Prey

Chapter 4 - My Blade

Did the human just say I smell good?

Leoni's face turned pink as she spoke to me, her eyes never leaving me. I could see and smell that she was on the cusp of being in heat. Neglecting the fact that I was speaking with this...abomination...instead of killing her, I was more focused on her own scent. It hit me in waves, muddling my thoughts.

This, at least I thought, was her giving up and accepting defeat. It turned out completely opposite.

I was dumbfounded, like a suckling.

She even attempted flattery. How pathetic.

There was nothing she could do to stop what needed to be done. The hybrid had the nerve to speak to me as an equal, like that would ever happen. She and I were not equals nor ever would be. A creature such as her was beneath me and she needed to be reminded of that.

Whatever the humans had done to her had altered her body enough to smell me in such a way.

The mating cycle wouldn't start until tomorrow. I planned to be off this planet by that time so I could take care of my...problems. This tiny creature was ruining that.

I cared not for mating. Especially with a hybrid of all things. There was little compatibility and it was disgusting.

No Yautja would stoop to such a thing. Humans are ugly. They're small, weak. I could snap her in two should I wish, though I much preferred to bury my blade deep in her belly.

I wanted to see the light fade from those freakish eyes. Blood would coat the clothing she wore and I would take her skull as a trophy. Her hair was something else I wanted to possess, the color like Earthling amber. No such color existed on Yautja Prime and it would adorn my wall.

My attention was brought into focus as I watched the hybrid, Leoni, jump off the cliff. I felt like my eyes would pop out of my skull as I raced to the edge. Rage mixed in with the confused state of my emotions as I watched her disappear beneath the surface of the water. I wasted no time in jumping in after her.

There was no way she would drown. She had to die by my blade.

The water was deeper than I anticipated but it was deep enough to avoid injury. A few feet away I could see Leoni's figure as she thrashed beneath the waves. Bubbles appeared in her frantic movements. Those short legs of hers kicked frantically in all the wrong ways.

My training kicked in as I swam towards my prey.

I hated having to save this pathetic creature but my pride told me this was not the way I wanted my hunt to end. It needed to end by my blade and nothing else. The thought pissed me off that it could possibly end in any other way.

More water drew in her mouth when it opened to scream upon seeing me. This was a terrible mistake as she began swallowing large amounts of water, her body reacting violently.

I wrapped an arm around her tiny waist and kicked to the surface. Dragging her onto the rocky shore I rolled her limp body over where she lay face up. She wasn't breathing, the water clinging to her eyelashes. Her lips were pale as was her skin, paler than I had grown used to seeing.

I felt a foreign emotion come over me as I performed the lifesaving procedures. My prey was not going to die, at least not yet anyways.

"Live, you pathetic creature!" The words came out with a snarl as I continued to pump her chest.

Eventually she started to cough. Violent coughs racked her body as I rolled her onto her side, water coming out of her mouth with each cough. She continued to do this until she was empty of water in her lungs. I had switched to the right vision to see within her body that no more water was within her lungs. The hybrid groaned, moving to sit up.

I backed away crouching into a fighting stance ready for the coming attack...only...it never came.

Leoni met my gaze with uncertainty in her eyes. They had changed slightly. A new color, orange, burned brightly within. A slight glow emitted from those weird orbs as she stared.

I didn't like this. It wasn't right.

"You...saved me." It was a question but she put it as a statement.

How peculiar.

Fear was something she needed to learn so I delivered a growl that had put it into the hearts of many I had killed. I extended my wrist blades to add further intimidation. Rising to my feet I stared down at her with my blade at the ready.

"Not a talker this time. Okay." I advanced forward, getting delight as she finally learned some fear. In those weird orange glowing eyes I saw it...until it died.

Leoni scurried backward toward the tree line as I advanced. In a flash she was on her feet. I watched as she removed the slim pack she wore, tossing it to the side as she retreated with a look in her eyes that I could not decipher.

Clicking my mandibles together I raised my arm, blades aimed for the belly as I backed Leoni into the tree. The ooman looked up at me with that look. My free hand went around her throat feeling the difference in our skin texture; her skin was soft despite the small green scales that trailed down it. Scales were normally rough but hers were...silky. She was also tiny compared to my seven feet and four inches.

I had to look down while she gazed upwards, pink on her cheeks again.

"Perhaps we can come to another truce?" She smiled hopefully, her lips parting to show off a pair of sharp incisors along with two small versions on the bottom. Instead of growing mandibles like some hybrids I had killed, she had only developed sharpened teeth.

I shook my head in response to her question. An almost inaudible whimper escaped her lips as I pressed the tips of the wrist blades into her skin.

In her haste her shirt had moved up to expose a sliver of pale belly flesh. Moonlight caused her wet skin to glisten and shimmer, highlighting scales that weren't green. The sight was intriguing and I couldn't stop drinking in her presence. My body screamed with the heat of the mating season coming into bloom.

Somehow my blades ended up cutting through the threads holding the buttons to the fabric. A gentle pop-pop-pop could be heard. Her heart rate increased, audible to my sensitive hearing, and much to my sick delight. It was the soft gasp that escaped her lips that helped me break through the thick fog of my mind. The animal within me roared with excitement but my head was flashing the alarms that this was wrong, wrong on so many levels.

I released her with a growl and put many steps between us. Now that I was further away I could see her green covering hiding her mammaries thanks to my twin blades ruining the button-down she wore over it, the pattern that of what ooman soldiers wore.

"Well, this is awkward..." Leoni pointed out as we broke our stare at each other, her eyes casting to the side.

I clicked my tusks together in agreement and cloaked myself before retreating into the trees. I needed a clear mind before the hunt was to continue. I couldn't afford such a distraction. At some point I found a thick enough branch to support my weight for a lengthy amount of time and chose it as my resting spot.

Thankfully I was far away from that scent of Leoni's.

The notes were unfamiliar, alien like her. Come morning I would need to kill something, anything, to smell something other than her, the abomination.