When I'd let go I'd taken Sam with me, Coyote couldn't pull us back and once she gave in to her wolf side the rest of them got swept along with us. The other wolves barely made a sound as we massacred them. Fresh blood flowed across the already sticky with blood floor, the cracking of bones and shredding of tendons filled the caves.
Roy and Oliver were making short work of Raelyn's body. I had Audun, Sam had taken down Einar leaving Dabria for Coyote. Even though the hunger and the wolf were in charge I was still managing to stay aware enough to keep track of what was going on and think. Fenris had said that the wolf and human had to figure out how to work side by side. I'd let go for a few reasons. One, I was starving and I knew from dealing with the Mark that the longer I let shit like this go, the worse it'd be for everyone. Two, Coyote was right, we couldn't risk Mairyn taking them back over and turning them against us. Three, Benny. He hadn't come to me to kill him but when I'd sent him back to get Sam he'd been damn grateful. Monsters in Purgatory had no reason to hold back, to try to not kill. Getting shoved back up here and trying to learn control again, damn near impossible. I hadn't been a monster but it'd taken me months to not want to attack anything that moved funny. These wolves had been down there for centuries. There was no way in hell they'd make it a month without a strong influence keeping them in check and we'd just end up in the same place but with more bodies on the pile. More lives lost.
So even though it felt wrong, we were doing the right thing in the end. Not that it made it any easier for me to accept the fact that I was eating a wolf, raw and gaining a whole new appreciation for the phrase "wolfing it down." It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes before Audun was pretty much just skin and bones. I'd eaten all the organs, chowed down most of the meat and muscle and was starting on gnawing at the bones to get at the marrow. My stomach felt like it was going to burst as the hunger eased off.
The rest of them, except Sam, were starting to slow down too. Sam was in the middle of ripping Einar's back leg clean off when I got enough control back to send him a thought. Coyote, Oliver and Roy's wolves were starting to fade from the forefront, I could sense it through the bonds. Sam's however, wasn't.
I took a step closer to him, "Sam? Come back man, come on."
All I got in reply was lowered ears and a snarl as the leg came free and his jaws crunched through the bones like twigs. Not good. My cell phone rang, Sam's head snapped up at the sound. Our clothes were in shreds, but I'd invested in one of those indestructible cases once I'd started wrenching and wasn't going through burner phones every other week. It rang again, Sam let the leg drop from his jaws and started stalking towards the sound.
I got in front of him. "Sam! Come on!"
Coyote's personality came back online, "Oh god, I just ate..."
Shit, she'd hit her limit. Then a wave of nausea hit me as Roy finally came all the way back too.
"Raw? I ate...no..." Hacking sounds came from behind me.
The phone rang again, Sam blinked twice and cocked his head to one side. I felt him fighting for control. "Phone?"
"Yeah, don't kill it." It rang again then went to voice mail. "You good?"
He nodded, "Think so." Then he looked over his shoulder, as if he just remembered what he'd been doing. "Would be doing better if we got the hell out of here." He wasn't getting sick to his stomach like Roy, but he wasn't all that thrilled with seeing the carnage.
Oliver was rock solid, "We need to move. Now." He knew, like I did, that the longer we stayed here the more it'd hit home. We had to finish the job first, then fall to pieces.
I stepped closer to Coyote and brushed my face along hers. "Just a little longer honey, hold together a bit longer." I knew if I got her stable, it would help all of us. She leaned hard against me, closed her eyes and I heard her chanting in my head. As she chanted the pack bond was flooded with this otherworldly sense of calm and peace. That sure as hell wasn't Fenris.
"Looks like you still got it darlin', even if you are furry," I told her.
"I...I guess so." There was more than a little relief in her voice. "Hopefully running won't make us puke all that back up," she said as she turned to head out of the cave.
"Yeah. North-northwest, let's move. Roy? You going to make it?" If he had skin instead of fur he'd probably be green and about ready to run to the sink to puke, because that's how he felt, but he pulled his eyes away from the corpses and started walking out.
"I'll be fine."
He staggered a step or two, Oliver caught up to him and braced him. They walked a few more steps and Roy got more solid on his paws as they got closer to the cave opening. Sam and I looked at each other for a second, then he joined the other three. I scanned the cave one more time. We'd have to come back for our phones and who the hell knew where our weapons were, but after that, we'd be torching this place. As soon as we got done with Mariyn I was going to have Sam tell everyone that from now on, anything you kill, you burn. If we didn't it just be an endless stream of resurrected monsters coming after hunters. First things first, kill the relatively unkillable wolves. Deal with the rest later.
The outside air was a relief, I took a few deep breaths to get the smell of blood and bile out of my muzzle.
Coyote was sniffing the air in different directions, "I smell her to the north. Let's go."
We took off running. Now I'm not one for running, hell exercising in general, but man did it feel good to just go flat out. Running on four legs seemed to take no effort at all. Oliver, who's pretty quick on two legs, ranged out ahead of us. Sam lengthened his stride and caught up. There was something about the sight of two huge wolves, one pure white, one deep black running all out side by side. Roy and Coyote trailed behind them and I took up the rear, keeping my eyes open for enemy wolves. It didn't take long for me to decide it was probably a good thing that we'd just binged on wolves for lunch. I smelled deer, rabbits and other small critters that if we were still hungry we probably would have gone after and gotten completely sidetracked from what we had to do.
Oliver stopped, sniffed a few times, changed course and bolted, "It's this way!"
The wind shifted and we all caught the same scent he just had, vampires and Mairyn. I'd never noticed vampires smelling a certain way before, but with the wolf nose I was surprised I'd missed it all these years. I guess I hadn't really missed it because as soon as I smelled it I knew what it was. It wasn't the smell of rot, it was more the smell of old blood, old people and a weird mustiness, like when you first open up the attic in an old house. Dust, mold and stale air.
The smells got stronger, which got all of us moving even faster. Our wolf sides started pushing against us but we were too in control. Instead of it taking any of us over it felt like we were all managing to work with it, harness it. A hint of ice and Fenris drifted through me, giving me a bit more stability which echoed through the pack bond as well. Our noses told us she was dead ahead, her and the rest of her pack.
We burst into a small clearing and came face to face with Mairyn and four wolves. They were all lined up in front of this beat up old house; heads down, fangs bared, ears back and none too happy. We could smell the vamps but didn't see them.
"The vamps have to be inside." Sam said.
I stopped running and stared Mariyn down before replying to Sam. "Worry about them later, take this bitch out first."
Her injuries had healed and she was pissed off. "He's helping you isn't he?" She spat out at us, "No one is more dominant than I am, Fenris betrays me yet again."
"No, you betrayed your pack," Coyote answered, "You pulled them back from Purgatory to take your revenge. They were more than happy to tell us where you were once they were free of you. I can feel these four trying to fight you as well."
The four wolves were snarling at us, no doubt about that, but in between the snarls were whimpers and frustrated glances at Mairyn. They weren't standing here because they wanted to, that's for damn sure. Their heads weren't lowered and there was no real aggressive stance in their bodies, at least not towards us. When they looked at her though, that's when the ears would go back.
Sam brushed against me to get my attention, I shot a quick look at him. His eyes dropped down and focused on the legs of the beige colored wolf in front of him, then back to me. I got it. If we could take out the legs of Mariyn's new recruits fast then focus entirely on her we might be able to end this without killing anyone but her.
I leaned into his shoulder and we moved, totally in synch, just like the old days.
He tore into the beige wolf, I took the black wolf that was next to it. They cried out in pain when we broke their legs but I ignored it, they'd heal.
"Oliver! Roy! On me!" Coyote ordered. The three of them went after Mariyn while Sam and I wheeled around to take on the other two wolves. They stood there shaking their heads while pretty unconvincing growls came out of their mouths. They didn't want to do this.
"Sit down." I told them, I knew I was more dominant than they were since they'd been unable to look me in the eye. It took about thirty seconds or so but their asses finally hit the dirt. "Sam, make sure they stay here. I'm helping Coyote."
"Got it." He shifted his gaze back to them from me, their eyes dropped even lower and they looked away. Good.
High pitched yelps and cries had been coming from behind me. I spun around just Oliver went flying back from a pretty serious hit Mairyn had managed to deliver. Coyote took advantage of the gap Oliver left to home in on Mairyn's throat. Mairyn jumped straight up, avoiding Coyote's hit. Since Coyote had lunged forward, Mairyn was now above her. Mairyn's claws raked along Coyote's back as she landed on top of Coyote.
I never want to hear the sound of that much pain come out of Coyote's mouth ever again.
-MATE! NO! - The wolf side pounded against my brain. Sam's rage joined mine, propelling me forward even faster.
Mairyn went in for the kill bite on the back of Coyote's neck.
The taste of Mairyn's flesh filled my mouth as I collided against her, pulling her off Coyote. Another scream came from Coyote as Mairyn's claws were pulled off her by the force of my hit.
Claws gouged into me as we rolled over each other, I didn't give a shit. She ended up on top of me, her dark, fucked up bond try to subvert the one I had with Coyote and my pack. "Good luck with that bitch!" I shot back at her as I dug into her stomach with my back legs. As a human, the best I could do with my legs in this position is to throw someone over me. Having claws gave me a lot more options.
Since my legs move like a cat's I grabbed her, pulling her tight as I sunk my front claws into her shoulders. She went for my throat but I moved my head around and bashed my muzzle into hers which blocked her. I managed to shift my weight enough to roll us back over, stand on top of her and drive my back legs deep into her stomach.
Her head flew back, eyes wide as she shrieked and tried to wrench herself out of my grip. That wasn't going to happen. I pulled my front paws down her ribs and lunged for her jugular. I didn't even bother with ripping her throat apart, I went for the wide bite and didn't stop until I felt her neck snap.
She went limp, that wasn't good enough for me or Sam. Suddenly he was next to me putting huge tears into Mairyn's body. Within seconds the two of us had reduced her to a collection of bloody bits that were spread around for several feet in all directions.
A bullet slammed into me. It barely hurt.
"Holy shit!" An unknown voice came from the direction of the old house, a vampire. Sam and I looked up from the mess we'd made and growled. "That was silver..."
The vampire was male, short black hair, wearing jeans, a button up black shirt and was holding a shotgun. Apparently Mairyn hadn't informed them of what she really was.
"I thought she..." He looked scared shitless, so did the three others that joined him. They were staring at us, then back at the two wolves that were still sitting on the side, doing nothing.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun. I shifted back into human form, for some reason the fact that I wasn't dressed didn't bother me in the least.
The vamps slowly started recognizing me as I finished the change and stood up, "Oh god...Winchester..."
"Hi, just so you know," I said as I stretched my neck and took a step closer to them, "That bitch Mariyn lied to you. Silver doesn't work on her kind, which I'm one of now. She thought it'd be fun to have a pet Winchester in her pack. Guess that kind of backfired. Right Sam?"
I'd heard the cracking of bones and panting as Sam forced himself to shift to two legs as well. "Yeah, seems so. I wonder if eating vampires counts as beheading."
"As long as their head ends up off their shoulders, I doubt the method matters." I looked back over my shoulder at Roy and Oliver. They were already advancing forward. "Let's see, huh? Go for it guys." Then I pointed at the two wolves that Sam had been keeping an eye on, "You too. Take them out, be hunters again."
The vamps didn't stand a chance.