"Everything will be okay," Jess said softly to Nikole as they stood there on the street.
Nikole stood there somewhat dumbly as two different emotions ran through hir. One was a great feeling of joy at being kissed. It wasn't something that Chakats or Jess now as a Foxkat could do easily given that their muzzles did not allow for them to pucker their lips the way humans could and their canines made "French kissing" difficult. But they did manage, if clumsily, and Nikole liked that. It made hir feel happy, which was hir prime reason for accepting her being a Chakat and why she would have infected Charlie if she had been able to get to him, to make him happy. But the other part of hir was confused beyond all belief. It was nice to be loved, but they had a big problem with Chakats that were still so driven by lust that they weren't going to do much more than mate with or without the approval of the partner. Even with the Chakats like Sally and Charlie who had largely been in control of themselves, though Nikole knew hir son's control was mostly due to his love for Sally, they still carried the Chakat Virus and could spread it. Nikole was certain that hir "son" and "his" girlfriend wouldn't deliberately spread the virus, but that didn't mean there could be an accident somewhere along the line.
"So... what do you say?" Jess asked again, as she looked at the snow white Turkish Angora based Chakat, "Your "son" and my sister are surely mates by now, so why not us? And you are beautiful, caring, loving, and supportive..."
"You like me?" Nikole asked after a moment.
Jess came around so that hir forelegs were directly in front of Nikole's forelegs. She then hugged the Chakat and gave her a few licks.
"Yes," Jess answered, "I know we've only known each other a short time but I have come to love you for the very reasons I listed. True some of what you did would be a mistake, but you didn't do it to simply spread the virus or start some revolution. From the way you've talked about it... I'm certain that what you've done was to make people happy. THAT is actually a very admirable quality."
"Thank you," Nikole answered as she hugged Jess back, "and you do look beautiful as a Foxkat... but what about your sister? Sally wanted you to remain human. What do we say to her?"
"Hir," Jess answered (pronounced like the word hear).
"Huh?" Nikole wondered.
"Chakats are hermaphrodites and as a Foxkat now, so am I," Jess answered, "He and she no longer work as none of us have a true gender. We can mate with boys or girls in heterosexual relationships because we have both sets of biological equipment. Hir fits best as it combines him or his with her. I'm not sure how to combine he or she."
Jess tightened hir hug and to Nikole's surprise, purred.
"And when we introduce the new me to my sister, we'll tell hir we did it to stop the Virus's spread," Jess finished.
"But all we've done is stop the uncontrollable lust issue with those that didn't get their minds back after burning off the sexual energy," Nikole responded.
"Actually," Jess gave a snicker, "We did much more than that. We've made sure that Snowy and Maurice won't be able to spread the virus, even once they get their minds back."
Nikole could only blink.
"Remember how the virus didn't affect my blood type... which also included the people in the trailer park?" Jess asked and waited for Nikole to nod, "well, while that was a surprise to me, it was a good one. It meant that my blood type is the key to stopping the spread of the virus."
"How?" Nikole wondered.
Jess was all too happy to tell, as it allowed her to show how much she did know and didn't let on.
"Well... Catherine Snow and I did go to Med School together," Jess explained, "Now she was using it as a stepping stone to move into a career in genetics while I was looking to help people as a doctor... but while there, she demonstrated a love of cats that surprised everyone... I mean she was talking about wanting to be a cat even back then. And so, between classes she and I did occasionally meet and she bounced theories on how to do it off of me."
"You didn't give her the idea?" Nikole wondered.
"No, I thought it was all theoretical and that she'd never actually get something like this to work, and I told her so," Jess shrugged, "but I also told her the only way that might stand a chance of working was through a retrovirus that would rewrite host DNA into a new pattern would be potentially infectious as it would latch onto any and all DNA strands... including reproductive fluids... and that if she was truly set on experimenting with it she'd need to put together some built in vaccine for the formula or a natural "death" for it so that once the transformed body is producing new cells with that code it doesn't need to have the serum or the virus still in the body..."
"She obviously pushed ahead with it, regardless," Nikole commented.
"Yes, and you and the other Chakats are the result of that," Jess nodded, "and when I didn't become a Chakat, I knew there was something about my genetic code that the Virus couldn't infect... and it turns out it is the fact that I'm a Type O with Partial D antigens. As such, the way to kill the virus's spread is to introduce that blood type and antigen level too it. I'd originally figured we could put it into a dart and use a tranquilizer gun to introduce that formula into the Chakats... but..."
"Snowy wouldn't accept that," Nikole spoke beginning to catch on to what Jess was saying.
"So I agreed to become a Foxkat," Jess nodded, "and we'd use the same means the Chakat Virus spread to stop it. Because in order to allow for the Foxkat "Vaccine" to affect me, it had to specifically altered to affect my blood type and antigen level... in doing so, as a Foxkat, it would give me the ability to inject that vaccine into others. It'll overpower the mindless lust in those that are still sex crazed but it will also kill the Virus. Maurice won't become human again. Hir DNA should be firmly Chakat by now, and thus he doesn't need the Virus to stay a Chakat. And my "injection" into hir killed the Virus and won't allow hir to create any more Chakats unless she gets Snowy or someone pregnant... and then it will only affect the child, if the mother is human, and won't affect the mother at all."
"Sneaky," Nikole commented.
"It gets better," Jess smiled, "Since the Foxkat vaccine is geared to stop the spread of the Chakat Virus, I can't turn anyone into Foxkats even if I wanted to, but it will act as an STD on its own among those that have already become Chakats and will kill the Virus in them. And if Maurice truly is some sort of hippie believing in free love... Snowy surely won't be the only one Maurice mates with and Snowy surely will mate with their other followers as well..."
"They'd spread the vaccine all on their own among their followers who would be willing to spread the Virus?" Nikole said in a surprised manner.
"Yep," Jess smiled again, "I may have to mate with those that don't have their minds back yet...but I won't have to mate with all of their followers. We've cured the Virus. It'll take a little time and I'll obviously have to degrade myself a little but it'll work..."
"What about your sister and my son?" Nikole asked, "I doubt your sister would mate with you and won't share my son with you."
Jess shuffled the back that she was carrying Ryles in and pulled out several syringes that she had swiped before they left Chakat Industries.
"I can give the vaccine to those that aren't following Maurice and Snowy with a simple injection," Jess answered, "It shouldn't transform them from Chakats to Foxkats given the alterations that went into to allow the Foxkat Vaccine to transform me... but it would have the same result as if I..." Jess then shuddered at the prospect of mating with hir own sister, "... mated with them."
"Oh... you're brilliant!" Nikole said in an excited voice and hugged Jess, and then began to jump up and down on hir four feet.
"Well, I am a fox, notorious for being a trickster," Jess smiled again.
The two then kissed again. Jess feeling the rough barbs on Nikole's tongue rub against her own.
"And it's why I figured we had the time to become mates," Jess said softly, "We'd bond in love and then we could spread the vaccine together."
"Oh," Nikole said slowly, "but... but... I'm twenty years older than you!"
"As I said before, you look younger," Jess said as she returned the syringes to her back and then softly rubbed Ryles' head as the little fox stuck it out to look around, "Besides, love knows no age."
"You really love me?" Nikole asked softly.
"Yes," Jess answered and hugged Nikole to her and purred again, prompting Nikole to purr back.
"Let's go..." Nikole began and then stopped when she realized where they were.
Since leaving Chakat Industries they had actually begun to wander aimlessly through town and they were now outside the apartment building where Charlie and Sally lived.