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Chapter -19- Un-Extinct

July 10, 1999 - 3:05pm EST Just outside of Miami, Florida ...

Chance squinted , drawing his finger across the focus knob atop a pair of binoculars. He handed them to Karla. "What is that little animal with the woman?" He leaned against a tree trunk, stole a glance at Nathanial, and folded his arms.

Karla peered through the binoculars briefly then handed them off to Methos. "I can't tell if it's a big fox or a little wolf."

Methos took the binoculars and peered into them. "Quite advantageous for you to have brought these, Karla. What else do you keep in your handbag?"

"Important things, like handcuffs," said Karla.

"That's what I'm talking about," said Peri. The two girls bumped knuckles again.

Methos handed the binoculars to Peri Lynn and cut his gaze towards Karla. "The animal is called a Falkland Islands Wolf."

Peri gazed into the binoculars briefly. She passed them back towards Methos. "I've never seen a wolf like that before. Falkland Islands, huh? I'll have to check them out in person, some time."

"They've been extinct for over one hundred years," Methos said. "The fact she has one as some sort of pet suggests Nathanial was correct in regards to Aris Sokolov's activities."

Nathan snagged the binoculars and gazed through them. He handed them to Natalia and shook his head. "So Sokolov is testing his cloning technology? You're telling me he brought an extinct animal back? What's the point of giving that woman one of those things as a pet?"

Karla snorted, leaning against a tree trunk near Chance. "Status, Nathan. She's the only one who has an animal that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world."

"Mm, like a one-of-a-kind sports car." Nathan grinned.

Karla scoffed. "Babe, they didn't have cars in Báthory's time, so having a prototype sports car isn't something that she would care about. I think it looks like a fox, by the way."

Nathanial adjusted his pinstripe vest. He tucked in his dress shirt at the small of his back. "Fine. But the guy can make anything. Maybe there are fifty of those things in a test pen somewhere. For all we know, he has a wooly mammoth he rides around on when he wants to feel good about himself. So why is this lady out in public with one of those wolf things?"

Peri grinned. "I want to ride around on a wooly mammoth."

The old man smirked at Peri. He handed the binoculars back to Karla. "Look again. Closer this time. The tail doesn't look anything like a wolf or a fox."

Karla peered into them again. She shook her head. "It could be a huge, gray, fluffy corgi for all I care. Big deal. Just so long as he's not cloning one of us." She fingered the zoom. "Nathan, the tail tip is white. Give me a break, it looks like some sort of unevolved Neander-fox."

"It curves like a dog's tail, Karla."

She shoved the binoculars into Nathan's gnarled old hands. "What makes you the freaking expert on foxes, huh? God, whatever."

"You want to ask Tamamo-no-Mae's opinion?" Nathan grinned at her. He gazed through the binoculars again. "We cannot fight them in public. We should break into teams. Methos should not be out here. He doesn't have any abilities." Nathan used his finger to adjust the focus. "There's no collar on the wolf but it stays with Báthory like it's a trained pet. Interesting."

Peri snorted. "Wolves shouldn't be domesticated. Humanity did that already to create dogs. They have dogs now. The surviving wolves should stay as they are - wolves."

Methos folded his arms. "Peri, wolves used man for food and heat. Man used wolves as companionship and as hunting partners. It was a symbiotic relationship. Although, you are correct, man bred them for traits, which lead to the modern dog breeds. However, with all due respect: wolves are more useful as a companion. It's a productive relationship."

"Productive my ass. Wolves need their packs to be human free," Peri said.

Methos tilted his head. "I'm older than you realize. I've seen the relationship between wolf and man. The relationship is very productive."

"Whatever."

Methos sighed. "Starving packs that fight over hunting livestock are a nuisance - they bully their pack-mates, too. Wolves sport kill and then leave bodies torn apart. They bully one another and..."

Peri turned to Methos, enormous paws on her hips. "You don't know what you're talking about. Wolves eat what they can stomach and leave the rest for other animals to eat. They help control the populations of other animals. They bully each other to weed out weak traits. They starve out the weakest members of their packs so that only the dominant trait wolves survive to breed. When wolves become too numerous in any one region, they provide fur to humans."

"They're apex predators."

"To other animals, and in packs" Peri said with a roll of her eyes. "But, alone, they're no match for a tiger, or humans with weapons. A wolf and a human cannot protect themselves like a full pack."

"Humans are..."

Peri narrowed her eyes. Her ears lowered. "Wolves don't go near humans. It's better that way. Look, we can argue about this all day. But right now? Can we not?"

Methos held his hands up. "I do not wish to argue about this."

"Good, me either." Peri stuck her tongue out. She turned away and stuck her tongue out at Karla. "Nyah."

Natalia shook her head and turned to Methos. "Thy patience is legendary; I am impressed."

"It hasn't been easy," Methos replied. "Seeing you again makes it bearable, however."

Natalia grinned at Methos. "Time and place."

Chance rubbed his face. "Your secret is safe with me, Mrs. Kincade." He moved his hands over his ears and rubbed. "My ears are still ringing from being flipped in the limo."

"Your ears are ringing? Put them on silent mode, duh." Peri gave him a toothy wolfish grin.

Methos frowned. "I believe it would be best if Nathanial escorts myself and Natalia out of the immediate area."

Karla frowned in reply. "Fine. Whatever. Three of you, three of us. I still get the werewolf and the telepath. I don't need lightning with odds like that."

"Then it is settled," Natalia said with a nod of agreement. "Mr. Carrington, would you be so kind as to escort the two of us?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and turned to Chance, Peri and Karla. "I'll get these two somewhere safe. Chance, stay out of trouble. Peri, don't _cause_trouble. Karla, you just ... stay alive and do your thing, okay?"

The succubus offered the old man a wan smile. "Alright. See you soon."

Nathan placed one hand on Natalia's shoulder, and his other hand on Methos' elbow. "Beam us out, kiddo." The trio disappeared from Karla's teleportation ability.

Karla turned back to Peri and Chance. "Okay. Now that the party poopers are gone, let's talk options. Then we'll make a plan and go with it." Somewhere in the distance, a loud crack of thunder filled the sky. Karla flinched at the volume of the thunder. "And off they go."

Peri smirked. "If the woman down there has the mirror, let's wipe out her security detail, and corner her. What'cha say, Mark?"

Chance nodded in reply. "We can corner her. Then we can demand to know where the mirror is, and ask her who she's working for. I'll get all the answers we need from her."

Across the way, a large orange highway authority truck with a crooked right fender came into view as the shadow shell dissipated from around it.

Karla cracked her knuckles. "We can't fight them in public. At least, we're not supposed to."

Peri narrowed her gaze, squinting in the sunlight from between two trees. "There is a driver. Can you snag him from this far away and bring him to us?"

Karla rubbed her chin. "You're really adapting to the lifestyle transition well."

"Uh, duh. I grew up on a werewolf reservation, Karla. I'm not surprised by supernatural people. The guy at the wheel is an Asian dude in a suit with a blue tie."

"Sharp eyes."

"I'll question him." Peri smiled again. Her large canid teeth created an animalistic Cheshire smile. "This is going to be fun."

Karla tensed up and grit her teeth. The palms of her hands brightened considerably.

The man from across the highway vanished from the large truck and appeared in front of Peri.

The werewolf leaned forward and snarled in the Asian man's face. "Why did you put pee-pee in my Coke?!"

Karla snickered in amusement.

The man backed up against a tree, eyes wide, face to face with the towering werewolf. "My GOD, what are you?!"

"Your worst nightmare, Ding-Dong. Why did you run into us?"

"You were in the limo??"

Peri leaned in close until her nose-pad pressed against his human nose.

It caused the man to squish himself against the tree, unable to get away from her.

The werewolf exhaled sharply through her nose.

The Asian man flinched.

Peri narrowed her eyes. "Man are you in trouble."

"I ... I have money. Please don't hurt me."

A grimace wrinkled Peri's maw. "What's your name?"

He stammered in fear. "Ch-Ching Wu."

Peri brought her head back and eyed him. "A wealthy Asian man named Cha-Ching? Are you serious?"

"N-no, just ... just Ching."

Peri took the man by his throat in her enormous padded paw. She kept him pinned to the tree. "Where is Lizzy-the-Lezzy Báthory? She also goes by Carmella, Camilla, Millacara, and has a big shiny mirror." Before the man could answer, Peri shouted, "Where is she?! I'm going to eat her! And her little dog, too!"

"Sh-she left! Please don't eat me!"

"WHERE is she?!" Peri growled in his face, blowing his hair back with the intensity of her breathing.

"I ... she's at this, this, this address on a card in my p-pocket!"

"You're going to take us to her," said Peri with a firm tone. "Right now. No tricks, or I'll close my teeth over your head and continue to bite down until you stop screaming."

The man swallowed, trembling. Tears ran down his cheeks. "Please don't kill me. I own the t-trucks that they made me use. Th-they have my family. I would do anything t-to get my daughter and wife back. B-but if you kill me, I won't be able to h-h-help get them back."

Peri threw her paws up in the air and turned towards Karla and Chance. "I can't stand when people stammer like that! It sounds so fake, like they're pretending to be scared! And they're not! You can hear it in his voice! But he's being honest about the family; you can hear _that_in his voice, too. I hate fake stuttering!"

Chance frowned. "Yeah. She's right. He's putting on a show because he doesn't know how to act, so he's putting on a ... I'm repeating myself, sorry."

Karla folded her arms. "We'll get your girls back, Ching. We have a talking wolf, as you can see. We can't go down to your truck. So bring it over here, pick us up. We'll hide in the back and you'll take us there. Are we clear?"

"How can I...?"

Karla reached up and patted his cheek. "I teleported you up here. I can put you back down there. It's proof you can't get away from us."

Peri turned back to the man and said, "Confucius say well-endowed man who walk through door sideways is going to Bangkok. You lucky you Asian, Mistuh Cha-Ching."

Karla smirked at the Chinese man whose face showed his confusion. The succubus teleported the man back down towards the large orange truck. "I'm getting a lot of practice teleporting people. I'm getting pretty good at it, you know?" She turned back to her friends and said, "I'll go down there with him and make sure he doesn't call the bad guys." The succubus disappeared.

Peri turned back to Chance and shrugged her enormous shoulders. "You really want to impress Karla, huh?"

"Uhm, that was out of the blue."

"It's called small talk."

He nodded. "Yeah, I do. How can you tell?"

"Body language. The way you talk and act around her. She loves you."

Chance licked his lips and looked down at the ground with a smile. "Yeah. I've only known her for a month and I'm crazy about her. I want to impress her; want to be able to drive her crazy, you know?"

"No, Markey-Mark. What's six inches long, two inches wide, and drives a woman crazy?"

"Uhm, excuse me?"

Peri turned to face him and looked him straight in the eyes. In a serious tone, she said, "A hundred dollar bill."

He brought his palm to the side of his head with a soft groan. Chance turned away from her and rubbed a bump just beneath his hairline caused by the car accident. "I want her to adore me, you know?"

"So find someone who can magically turn you into a credit card. Women adore credit cards. I'm sure there's a Special out there with a weird ability that lets them change one thing into another."

"Uh, I'll get right on that. And, from what Karla tells me, they can only change the molecular properties of something. Like a solid object into a liquid or gas state."

Peri smiled again. "Karla is used to a different man every few hours. The fact she's this stuck on you means she's in love. People can't help loving who they love. Karla is fighting her natural instincts to show you she loves you. You don't have to do anything special. Just stay the same guy you have been the past month. You're already doing a good job of making her like you."

"Thanks for the advice."

"How is your head? Let me see." She reached up, embraced either side of his face in her large paws, and used a thumb-like dewclaw to push his hair back.

Chance couldn't help but notice the velveteen softness of her padded palms. "My, what big paws you have, grandma."

Without missing a beat, Peri said, "The better to jog bitches and slap hoes with, my dear." She leaned in close and ran her padded fingertips through his hair. "You've got a pretty nasty bump here on the back of your head. Don't you feel it?"

Chance brought his left hand up and felt the rear side of his head. "Adrenaline, maybe? Funny how we can have something serious happen, like a flesh wound on a battlefield, and not realize it - but then a paper cut or an upset stomach causes us such misery."

"Yeah. This is a serious knot, Mark." She brought her paw back and held a single finger up, topped by an impressive claw. "Follow my finger with your eyes; keep your head still." She leaned her head down and licked her finger. "Pop Tart crumb. Okay, ready?" She moved her finger from left to right.

"Yeah," he murmured. His eyes moved somewhat. "That's weird. I get double vision when moving my eyes to the one side."

"Yeah, you've got a concussion. I had one once when T, my hubby, took me to a concert. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the one you've got now."

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little headache."

"Mark, that's for the team leader to decide. You're telling Karla when she gets back up here with the sob-story guy."

As if on cue, the large orange truck pulled up in the grass, near the tree line. Karla opened the passenger door and shouted to them. "Hey! We're limited on space. Chance, I'll have to sit on your lap."

Peri stepped out from between the row of tree trunks. "Karla, he's got a serious concussion. It's pretty manly he's not complaining about it, but he has a knot on the back of his head the size of a golf ball. He's going to need a doctor."

Chance cleared his throat and raised his voice. "We're going to see one. Hell, he was my doctor when we were in the hospital. Let's just hold him at gunpoint and make him follow his Hippocratic Oath."

Karla furrowed her brows and cut her gaze from her boyfriend, back to Peri, and said, "How bad is bad?"

"Bad enough," Peri said, adding, "for me to be serious when I say it's not good."

Karla frowned. "That's bad."

Chance, almost overtop of her, said, "That's not good."

"It's a good-sized bump; that's really bad. I mean, what? Yeah. Whatever." Peri sighed through her nose.

Karla eyed Peri and slid down out of the truck. She paused, glanced over her shoulder with narrow eyes, and told the Asian man, "If you even try to pull away, I'll teleport you ten feet under the ground. You'll die. So, yeah. Don't."

No one replied.

Karla dropped down to the grass and approached Chance. She ran her fingers back through his hair. A sharp frown marred her expression. "Shit. That's bad." She cut her gaze to Peri. "So you have a serious side huh?"

"Yeah," Peri said with a firm nod. "Sometimes I ponder meaningful shit."

Chance arched his brows. "Like what? I can't read your mind, it's too jumbled."

Peri shrugged, causing her pelt to shift slightly. "Like, why is Parker Brothers the only company who can have a monopoly on Monopoly? God that irritates me."

Chance sighed. He cut his eyes back to Karla. "I'm fine. It hurts; I have a headache." He shrugged his shoulders. "But I've had worse."

"You daft boy," said Karla with a sigh and a weak smile. "The last bump to your head put you in a coma. You've only just come out of it after several months. We have to take this seriously, silly boy."

Again, Chance felt his emotions stir within, hearing the way she called him 'silly.'

"Chance, I'm crazy for you. I don't want anything to happen to you, now that I finally have you in my life."

He replied with a weak smile, trying to bottle his emotions. "I didn't mean to hit my head when I fell for you."

"Okay," Peri said, bringing her enormous paws to her face. "That was lame."

Karla smiled. "But cute, and well timed." She leaned in and brushed her lips against his. "You need a doctor, baby boy."

Chance returned the kiss, briefly, and said, "Okay. But that guy's family can't wait. If he doesn't go back to them and say he did what the captors told him to do, they will kill the family. Him, I can read very well, and he needs us as much as we need him to get that mirror. Not just for you to get paid, but for the fox lady, Mrs. Parker, to feel better about the whole situation. I'm not bleeding out. I'll be fine. I promise."

Karla sighed. "Okay, judgment call. Let's go win the day. Then, Chance, you're getting a doctor ... okay?"

"Okay," he said with a weary nod. "Let's go." Chance paused. He turned to the Asian man. "Wait ... what was that?"

"I ... I didn't say anything."

"No, but you were thinking about your sister-in-law. Jing Yuen."

Karla perked. "Wait, Jing Yuen? I know that name. Does she live in Maryland and set things on fire?"

Ching grimaced. "They have my family. Will you help me or not?"

Karla rubbed her face with a sigh. "Does your wife have an ability?"

Ching looked away. His eyes lowered to the ground. He pursed his lips together.

The succubus groaned. "So that's why your family was abducted. Jing and your wife are sisters with abilities. Look, I helped to rescue your sister-in-law."

Ching said nothing.

"The day I met my boyfriend, here, I spent the morning in Baltimore saving Jing Yuen from the council's goddamn goon squad. What is your wife's ability?"

Ching remained silent.

Karla narrowed her eyes. "What can your wife do?"

"I ... don't know what you're talking about."

Karla sighed and turned to Chance. "Well?"

"He's too emotional. I can't tell."

---

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