The crack sound Elena had heard when her date hit the ground with enough force to snap a human's spine, had been both sickening and fulfilling at once. But when Lee leapt back to avoid a blow from the downed man, she realized he was not out for the count yet. She watched him stagger to his feet shakily. Although the move had not killed him, it must have hurt far more than he seemed comfortable with. The hatred and fury in his stare sent a wave of immense terror through Elena. The sudden fear was so crippling that she slid to the floor, panting and clutching her chest as she struggled to breath properly. With great effort, she raised her head to see how Lee was faring as he was the main target of this new unknown attack.
To her astonishment, the Hunter stood utterly unfazed by whatever it was the skinwalker had done. She herself was just in the area of effect of the technique and it already affected her this badly. But the focus of the attack was just standing there completely fine. It was unbelievably absurd in her understanding. What exactly were these Hunters?
"I thought I told you already," Lee said, looking 'Devon' directly in the eye. "Your mind tricks won't work on me. Now you'll tell me what I want to know or I will beat the information out of you myself."
His words finally tipped the already incensed man over the edge. The skinwalker let out a loud grunt of frustration. "That is enough! I had been gentle with you initially so that I might be able to take both of your rich power from your mostly intact bodies later on. But I have seen now that you are a threat, one that I cannot let live!"
Right before Elena and Lee, the animal pelt on the back of the grim man proceeded to meld into the man's flesh, fusing and spreading all over his chiseled body. Loud snapping noises reverberated through the forest as the man's bones altered and fixed themselves within seconds repeatedly to gain a different skeletal structure. One that was designed to carry a lot of muscle yet be able to move at incredible speed. The head part of the pelt fused with his head grotesquely, transfiguring it into something vaguely resembling a bear's head.
The transformation has completely destroyed the rest of his clothes but there was nothing that could be seen with the mass of shaggy black fur covering him. Having been well built initially, the transformation now made him a monster at over eight feet tall. His maw dripped saliva on the ground as the beast growled at Lee menacingly.
The pressing fear that had previously been bearing down on Elena disappeared, to be replaced by a new feeling of terror. She had no idea what on earth that was. Of course she had been taught about spells that could change a person's appearance. But for some reason, she felt that was not the case here. This could not be a byproduct of witch magic and she knew it. That only served to intensify her uneasiness. The fact that Lee had stopped attacking nearly made it worse, until she looked carefully and realized that he was smiling.
Something about that smile filled her with a whole new kind of nervousness though.
'He's finally getting serious. That transformation looks a bit strong. I'll have to return the favor then.'
"Hey witch girl!" Lee shouted to Elena. "You might wanna back up a bit. This might get a bit messy."
He and the transformed skinwalker stared at themselves, one with hatred, the other with excitement. Then the monster began to lumber forward slowly before breaking out into a run. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena only caught wisps of dissipating smoke, when out of nowhere a massive white blur moving at a high speed slammed into the oncoming beast to send it crashing backwards to the trees.
A positively huge wolf covered in familiar snow colored fur prowled around in the middle of the clearing. Elena did a double take at this newcomer and hoped within her that it was on their side. It was when she looked around and could not find Lee anymore that she put two and two together. Suddenly all the stories of the brutal efficiency of the Hunters began to make sense to her. If they could all turn into creatures like this, then it stood to reason they had such ease killing people.
The skinwalker jumped back into the clearing looking no worse for the wear. When it got a clear look at what had hit it, its black eyes flashed with recognition.
"So you're one of them after all." His voice sounded heavily distorted, more like an animal's growl than human speech. "He warned us about you. Said you might find us. We were to avoid you at all costs. It can't be helped now that you have discovered me. This will end here."
They circled each other for several moments before leaping at once. Possessing greater body mass in his current form, the skinwalker pushed the wolf backwards. But in a show of skill that convinced Elena that it was definitely Lee, the wolf fell on its back and kicked the skinwalker over it.
Rolling onto his feet, he dashed after the beast biting and clawing at every where he found purchase until the skinwalker released a wave of wind that made Lee retreat. The white wolf watched the skinwalker when it lunged at him to grab his head. Slinking under the beast's large arms, he got behind it to deliver a deadly slash of his long claws at the back of the skinwalker's knee. When it went down, he leapt onto its back and opened his mouth to bite into its neck but it held his head and flung him away.
Lee transitioned from an uncontrollable tumble to a perfect recovery roll and jumped right back at the beast. He kept up with this method of attack, picking apart the skinwalker with small scratches and bites, never once giving it breathing space. When it became too much for the skinwalker to bear, it pushed itself out of the way of the wolf's path and slammed its hands together. A vertical slash of compressed air made its way to the wolf at incredible speed. The lupine creature suddenly vanished from its spot, and it was when the skinwalker was sent crashing forward that Elena realized that the wolf had moved so fast her eyes could not keep up.
After a few more exchanges like that, Elena soon came to a harrowing realization; Lee was playing with this guy. And from the panicked look on the skinwalker's face, it seemed to have realized it as well. It looked around desperately for an opening to escape like a wounded animal but the wolf was the better predator, blocking it off at every attempt.
Then its hate filled eyes fell on her and she nearly keeled over at the amount of negative intent aimed at her from behind those black orbs.
The skinwalker was not stupid enough not to know when it was outclassed, not when it was this clear. However, it resolved to at least take the witch girl with him. She was the cause of all this as far as it was concerned, it was only fitting she paid for it.
It would not be able to reach her on time before the wolf would. Rather it called upon as much wind as it could and formed a vortex of rapidly rotating air around itself. Then it compressed it to highly dangerous levels ready to explode outwards in a devastating last ditch kamikaze attack.
Realizing its intention, Lee quickly considered his next action. If he moved at full speed he could escape the range of the explosion unhurt, but Elena would perish inevitably. That was not an option. He could pick her up but then he would not be swift enough to make it to safety on time. There was only one other way besides these two.
Elena had felt the dangerously rapid buildup of magic around the skinwalker and her heart froze at its plan. Then she blinked and a mass of white with what looked like streaks of red in it impacted the skinwalker with as much force as a semi going at a hundred and fifty miles an hour. They crashed through the trees and the wolf wasted no time in opening its impossibly wide maw and chomping down on the skinwalker's neck. In one massive bite, he decapitated the beast instantly killing it. Dark red blood spurted out of the stump to soak the ground. Without wasting a beat, the wolf started ripping into its torso until it found and devoured the heart of the beast.
The gory scene had Elena recoiling in revulsion and disgust which quickly turned to fear when the wolf turned to look at her. Its blood soaked visage called up nightmarish visions in her head that had her stumbling back in terror. When it began to approach her, she nearly passed out in fear that its natural instincts to hunt down her kind had taken over. The wolf reached her where she was trying to press herself into the forest floor so hard that she was sure there would be an indention on that spot the following day. Red liquid stained the formerly pristine fur and made it clump together on his form.