First hunt

I followed Yahana and Elan through the mountainous terrain, my rifle on my shoulder, more vigilant than ever. I hid my nervousness as Edward underneath Aurora's confidence, almost completely erasing myself. I couldn't mess this up.

"Come on, Goatee, keep it up." Elan said in an encouraging tone to the goat he had on a leash.

"You seriously had to call her that?" Yahana sighed.

Elan chuckled. "There's a reason I don't have pets. Besides, she won't stay alive for long, no point in giving her a better name."

Elan bought an old goat from a local farmer. He planned to use her as a bait for the wendigo, to lure it so we could take it by surprise. We would kill the goat and lure the wendigo with a special concoction to increase the smell of blood, and would hide nearby, waiting for it. Elan thought it'd be a faster way to deal with the wendigo instead of trying to track down its lair.

I stayed quiet, always on the lookout for any kind of suspicious movement or noise. I was thankful for my enhanced skinwalker senses, it should prove quite useful when it came to hunting. Although, these enhanced senses had a drawback. Elan made us cover our clothes and skins with some kind of oil, and it smelled extremely strong. Elan and Yahana weren't bothered by it, but it took a lot of effort for me to act like it didn't affect me.

Elan gestured at us to stop before pointing at a large tree in the middle of a small clearing. "There, it'll be perfect. The tree is even big enough for one of us to climb it. And by one of us, I mean you, Yana."

"No need to tell me."

Yahana was by far the best between us when it came to climbing trees, even with a rifle on her back. She approached the tree and looked for the best spot to start her ascension, while Elan made the goat sit, patting her head.

"Be a good girl and stay here for a while, alright?" He then turned to face me and pointed at a huge rock nearby. "See the rock over there? Get behind it, I'll prepare the bait. Make sure your guns are loaded, we'll have to shoot fast once it shows up."

I nodded and went to the rock, grabbing my rifle and removing the safety. Elan hid next to me after finishing the bait, and we just waited... and waited... and waited, for what felt like an eternity due to my anxiety. I stayed alert, almost paranoid as I kept overanalysing every single sound I heard.

Finally, before even Elan and Yahana could, I heard a ragged and heavy breathing from far away, slowly coming closer. It was the breathing of something big and famished... There was no going back, now. It was the wendigo or us...

"It's coming, get ready." Elan whispered, hearing the same noise only a dozen seconds later. His sence of hearing was quite good, it seemed.

Glancing at the tree, Yahana was already readying her rifle, having most likely spotted the wendigo from up there. I couldn't see it yet, but its breath was getting closer, and I could now start to hear its slow steps. It was approaching the tree, only a bit more before we'd have to fight it...

Elan tapped my shoulder, signaling me that it was time... The two of us carefully went out of cover, trying to get the wendigo by surprise. I finally had a proper look at it. It was a massive, but scrawny beast, with a sickly tone and patches of visible skin without any fur. Its ribs were visible with how skinny it was. Its head looked like that of a carnivorous deer, with sharp teeth and antlers that were still short due to its young age. Its sunken yellow eyes were staring at the corpse of the goat, saliva dripping from its mouth.

Dsspite its size, a single well-aimed shot to the head would be enough to kill it... We aimed and fired, but right as we did, the wendigo jolted, barely avoiding the fatal bullets, that instead pierced its neck. It let out a primal roar, one that petrified me for a brief instant due to Aurora's trauma, but I **** myself to regain my composure, firing again. This time, though, the wendigo was aware of us, and could avoid our shots more easily.

Elan and I split up to distract the wendigo. I ran away, still firing at it to keep its attention on me, while Elan and Yahana would look for an opening to kill it. The wendigo was a lot faster than me, though, it didn't take long for it to catch up to me. Seeing no other way, I threw my now empty rifle at it to distract it for a brief instant while I unsheathed my gun and my dagger. I fired, hitting one of its arms and making it fall down. Another shot hit its other arm, temporarily immobilising it.

Aurora's rage and confidence made me rush towards the now wounded beast, firmly gripping my dagger and planting it into the monster's head, trying to end it now. Unfortunately, I underestimated how thick its skull was, my strength wasn't enough to pierce it.

The wendigo roared again, and jumped on me with its back legs, as its front ones were still injured. It was heavy, I couldn't get out, and its jaws were inches away from my face, its saliva dripping on my clothes.

No... It can't end like this...

I tried my best to break free, to do anything, but before biting me, the wendigo stopped, sniffing me.

"Smell... weird..." It managed to growl, confused. "Two... smells..."

The fact that it spoke wasn't what surprised me the most, it was what it said. Smell? Did it somehow sense I was a skinwalker?

I had no time to dwell on that, I took the opportunity that it was distracted and that we were out of view from Elan and Yahana to free the spines and stab its eyes with them, making it roar yet again. Now that it was blinded, I managed to find an opening to leave and grab my gun back, aiming straight at its head and emptying my magazine. A more powerful shot from Yahana's rifle finally pierced its skull from behind, as I saw her approaching, alongside Elan.

The wendigo fell down, unmoving. But Elan came closer and bashed its head multiple times with a small axe, just to make sure it was truly dead. I just stared at its lifeless body, still stunned by what just happened. I fought a wendigo, I saw its terrifying face from up close as it almost killed me... I still couldn't believe it really happened...

I glanced at my hands, the spines safely hidden underneath my fingertips. They saved me, Aurora would have been powerless in the same situation. But she most likely would have acted a bit differently too. I noticed a few minor injuries on my hands, injuries that would normally heal almost instantly with my skinwalker abilities, but I obviously couldn't let them heal with Yahana and Elan around.

"Rori, you're alright?" Yahana asked, visibly worried, as she helped me get up properly.

I took the time to catch my breath, the adrenaline running off. "I-I am... Thanks, Yana..."

She hugged me tightly. "You're always so reckless, you can't keep rushing towards danger like this... I was so afraid of losing you."

I hugged her back, a saddened look on my face. You already lost her, Yana... You just don't know it...

"I... I think I'll stick to urban monsters, from now on... I'm really not fit for hunting monsters in the wild..." I muttered.

"I can finish things on my own, return to the hotel and rest for now. I'll join you two later." Elan said.

"Alright. Thanks, Elan." Yahana replied. "Come, Rori, let's get back and treat your wounds."

I got my rifle and my dagger back and we returned to town. Yahana had a first aid kit on her, so she disinfected and bandaged my hands on our way down. I didn't believe I could fall ill, but I let her do it, to keep up appearances.

"Really, Rori, promise me you won't rush recklessly like that again, alright?"

I smiled weakly. "I promise, Yana. I'll be more careful from now on."

She gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek and smiled. "I'll remember that~"

I retreated to my room when we reached the hotel, I needed some time to calm down. I texted Claire, asking how she was doing. Dahlia was teaching her a few things about the medicinal properties of some plants, apparently. I really hoped the two of them would stay together, I wished for their happiness.

After getting changed into clean clothes and washing the dirty ones I've been wearing, I laid on the bed, closing my eyes. I intended to only take a short rest, but I ended up drifting off, the exhaustion catching up with me.