There was a long silence broken only by Genie who frowned. "I've heard of you. Aren't you that man-eating tiger that Kipling wrote about in his Jungle Book?"

"I am." Shere Khan growled. "Whoever enters the jungle becomes part of the food chain. I don't care whether he's horse or man. I eat to survive."

Shere Khan looked over at Jasmine. "Can your genie do healing?" He showed her his side from which blood was flowing where Jafar had stabbed him.

Genie became a doctor with a white coat and a stethoscope. "Do you have current insurance cards or at least money?"

Shere Khan raised an eyebrow at Jasmine. "Do you want me to eat him, mistress?"

Jasmine laughed. "Maybe later. You'll get used to his antics."

Genie gestured and the wound was gone. "You're handy to have around." The tiger said. He looked at Jasmine again. "I'm starving. Do I have your permission to hunt?"

Jasmine frowned. "Not in the palace or the city." She considered for a moment. "How do you like steaks?"

"Raw. The thought of meat cooking over a fire makes me ill right now."

"Genie?" She asked.

Genie rubbed his hands together. "A hundred pounds of raw porterhouse, T-bone, rib eye, and New York Strip coming up." There was a puff of smoke and a pile of steaks flashed into being in front of Shere Khan who dove in and began making them vanish.

Genie watched, grimaced at the sounds, and after a moment shook his head. "I think we're going to need another round." He gestured a new pile of steaks into existence and then stared in fascination as it began to disappear. "And I thought I was a messy eater."

Shere Khan broke off eating for a minute to say. "Next time not so heavy on the garlic." Then he went back to his meal.

Razoul picked the unconscious Jafar up and threw him over his shoulder. "I'm taking this piece of trash to a better cell."

Genie broke off from his fascination with the way the steaks were disappearing. "I'll see if I can locate Rajah." He vanished in a puff of blue smoke.

Genie put his Sherlock Holmes hat on and puffed on his meerschaum pipe as he inspected the ground outside the temple. He drew a deep breath of smoke in and then coughed violently. He took the pipe out and stared at it. "I'm sticking to bubble-blowing pipes from now on." He declared.

He followed the tracks of the two tigers into the temple and saw the gate that Shere Khan had described. He stared at the tigers pictured on the columns. "Not one for subtlety are they?" He stuck a finger out and sparks zapped the tip. "Not friendly either." He popped his twisted together fingers. "Time to rock and roll."

There was a boom and a flash of light and Genie found himself standing in a courtyard of another temple. A tiger looked up at him sadly. A large chain was about its neck and connected to a large stake pounded between the paving stones. "Rajah?" Genie asked.

The tiger got to its feet, whined and wagged its tail. "I'll take that to be a yes." Genie declared.

"Welcome, intruder." A deep voice rumbled at him. "We've been waiting for you, temple desecrater."

Genie stared as a black-haired woman wearing armor stepped into the light. She was wearing chains of skulls and had four arms each with its own sword. "I Kali welcome you to your death."

"Sorry, but I think you have me confused with a mortal."

"No. Any who face me die. For I am Kali Mal, the death giver. My husband is Shiva, the destroyer of worlds."

"No ego problem here is there? Did you two ever consider counseling as it can do wonders for troubled world outlooks."

"Die!" Two of the swords were whistling down at his head. He grew six arms and met her attack with six sledge hammers swung in rapid succession. She was hurled backwards to crash into the temple walls.

"First round for me." He turned into Rocky and did a victory dance.

Kali was up immediately and charging again swinging her swords.

"Don't you ever get bored with your habits?" Genie became a Roman gladiator with the net which he cast over her, sending her crashing to the ground in a dreadful snarl. He put his spear point to her throat. "Round two for the good guy."

Kali kicked the spear away and stood and ripped the net to pieces. "I am Kali. I am not so easy to defeat."

"Oh, I think it's been boringly easy so far. Why I don't just take Rajah and leave?"

"You'll leave only as your soul flies back to me." She snarled and turned into a four-headed serpent and struck at him with venom-dripping fangs.

He turned into four mongooses and they bit so that each had a head by the neck. "Do you give or do I bite?" Four voices asked.

"Who by Shiva are you?"

"A Kipling fan. I always liked the mongoose." He shrugged. "Other than that I'm just a big blue genie."

"What do you require for my freedom? Do you want the secrets of Vishnu?"

"Really? He has secrets? Nah. I just want to take Rajah and leave with him."

She began to laugh. "Him? Is that what this is all about? Take 'him' and go and may you enjoy your victory."

She turned back into her first form with a swirl of fog. "I shall select another for my collection who'll create more tigers to repopulate the lands after the asteroid strikes."

He smiled at her. "You're some sort of goddess. How about helping stop the asteroid?"

She laughed hysterically. "Are you insane? I'm the Goddess of Death. I'll be cheering for it."

Genie shook his head as he broke Rajah's chain. "I really think you need counseling." He handed her a white card. "Here's my number. Call me when you're ready." He left her staring at the card.

Jasmine waited until Shere Khan was finished cleaning himself after he had eaten before she asked. "Are you really a man eater like they claim?"

"Define man eater." He growled. When she hesitated he continued. "That's a name men give to those of us whom they claim feed only on you humans. They never consider that when they enter my jungle they can become part of the food chain. Feeding on you humans is a fool's errand as it leads only to a death sentence. So, no, I'm not a man eater as they would define the term."

"But you have killed men."

He nodded. "When I had to and I admit to a mean streak in my dealings with that brat of a man cub. He wanted me to be a pet kitty just like his other companions and I had too much pride for that." He grinned. "I'd wager your boyfriend has killed too."

Jasmine remembered the assassins that Razoul had killed defending her. She nodded.

Shere Khan grinned. "And I'll wager that if it came down to it, you'd kill if you had to."

Jasmine considered this for a moment. "Only if there was no other choice."

Shere Khan stretched. "I'm going to like working with you. I dislike serving psychopaths. They always end up in pieces."

There was a flash of blue smoke and Genie reappeared. "Ta Rah!" He shouted. Beside him was another tiger who ran to jasmine and started rubbing its head against her.

"Rajah!" She hugged him to her.

Shere Khan sniffed and his eyebrows lifted. "I think there's been an interesting change here." He got to his feet and sniffed noses with Rajah. "I like you better this way." They both flicked their tails.

"Change?" Genie asked as he stretched his back.

"He's now a she." Shere Khan grinned. "You've been dealing with Kali haven't you? She always has the last laugh."

Genie's mouth fell open and his lower jaw crashed into the floor.

To be continued as Izra the Mad makes his return and his gun sights have jasmine in the cross hairs.