Faceless

There is so much lore and strange legends surrounding what I am. Each one seems to contradict the other, saying that there is only one kind of shape shifter but that isn’t so. There are many different species with different capabilities. But no matter who the individual shifter is, we are feared. I can handle people’s misconceptions and fears but this, this is going to kill me. I fear the pure humans, their greed and brutality destroy my brothers and sisters every day.

No matter what type of shifter, the spine is the source of power. We are hunted and murdered, our spines ripped from our ever-changing bodies. The spine of a shape shifter fetches quite a price on the black market; trophies for the rich and incredibly powerful sources of magic for witches to obtain.

That is why I have fled. I’ve been running all my life, but they’ve finally caught my scent and they will never give up. I am hidden now in a dank, pitch black cave, dreading the moment when they find me and rip me apart.

I am deep within the bowels of this massive rock and yet I can still hear the wind whistling through the trees and the crashing of the waves. I know I will hear their approach but there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

The humans call me a monster and yet I am the one cowering in fear, awaiting my death at their hands.

I was born a quivering mess; sexless, skinless and with a skeleton that gyrated as if it was trying to dance, rip me in half. My father stared down at me in horror, withdrawing a knife from his belt, ready to end my sorry life. But though my mother was also utterly disgusted she wouldn’t allow him to harm me. She wrapped me in the baby blanket that had been intended for the normal healthy human baby they were expecting instead of me.

She hid me from the world, searching in secret for another shape shifter that would take me in and raise me in the shadows, safe away from the cruelty of the pure humans. Three months after my birth she became so desperate that she sought out a witch in the village to track any shape shifter that could be found. A spell located one only a few miles away, hiding in the next village.

Luckily, the shifter was kind and perhaps a little lonely; she accepted the responsibility of raising me and teaching me how to hide behind another person’s face. Marina was her name and she worked hard to protect me and to keep us in the shadows. She taught me how to control my body to ensure that I could change my appearance at will. As a child it was very difficult to duplicate a person’s appearance because I could not control the transformation. The end result would be some hideously deformed mutation of the person I intended to imitate.

My body was restless and would change form often, completely out of my control. Marina disciplined me, taught me how to transform when I wanted and how I wanted. Despite learning to control my transformations my body needed to shift very often. She was my mentor, my mother until I was thirteen. She saved my life by throwing her own away.

Hunters had come to the town we were passing through in hopes of capturing a shifter. Rumors in the tavern above the little inn we occupied gave us away. And it was my fault. I was still struggling to master my transformations but it was difficult. Marina had gone downstairs to the tavern to order dinner to be brought up to us. Meanwhile, in our little room I felt my bones begin to writhe under my flesh. My skin started to crawl and burn. I knew if I didn’t choose a new façade quickly I would be left exposed, my skin sloughed off and nothing new to replace it with.

The innkeeper’s daughter was the first image that went through my mind. I quickly willed myself to turn into her; around fifteen years of age or so, fairly short, a delicate heart-shaped face with large green eyes and golden hair that flowed all the way down to the small of her back. It was the closest thing to the image I had assumed when Marina and I had come to this small town.

On our travels I had seen a young woman of eighteen years with long blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. I was enamored by her beauty and was glad to emulate her. If only I could have thought of someone else to copy it wouldn’t have been so obvious to the tavern wench that had come to deliver our food. Thankfully, she came just a moment after my transformation. My previous skin lay shed, hidden under the blanket I had thrown over it at the sound of footsteps.

The plump woman entered with a tray of food without so much as a knock and I stood there, panting and sweating, exhausted after the painful change. She placed the food on the rough wooden desk in the corner then turned to look at me. The sun had just set but even in the dim light she recognized my new form.

“Miss Erin, what are you doin’ here?” she asked as she eyed me suspiciously.

“I-I…” I had no answer for her, I struggled to come up with a convincing lie as quickly as I could. “I was just curious about these guests. It’s a bit odd, two women traveling alone on foot.” I knew that my excuse only cast more suspicion on us in this small fairly xenophobic town but it was the only thing I could think of. The woman looked me over once more.

“Why are you sweatin’ like that?”

“I was running outside,” I replied quickly. Her brow was furrowed and she batted at the strands of dark brown hair that had fallen into her face. She eyed the blanket on the floor and walked over to it.

“Don’t touch it!” I almost shouted. She gave me a quizzical look. “Th-The patrons will think we were snooping in their room if we move things around.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate me tidying up at least a tad bit,” she said.

“No. They seemed rather private. Just do not bother with it. L-Look, let us leave the room before they come back and wonder what we are doing lingering here.” We stood in silence for a moment before she gave a curt nod and held the door open for me. We descended the stairs in silence and I quickly walked outside. I moved towards the woods closest to the inn, knowing that Marina meditated often meditated outside and that she would find the most secluded place to do so. She loved forests; the wildlife existing harmoniously, the beautiful green that surrounded everything, the trickling streams and the gentle sunlight that filtered down through the tree branches.

I searched through the thicket of trees until I found her sitting against a large oak with her eyes closed and her hands folded in her lap. “Marina, we have to go,” I said in a frantic whisper. Her eyes opened and she looked at me questioningly.

“I didn’t mean to, I swear I didn’t. But the change took over me and I had to assume a new disguise. A woman from the tavern… she came up with food and she saw me there. She has her suspicions, I could see it in her eyes.”

A flash of anger came over Marina’s face, currently in the form of an older woman with countless wrinkles and pure silver hair. She took a deep breath and stood up. “Do not worry. We will gather up our belongings and we will leave.”

“Marina, I’m so sorr--”

“Don’t apologize. It is not your fault. When I was your age I had almost no control over the change. You have done better than I ever did at thirteen,” she said softly. She strode out of the woods with ease while I was stumbled over the large roots behind her. At the edge of the wood she stopped abruptly.

“You stay here. We can’t afford you being seen again. Especially when the form you’ve taken is one that belongs in this town, in this very building.” I felt so ashamed of my blunder, knowing the danger I had landed us both in. I watched as she walked back to the large wooden building. She walked through the tavern door and disappeared.

Night had fallen and the sky was pitch black but for a few stars that shone above. I waited anxiously for Marina to return to me so we could be on our way. The minutes stretched on for what seemed like forever until a sudden scream pierced the air. The tavern door opened and Marina was flung out of it, landing sprawled in the mud. She was followed by three burly men and a crowd of people behind them quickly trickled from the tavern and stood to watch. One of the large men held a knife in his hand.

“Silver’s your poison, isn’t it?” he asked menacingly. “Just like a werewolf. You’re all beasts that need to be cut down, one by one.” Shouts and murmurs of agreement from the crowd encouraged the man. Even in the darkness I could see him grinning.

“Where is your little companion?” the innkeeper shouted.

“She’s long gone,” Marina said with a smile. I stared in horror as the scene unfolded just like in my nightmares. When I was just seven Marina told me if we were ever to be caught that I should do everything in my power to save myself. She told me not to try to rescue her should something happen. “There is nothing to gain from both of us dying,” she had said. I remembered her words but couldn’t stand to heed them. I made my closer to the crowd, keeping to the shadows.

“Where did she go?” a person in the crowd shouted out.

“I would not know. That child is a free spirit; going where the wind takes her,” Marina lied. The crowd seemed convinced which only angered them more.

“Well, then I guess we will have to make do with killing just you. One less monster to fear,” the man with the knife growled.

I wanted to rush forward, grab Marina by the arm and run as fast as we could out of that awful place and yet my feet remained rooted to my spot. I stood there and watched as if in a trance as the man grabbed Marina by her silver hair and pulled her up to her knees. Fear and dread shot through me like a lightning bolt as the man raised his knife high into the air.

I wish I could tell you that I at least tried to stop him, but I was a coward. I just stood and watched as he swung his knife down and slit Marina’s throat. I watched while the crowd cheered as Marina fell to the ground, blood flowing out of her mixing with the mud beneath her. And then I ran.

I tell myself that I did what Marina would have wanted me too. I saved myself. Those had always been her orders in case we were exposed. I did what she told me to do. But how could I have listened? She was my mother the moment she took me into arms and lifted the burden off of my biological family. How could I let her die like that? How could I have been such a coward?

I had a choice, I had a chance to try to save her but I did not take it. My selfishness in that crucial moment haunts me every day.