Hunters moon

47: Hunting

"You remind me of a cat I once owned, his name was Felix, and he'd also go all jello when I rub his ears" Katja said excitedly.

"So you're a cat person hey?" He smiled.

"What gave it away?" She slyly smiled but flicked her fingers "That being said, I love all cats great and small, and I've seen them all hunt before, now, I get to see you hunt" She said over joyed.

"Hunt?"

"Yeah, stalk them, chase down, tackle, throat bite, you know?"

Quintin scratched his head "Never tried hunting before"

"Yes you did, your weapon was a bottleneck"

"No! What I mean as a cat, never did it"

"Well there's a first time for everything, sniff the air and see if you can't smell anything?" She said.

"Well, ok then" He lifted his nose, though there was no wind, something familiar caught his nostrils.

"And? She asked.

"I do smell something"

"Like?"

He looked down at her "I've never smelled it before, but along with it comes the smell of warm blood"

"Like a wound?"

"No, not like that... Uh"

"Let's go see then, which direction?"

"That way" He pointed.

"Ooh, this will be so fantastic!" She squeaked and walked off.

Quintin watched her as she walked with a mission in her step, her hips swaying, her arms holding her balance on the sand, what he didn't tell her yet was that he could already smell the cat in her, Ezbar's plan worked, the question is, what will happen if she eventually becomes one? He reached out and took her shoulder.

"Sssh"

"What?" She whispered.

"Over there" He pointed and in the moonlight they saw the heard of four Oryx standing still in the dunes.

"Ok big guy, you're on" She ushered him with a hand. He gave her a glance then braced himself.

'Ok Quintin, you've seen cats stalk mice back in Jo'burg, just do what they did, no biggy... And try not to make a fool of yourself in front of Katja' He told himself.

He went into a low leopard crawl staying in between the dunes as much as he could, the soft sand under his padded paws allowed him to make almost no noise at all.

He came to a dune he marked in his head and slowly scaled it, peeking over with his ears drawn flat he saw he was only about ten yards from them, but then something kicked in, he felt his focus redouble, as if the effort to impress Katja left his mind and all he could think of was 'prey'

Quintin dug his hind paws into the sand and braced himself, then without a noise he flew over it, the Oryx saw him but too late, they blew alarm call and scattered, Quintin already marked one, it was sprinting as hard as it could but Quintin's wide paws gave him better traction over the loose sand.

He had the Oryx in seconds, taking it down whilst guiding those long horns away from himself, twisted the body and closed his vice jaws around it's neck, the Oryx blew again in agony as Quintin's long sabers went through the skin and pierced its neck completely.

The Oryx went silent but still kicked, Quintin felt in his mind the primal instinct had him pinned as this animal was pinned, he held on, eyes wide of focus, listening to the animal grunt and gasp, it kicked some more but he pinned it to the sand further. Slowly but surely Quintin felt this animal die in his grip, it moved less, the lungs didn't rise and fall as much.

The strange thing he realised was he felt no remorse, only instinct, it was dying slowly, suffocating, it's life slipped inch by inch, until finally he felt the body go slack. He opened his jaws and lifted himself from it... Dead, he really killed it, but it felt so normal, it made him feel at ease with what he was.

"You did it!" Katja called as she came running but Quintin was still in tuned to his cat, he stepped with his two paws over the dead Oryx and roared at her. Katja halted in her tracks, she saw the lifeless gaze he gave her, like looking into the eyes of a real lion.

"Quintin?" She said softly.

He heard her voice but his instinct wasn't responding 'Wake up Quintin!' He yelled to himself, but all he saw was something that came to steal his kill.

"Quintin! It's me!" She said stepping back.

'Take a whif of that you t**t! Smell!' He screamed at himself and did it, the air carried her scent over to him and he smelled the dormant cat in her, this made his aggressive ears lift.

"Do you remember me?" She asked seeing his body language change.

'I do... Say it Quintin you're scaring the girl!'

He opened his mouth but only a slow growl came out.

'f**k! What's wrong with me!?'

"Quintin! You're freaking me out?"

'Body language!' He yelled at himself and backed away from her, then sat down on his hind quarters, lowering his head and ears.

"Do you remember?"

He nodded and she approached slowly, when she was right in front of him he saw she still had uncertainty in her eyes 'You're such a prick Quintin' He said to himself and lied down in a submitting manner.

"Did your cat take over?" She asked getting the idea and he nodded.

"Oh? Even better then! Here boy" She said holding her hand forward and flicking her fingers, Quintin's ears rose.

"Here boy, come, ksk ksk" She kept flicking her fingers, for some reason Quintin felt himself go to her 'The f**k!? I'm not a f*****g housecat!? Why am I responding to her like this!?'

"There's a good boy" She said and brushed his head with her fingers, Quintin gave a grunt of acception and pressed his head into her chest again, making her giggle then move around him to scratch his back, he toppled over playfully allowing her to go for a belly scratch.

Quintin was baffled, this isn't wild cat behavior!? Seriously!? Belly scratch!? But it felt so good... No! Why is he submitting like this!? Maybe it's because he smelled the cat in her, and this was interaction with her as another cat instead of a human giving him a belly rub... It had to be.

"I...!" He finally got a word out and tossed and turned to get to his feet "Holy s**t!"

Katja couldn't hold her laughter "That was so cute I could die!"

"I don't know what happened to me!? It was like the cat took over me!"