Rachel, with a crossbow

As the figure got closer, it became clearer that it was carrying something in its arms. Was that… some kind of camera with a big lens? Or some sports equipment of some kind? My heartbeat doubled as the figure got close enough for me to really make out, and pointed what they were holding straight at me.

What the hell?!

Rachel stood there, pointing what seemed to be an archaic crossbow straight at me. Under the cover of darkness and my own failure to move while I had the chance, I was now firmly in her range. She was in the same gothic outfit as before, and between the clothes and her pale skin it almost seemed like she was a ghost of vengeance here claim me for my sins.

I stood up from the swing only to be stopped when she spoke.

“Don’t try it! I’ve practiced well with this crossbow, and if you try to move I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”

Looking at her now I could see how confident she seemed holding it, and even having a functional crossbow and bolts was enough of a danger sign to get me to stay put. I glanced around frantically, looking to see if there was anyone close who might come to my aid and rescue me from such a dangerous situation, but the park was completely empty, and distance and darkness had worked well to completely isolate us from the far-off electric lights of the street. Rachel and I were completely alone out here.

Giving up on immediate thoughts of escape, I decided my only chance was to try and talk her down.

“Hi Rachel, what brings you out here? It’s a lovely night, isn’t it?”

My lame attempts to lighten the mood did nothing at all, before she continued;

“I heard?”

“You heard…?”

“I heard what you said to Jimmy. I was going to the kitchen for a snack when I overheard you. Skinwalker…”

My blood went cold at her accusation, as my worries about being too loud became very well founded. She knew! It was one thing for Jimmy, my best friend, to find out, but Rachel was an acquaintance at best. I had no idea what she was really like, and now it seemed my life was in her hands.

“Show me.”

She ordered, as my brain began scrambling for anyway out of this. Could I try to run? Make it to the trees? My unhealthy lifestyle meant I wasn’t exactly in the best shape, but at least I was in trainers. In those Demonia boots I knew Rachel wouldn’t be able to move very fast. But then again, if she was as accurate with that crossbow as she claimed, I wouldn’t make it very far before getting cut down.

This cancelled out the other side of “Fight or flight too”. If I wasn’t confident in my ability to get further away from her, I certainly wasn’t confident enough to get close to her and attempt to skin her. My dick started getting hard at the fantasy of making it to her somehow, throwing her crossbow to the side as I pierced her with her spines, pulling one of her holes wide as I slid inside and assumed her form. Giving the body of a hot goth girl a run…

“Hello, earth to Alex. That wasn’t an optional order. Show me now!”

Reluctantly, I raised my hand and revealed the spines, her eyes going wide as I did so.

“I knew it. I knew they were real.”

Rachel said quietly, causing me to go to wonder what she could possibly mean. Rachel’s expressions seemed to flicker around every emotion at once; surprise, a high energy look as her eyes widened, gratitude, happiness. It was surreal, especially under the circumstances.

“I always believed… I hoped it might be true. And now you’re standing right here, in front of me. Who are you, really? Under that skin, I mean. And why would you choose to wear Alex of all people? If you need a skin, I’d much rather you used mine than waste your time with him.”

“Wait, what??”

I was so confused by this dramatic shift in atmosphere. What was going on with her? I knew Rachel seemed to be into some strange stuff, but this really seemed to be crazy.

“It’s okay, it’s okay! I’m on your side.”

She lowered the crossbow with a smile and began moving towards me, causing me to stumble backwards and trip over the swing, tumbling down to the ground. Trying to shuffle up, I felt her hands on my shoulders as she helped me up, the crossbow discarded as we stood in each other’s personal space.

My heartbeat was fast now for different reasons, as our faces were close, the danger of the situation previous and now having a hot girl so close stimulating me to no end.

“What-”

I started, before she cut me off with her own excited rambling.

“I’ve always been interested in this stuff, you know. The supernatural, demons, otherworldly creatures. I used to be ostracized for it. For being so honest with my passions, maybe. And… well, being unafraid of darker things. In my loneliness, I guess I found community in the strangest places.”

I looked deep into her eyes as she talked, feeling almost hypnotized. Her iris’s seemed to shine a brilliant pale blue, seeming to glow in the darkness. I thought if I were to skin her and escape from this situation, now was the time… but I couldn’t help but listen to her words, eager to hear what she had to say.

“You can find all kinds of things on forums you know. A lot of stuff, most people probably aren’t supposed to know. I was researching late one night into the supernatural, craving in my heart that it was real, fantasizing about becoming a witch or something like that.”

She laughed as if the idea was crazy, but after what I’d experienced in the last few days, I wasn’t sure if it was.

“And then I found something interesting. A ‘Church’, if you could call it that. A religious community, seeming to exist around the world, but in only small sects. One that seemed to flourish like weeds, under the radar of respectable society. I’d never been religious, much as my strict parents wanted me to be. Maybe that helped push me towards this group with its beliefs so against anything a mainstream religion might hold.”

I remembered hearing something about a strange Church when I’d moved here, some crazy scandal, a mystery that hung over the city, just another unexplained event in a city full of them. What was it…?

“It was a religion based around the worship of Skinwalkers. Oh, the creatures they celebrated had many names around the world, analogues in nearly every culture on earth. From the Nagual of the Mexican jungles to the Odiyan of Kerela. Legends inspired by them, partly. Some merely a co-incidence.”

My head seemed to swim as she talked, my brain absorbing everything she said like a sponge. Little wonder she’d gotten hooked on this stuff, it was fascinating.

“I learned as much as I could. It wasn’t easy to find out, but I couldn’t stop. Eventually I reached out, and tried to join them. They weren’t exactly a church, and not quite a cabal either. A cult maybe, but one founded on something I hoped to be real. The more I thought about it, the more it awakened something in me. The creatures they described had the power to turn people into skins, through magic or some strange science, and wear them, assume their lives.

Some were interested in the science of it all, but for me, I was interested in it in a different way. It was just so hot!”

I was definitely surprised to hear her say that, at least out loud. I knew myself how sexy this ability could be…

“So you… want to become a skinwalker?”

I asked, tentatively. She thought for a moment, before shaking her head.

“Well, not exactly. I mean, I would love to, but wearing the skins and taking them isn’t the hottest part of this fetish for me…”

So it’s a full blown fetish for her, huh?

“No… I want to be worn. I want someone to turn me into a skin, I want to feel the essence drain out of me, and feel them pull me on. I want to know that someone else had stolen my body and is parading around in it. The idea gets me so wet!”

She whispered the last line, seeming to breathe deeply, a little flustered as she got turned on just describing it.

“It’s the ultimate domination, being reduced to being just a possession and being possessed. I used to touch myself for hours just fantasizing about it.”

Rachel had a lewd look plastered across her face now, her eyes almost glazed over as she described her fantasy. I felt so conflicted about it… this was so sudden, and she was obviously a freak. But… hearing her describe it like this was really turning me on too.

I needed to take back some kind of momentum in the conversation. Should I try to ask her more? She seemed to know all kinds of valuable things. Or should I offer to make her fetish a reality, and get into her skin?