text: [Themes: horror, female protagonist]
  
  > Trying to remain unseen
  The chances of them being someone friendly galloping in the direction California is quite remote. The new Nevada territory has become a beacon of hope for wealth for caravans of settlers. But also a beacon for criminals such as yourself.
  
  A group travelling light galloping at top speed, only mean problems and you are not willing to be near them when they appear. The ground near the river is slippery and muddy full of brambles and burrows. You try the best of you can walking at a good pace and not fall.
  
  "Holly breaches of saint Mary!" You scream in pain, suddenly walking to the damp floor of the Truckee riverbed. A damn twisted root has trapped your foot. You unleash it and try to control your pine walking over one leg until. you could hide and rest behind an old bristlecone tree feeling how the needles bite your sore leg.
  
  The mount's hooves sound increases until it doesn't let you hear the powerful river. You can finally see them among the lush pines. 5 men on horseback galloping with their faces covered and dirtier than a bucket of shit-riddled carbon; you don't have to be Newton to see that they are criminals.
  
  Shit! What in hell I would do ... You think for yourself, desperately trying to find a solution that doesn't end with you dead now that you can't run.
  
  And you don't like the only solution you get at all. But the men approach and force the rhythm they have possibly seen the wagon and want to jump on it like vultures
  
  They stop and as you expected they begin to loot and shake your dangerous components. Well, that may be useful to stop them.
  
  The one that looks like the leader talks cheerfully to their company: "Look, Guys, it seems that the wagon is full of bottles!"
  
  A man with more nose than face and girdle adds with a strong Hispanic accent: "Hopefully be a good Bourbon; that and the Virginia city's Wenches are all I need." The message is quickly chanted rudely by his peers.
  
  You knock the hammer of your pistol, observing how your colt trigger goes down prepared to unleash hell on Earth.
  
  Your nervous muttering between your teeth as soon as you press hard on the trigger: "I'll see you in hell!"
  
  Your cart full of highly volatile explosive and toxic substances is like a barrel of TNT and your only chance to get out alive.
  
  You know it's a risky bet, but as a swindler, you're used to gambling your life on Lady Luck.
  
  > Boom!
  Everything on the muddy road is pure chaos and fire and the frightful whinny of horses and wounded people.
  Dazed you look around feeling pieces of wood dust and acid on your skin while you feel your blood spurting through your wounds
  
  Your mind uselessly tries to make sense of everything that has happened in an instant: Gunpowder. They carry barrels of gunpowder!
  
  That together with your chemical explosive agents has created something much more powerful than expected. Struggles to maintain consciousness, while a strange hissing smoke like a rattlesnake, emerges from the grass pastures of the flames where you had your chemical storage, stalking you like a hungry cougar.
  
  Ironic. You try to think and overcome the drowsiness of death. I had a few Indian potions to become your guardian animal.At the end, you succumbed to the inevitable.
  
  > Is this the End?
  You are so thirsty, your mouth feels parched and hot, making it almost impossible to swallow your own saliva and erase that acid and degradable taste off your dry lips.
  
  You perplex look at your unharmed naked body, laying down on the grass; there are no signs of the accident in the whole area, not even the damn caravan's wheel that caused all your bad fortune.
  
  Thankfully, you can hear the calming river flowing in the distance. However, this strange dark mist, which it's as dense as squid ink, does not let you see anything more than a mysterious forest of crimson red weeping willows.
  
  You try to catch the damp grass to calm your agony thirst, but the herbs dry and rot, as soon as your desperate lips touch them.
  
  Alarmed, you speak to the disturbing blackness that surrounds you almost menacingly: "Hell! Is this a dream?"
  
  A strange syllabling inhuman voice blasts throughout the area: "Parasites are killing everything they touch, Massacre the sacred land, defiling the purity of the river and mother heaven!"
  
  You frightened reply to the voice: "Who are you? Show yourself."
  
  "I am within you, I have saved you from death. You are my avatar and the key to my revenge over the white man."
  
  > scream enraged while your body transforms into a cougar.
  Anger, you can feel it, the murderous fury and desire for revenge that it is taking over your body, changing you against your will.
  
  An overwhelming pain suddenly takes control of you, making you squirm, clutching your stomach trying not to vomit as if an electric current burns your insides.
  
  "Ahhh" You scream in vain, nobody can hear you. You collapse on the dampen earth like a broken toy. Despite the pain, you struggle to try to get again of your feet.
  
  Each failed attempt is followed with the nasty remarks from the mysterious voice, you watch in horror as your hands morph on all fours making impossible for you walking normally.
  
  You are scared to death, trying to to find solace close your eyes praying: I beg you, oh Lord. If this is just a nightmare. I will repent of my sins. You focus on the frantic beating of your heart.
  
  A sinister laugh echoes in your ears: "There is no other God than me for you white woman; you will sow the death of the white man restoring the balance of nature, like my avatar. Open your eyes!"
  
  The voice hits you like burning iron and you are compelled to obey.
  
  Your hands are now huge claws with powerful hoofs and outlined with magnificent white fur. You try to speak but from your mouth full of lethal teeth only a triumphant roar comes out.
  
  Am I a Cougar? What's happening to me?
  
  It is increasingly difficult for you to concentrate, your ability to think fades until almost only the bloodthirsty beast remains.
  
  The forest opens to you like an anxious virgin on her honeymoon day as your green feline eyes granting to you the opportunity of seeing what until seconds ago, it was completely pitch black.
  
  > The beast takes over ready for the hunt.
  The voice laughingly advice on how to proceed: "You can call me Murray, Delighted that you join this for good. The other alternative is not so nice."
  
  You confuse without knowing very well what or what you have to do, you scratch your head with your hind legs.
  
  Murray patiently instructs you: "Let yourself go. Don't think just use your senses, sniff the air. Your inner feline will come out on its own."
  
  You try to sigh but something like a purr comes out of your throat instead; the midnight breeze makes you feel more alive than ever. So alive that you found yourself trotting around like an aimless pup, feeling the soft grass beneath your hooves.
  
  Everything is so new and exciting, you sniff around perceiving otters, hares and other prey you are dying to sink your teeth on. Until something sweet and delicate makes your beast'd gut take control disaggregated any human morality.
  
  Your body takes the reigns and you gallop towards the corpses, the source of that sweet and magnificent smell, food.
  
  Your huge claws and teeth tear the meat with the precision of a butcher and soon, only the powerful noises of your frenetic chewing can be heard in the pine forest
  
  I should feel disgusted, or regret something. But, the only thing I feel is an immense pleasure. Nothing compares to this nor sex, nor drugs nor even embezzle something from someone without being caught. It is a raw sensation, so overwhelming, sensing how I am absorbing the energy of the bandits' corpses as its flesh and blood nourishes me.
  
  In the end, the only thing left of the feast are the viscera and half-eaten smashed marrowless bones; you lie down for a moment, resting your heavy stomach like a good kitten totally satisfied.
  
  > wake up!!
  You get up after a lovely cat nap. Your bed of viscera and human remains has left your beautiful white fur of a crimson colour.
  
  You decide to take a bath in the river. You would laugh out loud at the pleasure and total freedom that you are experiencing, but cougars cannot laugh.
  
  You end up galloping towards the crystalline creek water, merrily scrubbing your fur which finally returns to being immaculate white.
  Gradually, you feel that your body becomes to shift again and your vision becomes cloudy and confused for a few moments. Until you find yourself naked in the icy human waters again.
  
  Carefully, you sit on the shore trying to comb your red hair with your hands, feeling that part of the beast's agility and strength follows with you the same as the ability to see in the dark.
  
  Murray says: "This is only the beginning of our pleasurable odyssey. Hunting living prey it is far better than corpses."
  
  > say "I need some clothes."
  The wind howls among the trees, you feel your fingers turn blue with the frostbite; your legs itch as if ants of fire were stung them. You definitely, have to get dressed now.
  
  The voice sarcastically replies in your mind: "Your victims have some clothes that would be about your size. You don't have time to be picky. We are not in New York."
  
  In the end, you find something to wear. A pair of worn and dirty jeans with a sturdy green uncomfortable fabric shirt that fits tightly on your chest and a dry, slightly scorched black leather vest; the only decent clothing is a good quality snakeskin leather boots.
  
  You can't help laughing: Actually, I look like a third-class brothel cowboy.
  
  You can feel Murray grumpily smirks in your head: "At least you are not going to die of cold, so stop with the complaints, when we find a good target to attack, you will be able to scavenge and find something better."
  
  You analyze the situation, as you try to comb your hair with your fingers: "Hmm, maybe we should stop and look through the remains, the bandits could have something interesting. Maybe, I can save some of my products."
  
  Murray is worried: "It wouldn't be wise, they were running away from something; I wouldn't like to be found in the middle of a pit of half-chewed corpses."
  
  > Scavenge
  The aftermath of the explosion looks like all is part of a Dante's Hell Theater set. The severed horse's body parts are scattered around, forming grotesque figures; you can even discover a burned horse's head hanging like a weather vane on a willow tree. Thankfully, You find your old Colt nearby and miraculously, in good condition.
  
  You observe the battle wreckage, as fast as you can, looking sideways in all directions in search of unwanted company. Unfortunately, there is nothing of value in the burned remains of the wagon, except for an old silver cameo that you stole a year ago and that you have prepared to serve as a tool in your trade; a hidden lockpick and a little cyanide in the secret compartment. It has saved your life in certain situations complicated by the law, so you wear it in your neck.
  
  Virtually all of the bandits' possessions have been scorched by the flames, but half shattered you can see a very interesting letter.
  
  We hope you disable the mining activities of the newly created Nevada Territory. We cannot let the Yankees have a wide assortment of silver and gold with which they will obtain foreign exchange and support from Europe. War is inevitable. And the south will rise white, free and independent with the help of God.
  
  Holy Guadalupe! This is harder than it seems; You're right we have to leave as soon as possible.
  
  The sound of a gunshot piercing a nearby tree stuns you in place; you look around and see four men on horseback carrying good rifles:
  
  "You are surrounded, I am the Ranger Roth if you surrender peacefully and come with us to the town to secure an investigation. You will have a fair trial. If you resist we will hang you here and now. Advantages of working in the west, we have less paperwork."
  
  > transform into Cougar and try to run away.
  The beast roars indomitable within you, it will not allow you to be caged and aimed with weapons; with a superhuman jump you race on all fours, full charging against the nearest team strike him with your powerful paws before any of them can react.
  
  You can smell his fear and helplessness and the fresh urine in his pants; you don't doubt, your sharp teeth tore open his jugular and his throat breaks filling your mouth with his delicious blood.
  
  Their hearts are beating so hard in their chests that I can feel it! It is so exciting their blood's aroma and the juicy flesh and marrows of my prey. I have never felt so alive!
  
  The ranger shoots and a lacerating wound appears in your right leg making you slightly hobble along.
  
  Murray keeps shouting at you: "Come on, it's time to run away, let's go!"
  
  Reluctantly you start running as fast as you can towards the river, following his advice.
  
  You sprint and swim following the river's curse for a lot of time; until you discover a small empty cave well hidden in the mountain.with some dry snake old skin outside; you hurry to check out for animals. There was some weird hissy noise when you entered but they ceased immediately; you don't see anything wrong and you are so sore and tired, that you don't lose time to making fire with tinder and some sticks; finally, you decide to snatch some half-rotten furs and put over your cold body.
  
  You talk to Murray complaining about your fate: "Shit! Here I am nude again and on the edge of hypothermia. I was almost better without powers warm in my wagon! '
  
  Murray snarky replies: "Of course and the opportunity to die of dysentery or a bullet every second. The life of mortals is so cheap."
  
  > sleep until tomorrow on Cougar form.
  "I'm cold, so I'm going to sleep warmly transformed into a cougar." You whisper, more to yourself than anything else. After all, Murray is inside your body.
  
  Murray sarcastically replies: "You have adapted well to the transformation. Almost too well, most of the gods' avatars need much more time to adapt to the divine gift of being our liege in the mortal lands."
  
  You scare a few flies, fluttering over the fur. You can't believe there are more avatars out there: "Are there people who voluntarily submit to this?"
  
  Murray, it's inside of you but if it weren't for that little detail you would describe his emotions like he is gazing at you with a pure contempt; If hate were ammunition, he could open his own gun shop; Finally, he deigns to answer, with all his anger reflected on each word:
  
  "White woman. Your race lives far from its gods. Your people annihilate all the land you touch as if you were an epidemic of pestilence, being the avatar of the tribe god was the greatest honour, back in the glory days of the tribes; people were preparing since childhood to fight for that honour. No one ever considered it a curse until the arrival of the white man. "
  
  You are tired of his whiny attitude. So you tell him:
  
  "Yes well, I'm tired of your defeatism, you have survived. Stop crying and do whatever it takes to get your way. Crying is not going to help you. "
  
  Murray full of rage says nothing but sends you a wave of pain, almost like a child in the middle of a tantrum.
  
  You just let it run, transforming into a feline again, feeling everything around you in a much sharper way. Almost as, if nature were a dancing buffet for your sharpened senses.
  
  You clearly can sniff a poisonous snake, in a corner of the cave. You think it's a rattlesnake; it is laying down, waiting to bite you the moment you sleep.
  
  Fury takes control of your body. You will not let a vermin attack you in your cave.
  
  > strike to the serpent in your human form
  Anyone would think that it is easier attacking like a beast with superhuman speed, than like a half-naked girl without a weapon. But you, like every human being, have two advantages: intelligence and the skilful use of tools.
  
  You go out for a moment, holding the fur as best you can, while you feel as if the cold were needles that stick in all your skin turning into you almost blue. All this work is just for collecting branches and sticks, making a small firepit at the cave entrance.
  
  Snakes hate fire and smoke take a few moments to light the fire using the rope bow method and two sticks but you are lucky that pine resin and shrubs near the river are easy to set fire.
  
  As soon as the fire is set you start to jump and warm-up watching as the colour returns to your body you take off your skins and shake them live again and again as if you were making signs of fire
  
  With a grimace of disgust, you can't help shouting: "Shit! This smells like shit Vodka vomit on fire."
  
  Murray replies in a condescending, almost insulting tone: "You are a woman, you should be used to the smell of rotting and stinking blood."
  
  You continue to shake the skin feeling like the pungent smell and the smoke scares not only the snake a legion of poisonous vermin cracking away from the smoke and fire.
  
  You shake your hands nervously and enraged, feeling the disdain and disrespect of Murray. His hatred of women is hot, you break a branch with your hands, knowing that for now, it is your only option.
  
  What is that? I think I hear hushed steps.
  
  You trying to focus your perception to find the origin of the noise. Thanks to your superhuman senses, you overhear the passing noises of someone trying to stalk you from the nearby pine forest.
  
  You sniff the air and even with the stinky smell of skin and smoke around the cave, you can feel the distant hormones' efflux coming from a clearly intoxicated and somewhat bizarre human male; although you can't point out exactly what makes him so strange.
  
  Murray whispers in your own mind: Either you attack him in cougar form or you fake being a poor frail woman to attain information from him. Both options have their pros and cons."
  
  > try to reach civilized lands.
  A dark fog rises, created by the earth's dust, giving everything a ghostly and mysterious atmosphere.
  
  You aren't far from Crossing bridge and the great entrance to a more civilized area of this new territory. Towns had been located among "hills that once laden with the most magnificent forests imaginable," or at least that is what nation want to sell to new colonists and miners arriving in mass.
  
  Now the ridge between the towns, like the hills are being denuded. The mines and mills required vast amounts of fuel and lumber after all. Civilization is spreading like cancer over Nevada.
  
  You advance at great speed covered by the powers that Murray has given you. You don't know how to put your emotions into words:
  
  "I feel different. I don't know how to explain it as if I were superhuman. As one of those demigods of mythology."
  
  Murray answers you tired as if he were tired of explaining it to you:
  
  "You are no longer human. The human you have died in the explosion. You have been reborn. Demigods are just another name that the avatars have received throughout history. Now caution I can see two wagons detained in the road ahead it can be dangerous."
  
  You focus and silently survey the area. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly interesting on this curve of the road and the two wagons seem to have stopped in a hurry on the side of the road without taking the slightest safety precautions and are now empty as if waiting for someone to take them away.
  
  Too suspicious, perhaps it's some kind of bait to ambush a caravan. You get as close as possible. One of the wagons is new and cheerfully painted with motifs typical of a group of travelling actors or perhaps an orchestra.
  
  The other is much older and solid dark wood and with the internal windows sealed with lime and thick wooden boards, an aura of coldness and death surrounds that caravan as if it were the property of a powerful being.
  
  You start sniffing the air, even in your human form, your sense of smell is much more powerful. Something is attacking someone. You can't explain what that something is. it is like a human, but different.
  
  You look at your hands in confusion. While you spin the hat thinking what you are going to do now. Your new instinct calls you to hunt down the human, almost as if the other being were welcoming you
  
  > transform in cougar and race towards your foe.
  You feel how the adrenaline runs through your veins and spreads throughout your feline body that gallops like lightning over the stony road without making much noise.
  
  As a haunting shadow in the starry night, you follow the scent trail and the sounds of a fight.
  
  You arrive in seconds to the tumult. There you find A naked man on top of a woman punching her.
  
  You reacted quickly by throwing yourself over his neck ... until you saw the man lacerated throat with a bite and the lustful lips of the beautiful woman filled with fresh blood. She started laughing happily:
  
  "You are new, aren't your little kitten? Go ahead eat him, I have no use for the flesh."
  
  You look at her with curiosity while you eat; She is a tall and slender lady curvy as a Parisian whore with a fine and delicate jaw, large and sad almost golden eyes. Pale as snow and something strange, inhuman, but surely attractive. You say still confused: "Gabrielle, this is my name, for now "
  
  She responds to your thoughts as if you are speaking out loud. "Oh, kitten. You are quite a charm. My current name is Mirabella. You can call me Belle. I am a vampire, and you remind me of how I was 100 years ago. In Boston hungry and alone. And if I can read your basic thoughts like If you were human, that is normal, it will happen in a few days when your transformation is completely complete.
  
  You transform into a human again and strangely you felt no shame at being naked in front of Belle.
  
  She replies in a purring voice as she wipes her face with a silk scarf: "Why are you going to be ashamed? You are no longer human. You are also beautiful and you know it"
  
  You approach where the man's clothing lies on the grass at an invisible point from the road. A blanket is thrown facing the beautiful Truckee River. Sexy panties and lingerie mixed with your victim's clothes.
  
  "Let's see what the guy had in his pockets." You say without being able to control your curiosity. "Hmm. Let's see ..."
  
  The clothing was clearly tailor-made by a talented tailor. Inside the inner pocket of his vest, there is an official paper, signed by the Governor of Utah:
  "Look at this, belle! It's the license for a Ladies club and vaudeville, In Nevada City. With the property certify of a building. "
  
  Both of you hug each other happy as two schoolgirls in the romantic scene in front of the river. With you naked, any traveller would get a different impression of your meeting.
  
  Belle offering you her hand while saying: "Look, kitten. You remind me of a good friend who saved me when my sire let me hang on after embracing me. She is not a cougar like you, she is a Hawk lady from the people "I think you and I should share vaudeville. It's a great place for both of us, and we can both protect ourselves. A vampire and a feline against the world.
  
  > firmly squeeze her hand.
  "Deal!" Both of you said at the same time, laughing as you return to where the wagons are moving with superhuman speed.
  
  Belle storms at the man's wagon, and soon she calls you excited wearing a beautiful emerald suit and matching lingerie in her arms: "Look, Gab, with this you can triumph. Surely the old green wore this merchandise to equip his wenches. "
  
  You curiously enter the lively and well-furnished wagon. There is well prepared with a nice mattress and lots of expensive seamstress clothing mostly for spicy ladies but there were many gentlemen suits and all type of accessories. You agree will come in handy to set up the business.
  
  You start dressing while the conversation continues very lively. It's almost as if you've known her a lifetime. "How about the name of" Two belles "as the name for The Baudelaire name?" You say as you twist to fasten the corset ...
  
  "I have a feeling this is going to be the start of a great friendship," Belle says as she tightens your corset, and caresses your neck with her hot tongue