Descendants of the Starnik

Chapter 9: Discoveries

Nathan seethed. Night was drawing in now over the COWEL warehouse. Many still celebrated and laughed over the death of the she-wolf they had been stalking for the last year, so what if her two friends escaped, she was gone, their goal was to eliminate her and it was completed. Finally. Now all they needed was to tidy "loose ends", as it were. Those two wolves that somehow made it out of the ambush, they needed to be exterminated before anything could happen. They had the means to do that, after they ran, Evelyn was able to acquire a personal possession from, what she guessed, the youngest wolf living there. A picture of two older wolves, it made her, her boyfriend, Sam and just about everyone there sick to look at it, Sam was really working on them to make sure that they found a new strength, an iron fist, to embrace the Ditori! But anyway, Evelyn could use this personal possession of the young wolf to track him; she already had, to a national park east of their last location. But that wasn't the only thing she had been keeping an eye on.

"You can't be serious." Nathan snapped. Jonah wasn't the only being Evelyn had been tracking, and now something else had come up. She reached into her pocket, looking around to make sure nobody was listening before presenting him with a silver ring he was very familiar with.

"He's on the move too." She answered. "Last time I checked, he was with them." He bit his bottom lip, trying to hold his frustration.

"We're too old to be dealing with him. In the forty eight years of my life, things were fine until he started this."

"I feel the same baby." Evelyn sighed and tucking the ring back inside her pocket. "But if he's with them, then we must deal with him too." Nathan understood.

"Then let's tell Sam, we'd better get moving."

Meanwhile, and after some angered flares were settled, everyone was now laughing. This wolf, the one who stole the bow away from Jonah and the others, none could believe they were stood before yet another Starnik descendant. Tarka, the dark and light brown wolf, descended from Lupa's bloodline, going all the way back, along with Jonah and Henry's, to Rosie Starnik and Shadow, sibling bloodlines that were once of the same blood many, many generations ago. For the first time in nearly one hundred years, the bloodlines had been brought together. What only makes this better, was that Henry was meeting another from the third bloodline, all three could be brought together as they should have done.

But for now on, it was a time of apologies and fun telling. They had been gathered here since the argument at mid-day, sitting outside, wandering around and now back outside the den, gathered around a fire seeing as Peter couldn't fit inside the den tunnel. The jokes were funny, but the facts were now making Tarka complain. "Oh what?" He whined after hearing some news.

"I was lucky." Jonah chuckled. "It's nothing special."

"That's one more power then I have, no matter what it is." He sighed. "Gene's suck."

"Tell me about it."

"My parents weren't supernaturals..." Aquila added from across the fire. "Yet I am. It had to be a suppressed gene or something down the line to make me."

"You've just supported it, gene suck." Peter chuckled as he prodded the fire.

"So I look green?" Tarka asked curiously. Jonah nodded with a smile.

"The same green my uncle has and I do when I look in the mirror." He confirmed. "Each supernatural has their own glow; Aquila for example looks blue when I turn it on. She leaves behind a trail, a little like a scent. If I can't find that then I just somehow know where she is, like as if I'm standing right beside her or any other person I want to find."

"Cuz…shut up." Tarka smiled, but shaking his head, jealousy rising quickly inside him. To him, any power big or small, strong or weak, was a power worth having.

"So Tarka, got any family around here?" Aquila wondered, quickly he nodded and answered.

"Not around here, but they're around. My like to travel, trying to see that they have a full life before they die. Last I heard from them they were in New York. As for siblings, I was born with three others that were sadly still born. Before my folks went travelling, I heard an awful lot of talking about pups again."

"That's sweet, little brothers and sisters." She cooed.

"I'd just like to know what I'm in for. I wouldn't want them to visit me again with three more surprises that's for sure." Aquila only giggled. "So what about you two?" He then wondered and darting his eyes back and forth from Aquila and Jonah. "I must say, you make a cute couple." Quickly, both of them started retaliating, talking and shouting over one another to make the point as clear as they could that they weren't a couple. It was embarrassing, humiliating even, so even after they calmed down, Jonah saw Tarka was confused by the sudden outburst.

"We're not together." He repeated bluntly.

"We're friends and I was dragged into this mess." Aquila added. "I didn't have a choice."

"What mess?" Tarka asked.

"COWEL and…" It was then that, for the first time tonight, that Jonah realised something crucial.

"And…?" Tarka said, eager to know.

"Henry said he was attacked by some guy who knew about the Starnik."

"But the Starnik aren't around anymore." He replied and now even more bewildered.

"But he knows they had children." Jonah continued. "He knew where Henry and I lived; this guy has already killed one of our cousin's in Idaho. He knows our ancestors secrets, how we live, where we'd go, how to find us. If he found us then he can find you."

"Really?" Tarka responded and unconvinced. "How could anyone alive today know Starnik secrets?"

"We don't know." Peter answered. "But I was called to keep these two alive for the next two days, I think it may be best if you…"

"I'm not leaving." Quickly Tarka saw where this was headed. "This is my home; the only people that know where I live are the kids that play on top of my den."

"COWEL can find anyone they want." Aquila added. "They followed me around the country for a whole year. They burned my home and tried to kill me. If they can find me anywhere in the country then they can find you right here."

"COWEL? That stupid group?" He scoffed.

"Haven't you been listening to the news?" Peter asked. "Murders of your kind have gone up in the last two days. Nearly one body a day has turned up and COWEL are responsible for it."

"This guy is orchestrating COWEL and bringing them to a whole new level." Jonah further added. "He's made them bigger and better and soon no wolf will stand against them."

"You guys need to relax." He chuckled and shaking his head while getting up and walking over towards his den. "Let me show you something." He added before he disappeared down the hole.

"This guy just doesn't get it." Peter whispered.

"We can convince him." Aquila replied. "If Jonah convinced me then we can convince him."

"And it took you an awful lot of convincing." Jonah laughed right as Tarka came back out the hole, grunting and groaning as he dragged out something. Delicately placing it in front of Jonah, he quickly came to see what it was.

"It's not a gift." Tarka chuckled deeply as he sat on the other side of the bow they fought over this morning. "I just thought it was fair you got to see it too. It's a part of our family after all."

"Well not really, Scott Starnik was never blood." Jonah added jokingly.

"Still, he was family never the less." Tarka chuckled again. Jonah's eyes scanned the bow; it was magnificent, even if it was just a de-strung bow. The hands that caressed it, the fingers that pulled back its string and fired the arrows, the power of the human that used it. Sure, he wasn't their ancestor, but he became it when he became mated with Rosie Starnik, their true ancestor. So he was family anyway you imagined it.

"Of course, of course." Jonah chuckled with him a he stroked the bow, but keeping his paw off its surface. He didn't touch for fear that he could damage this valuable artefact of the family. "You say you were tracking this?" Tarka quickly nodded.

"Yep, I'm an antique and art collector by trade, so I have my ways. It's strange; I would have thought it would be buried with them in Kalispell in the family grave."

"All but Lupa, she was already dead remember? She joined them a few months after Myka died. As the story suggests anyway, we'll never know."

"I know, I know, she's my many great grandmother, of course I know I'm a descendant of the Starnik and Earth Angel."

"You would have thought with all that power in her, her bloodline would have had a better chance at having powers." Aquila added.

"You would have thought so, but clearly not." Tarka responded and gesturing to himself. "Me, my eyes just glow, that's it. Nothing special." He looked back to Jonah who still hardly grazed his paw against the bow's limbs, still living in that fear. "Don't be a wuss." Tarka snapped after seeing him do this still. "Just touch it already, it's not like it's made of paper." Jonah felt awkward again, why was he being so cautious with it? It's not like it would fall apart with a single touch, Tarka carried it here after all! So he placed his paw down on it, getting a good feel of it. The wood was smooth, the grip was even glossy slightly, the museum had clearly polished it or something to restore it to this near brand new state. What a wrong move he made.

Upon contact with him, it was like his paw became a magnet and the bow a piece of metal. His paw muscles seized up and contracted at the same time his eyes pulsated brightly in Starnik green and a white light blasted out the gaps around his paw and claws. He felt a rush of unfamiliar energy as his entire body quickly stiffened and was blinded. The last thing he saw was Peter scrambling to his feet and Aquila running around the flames to him, but just as she reached him, everything blurred quickly and the white light took over his vision as she screamed his name.

"Jonah!"

He snapped his eyes open, finding himself somehow standing in the same place he last remembered; only something had happened. He stepped backwards; his eyes opened wide, his heart beating at a furious rate and his breath escaping in panicked, shaky pants. Everyone was around him, but they weren't moving, they weren't speaking, heck, they weren't even breathing! He looked around, there a leaf levitated in mid air as it was falling, caught by paw invisible force perhaps? No, time had frozen! Peter was stuck half way between standing and sitting, just as Jonah saw him before he was blinded. Aquila was in a running position, her forepaws off the ground as she neared him, Tarka was getting to his paws beside him. Wait…him? Even he was here! His body stood with the bow under his paw, but there were no lights and no glowing eyes. It was like some 3D picture that he could walk around in. Everything was how he remembers it. "But what happened?"

"You have a special gift." Someone said. He cried out in fear, it sent his body into an overdriven fear as he moved forwards, away from the voice that spoke behind him. He whirled around to face the voice. A black and white wolf sat behind him, facing him side on. "We're all pretty jealous to be honest." He added.

"Who are you? Did you do this to me?" Jonah asked fearfully. He just wanted to be sent back.

"This was all you son." The wolf said and turning his body to face him properly. "Your power brought you here so we can talk to you." He smiled friendly.

"We?" Jonah questioned.

"You're family." He answered.

"My f-family?" Now he was growing a little curious. "You mean my mom and dad?"

"Not quite." He chuckled. This wolf looked young, he couldn't be more then six years old, yet his voice carried with it a more senior tone. A parenting one. "I'm sorry if I'm confusing you…"

"I'm more then confused." Jonah replied. "Who are you?"

"Jonah, what I'm about to tell you may come as a shock…"

"How do you know my name?" Jonah was now growing a little fed up, who was this guy? So he took a little more threatening stance.

"I know your name because your parents told me." Quickly, Jonah stopped, only out of more confusion. "They're with the rest of us now, with the rest of our family." Jonah's eyes were drawn to his back paw, strangely, he could clearly see only one of his black paws were white. By the time he looked back up into his eyes, he was no longer staring into the blue ones he was a moment ago, but the swirling green ones that were there now. From listening to the stories told down through the bloodlines and from Henry, he knew this wolf.

"You're Dakota Starnik." His eyes returned to their original ice blue and a larger smile grew on his face.

"Is that what you're calling me these days?" He chuckled and getting up to walk towards him.

"Well…" Jonah rubbed the back of his neck from the awkwardness of this situation. "It's what we call all of you."

"It's good to see black still runs in this side of the family." He replied and sitting right in front of him. "You don't know how lucky you are son."

"I know how lucky I am, the first of many to have powers so I'll…"

"Not that." Dakota interrupted. "How lucky you are to have been given another gift."

"Another gift?" Jonah tilted his head.

"Thing's are stirring down there." He answered and pointing beneath him. "The one your uncle talks about is a real threat, one my parents and sisters have encountered before."

"What?"

"Your cousin, the one who joins us up here now. He was lucky enough to inherited Myka's Wiccan gene. He was also lucky enough to locate the temple in which we all lived in for a long time before its destruction. He's a cocky guy I'll give you that, he died trying to find a way to talk to us."

"What happened?"

"He wanted to try and call us, to find a way of summoning our spirits from up there…" He pointed up to the heavens. "...to come down there and talk to him. But just like Myka, he didn't think through his spell enough. Instead he opened a portal, a portal anyone could have climbed through. In the end, he brought back a threat that nearly destroyed us all." Jonah thought hard, his mind rummaged through all the stories he learned about his ancestors. "You know who I'm talking about Jonah."

Suddenly, it was like his mind turned to a page of a book that answered the question. His eyes widened at the realisation. "Sam?" Dakota sighed and nodded.

"Sam is coming after you." Dakota continued. "He knows things that nobody else could, ways to get rid of wolf kind once and for all. He'll do anything to let it happen, and with my own mother's power of immortality, he has all of time to try and eventually succeed. You are our only hope."

"Me?" Jonah was once again in shock.

"You are the only one who came do something." His ancestor confirmed. "You have the power to find whoever you wish; you have the ability to temporarily take the energy and power of whomever you wish. And I have been waiting for this moment to come, to link us together so we can talk and so you can start." He smiled.

"Start what?"

"The end." Dakota answered with a bigger grin. It was a shame Jonah didn't. "Go to my sister, shall will answer more questions then I can. Don't keep her waiting; she can be a little pissy at times." Dakota then began stepping back.

"What…who? Go to where?" Jonah called back and walking after him. It was pointless, for quickly Dakota began to fade away.

"Don't worry, she'll tell you where to go." And with that he was gone, leaving him stuck in this frozen moment of time. Never had he been in such silence, it was horrible.

"Great, so what do I do now?" Instinct made him look to his body, the frozen one that is. Before he knew it, he was standing beside it and his paw reaching out to touch it. But why? What would this…" He touched his side, quickly feeling a second rush of that same energy he felt a moment ago, a bright white light pushing out of his paw and blinding him.

He opened his eyes a second time, this time finding himself being dragged inside…where? "Hey…what's going on?!" He pulled against whatever was pulling his scruff, quickly finding something let him go and allow him to crawl himself.

"Jonah!" Aquila cried and standing over him. Something wasn't right, her voice and face was scared, this wasn't right at all. Outside there were shouts, orders and demands going out, and a lot of them. She dropped herself onto him; despite they were in some tunnel. "I was so scared." She genuinely started crying.

"What's going on?"

"Hey!" Someone poked his rear. He looked down his body to see Tarka behind him. "Keep it moving!" He didn't understand what was happening, but he new he had to move. He rolled onto his side and began crawling with Aquila as she backed herself down the tunnel. Soon they emerged into a den, Tarka's den with Peter somehow inside. He must have only just fitted inside; he wasn't the tallest of humans anyway.

"What's going on?"

"It's about time you woke up!" Peter shouted.

"What? I was only out for a few minutes."

"You've been out all night!" Tarka confirmed as he stepped out the tunnel behind him, now all four of them inside the den.

"What happened to you?" Aquila asked, still a little tearful. It was then that he remembered.

"I'll explain later." He responded. "What's going on here?"

"COWEL, that's what!" Peter gruffed and sitting back on his heels. "They found us!"

"How many?"

"Five, six; maybe more." Tarka answered. "I've rethought you're suggestion, I'm coming with you." They all looked up as they began hearing footsteps above the den and the dirt began to fall like snowflakes down onto them. "But now they're all on top of us." Peter had a thought come into mind, a horrifying one.

"Get to the walls!" He ordered and pushing himself back. Everyone did.

"What? Why would we…" Suddenly, falling from the roof was a volley of bullets that crashed through, raining down on them. Being protective, weirdly, Tarka was right beside Aquila when this happened, so he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall, using his body as a shield while Peter and Jonah pushed their faces deep into the dirt walls. The noises, the fear, it wasn't ending.

Above ground, the eight COWEL members, including Sam who stood at the sidelines watching, stood on the mound of earth, knowing full well that a den lied underneath it. They emptied everything they had in their pistols into the roof, knowing that they weren't going to survive this. If they do, then they'd dig in from here to be sure. There weren't any other ways out that they knew of, they were trapped like rats. The firing ceased, and right then, out of the tree line, Evelyn and Nathan came charging out. She ran up to Sam, punching him hard in the back. "What was that!?" She spat in his face and he rubbed the part she hit. "We told you not to shot on sight!"

"The plans changed." He groaned while Nathan pulled her away to restrain her. "You don't know the Starnik like I do…"

"The Starnik are dead, these aren't them!"

"If this one is anything like them, then he'll do the craziest shit to get out of here. So I'm not leaving any chances." She was pissed off to say the least.

Back inside the den, Jonah was happy to hear the silence of the weapons and instead the shouting of the people above. It meant they were stopping for the time being. Keeping his body pressed into the dirt, he tempted to look away and to the others. Is everyone ok?" He asked.

"Keep quiet." Peter whispered. "They might go if they think we're dead."

"We're ok." Tarka replied quietly after seeing Aquila was ok, but keeping his body pressed against hers.

"Aquila, think you can do one of your dome things?" Jonah then asked. "They're right on top of us." She peeked around Tarka and shook her head.

"We're too deep." She replied. "Everything will just cave in on us." Jonah seethed in annoyance to himself, his eyes darting back and forth around the room as he tried to think of another plan. But finally, he did.

"What if we do it together?" He suggested.

"What?" She exclaimed quietly.

"If we do it together? Would it be bigger and stronger?" This was crazy; she didn't know how to reply. She stuttered for a moment, lost for words, before she replied.

"I don't know, probably. You don't even know how though."

"Teach me."

Back above ground, Sam had his ear pressed again the grass of the mound, waiting to hear something that said they were still alive. He didn't hear anything, was this a good sign?

Back below ground, Aquila was done. "Just do what you do with your paws, but radiate it over your body and then let it out."

"Ok, I think I've got it." Jonah whispered. "After three, walk to me."

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and the very familiar sound of thunder coming from inside the tunnel. Right before a she-wolf came rolling out of the tunnel, her body even smoking slightly. And it was no she-wolf.

"You!" Aquila exclaimed quietly.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?" Jonah seethed.

"What? This is only the second time I've done this." The girl retaliated loudly. Big mistake. Above ground, Sam heard and grinned, perfect, more fun to be had.

"Shit, keep your voice down!" Peter growled.

"Why? Why are we whispering?" She was finding this funny? Was this some game? "I like to whisper."

"Just shut up and get over here." Tarka waved for her to him to him.

"Oh it's ok, I'm not staying long." She shook her head. "I'm just here to say you need to go eleven miles north exactly. No further and no shorter. Eleven miles precisely."

"What? Who the fuck are you?" Jonah asked hot temperedly.

"I just told you." She replied. "Oh damn it, wrong one again!" He hit her paw into the dirt annoyed and vanished in the same light and sound of thunder. She left behind a second scorch mark, and four confused faces.

"Who the hell was that?" Peter asked.

"After three gentlemen." Sam said from above, something they all heard. They had to act fast; they'd have to come back to this later on. "One…" He called out.

"…two, three!" Jonah finished quickly out and leaping across the room. Tarka rolled to the side just as Aquila leapt out from underneath him. Peter and Tarka hit the ground and covered their head right and the two collided and caught one another mid-flight, wrapping their paws around one another and starting it.

"FIRE…"! Sam called out; right as the ground beneath his and everyone else's feet was pushed upwards as if dynamite went off underneath them all. The ground crumbled and soared up into the air, pushing everyone up and into the air as the exploding force went off underneath them. Luckily, Evelyn and Nathan were standing to the side and were pushed away, not meeting the full force of the explosion. Everyone else, well…that's a different story. Some were thrown only a few feet, Sam and most of them however, they were sent up higher then the trees, landing with a solid, bone breaking crunch and thud.

Inside the crater that now stood in the place of the den, six feet deep, everyone was ok. Peter and Tarka now pressed themselves into the dirt floor while Jonah and Aquila continued to have their paws wrapped around one another as they lay on the floor. But slowly and gradually, they brought their heads back, looking at one another before up into the morning sky. "Come on, let's get out of here." Jonah said as he pushed himself up and away from Aquila.

"God, my ears are ringing." Tarka seethed.

"Are mine bleeding?" Peter asked seriously.

"Just grab the bow and let's get out of here." Aquila replied. "You'll have to throw us up there, we can't reach."

"Well, you could, we can't." Jonah added.

"That's true." She giggled. She was giggling? In a time like this?!

Nathan rolled onto his side, holding it where he was impacted with some of the earth and was sure to leave a bruise. Beside him, Evelyn also groaned and held her leg, feeling the same intense pain in that spot. "Are you ok?" He groaned.

"I'm fine." She seethed. "Just peachy." They looked around, the destruction left behind. The bodies, both dead and unconscious, the rubble, the cracks in the earth. Then to the hole, right as someone was thrown over and landed unstably. A back and brown wolf got to his paws as a second she-wolf leapt out, using the walls to propel herself out the hole using her own skills. Then a third wolf was thrown out, shortly followed by a single human climbing out, struggling a little due to holding a bow in one hand and a quiver full of arrows in the other. It was no easy feat, but he managed it.

Both pained humans reacted to seeing this single one as he and the wolves stood around, looking at the carnage they somehow caused without managing to spot the two watching them. Nathan reached down to his side for his weapon, put Evelyn stopped him. "We don't kill humans."

"You said it yourself; he needs to be dealt with."

"Could you really do it though?" She questioned. She knew it, he couldn't.

"We'll see him again." They looked back to the group, seeing them walking away from the crater together and in one piece. Even more irritated after seeing that she-wolf was still alive. This had complicated things further. Suddenly, Sam stood behind them after being thrown up thirty feet, down through the trees and then back down to earth. His wounds were in the stages of being healed, cuts were all over his body, his clothing torn, his leg even broken, snapping back into place at the same time Sam groaned.

"Why didn't you shoot?" He breathed heavily at the stinging sensations all across his body.

"We…didn't have a clear shot." Nathan answered. Liar.

"Where do we do now?" Tarka asked as they walked. "They've destroyed my home; I've got nowhere to go."

"We go to Henry." Peter answered. "We need to find him before the funeral, which, might I remind you, is tomorrow."

"I agree, we should…" Aquila was interrupted by Jonah.

"But we stop eleven miles north."

"You can't be serious?!" Peter exclaimed.

"That girl was right about the auction house; while I was out I saw things that answered many things. She seems to know things so I say that's where we go."

"It's still north." Tarka added. "It's still in the direction we need to go. It'll just be a quick stop. Peter took a moment, this was getting ridiculous. They should be with Henry right now.

"Fine, but we make it quick."