A Fresh Start (Book 6 Arrow/SPN Series)

Just When You Think You Know Everything

Now, my soul's been sent to Hell, tortured, almost became a demon, rescued, shoved back into a months old corpse, mangled by angels, actually turned into a demon, purified and then slowly corrupted by the Father of Murder's Mark that made me immortal, then healed from that. It's been through a lot. Sam's soul hasn't had it much better. I sort of expected a wrenching, tearing, agonizing pain when Coyote did whatever she was going to do but it was nothing like that. Maybe the Natives just have nicer magic, or my Warrior Spirit isn't the same as a soul, whatever the reason I definitely preferred the experience over all the other times my soul's been separated from me. This internal warmth spread through me, almost like I'd just had a shot of really expensive bourbon and I felt bigger, not physically but like I was part of something greater. Maybe whatever Coyote was doing was bringing me some sort of enlightenment, which was damned amusing to think about for a second or two until the warmth faded and this pressure started building in my chest. It wasn't painful, not really, but something definitely wanted out. Coyote's chanting changed again, the pressure grew and the space in front of me started to glow, same with Cougar and Sam. Her voice grew louder, her dancing got faster then she threw her head back and brought her hands together in front of her chest. What followed that wasn't just a clapping sound, I was pretty sure the rumble of thunder that seemed to roll through the forest was somehow linked with what she just did. A huge black wolf stepped out of my chest, I felt this really odd sucking feeling deep inside me and that's when things got weird.

I was on two feet while being on four paws, I could feel wind rustling through what was left of my fur at the same time I felt it on my hands. An even larger white wolf stepped out of Sam's chest, it's fur was streaked with black and it had several old, healed scars on it. A cougar that had to be the most massive version of a cougar anyone could imagine stepped from Cougar's chest. It glowed pure white and had some seriously huge teeth. I looked back down at the black wolf that was my Spirit, Sam's scars had all healed. Mine? Well let's just say if I saw a dog that looked like my wolf did I'd call the cops on whoever owned it.

It had more scars then fur, a lot of them were open and bleeding. Buried under the new wounds were layers and layers of whip marks, knife wounds and burns. It turned it's head and looked at me, the eyes were red tinted yellow and tired. Sam's wolf and Cougar's cougar had already taken a few steps and were crouching down, waiting for something to come at them. Mine just stood there, like it didn't have the energy to move. At least it did until Sam's wolf snarled at another, smaller grey wolf that had appeared and seemed to be heading straight for him. My wolf went from exhausted to straight out rabid in half a second. It lunged at the grey wolf, knocking it off it's paws and straight into a tree. I felt it when they hit the tree, I felt the teeth of the grey wolf ripping into my skin and I tasted the blood when my wolf ripped it's throat clean out. This was going to be confusing as all hell.

Coyote had opened her eyes after calling our Spirits out, she saw my wolf take out the grey one and almost stopped doing her odd shuffling dance, which probably would have been bad. I didn't know which was worse, the complete surprise on her face at how bad it looked or the look of sorrow that followed. Then her eyes met mine and what I saw t topped the other two for things I didn't need to see. Pity laced love, I hate pity. I didn't know if she was pitying me because of what I had been through or what but it didn't matter. I make my choices, however stupid they may end up being but they're my choices. I live with what comes after, always have, always will. Before I could get too pissed off about it four wolves, another cougar and a bobcat came at us along with a a whole slew of war cries from the people they belonged to and, judging by the volume, a few of their friends had come with them.

The wolves were varying shades of browns and greys, they looked more like the usual wolves you see pictures of. The bobcat went straight for the large coyote that had appeared out of nowhere about ten feet away from Coyote, which was a stupid move on it's part. Cougar's cougar didn't wait. It took one jump, landed on the bobcat and I thought that was the end of that till the other cougar joined in and knocked him off the bobcat. Sam's wolf and mine stood side by side and waited for the other wolves to come at us but they stopped about twenty feet away and started shaking their heads while pawing at their eyes.