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</iframe>The private jet had just landed at the airport, and she was waiting with Fallon and Anito for the customs agents to finish the inspection of the plane before they could disembark. It had been a long and fateful trip which just brought up more questions about the situations that had plagued her life. She let her mind drift back to a conversation she'd had with her mother a few years ago, when her life went from normal to supernatural. She'd been with Fallon for quite some time, and Anito had come back into her life
She was off with a previous promotion to Miami Florida, and she'd been running along the beach when her mother appeared after being called by Denton and Wallace about the issues that were springing up in her life. Her mother sat her down and told her a story that was so... trippy that it rocked her to her core.
*****
"As you know, our family was always considered special. Your great great grandfather was one of the most powerful medicine men in our tribe, and our clan was strong because of him. It was strong because he had an, let's call it an affinity with the animals of the forest. He was what we called a skinwalker."
Nyla frowns and holds up a hand, stopping her mother's story.
"Wait a tick... A skinwalker? What's that?"
Her mother lifts a handful of sand and let's it pour out from her hand.
"Skinwalkers could change into the shape of the animals of the forest, but not as a were would. They would use the skin of an animal, wear it like a suit, and when they had this skin on their shoulders their magic would transform them into that animal. With a were, their beast is internal, not external. But to become a skinwalker, terrible sacrifices must be made. It takes the heart of a loved one to become a skinwalker... Literally, not figuratively."
Nyla frowns and shakes her head.
"Wait... Are you saying he.."
Nyla's mother nods and sighs, leaning her cheek on her knee.
"A skinwalker makes sure to have many wives and children, in case they are needed."
Nyla shakes her head, unbelievingly.
"Mum... No way Mum! I can't believe that he would... He couldn't, could he?"
Nyla's mother nods slowly.
"Have you never wondered why you have never met your aunts, uncles and cousins?"
Nyla trembles, her revulsion plain on her face.
"I thought they just died of illness. I neve thought... Could never think..."
Nyla's mother nods slowly.
"He had fifteen children, and sixty-five grandchildren. My father was the only one left. I had three brothers and four sisters once. But the old man hadn't finished his collection of skins. He wanted more. He came one day and just asked my father for is, like we were sacks of flour. Of course your grandfather redused. He was so brave to stand against him, a proud warrior always, so unafraid. But great grandfather wouldn't be denied. He came in the night, while we slept. He crept like a thief from bed to bed and he... and he..."
Nyla's mother lifts a trembling hand and makes a slicing motion across her throat. Nyla's eyes are wide as she gasps in shock. Her mother nods and rests her cheek on her knee again as the tears spill from her eyes.
"I had my own room near the nursery, because I would help with the baby. Little Joanna. I used to call her Baby Jo and tickle her belly just to hear her tinkle of laughter. It was her dying screams that woke me. I ran to the nursery just as he was splitting her open... Like she was a chicken, or a thanksgiving turkey or something. That was when he came for me, but father had finally managed to escape the magic the old man had put on him. Father tried so hard to stop him... But the old man was like a wild animal... Father was powerless against his magic and his ferocity. He fought so hard... he would not let him have me. I was fifteen at the time, the oldest of us girls. I should have been able to protect them!"
Nyla scoots over and wraps her arms around her mother as she sobs at the memory of her lost family members.
"Why did he do it Mum? All of those children and loved ones... What would drive him to such... INSANITY!!"
Nyla's moher wipes her eyes and sits up to continue the story.
"What drives any man? The pursuit of immortality. He'd had a vision. In his vision, the Mother spirit had supposedly come to him in the form of a great buzzard. She told him he needed one hundred. One hundred skins, with the one hundredth one being made with the heart of another skinwalker from his own bloodline. A female skinwalker. One who would have he power to change without the need of a sacrifice. That night, he came after me, but it wasn't just mu father that stopped his pursuit. He'd killed everyone else, and had made his one hundredth skin already, but no other skinwalker had been born. He stood poised with the knife ready to strike me down and my father threw himself over me, taking the knife in the side. The old man looked down at me and said, 'it is not you. You will make more. I need my one hundred. You make more!' and he turned and walked out of the house with his doeskin bag filled with the hearts of my family. My father was bleeding to death, so I called the ambulance, but I didn't stay. I followed the old man. I knew what he meant. He meant that he wanted me to sacrifice my children to his insane exploits, and I refused to do so."
Nyla is stroking her mother's shoulders and looks at her.
"What did you do Mum?"
Nyla's mother strokes her forearms gently and a shudder ripples through her body.
"I followed him back to his cabin and looked into the window. He was performing the ritual to put the spirits trapped in those hearts into the animal skins. My brothers... My sisters... My mother... I couldn't let their souls be tortured for an eternity like that. So I took the lantern I'd used to navigate the woods and I threw it through the windows, right into the room of skins."
Nyla shakes her head and just holds her mother tighter as she's flooded with memories.
"They went up like wildfire. And as they were going, it was like I coiled hear the sighs of relief from each soul being freed. And the old man just went nuts. He ran into the room, running from skin to skin trying to put out the flames until his pants caught. He grabbed a cloak that looked like eagle feathers and threw it over his shoulders and tried to change and fly away, but the room was engulfed in flames by that time. The cloak just burned around him. And as he huddled in the flames, it was as if the skins took their vengance out on him, all falling ontop of him, burning around him. It was horrible for him, but the spirits had their justice."
Nyla nods slowly and squeezes her mother tightly. She swallows and continues on with the story.
"I got back to find my father in handcuffs, his wounds untreated and being questioned by the police about murders. He couldn't speak, he was heartbroken and too physically hurt. I flew at them, pushing them all back and wrapping myself around him to protect him from the police. He was still in shock, almost catatonic and just saying over and over again, 'I could not save them' as I held them. I whispered to him that he did save me and a glimmer of hope flashed across his face before he passed out. The police tried to drag me off of them until a neighbor came over and told them that I was his daughter. I pulled over a paramedic to help my father and turned to the police and screamed 'Old Man Joe in the woods did this!! I see smoke coming from his cabin, he might be burning the evidence right now!!' They went to the car and called it in and found out that the old man's cabin had
burned to the ground with him inside, and that they'd found the remains of thirteen dead infants on the property, all butchered like Baby Jo was. My father was finally allowed to go and we went to the hospital. His kidney and spleen had been punctured ans had to be removed. After he got out of surgery, I went back to the house, got some of our things including pictures and clothes, and a few pieces of jewelry, tossed it in the back of father's pick up and didn't look back. Father
went back after he'd been released and we had the funeral to pack up the house and he sold it. I'd graduated early and wanted a change of scenery, so I applied overseas at Cambridge and got in, which is where I met your father at an archaeology lecture."
Nyla is still silent, trying to process the awesome story she'd just heard. She shakes her head to try and clear out some of the muddledness in her mind.
"Wow... Mum.. I don't even know how to react to that story. So the female skinwalker was never born? How tragic for the old man's life to be so wasted for a fruitless endeavor."
Nyla's mother swallows slowly and shakes her head.
"I never said she was never born Nyla."
Her mother turns her head slowly to look at her and Nyla gets a shocked look on her face.
"No... Mum... No..."
He mother nods slowly and sniffs wiping her nose.
"Yes my dearest daughter. My father confirmed it while you were in the womb. I came home to visit when I was four months along. I wanted to surprise him with the news. But the old man wasn't the only medicine man in the family. My father had skills of his own. And as soon as I walked through the door, he did a slow turn and a look of horror spread across his face. He moaned and grabbed his chest and
pointed at me. As he collapsed to the floor with a stroke caused by the shock of what he just realized, he kept moaning two words. 'IT'S YOU!!' and at first I thought he meant me, but as I went to help him, he put his hand on my belly and said it again."
Nyla shakes her head with an incredulous look on her face.
"No Mum... There's no way!!"
Her mother nods slowly and takes a deep breath.
"Yes my dear, it's true. But you're more than just a skinwalker. I did more research into the skinwalkers and found that they were descended from a very special tribe of weres. They were called 'pan-weres' because if they were bitten or scratched by any other animal, they would obtain the ability to change into that shape. There are so many kinds of weres... Swanmanes, thunderbirds, weretigers, bruins, naga... All were thought to be descended from this one tribe! And if the old man had gotten a hold of something like that... Just think of what would have happened if the old man had succeeded and gained that kind of power..."
Nyla frowns and shakes her head.
"It would have been monstrous. But where does Anito come into things?"
"I met your father after his trip to Guatemala. He had brought Anito with him from the States so that he could see the family home, and was trying to culturalize him. But I knew Anito was different the moment I laid eyes on him. He was the best man at our wedding, and it hurt so much that father couldn't get his passport to come. But I think that if he had, he would have disapproved of the wedding. But Anito always seemed out of place. He just felt... Different. When your father tried to include Anito in our bed..."
Nyla pulls back and holds up a hand.
"Wait a tick... Father wanted you to have a threesome with him and Anito?"
Her mother nods and pats her hand.
"Don't worry dear. That was your father's kink. Anito was a gentleman and quietly refused so it wouldn't seem I was being... Disrespectful was how he put it. You were conceived about six months later. Your father and Anito were ecstatic. They just knew you were a girl."
Nyla swallows the lump in her throat and pulls from her mother's arms now that she'd been comforted. She looks her mother in the eye and sighs.
"So, what is this prophecy that Anito keeps on about? It certainly couldn't have been the old man's vision. Father and Nito never met him."
Nyla's mother starts to draw circles in the sand.
"Anito is the last of his clan to be born. No other... I guess you would call them kittens... Have been conceived in the past seventy-five years. And every female they turned would only birth human children. It would mean the end of them all. When he met your father, and took him back to meet his clan, or pard as they call
themselves, the elder pointed at your father and said, 'he will bring her into this world. The savior of our pard will be of his seed and of a clan lost long ago. You must go with him young kit. You will know what to do and when.' and sent them out of the jungle."
Nyla frowns and shakes her head.
"And how am I supposed to do that Mum?"
Her mother takes Nyla's hand and pats it.
"Apparently, every child you have that's been conceived with Anito will be a fertile female who will be able to bear kittens. You were to become literally a baby factory. Your children were supposed to become paired off with the men of the pard... kept like love slaves, concubines... impregnated over and over again so that they could continue their species."
Nyla shakes her head and just covers her mouth with her hand.
"That... That's as monstrous as what the old man wanted!! And did Anito really think that I would go through with it?"
Nyla's mother shrugs and shakes her head.
"I don't know. I think you'll have to ask him about that. But I just couldn't tell you everything until you were ready to know."
Nyla pats her mother's thigh and shakes her head.
"It's ok Mum. I understand. I really do. Now I just wish I'd known what was expected a long time ago, before Anito and I ever started anything. I feel like he's a stalker right about now."
Nyla's mother shrugs and grins slightly.
"Well, he's a big Pus*ycat really. His pard may want him to do that, but I don't think he'd ever truly do what they're asking. He's truly turned into a gentleman over the years. I still can't believe he's seventy-five this year."
Nyla chuckles and shakes his head.
"Yeah, he really robbed the cradle with me didn't he."
Her mother laughs and shakes her head.
"You have no idea how close to the truth that really is. He was at your christening. He's actually your GodFather."
Nyla's jaw hits the ground and she shakes her head.
"Wow... that's like... too strange for me."
*****
She's snapped out of her reverie by the
There is nothing noble
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… END OF FEED ...
*** Word Count, ***
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