Another evening. Another sunset had painted the sky with bold strokes of red and gold before fading away into the deep purple of twilight. Whisperer turned from the spectacle as the sun finally sank out of sight. He’d come to appreciate sunsets more since his last encounter, though he was not entirely sure why.

The large transparent monster floated toward the campus, unhindered by the growing darkness. He felt the familiar ache of hunger stir within him. It was time to feed. It was time to hunt.

As he neared the school grounds, Whisperer noticed lights on in the library. That was not so unusual; the students were known to stay the place deep into the night on occasion, studying. But they usually did so in small groups - or, if they were new, alone . . .

Such an opportunity was too good to pass up. The alien predator shifted course. It took little time for him to reach the building in question. Sensing his presence, one of the many hidden automatic systems that were built into the school granted him easy access through a skylight. He hovered high over the central reading area, all but invisible in his transparency. Long tables were arranged in neat rows beneath him. Most of the chairs were stacked upside-down atop them for the convenience of the night-time cleaning staff.

Whisperer reached out with his psychic senses, scanning the for the building’s occupants. He located the on-duty librarian easily enough. She was locked away in her office; she knew better than to investigate any disturbances she heard this late at night. Aside from her, there was one other; an unfamiliar presence. A new student, fresh and innocent. It seems fate had smiled upon him this night.

"So the siege lasted until 209..." Lucrecia mumbled to herself, glancing between her notes and the large history textbook next to them, trying to get the information to stick in her mind. Trying to retain it, to beat her rather haphazard memory.

It was just her luck to change schools now, arriving with barely a week to go before major English and History exams, she sighed. For the last two days, she'd been studying deep into the night, trying to learn all the material that she had not been present for during classes.

Wiping her delicate glasses for the umpteenth time, squinting slightly at her small, precise handwriting, flipping back a few pages to skim over her notes again, whispering them aloud in order to help her remember the figures, the intricate details that were sure to come up in the test.

She'd assembled pretty much all the notes she would need for this test, the black haired girl sighed, sitting back in her chair slightly, looking out across the empty library. That would be enough for tonight, now all she had to do was return the book to it's shelf, pack her things and she'd be able to treat herself to an early night.
'Or, at least,' she thought with a small smirk, 'an earlier night than the last few days.'

Getting to her feet, giving herself a quick brush down before stretching to loosen some of her muscles, she picked up the large brown book, and then headed off into the aisles, trying to remember just where she had got it from...

This was going to take a while...

Above Lucrecia, the unseen alien watched silently. Though he felt the draw of hunger, it was not overwhelming and he was patient. He waited, observing and ‘listening in’ on her thoughts as she struggled to memorize the material for her exam.

Her thought about treating herself to an ‘earlier night’ was quite ironic. Especially given the events he had in mind for her. He doubted she’d appreciate such irony, though, even if she later made the connection.

Whisperer followed his prey as she headed into the stacks. It seemed odd to him that she struggled to remember where she had gotten the book, since it was surely coded and the aisle clearly marked. But, it seemed that simply hadn’t occurred to her. Of course stress and fatigue could have such effects. Whatever the case, it provided him a perfect opportunity to play with her for a while.

Once she was deep in the labyrinthine warren of bookshelves, Whisperer projected his call to her. He made it seem as though the ‘voice’ she heard came from just around the next corner, but of course, there was no-one there.

Lucrecia . . .

It would have helped if the label on the book, which seemed to be getting heavier and heavier with each passing moment, actually mentioned with isle it was on. Instead, all the was was a rather useless number which, while assuring it went on the right place on a shelf, didn't help her in locating said correct shelf at all. Or even the right aisle.

No, Lucrecia sighed as she looked around, glancing at the spines of the books in the aisle. This was the geography section, not even close to what she wanted.

"Looks like I won't be getting that early night after all..." she muttered, mere moments before a voice reached her, startling her out of her contemplations. She almost dropped the book, so unexpected was the sudden sound.

Lucky, she managed to get ahold of the heavy tome before it could slip free from her grasp. She didn't exactly fancy dropping something like that on her foot, especially not in the middle of a maze-like library.

The hard-back contained a little safer in her arms, she headed up the aisle, towards the voice, it had definitely come from around the corner...

So why was nothing there? She blinked, wiping her glasses again, looking both up and down the junction, even glancing up once or twice, more out of habit than anything else. Still nothing.
"Huh... that's odd," while her imagination did have a tendency to run away with itself, especially when she'd been studying for a while, it'd never come up with a voice before.

Possible it was a prank, a trick from some of the older girls to wind up the newbie. But, Lucrecia liked to think that the other students were beyond such things.

So, then, what was it? Who was it? There was no use deliberating about it, she decided, taking another quick look around. Before her own voice sounded out through the library, quiet and nervous.
"H-hello?"

Silence was all that greeted the young woman’s query. The type of silence that presses against the ears; the type that usually only occurs when one is alone.

But, of course, she wasn’t alone. Directly above her, a nearly invisible alien stalker watched with amusement. Yes, he was playing a prank on the new student, but, to his mind, it was all in good fun; a friendly bit of hazing she would likely find less offensive than the other form of welcome he would subject her to later.

Whisperer found humor in Lucrecia’s reactions, but he was also impressed by them. Unlike most others, she looked up when searching for the source of the ‘sound’ she had ‘heard.’ That it seemed to be a habit showed something of her intelligence. Few humans ever thought in three dimensions, let alone as an automatic reaction. Of course, such could also indicate a tendency toward paranoia as well, but he didn’t think that was the case.

Regardless, she would surely have noticed him if he hadn’t been transparent. In fact, she likely did notice the rippling distortion he caused in the air, but probably dismissed it as a bit of eye-strain from studying so much for so long.

Whisperer remained still as he regarded the student beneath him. He waited patiently for her to dismiss the event and move on. Then:

Lucrecia . . .

The ‘voice’ seemed to come from behind her this time, drifting to her from back along the route she had just taken.

There was no answer to her call. But, then, Lucrecia hadn't been expecting one. Instead there was just the sound of her own heartbeat, her cheeks actually started to redden slightly as she fought down the urge to panic.

It was just a prank, or her imagination, nothing dangerous. It couldn't be dangerous, the voice had no malice to it. Considering the lack of giggling or laughing, Lucrecia thought that it probably wasn't a prank, hazers typically were not so subtle.

Unless... she took another look around,finding no sign of any walkie talkie or radio they could use, even glancing up at the top of the shelves to see if there was a chance it would be up there.
No, the thing was too high, there'd be no way anyone would be able to place something up there, not without leaving some sign of their presence...

So, that left her imagination then. It did tend to run a little wild if she'd been working for a while. But it'd never been quite so vivid. Then again, she'd never spent several days studying before.

Lucrecia sighed to herself, preparing to just keep on looking for the aisle she wanted, when there it was again! Behind her, back from whence she had come from. The young woman spun, her shoulder-length black hair almost rippling with the motion as she stared down the aisle.

There was no way that was her imagination, it sounded way to real. Her heart rate was going crazy again as she raced down the aisle towards the sound, book clutched to her chest, determined to try and find out what was the cause.

She found another of the junctions, but the voice was gone again... which way had it come from? It couldn't have just stopped here, could it.
"Calm down Lily..." she murmered, using a nickname she'd picked up at her old school, trying to regulate her breathing, "don't let them get to you..."

Then, her eyes spotted something, causing her to let out a small gasp of triumph, there it was, the history aisle.
"Hah, I win!" She stated, gleefully, letting her voice call out, making sure her would-be-tormenter would hear, "thanks for the help!"

It was a simple matter of finding where the book was supposed to go, she could see the gap in the shelf and slid the heavy tome inside, glad to be rid of the dead weight.

Removing her glasses, sliding them into the case and returning it to the pocket on her shirt, Lucrecia let herself laugh, pleased that she'd manage to get one up on whoever it was trying to lead her through the Library like an idiot.

She'd done what she came to do, there was no use continuing to play it's 'game', she decided, heading back for the desks to collect her things and leave. At least the large open area was easier to find than one aisle.

So, the game was up. Ironically, Whisperer had considered leading her to the place she was seeking using the disembodied voices. Of course, the route would have been much more circuitous and harrowing. But, alas, it was not to be. There was little left but to approach the girl directly. Unless . . .

The crafty monster waited for Lucrecia to turn the corner, then he retrieved the heavy text from its shelf. Even with book in tentacle, it was easy enough to remain unseen as he raced back to the desk at which his prey had studied.

Thanks to his ability to float above the shelves, he reached the study area with plenty of time to spare, unless Lucrecia decided to run through the library. He intended to place the book back where it had been before she returned it, then float high enough away that he should remain unnoticed when she arrived.

Lucrecia hummed to herself as she reached the end of the aisles, almost skipping with every step, pleased that she'd manage to get one up on the cruel prank-pullers. And she didn't even get lost on the way back. She'd won this round, easily...

Her train of thought derailed, and then smacked straight into a brick wall, at the sight of the book on the desk she'd been sitting at. It looked like the same one, same colour cover and everything.
"Not possible..." She gasped, racing over, it was the same book! There was the crease on page three from where she'd dropped it during her studies... "I didn't get lost, how'd they do that?!"

She found herself tempted to just ignore it and leave however, abandoning a book instead of returning it was against the school rules, and Lucrecia had only been there for the best part of week, she didn't exactly fancy getting a black spot on her record this early, especially not over something so silly as a prank.

So, after looking around for any sign of her tormenters, the young woman just picked up the book and headed back into the aisles, sure she could remember the way back to where she needed to go.

"I think I need to go left here..." she puzzled, reaching a junction, suddenly not so sure on her navigational skills, "aww, come on! This isn't fair!" she stamped her feet for a second, before managing to fight back a childish pout. It wouldn't do to freak out, she would not give her tormentor the satisfaction

Had the pranksters been students, they would have revealed themselves by now, surely. But Whisperer was no student; and in a way, what he was doing was no prank. He knew there were other things on the island that would do far worse. He glided silently over head, following the young woman as she headed back into the stacks.

The monster refrained from sending any more calls. No unseen tormentors whispered to Lucrecia as she began to work her way back to the proper shelf. Whisperer waited just long enough to try and provoke doubt in the student’s mind - doubt about the nature of the voices or whether they existed at all. Perhaps even doubt that she had daydreamed the whole thing and hadn’t actually returned the book in the first place (though he realized it was unlikely even someone as forgetful as she would entertain such a thought seriously).

Only when Lucrecia was sufficiently far into the maze of bookshelves; only when the doubt her stalker hoped to sow had time to take root; only when it began to appear that the ordeal was over; only then did Whisperer act.

SLAM!

It was no softly whispered call that she heard this time; no voice from just out of sight. No, the monster had used a tentacle to pull one of the books from a high shelf behind his prey. The noise it made as it fell to the floor shattered the growing silence of the empty library.

There was nothing, no giggles, no sound of someone trying to follow, nothing... any normal prankers would have given themselves up by now, surely, yet this one was subtle, stealthy, if it was even still around... it was possible it had given up on tormenting her further, but Lucrecia didn't get her hopes up.

There was no voice this time, either, no eerie sound coming from just out of sight, maybe they had gone. Or she'd imagined the voice, her mind playing the trick on herself...
"No... that's silly." She muttered, glancing around the aisles again, suspicious, wondering if the unseen hazer could hear. "Besides, I call myself Lily, the voice didn't." It did know her name though, which was odd. She'd been here a few days, hadn't socialised much at all, so she couldn't see how someone would have learnt it.

But there was the book, the one she had clasped in her arms, pressing it against her chest tightly. She knew she'd returned it, she wasn't that absent minded, she couldn't daydream something like that, so someone had to have moved it back... although there was still the question of how.

The more she pondered over it, the more puzzled she got. Logic didn't seem to be making much headway, there were still parts of the puzzle missing, gaps that needed filling before she could figure out what was going on. And Lucrecia wanted to know, she didn't like not knowing. Especially not when it involved someone pulling pranks on her.

Her musing was cut short as there was a loud crash from behind her, a book hitting the floor with a resounding bang. The sound startled her, causing her to jump slightly, letting out a small cry in the process. And it also caused her to lose her hold on her own book.

There was a second crash, rapidly followed by a choked scream. The heavy hardback had landing right on the tip of her left shoe, banging her toe. Which hurt, like hell.

She almost fell onto her rear, clutching the stinging foot, having to bite back a string of expletives. While not one to swearing under normal circumstances, the sudden shock and pain definitely made her tempted to curse her tormentor very vocally.

Her face flushed with the effort of holding back a rather pointless temper tantrum, she focused on removing her shoe and plain white sock, looking over the battered foot, checking for any real injury.

It was red, and still stung, but there was no bleeding, no cracked toenail, there was nothing too damaging. But, however, putting her sock and shoe back on proved to be painful, so she elected to keep them off for the moment, removing the right set to keep her balance, thankful that the wooden floor was smooth and splinter free.

She didn't even bother looking back at what had caused the noise, it was obvious that the culprit wasn't going to still be there, she'd neglected to check faster.

But, as Lucrecia got to her feet, wincing a little, leaving the history book on the floor, carrying her footwear instead, she took a glance around anyway; to get her bearings.
"The heck with it, I'll just go see the librarian, tell her where I left the book, explain it's because of some sick prank, and go... playing their game won't get me anywhere." The fed up girl grumbled, heading back towards the desks to get her stuff. Luckily, her injury didn't make her limp too noticeably.

Whisperer was mortified. Somehow, as was often the case with such things, his game had gone terribly wrong. He’d never meant to hurt the lovely student. Cause fear, yes; but never pain. The transparent monster was so distressed that he could do nothing for a few moments. He simply hovered above Lucrecia and watched as she took off her shoe and sock to survey the damage.

In truth, the injury seemed minor, more of an inconvenience, really. The same type of thing as one would get having just accidentally stubbed a toe. But Whisperer knew it was painful. He could feel the pain through his contact with the student’s mind.

It wasn’t until the injured girl began to walk back toward the open area that the alien found he could move. Indeed, he reacted more on instinct than anything else. No, instinct wasn’t quite right, for it was without the intent to capture that he reached for the young woman. He had caused a hurt, and he wanted to make it better.

Clear tentacles descended all around Lucrecia. Without consideration of their relative status as predator and prey, Whisperer sent his transparent, bristly graspers to intercept her and scoop her off her feet. There was no thought of the considerable fear such an act would cause, just the desire to soothe an injured foot.

Lucrecia . . . Sorry . . .

It was odd that his call caused her to hear her given name rather than the nickname she used to refer to herself. Perhaps the voice her subconscious had chosen to represent his mental projection was one that typically called her by her true name. Whatever the reason, Whisperer had little control over such details. In fact, it was not until relatively recently that he’d learned how to modulate his call to say anything other than names at all.

Regardless, the altered psychic lure was accompanied by a wave of sincere remorse. The alien’s powerful mind leaked the emotion in much the same way his phalli would leak pre-cum later on. But, in the meantime, it was his intention to force the production of that pain-dulling fluid to apply to the damaged extremity.

Now that the shock of it had worn off, a lot of the pain had dulled into nothing bar an annoying ache. Lucrecia was still upset though, more at her own lack of judgement than anything. It had been foolish to carry a heavy book the way she had, she knew she was jumpy, it was a surprise she hadn't hurt herself sooner.

Shaking her head, managing to bite back another small curse as she came up to the final corner leading to the desks, her stuff, and the exit. It was only then that she noticed the way the air seemed to warp slightly, almost like the was it did on a hot summer day, a haze caused by rising heat.

Only she was surrounded by this haze, and didn't feel hot at all. If anything, a sudden cold chill ran through her, the sense that something was very, very wrong... and was about to get worse.

She let out a scream as something, no, many somethings, swept her off her feet and into the air. The haze seemed, was, alive! She'd dropped her shoes in the sudden ambush, almost hitting her other foot if they hadn't bounced off one of the invisible tendrils.

"What is this!?" She yelled, raw panic starting to kick in, struggling to escape a threat she couldn't see but could definitely feel. The almost bristly things holding her, brushing up against the bare skin on her leg, their touch sending another shiver running through her, even as the rest of her started to heat up as her heart rate went crazy, adrenaline rushing through her in her fright.

Then she heard the voice again, calling out to her. Only, this time, it didn't seem to come from any direction, not from somewhere out of sight. It was all around her, it was what had captured her!

Ignoring the apologetic tone in the voice, Lucrecia tried to get her legs free again, pulling against whatever was holding her, determined to escape this unknown creature.
"What are you?" She yelled out, more begging than screaming this time, "let me go!"

He’d been a fool. Again. Of course the lovely young woman would panic when he suddenly grabbed her. The realization occurred too late, of course. Still, it seemed silly not to carry through now that he had her in his tentacles. After all, he had been trying to scare her, and this moment of panic had been inevitable since he first sensed her. Play time was over; now it was time to start fixing dinner . . .

But first, he still had to deal with the hurt he had caused. His prey would probably not appreciate that he was trying to make amends. Perhaps it was foolish to make the gesture, especially given the fact that he was going to assault her sexually soon thereafter. But it was part of who he was to try and rectify unintentional harm.

Whisperer was not sure how to answer her question, so he didn’t try. His communicative skills were too limited to convey such a complex concept. In due time, she would learn what he was, at least in the sense that really mattered to her.

Despite Lucrecia’s demand for release, Whisperer consolidated his hold on her. He wrapped a separate tentacle around each limb, and looped a fifth around her waist. He tried to make her as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances, though he understood she would hardly enjoy being bound by his transparent tentacles. At least he had not stung her - though that might still prove necessary if she was particularly feisty.

Lucrecia . . . calm . . .

While he worked to subdue the girl’s struggles, the alien made ready to soothe the pain he had caused. He extended one of his phallic tentacles, moving it over the area where his grasping appendages fought to immobilize her legs.

Lucrecia kept on struggling, even as her captor didn't reply to her question. She didn't need the details anyway, all she needed to know was that it had many tendrils, and she was caught in the middle of them.

And she definitely knew that she did not like being caught. The young woman struggled more for a few seconds before briefly going limp, knackered, practically gasping for breath. It was then that she felt more tentacles wrap around her limbs and waist, the monster holding her even firmer in it's grasp.

It was then when she heard the voice once more, practically pleading with her to calm down.
"How do you expect me to calm down, you've grabbed me!?" she almost screamed her reply, her voice still somewhat soft in pitch, sounding out through the empty library.

Frantic struggling had done nothing bar exhaust her, Lucrecia realised, managing to fight back blind panic to think of some way free. She instead, grudgingly, stopped her attempts to yank herself free, instead the young woman manipulated one limb at a time, trying to squirm out of the tendrils loops individually.

Unfortunately, twisting, turning and pulling didn't managed to get her free. If anything, trying to free her legs had the opposite effect. Her skirt had started to become loose, starting to slide over her hips, revealing the top of her white undergarments.

And, worst of all, she couldn't move to cover herself up, having to stay in the same position, face burning with both fear and humiliation as she tried to conserve her strength incase of an opening in the monster's grip, completely unaware of what was baring down on her.

Whisperer hadn’t really expected his captive to calm down. Still, he was impressed by how logically and rationally she dealt with the situation despite her urge to panic. He was one of those things humans claimed did not exist (while secretly fearing the opposite), yet she took his reality in stride. Her idea of trying to squirm free was a good one, unfortunately he could read her thoughts. He had little trouble preemptively thwarting her escape attempts.

Once Lucrecia’s struggles died down a bit, Whisperer did two things almost simultaneously. First, he carefully pulled her loosened skirt back up over her hips, letting her retain her modesty for the time being. Second he lifted the leg with the injured foot up a bit, holding it so that he had clear access to her damaged toe. He moved his phallic tentacle closer to her foot, focusing his concentration to cause it to produce some of his pre-cum. One single drop fell from its tip onto the injured digit. Almost instantly, what little pain that had been lingering was soothed away. A few seconds later, any redness and swelling faded as the clear liquid soaked into her skin and toenail.

Lucrecia . . . better . . . ?

He wasn’t entirely sure why he asked; he could feel the pain ebb away before the power of his preparatory fluid. Perhaps he just wanted to make her focus on the kind act, to realize that he had purposefully banished the pain his prank had caused.