounded side, then back to the pair of kats.

"Angelida Marie Mason used to be a werewolf hunter until she was Embraced, or turned. She may be small and lightly built, but it is deceptive. She is incredibly strong and agile. And worse, she is extremely charismatic and manipulative. Didn't do her much good among the group of Damned known as 'Sabbat', but she gained several followers among the Fallen Bete known as 'Black Spiral Dancers'. Evil, sadistic, and twisted, she is a powerful threat that Sarita and myself have fought against for many years."

"And now she's here, in Megakat City. This can't be good."

Jake shook his head. As if their own omegas weren't bad enough, now there was a powerful vampire and a small group of evil shape-changers from another world here.

"I wonder if she was the reason for that Portal. Maybe the Pastmaster brought her here intentionally, and you three got pulled in too."

Sarita cocked her head. At least it was something in this strange world that made a little sense. The big cat looked to Nakela and unspoken words seemed to pass between them. Nakela then turned back to Jake.

"If that's true, then perhaps this 'Pastmaster' could get us back home as well."

Sarita growled, apparently speaking in her own feline language again. Nakela translated.

"She says that first though, we need to stop Angelida. We need to find a way home, but we certainly can't leave that monster here to destroy your world either."

Chance certainly agreed with that notion.

"Okay, so if we do find this blood-sucker, how are we supposed to kill her? Somehow I get the feeling that a simple stake through the heart isn't going to cut it."

Nakela smiled slightly.

"Heh. No, it won't. And good luck even trying it. She's too strong and wears kevlar body-armor. No, she will be very difficult to defeat. Sarita and I could kill her with our claws if we could get close enough, but she's always managed to evade us, and it would still be a very difficult battle. She's a trained killer of shifters, and knows much about us. She sometimes wears a helmet made from the skull of a Simba, a were-lion, that she had managed to kill on her own. The Simba was nearly twice her height and several times her weight, larger and stronger than even Sarita."

Chance gaped at the comment.

"She's that strong?"

Nakela simply nodded slowly. Sawgrass had now finished his 'inspection' of the hangar and flew back to perch on the human's shoulder again. Jake looked at the three shape-changers.

"Well, first thing's first. I don't think you guys can stay down here the whole time. And I really think we should do something about Sarita's wounds. They look pretty bad. What happened anyway?"

Nakela looked at the jaguar with a soft sigh.

"Explosion. She tripped a land mine while trying to attack Angelida. The vampire had set a trap for us, using herself as bait."

Jake and Chance both winced. Jake slowly moved closer for a better look at the wounds.

"Land mine? And that's all the damage? Looks like she was very lucky. It could have been a lot worse."

The jaguar pinned her ears and lashed she short tail, but otherwise did not threaten the kat as he approached her. These were neither humans nor dogs, so she felt a little more comfortable around them, even though they weren't the same 'type' of feline she and her kin were.

Nakela looked at Sarita as she spoke again.

"We are very tough creatures, and can take a considerable amount of damage. This will be fully healed in a matter of days, or possibly sooner if we can get it cleaned up."

"Cleaned up how? It still looks pretty bad."

"We need to clean out the soot and any shrapnel. After that, Sarita can continue the healing process herself."

Jake sighed, then nodded.

"Alright. Let's see what we can do."

It took nearly half an hour of work, but Nakela, Chance, and Jake managed to mostly clean out the nasty burn wounds on the were-jaguar's body. Sarita laid down on her side, and even the raven had perched on her shoulder, picking out tiny pieces of shrapnel with is strong beak. The cat hissed in pain and lashed her tail, but she never actually moved her body other than small inadvertent jerks. Chance was amazed at how much she was able to endure, as he was certain that the wounds had to be extremely painful, and that their 'cleaning' it out had to hurt even worse. Eventually, Nakela seemed satisfied with the results. The burns were pretty bad, and the now exposed raw flesh oozed blood, but all the soot and debris had been cleaned away. Jake glanced to the human woman.

"You're pretty good. Have you had medical training?"

She nodded slowly, still looking over her companion.

"Yes. I used to volunteer for Florida Fish and Wildlife Services. I know more about treating animals than people, but considering I mostly work with other Bete, it works out well. Sarita's the same, she's also somewhat knowledgeable about treating wounds, though learned from a different source. She was born deep in the Amazon jungle, afterall, and grew up in the wild lands as a big cat."

This came as a bit of a surprise to the kats, who had originally believed all three of these intelligent creatures, even if they were part animal, had still spent their lives in civilization. To think that the jaguar had actually spent her youth as a wild animal deep in a jungle was difficult to grasp, even after everything else they have learned of these strange creatures. At length, the saber-toothed jaguar sat up, and then began to lick her side and flanks. That's when the biggest shock of all came. With each stroke of her tongue against the raw flesh, more and more of it began to heal! Within only a few minutes, the wounds had now sustained at least three weeks worth of healing!

Chance couldn't believe it.

"No way!"

Jake then looked at Nakela in astonishment.

"How did she do that?"

The human simply smiled.

"Magic. As I said, we are the chosen children of Gaia, the Earth Mother. She, and the spirits, have granted all of our kind various magical abilities, or Gifts. One of Sarita's is the ability to heal, either herself or others. It comes with a price of course, but so long as we pace ourselves, there is much we can accomplish when combining our Gifts with our own natural abilities. The rest of that wound will heal itself within a day or so."

Magic! They still were in shock at the incredible healing ability of the jaguar. Nakela seemed to enjoy their confusion. After a moment, when she was sure that Sarita had finished licking her wounds, she spoke to the cat.

"Now Hellcat, would you be so kind as to actually change forms for our gracious hosts? Since they obviously don't understand Kheuar, it's the least you could do to thank them."

The feline looked at Nakela and pinned her ears, a soft rumbling growl echoing from her throat, the earlier claw marks now gone as well.

Nakela smiled sweetly.

"Please?"

Another growl, but then the jaguar's form shifted, and she changed from a half-ton beast to a lean, lithe creature that looked remarkable like a she-kat! Just when Jake and Chance thought these creatures have given them the greatest shock, they were again proven wrong!

She was tall, about 6', and covered in lean muscles under a layer of extremely short spotted fur, with the same pattern as her jaguar coat. Her tattoos were now clearly seen beneath the short fur, their color a dark blackish-blue against her skin. A serpent coiled down her right arm, the tail at the top of her shoulder and the head on the back of her hand. She also had a crescent moon over her left eye, and various smaller tribal tattoos dotted her chest, sides and upper legs. Her eyes, an eerie shade of purplish-blue in the chatro form, were now a deep ocean blue. She also had short vestigial whiskers, a feline nose, sharp facial features, and even pointed feline-like ears and a long tail. Her thick mane of hair fell down to mid-back and was a dark auburn color with darker spots and rosettes similar to her coat/skin pattern. Her clothing was simple, only a small halter-top and skirt, short in front and long in back, both made of very thin black animal-hide leather. She was both exotically beautiful and eerily disconcerting at the same time.

Nakela gave a soft chuckle at seeing the kat's surprised reaction.

"Most Bastet in sokto form resemble humans with only faint traces of feline features. Sarita, perhaps for being a metis, is quite unique. Her sokto form is far more feline-like. Many believe it is her own form of 'deformity'. However, she is the only one of us able to take such a form. She has five shapes, whereas Sawgrass and I each have only three."

Jake shook his head, trying to regain his composure.

"Okay, another question..."

Nakela shrugged.

"Shoot."

"I get the fact that you guys can change forms, but how do you have clothing in some forms, and not others?"

Nakela smiled, but it was Sarita that answered, her voice surprisingly soft and gentle for someone also known as 'Hellcat'.

"It's because our clothes are 'dedicated' to us. We can bind things, such as clothing and weapons, spiritually to ourselves, so that they become part of us. And thusly, they can meld with out bodies when we change."

Chance was actually able to semi-comprehend that one.

"Weapons?"

Sarita nodded, then reached to her left hip. She with her clawed five-fingered hand, she seemed to grasp at her own flesh, but as she did, her skin shimmered slightly. She pulled her clenched hand away, and a machete materialized in her grip, right out of the flesh of her side! Chance's jaw dropped.

"Whoa! Now that's a nice trick!"