The Hunt
My Prize Awaits
It was a lovely lazy day, my rock was warm, and I had fed, at least a little. I glanced down at the bodies that lay about my favorite hunting spot--clothing torn hither and thither about the wreckage of my afternoon hunt.
'I must send a note to the White Queen; she was most generous today.' I smiled to myself, and my whiskers pulled back as I returned to my cleaning. 'Must always look my best.'
Rummmble
.
I frowned; it had not been over three hours since my little feast, less than an hour since waking from my nap, and already my hunger was awakening.
"Males are never very satisfying, regardless of the species." I bemoaned, "It has been ages since a nice plump...."
It was then that I heard her sweet voice, the voice that my hungry need responded to instantly.
"Mr. Rabbit! Hatter, where are you?" The voice called out clear and sweet from perhaps two hundred paces in the forest. "Come out; I wish to see you before my wedding!"
'Could it be?' A chill ran from the tip of my ears down my back to the end of my tail. 'She has not been here in years; I was but a cub then, not twenty seasons old. She would be ancient by now!'
She sought the Mad Hatter and Mr. Rabbit; I scanned the remnants of my lunch bounty, the scattered and shredded clothing, the white tufts of fur from the rabbit were haphazardly strewn about, then there was the crushed hat of the Hatter. Both lay cuddling in their slumber, their nude bodies spooning; it was so cute it was nauseating.
"You two will be useless to her for days." I flowed to the ground, my burnished gold eyes with the large round pupils quickly adapting to the familiar shadows of the undergrowth. "You rest here, my pets; I will send someone to collect you soon." I leapt over the mound of snoring bodies to seek my prey and a decent meal.
The voice of a woman filled the forest, likely a fully human woman as I once was, moving through the undergrowth; a stone could have heard her, she moved as if she were trying to break every branch on her path; she made so much noise. I am in my cat form; not a single sound in reply.
I have heard my natural brothers and sisters have lost their sense of smell. I have not. Mine is keener than any human, keener than many cats. I could smell the girl from here, and she smelled sweet. Working my way along her path to find my best advantage, I wanted to see her first before she beheld me.
"A virgin still! How sweet." Her scent did not carry the taint of men, she would be excellent for a meal, and I would not finish her; I would keep her for myself.
I cut across her path; she was now ahead of me; it was always good to come upon one's prey when they are unaware, disrupts, and confuses; they can only run forward to the unknown, for I stood where they had been.
I crept up silently on the searching girl, but I needed a proper approach not to frighten too soon. So I followed silently behind until I found a splendid tree to climb and look.
"Hatter! Rabbit!" I heard and felt the stomp of a heeled shoe. "Come out this instant!" The voice carried the sound of command, but also I sensed growing fear.
I leapt to a nearby tree, one I knew well, and climbed, careful to stay in shadow out of her sight.
I was above her now; I could see her at the edge of a small meadow; there once had been a tea party, years ago, now long since cleared away.
'Yes, I think it is.' I watched the tall human, now fully grown by the look of her dress and her bustle. I am no expert on such things, not any longer, but it seemed accurate from what I had seen in the White Queen's court. I willed her to turn, and she did. 'Yes, it is her!'
