When The Cad stepped forward and put his hand on Onyx's shoulder and spoke, everyone jumped at the sudden movement and speech.  Most of the girls, and Ted as well, had begun to encircle the three deer as Onyx had ordered; only Zeena, the hunter who'd questioned Onyx's choice of direction, had been looking around instead of obeying.<br/><br/>"What?"  Onyx mouthed, shaking him off and giving him a hurt, reproachful look.  Of all people to have tell her she was screwing up, The Cad wasn't one she would have expected it of.  "Shh..."<br/><br/>He ignored her and continued speaking, drawing an even angrier look from her, but the others --- even, surprisingly, Ted --- were looking nervous at the words that they were being watched, and weren't alone.  Had she not been so intent on not being wrong, Onyx would have also listened to him.  When she heard the roaring gurgle from his stomach however, it seemed to reawaken her survival instincts, as did the unusual weakness in his voice.  She looked around again, taking in their surroundings a bit more.<br/><br/>The group stood there for several seconds, during which all they could hear was the rustling of the leaves around them.  Because of the light in the clearing, they couldn't see anything through the closely-knit tree trunks around them but blackness.  There was nothing immediately visible that could be a threat.  "There's nothing here but the deer," Onyx dared to say out loud.  The animals' ears twitched, and they seemed to give a slight quiver, but they didn't move.<br/><br/>Ted, apparently getting confused and angry at the bad vibes, decided to step forward and kill the deer so the group could move on.  He stuck one foot right on top of the largest deer and with a sound of anger and exertion he brought his club down hard on its head; there was a<span style="font-style: italic">crack</span>, and what sounded like just a trace of a cry of pain, but nothing else.  The animal barely twitched, and neither did the other two.  Though he was a stupid brute, even Ted realized that the utter lack of reaction by the animals wasn't normal.<br/><br/>"What the... the hell..." Onyx managed, suddenly looking far more fearful.  "The hell is this?"  Tia seemed to have a sudden suspicion, and ran forward; she gripped one of the smaller two animals and flipped it over.  It's legs flopped nervelessly, but it made just a trace of a panicked bleat and its wet brown eyes were rolling in wild panic.  It seemed uninjured, but it couldn't move at all... all it could do was breathe frantically and give an occasional twitch.<br/><br/>"They... they're paralyzed," Tia said in horror, her skilled mind making sense of the situation.  She moved the animal's head sideways and exposed a small red spot in its red-brown fur; she swiped at the drying blood, and exposed two neat puncture wounds, each no larger than the tip of her little finger.  "Bitten, and paralyzed..."<br/><br/>It was Zeena, whose instincts had been right so far, that hit on it, and said it out loud.<br/><br/>"They're... they're<span style="font-style: italic">bait</span>!"<br/><br/>And only then would the smartest of these humans realize the rustling sounds all around them couldn't be of the tree leaves... these were evergreens here, and there was no wind whatsoever.<br/><br/>---- ---- ---- ----<br/><br/>Marcus, if that was really his name, smiled back at Seras when she quietly submitted to his evident intent.  There was something possessive about the smile though, like a dog about to mark his territory, and despite her blush and quiet surrender, he was firm as he pressed her up against the side of the pitcher.  Her back was coated in sweet-smelling ooze, as were her arms, and she felt the stuff soak into her hair.  He pressed himself against her, pushing her hard enough that the outside might bulge a bit, and she could feel the length of his shaft pressed against her belly, as well as his hairy chest squeezing her breasts between them.<br/><br/>It was surprisingly quick.  He moved her arms down toward her waist, gripped her in a way to hold them there but still somewhat restrain the rest of her body, and dipped his manhood into the pink ooze.  Under the surface, she felt him slide down the front of her... and as though the slime were all the lubricant they could need, the tip of him popped right into her with shocking ease.<br/><br/>He let out a grunt, apparently surprised by the immediate result, and he froze with just the tip of him buried into her body.  If Seras was going to change her mind and resist this --- who knew if enough vibrations could "wake" the plant --- then this was probably the only moment she would get to do so.