Chapter Eight

There was something to be said about the level of preparation the factions had undergone for the program. The integration of the supernatural students into the university was seamless. Every one had a solid biography that had been created as background for their enrollment. All of them were first years and all offered the same course: Parapsychology. The nature of the subject made it easy to pass off magic classes as actual lectures. Experienced witches and vampires would come to the school three days a week, disguised as invited professors to teach these classes as well as report back to their respective leaders on the progress of the exercise.

   So far there had been no complications. The vampires and the witches made sure to have as little contact with the other group as possible, and everyone avoided the Hunters collectively. Which was quite understandable considering their reputation. They made it easier by rarely leaving their dorm during the day as Michael had decided to keep their presence in the school a secret for as long as he could. The nights were spent tracking down and monitoring individuals who had been cursed. The sheer number of afflicted people in the school was staggering and had made Michael grit his teeth in restrained annoyance. He was tempted to simply undo the curses and risk their cover if only for the sake of releasing the innocent victims. But self control won out in the end and he ordered his team to increase surveillance, a command that had been obeyed vigorously. They knew that all it would take for Michael to act was the endangerment of a single person's life. The same applied to them as well.

   Progress was finally made two weeks after they had arrived at the school. A few hours after sunset, Lee returned to the dorm after having spent the last two hours shadowing a girl that had been cursed. The building was a dozen meters away when he saw a couple walking towards him. He recognized the girl as one of the cursed witches Dean had showed him several days ago. She was commonly seen in the company of two other witches, one of which was Michael's charge. The guy by her side was unfamiliar to Lee though. 

   As they got closer, Lee was able to make more observations. The girl seemed to have a slight sway in her step. It was barely noticeable from the way she tried to cover it up with the smiles she continuously flashed the guy whenever he asked if she was alright. Her eyes met Lee's and she immediately pulled herself flush with her companion to avoid the white haired young man. Lee smirked at her act but as he passed by her, his smirk vanished immediately. He knew he was not the best at detecting magic but at such cost range, there was no mistaking it. A sickening haze of despair hung around her like a shroud and it set off alarm bells in his head. Without thinking, he grabbed her hand and had to conceal his shock at how weak her pulse felt.

   "Can I help you?" she hissed at him.

   "Are you sure it's okay for you to be walking around in this state?" Lee asked quietly. He did not want to sound weird to her companion nor did he want to straight up tell her she had been cursed.

   Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she withdrew her hand sharply. "That's none of your business."

   Her friend looked at the both of them alternately with an unsure expression on his face. "Uh, do you guys know each other?"

   Lee raised his eyes to get a closer look at the man. He was quite good looking and had an unassuming air around him. But after spending years with Jade and her peculiar mannerisms, he easily saw through the cover. There was a strange gleam in the man's eyes as they walked away after the girl had dismissed Lee as one of her classmates. The frown remained on his face as he watched them continue down the pavement, the girl staggering at a point only for the guy to catch her by the shoulders and guide her away from the road.

   Elena could not tell if her luck was good or terrible. On one hand she had finally been asked out by the cute upperclassman she had been admiring for a while now. But the damned sickness that had been plaguing her since the beginning of the school year had suddenly begun to act up. She did not even know what was wrong with her which was extremely annoying. The meds she had taken days back had done nothing to help. She had decided to ask her teachers when next they came. For now though, she planned to make the most out of this date. 

   It had been going quite well, if she choose to ignore that little moment of weirdness with the Hunter on the street. Devon was exceedingly nice for a senior and had taken care not to overstep her boundaries. It was cute in a way, his carefulness made her feel a bit special. 

   If only her body wasn't so damn tired, she would have been willing to continue the night with him. But her date had noticed and being the nice guy he was, he had decided to show her one last thing before he would take her to her dorm.

   That was why she was currently trudging through the forest surrounding the school alone. Devin had gone on ahead to prepare whatever surprise he had for her. The fact that she had no idea what to expect made her steps more eager despite her growing weakness.

    Autumn had not fully set in as some of the trees still had leaves on them. Enough had been shed to form a layer that muffled her steps but some remained on the trees to block out the sky, leaving holes in the canopy for the moonlight to peek through.

   "Devon? Devon, are you here?" Elena called out when she stumbled into a clearing. The lack of covering allowed the light from the moon above to illuminate the area. Befuddlement clouded her face as she took in the sight before her. At one corner of the open space, there was something that vaguely resembled a shrine. It was made out of tree branches that formed the framework while dried and fresh animal skins had been draped over the structure. The blood painted all over the shrine and the animal remains littering the ground around it made it a gruesome sight that made Elena nearly throw up.

   "Do you like it?"

She spun around and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Devon behind her. His shy smile was gone, replaced by a manic look that had no place in a face like his. The laid back and eager-to-please attitude he'd displayed earlier that night had gone with the smile too. Now he loomed over her like a malevolent shadow filled with evil intent.

   "Devon," she said in a voice far calmer than she felt at the moment. "What is this? Where are we?"

   He grinned and Elena felt goosebumps rise on the skin of her arms. "Well, I thought it'd be nice to end this little play in my home. Now if you'd just stay still, this will be over before you know it."

   He advanced on her and that was when Elena saw the bone dagger in his hand. She attempted to step away from him but he was already too close. When he grabbed her hand, she panicked and reached for her magic within her body. To her utter horror, there was practically nothing left. That was when she realized that the weakness she had been feeling for so long had been her powers leaving her body. How that had happened was something she had no way of explaining, but that was not important right now. Forcing herself to squeeze out the last dregs of magic in her system, she used her Elemental Wind magic to push the crazed senior back several meters. 

   Devon looked surprised and disturbingly intrigued. "Oh? You're still able to use magic even after I intensified the power of the spell? Looks like I have found quite the catch. But we can't have that now, can we?"

   He pulled up his shirt sleeve and pressed a finger on a symbol on his skin. She thought the symbol looked oddly familiar. But before she could do anything, a dizzying bout of weakness forced her to her knees. She felt every drop of energy leave her body in an instant.

   Through drowsy eyes, she watched Devon undergo a horrific transformation. He ripped away his shirt, revealing fair skin that began to darken rapidly. Black tribal tattoos appeared on his now dark brown skin. His face changed into that of a man old enough to be her father and his eyes looked wild and dangerous. Previously well maintained blonde hair turned into a dark bushy mane that further added to his already vicious visage. An animal's intact pelt materialized on his back, reaching down to the small of his bare back. The animal looked to have been a bear from the features of the skull that covered the top of Devon's head.

   Elena could not believe what she was looking at. There was no way the sweet guy who had won her a keychain at an arcade that very night could be the same creature currently watching her every move. She tried to force herself to move but it was useless. Devon had already moved. Crossing the distance between them in a few seconds, he lunged for her throat with clawed hands. Elena simply shut her eyes and waited for the painful feeling of having her neck torn open without even bothering to scream, knowing no one would hear her with how far away they were from the dorms.

   She felt the sensation of somebody appearing near her and heard a small thump first, followed immediately by an even louder thud. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was white. Then her eyes regained focus and she found out she was staring at the back of the Hunter she had met less than an hour ago. His leg was still outstretched from the kick he had used to send Devon flying backwards before he brought it down.

   "Y-you..." she struggled to continue her sentence, secretly hating herself for stuttering.

Lee leveled a flat look at Devon's recovered form and sighed. "I thought I recognized that smell. Only your kind would have magic that foul in nature."

Elena who had gotten enough of her senses back on track just in time to hear the latter half of Lee's words.

   "His kind? What on earth is that?" she asked.

   Lee grinned in the moonlight, its glow adding to the natural shine of his hair.

"That, my female witch friend, is Yee Naaldlooshii. More commonly known as the Skinwalker."