The Hunters Volume One: The Beginning

Episode Three: Skinwalker

   "You dare speak that name in my presence?!"
   Lee sighed almost apologetically. "Oh, I forgot you guys don't like people doing that."
   "Wait, y-you know what that thing is?" Elena all but stammered in both shock and fright.
   He gave her a weird look as if she had asked something stupid. "You don't? Man, what're they teaching you kids nowadays?"

   Turning back to the enraged skinwalker, he spoke in a condescending tone.
   "Now, I'm going to give you two choices. One: you remove all your curses and tell me what your plan here is. Or-"
   The skinwalker cut his words short by leaping over the entire space between them and lashing out with a clawed hand at his neck. The attack was foiled when Lee grabbed the limb inches away from his throat and smiled wickedly.
   "The hard way it is then. Bad choice."

   'Devon' struck again with his other hand which was promptly restrained by Lee. Then in a movement Elena could barely follow, the Hunter swept the skinwalker's feet off the ground and delivered a devastating ax kick to his torso to slam him back on the ground. A third kick sent the skinwalker tumbling across the clearing until he dug his hands in the dirt to slow his roll.
   "Who are you?!" 'Devon' shouted angrily.
   Lee cocked an eyebrow in a dry expression. "Oh so now you wanna do introductions? Trying to rip out my neck isn't exactly how we say hello around here."
   His opponent literally growled at him in anger. He had not expected to be matched so easily by this human. His mission had been going smoothly and there had never been any mention of humans this powerful. Despite the fact that he himself had not attacked at full strength, the amount he'd used should have been able to decapitate a normal person at once. Yet this individual managed to not only react accordingly, but overwhelm him entirely in their brief exchange.
  
   The skinwalker frowned as he glared at the white haired man before him. Everything about the latter sent alarms blaring in his head. From his seemingly open stance to his lackadaisical behavior, he just seemed wholly wrong. The strangest thing was that he did not even entirely feel human. There was a hidden source of power in him, two in fact. But the skinwalker could not decipher what they were.
   Looking directly into the Asian man's eyes, the skinwalker attempted to enter his mind to probe and possibly manipulate him. But before he could even scratch the surface of his enemy's mind, he was repelled by an impossibly strong force that sent him reeling slightly in the physical world.
   "Yeah your mind tricks are not gonna work on me. Nice try though."
   Despite his words, Lee had stopped smiling. His foe was able to perform mental attacks of quite a high magnitude, meaning that he was no juvenile. He would have to be a bit more careful with this one.
   "Elena's your name, right?" he called to the witch behind him who snapped herself out of her daze to nod shakily. "Get to cover. This guy's probably gonna target you once he realizes he can't beat me and that would make keeping you alive more stressful."
   "W-why are you helping me even after what I said to you? You're a Hunter-"
   "That's exactly why I'm doing this. We protect innocents, not just humans only. They just tend to fall into that category more often." He gave a half smile that was full of warm confidence. "Besides it's our duty to keep you guys safe. Letting you die here would be a bit troublesome, don't you think?"

   A strange feeling bloomed inside Elena. She could describe it but the warmth that spread through her was certainly welcome. But she chose to focus on the present. The Hunter was right. In her current state, she would be more of a nuisance and a liability to him. The thought was unpleasant to her but she had never been one to shy away from reality. Pushing herself off the ground, she moved into the surrounding trees for safety and continued to watch the fight.
   The two men stared at each other for all of five seconds before the skinwalker struck first. Running on all fours like a beast, he bounded across the clearing and thrust his claws at Lee's head. The Hunter deflected the blow upwards and aimed an elbow strike at the skinwalker's unprotected abdomen. Having anticipated the attack, 'Devon' caught the elbow in his other hand. But he had no way of knowing what happened next.   
      Flowing from one move to the next, Lee gripped the first limb above them and reversed the skinwalker's hold on his second hand. Pushing his shoulder into the other's guard, he used his grip on his opponent and the position of his body to lift him over his shoulder and slam the skinwalker into the ground. The tattooed man felt the air rush out of his lungs as he impacted painfully on the forest floor. Lee stepped back to allow the man space to get back on his feet then he went on the offensive.