Descendants of the Starnik
Chapter 11: Convince Them
Evelyn leaned over a table, wide eyes and shock spread all across her face and body. What had this come to? Death and punishment? Because of Sam, because of her own fucking ancestor, she had lost some of her friends; others lay critically wounded in hospital after what happened earlier. She didn't want this, she was quite happy with how things were before. Why couldn't she have had a better power then to be able to track others? Why not a gift of something else like…healing, or…she didn't know, just something to make all this stop. She didn't want blood shed; she didn't want any of this. Yet now it was, it was happening right now. What was once COWEL, a simple protest group with power, was now the Ditori, a secret organisation brought together with one purpose, eliminate all wolves at any cost. She didn't want this, she regretted it, she wanted him to go back.
But still, she hated to admit it but they needed his help, she needed his help and knowledge. He may have gone down as a disgrace in the family, but Sam had knowledge of the Starnik and their weaknesses, he had plans that in the past did work, so he was a vital part to their plans. But is this what they had come to? Putting allies and friends into the hospital, and putting them to death? She reached down to her thigh and removed the pistol that was strapped there, placing it on the table but keeping her hand on it. She wanted wolves to die, not humans, that's not what they stood for. Cast Out Wolves for Equal Living. Nothing in their name mentioned putting human's to death. The warehouse was much quieter now, other then Sam who shared his latest plan with them.
She growled to herself, gripping the pistol tightly and whirled around, marching straight towards him and the group he was talking to. To say she was pissed was an understatement. One of the men Sam was talking to saw her and point her out to him, so by the time he turned to face her; he was facing the barrel of her gun. "Does it hurt each time you die?" She asked, tears welling in her eyes and her hand shaking. "Because I will shoot you now and each time you wake up just so you can feel it over and over again."
"If this is about what happened today…"
"You know god damn well this is." She snarled and stopping him. Behind Sam, the three men he was talking to crept away from the end of the gun, Nathan however walked around and stood behind his girlfriend.
"Look, I guess you never got the memo, but in my world, sacrifices were needed for things to happen."
"Your world was one hundred years ago, this is our world now."
"Evelyn, just put the gun down." Nathan tried to reach over and stop her, but instead she elbowed him and shoved him away.
"I wanted to get married, I'm in my forties and I'm still not married. With you around, what are the chances of that happening? They were small before, now there's no chance."
"You now killing me won't help you." She needed release. She aimed for his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He seethed loudly and groaned as the pain rocketed through his body and mostly his shoulder. He inspected it briefly, looking under his shirt, it was already healing.
"Better now?" A tear finally fell down her face and she readied to pull the trigger, but quickly Nathan grabbed the gun and after a small wrestle he was the victor over strength. There was no backing out of this; they've come too far to lose anything.
"If you care to listen we were going over the next plan." Nathan added after a moment of cold staring. He dared go with Sam and against her? "Go ahead."
"Oh do share great grandfather." Evelyn sneered after snatching the gun back out of Nathan's hand and holstering it.
"First things first, you didn't tell me you had a scientist here." Sam swung his arm around behind him and pulled forward a man. Everyone knew him, he was no fighter, but he still believed in COWEL. "Tell them what you just told me, make my day again."
"Well, Sam here was just telling my about the research the Ditori did on the Starnik and their DNA all those year ago." His voice was just as dorky as he looked. He was a great mind, hence why he was of great use to them in some cases. But in most cases, he was useless. He only hung around because he was wanted for the mass murder of a group of wolves. Apparently, he gave that all mercury poisoning, something not many can get their hands on. "It's a complex procedure, but if I could get my hands on that data, I could try to replicate whatever it is they were working on. Mainly a drug specifically designed to strip those with Starnik blood of their powers. But to anyone else it's a slow acting but very fatal poison."
"But the problem is…" Sam continued. "All that research was destroyed with the fall of the Ditori. The nearest place to this warehouse is Kalispell, my hometown. So what we need is for someone to come with me to go up there to find what we need." He then draped an arm over the scientist's shoulders. "Not only do we have the data up there mister scientist..."
"Jim." He added.
"Jim then." Sam chuckled. "Not only do we have the data, but the machinery for you to do your thing and give us the advantage. With the Starnik descendents stripped of their powers, then they can't get in our way. With this poison in our possession and control, COWEL can do whatever they so wish with it. But first, we'll need DNA."
"DNA?" Evelyn frowned. "For what? And how?!"
"A little trick we came up with." Sam snickered again and presenting her with a glove. "This little trick we used to collect fur samples. It's a sticky glove, a very thin layer of glue is applied and all you have to do id shake their paw or touch them. That's it."
"And how do you propose to do that?"
"A little trip to Portland will settle that."
Jonah's eyes were glazed over with blurriness as he began to open his eyes. He was pretty sure that when he asks how long he's been out, they'll say hours like last time. But how? He didn't understand it; he was only talking to them for a few minutes. It was like each minute that passed, it was an hour back in the real world. So what happened this time? He was moving, or rather, the car he was in was. He smacked his lips, man he was thirsty. It was like a dream, but it was very real indeed, he just needed to convince the others that he wasn't. Beside him, he could make out Aquila sat with her head out the window of the car, in the front seats were Tarka and Peter. He smiled at seeing her, the reaction to him passing out again must have been priceless, he wished he saw it while time was frozen. The ribbon tied around her long mane blew wildly behind her, her eyes were closed and she seemed to be in her own world.
"How long was I out?" He chuckled, smiling and closing his eyes again. She and everyone else heard.
"Jonah!" She exclaimed in happiness and jumping over him to embrace him as best she could.
"Hey, welcome back to the world of the living." Tarka added and turning back around the chair to look at him.
"Come on, it was like a dream, I was only out for a few minutes."
"Are you kidding?!" Peter exclaimed. "You've been out nearly all day. It's nearly sun down and we've even had time for lunch."
"Ahh man, I'm starving and thirsty." Jonah groaned after Aquila stood back and he pushed himself up. His entire right side had fallen asleep, a clear sign he had been lying there for quiet a while. A look outside only just proved their point, they had about three hours of light left.
"We're not far from Portland buddy." Peter added. "We'll eat there."
"Wait, we're nearly there?" Jonah asked back.
"Yeah, well we weren't going to wait hours for you to wake up again or COWEL to catch up with us."
"Did they?" Jonah had to ask, he had to make sure.
"No, they didn't." Aquila answered. "But these guys didn't hear me when it happened, so I had to drag you back before Peter could lift you inside."
"And you didn't get zapped like I did to Aquila?" Jonah asked wonderingly. His ancestors have been telling him so that he can take energy, so why didn't Peter get zapped when he touched him?
"No, should I have?" Peter asked back.
"From what I've been told, yeah, you should've."
"Who told you?" Aquila asked, she seemed to be the only on interested.
"Oh no, here we go again." Tarka sighed and shaking his head.
"I saw Dakota last time, this time I saw Scott Starnik."
"You're kidding me?" Peter exclaimed, now he seemed to be interested. "You saw one of the real human Starnik? What did he say?"
"Yeah, he told me who the guy Henry was talking about was. The one who knew about us."
"So who is he?"
"Some guy named Sam, the one our ancestors fought all those years ago Tarka."
"The English guy?" He asked, now turning back again to face him. "The Ditori Sam? The story my parents used to tell me to scare me a little?"
"Exactly." Jonah nodded. "Our cousin resurrected him before Sam murdered him. Now he's partnered with COWEL and coming after us and the rest of Wolf Kind again."
"What else did he say?" Aquila asked.
"He thought we were together." He chuckled.
"God, why do so many people think that?" She blushed and giggled.
"Just stop hanging around with her cuz; she's not good for you." Tarka added.
"Anyway, he said we need to look for the other major family artefacts. Each one we find they'll help us stop Sam again. It's up to us to stop him now."
"Any idea what they could be?" Peter asked.
"The bow was one, the feathers were another…" Jonah thought hard, there were so many possibilities.
"There could be many. We have too many heirlooms in our family and nobody knows where they are." Tarka added.
"We don't need to know what they are, just where they are."
"Where's your lighting girl when you need her now?" Peter chuckled.
"Lightening girl?" He questioned.
"That's what we're calling her now." Aquila giggled. "She appears a flash of light and the sound of lightening and disappears in it too, it's rather appropriate don't you think?"
"I guess." He chuckled. "She hasn't been?"
"Nope, none of us thought she would." Tarka replied. "If what you say is right, then you'll have to explain this to your uncle when we get there."
"I will." Jonah nodded. "How much further?"
"Another hour, not long now. We're heading straight to their den at the coast east of Portland."
"They live in sand dunes? That's rather risky isn't it?" Aquila questioned.
"If they can live there, then it must be safe."
They drove on and on for the next hour, cutting around the edge of Portland and heading directly east towards the coast. Jonah shared what knowledge he was given from both Scott and Dakota, it was a little easier now that the others had some belief in him, but that would soon be tested. He knew very well that there was a limit that they could take and handle, so he told them the bear minimum but in great detail. He had gained nearly all of their trust in this matter; he didn't want to and couldn't lose it now.
The smell of the sea drew ever closer and the sight soon followed along with the crystal clear views of the sunset. It was a thing worth paying to see, the sun setting over the distant horizon of the ocean. Peter had a rough idea where the den was, and his estimation was correct. After switching off the car, they all saw two wolves sat outside a burrow in a sand dune facing the ocean and admiring the setting sun. They jumped out, the sounds of the doors slamming shut caught the wolves' attention who instantly got to their paws and approached them. One of them was recognisable, but the other was a mystery.
"There you are." Henry smiled in relief they were finally here. "I was getting worried." He wrapped his paws around his nephew who returned to gesture.
"We're fine Uncle, just a few problems on the way."
"We were more worried about you." Aquila added.
"Don't be, thank you Peter, I couldn't have done this without you."
"Thank you for helping me with school, Sir." Then it came to the matter of who the second wolf was.
"Guys, I want you to meet Dave." He stepped back to the wolf's side. "This is the wolf of the den around here."
"Oh please, none of that now." He chuckled in a deep voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Dave, honey, who are you talking to?" A third wolf then emerged from the den in the sand dune, this time a she-wolf with black fur but white paws and white edges to her ear along with piercing grey eyes. She was beautiful to say the least, but clearly taken. A silver bracelet of some kind was around her left paw "I thought I heard you talking."
"Jonah, come here." Henry waved his paw for him to come closer, so he did.
"Oh, Jonah dear, It's so good to finally meet you." She sniffed, her eyes were bloodshot, she had been doing some extensive crying. She opened her paws to him, and by what Henry was motioning him to do he went with it and briefly wrapped his paws around her.
"So I take it you're Jackie?" He questioned.
"Yeah, that's me." She sniffed.
"Well I'm sorry to hear about your son. I wish I could have met him."
"Don't be, if what our ancestors told us about the afterlife them I'm sure he's happy." She weakly smiled and sniffed once more. "From what Henry tells me, you two would have made good friends."
"Yeah, I'm sure we would've." He went along with it, there was very little doubt that they would have got along greatly, but still, he didn't know the guy, so he couldn't know that for sure.
"Well come on in guys, come meet the rest of the gang." She added a moment before turning around and walking back down the small tunnel.
"I'm booked into a motel tonight not far away; I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Have a goodnight Peter, thank you so much."
"Hey, Uncle…" Jonah whispered as he walked to his side, letting Aquila go before him. "You'll never guess who I found." He gestured with his eyes back behind him, so Henry followed them to Tarka as he and Peter had a quick talk by the car.
"Who's that, I don't know him?"
"Like I said, you'll never guess."
"Really?" He laughed. "What happened on the way up here?"
"Oh, where do I begin?"
A small chapter today guys, but an important one none the less. Henry is doing ok, everyone seems to be safe. But the Ditori have a new plan . What is it? One another note guys, Bastard from North and I don't have a great amount of readers for our story, Guardians of Jasper, so what i was hoping, was would any of you mind getting the word out about it? We would greatly appreciate it. As far as we know, we have about three readers, so the more we have, the more reviews we can and therefore the more criticisms we can get to help improve our story. We want feed back, not just "great chapter" or "love you're work guys" we want feedback, ways we can improve it and any future stories we may come up with. So please, as a favour, could you get the word out? In return, i'll let you in on a little secret, one that involves ASOW ;) Until next time. :)
The FalconWolf
