The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

research station in Pine Cove, just wondering if you have any seismic activity in my area."
    "Pine Cove?Can I get a longitude and latitude?"
    Gabe gave it to her. "I think I'm looking for something offshore."
    "Nothing.Minor tremor centered at Parkfield yesterday at 9 A.M. Point zero-five-three. You wouldn't even be able to feel it. Have you picked something up on your instruments?"
    "I don't have seismographic instruments. That's why I called you. This is a biological research and weather station."
    "I'm sorry, Doctor, I didn't know. I'm new here. Did you feel something?"
    "No. My rats are moving." As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn't.
    "Pardon me?"
    "Never mind, I was just checking. I'm having some anomalous behavior in some specimens. If you pick up anything in the next few days, could you call me?" He gave her his number.
    "You think your rats are predicting an earthquake, Doctor?"
    "I didn't say that."
    "You should know that there's no concrete data on animals predicting seismic activity."
    "I know that, but I'm trying to eliminate all the possibilities."
    "Did it occur to you that your dog might be scaring them?"
    "I'll factor that in," Gabe said. "Thank you for your time." He hung up, feeling stupid.
    Nothing seismic ormeteorological, and a call to the highway patrol confirmed that there were no chemical spills or fires. He had to confirm the data. Perhaps something was wrong with the satellite signal.
    The only way to find out was to take out his portable antenna and track the rats in the field. He dressed quickly and headed out to his truck.
    "Skinner, you want to go for a ride?"
    Skinner wagged his tail and made a beeline for the truck. About time, he thought. You need to get away from the shore, Food Guy, right now.
    Inside the house, ten green dots were moving away from the others toward the shore.
    The Sea Beast The Sea Beast crawled up the beach, roaring as his legs took the full weight of his body and the undertow sucked at his haunches. The urgency of killing his enemy had diminished now and hunger was upon him in response to the effort of moving out of the ocean. An organ at the base of his brain that had disappeared from other species when man's only living ancestors were tree shrews produced an electric signal to call food. There were manyprey here, that same organ sensed.
    The Sea Beast came to the fifty-foot cliff that bordered the beach, reared back on his tail, and pulled himself up with his forelegs. He was a hundred feet long, nose to tail, and stood twenty-five feet tall with his broad neck extended to its full height. His rear feet were wide andwebbed, his front talonlike, with a thumb that opposed three curved claws for grasping and killing prey.
    On the dry grass above the beach, some of the prey he had called already waited. Raccoons, ground squirrels, a few skunks, a fox, and two cats cavorted on the grass – some copulated, others dug at fleas with blissful abandon, others just rolled on their backs as if overcome by a fit of joy. The Sea Beast swept them into his great maw with a flick of his tongue, crunching a few bones on the way down, but swallowing most whole. He belched and savored the skunky bouquet his jaws smacking together like two wet mattresses, and a flash of neon color ran across his flanks with the pleasure.
    He moved over the bluff, across theCoast Highway, and into the sleeping town. The streets were deserted, lights off in all the businesses onCypress Street. A low fog splashed against the pseudo-Tudor half-timbered buildings and formed green coronas around the streetlights. Above it all, the red Texaco sign shone like a beacon.
    The Sea Beast changed the color of his skin to the same smoky gray as the fog and moved down the
    center of the street looking like a serpentine cloud. He followed a low rumbling sound coming from under the red beacon, broke out of the fog, and there he saw her.
    She purred, taunting and teasing him from the front of the deserted Texaco station.That come-hither rumble.That low, sexy growl. Those silver flanks reflecting fog and the red Texaco sign called to him, begged him to mount her. The Sea Beast flashed a rainbow of color down his sides to display his magnificent maleness. He fanned the gill trees on his neck, sending bands of color and light into their branches.
    The Sea Beast sent her a signal, which roughly translated into: "Hey, baby, haven't seen you around before." She sat there, purring, playing coy, but he knew she wanted