“Eyes up here you sick bastard!” She snapped when she saw I was looking her up and down.

      “Do not worry, I have seen many women, and I am not aroused by you.” I said calmly.

      She kept her aggressive stance and tried to keep herself sideways from me, her face still full of anger.

      I said, “You are young, you have only just started skin-walking, but you must only be 11, yet you are very good at it.”

      “I am 13! But I have been able to do this since I was 11. Just let me go and I won’t bother you again.” She said strongly.

      “I am not so sure about that. You see, only a supernatural can find another, but you are a skin-walker, and you had to come a long ways and passed by many others of my kind to find me. If you remember, you spied on me, but you were naïve, and you got caught. Perhaps you will leave, but eventually you will return to me for what you want.”

      “Oh yeah?” she said, “What makes you think I was her for you? I just saw your beautiful cat and changed to look like her. I wasn’t here to get anything from you!”

      “I know you are lying.” I said, and I sat in a chair to see if that might calm her down. It didn’t.

      “Screw you! I don’t know who you are, or what you think you can assume about me, but if you hurt me, you will be sorry, you weirdo!”

      “Dirty mouth for one so young,” I smirked, “and you need to work on your lying. Although that can’t help you with me, I know you are lying pure and simple. I believe you know exactly who I am.”

      “Screw you, d-bag!”

      “Again with the foul language, do you ‘kiss your mother with that mouth’?”

      Her face saddened and she glanced down. In a quieter tone, she said, “I never met my mother.”

      She was telling the truth and I almost sympathized with the intruder, I knew exactly what she wanted from me. “I am sorry to hear that, please have a seat. I suddenly understand what you want, I find it very noble. I am not going to hurt you, but do sit down.”

      “Yeah, what do you even know?” She said trying to regain her bravado.

      “I know the truth. You are here because you are looking for your father. I wonder... do you know what kind of…being…he was? Or what type I am?”

      She just stared me down defiantly, her eye twitched, and she shivered.

      “Fascinating…”

      “WHAT? Are you a mind reader, or just a pervert?”

      “No, it’s not those. I just haven’t felt the cold for a very long time, and you are still susceptible to it. Please sit, you have nothing to fear here, not anymore. I will find you some clothing and make you a…coffee. Or are you too young for caffeine? Perhaps a tea would be more appropriate.” I smiled kindly, and she just stood stiff. “Well, for heaven’s sake, you are standing as a guest in someone’s house naked! Either you accept my hospitality or you leave to the streets in the nude!”

      She shook her head and slumped down onto a sofa, looked to either side, and covered herself with a pillow and looked down at her toes while she wiggled them.

      “Like I said, you need not be ashamed here, your nudity will not affect me, but I will give you garments to wear for your sake. Just stay there and I will be back.”

I walked from the main room to my chamber and into my closet. I pulled aside all my clothes to the very edge nook. There was a hanger with a garment wrapped in a plastic Dry-Cleaner’s bag. I took it off the hook and I tore off the plastic. Sniffing it put me into a sudden ecstasy in which my heart would be pounding again if it weren’t for… well, that. It still smelled like her, even after all these years, but then I remembered and the pain flooded back.

      I grabbed a tissue from my trinket covered dresser to wipe the blood from my eyes, so that I wouldn’t ruin the pale rose pink silken robe with finely sewn roses stitched in it. The gown began to anger me, so I ran back into the living room and handed it to her.

      “Why are you suddenly so nice?” She asked, gruffly.

      “Because, I saw your truth.” I muttered as I walked to the south wall where my kitchen area was at. My apartment was small, the main room was a living room, dining room, kitchen, and study in one open area. My chamber was in the back with a bathroom and a compartment.

      “My truth?” she asked.

      “For a skin walker, especially one who started at such a young age as you, you don’t know much. Did your kind not teach you? I wonder if you know who you are with.”

      She looked away and muttered, “No.”

      “Hmm, well I knew both of your parents very well so I will honor their daughter with my memories.”

       She jerked her head in my direction, “Wait. Are you Riley?”

      I took in a deep, although unnecessary, breath, “Riley. Most people call me other things, but you didn’t think I was Riley? I wonder how you found me if you didn’t know who you were looking for.”

      “I tracked you to this apartment complex but the guy in the lobby wouldn’t release tenant names. I was only outside your window because I wanted to change into your cat so that I could survey and snoop around the building without being bothered with. I didn’t expect the great adventurous and bold Riley to be living alone in this tiny apartment like a hermit. With a cat…”

      I shook my head as I poured water into my kettle. “Who taught you to think so highly of me?” Although, I think I knew the answer.

      “I suppose my Father did.” She conceded.

      “Yes, ha-ha, that boy really did never grow old. Always followed me about like a little boy. Well, I suppose that’s fitting, but considering our circumstances, he could have taken the chance to grow up some. How is he, anyway?”

      “Dead,” she said bluntly.