The Skinwalker Hunter

Chapter 6 - Mia

I lay on my bed staring up at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. My whole life was packed into two bags that sat by the door. I was leaving the life I knew behind me and it scared the living hell out of me. A single tear escaped me, rolling down the side of my face and coming to rest in my ear. I wiped it away with the palm of my hand and rolled my head to look out the door. Evan was standing in the doorway leaning against the frame. His hands were shoved in the front pockets of his jeans and he had an odd expression on his face. 

"What do you want?" 

His eyes came into focus landing on mine. "We need to go. Now."

Letting out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding, I lifted myself off the bed and picked up my bags. "Do you mind, you're in the way?"

He reached for my bags but I gripped them tighter swinging them behind me, out of his reach. He chuckled and moved to the side, letting me pass. One small win for Mia, one giant leap for the annoying guy in my doorway, I thought dropping my bags on the ground behind my car. Heaving the liftback door open, I threw my bags in and let the lid fall shut with a loud thud.

"We are not taking that relic, put your bags in my car and let's get going."

He made me jump. I hadn't realised he had followed me. The man was a ninja. Wait a minute, did he just insult my car? "Relic. She's not a relic, she's a classic."

"The thing is so old I'm surprised it still starts."

"Thing! Relic! How rude!" Now he'd gone too far. "You apologise to Tilly right now."

He stared at me, dumbfounded. "Who is Tilly?"

"My car, dumbarse." I propped my hand on my hip and started tapping my foot impatiently. "Well?"

"I am not apologising to a car." He ran his hand through hair glaring at me with dark eyes. "Get your bags, we have to go."

"No!" I crossed my arms against my chest and leaned back on Tilly in defiance. "I'm taking MY bags in MY car."

"We aren't taking that car," he pointed accusingly as my car. "Go get in my car, I'll grab your bags."

"NOOOO!" I was screaming now, heat rising in my chest and everything started to vibrate. "You took my job away from me. You're taking my home. You will not take my car."

"Mia," Grandma's voice was faint. "Mia, sweetie, you need to calm down."

"No!" I yelled, my vision beginning to darken. The ground felt like it was vibrating under my feet, but I couldn't calm down. I was furious. It was just a car to him, but to me, she's all I had left. I gritted my teeth in determination. "I'm not leaving without Tilly."

"Mia, breathe in, breathe out. You need to calm down." I could hear the panic in her voice. "Sweetheart, can you hear me? I told you this would be too much for her."

"I know, Ada, but there is no other way."

"Let her take her car. It was her mother's." She touched my cheeks and forehead with the back of her hand and darkness rolled in around me.

My eyes fluttered open and once again I was staring at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. I could hear voices down the hallway whispering. It only took a moment to realise that it was Grandma and Evan. I strained to hear what they were saying.

"I haven't driven in years." 

"She can't go by herself."

"Well, why don't I go in the car with Mia." My grandma was so sweet. Always trying to smooth everything out and make everyone happy.

"I can't risk it, Ada," he said, and I could swear I could hear genuine concern in his voice. "You and Mia would be no match for him. At least with me in the car he might reconsider."

"Oh, my," I could hear her feet shuffle on the floorboards. "Is he that close?"

"This is the closest he's ever been." Moving to the side of the bed, I quietly stood up and tippy-toed to the door. I wanted to see the look on Grandma's face. Wanted to know if it matched the anxiety in her voice. 

It did! 

My breath caught in my throat and I stumbled back a few steps. If Grandma was worried then it must be serious. She was like a rock in the wind when faced with any challenge. Now she looked like she wanted to curl up in a ball, like I wanted to in the corner, rocking back and forth, trying to find her happy place.

"Grandma?" They both turned to look at me, the familiar expression of concern on her face. "Who are you talking about?"

I watched her expression disappear from her face, only to be replaced by a blank emptiness. I felt my eyebrows low and heavy like they were trying to reach out to each other. She didn't say anything, just shifted uncomfortably under my gaze. "Grandma," I prompted again.

"Mia," Evan said, taking a step closer reaching out towards me, slow and steady like I was some wild cornered animal ready to bolt at the first opportunity. "It's not safe here anymore and we need to leave as soon as possible, but if want to take your car we can leave after sunset."

"I know it's not safe, I'm not stupid," I ground out through clenched teeth. "What I don't know is why."

He took another slow step towards me. "I know you're not stupid. I'll explain everything when we get there."

If I could omit laser beams from my eyes and set fire to his evasive hot arse, I would. Unfortunately, I wasn't from the planet Krypton. The best I could manage was being a remote control for animals from the inside. I glared at him, willing laser beams to magically materialise. "Who were you talking about?"

He took another slow and deliberate step towards me, his hand now closer than I wanted it to be. Swatting It away I screamed "Get! Away! From! Me!"

"Mia, no!" It was Grandma now, defending this total stranger over her own granddaughter. I turned my furious glare on her. She cringed away from it like I really did have laser beams burning her. I gasped at her reaction, a wave of guilt flowing through me. She looked terrified of me. Horror, disgust, embarrassment and shame soon followed the guilt and I pushed past Evan to wrap her in my arms.

"I'm sorry, Grandma." She returned the embrace stretching her neck up to rest her chin on my shoulder.

"I know you're scared, sweetie," she soothed. "Let's sit down and have a nice cup of tea and I'll tell you what you need to know."

"Thank you," I whispered, making a mental note that her offer was encompassed by a need to know basis and most likely not what I wanted to know. She could be sneaky like that but I would take what I could get at this stage.

Evan followed us into the kitchen taking a seat at the table while Grandma plugged the kettle in and busied herself with making tea. I took my seat opposite him and continued to glare at him. Hopefully, daggers would appear as laser beams were a no show. If I was making him uneasy, he was hiding it well. The blank expression on his sculptured face was unmoving. I glared into his dark eyes, refusing to blink. They weren't black like I originally thought more of an interwoven collection of various coloured amethyst gems. Each differing colour connected to a slightly lighter shade all held together by a black rim around the outside. The longer I glared or more like stared now, the more the colours weaved into a lighter shade. They danced and shimmered like a disco ball when you shone a torch on it.

"There you go, sweetie." A steaming cup of tea was placed on the table in front of me startling me. Oh my god, had I been staring at him this whole time. Mentally slapping myself, I looked at the cup, up to Grandma and back to Evan. His mouth curved up in a smile and my cheeks instantly heated up with embarrassment. I turned back to Grandma as she adjusted herself in her seat and reached for the cup in front of her.

"The legend of our family has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries," she began. "It tells of the skinwalker hunter. A monster cursed by our ancestors bent on revenge."

"Sounds like a fiction story," I huffed sipping my tea and burning my taste buds at the same time. "What does it have to do with me?"

"That's who we were talking about," Evan chimed in. I scowled at him. That didn't make sense. How could some silly story made up centuries ago have anything to do with me. I turned back to Grandma, half expecting her to break out with laughter at the cruel prank they were both playing on me.

"The hunter has been seen not far from here and we believe he may be after you." Her expression was serious, but she couldn't be. Could she?

"You said the story was centuries old, wouldn't this hunter guy be dead already?" I stiffened in my seat. Either my grandmother had hidden acting skills or they both believed what they were telling me. 

"As the story goes, the hunter was cursed to walk the earth until skinwalkers were no more." She tilted her cup, pouring the last of its contents down her throat before placing it on the table and reaching across the table to hold my hand.

"Why would he be after me? I'm not one of those skinwalker things you're talking about. What are they anyway?" I chanced a look at Evan to gauge his reaction then back to Grandma trying to silently ask if we should be discussing this in front of the total stranger.

You, your grandmother and myself. Evan said. Wait, his mouth didn't move. I pushed my chair back from the table and stared at the man sitting across from me. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. It was his voice, I was positive of it, but it was like I thought those words instead of hearing them. I had boarded the crazy train that was for sure. 

We are those skinwalker things. My eyes turned into saucers and I shook my head trying to get the voice out of it.

"Stop it, Evan," Grandma said, squeezing my hand. "You are scaring her."

"It was the only way to get her to start to trust me." He explained, completely fooling Grandma with his innocent act. I wasn't fooled though. He was trouble and danger and everything untrustworthy I could think of wrapped up in a sexy sweet innocence package.

"Did he speak in my head just now? Did you know he could do that? Am I going crazy?" My head was spinning with so many questions. Some I wasn't sure I wanted them to answer. Maybe my brain was bruised from all the mental slaps I'd been giving it lately. I dropped my head onto the table wrapping my arms over the back of it and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Yes, yes and no," she answered.

I looked up in confusion needing some clarification. "Yes, he spoke into my head. Yes, you knew about it and no I'm not crazy?"

She nodded looking sorry for me. "Well at least I'm not crazy, that's the silver lining I suppose."

"That's my girl." She shifted in her seat and I braced myself for something else she might shock me with. I didn't think I could handle anymore, but if her Fort Knox of secrets was finally letting me in, I wasn't going to say no. "I think that's enough for today "

And that was that. I had more unanswered questions than answers making my head feel like it was about to explode.