No actual nudity is described, but the "naughty bits are mentioned"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jess silently thought over what Flake had come up with. The idea of more territorial behavior would explain the violent actions of some of the Kats in a way that wasn't too confusing. It could mean that vaccinating them might work, though until they could actually try that they wouldn't know that for sure. It probably wouldn't fully stop the violent confrontations completely, as the French Army wasn't going to just ever expand the quarantine zone as those full of lust tried to spread the virus directly, but as their meeting with the Skunkat and Squirkat and their children did seem to indicate that many of the Kats in northern Paris were beginning to burn through the lust phase of the virus, which is what essentially killed the virus's spread in Fee City. As they burned through the lust, the Chakats there didn't go rushing to spread the virus any further. Fee City fell, but it didn't radiate out, at least not quickly... and by the time those that might have wanted to spread the virus consciously got the idea to do so, they'd been vaccinated, unknown to them. Now that was beginning to hit the outbreak area in Paris and would slow its spread... at least by the Fee City method of spreading the virus.
The other idea didn't sit right with Jess, as shi wasn't entirely sure how someone in London could unleash an outbreak in Paris. There were hundreds of miles between the capital of the United Kingdom and France, and the French city of Orleans was closer, but there was one good point that Flake had made. If the spy or puppet master was in London, he or she might have had full access to the DNA but wouldn't be caught up in the virus allowing that control to be maintained. It also created another problem... if the person wasn't in Paris, or even in France, and wasn't subject to the quarantines the French were putting up, the virus could easily be spread somewhere else. They would need get some word to London, but they still had matters that had to be finished in Paris, namely the fact that virus was now also an airborne virus and not just an STD.
"We'll still have the airborne issue of the virus's spread," Jess said after a moment.
"Yes, but your dad is the key to that, you said so yourself," Flake told hir.
That made Jess smile. Hir Foxkat DNA couldn't create a vaccine that would keep people human, but hir father's human DNA could. Shi smiled and then looked back to the pen where the European Wolves (a subspecies of the Grey Wolf) were laying and looking around. Jess didn't say that there was a great deal of fear in the back of hir mind as she looked at them, but shi also assumed that wolves would hunt and kill Fennec Foxes if the two species lived in the same areas. After all, wolves reintroduced into parts of the US had been documented killing Coyotes, and Coyotes weren't anywhere near as small as Fennec Foxes.
"We'll need to report to the others that the more violent acts might be more territorial than political or mindless," Jess said after a moment.
Flake nodded, "It should make things easier in terms of dealing with them."
Jess nodded, "Let's get going."
With that the two Kats began to move back toward the Chateau.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile the rest of the group that had gone to patrol into Paris had continued on for awhile. The fact that Skunkat and Squirkat wouldn't help spread the vaccine was a slight disappointment, but the bigger issue was the fact that Jess's cellphone signal had been blocked. So, for the moment, Maurice lead them along to try and find what might be blocking the cellphone signals. The blocking of the signals was another sign that whoever was controlling things wasn't in Paris.
"So the idea of this is...?" Mikkie asked curiously.
"We find whatever cellphone tower or satellite device is being used to block our signals and then report it back to the General," Maurice answered, "we can then get a team with a enough vaccination darts to deal with any Kats protecting it."
"What about the violent ones?" Alexis asked.
"We might have to wrestle with them," Maurice sighed, "they could be politically driven... but then they might not... when Snowy and I created the Chakat Virus we only used cat DNA... mostly in the idea that since cats are by nature polygamists, we could..."
"Spread free love," Danna finished, "We get that."
"But here, they're using other animals, not just cats," Maurice answered, "maybe some of the violent ones have had a different set of instincts controlling them... they might be lust filled... but also... say territorial or predatory..."
"But cats can be quite aggressive predators, and fairly territorial," Mikkie commented, "I had a Russian Blue once that really didn't like having ANY other cat around."
"Yes, but they can also be quite tolerant of each other," Maurice answered, "wolves, for example, while they monogamous and their packs are essentially a copy of a human nuclear family... they will not tolerate unrelated wolves on their territory whatsoever. Even if there is more than enough food for all of them."
The French Kats conceded the point, and followed Maurice around. After all, they'd had no trouble so far. They continued their patrol quietly for awhile longer until they found themselves in a poorer section of the northern part of Paris. It wasn't slums, but the apartments and buildings were built and placed to house a lot of people... a lot more than what would be comfortable.The area was quiet, but they did hear a few sounds. As Maurice took a step forward, a commanding voice called out to hir and made hir stop.
"Vous! Que faites-vous?"
Maurice turned to see what looked like a wolf taur, a "Wolfkat" come out of the building. Shi was carrying an assault rifle. Danna came forward.
"Nous sommes venus pour voir s'il y avait des nouvelles commandes? Les soldats bloquent ceux qui veulent propager le virus," Danna spoke, giving a hasty salute.
"Avez-tout Kats allé à la propagation du virus au-delà de ce que nous tenons actuellement?" the Wolfkat asked, as a European Badger taur, similarly armed came out. The Badgkat was similarly armed to the Wolfkat.
"Non," Danna answered, "Ni avons-nous entendu quoi que ce soit sur leur nouvelles sur des Kats apparaissant derrière leurs lignes."
"Puis garder les Kats à votre charge. Vous devez eux et la propagation du virus protéger," the Wolfkat finished, "Allez, allez."
Danna and Mikkie then lead a quick retreat while Alexis stayed close to Maurice's side. The American Chakat was visibly trembling. Hir French was okay, but not good enough to hold a conversation in the language. Shi was afraid that the Wolfkat might have shot her. Once they were out of earshot, Maurice gave a heavy sigh of relief.
"That was too close," Maurice sighed.
"Maybe," Alexis said, "but we pulled it off... and I think we found where they're blocking the signal from."
"Yeah... they had some antenna on the roof that was well too modern and too rich to be part of the building or be something that a resident bought for satellite TV," Mikkie added.
That came as somewhat of a relief.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The two groups made it safely back to the chateau, and Maurice's group also darted a couple of lust filled Chakats before their lovemaking resulted in them falling off a roof. They also agreed to help spread the vaccine, which was a relief. But the news of where the signal was being jammed from. As they neared the gate, they ran into Flake and Jess on their way back from the zoo.
"How'd you gurls (pronounced guh-urrr-els) make out?" Jess asked, using her combination of guy and girl, "I think Flake and I might have an instinctual reason for why some of the Kats are so violent... it isn't much... but it might make dealing with them easier."
"Let me guess... they're merely protecting those that are lust filled?" Mikkie asked.
"Generally, yes," Flake nodded, "How'd you know?"
"We ran into a couple of them on the way back," Maurice answered, "in doing so, we've found where they're blocking our cellphone signals from."
"So, that's all progress," Jess said with a chuckle.
They continued in and found the gate open. The guards and soldiers gave polite nods as they recognized Jess. Their mood of optimism however ended when they entered to find Charlie seated just inside the front door of the chateau. Shi looked somewhat nervous by something.
"It's good you all made it back," Charlie said weakly.
"How's Snowy?" Maurice asked, catching Charlie's tone, worried that something had happened to hir mate, "Is shi okay... is shi...?"
"Shi is now a mother," Charlie answered and doing well, "though we've had a bit of an accident..."
"An accident?" Jess wondered.
"Something with Alexis's mom," Charlie said slowly.
"MOM?!" Alexis screeched and then rushed past Charlie and ran for the nursery, "Maman! Maman, comment vas-tu?"
This ultimately resulted in the rest rushing after Alexis.
"What happened?" Jess demanded.
"Snowy's labor hit too quickly and your dad and Alexis's mom had to do the delivery," Charlie answered, "It came too quick for them to remember what we said about the vaccine not being something that our children can inherit from us or that your dad is immune to the virus. Francine was the one who did the delivery and SHI is now a Chakat."
There was a collective gasp from the others as they reached the nursery where they found Alexis standing in shock, Sally seated, also looking nervously and holding hir's and Charlie's kittens. Snowy sat with hir soughter, named Snowflake, and twitching hir tail for Foxy and Silky to bat at, but the attention was on what was on the floor where a Serval Chakat lay on the floor hugging Justin Cain in hir arms and sobbing almost uncontrollably.
"Maman," Alexis said weakly.
"Francine, c'est correct. Je serai toujours avec vous," Justin spoke to the new Chakat and rubbed the fur on hir back.
"Non! Non ce n'est pas! Je suis un monstre ... un Kat! J'ai un pénis!" Francine sobbed, "Qu'est-ce que Alexis penser de moi?"
"Je suis sûr qu'elle vous aime toujours. Vous, après tout accepté hir comme Kat," Justin said to her.
Alexis moved to lay on hir mother's other side, rubbing hir black fur to hir mother's spotted fur. Shi felt like crying to. Shi was okay with people becoming Kats if they wanted to, but shi was certain hir mother didn't want to become a Kat.
"Je t'aimerai toujours, la mère. Vous n'êtes pas un monstre. Un Kat, oui, un monstre, non," Alexis said to hir mother.
"Mais comment pouvez-vous m'aimer quand j'ai un pénis?" Francine cried, more to Justin than to hir daughter.
"Je vais vous aimer comme je l'ai toujours ... que votre amour fille / soughter," Alexis said to her mother.
"Mon amour ne changera jamais pour vous, Francine. Votre transformation ne changera pas cela," Justin added, "Je vais même changer pour vous, Francine ... prouver mon amour pour vous."
Francine lifted her head and actually looked hopeful and asked, "Vous souhaitez devenir un Kat pour moi?"
"Oui," Justin answered.
At this time Francine released Justin and drifted more into hir soughter's arms. Alexis continued to assure hir mother that hir love wouldn't change. Justin, meanwhile, got up and noticing that all the others had returned and were watching, moved to stand before Jess.
"Jess... I don't know how much more blood you'll need from from me, but you'd best get all that you need," Justin instructed.
"Okay," Jess said slowly.
Shi got the sense where this was going. Shi didn't want to transform hir father, and knew that Sally wouldn't want that either, but the adult French noblewoman, who like Nikole now looked much younger, looked emotionally broken by hir transformation into a Chakat. Jess knew hir father could make love to Francine with no fear of infection, but that knowledge also conflicted with a couple of things. If Francine now looked to be in her twenties or maybe thirties at the oldest, just as Nikole did now, it would mean that her lifespan had been drastically extended by the transformation. Jess was fairly sure of that, though, shi, Maurice, and Snowy had agreed that they wouldn't know for sure what their life expectancy would be until one of them finally died of old age, which looked a long way off at the moment. If Justin remained human, while their love wouldn't change, Jess got the sense that hir father would die of old age long before Francine now would. If Justin didn't want it, Jess would never force it, but shi could see the potential aging differences as a reason for accepting it if hir father did want to become a Kat.
There was also the issue with hir instincts. Shi had hir free will and hir mind, but as a Kat, wanting people to be happy was still important to hir. If what hir father was about to ask would make him and his love happy, Jess knew hir instincts were geared to grant that wish.
"I'll also need a transformative strain of the virus and vaccine that will affect me," Justin said slowly, "I love hir, Jess... I can't stand to see hir cry like this."
Jess then hugged hir father, "The French scientists have brought all the equipment we need. It'll take a little while, but if that's what you want... you'll be Kat with us too."