Hunters moon

45: Mystery behind the shift

"But I don't want to be a werewolf" Katja said saddened, making Ezbar shrug.

"The only other thing I can do my dear, is alter the dna so you also become a sabertooth like Quintin here"

Her face lit up "I can become like him!?"

Ezbar looked at Quintin, who held his hands up "Why do you look at me? You're the genius who invented the method, it's not like I must give you permission"

"Wouldn't it be interesting to have a companion who's just like you?" Ezbar asked.

Quintin looked at Katja's brighten up face, making him smile "It would be nice, I suppose"

"Then Katja, would you go through the procedure?"

"Yes of course!"

"Then it's decided" Ezbar said shooting himself on his chair to the nearest computer "It's going to take me a minute to get the formula ready"

Quintin looked at Katja who sat with a broad smile on her face "You seem happy?"

"Of course! Do you know how awesome this will be!?"

Quintin remembered how much pain he had to endure, then decided it's best he filled her in.

"Listen Katja, just a heads up, the transformation is painful, I'm not going to lie, and the first time it happened I had no control, and almost killed Naledi"

She ponders it for a while, but her smile returned "Well, if I go crazy you can just pin me down right? Slap my face a little roar at me, lick me... I mean, uh"

Quintin chuckled "Lick you hey?"

Her face went red "Oh whatever, if it helps do it"

Quintin felt excited, a sense of responsibility came over him, he had to figure out everything for himself, but, he can now show Katja the way.

"Don't worry Katja, I'll help you through every step"

Her broad smile returned.

"You two seem a lot alike" Ezbar said "Quintin can be real funny if he wants to, you should hear how he survived back in the streets" He looked up from a stethoscope "You'll feel a bit sad, but I promise you'll laugh"

Katja looked at him "Survive on the streets?"

"My parents were killed five years ago, and ever since I was always running from werewolves until I came here, I was practically a hobo"

She gave a quick laugh but stopped "I'm sorry for your parents"

He shrugged "I got over it"

"How is that funny?"

"Tell her about Jimmy Quintin, I bet you she'll find that hilarious"

"Who's Jimmy?"

"It was a friend I had, kind of a freeloader"

"Oh?"

"It was one of those ground zero rough times, I went for three days without eating, so as I sat where I usually sleep I broke a bottle out of frustration, then realised the head of the bottle in my hand can be used as a knife to kill anything? Dogs, cats, pigeons, but those were to bony and difficult to catch"

"You mean to tell me you actually set out to hunt, dogs and cats?"

"Yep, but had no success, it's almost like those stray's knew I was on to them, and ran off. So that night I came back to my little shack to find Jimmy snooping around for some scraps, so I killed and ate him"

Her mouth fell open "You killed and ate a man!?"

"No, Jimmy was a sewer rat"

Her face went from shocked to frowned "A rat!?"

"Yup, I'd usually give him some food if I had but that day he was at the wrong place at the wrong time"

Her face was still stunned but Ezbar chuckled in front of his computer, then wove a hand "Go on go on, let her hear the end, it's so brilliant"

She looked at him.

"The next day I was out on my daily commute when I suddenly felt sick and collapsed, the ambulance came and took me to the hospital, they found Jimmy gave me some sort of bacteria and they had to pump out my stomach, but I told them not to"

"Why!? You could have died!?" Katja said.

"I said Jimmy was my first meal in days, and he was a friend, his sacrifice will not be in vain"

This had her giggling "Seriously!?"

"They sedated me eventually without choice, when I woke up I was in recovery. But at least for two long weeks I had a warm bed to sleep in, food three times a day, and a tellie to watch movies on, I'd say Jimmy was indeed a valiant rat, thanks to him, I could rest easy for a while"

Now finally she started laughing.

"I even built a little memorial for the little fucker as a tribute"

Katja's laughter escalated and she fell back on the bed.

"Oh, have you ever!? You held a memorial for a rat, that you ate, which in return nearly killed you, but ultimately gave you a warm bed and food?"

"Yeah, he saved me"

Katja wiped the tears from his eyes "You're so down to earth you know that?" She said swallowing the last of her laughing.

Quintin felt an odd sensation hearing her give him a complement, she looked up at him, he saw in her face she wasn't done.

"How can I take that cat of yours seriously knowing you're such a funny guy underneath? Now I know why I almost laughed at you that time on the ship"

Quintin chuckled feeling slightly embarrassed "You can think anything you like of me Katja"

"Why? Wouldn't you want me to respect you?"

"You have respect enough for me already, and besides, it's nice to be around a normal girl for a change"

Her cheeks flushed red, she nodded.

"Ok you two, time to put this to the test" Ezbar said approaching with the syringe.

Katja held her arm out without hesitation.

"Now don't worry Quintin, this won't effect her like it did you, all this will do is slowly eat away the 'wolf' dna, and replace it with 'cat' dna. She will go through no physical changes at the moment"

"Ok doc"

Katja bit her teeth when the injection went in and sighed when he stopped.

"Good, now you can relax, let's all have a bite to eat"

"Now that you mention it, I am kinda starving here" Quintin said "I haven't eaten anything since my shift"

Ezbar frowned "Your shift?"

"Yeah, he became a werecat on that ship, it was awesome!" Katja said, but Ezbar's frown deepened.

"It baffles me as well doc" Quintin said confusing Katja.

"Let me take a blood sample to check up" Ezbar said reaching for a needle, after drawing blood he nervously waved "Go, go, eat something quick"

Walking down the hall to the kitchen Katja glanced up at him "He, kinda chased you away didn't he? What's going on?"

"Well, you see, because I was made using dna of a werewolf, technically I'm only supposed to be able to shift under a moon, yet, Kishra had me so angry that cat just clawed itself out without my consent"

"That's... Scary" She peeped.

"I know, I didn't realise how odd that was until you threw that arm at me"

He heard her giggle "So tell me? How much of a cat are you? You know? When you change?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you scared of water?"

Quintin laughed "No! I'm not scared of water!"

"If I throw a ball of yarn at you now, will you chase it?"

Quintin broke up, she was laughing with him though.

"No! I don't chase yarn balls!"

"Mice?"

"No! I never tested any of these things"

"So, basically, you were made into this cat and sent off to the warzone without doing basic tests to see how much of the natural instinct of this cat came with the transformation?"

"Yes, that was the case"

Katja slapped her hands joyfully together "Then that's what we're going to do!"

"What?"

"On the next moon we'll check if I change, if I don't, then you'll be 'my' test subject" She said making a funny evil smile and rubbing her hands together.

Quintin looked at her whilst she smiled up at him, then chuckles "Ok then, don't be too harsh on me ok?"

"I'll try my best"

Quintin slapped together a couple hotdogs for him and Katja in the kitchen when Ezbar finally came in, but he was peeking first before entering.

"Doctor?" Katja asked seeing this behavior.

"Oh, no worries lass"

"He made sure I didn't go crazy" Quintin chuckled.

"Seriously?"

Ezbar cleared his throat "About your shift"

"Yes?"

"I can't figure it out, nothing changed in your dna or your cellular structure, it's currently a mystery to me, what exactly happened that day?"

Quintin though back "I, well, don't remember exactly, but I was fighting against Kishra"

"You were angry, very angry" Katja said

"Well of course, she pissed me off a lot"

"Couldn't that have triggered it?" She asked looking at Ezbar.

"Not sure, the only way to be sure, is for you to get angry Quintin"

Quintin dropped his hotdog and held his hands open "Here, in this room, at this moment in time, nothing can ever make me as angry as I was that day"

"Well then, another thing I can test with him" Katja smirked.

"You don't have what it takes to make me angry Katja" Quintin laughed.

"I'll try at least"

"I don't want to get angry at you" He said shying away.

"Don't worry Quintin, I said I'll try, of it doesn't work I'll think of something else" She said biting into her bun.

"The moon is out tonight, I'll leave it to you two to give feedback of Katja changes or not right?" Ezbar asked making Quintin nod.

"Sure thing doc"