C...Chapter three

Chapter Three
It was an emergency. Marin was her usual cool, composed self. Jaq was
pale, and visibly shaken. Anjelica had placed herself between the two
protectively. Mon looked worried, and kept glancing at the pair, as if
expecting them to spontaneously combust right before his eyes. Paris
was perched like a frightened bird in a chair. Her eyes flicked from
one to the other. Marin said firmly,

"It smelled like a bear." Mon stared at her,

"It couldn't be a bear. That would be impossible, you would notice him
even after he changed back." Marin shrugged, giving Mon a particularly
nasty look. Mon returned the look evenly and without fear. A feat for
most people, Marin had a tendency to be vicious and very frightening.
Jaq looked at Mon,

"Hey, I saw it too, it was a bear! I don't know how it disappeared the
way it, probly a master of illusions or something, but Marin is right
here." Mon sat back coldly, hatred flashed in his eyes for a brief
second before he masked it. Marin looked away.

"Now we have a basis on which to look for him." Marin stated, looking
directly at Mon, a challenge. Mon just watched her back, not a
movement, or even a flicker of emotion. Marin smiled slowly,
deliberately mocking him with her smile. Anjelica snapped,

"Knock it off both of you." Marin flashed Anjelica a quick, questioning
look, before shrugging. She sat back, and let Anjelica play with her
hair, as she often liked to do. Mon stood up and left. Paris glared at
Marin,

"Now look, thanks Marin, we could've used his help." Marin's face was
expressionless,

"He would've been more of a hindrance then a help." Paris got up,

"Well, I am leaving, I am off on a date with Christophe, I don't have
to deal with this idiocy." With that, Paris stormed out. Jaq looked
over at Marin,

"That was overreacting a bit, wasn't it?" Anjelica nodded,

"Paris is taking her fear and frustration out on us." Jaq looked
aghast,

"You mean that? I hadn't noticed! How dare she!" Marin picked up a
pillow and through it at him, Jaq ducked and threw one back. While
Anjelica watched with a fascinated amusement, the two threw pillows at
each in some kind of war, missing Anjelica by a hairs breath numerous
times. Anjelica slowly backed away, until she was in some sort of safe
zone, and then said drily,

"When you kids are finished, let me know, eh? We get to go bear
hunting."

* * *

Maxwell Park was pretty much empty at night, so the trio went unnoticed
as they darted across the field to the skatepark, slipping past the
yellow tape. The smell attacked their noses with a determination that a
smell should not have. The golden mountain lion stepped forward
gingerly, ears flattened back,

:Do you know how unfair this is? My nose is not meant for this, that is
what your kind is trained for!: The large, feral black wolf just sat
back and watched. The coyote looked ready to laugh. Marin shook her
head and backed away swiftly, against the fence, which was as far as
she could get without leaving it.

:What's wrong, Boss Lady? The evil, icky smell gonna get you?" Marin
watched as Anjelica relunctantly gave in, trotting forward, and
sniffing the hosed down area. The pavement still had a pinkish tint to
it, and the smell was heavy in the area, but someone had come through
to clean up as much as they could. Over the smell of the blood and
animal musk, Marin caught the scent of one of the world's best pizza
places, Grandma's. She shifted, and stretched out, before settling
down, her tail lashing about nervously.

:Hurry, eventually someone on the highway is liable to notice us here,
and call the cops, or animal control!: Marin snapped at Anjelica. Jaq
padded over to Marin and stretched out next to her, putting his head on
his paws then looking up at Marin mournfully,

:Stay calm, we'll be gone and away momentarily.: Anjelica suddenly lept
away lightly, and moved past them,

:Let's go.: Then all three stopped, and stared in horror as some darkly
silloetted men moved toward them, with what Marin was pretty sure, were
tranquilizer rifles. Anjelica growled, and tensed. Jaq nervously
circled around them and stopped, looking at the approaching men. Marin
was not one to sit and do nothing, however. She knew the other two
wouldn't be able to make it over the fence, and they can't leave the
way they came in, without being tranquilized.

Marin turned the opposite direction, and easily lept the height of the
fence, and perching at the top for a split second, landed on the
otherside and streaked off through the dark, the darts missing her, but
barely. A pair of the men took off after her, running surprisingly
fast.

Anjelica and Jaq watched this with a sinking hope.

:Like a rat abandoning ship, isn't it?: Anjelica knew that if they were
hit with the tranquilizer, and slipped unconscious, they would
automatically shift back into human form. And that would be a
disaster.

:You think you could leap the fence too?: There was some animal version
of a snort of laughter,

:Are you kidding? That fence is a good what? Seven or eight feet tall?
I could never make it over.: They sat in silence, watching the
approach, the men moving slowly and silently, so as not to startle
them. There was nothing they could do. They resigned themselves, if
they got lucky they would look like someone's tame pets or something,
and couldn't get shot with a dart.

A tall, lean shadow walked up silently behind the men, and Anjelica's
attention perked up, it certainly looked like Marin. As the figure
crept closer, it shifted into mountain lion form, and lept at the men,
taking one down first, moving out of the way of the gun, and virtually
disappearing from sight of the second man. The second man looked
frightened, and was almost shaking. He was used to going after rabid
dogs, not enourmous mountain lions with real intelligence. The first
man lay on the ground, not very badly hurt, although the claws had sunk
into him pretty deep. He tried to sit up and his head swam.

The second one knelt by the first, to see if he was ok, and then Marin
chose her second attack, knocking the second man into the ground, so
that his skull made a harsgh cracking sound against the pavement
walkway. Marin looked at the other two,

:See? I didn't even have to hurt them!:

* * *

Marin was curled up comfortably in a chair at home, with Anjelica and
Jaq sitting on the couch, looking dazed. She looked smugly at the other
two,

"Well?" Anjelica looked up,

"I should've known you wouldn't leave us there." Jaq nodded his
agreement, his stomache rumbling,

"If you had waited any longer however, it would've been to late." Marin
looked both incredulous and offended,

"I did have to redirect the other two morons you know! I went as quick
as I could!" Anjelica yawned,

"We know, and Jaq is sorry for being a jerk." Jaq looked blankly at
her, and corrected,

"No, I'm not." Paris suddenly burst in, looking frantic,

"I just saw it al on the 10 o'clock news! Oh my God! Are you guys ok?"
Behind her trailed Christophe, which set Anjelica off in a
minute,

"Paris! What is he doing here? You are not supposed to talk about it in
front of strangers!" Paris stopped and turned bright red,

"He&;#8230;uh...already knows." The other three looked at Paris in a
disappointed shock,

"You told him?" Jaq said in a faint voice, his eyes wide and getting
angry. Paris sat down quickly, and tried to sound consoling,

"Well, I didn't need to. You see, when I heard on the news about the
wolves and the cat in the skatepark, I went nuts, and he put two and
two together." Marin smiled, and clapped a hand over her mouth to keep
form laughing,

"Even stupider, Paris." Christophe shrugged,

"It isn't that bad, everyone has secrets." Marin turned to Christophe
coolly,

"Then what would yours be?"

"You'll find out." Christophe said with amusement. It suddenly struck
Jaq just what Paris had said,

"I am not a wolf! I am a coyote! Are they BLIND?!" Marin looked at him,
then back to Christophe who smiled at her warmly. Anjelica suddenly
begged of Christophe,

"Please don't tell Georges!" Christophe looked at her, and nodded his
head slowly, and Marin knew he was thinking something, although she had
no clue what he could be up to. Christophe smiled,

"No problem, my lips are zipped."

TO BE CONTINUED&;#8230;.