The man’s swarthy appearance reminded Diana of the well-educated Spanish nobleman. Who used to visit her mother with money? Who, she suspected, was her father. The woman’s gaze settled on her opponent. Of striking beauty, she was broad in the shoulders and tall. She stood in silence facing her adversary with an air of coolness. Which matched his cockiness. She carried herself with a certain grace. Which could only have come from good genetic breeding? Her wild beauty astounding her silent watcher, made Diana sigh. Dressed in the doublet and pantaloons of a naval commander. In the late Elizabethan period. She was impatient to clear her decks for action. She began to stride up and down in front of her strutting opponent. With the self-assurance of certain victory. Her hair, as black as a raven’s wing, worn short to her collar. It surrounded her beautiful face in close disarray and framed a pair of angry flashing eyes. Her eyes, the fire of which, bright emeralds could only envy. These added to her exquisite beauty. Diana watched as the woman turned and addressed her proud opponent.
With scorn that bordered on insult and calculated to annoy, the woman shouted. “Count! Or whatever your fucking title is, for fuck’s sake stop running about like a headless chicken. Either fight or capitulate and let’s have done with it. You’ve insulted my Lady Anne with your insinuations. About the certain friendship, we feel for each other. What we do in private is not for proud cocks to bandy about. It’s only between her and me. You not knowing of my reputation. Me being a woman. You called my dear friend Francis out to seek satisfaction in my stead. He told me, so here we are. I fight my own battles Count. I’ll give you one last chance to apologise to the Lady Anne, or you’ll leave me no choice other than to run you through.”
Her anger reminded Diana of a fiery Irish friend she once had at school. Christ! What a wild beauty.
The Count, his face a red mask of fury, choked on his words when he answered. “You! You, a mere woman, dare to threaten me and call me a chicken. You face the finest swordsman in Spain Madam. I called your friend out because you insulted my family and my name and because I don’t fight women. It’s not important to me what you are, or for that matter, what you and your lady friend do in private. It is important you insulted me when you took her from me. For that insult alone, you’ll pay with your life. The woman, you say you are. I can’t believe it. There’s no proof except for those two lumps on your chest.”
“Another lie for me to address Count. You know full well what I have under my doublet. You’ve held them in your hands and fed on them while your cock was beating its wild tattoo inside my cunt. Spanish swine. It’s a pity you can die only once, Alfonso. Or I would rechallenge you after I have killed you…”
“Beware Count, for you’re in England now.” Her second, a middle-aged man who stood in the background cut in. “Apologize to Tanis. Or by the Pope’s holy trousers, if you survive this contest, which I doubt. I’ll have the pleasure of running you through myself.”
“Francis let it be. He can die but once, which is a pity. I’m impatient to finish it. He’s heaped insult after insult on my head because of his jealousy. The time is long past now for his apology. Since the Count talks of killing, this duel is to the death. No matter, I’m a woman Count. I’m better than you are with the sword or anything else, which is strapped to my waist. Ask Lady Anne. Don’t hold back because I’m a woman or I’ll kill you where you stand. Only I will leave this field of honour alive, for I’ll give you no quarter.”
“To thrust my sword between those dubious tits of yours will be my pleasure woman. Then afterwards your mouthy second will lose his miserable life to my blade also.”
Francis laughed. “I look forward to it Count. Yet, I fear you’ll not survive your first encounter with Tanis.”
“Enough of this idle prattle Francis. Let’s to it. I want to feel my sword in his heart and my foot on his face as I withdraw my blade from his stinking carcass.” She removed her doublet with a sweep of her flexible arm and threw it towards her second. “On guard Count, for today you die. Nothing less than your death will please my honour now.”
Diana realised she was looking at Tanis in Erin Connor’s host body. Her heartbeat quickened as she felt a familiar warm tug at her navel. She was looking at a remarkable and beautiful woman. A woman who attracted her like no other except Tanis. Yet, this was Tanis. Her eyes dropped onto the twin mounds of the woman’s firm breasts. I can hazard a guess at who she’d been in real life. The form beneath the pure silk of the half-open shirt astounded her. She has the same fiery spirited beauty, which attracted me. She sensed the soft sensation of fingers quicken at her breasts and sighed. It seemed Erin/Tanis had no doubts about her ability to dispatch the Count. She showed no fear, and from what she saw in Erin’s face, she seemed to be enjoying the moment. It was as though Tanis had been in this situation a thousand times before. Her host’s eyes flashed green fire, and she advanced circling her opponent like a cat. She looked for the first opening, which would spell his death. They touched blades, and it was on. Someone had to die, and Diana sensed it to be the unfortunate Count.
Both duellists moved back across the small clearing with an exhibition of swordsmanship. Which defied credibility as Tanis carried the fight to the Count. The Count too, at first surprised at his opponent’s expertise and aggression. Was also enjoying himself.
He smiled in savage anger. “You’re good my dear. I feel better now I don’t face the blundering incompetence of a foolish, arrogant woman. But an opponent of class. I’ll not feel so mortified when my blade passes between those ripe tits of yours. To find your sacrilegious heart. I know you’re trying to put me off my stroke with their half-hidden wild beauty. It’s a cunning ploy Tanis; even so, it won’t work. My only regret is. I don’t have the chance to hold them in my hands again and suck on them like the ripe melons they are. Before I pass my blade through them.”
“I will remedy that Alfonso. Our little dalliance wasn’t a mistake on my part. But a planned intrusion between my Lady Anne and me, which worked. She wagered me I couldn’t bed you and she watched from my wardrobe as we fucked. I can’t help it if I preferred her to you. Your foolish male pride will be your downfall Count. More is the pity because I did like you once. You were not such a bad fuck. When you fucked my arse. I liked that.”
They continued to bandy insults until the Count, his breathing laboured. Began to parry more than thrust. He was no fool though, as his guard was still superb. Tanis felt him out with a lighting riposte to his chest. He countered with the speed of a snake at those same breasts he had tasted with his lips not long before. She was no longer there.
The two orbs in question. Pressing hard against the tight silk of Tanis’s shirt, caught Diana’s eye. Her body reacted to their mystical allure and made her conscious of the slow trickle of moisture. Which leaked from between her thighs. She became aware of the light fingers of love. Which fluttered over her dreaming stomach and velvet. As she watched the beautiful woman fighting in front of her. How exquisite she is. She has everything a man or a woman like me could ever desire. She is Tanis, for she moves in the same sensual way. Her heart beat faster at the thoughts her dream conjured up. Feeling a sense of shame and betrayal enter her spirit. The woman of her vision was so unique and moving with such grace. It seemed a natural feeling for her to admire and desire her. She came and almost missed what happened next.
Death came fast to the unfortunate Count. He made a slip, and it cost him, dear. It wasn’t his fault he had picked a fight with a better opponent. He couldn’t know that. To his inflated ego, he was the best. It hadn’t entered his head a woman with a sword could beat him in a duel. After all, he was the best blade in Spain. The surprise on his face, when he felt his opponent's steel enter his chest, was tragedy itself. Tanis gave a quick feint to the right, watching Alfonso’s eyes. When they followed her hand, she came up under his guard while he was off balance. With her body low and extended, Tanis thrust her point into his heart. Holding him there, she saw a look of astonishment cross his face
. When he glanced down and saw her blade buried in his chest. He dropped to his knees and looked up into Tanis’s face. The savage green fire of evil triumph in her eyes frightened him. As she shouted. “So, die all fools who would challenge Countess Erin, Tanis, Connor.”
“This cannot be!” Alfonso sensed he was dying, but couldn’t yet comprehend it. His surprise grew as Tanis raised her sword hand without effort and lifted his body off the ground. To the disbelief of his second.
His dying body slid down her blade and came to rest on her breasts. His face buried deep in the soft cleavage he had admired so much. His dying lips closed about one of Tanis’s swollen nipples. She glanced down at him as his lips sought desperate solace there. She pulled Alfonso’s head back by his hair, looked into his dying eyes, and whispered. “Count, you wanted to taste my fruits, here then is your last chance to savour them. While you can still feel with your lips, milk them for me.” She held him to her breast for a moment giving him succour before she dropped her sword hand to the right in a half salute. The others watched in stunned silence. As the Count’s body slid off her blade and fell rolling into the dew-covered grass with a groan. She gave a short laugh of cruel contempt and thrust her blood-stained blade into his dying body again. Then with callous disregard for his second’s protests, or to his ebbing life. She bent and wiped the blade clean on the rich silk of his shirt as she withdrew it for the last time. Satisfied, her honour intact. She threw her blade to her second with a toss of her fine head. Then proceeded to lick her bloodstained fingers as she watched her noble opponent die. When all was still, she held her hand out to Lady Anne and said. “Come, my love, I feel the need to wash and make love. I’ll see you at the dance tonight Francis. But, for now, Lady Anne and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”
“You can be certain of that Tanis. I did warn you the dance will be a dull affair without the Count?”
She laughed. “You should have thought of it before you let the Count challenge me, Francis.”
Her heart pounding with excitement Diana awoke. She sensed she had been watching Tanis in the body of Erin Connor. Francis confirming it. She became conscious of a tender rhythmic intrusion into her body. With the dream still fresh in her mind. She synchronised with the movements and gave herself to her coming. Her eyes closed again, and her body trembled with pleasure until she had finished. When she opened them. She found herself looking up into the black-haired green-eyed beauty who was Erin Tanis Connor. This vision of loveliness changing after her second climatic vibrations had died away. Into the golden-haired blue-green eyes of her beautiful Tanis in Freyja’s host body. Who continued to thrust into her with her strap-on? Breathless and a little shy she came again.
“I knew it was you Tanis in Erin’s host body. What a fight. Alfonso never stood a chance, did he? What a wild beauty she was with those eyes, which flashed like green fire and her black hair. It was Erin Connor who made love to me as I awoke?”
“Yes. I took Erin, as a prisoner on my last Viking raid on a monastery near Dublin. In physical life, she was a chieftain’s daughter and a ferocious fighter in battle. It took me a little time to subdue her, and she almost killed me doing it. She fell in love with my host Shani. But only after Shani had kept her bound in her tent for a week and taken her body by force every night. She needed Shani’s force to feel free. When I left for Denmark, I placed her into stasis as a future host. Like you, she was a warrior woman of strength Diana, fit to be my host. Her consciousness is here with me now. She generated the dream. It was she, fucking you as you awoke. With Freyja’s body, her strong mind, my hands, and what lies between my thighs.”
Diana blushed at Tanis’s revelation. “I saw her beautiful face and black hair as I finished Tanis. What a complex being you are. I felt a great attraction to Erin. She had such a strong and masterful personality and so much confidence in herself. Not only with the sword but in her demeanour too. I like those qualities of a strong woman. I’m glad she found me attractive.”
“We all find you attractive Diana. I wanted to show you, to be my host wouldn’t be such a bad existence. We’re like a family within. You’ll not even lose your beautiful body. I can make use of it for you, and you’ll feel everything through it I feel. Like Erin Connor, you too will enjoy the sexual fruits of others yet to come. Including those minds within mine as you sleep and dream.”
“You don’t have to convince me, Tanis. What better way of becoming one than to be a conscious mind within your lover’s mind. I look forward to the day when you make me your own.” Her mind still on the duel and her body ready to come again under the strong thrusts of Tanis, she sighed. “Tell me about you and the Lady Anne; but please don’t stop what you’re doing Tanis. Did you and she do what the Count was inferring? Did…did you fuck her as you’re fucking me now?”
“Yes, with regularity. I tipped the velvet with Anne’s sister too. She was my best friend and my lover. Francis was Anne’s lover too as we shared everything. I don’t betray my friends Diana, I protect them.”
“Make love to them too. Oh, Tanis, you’re incorrigible… What’s tipping the velvet?”
“Well... Here, let me show you.”
“Oh! Oh My God! Tanisss.”
With Diana’s breast in her hand, Tanis continued. “The Count had to die for his inferences against Anne. Who happened to be a favourite of the Queen, because Anne reminded her of her mother. If I hadn’t killed him, Alfonso would have killed Francis. You saw Diana, he was a superb hand with the sword. Even so, he was only second to me.”
“Yes, and with any kind of sword… Ohhh! Oh, Tanis keep…keep going.”
“Come then my sweet.” Tanis continued. “The Count was becoming dangerous to both Elizabeth and England. People always seem to believe the worst in others. I knew the Count’s weakness for a duel, so I used it to silence him. He could suffer no insult to his family or to his man's pride. Killing him was easy. I did sleep with him once, and he was a passable lover. Yet, on that occasion, I had no need to kill him, or I would’ve taken his body as prey. When I dropped him for Anne, his envy knew no bounds, and his giant ego got the better of him. It was at the personal request of the Queen he died, although she would have denied it. To protect Francis from him, I had to challenge him. He was becoming an embarrassment at court. We did miss him at the dance though!”
“Diana caught her breath and continued. “The Elizabethans were a hard lot, weren’t they? With all their political intrigue and power struggles. Ohhh my God, I’m coming againnnn Tanis!”
“Come then, Diana.” She waited until Diana had finished. “England was feared with Elizabeth as Queen. A good ruler, I admired her. I thought of taking her for my host once when she was younger. But Erin was the stronger fighter. Beautiful and strong, she had more fun. Like me, the excitement of fighting was in her blood.”
Her voice trembling, Diana continued. “Tell me Tanis, your tongue, your venom, will I inherit them too?”
“Yes, you’ll be as I am now, with your body and mind intact.”
“What fascinating entities you are. Humans deserve predation Tanis. Predatory human Vampires like you do have a place here. You’re needed to keep a firm hand on things.”
“Like my firm hand on your things Diana.” She laughed. “My prey doesn’t know it’s hunted until too late. Mother Nature has decreed my species is to be a predator on yours. We the Mantis could not exist without our human prey. We don’t kill except to feed. We always offer fantasy sex in return. Now, I will only take those who deserve my justice. Male or female.”
“Don’t I know it?”
“Our breeding cycles and our sexual pleasures always taken through your bodies. We’re not a cruel race. We do only what Nature created us to do. Our human prey, always willing, dies at the height of its pleasure. The food their bodies provide is vital to our host’s survival. Our techniques geared to your sexual feelings give you and us our greatest pleasure. We are no harsher than Natural law. We enjoy the seductive ch
ase because it’s in our nature to take our prey by hunting them. I kill with kindness when I need to, Diana. Even so, my most hated enemies, and those who would hurt our prey, I’ll always kill with cruelty and much pain. Every species has its predator. We are yours.”
“Oh, Tanis. You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”
“When my world died, to survive I had to find another, Diana. I happened to find Earth at its most violent time. I had to adapt and become ruthless, cruel, and more powerful than my enemies. It seemed the natural thing to do, my survival is paramount. My strong off-world host Shani made it easy for me.”
“Ohhh, Tanis!” Diana laughed. “You were in a world of your own then. I wouldn’t want to be an enemy of yours, or not of your gender when you’re hunting. As for being your prey, I wouldn’t suspect my real end was near. In your arms, my pleasure would be my primary concern. It must be a nice way to die, unsuspecting at first. But finding after coming, your consciousness had survived in the mind of your beautiful predator. Having lost your body, but not your existence. Not a death; still, another reality. Will you promise me one thing, my love?”
“Whatever you desire I’ll grant Diana.”
“I don’t want to apart from you for as long as we live.”
“You’ll never be apart from me Diana. Now, I must find a suitable host for my daughter and a male host for Darius. For Darius, I have one in mind.”
Diana looked up at her. “Anyone, I know?”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
“Tanis, I’m ready to make love again, please finish me. I’ve never felt so randy in my life before.”
“Neither have I.” For what remained of the night and most of the following day. She and Diana changed roles, making love with passion. On the morning of the third day, her lips brushing Diana’s throat, she injected her venom. “Diana my love there’s still one more proof I have to show you, but first you must find sleep.”
The Willing Prey Page 50
