Chapter 36: Skinwalker

Chapter 36: Skinwalker

"WAIT! You'll scar him for life!" Luna shouted so loud Uriel had to cover his ears, in a desperate attempt to prevent Medusa from using her trait. She had seen the effect it had on Shaker and it wasn't pretty, he was so afraid his whole personality changed. "The corpse is gone, this is the real Medusa." She continued once she noticed she had everyone's attention.

The group turned to look at the place where the corpse was supposed to be, the ground was stained in red but there was no corpse and no flux orb either.

"What is the meaning of this?" Atomic asked, now standing in front of the group rubbing his jaw. Medusa's kick turned out to be a lot stronger than he wanted to admit.

"The meaning of this is..." Uriel lingered for a few seconds, causing everyone to hold their breath. "The one I shot was definitely the shapeshifter, but it isn't dead."

"I saw it myself, its skull was cracked open and there was nothing inside, how can it survive something like that?" Sam wasn't yet convinced.

"Maybe..." Luna lingered. "Maybe it's not a shapeshifter, but a skinwalker."

"A what now!?" Asked Sam in annoyance when he realized that she wasn't speaking anymore.

"There's a subtle difference between shapeshifters and skinwalkers, at least according to lore. A shapeshifter can morph its appearance to resemble any kind of creature it sees, it can even mimic objects... I think. Skinwalkers, instead, undergo a complete transformation. It's not just the appearance but also their victim's memories and experience." Luna explained.

"I've actually heard this before... well something of the sorts. The Navajos believed there were evil sorcerers capable of transforming into all sorts of creatures, all they needed was a piece of skin from their victim." Uriel said, thinking on all the times he read about the native American and their customs. Although the presence of supernatural creatures was widespread on anthropology related books, he always deemed that kind of information to be useless superstition.

"Wait, that thing was human once!?" Sam asked in hopes that maybe, the thing he made out with wasn't really a monster.

"You're missing the point, the only thing that matters is how do we kill it?" Medusa said right after Sam.

"I can't be sure... but maybe..." Uriel pondered for a few seconds, not knowing if something like old tales were a reliable source of information, especially with their lives depending on it. "I think, silver can kill it." He said hesitantly after making up his mind.

"Not bad... Not bad at all kid" A loud whisper resounded in the darkness. "I didn't think someone would remember... I wonder what kind of sweet knowledge can get from your delicious little head." the shapeshifter said mockingly.

"Where are you!? show yourself!" Sam shouted, highly strung by the fact he couldn't see the creature despite his trait that allowed him to see in the dark.

"I don't want to. Where would be the fun in that?" The last part was heard from right behind Sam, but no matter how swiftly he turned, he couldn't spot the creature.

"Ha, ha, ha, you're funny... and you're pretty tasty too." The licking of lips resounded in the darkness. Heavy footsteps could be heard, sometimes in the distance, sometimes right behind them, it was as if the creature was taking laps around them but no one was able to see a thing.

"There's nothing in here." Sam said after discarding the last room in the whole floor.

"Should we go downstairs?" Asked Medusa. She could have simply issued a command, but she knew better than to simply boss people around, she needed to listen to what the others were thinking if she wanted to survive.

That was precisely why Miss Dragonfang chose her to take on command, despite her not being the strongest like Atomic or the smartest like Sage. She was calm and collected most of the time, allowing her to think clearly instead of simply shouting orders and expecting people to do the impossible.

"I don't think that will be necessary, we can use this." Said Uriel after noticing a small glint on Medusa's ear.

"What? My piercings?" She gasped. "But they are so small and... we can't use them as weapons." She said as she handed them to Uriel.

"What did you expect? That we would find a silver sword waiting for us somewhere in this abandoned shopping mall?" Uriel sarcastically replied.

"So we've been wasting just wasting our time!?" Sam complained as he sat on a chair, with such bad luck that the chair broke causing him to fall on his butt.

"Quit playing around, we're in a serious situation." Medusa scolded Sam, making him feel even more worthless.

"So, what are we supposed to do with just a pair of earrings? I don't think you mean to throw them at the skinwalker." Sam said in an attempt to redirect Medusa's attention from him.

"If we had means to melt them things would be a lot easier, we could have made a silver tipped knife or something, but complaining is of no use now. The only other choice we have is... well, you're not going to like it." Uriel lingered. "According to the old tales, skinwalkers are sort of allergic to silver. Our only chance at killing it would be to feed the earrings to the creature."

Luna, Medusa and Sam were flabbergasted to say the least. Something like that would have never crossed their minds.

"Are you insane!?" Said Sam.

"Hey, I'm not the one who made out with that thing." Uriel scoffed.

"Will you never let me forget it? Why do you guys keep bringing that up?"

"Because if it weren't for you, I would have never thought of something like this. Think about it, when we found out its real identity that thing grinned with a wide maw, if we somehow manage to taunt it into doing the same it will make things easier."

Sam couldn't help but shudder at the memory, but he had to agree that it did seem possible. Not safe, not easy, but possible.