This will be fun! Time for spooky adventures!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Lucy was now in the back seat of Levy and Gajeel's car, her suitcase in the trunk and the demon she'd summoned sitting in the seat beside her. He'd put on a parka that Gajeel had grabbed and a pair of jeans. None of Gajeel's had fit him, so they'd stopped by a second-hand store and bought a pair there. He was now wearing a pair of boots too, made of brown leather, also bought from the aforementioned second-hand store. He'd made his horns disappear, leaving him looking human enough. His fangs and scarlet eyes remained, though.
Lucy gazed out the window with a glassy-eyed stare, watching the drifts of white pass her vision. Levy attempted to make small-talk, especially with Lucy, but it was lost when the blonde didn't respond. The demon beside her stared out the window as well, facing the opposite direction. She wrapped her coat more tightly around her, tucking her nose into her scarf. Gajeel switched on the radio, soft jazz filling the car. Lucy never pegged him as a jazz lover. From Gajeel's appearance, she'd expect him to be more of a rock music lover. But alas, looks can be deceiving. Gajeel hummed along as the music played, and Levy was doing something on her phone, having given up on conversation making.
Lucy desperately wanted to call Mirajane, but Levy told her that telling others her location wasn't the best idea. She tapped at the phone's screen, fiddling with a game. Natsu watched over her shoulder curiously. He asked the occasional answer, lucy giving short answers. She opened 'Cut The Rope', as she owned the full version, beginning to play.
"What's the objective of this?" Natsu asked, raising his eyebrows.
"you cut the rope and try to get the candy to the monster below. He eats it, then you move on to the next level." Lucy explained, cutting the rope and allowing the candy to fall into the monster's waiting mouth. She allowed herself a celebratory grin, tapping the next arrow.
"Can I try?" Natsu asked, much to Lucy's surprise. She nodded, passing the phone to him.
He tapped the screen, flinching back when it responded to his touch.
"You drag your finger across the rope and it breaks." Lucy demonstrated, and the candy fell, not landing in the monster's mouth. The level failed and started over.
Natsu did as she did, grinning in triumph when the candy landed where it was supposed to this time. His face told Lucy he was entrapped, and she giggled.
"What's so funny?" Natsu asked indignantly, crossing his arms.
Lucy smiled. "Nothing, I just got a demon to play Cut the Rope."
"It's fun! I can do what I want!"
Lucy patted his arm, plucking the phone from his hand. "It sure is."
The pair played for a while, alternating between levels and passing the phone from person to person.
Or from person to demon, seeing as Natsu wasn't human at all. Whichever worked, Lucy supposed.
Lucy was in the middle of trying to beat a particularly hard level, Natsu muttering mostly unhelpful suggestions over her shoulder when the car suddenly jerked forward, the speed sharply increasing.
Levy jerked forward along with Natsu and Lucy, the latter's head slamming painfully into the seat in front of her.
Levy's own head would have hit the dash if her seatbelt wasn't on, and she shot an annoyed look to her husband.
"Babe, are you trying to get us killed? That was dangerous! You need to be more care-"
"We're being tailed," Gajeel said quickly, cutting Levy off. His eyes didn't move from the road, he just stared straight ahead.
Levy glanced back at Natsu and Lucy, the blonde girl rubbing the sore spot on her head where it had made contact with the seat. Natsu and Lucy had resumed their game, and Levy lifted her eyes to the back window, her breath catching. It wasn't a car that was tailing them. It was a creature. It was a coyote, but its legs were much too long, and the way it moved was unnatural. Its eyes were sharp and intelligent, deep yellow in color. It opened its mouth, a shriek that was far from human tearing forth, and Levy could see now that its teeth seemed much too long to fit comfortably in its mouth.
And it was gaining on them.
"Can you see what it is, Lev?" Gajeel hissed, his eyes staying on the road.
"Yeah," Levy said, her eyes locked on the creature.
"And? What is it?"
Levy gulped. "It's a skinwalker."
"Oh no," Gajeel muttered, "Lev, the salt gun is in the glove box. Grab it now. I didn't think they would pick up the scent this fast."
Levy nodded, taking a few quick breaths to regain her composure, drawing the gun. She jammed some salt pellets into the chamber, loading it.
"Levy? What's going on?" Lucy asked, her voice shaking. Levy didn't answer right away her eyes locked on the creature tailing the car. It was closer now, its far too large fangs bared.
"Lucy, do not look behind you. No matter what." Levy warned, pressing the gun against her chest.
Natsu sniffed the air. "I smell salt. Damn, I hate that smell. Where's it coming from?"
Lucy shrugged. "It's something humans eat on food."
"I know that, idiot," he rolled his eyes, "the stuff doesn't sit well with me, or demons in general."
"Oh, to hell with it!" Gajeel cried, "we're being tailed."
Lucy's voice came out in a terrified squeak. "What...?"
Well, if they weren't being subtle anymore...
"Gajeel," Levy called, "I need white ash and regular bullets, not salt. The only way to kill a skinwalker is with white ash. Now, where did you put the white ash?"
"Dammit." Gajeel hissed, slamming his palm on the steering wheel.
"What?" Levy asked, her voice sharp.
"The ash is in the back, between the seats. I think it's in the center compartment."
"Why didn't you put it somewhere easier to access?"
Gajeel pinched the bridge of his nose, "we don't often run into skinwalkers, Lev! I didn't think we'd need it!"
Levy sighed, slamming the salt gun down and drawing a pistol from the glovebox, it was stored with the salt gun. Levy dumped a few bullets into her lap, and she turned to Lucy.
"Lu, that compartment beside you, open it and take that Altoids tin out. Give it to me."
Lucy hurriedly hit the release button on the compartment, and it swung open. She dug through several charger cords and until her fingers met the cool metal of the tin. She shoved it into Levy's waiting hand, and she pried it open, rolling the bullets in the ash and loading them into the gun.
"Gajeel, I can't hit it with it behind us."
"Good thing it's not behind us."
Levy's eyes grew in size. "Well, where is it? Is it gone?"
"Levy, look to your right."
Levy slowly turned her head, and her eyes locked with the creature, who was keeping perfect pace with the car. "Oh," she said quietly.
"Levy, what the hell is that thing?!" Lucy cried, her face ashen.
"It's a skinwalker, bunny girl," Gajeel answered instead, "they're Navajo witch doctors. They're pure evil. I don't think I've ever seen one this far north."
"Gajeel, I can't shoot without it attacking."
"Then do it fast!" Gajeel's grip was tight on the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road.
Levy waved the hand not occupied by the gun frantically. "That's easier said than done. I once encountered a skinwalker in Arizona, and those things can pounce pretty fast."
"Don't you think I know that? That's why I'm tellin ya to shoot fast!"
Levy ran a hand through her hair, turning back to the skinwalker, who hadn't moved. it just stared back at her with an eerie grin on its face. Levy brought her finger to the button to bring the window down, and the creature looked up at the top of the window and back to Levy, it's grin increasing in size. A grinning coyote. That wasn't something you saw every day.
"Here goes nothing..." Levy muttered.
She rolled down the window, the skinwalker's muscles tensing in preparation to lunge, and before Lucy or anyone in the car could even blink, the gun went off, and the skinwalker blasted back, an earsplitting shriek shattering through the air. It slammed into a group of trees beside the road, crimson liquid splattering the trees and dying the snow.
Gajeel stopped the car as the skinwalker limped back up, its wounded whimper sounding like a cross between human and animal. It sent shivers of fear through Lucy's body. The shock of the sudden break slammed Lucy and Natsu back in the seat.
Levy leaned halfway out the window, and as the skinwalker stood on shaky legs. Blood stained the front of its chest, dying the fur deep red. It took Lucy a second of fearful staring until she realized that pieces of fur were beginning to fall off. Underneath was tanned skin, the tissue appearing to be burned.
Levy reloaded the gun, firing a second time. This bullet hit the creature square in the forehead as it raced towards the car, and it fell back into the snow, blood pooling around it. It did not move again.
Before Lucy's eyes, it began to rot. The fur fell off and turned into ash, the smell of sulfur poisoning the air. What remained was a man. Bullet wounds marred his skin, white ash scattered around them. He too began to turn, black ash exploding on the snow, and he was gone.
"Drive," Levy ordered, rolling the window up.
"Did you kill it?" Lucy asked.
"I would need to be a Shamen to kill it permanently, but it won't bother us again."
"Lev, that was close."
Levy sighed, shoving the now empty gun back into the glove compartment. "You're telling me."
Lucy looked out the window, leaning to try and glimpse where the skinwalker had fallen. "It seemed pretty dead to me."
"It isn't dead," Levy sighed, "It just escaped. I didn't use enough white ash to kill it. It knows not to bother us again, though."
Lucy slumped back into the seat, her head thunking against Natsu's shoulder. She shifted away from him, groping for her phone, but it was in his hands. He was playing that game like nothing unusual had happened. Lucy wondered whether he'd been playing it during the attack without batting an eye.
Was this normal for him? Lucy gulped, not wanting to think about what other creatures as terrifying as that were waiting.
Waiting for her.
This took forever to update and I'm sorry. Have this, It's done. I need to update Hangman's Forest, too. I'm so swamped. Anyway, stay tuned!
~Starry