The huntress

The huntress by Richard Rein Smith is a science fiction short story with a vampiric twist, written in the mid-20th century. It reimagines the vampire as a beautiful alien predator who hunts along modern highways, feeding not on blood but on human emotions. A married traveling salesman picks up a striking hitchhiker named Almira, whose intoxicating charm leads him to a motel. There, without a touch, she telepathically drains him of every human feeling—desire, compassion, fear, sadness, pride, and finally joy—leaving him numb and paralyzed. She shows him a vision of her world, where her people consume the emotions of living creatures, and she admits she has come to Earth to hunt because it brings her rapture. Freed of his paralysis but stripped of feeling and the ability to warn others, he watches her board a bus and vanish back into the crowd, off to find her next victim.

The huntress, by Richard Rein Smith. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78737.