Kendraha travels and meets some interesting humans, and begins to notice that a mental talent is growing in some of them, more often than she had noticed in the past.
Stranded in Alternate Time 16-18,
by Py, (c) 9/19/2000,
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MJ) Welcome to 'This week in world history'. I'm Mark Jerome, and this is my co-host Sandy Howard. It was today in 2024 that the Greater Rainbow Island off the coast of Greece took the name Amazonia Isle, the inhabitants claiming it was a birthright. The Island has been inhabited only by women for at least 800 years, during which time it's been many things, including a Crissium convent and a neutral emergency hospital for wounded soldiers on both sides of World War II. Throughout the women have lived there and visited the mainland, allowing men to visit the island, but not to stay for any great length of time.
SH) Good for them Mark, the story is that to remain free they constantly had to bend their principles over the years. This of course included sometimes having their island's name changed by whatever government was in power on the mainland, and now they don't have to pretend to be what they aren't anymore.
MJ) Well they openly returned to their Amazon ways, which includes all the training activities on your screen we were allowed to film such as archery, horse riding, sword fighting, and wrestling. Although unfortunately none of the women went naked during the wrestling as our guide informed us often was the case.
SH) Disappointed Mark?
MJ) Five years after that historic announcement, they opened a resort. Men are free to visit, but not to stay longer than a vacation of usually a maximum of 2 weeks.
SH) All arrangements must be approved in advance, obnoxious men may be kicked off the island at the ruling Amazons discretion, and not allowed back until such time as the ruling Amazon chooses.
MJ) Sounds like a place I would like.
SH) I doubt they'll let you stay more than 2 minutes, they'd kick you off as soon as you started to talk. Me on the other hand, I'd make a great Amazon if I left here.
MJ) I couldn't agree more, about the leaving part I mean.
SH) Also today in 2047, High Priestess Luna of the San Francisco chapter of the Church of Kendraha, was formally charged with murder in the death of Actress Linda Rocotti the Hollywood sex symbol, best known for the R rated block buster Movie Space Rendezvous. Linda Rocotti had done a number of pictures between 2027 and 2041 that had made her a wealthy woman, but at the time of her disappearance her career was failing. She attended the San Francisco branch of the church, which is rumored to use hallucinatory drugs to aid those who come to see the Goddess Kendraha.
MJ) She had several times returned from the church with bruising on her skin, going against the wishes of the temple leaders by displaying it to reporters. Then one day in May of 2044 her dead body was found poorly disposed of.
SH) Coroner reports said Miss Rocotti had been asphyxiated through constriction, the weapon having been some form of rough leather probably tightened around her body by twisting a metal bar, and she had some sort of gag in her mouth at the time of death. An anonymous source pointed the finger at High Priestess Luna, claiming she had ordered the death of the actress in the pit, making it seem to the worshipers above as if the Goddess had done it.
MJ) Ultimately after what was termed the trial of the century, High Priestess Luna was found not guilty. There are no plans to exhume the body at this time since High Priestess Luna cannot be retried on these particular charges.
SH) Also today in 1905, the Wright Brothers first flew their plane at Kitty Hawk. Seen in this still photo is Orville and Wilbur Wright. In the background is the historic first plain the Wright flyer, this picture having been taken before the crash that destroyed it. The Wrights never rebuilt it, instead they moved on to build a better plane named the Wright flyer 2, which went on to repeat an improved performance by flying over villages and towns.
MJ) The original plane flew 3 times that first day, the 3rd time covering over 2000 feet at an average estimated altitude of 80 feet before crashing. Wilbur Wright survived the crash but suffered from 2 broken legs and a broken arm. He is reported to have said, "Details, it flew that's what counts."
SH) That's what happened on This week in history. For more on these stories, or other events happening on this date or others, check out our web presence at the NGB website.
Transcript from: NGB Media group, This week in history,
Broadcast and webcast date (June 5, 2069)
16. Kendraha went North after leaving Da Vinci, choosing a new disguise, leaving Italy, and since it was still Summer she wanted to see how far North she could go before it seemed uncomfortable. She also went East quite a bit, partly to simulate difficulty in going directly South, and partly to avoid areas of threat or plague so she wouldn't need new drivers for the coach. It was a nice one, she had stolen a good amount from some rich people, not worrying about repercussions as she planned to stay away from Italy for a while. Kendraha didn't want the bother of having to secure new coachmen though, especially with fear of the plague loose everywhere and as a result coachmen were hard to find. She could influence them not to be so afraid of the plague, but only if their fear weren't too great, and it would be tiresome to do constantly.
She stopped in one village on her second day, and found that her reputation with falcons in this lifetime had spread this far, having done sufficient work to impress a few people before leaving Leonardo, but no great fame had come so far which was fine. Word of mouth took time, and Kendraha didn't mind only being reasonably well known as a falconer, too much fame often meant abandoning a disguise early.
After a first run to a point where she thought her other forms would not be able to survive in winter, and measuring the time to travel to a warmer acceptable climate, Kendraha realized that she could go much farther North in a coach than she had originally planned, having only considered traveling by foot mostly. She could even go into snowy regions, as long as she didn't shift forms away from the human one, and went South like a migrating bird when the season changed. Further Kendraha discovered what she only slightly believed before, that the half human form could survive in some places the serpent could not. So in these areas she could feed on life force, but couldn't afford the 24 hours as a serpent to digest the body. The major problems were keeping her coachmen as they would have to travel with her all the time, Kendraha couldn't imagine trusting that she could find transport when she needed to go South. This meant even with mental manipulation she would have to pay them well the whole time, which would mean more stealing between jobs. Wear on the coach itself would be the other problem, and if they had serious damage when she needed to go South. So, she settled on keeping the coach in top shape, and limiting Northern travel to special falcon jobs except for her little test run this time.
Kendraha grew bold over the years, heading North and East, sometimes West, exploring areas she hadn't before, going South when winter was approaching. Heading North she always had at least one bird with her on the opposite coach seat in a large cage, and sometimes when heading South she would share the ride with someone to let her coachmen earn some extra gold or silver. Her coachmen loved the steady work even though it kept them away from home for many months at a time, Kendraha paid them quite well. She met highwaymen who tried to rob her, and it always ended up with them losing their own stolen money, then often their lives. Usually they came in one's and two's which she could handle easily by holding them in their tracks using her mental abilities, and her coachmen would dispatch them with swords. The coachmen wouldn't even be aware that they took the highwaymen's money and threw it into the coaches window. If there were more than 2, Kendraha would make their horses so nervous that they scattered. Either way the problem was solved. Gypsies were no real problem, Kendraha had been one before by taking the place of a young gypsy woman she had killed, and so knew them as well as anyone could. They would rob you, but tended to be overcautious about it, and almost entirely relied on trickery and guile to get your money, but you did have to stay on guard around them. Generally the rule was that they were kind and peaceful, unless they were desperate, or you let them see some treasure and made the stealing of it seem easy.
They always slept at Inns along the way, and Kendraha would sometimes have them stop by the side of the road to let her birds stretch their wings and hunt, while secretly trying to see the route ahead through their eyes, if she had a good enough rapport with that particular bird. Her own feeding she tried to do on the road, telling her coachmen they would stay a day, and generally getting no argument as they could find something to do, drinking or whoring most of the time. For that matter on the road Kendraha found whores to be a good source of nutrition, and easy to get alone, although in small towns and such she had to be careful who she took, and make sure that no one saw them together near the last time the victim would be seen.
When after many years of this the coach with one new man came to a halt unexpectedly, she was a bit surprised. Kendraha was just starting her journey South after dropping off 2 falcons in an area she hadn't been in for some time. She had met some friends from a previous visit which had slowed her, and then the cold seemed to be approaching early, there was even the sense that it might snow tonight. Looking out the coach window she was a bit shocked. They were being held up by 5 highwaymen, 2 on horses, 3 on foot with horses nearby, so scaring the horses wouldn't work. The men on foot had pistols pointed and ready, and they ordered her out of the coach along with her coachmen down from their seats. Kendraha sized up the situation, wishing she had a bird as a distraction, her own fear was giving her difficulty with focusing her mind. Kendraha managed to mentally put her coachmen on edge so they would react at a moments notice, then magnified and projected her own fear to all the horses. The effect was what she had desired, the 2 on horseback were carried off with the 5 horses, and as the remaining highwaymen turned their heads, her coachmen sprang. One coachmen was shot by a quick thinking highwayman, but managed to kill him with his sword before falling. The second coachman turned the highwayman's pistol against him and he died, then the final highwayman shot that coachman.
Kendraha stood alone as the other 2 highwaymen returned, both pulling pistols this time. She examined the situation, 3 highwaymen, 2 with loaded pistols and one empty but holding a dagger now, and her concentration off. Kendraha begged for mercy, and the men chuckled as they demanded her purse. She knew they had ill intentions for her, she was an unescorted woman who could hardly reach anywhere alone. She wore long skirts and didn't have to act scared as she made for her purse strapped to her thigh, as many women on the road did it these days.
Kendraha thought if she could take one out she might be able to handle the other 2 with her mind, and the alternative seemed like it would ultimately be death after who knew what at the hands of these men. She sniffled and babbled a bit to put them off guard as she reached for the purse under her skirts, and standing quickly threw her knife directly into the chest of one of the highwaymen on horseback. She immediately began sending out her thoughts to ensnare the remaining 2 as the first fell, but a shot rang out, spinning her in a half circle before she collapsed face down at the side of the road. After that Kendraha was unaware as the remaining highwaymen argued, then recovered gold and weapons. Finally they rode off, one driving the coach away with 2 horses tied behind it, the other riding and leading the other 2, leaving Kendraha to die.
Blood soaked her shoulder and Kendraha still lay unconscious an hour later when the snow began to fall. Temperatures plunged and snow surrounded her and covered most of her body and long blonde hair. Where her shoulder lay covered with a thin layer of snow, it turned crimson and froze. The snow continued to fall lightly, swirling in a heavy wind, and Kendraha's mind retreated from what little grip on life she had left as her body grew cold.
Kendraha was in a deep unconscious state, her body fighting a losing battle to survive, when 4 horses and riders came down the road from the opposite direction that the highwaymen had left in. They were bundled in layers of heavy fur, and one rider pointed to a mound of snow with a blotch of crimson coloration to it. A second rider jumped down from his horse, and digging around in the snow he was shocked to find the elegantly dressed and seemingly dead woman. In the cold and through his gloves he couldn't detect any signs of life, but the woman was still flexible which was better than finding her stiff. With that and some words, the second man sat the woman in the saddle of the first with her back to the man's chest. Then he took a spare blanket they had brought for this kind of possibility, and draped it across her shoulders, covering as much of the front and sides of her body as possible. They had nothing for her legs, and had to hope her own skirts would do for them. Then the first 2 rode quickly back the way they had come, and the remaining 2 continued looking in the area for others.
Kendraha slowly stirred to consciousness, not entirely sure where she was and not caring. There was something soft covering her as she lay on her back, and a gentle light flickered all around. A faint crackling noise began to register in her mind, along with the feeling of ants crawling around in her skull. She realized that a marvelous warmth filled her body, although some parts of her still felt chilled, but it was nothing like the brief consciousness had been after being shot. Kendraha vaguely remembered waking as the cold struck her from the layers of snow covering her body. She hadn't been able to move, her body had been so cold it refused to respond beyond moving her head a little. She had tried moving her legs, feeling them kick slightly, and wondering why she hadn't reverted to the hunter form as when waking from unconsciousness before. Something a teacher at the Academy had taught her once, about the Humalli body under great stress sometimes being able to instinctively contain that reflex, and how some were researching how to better control that aspect of shifting. Certainly the feeding and even the hunter form couldn't have survived nearly as long as the human form in that snow, so she decided that this had qualified as great stress, and was just happy to be warm now. She was clearly safe in someone's home, and her tail didn't matter.
It wasn't long after that thought when Kendraha abruptly sat up, screaming as the pain lanced through her shoulder. She fell back from the pain, and screamed again as she impacted the bed and pillow. The ants were clouding her mind terribly as 2 men and a woman rushed in the door, one man rushing to comfort her, the other at the foot of the bed fending off her gently writhing tail with a chair and stick, and the woman standing in the doorway, her face pale as she made the sign of the cross. They calmed Kendraha down with soothing words after a while, and tried to talk to her, but she quickly fell asleep again.
The next day the first man who was clearly the lord of this place, entered with the woman carrying some food on a silver tray. Kendraha could also sense with her slightly cleared mind that another man was outside the door. She tried to smile at them, having reverted back to her legs a short time earlier. "I don't suppose you'd believe that you all had imagined I had a tail." she said in a friendly tone. "No Miss, we cannot deny our eyes, nor the small table you broke with it." the tall man said. Kendraha wasn't sure how to react in this situation, so chose to take things casually for now, "My apologies, I will make up the cost, not to mention reward you for my rescue." The tall man shook his head, "That will not be necessary, you were passing through my lands when this happened, It is my duty and pleasure to make amends."
Kendraha ate the food offered, and between eating it and feeding off the emotions of the servants, she was strong enough to walk alone by the following day. She learned that her rescuers name was Vlad Tepez, a prince of Romania, and she was in his castle as his guest. Kendraha determined that the manservant and the maid she had seen were the only other 2 who had seen her tail, and they had been sworn to silence about it. Yet through word of mouth the whole castle knew something was different and frightening about her, which put an odd nervousness in the air around her that wasn't quite food.
It turned out Vlad had a powerful mind for a human, although easily pierced if she wanted to do so. Kendraha didn't want to though, as the impact of a forced reading in this case would hurt him, and the backlash would sting her with a tremendous headache afterward. So she kept her mental talents a secret, wondering how much in control of his ability he was, and if he even knew she had her own mental ability. It appeared to her that Vlad's was an untrained and uncontrolled talent, his mind seeming to respond to her touch with no conscious effort or awareness on his part. She had no trouble reading his staff's minds though, so she learned anything Vlad told them without telling her also, and she learned a great deal about him. Enough so that in a few days she didn't mind him noticing that she had finally shifted the frostbitten areas of her body away, along with the healing bullet wound, thus restoring herself fully. Her body would be able to dispose of the dead cells now, and she was as good as before the snow had come. Vlad had been upset about the frostbite and wound, trying to prepare Kendraha for having chunks of herself removed, including some sections of her face, leaving permanent scarring especially on her shoulder where the bullet had passed through her. He was ecstatic to find the bullet wound gone, and the many frostbitten areas he could see had vanished also, taking her word that the rest were gone as well, rather than calling the maid to examine her.
Over time staying at the castle Kendraha learned Vlad was a kind man, but capable of great cruelty when he felt it was needed. He never abused the castle staff, but he was strict and had dismissed many for violating some rule of his, so for the most part the staff did exactly what he told them. This made Kendraha feel comfortable, Vlad had told the staff to say nothing of her to anyone, and she felt confident they wouldn't violate his orders except to each other. Further she learned that he was very rough on outsiders who thieved or poached on his property, often ending up with them locked in the dungeon until they died, or usually doing worse to them, and revealing this knowledge was the one crime he would kill a servant for. Not that he minded much if others learned of this, he was a prince of Romania and absolute Lord over his lands. Speculation among the thoughts of the servants was that he enjoyed killing and torturing, and spreading the news would just scare away potential new victims. Kendraha found the idea of a human preying on humans very attractive. She probably would have chosen to stay a while, but she couldn't leave anyway, because the mountains that surrounded the huge area of Transylvania, including all Vlad's land, plus many villages and towns, were impassible due to snow. During this time the idea that she couldn't read his thoughts without hurting him also attracted her, and grew each time she wanted to get into his thoughts. Kendraha found memories of him in the servant's minds to be intriguing, and items they knew of such as a well maintained dungeon complete with what seemed to be fresh bones. She also found memories in a couple of servants of dead bodies, and having disposed of them at the bottom of a deep pit in a cave to the North.
It was no surprise to Kendraha that the 2 of them became lovers, always with her in human form of course, but several times they fondled and wrestled with her in hunter form. He seemed to enjoy the feel of her coils around him, and the constriction as well. They didn't do that very often, Kendraha had to be very careful not to hurt him, and even then he always had a new bruise or two or strained muscle, and they would wait nearly a week before wrestling again. Kendraha believed that he trusted her enough that possible death in her coils had not even crossed his mind, until their 6th week together when in their mutual excitement she accidentally squeezed him into unconsciousness.
Vlad was a bit preoccupied the day after that, and seemed to be avoiding her. When Kendraha read the minds of the servants she tracked him down to one of the castle's inner rooms she had not learned of yet. It was a big castle, and there were still many places she hadn't investigated. Kendraha didn't like the outer rooms, they were cold even with the thick and cloudy glass windows and the fireplaces if they were going. The inner rooms generally were warmer as heat spread from other places where fires roared in fireplaces, but half the castle was largely abandoned in winter to conserve wood and reduce work loads, and the library was in one of these areas, so it tended to be cold and drafty.
Kendraha found Vlad in the library, a large fire burning with a metal and glass framework closing in the fireplace allowing heat out, so that no hot embers would float out to damage the books. The walls were full of books in several languages, which half filled the shelves that lined the walls from floor to ceiling. Vlad sat at a table with several volumes spread out before him. He smiled at her and asked her to take a seat.
Kendraha looked at the cover of one book, 'Perils of the African Jungle' was the title. She opened it where a bookmark had been placed, and found an illustration of a bare chested native woman in the coils of a giant python, while 2 native men were using spears to try and free her. "You almost killed me yesterday." he said as he stroked his mustache. "Don't frown, I know you wouldn't intentionally, but it got me thinking, can you kill someone like that, and wouldn't it be interesting to watch. I've been reading up on the subject, fascinating topic. The whole idea of snakes like this existing, squeezing their prey to death then swallowing them. We don't get much in the way of snakes here, I've heard before that in some other countries there are one's big enough to kill and eat a human, but I've never really thought about it before." He paused, "If I asked you to, would you kill someone for me?" Kendraha smiled, explaining how every 2 or 3 months she had to kill, she needed to feed on the life force of the person as they died, and she really had to do so soon as almost being killed had taken it's toll on her. It had made her very hungry for the last few days, but she hadn't decided what to do about it yet. Kendraha left out many details, but finished with Vlad Smiling ever so slightly as he did sometimes in anticipation of something.
The next morning Vlad ordered all the servants away until the following day, telling them to borrow his carriages from the stables if they wished, planning to keep the rooms Kendraha needed warm by himself. Most of them didn't mind the unexpected day off, and they departed the castle in small groups in 2 carriages, and singles on horseback. Vlad had gotten one servant to go to a distant part of the castle, where he cornered her and locked her in a room. Meanwhile Kendraha assumed the maids appearance, put on the woman's regular clothing, and rode her horse out into the snow. Once out of sight she circled around, using her mind to make sure no one saw her. Eventually she got off the horse and sent it running off into a nearby wooded area. Then Kendraha trudged through the shin high snow, holding her scarf with woman's cloak and hood against the blowing icy wind, and entered the castle unseen through the rear door. Once in warmer areas, she began removing the cloak and hood while allowing herself to shift back to her identity for this lifetime. Her teeth chattered a bit, "I can handle the cold like a human in this form, but I don't have to like it."
The young woman resisted being dragged into Vlad's bedroom somewhat, but not too much as she still planned to obey her Lord. She was short with a modest figure and long reddish blonde hair, and hadn't thought Vlad would be interested in a woman of her class, but confining her until everyone had left hadn't been necessary. She would allow him to have her as mistress if he wished, but she expected nothing from him in return. The woman was confused even more to find Vlad's guest Kendretta here waiting for them, and in her own clothing. Vlad sat in a wooden chair blocking the locked door, and with a nod from him Kendraha went to work. She began undressing, embarrassing and further confusing the maid, then even more as she noticed that she was also undressing without having realized it. First she watched as Kendraha's form which had reduced slightly to fit in the maid's clothes, returned to Kendretta's normal voluptuous curves. Then the woman began to be horrified as Kendraha from lower ribs down transformed into a huge green and black serpent tail of at least 3 man heights in length.
The woman managed to move her arms to make the sign of the cross, as Kendraha was concentrating on controlling her legs and body mainly. Kendraha made a half circle with her tail on the carpeted floor, dramatically waving to the woman for Vlad's enjoyment. The woman walked slowly forward, clearly struggling to resist the motion. She knelt down and Kendraha slipped coils around the woman, looping over one shoulder and between her breasts, then around the body. As the woman bent forward from the weight of the coils, holding herself up from falling with her hands, Kendraha slipped another thinner coil around the woman's hips. She released the woman's mind to let her begin screaming, then began squeezing. Kendraha drank in the terrible fear, apparently magnified by 2 years of working for Vlad and all the secrets she knew of him. Vlad's feelings were intense also, she could tell he was enjoying every moment, both in a sexual and a sadistic way. It made Kendraha feel all the closer to Vlad, he may not feed as Humalli did, but he had a Humalli soul.
Kendraha drew the maid's death out as long as she could, mostly with the woman laying on her back as the coils tightened, until she could barely breathe, her arms and legs barely moving. Then Kendraha would loosen her grip, let the woman recover, and return to a slow constriction. At one point the woman was reaching for Vlad, her grey eyes pleading as her hand reached for him, but he just smiled at her, then at Kendraha. As she continued Kendraha couldn't help herself and fondled the woman's bare breasts a bit, even taking one of the woman's hands and holding it to her own larger breasts. The young woman when she realized wanted to pull her hand away, but was too weak at this point.
When Kendraha felt the woman was near her strengths end, she caught Vlad's eye, then looked at the woman, "I think your ready to finish our little time together, now this won't take much longer, you've been a wonderful prey." With that she tightened her coils somewhat more rapidly, her grip growing tighter with each feeble exhale of the woman. The young woman wheezed and made a faint whispering request for mercy while pulling on the coil encircling her chest. Vlad saw the woman's chest rise slightly with the final breath, then fall as the coils tightened. After that the woman squirmed and fought wildly and in near silence, her fighting slowing almost to a stop, briefly growing again, then failing entirely. Vlad groaned slightly in satisfaction, and Kendraha smiled and couldn't hold back a small giggle.
"Is that it?" he asked. "Not quite." she replied. "If I let her go now she wouldn't survive, she's too far gone. However, the body still hasn't totally released it's grip on life, any moment now." Seconds later Vlad saw Kendraha with eyes shut, and he knew she was feasting on the escaping life force of the woman. Then he watched the rest of his research coming true as Kendraha's remaining human half became a serpent, and the serpent stretched it's mouth to engulf the former maid head first. When the woman's legs had disappeared down the serpent's distended jaws, and the bulge in it's body was moving down it's length, Vlad stood and began adding wood to the fire. He returned to the door in time to see the final stages of the serpent realigning it's jaws in another large yawning motion. "I'll be back to check on the fire later, deal with the maid's old clothes, and I will lock the door when I return for bed tonight. You can curl up near the hearth as we discussed. Remember to watch your tail, I'd hate to trip over you tonight." The serpent looked at him, it's head cocking to one side slightly, almost as if it could hear him. He bowed in the doorway, "Thank you dearest Kendretta, that was indeed a wonderful experience, one I hope to repeat with you again several times, but with someone from outside the castle staff in the future." The serpent's forked tongue shot out several times in what he hoped was a favorable response, and as he closed the door, Kendraha tried to get close to the fireplace before sleeping through her digestion.
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17. Vlad had gotten a maid for Kendraha's first victim, violating his own rule about castle staff. Mainly because she had expressed the need to quell the hunger pains, but also because it would be so hard to travel far and safely return with someone quickly considering the snow. They had time now, and when she needed to, and before the need for food became too much for her, they would travel out together in his best coach. With her inside it and wearing warmer clothing than she had at the moment, they would find someone, she could use her mental gifts to bring them into the carriage, then he could help bind and gag the victim before driving the carriage back to the castle. They could keep the person in the dungeon , give the staff another day to themselves, and Vlad would bring the victim upstairs, with her mental help if it were a physically strong man.
Today Vlad and Kendretta had breakfast together, and didn't speak of the missing maid at all, until the head maid began complaining that the young woman still hadn't returned. Everyone knew she had ridden off alone on a horse borrowed from Vlad, and everyone was shocked when a week later some trappers found the frozen beast in the woods. They naturally assumed that the woman had gotten lost in the swirling snow, and her body would possibly be found someday.
Time passed, and Vlad although he was eager to let Kendretta crush someone to death again, he didn't want to draw attention with many disappearances. However, Vlad was known for his brutality, and he thought that perhaps in the dungeon if he only caught a poacher or thief, she could have them to crush. He did just that when a man was caught a few weeks later hunting without permission on his lands. Vlad and a few servants went out and caught the man, chaining the big man and leading him by a rope towards the castle. Once there Vlad took him to a tower that was seldom used in winter, and put him in a room with a burning fireplace. Vlad had prepared the room for some time prior to this, telling the servants nothing. With very little help from Kendraha the servants decided the Lord wished to torment someone in the tower for a change, and they didn't question his order to keep out of that tower.
Later Kendraha snuck into the tower unseen, and she barred the tower door from the inside. Vlad showed her the other tower door which he could open with a key from the outside, or she could use to leave the tower later even without a key. He then took her to the warm tower room, where she held the big man in her mental grip while they undressed and knelt on the rug. Then she became the hunter, and wrapped her coils around his chest and body, trapping his arms. Kendraha explained briefly to Vlad that he was so big that she couldn't risk letting his arms be free. Then she released the mental grip and slowly constricted the struggling man. Vlad was quite concerned as the man struggled hard, one time getting to his knees, straining his muscles as Kendraha's human half was held partially upside down. Eventually though even his body succumbed to the constant drain on his strength, and he lay panting for breath and hurling curses, while Kendraha played with some of the exposed hair on his chest. After the man had died, Kendraha didn't take in any life force, she said it was far too soon to eat again. Later that day Vlad had some of his men wrap the man's body in cloth, and they took him to the cave to the North for disposal.
Over the years they killed many, either in Kendraha's coils or by some other means. She found his methods for torturing in the dungeon to be interesting, although she explained to him that she got more from emotions brought on by the fear of torture than the pain. So he learned to draw things out more and make his victims suffer, particularly when she was with him. Kendraha didn't need a full feeding too often, so encouraged him to do what he would have before she had come most of the time. One time he slaughtered an entire band of gypsies who had trespassed and poached on his lands, but he saved the young gypsy woman for Kendraha to squeeze, since at the time she was due for a meal.
Kendraha was a bit disturbed by a habit Vlad developed where he grew to enjoy drinking some of his victims blood mixed with wine, but he reminded her that she did a lot more than drink their blood. The biggest event that disturbed her was in the spring of their 5th year together, when Vlad held a meeting with many local leaders who seemed to oppose him at every turn. It was a wonderful get together, almost party like as Kendraha mingled and talked with guests. Then shortly after the last had arrived, all the doors were barred, and one by one the guests were taken by armed men and impaled on tall wooden stakes in the garden. Kendraha sat in the garden that evening, watching and feeling the men dying, having her reservations. She had never known even the Humalli to go this far, they did terrible things to humans, but seldom killed them except for food or in self defense. This seemed too much to her, there was no point at all in these men dying. She had killed humans herself many times, it was no worse than humans killing livestock. However the humans didn't torture the livestock to death, and even she only caused what fear and other emotions she had to in order to survive, she even killed fewer humans that way by needing to feed less often. Vlad seemed to have gone too far for her with this last stunt, these men were not food to him, and their suffering was excessive in her opinion.
Something in Kendraha tried to rationalize things, pointing out that she had gone through her own barbaric periods, taunting and torturing humans needlessly. It also pointed out that she was just as guilty as Vlad, having participated in everything, except this last which she hadn't known of in advance, but hadn't tried to stop either. But finally she came to revulsion, Vlad's drinking of the human blood mixed with wine. Even Humalli did not ingest other Humalli, and Vlad consumes his own kind. She sighed, deciding to leave soon if only to clear her mind, and maybe answer all these questions. It would probably mean never seeing Vlad again because of human short life spans, but she didn't think staying was a good idea.
A few days later when Vlad left for an overnight trip to a neighboring castle to follow-up on his demonstration of power, Kendraha slipped out of the castle, going to the stables. There she chose a good horse for traveling, and departed heading West, trying to project to the minds of the occasional onlooker that she did not have a pack on her back. Once out of sight of the castle she turned South, following a seldom used route through the mountains. When Kendraha was beyond the mountains about a days travel, she sold the horse, shifted her appearance, and disappeared on foot. It was a few days after that when she heard the stories from Vlad's castle, which naturally traveled much faster than her now on foot. Apparently the day after Vlad had returned from his trip, his place had been attacked by a neighboring castle seeking vengeance for their butchered lord. Most of the servants had died defending the castle, and Vlad had been beheaded, his head displayed on a stick at the neighboring castle on the far side of the mountains. Kendraha sighed, "We got out of there without a moment to spare old scaley tail of mine." she murmured to herself.
Kendraha spent many years after that trying to regain her mental focus regarding humans. She went down her mental list to analyze the situation as her teachers had always taught them to do at the academy. She had to kill humans, and she didn't have to be cruel, but the emotions the fear and struggling raised helped to nourish her more in some way, thus she killed less. Less fear means more killing, and more fear meant less killing, it was an arrangement she had never thought twice about before. It took Kendraha 40 years of traveling the world and experimenting with killing fast and slow to decide, first observing that if she killed slow maximizing fear as she drank it in along with other emotions, she could last 10 to 12 weeks between feedings, and with a fast merciful kill as little as 6 to 8 weeks. Of course it varied slightly, some people had more fear than others, but that didn't change it much. If she tried to take only the most fearful humans, that could add as much as 20% to the time between feedings. Of course she could double or triple the length of time, the same way a human starved themselves, but she'd lose mental control and inhibitions, and the Nourishment had to be made up eventually anyway. So forcing herself to go longer was a temporary fix, and one that risked discovery. In the end Kendraha decided that it saved many human lives if she were cruel about the killing, the more fear and heavy emotions the better, and more emotional feeding between meals could extend that a bit more depending on the emotions, their strength, and numbers, so she'd do it that way whenever possible. And of course since shifting took energy away she would keep that to a minimum if she could.
Kendraha was unsure why she hadn't thought more about this before, certainly killing fewer people would make her less likely to be discovered also. She guessed that it was because she had always kept feedings to every couple of months or so anyway, promoting fear in the killing, and feeding on stray emotions as she found them. However recent developments had shaken her a bit. Kendraha had respected and enjoyed being with Vlad, sharing a hunt, sharing the experience of a kill, and all the rest, but it disturbed her to think how close she had gotten to a human. Back home her mother had kept her share of humans around the house, and one of the most trusted had been alone with her as a child many times, even tucking her in when her mother was digesting. She had felt a similar closeness for Vlad, but something more also, similar to the many other humans she had gotten close to over the centuries. But as her mother had always told her, "Don't grow too attached to your food or you'll choke on it. Remember, they only look like us, they are not Humalli! We evolved to be the predators of human kind, we must act like them in order to get close enough to strike, but they can never be more than food and convenient servants to us. Besides, they don't have our mental gifts, and as a result will always be no more than clever little animals."
Kendraha knew her mother was right, humans are just animals, like the livestock on farms. "What about Jessin Criss?" a voice in the back of her mind retorted. "He was a more evolved human from a different time line!" she answered herself. She lay in a bed looking at the ceiling and twitching her tail nervously, "I just wish they didn't look so normal, and when they don't scream in terror at the sight of me in hunter form I don't know how to react sometimes." she whispered to nobody. "And there's this whole playing with my food bit while I'm killing them. I never used to do that, sure it helps magnify the emotions I want to feed on usually. And having sex while in human form, I never imagined doing anything like that with a human. Some Humalli do, but I never saw myself as some sort of animal lover. But in a world where I'm the only Humalli, was that to be expected, or am I just sick?" She rolled to a face down position, "I can't be human, and I can't be Humalli, Is it worth continuing this way?"
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18. Kendraha eventually recovered herself for the most part, finally admitting that she had no real choice but to go on, suicide was just not her people's way, and life could still be reasonably good even as the world's only Humalli. Still she learned to go to as many highly populated areas as possible, trying to use the feeding on emotions to delay the killing of the next human as much as she could. When she chose a victim she tried to choose someone easily frightened which usually meant women, but not always. She used her life in cities to interact with humans, often choosing to raise a child who had lost their parent, finding someone to care for them overnight or for a weekend when she had to feed. She also developed a technique of living with a woman as a servant, aid, or other form of assistant. Usually she chose older women to work for, and always managed to make sure she could have her weekends free, as well as evenings.
It was tricky as Kendraha passed through the 1500's through the 1700's, but there was always some role in society to fill. During these years the last of the smaller black plague outbreaks occurred, and it was never seen again in the world to her knowledge. Kendraha took much stronger sailing ships around the world, still mostly following coastlines, and she discovered all the changes that were occurring everywhere. The women of the Greater Rainbow Island remembered their Amazonian heritage, but still maintained the traditions in secret. She visited them once when they were a Crissium convent, but the idea of trying to get away from them to hunt had kept her from joining. Temples to the Goddess Kendraha were nearly impossible to find, even for her. She had to first learn from reading minds that one was rumored to be in the area, then work her way closer until she found a mind that knew of it's location. In some countries the religion was practiced openly, and in these the humans thrown into the pits rarely died. The priestess or priest was usually stunned to see their Goddess actually appear in the pit, but otherwise it was all the same. Once however during a kill some soldiers had tried to break into one of her temples through the front door and her escape back door. Kendraha had used her mental grip to make her victim go unconscious, then quickly changing back to legs she grabbed her clothes, and fled the pit up the hidden stairway to the room at the other end. Someone had tipped off the local authorities that a human sacrifice was occurring that night, and Kendraha had a great feeling of satisfaction in finding that person and finishing the aborted ceremony in private.
There were 10 to 15 temples to the Goddess Kendraha in the world that she was aware of at any one time. There were none in the New World now known as North and South Ameris, which had been discovered late in the 1400's. Kendraha had considered trying to alter herself enough to pass for a human male as long as she kept her pants on, so she could go on the trip, but had almost immediately given up on the idea. There were too many problems, especially the idea of keeping her tail a secret when it would pop out when she slept. Then the need to wear pants, she'd have to take them off before any transformation, and although she normally undressed anyway, an unexpected shift would ruin a good pair of pants at a time when they were in short supply. Even though the ships were sturdier than past ships, the other problems seemed too much to handle safely, so she didn't go. The idea of either new continent and the food supply they offered was appealing to her, however if these human North Ameris natives were as clannish as they were in other time lines, they would be difficult to get alone, as well as potentially dangerous prey. South Ameris offered less danger from humans, but more from animals and disease. She didn't want to tempt fate and a possible second disease that could kill her, and that hot humid environment was the most likely place to bring such a disease out. When she remembered that Columbus had returned in the early 1500's with only 2 ships, reporting that the Pinta had sunk, Kendraha was that much more confident that she had made the right decision.
Overall they were difficult years for Kendraha, with stretches of peace separated by sudden invasions from neighboring countries. More than once she barely escaped, and sometimes with small wounds. One time she had to play dead, all her instincts had said to stand and fight, but she would've stood surrounded by the enemy. It was degrading to her, to a Humalli, to an Amazon also, to have to play dead while surrounded by far too many of the enemy to fight. However it meant survival so she forced herself to do so, while projecting the idea to anyone close that she was dead.
At one point she ran a whorehouse at a port city of East Africa. She had mostly dark skinned women working for her, but about a third were white or a few other races, mostly former wives from the city who's husbands had left and never returned for one reason or another, and they hadn't been able to find new men in this place where unmarried men were in short supply. She herself wore a chinese identity, and she made good money there, her place serving the large city and every ship that came through. Kendraha paid her women well so that someday they might be able to leave, and made sure any competition found life difficult. She never stole from or killed the customers, it was bad for business, and she made sure that her women didn't steal either or they were kicked out. Kendraha always paid the proper bribes or made the receivers think she had, and took the best medical care of her women possible, refusing to tolerate any customers who abused her women if they left marks. When the day came to leave, Kendraha almost regretted it, turning the place over to a woman who she trusted.
As Kendraha entered the 1800's she began to find things more difficult. The world was so crowded that humans seemed capable of showing up anywhere at any time now, which made finding a secure place for a full feeding more difficult. Still it wasn't too hard, usually requiring her to go outside of a city some distance driving her own coach with the prey inside. Then she would head off main roads, walk with the prey a long distance, and find a cave or other secure place as usual. Only once had her coach ever been found before she returned for it, and they had stolen it.
In the 1800's she spent almost all her time in Europe. The other areas of the Old World were more dangerous in her opinion, and Europe had developed a nice little primitive civilization, with plenty of comforts for someone with money, and she had no problems getting money. Kendraha tried a number of professions, finding it more difficult to keep out of entanglements as society grew. She often had to fend off suitors and women with good intentions, who were often nosy about why a woman of her age was unattached, when she wasn't a prostitute or otherwise unacceptable. Even trying raising Falcons for a few years didn't fend off the talk, and persistent offers to help find her someone. To deal with this or similar new difficulties that came with other life styles, she changed identities much more often while she was developing new methods, averaging 8 years or less, once changing after only 2 years.
Kendraha finally began to learn how to deal with these people, saying she was a recent widow was a temporary fix, or hinting that she might have something unacceptable in her background sometimes worked. She could just influence their thought patterns, but changing patterns wasn't like changing memories. Without months of reinforcement, it would only work while they were within her grasp, which was okay for gatherings and such. But once out of her sight these men and women would return to their normal patterns, and Kendraha didn't like leaving them concerned as to why they didn't think of something or act as planned every time they were around her, so she rarely influenced their minds that way. In the end her best defense was to be undesirable, but maintain access to the cities and those with power. So near the end of the century she tried running another whorehouse, this time in London. It wasn't much different than before, but in polite society you had to refer to it as a brothel, if you dared speak the name at all.
Everything worked out well, nobody bothered a woman who ran a brothel with things like trying to find them a husband. It cut off some of her access without using her mental gifts, but left most intact, and would allow her to retain her current identity much longer. Then came 1886 when out of nowhere a vicious killer struck. He made the streets of East London a nightmare for months, then vanished with the coming of the snow. The police were unable to catch him, claiming he had supernatural ability. After he would kill a woman, he would vanish into the thick fog, and no one had any idea what he looked like at this point. The newspapers dubbed him, 'Jack Ripper', and they taunted the police terribly for not catching him yet.
Kendraha had been concerned, but so far 'Jack Ripper' had only struck at prostitutes who walked the streets, and she felt it was none of her concern. When the snows left though and the fog rolled in Jack returned, killing the same way as before, knifing them to death first, usually cutting the women open after. When Kendraha had 2 of her ladies killed by Jack as they left her establishment to go home, she made it her concern.
She walked the foggy streets, covered from neck to ankles in a warm dress for foggy nights, but her large hat, cut of her clothes, make-up, and the fact she was alone was meant to give an impression that she was a street prostitute. Finding clues was more difficult than Kendraha had first imagined, since no one had seen Jack, no one could give her much in useful information. She also had to deal with a few men looking for a street prostitute, most of which she sent away, but a few she didn't to keep up the disguise. Kendraha had taken time away from the brothel, putting her best girl in charge, and then had shifted her face so that she wouldn't be recognized now.
Abruptly while walking towards an alley she felt a presence. Kendraha didn't want to scare anyone off in case it was Jack, she just needed to get close enough to read his mind. Getting closer she realized that his mind had a natural mental block as Vlad's had, not as strong, but shielding his thoughts somewhat. She concentrated on breaking through when abruptly a hand was covering her mouth, and she was being dragged into the Alley. Kendraha reached for the man's mind as she was thrown against the wall, and a sudden sharp pain stabbed through her stomach. She gasped, the man made some comment she didn't quite catch, and the knife ripped from one side to the other of her body. She screamed in pain, and Jack dropped his knife and grabbed his head, then he ran. Kendraha sank to the ground, 'I can not pass out, I will not, just need to heal this quickly."
A whistle sounded and a policeman came running through the fog to her. "Are you all right Miss?" the man asked. "Fine." answered Kendraha, while holding her jacket tight to cover the wound, and hoping the blood on her clothes would go unnoticed. With that thought she influenced his mind, convinced him there was no blood anywhere, and not to notice her picking up the bloody knife. He insisted on walking her home, and the fact that they went to the brothel didn't seem to phase him at all. The last thing she did to him is make him believe that the attack had happened 2 alleys away from where it had, and he tipped his hat and said good night at the front door.
Kendraha cleaned the bloody knife with a cloth and hid it inside the purse she carried, then shifted her face back to her Madam's identity. Kendraha had the bleeding under control, and only met a few people along the way to the room reserved for her use only, so influencing their minds to ignore the blood was easy. In her room she locked the door and prepared to rest after cleaning up. Kendraha was annoyed that she had let Jack get so close to her, but the partially shielded mind had been a surprise. She assumed that was why her hysterical release of energy hadn't killed Jack, the untrained talent had acted as a partial shield. Jack probably had a terrible headache and no idea what had happened, and she had Jack's name and a face to go with it, all gathered moments before the knife had plunged into her body.
The very next day Kendraha made her preparations, then was out before the gas lights lining the street were all on and the fog was just getting thick. Kendraha found her way to a small rundown building, the home of a doctor who had run into hard times. His practice had fallen apart after a scandal involving poor judgment in a medical case, where the patient had been of the upper class. He now couldn't find a decent and steady medical position anywhere, and was reluctant to leave London. The man currently did what he could tending to the lower class for little money, and generally drinking as much as he could afterwards. Kendraha watched the man leave the small flat, then turn up the street on his way to earn what he could to provide for himself and his wife.
She followed the man for a few blocks, then came close and controlled his mind enough so that he wouldn't notice his pocket being picked. Then Kendraha made her way back to the Doctor's home, and quickly checked for mental signatures in the area. She sensed a few minds, which she spent time convincing to hear nothing out of the ordinary for the next hour. Then she walked to the door of the building, and used the key she had stolen to enter.
One mind alone was in the house, the Doctor's wife sitting in the front room mending some clothes, and as soon as Kendraha had closed the door she ran for the dark haired woman. The Doctor's wife saw a strange crazy woman breaking in, so she stood and turned to run, and Kendraha tackled her, then rolled her over. The Doctor's wife had an excellent and slightly taller than normal body for a woman of these times, so first she fought. Unable to throw the slightly heavy intruder off, the Doctor's wife began to scream, but Kendraha quickly stopped that with a powerful mental bolt that almost knocked the woman unconscious. Kendraha sat astride the woman, paralyzing her body from the neck down, and her vocal cords also, so that she could only grunt her displeasure. Before doing more Kendraha checked the mind, and found the natural screens, and the mind she had sensed the other night. "Why on this Earth would you be Jack Ripper?!" Kendraha said absently. The thoughts flowed to her, vengeance, frustration, jealousy, and hatred of the women who took what little money her husband was able to make. Kendraha loved the taste of these emotions, and needed them after the injuries of the previous night. If she hadn't fed recently before the incident of last night she would have needed to feed before coming here. Now she hoped to feed tonight, but not slow, there was no time for slow in the city, she'd have to do without the heavy emotional feeding first.
Kendraha opened her purse and pulled out the knife she had captured the previous night. Smiling slightly at the surge of fear radiating from the woman, Kendraha used the blade to cut the woman's throat, then plunged it into the woman's chest and left it there. She stood and backed away, trying to drink in the emotions but her own were getting in the way. The woman's struggles grew weaker as blood pooled on the floor, and her eyes caught Kendraha's. "No one hunts in my territory uninvited!" growled Kendraha. She continued to monitor for anyone approaching, and when the Doctor's wife finally died she drank in the escaping life force. Then Kendraha left the flat, and the next day the papers were full of the news, Jack Ripper had broken into a Doctor's home and murdered the mans wife.
To be continued
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By Py