Predator

8:00 a.m.

Another brisk winter morning drags me awake. The cold is less so today, and no rain. Not the kind of weather I’m partial to, honestly, but that’s just me. Nothing a hot cup of tea and a kiss from my wife won’t remedy. “Good morning, Nimyla.” I drawl, half-awake. “How di- Nim?” She isn’t in bed. Not overly concerning, I suppose, but still slightly strange. She often sleeps in longer than the actual cat on weekends. Grumbling, I pull on a pair of sweatpants and start descending the stairs, when my morning is immediately brightened by two sounds. One is the boiling of the kettle, and the other the singing of my wife. 'Rule Britannia', no less. She must want me in a good mood this morning; for what purpose I half-dread to imagine.
Walking into the kitchen, she notices me and hands me a mug of tea, still singing. I smile and walk over to the sink without breaking stride. I tip the mug down the sink, and of course there is the tell-tale clatter of several manticore spines as they fall into the basin. Nimyla pouts. “You’re no fun.”
“Call me boring, my love, but I tend to prefer non-poisoned drinks this early in the morning.”
“You’re boring.” She says with a grin, and bounces over to kiss me. I return the kiss, and bat her tailpussy away from my neck. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not going to lie, Nim, you really did a number on me yesterday. I don’t think my dick can take that kind of abuse.” Yesterday, she’d pinned me down in my desk chair and milked me for seven straight hours. It felt amazing, but by the end I was a drooling mess. I think I must have passed out afterwards, because I don’t really remember the rest of that day. Although I can guess how it went.
Nimyla, for her part, turns away from me with a frown. “It’s not 'abuse'. I wasn’t forcing myself on you.” I gave her a condescending smirk in response. “I mean, I was,” she blushed, “but I would have stopped if you wanted me to. You know that. It was just a test.”
“I know, my love, and I enjoyed every minute of it. But seriously, Nim, I’m only one man. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is fragile and probably bruised. I haven’t looked. I don’t think I want to.”
“Stop teasing me. I never intend to hurt you, Anon. I mean, I do, kind of, b- fuck, you know what I mean!”
“It’s alright. Remember, I do let you do these things.”
“All the same, you’re right.” She says, her wings drooping.  “I should let you rest once in a while. In fact, that’s what we’re going to do today.”
That catches me off guard. “What? You want to… rest?”
“Possibly. We’ll see.” An evil grin creeps across her face, and she looks up at me with hungry eyes. It’s a look I know well, and it’s usually followed by some new ‘test’. Looks like my probably-bruised dick and I still have an ordeal to face today. “What did you have in mind?”
“Here’s what I propose. I’ll let you have your rest day, Anon… if you can earn it.”
Oh, fuck. “Earn it how?”
“I have a new kind of test I think you’ll enjoy. What I want is for you to avoid my sting for the next few hours.”
“What? You want me to run away from you?”
“That’s today’s test. Pass, and you get your rest. Fail, and I’m going to sting you until your dick falls off. What do you say?”
This is… new. An opportunity for a quiet day is sorely tempting, but I’d rather like to keep my cock where it is. Not that I don’t enjoy her stings, but… still a rest day would be pretty great. And, I must admit, I kind of like the idea of being hunted by Nimyla. Call it… an attraction to danger? Masochism? Call it what you like, it sounds fun.
“I’m in.”
Her grin widens even more. “Thank you, my love. I promise, I won’t make you suffer… much!” On the last word, her tail shoots out towards my face. I barely manage to step back out of the kitchen before she strikes again. Another near dodge. Or maybe she missed intentionally. Either way, we’ve barely begun and already this doesn’t look good for me. “Wait! We’re starting right now? Don’t you want to… fuck, I don’t know, give me a head start or something?”
She cocks her head to one side. “Why would I want to do that? Come here, Anon, and I’ll make it painless. Well, almost.”
Nope.
I take off back up the stairs, and I can hear her running after me. Panicking, and lifting my legs to dodge her strikes at my feet, I spring into the bedroom and slam the door. She begins scratching at it. “Aaa-noooon~! Open the door!”
“Nim, wait one goddamn minute! Jesus!”
The scratching stops. After a while, her voice floats thorough – significantly more subdued. “Is… is something wrong?”
“Nim, sweetie, I don’t really want to be chased around the house all day. I promise, that’s going to get old quickly.”
“Oh. Okay. Well i-“
“How about we make it interesting?”
She pauses, and now it’s my turn to smile. After a second, she says “Go on.”
“Here’s my proposal. A game. Six hours, now ‘till two. You sting me, I lose. You don’t, I win.”
“I thought you didn’t want to be chased.”
“No, I just don’t want to spend the whole day running up and down the stairs. I’m talking about some proper hunting.”
“Hunting?”
“Hunting. I get a… let’s say, half hour head start. I’ll head into town, you catch me up afterwards. Then, six hours. A survival game. Winner takes all.”
“Done.”
“Wait, really?”
“Are you kidding? That sounds perfect. Ooh, and I get to hunt you down, and sting you right there in front of everyone…. fuck yes, let’s do it. What’s the prize?”
“Er, let’s say the winner gets to make one request, and the loser has to do it. N-no matter what it is.” As soon as I said that, I realised I was going to regret it. “Wait, b-“
“Oh, yes. I like this. This is happening. Anon, my love, I’m going to lock you up. I’m going to fuck you ‘till you can’t even see.”
“Yeah, well, you have to win. And I’m going to get that nice, relaxing rest day tomorrow.”
There was a much longer pause. Uncomfortably long, in fact. “Nim?”
“Is that really what you want?” she says in a trembling voice. I think I might have even heard her sob. I quickly open the door; she’s just standing there, wings folded, head drooping, tail limp. She looks up at me with watery eyes. “That’s what you want? You can make me do anything at all… and you want me to leave you alone for a day?”
Well, shit. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just mean, that’s what I need. I want to keep going, Nim, but even I have my limits. Of course I don’t want you to leave me.”
“R-really?”
“Nim. The reason I do all your stress tests isn’t just because I enjoy it. It’s because I can show you how much I love you. What better way is there?”
We shared a long hug, and I stroked her head. “Thank you, Anon. Thank you for saying that.”
She looked up at me – her eyes refilled with predatory hunger, but also joy. I think she realised what I meant. “Now, my prey, what say you to beginning the hunt?”

8:25 a.m.

Here’s how the game works. I have to walk around the streets – survive, until two p.m, without Nimyla catching me.  She catches me, and I can only assume I’m going to be stung pretty much into a coma. I can’t involve other people in a close capacity – I can’t tell anyone that she’s hunting me. I can, however, go into any buildings, and make use of any resources at my disposal. I also have to keep my phone switched on, and Nimyla gets to track me using a GPS link from her phone to mine. However, it's not amazingly accurate, and it’s mainly just to make sure I don’t stay in one place for too long. At three, it’s over – we meet up, and tonight the winner can make one request of the loser that must be complied with. All in all, a deadly duel of wits between a sadistic manticore huntress and her cunning human prey. Or something like that.
I stand next to the old war memorial in town, texting Nim. We’re exchanging banter before the game starts; she’s describing everything she’s going to do to me in shocking detail, and I’m gleefully describing everything I’m going to get up to by myself. At 8:30, I text  her to set off for town. After a moment’s consideration, I add --catch me if you can~-- just to piss her off. It works.
I start wandering into the town square – with still twenty or so minutes until she gets here, there’s still plenty of time for breakfast. Bacon is the order of the day. Bacon and hash browns, with a polystyrene cup of tea and today’s issue of 'Her Majesty’s Mandated Mamono Magazine'. Apparently the local paladin cell is struggling with internal conflicts after their Order Grandmaster was found in bed with a Hellhound. Surprising, really; not that he was caught fucking a monster, but I would have thought such an overbearing character would have gone for a more submissive type. I text Nim this news – she’s sure that it must have been such a dominating creature to tame such a wild sprit. Or something. Maybe he just needed a good fuck.

9:15 a.m

I can see Nim. She’s prowling down the high street, checking the GPS – and, I notice, in a ripped black shirt with the logo that acrachne band, ‘Huntress’ stamped on it. ‘Man Eater World Tour’, apparently. Fitting, I suppose. The shirt also grants a generous view of her cleavage, and she wears tight jeans that accentuate her wide hips with a hole cut for her swinging tail. Possibly she’s trying to lure me out of hiding. I should leave before she succeeds. As I turn, I notice a sandwich board on the pavement – EVERYTHING MUST GO!!! UP TO 90% OFF OF ALL ITEMS OF CLOTHING AT DANUKIWARES CLOSING DOWN SALE!!! As it happens, I do have some cash on me – this could be an opportunity for a disguise. And if she wants to dress up, so can I. Only problem is, it’s to the south – the exact direction she just went.

11:20 am

I skulk in the alleys, tailing her – waiting for her to get bored of this route. Although, perhaps she won’t with the GPS telling her I’m close? I consider backing off and finding another way to the shop – as if to underpin this point, Nimyla abruptly turns and marches back towards me. Panicking, I duck into the nearest building. It’s a bookshop, and I walk quickly in. I gravitate over to the history section, pretending to browse, while I watch the doorway for her to go past. She appears in the entrance, but stops. She’s fiddling with her phone – I get a text.
--Where tf are you prey--
Furtively, I type back.
--nice shirt huntress--
That really riled her up, and she casts her eyes around. For an awful moment, her eyes find mine. But if she saw me, she gave no notice, and after a minute she strode off the way I came, cursing at the GPS. Exhaling a sigh of relief, I turn back to the shelves for one last look when suddenly Nimyla is standing right behind me.
Oh. Fucking. Hell.
I take off running down the aisle, knocking kids and wans aside as I dash madly down the children’s section for the other end of the shop. Nim’s moving after me; her voice pursues me down the aisle. “Excuse me! Sir! Wait!”
Now that I hear it, that actually isn’t Nim’s voice at all. I skid to a halt and turn – of the many people now staring at me, one is a concerned-looking manticore in the uniform of this shop’s staff. Only now do I realise my mistake.
In this scenario, I must draw as little attention to myself as possible in order to escape without causing a scene that might lure Nimyla back here. Or, that was the idea. Instead I sheepishly apologise to the attendant – and the children – before meandering to the front of the shop, checking around the corner for my huntress, and proceeding down the street towards the clothes store. I’m sure someone was filming that.

12:00 a.m

I’m sure she’s seen me. Not long after I left that book shop, she texted me.
--hey apparently some dude just punched a little kid inside the book place I was outside earlier--
--Is that right--
--I sure hope you dont treat our kids like that--
Confused, I typed out: --Nim we don’t have any kids--
--idk Anon, by tomorrow you aren’t going to have any cum left. Why not come out now and lets have a kid while you still have the chance--
--Tempting--
--How about I just follow you down the street there and we’ll see what happens~--
I walked a lot faster after that.
Soon enough I enter a large courtyard, the part of the high street containing my target. Danukiwares was indeed closing down, and red-and-gold signs advertising DEALS TO SLAY FOR!!!  were plastered on almost every surface of the building. The only problem is, I’m positive that she’ll see me walking in there, and then I’ll be cornered. Getting proactively dated in a changing room wasn’t how I planned to spend the day. I need a distraction.
Looking around, I see just the thing. It’s getting close to lunchtime, and already the burger vans and food wagons are rolling in and pitching up, ready to ensnare passers-by. I warily make my way over to one of the less busy ones.
This particular van is more like a truck, and given that it’s staffed by a surly-looking, middle-aged Ushi-Oni I can see why it’s so big and not so popular. The name on the top simply reads ‘Food’. Upon closer inspection I can see subtler lettering that reads ‘Maria’s Burger Palace’. Honestly it isn’t much of a palace, but it’ll suit my needs. I fork over a few pounds and Maria – who doesn’t say a thing this whole time – shuffles around and fries a small bucket of chips. She shoves them into my hands and motions for me to piss off. From anyone else the wave might have meant ‘on your way now!’ or ‘move along, please’. Somehow, though, I could tell that ‘piss off’ was the exact sentiment Maria was trying to convey.
--ooh they look nice--
Nimyla again. No doubt she saw me acquire these.
--idk what you mean-- ,I hurriedly message back, and duck out of sight behind another of the vans. Nim knows I’m in this area, so I’m going to need the mother of all distractions to get me into the outfitters with my virtue intact.
Swinging the bucket like a flail, I douse the crowd in chips.
Screams and swearing go up, and pedestrians duck for cover or bump into each other in an attempt to escape the starchy onslaught I have just unleashed. I can see Nim in the middle of the crowd, covering herself under her wings, and sprint for the clothes shop. All in all, a successful distraction.

1:15 pm

Having procured a disguise (and cowered in the shop for as long as I dared), I scanned the courtyard for my huntress before stepping out into the street. I had bought a hoodie and a small backpack for cheap enough, despite the bored-looking till attendant remarking that blue wasn’t my colour (and resisting the urge to inform her why that was the point).  Taking a walk further up the street, I whip out my phone and begin texting Nim again.
--did you like the chips--
After a short while, she responds
--very clever, prey. didnt think youd actually involve the crowd--
--well I had to fuck off somehow didn’t I--
--incidentally where did you fuck off to? my tailpussy’s really aching right now--
I smirk and type, --get used to it hone--
It is at this exact moment that precisely the last sound I expected to hear suddenly manifests out of nowhere.
“Mistress, please!”
It’s my own voice. Quiet and a little tinny, but unmistakably my own voice. Right after I sent Nim that last message.
Thoroughly unsettled, I send another one.
--ghkjhkg--
“Mistress, please!”
There it is again. I hear my own voice played back to me. But how could-
Logically, there would only be two people who could possibly have such a recording. One of those people is me, and I know I don’t have such a thing. That only leaves a certain manticore. A certain manticore who, I know for a fact, takes great pleasure in hearing me say such things as “Mistress, please!”
I peer around the corner. Nimyla leans against the wall, less than three feet away from me. Typing into her phone.
My own text alert plays. It’s just a dumb swords-clashing sound effect, but she knows it, and she turns, and I stare into the scarlet eyes of my huntress.
“Oh,” I mutter, “fuck.”
And I take off running, and this time it is her giving chase, and it is her voice that follows me.
“I fooooound yoouuuuuu~”

1:30pm

Any one of these buildings would do, really. It’s not as though I have much chance of escape – I ran into the crowd of the high street, and Nimyla followed me in. Both our speeds are limited, but I know it’s only a matter of time before she snakes her tail forward and I feel that familiar prick, and it’s all over.
I resolve not to let that happen.  A shop might be an enclosed space, but out here I might only have a few seconds befo-
The tail is between my ankles. Instinctively, I jump; in the packed crowd, I crash into a guy in front of me, who trips into the back of the orc in front of him, who whirls around and asks him what the fuck he’s doing.
Seeing my chance, I elbow my way through the  now-distracted crowd and manage to stumble into one of the buildings along the road – a supermarket, as it turns out – and immediately I duck into one of the aisles. My phone rings.
“H-hello?”
“I see you~”
Welp.
I sneak, crouched, through the aisles of the supermarket until I work my way deeper in. No sign of Nim yet, but she’s in here with me. Without doubt.
“Aaaanon, why are you running? It’s over, just come out and we can go straight home. If you show yourself now I’ll give you a reward for being such a good boy~”
“That does sound tempting. But I’ve come this far, I feel as though I might as well go all the way.”
“You must realise, my love, that you can’t escape. There’s only one exit, and I’m right by it. Don’t make me come in there and get you.”
“Much as I adore your enthusiasm, the game is still very much on. I’m still hidden, and you only have… oh, just under twenty-five minutes to find me.”
“Hmph. If you’re dead set on making me do this, I’m going to punish you like never before. I do need a new ringtone, after all~”
“Twenty-five minutes, Nim. Come and get it.” With that, I hang up.

1:45 p.m

Creeping from aisle to aisle, peering over displays, catching glimpses of wing or tail. After a while, I notice that my attempts at stealth, while so far working in eluding my manticore pursuer, have started to garner some odd looks. Mothers are whispering to their children, who point at me. Eyebrows are raised. Girls titter. The last part I’m not overly concerned with; there’s only one girl who matters to me, and she’s currently trying to track me down and turn me into an aphrodisiac-filled pin cushion.
Funny how these things work.
I would have ruminated on this further, but I run straight into a very fat man in a blue shirt with a hat that reads ‘Security Officer’. Unfortunately, I can’t tell him about the game, so I apologise to him and move o-
“Sir, you’re causing a disruption. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“…what?”
“You are causing a disruption. I am going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Five more minutes.”
“What?”
“Give me five more minutes and I’ll be on my merry, I swear.” I would have sworn further, but it was at this point that Nimyla rounded the corner of the aisle and locked eyes with me.
For my part, I run. Or at least tried. The security officer wrestles me to the ground without much of a fight. That, while uncomfortable, I wasn’t worried about. Not while Nimyla was stepping closer, and bending down, and dangling her tailpussy in front of my face…
“Give us some space here please, ladies and gentlemen!”
The security officer drags me by my arms out into the street.  I am dumped unceremoniously on the ground, and told to not come back. I stand up and Nimyla is there. She stands right in front of me, tail already coiling round my leg. I close my eyes. I wait.
“Anon? What are you doing?”
I open my eyes. Nim fixes me with a quizzical stare, offering me my phone back. The time on the screen reads 2:00.
“Did I win?”
“Yes, Anon, you won. Good test. You passed.”
“Can I have my rest day now?”
“Whatever you like, my love.”
Nimlya and I walk home together. On the way back we stop at a take-out place purposefully nowhere near the scene of the great chip distraction.
“Nim?”
“Anon.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“Yeah. I really wanted to fuck you up good tonight,” she says with an evil grin. “But you passed the test, you won the game, so you get your rest.”
“You can still do it, if you want.”
Nimyla l stopped walking and stared at me. “Anon, I do it to you more than enough already. That’s part of the reason why I love you. Because you can handle my… desires.”
“Very well, my love. Let us rest. What do you want to do?”
She stretched and draped her tail over my shoulders. “I dunno, maybe let’s just fall asleep in front of a movie or something. What do you wanna watch?”
“After today, I’m in the mood to watch 'Predator'.”
She gave me that manticore smirk again. “Perfect.”