I didn�t start to get it until the panther that was Lyssra put both paws over her eyes. I never thought that Lycanthropes were a shy bunch. I mean she just came running out the a strip club where she works, and from what Rob had told me before...
Maybe I watch too many holovids. Thank the spirits that Lug installed an autodrive feature into this thing. I put both hands over my eyes. Taking my eyes off the road is always a little unsettling. Despite what the commercials tell you, Auto drive is a far from perfect. The idea that your car can drive itself is a great idea, but every once and awhile the radar will miss something minor, you know: squirrels, kittens, walls.
The shift sounds almost like someone cracking their back.
�It�s ok you can look now� I uncovered my eyes.
I�ll never understand how women can a man�s clothes look so good, it�s a magic that I don�t ever think I�ll get. The sight of her in my pullover was almost enough to make me miss the fact she had my gun trained at about chest level.
I realized that when I reached for the pullover in the backseat I had sat it down. It�s the Storm Rider Arms, God hammer X-12. It looks kinda like a high tech single barrel sawed off shotgun with a pistol grip, but it has a hexagonal internal feed using caseless ammo, which gives it normally about 40 shots, but with the extended clip it can hold over 100 rounds. But I digress.
�OK put you hands on the wheel for starters and for seconds how did you know it was me?�
I kinda blink at the question, Her hands were shaking, not a very good sign. My hands went back to the wheel.
�I�ve known since the fight in alley, I saw it in your aura� I said tapping my visor.
�My what??�
�Your aura, Lycanthropes auras are constantly shifting, but you can only really see it when they are in quarter form or half form.� She kinda blinked at me. I watched the gun lower a bit. I kept talking.
�Yeah, quarter form and half form, It�s two of the four forms that most Lycanthropes can assume there is a mythical fifth form but there have only been a few reported cases of it, none of them confirmed by any reputable sources.�
At this point she set the gun down on her lap, and I breathed an internal sigh of relief, Even thought it�s only loaded with a special Nonlethal gel rounds, at this range I would wake up with a set of broken ribs on top of the wicked headache some 12 hours later. Thank the spirits she can't actually fire the gun. There�s a safety feature on it that only allows a registered user to pull the trigger. Still, she isn�t taking this too well.
She stares at me for a second, and snaps. �How do you know all this?�
�I took a class on it at school. You spend a year learning about lycanthropes and supernatural creatures, you tend to understand the research at least.�
�They have classes on us?�
�Yes, lycanthropy is a naturally occuring phenomenon.�
At this point I had to wonder, how was she raised? When she starts to give me that expression again, I figure I need to continue to expound on things. That and I think she has completely forgotten the gun at this point.
�It�s actually found between the sixteenth and the fortyseventh rung on the DNA strand. Just about everyone has the possibility for it, but it lays dormant unless exposed to a large amount of magic for long periods of time. Like generations.�
She still stares.
�It�s on the same substrand that actually controls the talent and psychic abilities. It�s just considered another manifestation of them.�
And I looked at her. I�m really glad I had a cat growing up because at least I can tell when a cat has been utterly shocked in spite of the amazing poker face. Right now she looks like a cat that�s been hit by a cannon ball, �Is any of this ringing a bell?�
�No.�