THE CHRISTMAS PARTY Written by & copyright of Foxonian Foxonian@aol.com Featuring Cassie, Dominic and Shiva & Rich (both created for the story) Cassie, the Rock & Roll Vixen http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org Please read the prequil, "The Winds of Autumn," featuring Cassie, Foxonian and Domonic at http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org/winds_of_autumn.txt Please read the sequil, "Year's End," featuring Rachel, Dominic, Shiva, Cassie and Foxonian. http://www.cassietherockvixen.furtopia.org/years_end.txt All characters created by & copyright of Earl Bacon except Laretta and Bob, who are created by and copyright of Andre' Cotton, Alex and Dominic, who are created by and copyright of Donna Fritz, Ben Moss & Victor Hernandez, who are copyright themselves and Vixina & Cloudchaser, who are created by and copyright of Cloudchaser Shaconage "The Christmas Party" A light snow was falling on the converted ski lodge that night.It was the 21st of Dec. and the ski lodge's owners were throwing a party. Unknown to them (and the rest of the guests) were two figures standing in the shadows cast by the tree line some 50 ft. way from the lodge's base. "Is he there yet?" one of the figures asked. "No, but he will be soon," replied the other figure. As the light of the moon began to break from behind the departing snow filled cloud, the figures began to become more visible. Both appeared to be of furry-morph extraction. The first was a female silver-black vixen with extremely long white head hair. The dark leather "duster" type coat covered a low cut black leather dress with a hem that ended just above her ankles that was slit on her left about mid-thigh. She had thigh-high black leather boots. Around her neck,against the white fur that bisected her otherwise black pelt, was a silver pendent that had a fox's head on it The other figure was a male silver wolf morph wearing dark business suit under an expensive long black wool coat. Seeing the vixen figiting slightly,the wolf morph said, "What is troubling you, Shiva?" The sliver black vixen replied," I don't like the feel of this. Must me make our offer to him this way Rich?" "We have no choice," the wolf-morph began. "He has to agree to join us. The is too much to lose for both him and us. If he refuses, you know what we discussed." "Yes, I know," Shiva replied. "I just wish there was another way." "As do I," Rich said. Just then, the moonlight began to dissapear as another snow-filed cloud began to empty it's contents on the earth surrounding the woods and the lodge. The two figures slowly beagn to fade from sight in the approaching shadows. "Is everything ready?" a tall red-fox vixen with very long full back head hair asked. "Yup! The caterers have everything cooking and the tables are all set up and decorated. Now we just wait for the company to show up" replied a very tall dark haired human wearing dark green cords and a red sweater with a toy-filled sleigh stitched into it. The human placed his arms around the vixen who wore a slim, low cut one piece green dress that had holly and ivy designs on it. The dress was slitted up one side to reveal light black stockings and a black garter strap. On her feet were a pair of open-toed stilletto shoes. The vixen's neck was graced by a black choker with an oval blue gem in it's center. "I love that dress. Did you have one of your stage outfits, modified?" Foxonian asked. "Naw. I just had this one made up using one of those dress patterns. I was going to wear it while we were on tour this year, but with that not happening, here we are." Cassie replied with a slight giggle. As the two were about to kiss, Foxonian said "wait a minute." He then led the vixen over to the mistletoe under the arch that lead out of the cavernous main living area. "Gotta make it legal,you know" the human said as he bent down slightly and turned his his head, so he could fit his mouth over the vixen's receptive,open muzzle. *Knock, Knock* "Guess our guests are arriving," Cassie said as she led her human lover to the front door of their ski lodge home. "Hey, ya Cass! Love that outfit!" replied a snowleapord femm with long white head hair with cornrow "bangs". "Thanks," the vixen said as she gave her friend a hug. "How are you doing ,Vick?" "Just fine, thanks for having us over Cassie!" replied a tall tiger morph coming up behind Cindy. "Where did you get the matching jackets, Vick? " Foxonian asked after shaking hands with the only furry-morph he could look in the eye (since both were the same height) The jackets in questions were black leather biker jackets with the words "ELVES" written in green and red gothic script going around the top of a head of a very evil looking Christmas elf wearing dark glasses and a wicked grinn. Under the pick were the words written in the same gothic red and green script "NORTH POLE" "We had a guy in L.A. make them for us. He does jackets for the Hells Angels and some other biker outfits. Pretty neat, huh?" Cindy said with a grin. Cassie held up Cindy's jacket and remarked, "It's you ,Cindy." At this, Vick let out a huge laugh and said," I knew she would say that you, didn't I?" Cindy let out a slight snort before saying "Just you watch it there, buddy. I happen to know a certain guy who might get a lump of coal this Christmas." "Considering how the oil is doing right now, that might not be a bad thing" the tiger relied with a grin at the snow lepord. "Come here, and see what you will miss, Smarty!" Cindy said with her index finger beckoning him. Noticing the mistletoe and the snow lepoard in black leather pants and a black shirt that had Santa on a Harley wearing a seductive grin on her face, Vick walked over and placed his arms around the smaller Cindy. As she wrapped her arms around the larger tiger's plad shirt, Cindy gave her lover a passionate kiss. Cassie leaned up against her human lover and placed her head against his chest in a loving embrace as the two witnessed what was happening under the mistletoe. Once again,the snow ceased. Shiva waked out into the light and looked up to the sky. The white tail tip on her otherwise black tail was almost invisible in the freshly fallen snow. A small black shape in the sky to the west of the cabin began to grow in size. Seeing the object, Shiva reached into the pocket of her long leather jacket and placed a thick glove on her right hand paw. Upon closer inspection,the object that came out of the sky and landed on the silverback vixen's hand was, in fact, a barn owl. Rich noticed Shiva looking at the owl for a few moments, nodding her head as if she was having a telepathic conversation with the bird. Perhaps she was, Rick mused. The Wolf-morph didn't posess the gift to do so, but many of his peers did. Shiva then closed her eyes for a moment or two, then released the owl. The bird flew off into the sky, to vanish from sight. As she placed her glove back in her leather jacket, Shiva said "it is as I feared. The other's won't join us." "What?? How could they?! Don't they know what's at stake?" Rich said with alarm. "They fear what will happen to them. He has many freinds, you know. Plus,he is highly regarded," Shiva replied. "How about you. Are you still with me?" the wolfmorph said as he looked into the sliver-black vixen's catlike golden eyes. "For now. At least, until our offer is made. Then I will decide. Excuse me." The sliver black vixen took off her black leather jacket and unzipped her black leather boots. She placed the boots and her jacket under the tree next to where Rich was standing. She then removed her golden fox pendent and placed it in her pocket. With her bare human like black furred feet silently crunching the snow and her arms free in the sleeveless dress she wore, Shiva bent down to a crouching pose and opened her mouth with an evil grin. She saw her target and felt her incisors begin to grow. Containg her excitement, the silver black vixen crept over to the base of the tree where her prey waited. Her somewhat large white furred breasts began to spill out of her leather dress, but that didn't concern her now. She froze,then lept. Rich watched with a slight sense of desire as the barefooted silver back vixen came walking back sucking on the neck of a large rabbit. As she sucked the animals' blood, the rabbit began to shrivel until it resembles a dried out husk. "Forgot to have your dinner, huh?" Rich replied with a snicker. "That's not funny. We all have our weaknesses. Including you," Shiva replied as she began to zip up her boots. "True." the wolf began, "but I don't let my "weakness" interfere with my mission." As she placed her pendant back around her neck, Shiva said, "If I didn't satisfy that urge, I would have been a danger. Remeber, not all of us can control our urges as well as you can." The vixen pulled out a moist towlet from her jacket pocket. She then began to remove any trace of the rabbit's blood from the edges of the white fur that ran from her nose down the lower half of her fox-like muzzle. "Not to worry. We will head up there soon. We just have to make sure all the guests arrive," Rich said. It was close to six and most of the guests had arrived. Laretta (wearing red and green head hair color for the holidays) and her boyfriend Ben arrived. Cassie had gotten a very small table and chair for Ben (to handle the mouse's 4 inch frame) set up on the large dinner table next to Laretta's dinner plate. Cloudchaser and Vixina also arrived. The bespectcaled red fox vixen had on a light denim mini-dress wth a pick of Santa holding a candy cane stitched into dress just above the hem on the right side. Cloudchaser had on his jeans and a green cap that said Ho! Ho! Ho! He also wore a shirt that showed a log cabin in winter with a lighted Christmas tree covered with snow out in front against a dark starlit sky. The words "Peace On Earth" appeared in fancy script over the whole picture. Next to arrive was Alex with her Boyfriend Rafe. As he took their coats, Foxonian noticed that the bobcat was still carrying his police revolver and shield on the belt of his grey jeans, even though the Berkshires was a far cry from NYC where Rafe was based. Seeing the human eyeing his gun, Rafe joked "Sorry. Guess it's so much a part of me I forgot. I can take it off and put it somewhere if you want." "Thiking about Dominic for moment, Foxonian replied, "No, that's okay. Just come in and enjoy! We should be serving dinner soon." As if on cue, a knock came to the door. Opening the door, Foxonian was slightly startled by what he saw. A tall furry-morph collie stood before him wearing a black top hat with a holly and ivy trim, a light grey vest coat with a cumber bund and light grey trousers that ended with shoes that sported spats. In his white gloved hand was long black cane with a gold wolf's head on it's top. For all the world, Dominic looked like he fell out of a Dickensian novel. But the bigger shock came when the human saw Rachel. The doe femme still had on her pastly white face makeup and black eyeliner, but she was sporting a long (so the hem hit the floor) black dress that was not as low cut as Cassie's dress in the bust area but somewhat modest. The dress was made out of holly and ivy that looked for all the world like Victoian era wall paper. Foxonian did notice that when Rachel lifted upthe dress to get through the threashold,she wore black buckled women's shoes (like the kind worn in 1890's) without any socks or stockings that he could see. "Hey Rachel! Can I use your waay back machine for a bit?" Alex said with a smile. After giving the little arctic fox a hug, the doe replied, "Don't you just love it? Dom and I thought we would dress a little "tradtional" this year to suprise you all." "Tell me, did it work?" Dominic said as he placed his white gloves in his top hat on a small table near the door and hung up the to long grey overcoats that both he and Rachel wore on hooks near the door. Foxonian led both Rachel and Dominic into the main room near the large decorated blue spruce Christmas tree where a table full of munches and other goodies had been set up by the catering crew. The rest of the guests were milling around until the dinner was ready. "How are we doing?" Foxonian asked Cassie as she came to meet him near the door. "Well,I just got a call from Slim. He says most of the road crew has gone home for the holidays. Guess he forgot to tell them" Cassie replied. "Damn!" Any new about Andy?" Foxonian said. "He's stuck in Cleavelend. His flight got canceled and he says he doesn't know when he will be able to get out. I told him to head back home and we will talk to him later," Cassie replied with a sigh. "Just great." Foxonian replied as he put his hand on his head. "I do have some good news," Cassie began, "Slim is coming. He said he was bringing Marie." Foxonian looked at the red fox vixen and smiled. Marie (AKA Slim's wife) was the one person who could not only make the otter be on his best behavior, but could aslo be the souce of great amusement. Especially if Slim believed that she didn't know half of the stunts he pulled around Cassie and Co. "Any word about our financial magician?" the human asked,concering the status of the little fennec. "She said that she far too busy to attend. Like you thought otherwise?" Cassie said with a grin. "You!" Foxonian laughed as he kissed his lover. *Knock* Both Cassie and Foxonian opened the door. Standing before them were a silver black vixen with blond heard hair as long and full as Cassie'd dressed in a black slitted low cut leather dress. Next to her a grey wolf in the kind of black suit that an under taker would wear. "Excuse me, but do we know you?" Cassie asked. "We're old friends of Dominc's. Sorry to barge in like this, but we heard he was hear and wanted to see him again. After all, he is a busy man," The wolf said. "Yes. It's been so long. Any chance we could see him?" the vixen asked in a lightly sultry voice that Cassie found a little distasteful. "Leave them alone. If you want to talk to me, then stop this foolishness," Dominic said as he walked up behind Cassie and Foxonian. As soon as he was close enough, Dominc whisped into Foxonian's ear "make sure no one leaves this house until I say is all right. Understand?" "Is this the danger you tried to warn me of?" the human whispered back. "It is." Dominic whispered before he addressed the two strangers, "There is a room nearby that is not being used. Can we talk there?" It will. Shiva will remain here to enjoy ours host's hospitality." Dominic looked sternly at Rich. He was up to no good or he wouldn't have brought Shiva with him. He knew full well what they wanted. The furry-morph vamps wanted to start their own clan, since the human vamps were ignoring their various demands. Since he was the first of their kind, Dominic was looked upon with an almost reverental respect. He knew they wouldn't harm him. They admired him too much. It was the others he had to worry about. Since,with the exeception of Foxonian, everyone else in the lodge was fair game. They would change them all into his kind if they could. The human would end up that the Christmas feast. While Rich was dangerous, Shiva wasn't. It was obvoius to Dominic that the sliver-black vixen didn't want to be here. She usually tried to mind her own business as Dominic did. What kind of blackmail did Rich have on her to make her take part in this? "This way" Dominc said, leading the grey wolf into Foxonian's small study. Both sat on the large couch and began to talk. "You know why were here. Don't you Dom?" Rich asked. "I know why you are here. Why is Shiva here? What hold do you have on her?" The wolf grinned and said "Always to the heart of the matter, eh Dom? Well, I did a few favors for her in the past. Kept her out of the human clans notice for some mistakes she made when she first "came over." She owes me. Plus,she believes in our cause. Do you,Dom?" "As I have said and will say for the last time, no I don't. I want no part of your silly clan. Neither does Shiva. I saw it in her eyes. Despite her calm demeaner, she's terrified of you and afraid of what you are going to do. I can't allow you to harm my friends." "FRIENDS?!? What Friends? Those silly mortals you hang around with? The Gothic one? They are scum and you know it! They will join or they will be our feast! Despite what others of our clan think, I don't revere you Dom! YOU ARE PATHETIC!! I will destroy you!! SHIVA!! NOW!!!" *POOF* With a look of utter suprise and horror, Rich fell down on the floor, A large bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. Turning, Dominic saw a sliver black vixen holding a police revolver. "Thank you Shiva. I owe you for this," Dominic said with a smile. "You are just lucky that Wu is a friend of mine. I wouldn't have able to gain his confidence otherwise." "Did he have any followers?" Dominic said as he waved his hand over Rich's corpse, which then vannished, alone with all truce of blood from Foxonian's furniture. "No. I was the only one he could get. Lucky you told your cop friend to bring his gun. I don't own one myself," Shiva said as she placed the revolver on the table and sat down on the sofa next to Dominic. "What are you going to do? The others will know of your involvement with Rich and my shun you for it. Plus,he was right about those mistakes you made with our human brothers and sisters." Dominic said. "I'm not sure.Do you have any ideas?" the silver black vixen asked. "Hey guys! There's an owl sitting on the balcony railing.Come and see!" Cindy said as she hurredly left. "Oh. I forgot about Gandalf! I was going to give him a rabbit, but I drank it instead. I forgot to bring my blood ration from home!" Shiva said as she rose from the couch and went to the door. "That's okay. I'll summon one for him. Come," Dominic said as he led the silver-black vixen into the other room. As they went out to the room, Rachel approached. "What's going on Dom? Who is this and what happened to that creepy guy?" Dominic and Shiva exchanged suprised glances and Dominic said, You thought he was creepy?" "We all did. Where did he go?" Cassie asked. "He gone.He won't bother you again.Now,if you will excuse me,I will take my owl and leave as well. Sorry to bother you." With that, Shiva placed her glove on her right paw hand and turned to leave. "Wait. You are welcome to stay with us. We have extra food and your are friend of Dominics. Please?" Foxonian asked. "T-that's very nice of you. Thank you. No one has been nice to me in a very long time," Shiva said, wiping a slight tear out of her eye, then feeling foolish for doing so. "Hey, it's all ready! Good food right in here!" Vick said as he waved his arm for everyone to follow. With Gandalf enjoying his rabbit that Dominic caught for him, Shiva sat down to a delicious meal. "So, how are you doing, Shiva? What's your job like?" Cindy asked between helpings of ham. "Um. I really don't have a job right now. I was at one time a body guard of sorts," Shiva replied. Foxonian looked at Cassie and smiled. "Shiva," Cassie began, "We have talked with Dominic and he seems to think that you would be able to help us out on a matter. As you may or may not know, Rachel, Vixina, Alex, Cindy and I are muscians. We travel around a lot and we discovered that as we get popular, we need more security. We decided to start our own security detail, but we need someone to organise it for us. Think you could?" Cassie asked. With a look to Dominic and the rest of the smiling faces in the room,the silver-black vixen said,"I accept." "Ah Think thet this calls f'r a toast, don't yew hun?" Vixina said as she nudged Couldchaser as he was about to eat a piece of ham, causing it to fall off his fork. "Sure do," The red wolf picked up his water glass and said, "To Shiva. May she protect and guard all the lovely ladies!" Sounds of the tinkling of glasses and shouts of "hear, hear!" could be heard and a silver-black vixen could be seen trying to not been seen wiping tears from her eyes. Only one other voice was heard above the din," Honest Marie! I wasn't looking a their bosoms! Aww! Stop kicking me under the table! It hurts!! OW!! OWW!!!" THE END