C10 Curse

It hovered over her, faint growls echoing from within its throat and sending shivers down Elena's back. Her heart threatened to beat a hole out of her chest and she suddenly had trouble breathing when the creature's breath washed over her. It stank of blood and death. When a drop of blood rolled down its jaw and landed on her face, she nearly lost it right there and then. Then it suddenly raised its head and howled.

Elena felt like she was about to have a heart attack. Was it calling the others? Were they going to eat her together? She saw its mouth open and instinctively shut her eyes in dread. Then she felt it bite down on the collar of her shirt and hauled her forward like she weighed nothing. A weird sensation passed over her as she felt her surroundings change in an instant.

When she opened her eyes, the rest of the Hunters were all looking down at her with strange looks on their faces. Before she could form a coherent thought, she felt hot air at the back of her neck. Looking up, she found the large wolf's bloodied face staring at her, the upside down position multiplying the fear she felt.

With an undignified yelp, she scrambled to her feet and the Hunters backed away a little only to close back in on her when she collapsed back on the ground. Too terrified to think clearly, Elena crawled backwards in the direction she felt the door should be in an effort to put some space between her and the creature still staring at her. When her back hit a wooden surface, she thanked her luck and got to her feet unsteadily. A second later, she was slamming the door shut, with her on the opposite side and backed away from it fearfully.

A hand closed around her arm and she nearly jumped out of her skin. A strangled cry left her lips and she spun around only to find her best friend's concerned face looking at her.

"Elena? Where have you been all night-"

She cut her dark skinned friend off with a tight embrace and sighed in relief against her shoulder.

"J-just take me to my room Whitney."

Back in the room Elena had just left, everyone was still watching the door confusedly.

"So, anyone know why she was looking at us like we were about to eat her?" Jade asked no one in particular.

Olivia just shrugged. "Seeing as she came with Lee, I'm just going to assume it's his fault." She tapped the white wolf lightly on its large head. "And you, change back already. You're getting blood on the floors."

The wolf have Olivia a look of mock pity and sat back on its haunches. Black smoke bloomed around it in a dark vortex and dissipated seconds later, leaving a bloodless Lee sitting on the floor.

"Atta boy," Olivia commended and patted his head again.

Jade leveled him a cool stare. "Are you gonna explain why you were out so late? Or why you pretty much woke up half the school just so I could teleport you here?"

"Well for starters, thanks for that. Didn't exactly feel like lugging a terrified witch all the way to the dorms. And second, I found out who's been cursing people."

At this, Michael and Dean both moved closer in interest. "Who?" the former asked.

Lee sighed. "A skinwalker. And from what I could get from him, there seems to be more than just one here. Most likely a whole group."

Jade groaned in exasperation. "Why did it have to be them? Why not some dumb witches or literally any one else?"

"So that's why it felt so tainted," Dean mused.

Michael spared him a nod.

"Regardless, we now know who our enemy is. And they are still unaware of our presence although I doubt it'll be long before they find out. Meaning we'll have to make our move fast."

*********

They informed Vincent of their discovery and the man had been quite concerned. So concerned in fact that he called an emergency meeting between the Hunters and the other two factions. Not willing to risk another confrontation like the last time, the Exorcist only invited Mia and the witches with her, one of whom coincidentally was Elena, as well as Veronica and her guards.

Needless to say, it had not gone very well. From the moment the vampires got to the Hunters/witches common room, they had began eyeing the Hunters and the two Exorcists suspiciously. It went from bad to worse when the witches arrived. The whole room was held in a three-way Mexican stand-off with each group glaring at the others. Although most of the animosity was directed at the Hunters but if they felt it, they certainly did not show it.

Eventually Vincent had had enough.

"Well you're all probably wondering why we called you all here," he began and immediately several pairs of eyes fell on him, none from the Hunters though. "We, and by 'we' I mean these guys, have recently found some trouble on campus. There are skinwalkers in the school."

"What are skinwalkers?" Mia asked.

"They're Native American witchdoctors," Whitney answered, her face set in a small frown.

"Yes, that's partly correct," Vincent said. "The Native Americans of the Navajo tribe have medicine men who play a lot of different roles in their culture. Most commonly they serve as healers and spiritualists and are often in charge of their tribe's spiritual matters. To perform this task efficiently, the medicine men have to be very knowledgeable of both the good and the bad parts of their duties. That's where the skinwalkers come in."

"Not everyone can handle the responsibility," Diana continued. "Some of them are not able to resist the darkness and end up falling into it instead. They're what we call skinwalkers."

"He called it something else," Elena said, looking pointedly at Lee. She had to put in a little effort to keep the stutter out of her words. "Last night, there's something he said that made it mad. He called it 'Yay-'"

"Yee Naaldlooshii," Michael finished as a wave of his magic rippled through the room.

"Thank you Michael," Vincent smiled lightly. The witches and vampires on the other hand were alarmed.

"What did you do?" one of Veronica's guards growled at Michael who ignored him entirely.

"He removed this room from the scope of any spying magic active around here. It's not safe to say that name carelessly. That is what they're called traditionally and they'll know where you are if you say it."

"So how did a medicine man turn into that thing that attacked Elena?" Mia asked in the same calm voice.

"Like I said, some of them can turn evil. They use their powers and their knowledge for wicked deeds. Curses, possessions, murder, you name it. Their most common attribute however is their ability to turn into any animal of their choice. That's how they came about their name. The term translates to 'by all fours, it moves'"

"So they can shape shift," Whitney scoffed, her amber eyes filled with arrogant confidence. "That doesn't explain why it came after my friend."

"Well we don't actually know why it attacked Elena in fact," Vincent sighed and looked over to the Hunters. "You guys find anything?"

"The skinwalker said something about wanting to absorb my power before I killed him." Lee revealed. "But it didn't know who I was until I transformed. Then it told me 'someone warned them to avoid us'."

A crease appeared on Vincent's brow and he exchanged looks with Diana.

"That's a bit unsettling." He suddenly turned to Elena. "How did you meet the skinwalker?"

The girl in question fidgeted a little as everyone's gaze turned to her. "On the first day of school, a few of us arrived here early and we met him at a booth in front of the hospital. Some of the seniors were with him. They said something about running health tests on the new students to check for any health conditions."

Vincent's frown deepened. "Health tests? I don't remembering the school authorizing anything like that."

"They looked really legitimate so we just went along with it."

"Did they do anything to you?" Diana asked.

"Nothing much. They just asked a few questions and took some bloods samples to run tests on and we were free to go," Elena answered.

The older woman looked at Michael, "So, what do you think?"

He hummed thoughtfully, "The skinwalker must have used the collected blood to perform his curses. That makes it a bit more annoying because the dark magic is tied into your life force. Normal witch magic will not be able to break the curse."

Elena paled considerably and her voice wavered when she spoke, "W-what are you saying? I won't be able to use magic anymore?"

"Calm down, that's not what he meant," Olivia assured the girl.

Michael stood up and walked in front of her. He could feel her apprehension at his closeness and it amused him. But he kept a lid on his emotions as he reached for her hand. She placed hers in his tentatively, her eyes watching him with trepidation clear in them. Michael felt a stern gaze boring into the back of his head and knew instinctively that Whitney was glaring at him. She seemed quite protective of her kind when the Hunters were concerned.