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How many victims? At last count it's eight.
Enticed, you are coming; I've laid out the bait.
I hunger for prey and my hunger you'll sate.
You're coming, it's true, and for you I will wait.

You'll take what I offer but this is not wine.
It's so much more potent—a recipe mine.
It's not hypodermic in corpses like thine.
It drops you to slumber in my bed so fine.

Hint 1:

Wrap not yourself in nomenclature
I'm predatory by my nature

Hint 2:

From Wikipedia: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for example, defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone."

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  • $\begingroup$ Is it from any movie or tv shows?? $\endgroup$
    – Asterisk
    Jul 20, 2018 at 11:16
  • $\begingroup$ @Asterisk Yes and No. Helpful, huh? :) $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Jul 20, 2018 at 13:03
  • $\begingroup$ +1, nice riddle. $\endgroup$
    – Asterisk
    Jul 24, 2018 at 10:49

1 Answer 1

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Are you

a spider?

How many victims? At last count it's eight.

Spiders can only count to 8 (on their legs)

Enticed, you are coming; I've laid out the bait.

Spiders weave webs to trap prey/small insects

I hunger for prey and my hunger you'll sate.

And then eat the insects once they're trapped

You're coming, it's true, and for you I will wait.

Sometimes they'll wait quite a while for food to become trapped

You'll take what I offer but this is not wine.

When the insects are trapped, the spider injects them with poison to paralyze them

It's so much more potent—a recipe mine.

It's very strong and internally generated

It's not hypodermic in corpses like thine.

The spider's pincer needle isn't hypodermic

It drops you to slumber in my bed so fine.

The poison puts the insects to sleep in a soft silken web

EDIT: Looking at the hints, we are told

Not to worry about what type of spider it is, but spiders are indeed predatory

And also

The spider acts to kill many insects by itself several different times a day (satisfying the FBI definition given), because generating all of that silk and building a web would make me pretty hungry too

Final Comment:

Per @Chowzen's comments below, the Spider (answer) is talking to a Fly (since flies don't have skin, the injection can't be hypodermic = under skin). He relates this riddle to the poem The Spider and the Fly which is a pretty neat piece of literary history! Thanks, @Chowzen!

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  • $\begingroup$ "...said the {answer} to {whom?}." (the "whom" is indicated by "not hypodermic." $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Jul 20, 2018 at 13:04
  • $\begingroup$ @Chowzen I'm not sure what to make of this comment, but if there are two things, could the answer and the whom be rot13(n fcvqre naq n fcvqre jnfc (juvpu cerlf ba fcvqref?) Gurl ynl rttf va fcvqref naq hfr gurz gb srrq gurve yneinr.)?? $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Jul 20, 2018 at 13:09
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    $\begingroup$ OK, check this out: rot13 $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Jul 20, 2018 at 13:58
  • $\begingroup$ Ohhhhhh that makes much more sense, I figured that the answer was the aggressor and the whom was not, but all I found was what I commented. Thanks very much and sorry about that, will update my answer. $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Jul 20, 2018 at 14:05

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