The Willing Prey

by Scarlett Sunday

  With an incredulous look on her face, Diana gasped. “Oh My God Tanis! It would take the strength of ten big men to snap that rope. I couldn’t do it when you had me tied up.”

  “Yes. As you said before, I’m not a man.”

  “For a moment there, I thought you were one of those men who had changed his sex, Tanis. You have a beautiful woman’s body with plenty of feminine muscles and curves in the right places... I know you’re not what the Americans call a She-male. Are you trying to tell me you are not the beautiful woman I know you to be, but something else?”

  “No Diana. I am a woman. But, I’m a woman in another woman’s body. I come from another galaxy. I’m human, but I need humans like you to survive. My species is a predator of your kind. My prey is human, my lovers are human, my hosts are human, and you Diana, if I want you to be, could be my food or my host. The real Tanis is millennia old, and this body I inhabit over a thousand years old.”

  “Yet, you’re so attractive and…and so young looking. Oh My God Tanis! I think you’re serious!”

  “Yes. The host body you make love to now existed as a Viking warrior woman called Freyja in Ninth-century Denmark. When wounded in battle, I placed Freyja into stasis on my Starship to heal. Keeping her as a future host. My host of the time was Shani also known as Tanis. Freyja’s Viking chieftain and lover. Like me, Shani was not of this world. Shani fell in love with Freyja and Viking Welland, Welland Taggart’s direct ancestor. Before the Vikings, I was the Gladiator Tanis in Rome. After the Vikings, I existed as the Duellist Erin Tanis Connor in Elizabethan England. After Erin, I lived in the body of Aysher the Pindarri Princess in India. Also known as Tanis. My followers believed me to be the cruel Indian Warrior Goddess Durga. Now I’m Viking Freyja, whose body I took from stasis in India in 1823 when Aysher my Indian host went insane. Aysher’s insanity posed a danger to my alien self, so I had to be rid of her. Now in the body of the beautiful Freyja, I work as an expensive call girl in London’s East End as Helen Tanis Napier. Whose identity I assumed after I’d taken her body as prey two weeks ago. I can be anyone I want to be. Even you, Diana Taylor.”

  “You mean you were all the warrior women of my fantasies Tanis. The Gladiator Tanis, and the others I told you about. Sweet Jesus! It’s hard to believe. At least, now I know why I love you.”

  “I’m telling you the truth, Diana. Because I Tanis, the alien woman is in love with you. Not my human host Freyja. The Vampire loves you not her human host. It’s unbelievable; even so, it’s true, and it’s never happened in my long life before. There must be a reason for it. Freyja, Shani, and Viking Welland shared many fierce battles together. I as Tanis occupied the body of Shani the Delphi General in those far-off times. In this life, Tanis, known as Helen Napier, in the body of Freyja has fallen in love with you her prey Diana Taylor. I am the stuff of your fantasies, Diana. I was never Boudicca or Penthesilea. Yet, I could’ve been if I had wished it, as they were of my gender. Penthesilea killed Achilles. Had I been she, I would’ve taken Troy on my own in single combat and ruled it with an iron fist.”

  “You mean I’ve been making love to all my heroines at the same time. That you’re an immortal alien living in the host body of a human Viking warrior woman. Over a thousand years old, named Freyja?”

  “Yes. Fantastic is it not? If I’d taken Queen Boudicca’s body. Roman history in England would have been quite different. I’ve lived my lives in the powerful human bodies of selected warrior women. Like you, all were my lovers before they became my hosts. Unlike you, I didn’t love them for myself. I didn’t ask them for their bodies Diana. I took them as and when I needed them.”

  Diana could only answer. “Show me the proof Tanis, and I’ll believe you. Oh My God! I don’t know what alien Tanis looks like. Are you sure I’m not in love with Freyja?”

  “Yes. I am sure Diana. Welland has a rune of my deeds in his flat. I’ll show you the other three rune-stones of my past lives. If you come to accept what I’m about to offer you in exchange for your strong host body. When I have the need to take it. For me to rule, I need to be a warrior Queen to my people. For me to do that, I need the host body of a strong warrior woman like you who is fertile. One who the alien Tanis loves more than life itself.”

  “You’re trying to tell me you are thousands of years old Tanis.”

  “No! I’m trying to tell you I’m ten thousand years old and have lived many lifetimes on other worlds before this one. You see the risk I take in telling you who I am. In all that time, I’ve never once loved anyone as my alien self, as I love you now my darling Diana.”

  “You say you didn’t tell your hosts what you’re telling me now. When you planned to take over their bodies Tanis?”

  “Yes. I was a different person then. Ruthless and cruel to everyone except those I needed for my work. Anyone who was useless to me I killed. The prisoners I took became either my slaves, my slave lovers, or my prey. I loved many, and I killed many. In this modern age. I acquired a conscience when I took Helen Napier’s body as prey. Her mind lives on in mine. I feel I’m evolving into something more. My love for you runs deep Diana. It comes straight from my alien heart. I don’t want to destroy that love. It’s precious to me. Even so, if I must, I’ll destroy it. You see I wish now to protect the innocent not to take them as prey. This is my world, and I will rule it. I can only do so with your love and us being together in one body… Yours.”

  “You mean to kill me if I refuse what you ask don’t you Tanis?”

  Her eyes, red with tears, Tanis sighed. “I’ve already killed in this life, Diana. You would leave me no other choice. You know too much.”

  “Would I have been able to beat you in a fair fight using Aikido Tanis?”

  “No. I can kill you with ease. It’s why I didn’t want Welland to tell you about the fight the other night. Those four men didn’t stand a chance against me in battle. It was not self-defence on my part. It was murder by your law and survival of the fittest by mine.”

  Tanis’s eyes told Diana it was the truth. “I love you, Tanis. I can’t help it now. I know you’re not trying to blackmail me into accepting your fantastic story. Tell me what my future is with you and let me make my own decision. We can’t go on like this. It’s like a bizarre quiz game. If I refuse your offer, you’ll have to kill me. If you do decide to kill me make love to me first before you do. I’ll go if I knew I was in your arms and coming at the final moment. It wouldn’t be such a bad way to die when in the arms of the one you love more than your own life.”

  “Here is a pure truth then Diana. You’re of my gender. So, your mind and your memories would live on in me like all my hosts do, including Helen Napier my last female prey. From you, I want more. To take you would give me all the skills you have. You would be conscious of everything I do, say, or feel, as all my past hosts do. You and they will be with me until I die, which may never be if I have a constant supply of human hosts like you to assimilate. I can live for millennia yet. I must always take a host of my gender. She must be strong and my willing lover. You have all those qualities plus one more, which is more important. You are in love with my alien self, and my alien self is in love with you. Also, you are a strong warrior woman in this life.”

  “I can believe what you’re saying Tanis. Go on.”

  “I can take a male body as prey, but not as a host. For his mind would die. The male of my species can take a female as prey, but not as a host, for her mind would die. I’ve heard there is a male of my species living in Japan. I need a new fruitful body to mate with him. I need your body, Diana. I could make you my host now. But, I’m not ready to take you now. There’s a difference between our loves. It’s so rare it may never happen to me again. That could mean the end for my species. Should I take you against your wishes? You must invite me in, in willing surrender.”

  “Stop there a moment Tanis. You offer me virtual immortality in exchange for my corruptible human body. Still, you want it with my sanction? You want my body to be the host
body, which will bear your alien children. Is that it?”

  “Yes. Diana. Remember, when I take you, your body will be a real Vampire on your own species. Freyja’s body will die to sustain us in the act. Yet, her mind will survive in me. As yours and countless other women in the past and future do and will. With you as my host, I’d still have to seduce my human prey into becoming my willing lovers. Then kill their physical bodies to sustain yours and mine. The only way my species can survive is to be a Vampire on your species. Nature has made me so.”

  “You’re asking me to hunt, murder, then cannibalise my own species, Tanis?”

  “Not if you were me, Diana. Humans are my natural prey. The relationship between us is much like the lion and the zebra. In the old days, the only law was the law of the predator. If you were weak, you died. The killing was a natural thing. In some cases, when a warrior killed a strong opponent. He would cannibalise the body to take on its strength. Today it’s different. There is law, or what passes for such. The killing of innocents continues by those humans. Who care not for others of their species.”

  “It’s still murder to me Tanis.”

  “Some humans murder their own species and get away with it. Most in the guise of righteousness and ideology. Those who sell drugs to the young. Those who exploit them for their youthful beauty. Those who would kill Welland Taggart. Because he stands in their way to greater illegal profits. Those who would force their murderous beliefs on others. Those who seek power for their own ends. All like fleas on the back of a dog, which need eliminating. I’m not a parasite. I’m a natural predator of humans created by Nature. There’s the difference Diana. I live within the natural law and take my food only when I need to. You must believe what I say.”

  “I’m beginning to see sense in what you’re saying, Tanis.”

  “I promise in the future I’ll only take my prey from those who are the enemies of innocence. Those who need removing from our midst Diana. Although evil, there are among them, beautiful and attractive people. People who would make the hunt for them more satisfying because of their innate cunning. The older ones and the ones who are ugly would be easier prey to your beauty and my seductive wiles. They wouldn’t be able to resist a young and beautiful Vampire like you. If they were ignorant of your intentions. In fact, they would throw themselves at your feet to become your willing prey. Albeit in ignorance of their fate. As predators of their own kind it wouldn’t matter if we took both male and female. Those with evil intentions would deserve our final justice.”

  “Keep talking Tanis. I’m almost convinced.”

  “All those we take would no longer pose a threat to innocence. My mate and I would be able to use their criminal skills against others of their ilk. I’ve taken two such people from the cartel. Which has been threatening Welland and Tara’s lives? Even you could not resist my advances when I first set my seductive sights on you.”

  “Not the way you looked at me, Tanis. You were persuasive. You’re a cool one. I agree some people deserve to die for what they are doing to the helpless in our society. I learnt Aikido to defend myself against such people. You’ve convinced me my future lies with you, Tanis. What you offer only a fool would turn down. I love you too much to care what happens to the low life and bottom feeders of our society. I couldn’t exist without you in my life. If I lost you, I might as well be dead. I’ll give my body up to you with gladness my love. Because I’ll still exist in your heart and mind forever.” She studied Tanis’s face. “My word is my bond my darling, once I give it, I can never go back on it. It’s a matter of honour with me. You have my blood oath, Tanis, as the old Vikings would say.”

  “I also give you my word Diana.” With a sigh of relief, she continued. “I’ve no choice, but to trust you, Diana. The truth is, I too wouldn’t want to live without your love. I must go to Japan soon. Freyja’s body is old and won’t last much longer. Her conscious mind will live on in me. Sometime in Japan, I’ll take your body as my new host and mate with Darius.”

  “I’ll give it up to you my darling. I will invite you in.”

  “When you felt me in your womb in your first climax, I was assessing your potential to carry my child. When we mate with Darius, his host body will not survive. It will become our prey along with Freyja’s when I make you mine. Darius’s consciousness and his captured minds will pass into one of my eggs with his sperm. The other egg will become our girl child, whose host I’ve yet to select.”

  “Have you someone in mind Tanis?”

  “Yes. I’ll transfer my eggs into two hosts’ one male to take Darius’s consciousness. The other female to host our daughter. Soon I’ll introduce you to my Starship Zana to confirm your belief in my alien existence. Zana processes her own personality. Even so, she couldn’t survive without my consciousness, as I couldn’t survive without hers. We are inseparable. One without the other would die. For the time being, I’ve need of Freyja’s strength and fighting abilities Diana. As I have some unfinished business to attend to. When you’re mine, there’ll be no more disease or ageing for you. You’ll stay as you are, and I suspect I’ll never have to take another host for millennia, if at all. To breed, I must be a Queen of our species. My senses tell me our love has made me a Queen Mantis.”

  Diana glanced up at Tanis. Her paralysis weakening, she placed her hands on Tanis’s breasts. “At first, I didn’t think I could go through with it, Tanis. I’ve taken on faith all you’ve told me. Can you show me more proof? I need to see the person I’ve fallen in love with. You have no scales, or look like a snake or a spider?”

  Tanis laughed. “No. I exist as light energy, which has a human form. I need a physical human body to trap my prey, or they would think me a ghost. You still have a few minutes before the paralysis wears off Diana, so I’ll show you the proof you seek. After that, I’ll bring you out of your paralysis by making love to you. When you come, you’ll know by being alive, and in my arms, I’ve justified my faith in you.” She kissed Diana on her lips and rising drew the curtains. “I can only leave my host for a few minutes. More in an emergency. After which, I’ll have to feed. I’ll rest Freyja’s body in that chair.” She walked over to the small sofa in the corner and sat down in the darkness.

  Astonished, but not frightened. Diana watched as a being of blue light rose from the chair and drifted like a wraith towards her. Beautiful was an understatement. She was exquisite and looked like an angel of shimmering brilliance. Tanis’s hair surrounded her body in an aura of gossamer tendrils as if blown by a gentle breeze. She could see right through Tanis’s naked form to Freyja beyond. She blinked in disbelief. Tanis was smaller than her host and looked more fragile. The sexual odour she exuded made her body wet with desire. It’s no wonder her prey can’t resist her… Now she loves only me. Tanis came to rest on the bed beside Diana. Her hair settled around her exquisite body and framed her slight naked form. In an aura of reflected light. She laid her spirit hands onto Diana’s breasts and began to stroke them. From there, she moved down her trembling body to her velvet. Where her spirit fingers entered and brought Diana into electrifying relief. As she came, Diana closed her eyes to heighten her feeling. She felt Tanis’s ghost-like lips at her throat, on her lips, then within her body. With a deep sense of longing, Diana convulsed into yet another strong coming. She opened her eyes in wonder and watched. As her alien lover left her side on the delicate wings of light. To glide back towards the chair where Freyja’s body awaited her. When she came down from her strange experience. Diana found herself in Freyja’s strong arms again.

  “Ohhh Myyy Goddd Tanis! What an awesome feeling.”

  “Well my love, do you believe me now?”

  “How could I not after what you’ve done to me. Yes. With all my heart, I believe you. What a beautiful being you are. It’s you who loves me and not your host. I sensed your deep feelings for me when you touched me. Come to me again in the flesh of Freyja and take from me what is yours by right, my darling.”

  Her body depleted
from her ordeal. Tanis parted Diana’s willing thighs and fastened her hungry mouth onto her moist waiting lips, in a passionate piercing kiss. In the silence of the morning. She took the sustenance she needed from the body of her silent fascinated lover. Afterwards, lying beside her. She turned Diana’s head and injected a little venom into her hot throbbing vein.

  “Sleep now sweetheart and dream while I hold you. For there is yet more proof to come. You’ll see the darker side of my being. Where only the strong can survive, and the weak perish. You will dream of Erin Tanis Connor.” She continued to caress Diana’s body as she watched her face. When her eyelids began to flutter, she pulled Diana closer and kissed her lips. While she waited for the dream to end. Her silent fingers continued to work their gentle magic on and in her dreaming lover’s body. I love you my Diana, I’ll love you forever.

  **

  CHAPTER 25.

  A glimpse of Erin Connor

  **

  Diana found herself conscious and aware. She stood behind a tree at the edge of a grassy glade shrouded in the thin misty haze of a cold Winter’s morning. Steel on steel, no stranger to the place, spoke in a silent whisper to what was looming. The Sun advanced its promise of dispelling the gloom. Thereby giving to the scene an eerie glow of bright serenity. Every sound, magnified by the quiet of the dawn, carried across to where she was standing. Silent, she watched the tense drama unfold, for a duel was about to start.

  On the dew-covered grass in front of her, two combatants were facing off with swords at the ready. They were so real Diana felt she could reach out and touch them. One of the combatants, a woman of wild beauty, her opponent a man of about twenty-five who carried himself with the proud air of an aristocrat. He strutted about like a bright coloured peacock in front of her. Full of confidence, he glared into the calm green eyes that faced him. With contempt. He broke off, turned his back on his opponent, and began to swish his sword through the air with broad sweeps of his arm. As if to test its mettle.