Endangered Species

By Peter Barnard

Lara Croft is copyright Eidos. The Werewolf stuff is copyright White Wolf. Amara Lightning-Claws is my creation.

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Amara Lightning-Claws stood dramatically on the crest of the hill. She held her hand above her eyes to shield them from the bright sunlight. "There," she said, focussing on a dust trail in the distance.

Amara sat down and unlaced her boots. She knotted the laces and slung them around her neck. Standing up again, she sighed and braced her self for the change.

Every muscle in her body tensed then relaxed. Muscles rippled and she became unsteady on her feet. Her mass increased and her face and arms grew bristly. Amara's feet elongated and claws burst forth from the toes. Jeans and jacket were absorbed by her body and a long fleshy tail grew from the base of her spine. The tail grew fur and her face distended. As quickly as her mass increased, it began to decrease. She flopped down onto all-fours, and her shape resolved itself into a lithe wolf with glossy black fur. The boots over its shoulders looked out of place.

Issuing a howl she leapt down the hill in leaps and bounds. The trail was easy to follow in the dust, a set of deep tyre tracks from her quarry's jeep. It felt good to run, the wind whipping at her fur, the firm soil beneath her paws, and the thumping beat of her heart. She savoured it, for soon she would have to revert to the ungainly human form again.

The tracks ran across the plains to another range of mountains. Amara didn't relish the thought of more climbing and was pleased to see the jeep parked outside a cave mouth. Quickly she slid through the forms back to human. After putting her boots back on, she investigated the jeep. It looked like the jeep had had only one passenger, and from the empty ammo boxes, she was armed.
"A fighting chance?" she mused. "This may be more interesting than I thought."

Slowly, and carefully looking for booby traps, she entered the cave. Inside it appeared to be man-made, and from the rusty arrows on the floor, the only booby traps here were very old. Her quarry was still oblivious. Good!

There was a faint noise, and Amara rushed along the man-made tunnel and down an sharp incline. At the foot of the slope was a wolf laying on its side, its grey fur was soaked in blood and at its breathing was irregular.
"Be calm sister," sympathised Amara, rummaging through her pockets. She brought out a herb poultice.
"You need this more than I," she said, administering it. The pumping blood made it very difficult to apply and before its natural magic could work, the wolf breathed its last. Amara fought back her feelings and twisted her face into a scowl.
"Your death will be avenged," she hissed.

She buried the wolf under a cairn of stones, then looked around. The tunnel had led into a small, but natural valley. Across the valley was some sort of structure. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be some sort of ancient building. Amara had a bit of a think.
"I suppose we crossed into South America, so this is what? Mayan? Inca? Oh I don't know."
She gave up and looked for the entrance. One of the front panels had been broken. The remains were blackened and warm to the touch. Explosives had been used.
"So we add another desecration to the list," mused Amara.
She looked up at the building. It was stepped, each shelf was at least twelve foot tall.
"Well," Amara thought aloud. "She'll probably head for the top. I could go through all the passages inside or I could climb."
Sighing Amara removed her boots and slowly changed form. This time she stopped at the tall, bulky wolf-man form. Cracking her knuckles, she began to climb up the sides of the ziggurat.

The top of the structure was quite open. The only features were a pair of pillars and what may have been an altar. The supposed altar had some sort of metallic inset, but it was covered in foliage, and Amara didn't care very much anyway. The scenery was much more impressive.

Under the azure sky was a broad panorama. On one side mountains blocked the view, but the other was a deep green canopy streching as far as the eye could see. Birds of prey, of a sort unfamiliar to Amara, soared above on the wind currents. One came down in a graceful movement and perched itself on a stone pillar. It eyed Amara, and she glared back, then it turned its attentions to the greenery.

Amara reverted to her human form and sat on the edge of the roof. "Ah!" she sighed. "They haven't bulldozed it all yet." She flexed her toes and relaxed.

Amara was awakened by a loud explosion. Black smoke issued from the other side of the structure, just below the lip of the roof. Two shots rang out, and two birds of prey dropped from the sky.
"That does it!" roared Amara. She took up a combat pose awaiting company.

A skinny woman appeared from below. She wore tight shorts and a green rubber vest over unfeasibly large breasts. Her brown hair was tied in a long plait and she wore small round sunglasses.
"Who are you?" she asked Amara in a plummy British accent.
"Amara Lightning Claws. Black Fury Ahroun," stated Amara.
"Hmmmm. I'm..."
"I know who you are Croft," spat Amara. "I've been on your tail since we entered Venezuala."
"Ecuador actually," corrected Lara
"Whatever. You've had this coming Despoiler!"
Amara changed back to the wolf-man form she had been wearing earlier.
"You. Die. Now," she barked.
Lara unslung the shotgun from her back.
"I don't think so," she said calmly, pumping all seven rounds into Amara's chest.
Amara looked down at her chest. There were spatters of blood from the pellets, but the wounds were already healing.
"Bring. It. On. Bitch!" she taunted
Lara dropped the shotgun and grabbed her pistols from their holsters.
"Die hellspawn!" yelled Lara sqeezing off round after round.
The volley of shots knocked Amara off her feet and she landed heavily.
"Ha!" cried Lara and blew the smoke from her pistols. She stepped across to look at the altar.

"That. It?" asked Amara, slowly rising from the puddle of rapidly congealing blood.
"Garou. Don't. Die. Easy," she explained and leapt.
Lara was fast and dived aside, but Amara's claws caught her thigh. A gout of blood erupted and she screamed. Breathing heavily Lara propped herself against the altar and took aim with one pistol. Her other hand was clasped tightly to her thigh, stemming the flow of blood.
"Ha.Ha," barked Amara and raked again. This time she shredded Lara's top, and exposed her breasts, but more importantly, her ribs! Lara looked down as Amara launched a double punch to the chest. There was a sickening crunch and ribs splintered. Lara's vision started to turn red, her breathing was irregular and shallow. Her last sight was a grinning wolfs face.

Amara easily picked up the crumpled rag-doll of the tomb despoiler. Holding it above her head, she howled a victory cry, and then tossed the limp corpse down into the trees. It bounced off a couple of terraces and then broke the canopy of green. Amara shifted back into human form and looked down.
"Shit!" she cursed. "I should have told her her crimes before throating her."
She looked into the trees and yelled, " Disturbing sacred Garou sites and murder of endangered species!"
Amara looked at her blood-stained hands and wiped them on her jeans. It didn't help. She growled a low curse and set off, back down the structure.