Hunters moon

15: Cleopatra's true intentions

Naledi opened her eyes when she heard the birds chirping outside, like an alarm clock from nature. The inside of the Ratel looked much bigger now that she was back in her human form, but now so, she was completely naked, not that she cared what the four men would say, she's been doing this for a long time now, and got used to people seeing her without clothes.

She sat up, the bandages Piet dressed her with was now loose on her, and hard with blood. With her left arm she felt her right shoulder, there was no arm, it didn't grow back after all. Her hand explored her right side, the scar ran from the bottom of her ribcage, missing her right breast just, her back had some of it, and then the scar would run up her neck and disappear under her grey black hair.

Her whole right upper body basically a white patch against her dark tanned skin. Naledi's face didn't heal up as well, there where her cheek was supposed to be, she could feel her teeth through a hole in her skin 'f**k'

Naledi silently stood up, the four men still slept, she can easily kill them right here... 'f*****g bastards! If only they knew what they have done!' In Quintin's belt was a pistol, she reached over, and cautiously slipped it out, drew the hammer, and aimed at Koos's head, but she didn't fire, she only contemplated, they didn't really have a choice, anyone would have done the same thing, Naledi just didn't know they would be that good at what they do, even if there were warnings not to challenge the SANDF.

Now standing with the gun drawn, her hand started shaking, why couldn't she shoot!? She was waiting for this opportunity! Pretending to help them get away from werewolves! Meanwhile she just lured them into Nyathi territory!

'Come on Naledi, squueeze the f*****g trigger' she told herself, but something held her back, then she heard a soft silent whistle, she averted the pistol on Piet sitting with his back against the steering wheel, smoking a cigarette, he didn't even flinch at the weapon.

"We call that bokkoors sexy, it means buck fever" He whispered. Naledi got angry at herself for not acting, he's not even fazed by staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Nothing sexier than a naked girl with a gun" He whispered blowing smoke as he spoke, Naledi lowered the pistol.

"f**k you, you don't even recognise me do you?" He whispered angrily, Piet frowned.

"I have a reason for that" He said.

"Bullshit" She whispered and picked up Piet's shirt then silently left the Ratel. Outside she walked to a nearby stream and started washing the blood off the shirt whilst watching for crocodiles at the same time.

"Naledi" A familiar voice came from behind, without looking she answered back.

"Nina?"

"Your pack?" A ghostly soft voice, Nina was from the Nyathi clan, and as Naledi was a spotted hyena, Nina was a brown hyena, they weren't friends, but formed an alliance against a common cause, where Naledi's pack did the hard punching, Nina's clan were assassins, striking at opportunity, rather than attack full on, since brown hyenas were naturally smaller and weaker than the greater spotted hyena.

"What about my pack?"

"Gone, all gone?"

"I noticed"

"This doesn't bother you? Without your clan, our chances of succeeding are almost zero, unless..."

Naledi stood up and turned to Nina "Unless what?" She asked seeing Nina was in her normal small brown hyena form, a tactic the Nyathi clan learned over the years to remain inconspicuous.

"Unless we tell the other werewolf packs"

Naledi laughed "We gave them hell thus far Nina, what do you think they'll do when we just approach them at roundom? If they knew I'm all that is left, they'll try to kill me on the spot, knowing I have no backup from my clan"

"Then I will do it, if I approach alone they won't feel threatened"

"Do as you wish Nina, you and your pack are on your own now, I'm out"

"But Naledi, you're the Queen, you're the strategist, we need your help"

Naledi didn't answer her, she was stepping on the shirt to dry it out, after she shook the shirt she slipped into it, Nina saw the scars, and her armless right shoulder. "Who did this to you?" Naledi didn't answer, instead she turned her head right, to hide the scar on her face, Nina saw the letters on the shirt she wore "SANDF... Where did you get that shirt? Did you kill one?"

"No, the guy borrowed it to me"

"Oh..."

"Go home Nina, if I were you I'd tell your clan what happened, then also retreat out of Angola, you will only be killed here"

"But, what about..?"

"Forget it Nina, we don't stand a chance anymore" Naledi picked the pistol up and started walking back.

"Blast it Naledi! Who killed your pack off anyway!? If they could defeat you, maybe there is some way we can get them on our side!? Help us with this war!?"

Naledi stopped in her tracks "I haven't thought about that"

"But the question is, if they killed your pack, how will you convince them to help you?"

"Easy, they're the ones who gave me this shirt"

Back at the Ratel Koos was sitting top of the turret smoking a cigarette, Naledi took a rock and tossed him with it, he responded vigorously, almost falling off the Ratel.

"Hey b***h! What de fok!?"

"That's twice I could have killed you in under an hour"

"Oh? I knew you'd hold a grudge"

"Listen to me lard face! You owe me now!" She yelled, the rest of the men inside came running out.

"Lard face!?"

"Since you killed my pack off, you owe me!"

Koos laughed "f**k you! Weren't you the one saying you don't owe me s**t? Well same goes for you! You uppity b***h!"

"Don't make me come up there and beat you!" She threatened.

Koos jumped off and landed in front of her "No need to come up, I'm right here sussa!" He yelled, Naledi forgot she's not a hyena anymore, Koos was double her size, she literary looked up at him.

"Ok Ok guys lets just calm down" Quintin said.

"Shutup!" Both Koos and Naledi yelled together.

Frits and Piet silently stood next to Quintin, lighting a cigarette.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Quintin asked watching the two stare each other down.

"Nah" Frits said "I'd like to see this, it's been a while since someone had the balls to challenge Koos like that" Frits said.

"But! It's like David and Goliath! Won't he be a man and stand back?" Quintin asked.

"Just shutup and watch Frikkie"

"Come on Naledi, you're not so scary now that you're not that thing anymore hey, in fact, I'd actually consider calling you cute!" Koos said.

"I'll still f**k you up" She hissed up at him, making Frits and Piet laugh.

"Then come on? Take your best shot" He said bending down at her. Without hesitation Naledi dropped the pistol, drew back and struck Koos, he flew upright and staggered back into the Ratel, holding his cheek in disbelief.

Naledi was disappointed in herself, she was still weak after last nights full moon, she didn't have any strength. Koos on the other hand bellowed with laughter, as did Frits and Piet.

"Fokken brave hey girly? I like that, but you should have shot me!" He said coming to her "Now it's my turn"

Naledi stood ready but Koos only lit up another cigarette.

"You're not seriously going to hit her are you!?" Quintin yelled.

"Don't insult her like that boet"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Look at her, she dropped a firearm to use her fist against someone three times her size, do you see fear on her face?"

Quintin saw Koos was right, standing in a fighting stance, Naledi looked ready for anything.

"Choose girly, a blow from me, or we part ways, I'll forget I met you, and you forget about us...?"

"You leave me no choice, you f*****g baboon! Do your worst!"

Koos drew back a fist then swung, but before he hit her he stopped, making her flinch.

"Ha! p***y!" She yelled.

"Call me a p***y if you want puppy girl, I don't lift my hands to a woman" He turned to Frits.

"You?"

"Nope"

"Piet?"

"I'll do it" He said approaching her "If she can hand out punches, she must be willing to take them as well" Piet winded his arms, warming them up.

"You ready sexy?"

She clenched her teeth, if Piet struck her now, she'll wipe him from her memory forever, he'll mean nothing to her, but suddenly Quintin stood in front of her, arms open.

"I'm sorry, if you want to hit her, you have to come through me"

This pissed Naledi off, she drew a leg back and kicked him in his jewels, he squealed collapsing, again the other men broke into laughter.

"I said back off labrat! These fuckers took away everything I had! So I'll gladly f**k up all three of them!"

"mhuu" He wheezed breathless.

"Ok I can't take this anymore, Piet stand down" Koos said wiping his tears.

"Copy that" Piet said backing off.

"Listen Naledi, I haven't met a woman with more guts in my life"

"If you're trying to get into my good books, it's not working" She said.

"I'm not trying to, so now, lets hear what you have to say? What do you mean we owe you?"

Naledi brushed the sweat from her face "As I said, you killed off my pack, and because of that..." She looked at Quintin "Our war will take a turn for the worst"

Quintin slowly stood up "Why are you looking at me saying that?"

"Because of your sweetheart Naomi and that blasted Cleopatra"

Quintin never heard anyone talk so foul about those two, which left him clueless "I don't get it? They've been nothing but kind to me?"

Naledi laughed in a way that sent chills up his spine, a real hyena of a laugh, even if he was looking at a woman, maybe even a teenage girl.

"Kindness hey, oh that's their ultimate weapon, I remember one that came before you, let me guess, it's some sort of enhancement serum?"

"Uh, yes, how did you know?"

"The one before you was Kyle, he was also a man who said those same words about Cleopatra, but he came before me as a werewolf, I'll admit, the strongest 'Turned wolf' I ever met, he was huge as well, a giant. I recon the serum boosted his human body, then Cleopatra bit him, changing him in to one fucker of a werewolf... but you know what happened to him in the end kiddo?"

Quintin swallowed and shook his head.

"I bit his arms off, then I bit his legs off, then I tore out his throat, my jaws worked that day baby, I showed him the true meaning of having the most powerful bite force on earth, I bit him so much he couldn't regenerate anymore and then I crushed his scull in my jaws like a nutcracker, his brains oozing through my canines, it tasted fantastic!"

Quintin turned and vomited so suddenly he tried to catch it, but ended up puking on his hand. He stepped away from her but Koos took his arm and shoved him back to her "Stand boet, let her finish"

Naledi leered at him, her pupils hidden in very dark brown irises, making her entire eye look black, the teeth visible through her cheek made Quintin's stomach turn, she's as tough as nails, a true monster in her own right.

"Now you stand before me, but you're not a wolf, that's the only reason I didn't kill you when I found you scavenging in that tank blast site, so? What were you looking for? You better answer me honesty, because you have the same smell as that Kyle did, and you heard what happened to him"

"I..."

"This I know might also be a strategy from Cleopatra, knowing your smell might stop me from killing you, that b***h always has nasty plans up her sleeve"

"I don't get it" He finally said "From what I've seen, and what you say? It doesn't make sense!?"

"Just tell me! Why did she send you!? I saw you take some of my blood when I was knocked down that time, does that have anything to do with it!?" She almost screamed.

Quintin nodded.

"Why!? Say confidential this time! And I'll kill you!"

With no way out, Quintin spoke "She calls it the hunter project, yes, I was given that serum, but told I have to get blood from a werehyena, using the blood they will fuse your bite force, with the speed of a werewolf, making it the ultimate werewolf, and they could make it as strong as they needed to make it, so it could overcome any challenger"

Naledi's rage rose slightly "Oh! So that's it hey! Wanting revenge for Kyle by attempting to steal the hyena's trump card, and using it against us!? Does that woman's cowardice have no end!?" Naledi started pacing up and down.

"Please explain yourself now" Quintin said "Don't just rumble off, explain to me! Why you hate her so much? And why she's doing this!?"

She stopped pacing and looked at him "No, there's no need to tell you anything, you'll find out the hard way! As I did, I don't have to worry about you anymore, you failed your mission kiddo"

"No I haven't, I have the blood?"

"In case no one told you, if you don't put that blood on ice immediately, the venom breaks down until it's normal proteins, werewolf and hyena venom needs to be constantly pumped through the heart, the heart refreshes the venom cells, just as the lungs refresh the blood cells with oxygen, if the venom doesn't pass through the heart every twenty minutes, it slowly breaks down and dissipates. So basically, the blood you have in that vale, is nothing more than normal hyena blood, you stupid f**k"

Quintin was shocked, he was so badly informed about things he needed to know, he started doubting Cleopatra, she basically sent him here to die...

"I... I was supposed to become this new wolf" He uttered.

Naledi shot a glare at him, an evil smile expressed on her face, then she picked the pistol up again "You just signed your own death warrant"