based on world of Firefly by Joss Whedon

Cat 1313 is mine...all else see top... -------------------------------------------------

Pit Pat Pit Pat....It echoes in my head like a sick, but welcome drum beat. One drop, then another...like a clock setting its own rhythm. Serenity smells of blood and I can't help, but lick my lips, avoiding the protruding fangs as my alert eyes and ears scan for any signs of life.

A gun snaps shut on my left and my body reacts, poised and ready to slaughter whatever happens to threaten my territory. Entrails slide off my hand as I do, and with a flick, I finish the job, flesh and some blood falling to the only clean spot on the bay ground. Jayne raises a hand, the shotgun pushed close to his chest as he points to something moving in the corner.

A growl beside me catches my eyes as well, the dark shiny coat of my favorite companion catching just a bit of the lights from above. Her fur is covered in blood, wet, and sticky, her mouth holding tight to an arm she had ripped off. A prize, I suspected, until she found something more meaty or tender. Unlike crows, Batha couldn't get to the eyeballs with her long claws, but there were other regions on humans as well as Reavers that were prime choice. At least her lust for human blood was merited...mine, not so much.

Zoe is the next to rise from the litter of bodies, her dark skin patched with scratches, and blood that isn't all hers. After all, if anyone would know, it's me. She looks at me for a moment, letting her almond shaded eyes slide down my body, clothes covered in rips and tears, red where blue and white should have been.

I still hadn't seen Mal, and that worried me. I could smell him, could feel the heat from his body, and could hear his unique way of breathing when he was both worried and angered. His scent came from the dining area, a place I had hoped would be spared from the shadow mob, but there had been too many. Way too many...

I could feel my wounds closing, slowly pressed from the damage done in the ambush. Somehow, I hate what to think happened to the village we were here to help. These monsters showed no mercy. Thankfully, neither did I.

River, her small thin frame drops gently to the ground from atop some cargo boxes. She smiles at me, handing me the knife I had tossed her earlier. Its handle is now cracked, skull pieces evident in the broken wood.

Something shadows behind her and my hand grabs for her arm pulling her toward me as the knife she has just handed me sinks its nine inches into the gut of a Reaver, face distorted from slicing and splicing of other humans. Funny, I actually think I knew some of the contributors.

Jayne is upon us both, making sure I need no more assistance and to see that River is safe. I know he only does it out of second nature. We had worked together long enough for him to know I work alone, at least when it comes to major conflicts. It is easier when I am the only one I need to worry about.

"Seen Mal?" His voice is gruff as if he swallowed a mouthful of gravel before speaking, though I knew it was due to the strain of the fight. I didn't answer, didn't want to for fear of letting my thoughts, my worries affect my judgment. Crew is first. That's what he told me, what he would tell me if he stood next to my side, breath teasing the hair by my ear.

Zoe looks like hell as she approaches us, slamming the butt of her mare's leg into a groaning body. The life had been drained from it, but I wasn't in the mood to tell her, plus I'd seen the look in her eyes before. No matter what I said, it wouldn't replace her worry for her sarge...I mean captain. Still, she never really had left the war, not really. "We've got two unaccounted for. The girls are locked in the shutter and nothing got up there. River and I will take what's left down here. Cat, you and Jayne, hit the top. Last communication with the captain had him heading for the bridge."

I am use to taking orders from the dark skinned woman. Hell, I did for over a year, though it had been under the protest of my sarge. Mal did have such an interesting way of convincing a woman. Still, my mind calculates her plan, the way it would any plan including one from Mal. It is the way I'm built.

"You got it, Zo." Jayne is always quick to get moving, more so because he was ready to kill again, though even he was beginning to show wear. Reavers attacked without purpose. We'd just been on the wrong planet at the wrong time. Funny, it was almost a tradition with this ship.

I move after the merc, slowly as I feel Batha's form slide in next to mine. My mind flashes her a thought as she rumbles a response back, one that I know isn't what she wants of me. Her paws stop moving and with a rough sigh, she turns back joining River. Cold green eyes, mirrors of my own cast a look of distaste. Batha wants to fight by my side, but her strength is needed by Zoe. Even she knows this when her independent, sassy attitude clears.

"You coming, Cat?" I hear Jayne and nod, but something more is moving in the shadows as we climb up into the dining area. I don't like this part of the ship. Never have. Food smells made others less easy to detect. Reavers knew my weaknesses as much as I knew theirs. Distract the monster with food and chances were you'd get away with the prize. Guess it was a good thing that my prize was much more important than something to fill my belly.

"Watch yourself." I reply, the dust from outside and the dryness inside taking care of my voice, making it almost like sandpaper. He still nods, gripping tighter to one of the various weapons he stores all over the ship, ones I've tripped over more times than I can count on my nightly patrols.

The massacre hadn't stayed in just the bay this time as I step over three more corpses. Heads separated from bodies by something high caliber...it stinks of the pistol on Mal's side. Others are covered in an acid like residue, the doctor's concoction. A smell that had almost driven me mad when I watched him experiment. It would eat flesh, but leave the ship's hull alone. He then warned me not to get too close. Never did listen well. Still, the look on his face to watch the acid eat and the body heal behind made the pain almost worth it.

A movement and I hear that big gun of Jayne's cock, the hammer drawn back as he points it toward the counter. Motioning for me to circle toward the door, I nod and obey using a broomstick I've found to knock a pan off the small burner as it tumbles downward. A hollow clang of it hitting something hard is followed shortly by a...

"Hey, what did you do that for?" Simon appears rubbing his head, hand laced around another vial of the green colored goo. His white shirt is covered in red blood, but mostly not his own. A few scratches line his normally perfect face, but a grin masks the pain, hand raised at me with a wink. "Told you it would work."

"That you did, Simon." I smile and then glance across the room again. "Mal?"

"I told him to continue on. Wanted to warn anyone else approaching of the threat." His dark hair lay in a mess, but he smiles again rubbing at the top of it. "Next time, a word would have proven just as effective."

"True, but then, where's the fun in that?" Jayne's cocky grin made me feel at ease, but only for a slight second. Mal was still unaccounted for and that didn't sit well with me. "River?" I hear Simon ask and Jayne nods at him pointing toward the bay. It is safer for him to go with his sister, safer especially if I find Mal dead. God knows what will happen then. I feel her stirring even now.

"I'll keep behind you. Need me, shout." I could smell him now more as we passed through the dining area, away from the food as I spot a bloody hand print on the bulkhead. It's not Mal's, my mind sighs relief, a finger missing from the left hand, and two from the right. It's also smaller, Mal's able to almost cover the whole of my belly. Still, this creature had gotten past the dining area and into the crew quarters, a feat we had been lucky to avoid until now.

My feet, bare and cold press against the metal grating of the floor, red with the blood of my fallen enemies, my allies, and even some from me. Unlike the others though, my wounds were little more than memories. The crew would nurse theirs for the next few weeks.

Pit Pat...Pit Pat...I didn't like that sound, not when it came to the man I love, the man I had done and would do just about anything for. Dripping down the steps like a sick waterfall...pit pat...pit pat...a brown jacket lay at the bottom...pit pat pit pat....a pistol tossed to the side of it....pit pat pit pat...two more bodies missing heads as my enhanced body slides itself into a crouch, searching the areas before me for anything that could possibly tell me Mal still lived. All I can see is the red of blood, all I smell is the scent of death as it cloaks the bodies, and all I hear is the continuing drops of blood down the steps...pit pat pit pat...

"Mal?" Jayne calls out, but I hush him, knowing that in the bottleneck of the hallway, a fight would be just as dangerous to him as it would be to the creatures that came at us. Growling lightly, I motion for him to stay put as my feet find their way to the first step, a feel of thick liquid under my foot giving me a satisfaction that I'd never tell another soul about.

Slowly, the steps make way for the metal door, it lays open, the smell of everyone coming from inside. The bridge was joked about as Mal's office, where we discussed anything and everything before heading out for another job. Funny, three days ago, this had been the one up for bid. What had her husband once told her about following her gut.

The bridge is dark, a few lights still blink as my toes find the squishy texture of guts, a smell of bile telling me that it is mostly likely stomach or intestine. My belly growls as I issue a silence. Again...okay for the panther...not so for the woman who is suppose to be at least a little human.

I hear Jayne ease up the steps. He was never good at staying still. Reminded me of the young kids I trained at the Academy before I learned they were just another training exercise. Funny how we are taught to respect our teachers because they protect us...then to have that teacher turn on you...My only loyalty was to Mal and his crew...my pack. Nothing more nothing less. Besides, everyone knew...killing came easy for me. It is the resisting that Mal tends to have to remind me of whose I was.

Shadows move around as I start to count bodies, four...one tossed over the navigation, another slouched in the chair, guts guy on the ground next to me and....the fourth had seemed to disappear. My eyes dug in deeper, splitting the darkness as if the fog clearing away from the valley. Cold metal, though finds the groove of my neck first as I hear a dark voice in my ear.

"One move and you'll be nothing more than stuffin' for a pine box." A smile slides over my lips before I'm able to speak.

"Finally, after a year, you get the balls to kill me." I feel the knife blade drop quickly, but there are a few moments before he can speak.

"Cat. I hadn't heard anything..." I can see the outline of his face, the age and worry lining each cheek, each crevice. It's the same one I'd seen time after time during the war. His eyes search for mine and my fingers touch his face, wiping the blood from his lips.

"Everyone's accounted for, Sir." I reply gently. "No one has been lost." I can smell his blood on the wounds to his body, none life threatening or deep enough to cause the oxygen soaked blood to run through. Still, my hands roll over him making sure my nose has not deceived or that a wound has escaped due to the lack of blood.

"I'm fine, Boa Bei." He smiles at me, that killer grin that hooked me when I had him in my sights years prior.

"Simon can be the judge of that." I am quick to point out, knowing it would bother him as it did me. I could heal myself from almost any wound. Why did I need a doctor? Jayne laughed gently at the statement, having drawn his gun when the shadow overtook me. Still, even he knew I'd never let anything out man me, especially a skin walkin' lunatic with a taste for flesh and sex. I at least wanted dinner first, maybe a movie.

I feel his hands pull me against him, and I fold against his neck, kissing it before licking what blood of his is there. It's sweet, coppery, and full of life, though the exposure to the elements has made the cells die. This was the closest I got to tasting him, not wanting to bite him for fear my fangs would do more damage than good. I'd had bitten only two humans in my lifetime...one I was still married to, the other I'd probably never see again.

I could hear Jayne in the background telling Zoe we are safe, the warmth of Mal despite the shape of our clothes a comfort. His hands travel over my back as his lips just brush mine before letting me go. "We best get this place cleaned up. You find out about the village?"

"Not yet, but Cat and I can go have a look see." Jayne smiles and I swear the Academy had to have done some work on him. Still, Reavers are what I was born to hunt and if it helped the village, then so be it.

"Not yet." Mal touches my shoulder. "I ain't doubtin' either of ya, but I'm not in a sure fire hurry to have more of these monsters on my boat." He kicks the one with the guts pouring out, my foot resisting another satisfying step. "We need a plan."

"Isn't that what got us here?" Jayne smiles as we take the steps to follow Mal toward the others.

"Now that you mention it..." We share a smile as Mal grumbles about mercs and blood thirsty women with fangs, his boots tapping against the metal planking. It had been a good day. We were all safe, Serenity still could fly, and my demon still slept. Monsters might still roam outside, but then they always would...be it the ones with it plainly written on their faces or ones that lay behind masks of purple and blue. Still, monsters could be killed and killed they would be, For anything that came against my pack would meet with something that didn't die...a demon called me.

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AN: Might be a two parter....just haven't decided...

Jane, a bunny is always welcome. ;)