Author's Note: There is no real sex portrayed... but there is some discussion of it, so the warning is there to be safe.
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Snowy felt shi was in the midst of one of the oddest cases of identification ever. Before the Paris Outbreak, or when it started, they had met with a Foxkat named Maria Sanjaro who had taken a Sphynxkat named Juan as hir mate. The two did move into one of the other homes that had been part of the old abandoned homes that were being fixed up as new Kats moved to Janace. In time, more and more Kats moved there, especially as what became known as the Kat Kops began responding to the outbreaks that Li Sang had triggered. It was then that they learned of a second Foxkat who had been one of the FBI agents to take the transformative strain of the Foxkat Vaccine named Maria. Shi, however, was Maria Lafayette. At first Snowy was fairly surprised by this, but eventually figured that since Mary or similar names were fairly common, it was not impossible to have multiple women, or Kats, with that name. It did, however, create some jokes between the main group on the two Kats with the same name doing the same work. And in hir joy at Alpha and Centuri's birth, Snowy let one of those jokes go when shi didn't mean to...
The response was even more surprising. Snowy had never known for Kats to actually betray mates. During that lust phase of the virus, some of that was to be expected, but once they got their minds back, those with bonded mates remained close. Charlie had been a good example of that the month before during the Cairo outbreak. With Sally gone, shi had been a nervous wreck, and Snowy figured that that was partially why Charlie went into labor a month early, stress combined with the fact that shi had been carrying twins. Yet, Maria had responded in a way that was firm and as if Snowy had been referring to Maria Sanjaro-Rodriguez. The only thing that Snowy could conclude from that was that Maria Lafayette had a mate who had been Kat, who was also named Juan. It was either the oddest string of coincidences or who ever wrote the stories of the universe had made a mistake in character history.
Her wonder over that, however, ceased as Maurice spoke.
"Oh... oh they're darling Snowy!" Maurice spoke, hir voice excited yet tired at the same time, "I no idea I was carrying twins, let alone conjoined twins... but they're absolutely darling."
Snowy looked over to Maurice who was holding both newborns to hir breasts and was nursing them. That made hir smile.
"They are indeed," Snowy smiled, "and Snowflake will probably want to meet them soon. I assume that's why the kittens came to visit."
Maurice nodded but kept hir focus on feeding hir newborns, feeling the absolute joy of hir milk flowing from inside hir breasts, through hir nipples, and into the mouths of the tiny infant Chakats. Both of them had hir fur coloring, but Snowy's build and face.
"I'd like to introduce them to their younger sithers and friends too," Maurice smiled after a moment.
The happy moment soon ended when Raul came to the door, scooting the kittens who were all waiting outside, and came in.
"Snowy... Maria," Raul said slowly as he shut the door behind him, "I hat to interrupt anything but we have a bit of a problem..."
"A problem?" Maria spoke up from where shi had been standing quietly, "but we caught Li Sang... Sammy and Gloria are on their way back with him as we speak."
"I know," Raul answered, "but remember the outbreaks in Houston and New Orleans?"
"Yes...?" Maria said slowly.
"We got a message from Luna... apparently the situation is BIGGER than expected," Raul said slowly, "The number of people who have become Kats isn't that great... but the Kats appear violent and have apparently killed a Kat..."
"Killed a Kat?" Snowy gasped.
"That was Luna's report, shi sounded rather distraught, my guess a reminder of what shi and Midnight experienced in Paris," Raul answered, "Sally is taking care of the Kats shi's adopted and with Jess, is helping hir Aunt move in with Ryles... but Charlie will be able to come along."
"Charlie?" Snowy said slowly.
"Nikole is looking after Fluffy and Mary," Raul answered, "and I think Luna will need one of hir parents."
Snowy sighed and nodded.
"I'll be back as soon as I can, my love," Snowy said to Maurice, "You'll take Mina in until Alexis and Flake get back?"
"I'll even let her know where you've gone," Maurice nodded, "Good luck."
Snowy nodded and walked out with Maria and Raul.
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They arrived at the New Orleans airport to find Luna and Lia waiting with three Dogkats, based off of some breed of Husky. The oldest looked like shi was five and they were all in tears. Lia looked okay, but Luna was truly looking distraught. Charlie was quick to move forward and hug hir adopted soughter.
"It's okay, Luna," Charlie spoke, as shi hugged and rubbed the fur on Luna's back, and pushed hir way forward as if simply being close to Luna would make Luna feel better. Luna responded by pushing hir way to hug Charlie just as tightly.
"Shi was killed! All clawed up! Hir heart was torn out! They would have killed my pups!" Luna wailed, betraying that shi'd decided to adopt the pups on the spot.
"Their father might be alive," Charlie said in caution, "Sally and I will do whatever we can to help... but if their father is alive they will have to go back to him... or hir if shi has become a Kat."
"It was just like with my folks! Killed in Paris!" Luna cried and hugged Charlie to hir.
"And whoever did this will see justice," Charlie said firmly and then purred to try and reassure Luna, "You know that, right?"
Luna softly nodded, "I'm sorry for going all to pieces."
"It's okay," Charlie told hir, "It's okay."
With Charlie consoling Luna, the rest moved to speak with Lia.
"Was their mother really killed by a Kat?" Snowy asked once they were far enough away that the pups could only overhear them if they were consciously listening in.
"Yes," Lia gave shudder, "and likely one that was based off of a feline or ursine type of animal..."
"Ursine..." Raul began.
"A bear," Snowy answered.
"Shi was covered in claw like scars and looked like hir chest had been eaten out," Lia shuddered, "hir heart was then placed inside a hollowed out tree..."
"I've never heard of Kats doing this... never even thought of a way that Kats would do this..." Snowy said weakly, "Potential violence against humans is possible, since that would be aimed to help serve the spreading of the virus..."
"How many humans have been infected?" Raul asked.
"From what we found out from the chief of police here, between twenty five and thirty percent... BUT all the animals in the zoo and everyone's PET has become a Kat. The darts you guys sent did arrive and we've been trying to set up clinics to administer the Foxkat Vaccine to those that were transformed and the Justin Vaccine who haven't breathed it in from the atmosphere... and trying to drive those that are out of control into the Superdome," Lia spoke carefully, "but given that this whole thing started during Mardi Gras the police have also had to deal with several people doing crazy things already... including one woman who had actually chased down a Kat who had bought the serum and was already vaccinated and was trying to... to rape hir..."
"A human trying to rape a Kat?" Maria said slowly there's something new, "how would that work with her being female? The only way we can mate is "doggie-style" because of our taur lower half. A human woman would have to climb under us to do it..."
"I can't really say, but she managed... though the Kat wasn't really resisting all that much either..." Lia commented.
"Once we start mating, its rather hard to stop," Snowy commented, "though, that's also in mated pairs consciously choosing to mate..."
"Regardless the situation was a weird one, and as much as Luna was hurt by the sight of another canine-based Kat being killed and leaving children motherless... I'm afraid to say the New Orleans Police have found other Kats that look as though they were killed by other Kats," Lia said nervously, "the police have the outbreak itself well in hand... BUT they need us to track down the killer or killers..."
"They don't know how many?" Raul said nervously.
"They know how many sites there are, but I've only been to two of them, Luna was there for the first, and that's where shi's adopted those three pups, but shi wasn't at the other," Lia said slowly, "I found the same scent there... but it's being masked by some sort of deodorizer or scent eliminating spray that isn't perfect... but's done a good enough job that I couldn't tell if it was a Kat or a human."
"You don't know if the killer is a Kat or not?" Snowy said with disbelief.
"It looks as though a Kat did it, based on the wounds, but a human with a knife might be able to approximate the wounds with a knife," Lia answered, "The problem is that the pups are so young and so traumatized by this, we haven't been able to get a description of the attack or the attacker... and without a scent that marks one as a Kat, Taur, or Human, we're..."
"Stuck," Raul gave a frustrated grumble and glanced to Maria. The two of them had been wanting to marry, but it seemed like things were just getting in the way.