"Think she'll get a guide to help her?" Sam asked.

I just looked at him.

"Yeah, stupid question. Research while we wait?"

"Why not. Better than standing around wishing I was somewhere else. Let's send Clive some of the shots of the pics of the blades we've found so far. Maybe he'll recognize one and give us a direction to go."

"Not a bad idea."

"Thanks." We got back inside, Sam went to work on snapping pics and texting them to Clive while I dug through some of the older files that dealt with Aztecs and Mayans. I was hoping for hints or crossovers with the Zapotec people, or just a general idea on rituals that were used to hook the priests in with their gods. Every religion has them, maybe I'd get lucky and find some sort of this priest screwed up so we exiled him ritual. If Jacob was still hooked into the blade somehow I was hoping to find some way to unhook him that didn't require Coyote going full on into his soul. While I was doing that I looked up a few things on soul retrievals, most of it was written by people who weren't actual Natives. Guess white people had figured out something similar and were doing them, before I got serious with Coyote that wouldn't have bothered me, now it kind of did. Natives have so little of their culture left to themselves it pissed me off that white people were trading on their rituals and using that to make cash. A lot of it sounded like psychotherapy, not an actual ritual so it didn't give me a lot of insight as to what to expect, I knew enough to know that the real thing would be a lot more intense.

Sam's phone went off as soon as he looked at the screen I knew it was something about the blade because he instantly started typing on the laptop. "Clive recognized one, well this explains the lunar cycle requirement, it's not a god it's a goddess. Huechaana - a mother goddess also associated with hunting and fishing along with being one of the creators of mankind and the world."

Of course, "Spectacular, so nothing major, no possible way a blade linked with something like that could rip out someone's soul." Couldn't be some minor, forgotten, loser deity like the god of dancing or parties. "Anything useful on the net?"

"No, but we have a name which means we can cross reference in the archive system and on the net. She's linked with some other deities. You hit the books, I'll dig into here some more."

"Sure thing," I started to stand up when the description Sam had given sunk into my brain a bit farther, "Wait, you said a goddess linked with hunting, right?"

He was preoccupied with whatever he was typing, "Yeah, why?" It took him a second but his eyes jumped up from the screen and met mine. "Oh hell."

Of course it was that exact moment Coyote reappeared with a huge, slightly see through crow on her shoulder. She was working hard to keep the smug look off her face, she knew that wouldn't be respectful to her guide but it didn't change the fact that she'd pulled it off and she was daring me to say anything that would throw another obstacle in her path. "So, where's the blade?"

Damn, damn, damn. Sam sent me a desperate look, he didn't want to give up the information, especially now. "Honey, we found out who it belongs to. Huechaana, random goddess. So we have a place to start and..."

"Don't even say it Dean. I met your requirements, Brother Crow will keep me safe," The Crow shifted on her shoulder and let out a rather loud squawk, giving us it's two cents on the topic, "Now, let me see the blade."

"Coyote, and uh respectfully to Brother Crow," Sam said, "This goddess is a goddess of the hunt and supposedly created man. We're just a bit..."

"I've had about enough of this," she snapped. "I am not some unskilled hunter playing with things they don't understand." That whole sentence was aimed straight at me, "I am a Shaman. I have one of the Great Spirits with me. I am more than capable of handling looking at some blade from another culture. For fuck's sake this isn't the first thing of power I have come across. Now, do you two want to help Jacob or do you want to sit here and cower in the damn corner worried about things that may not even happen?"

Brother Crow launched itself from her shoulder, landed on the table in front of me and tilted it's head so it could lock one of it's eyes with mine. I felt my fear for her fading away, "Hey, don't fuck with my head! I have a right to worry about her."

Coyote didn't seem to appreciate my tone, "Dean!"

The Crow shook it's head and did this weird hopping dance thing and the air started stirring around the table, pages in the books started flipping and one of the lamps took a nosedive off the table but Sam caught it before it hit the floor. The Crow hadn't touched the books or the lamps, "Okay, I get it. You've got some juice, doesn't make me any less worried, but fine. I set the rules, she followed them, she gets to see the blade."

Sam kept his mouth shut, which at this point I'd take as a win. What the hell else was I supposed to say? Sorry darlin', I know you went way out of your way to get one of your spirits to help out but I was just screwing with you. Yeah, that would have gone over well.

"Sam? Give. Where is it?"

"Room 12B, drawer 32c," I barely heard him, his words were heavy and filled with dread, "It's the box on top."

"Got it. Let's go." Brother Crow took off from the table and hovered alongside me as we walked down the halls, his wings never moved which was a bit unnerving since he was keeping pace with us just fine. It's not like there was an updraft for him to use to glide along either. I found the room and took a minute to look at her before I opened the door.

"Was there something?"

All I wanted right then was to hold her close, kiss her and somehow go back in time, I never wanted to piss her off or have a fight. I'd had enough of those with people I loved over the years, but I couldn't. "No. Let's get this over with."

"Yes, we should."

Brother Crow slipped in through the door as soon as I opened it, he circled around the room and landed in the dead center of the floor. Coyote stepped in and stood by the door as I'd told her to and I found drawer 32c and pulled it open. The box on the top was black and covered with various warding signs, some I'd never seen before.

"Ready?"

She closed her eyes for a moment and I could see her centering herself, when she opened her eyes again the Crow flared his wings and the temperature of the room shot up a several degrees. I guess he was prepping for anything this blade could throw at him, or them.

I lifted the box out, propped it up on the top of drawer so when I opened it it would be angled enough to allow her to see it and opened it.

Oil soaked, velvet soft whispers of death, life, pain and sacrifice whispered in my head; murmurings of an ancient language that I couldn't understand hummed in my ears. I felt the need to kneel before this raven haired, stunning woman who was standing by the door. I had to kneel, she was the Goddess's chosen one. The Goddess's instrument was in my hands, I must deliver it to her, it was my right as the next sacrifice.

A horrendous cry filled my ears, a giant Crow flew towards me, ripping the Goddess from me.

I slammed the lid shut, dropped it back inside the drawer, kicked it closed and backed away, "Holy hell!"

Coyote's hands were to her ears and Brother Crow was hovering in front of her, glowing. Somehow his wingtips were somehow touching her head and outstretched at the same time.

"Coyote!" I stopped myself from running towards her, mainly because the Crow's glare hit me before I moved a muscle.

Her face was contorted as she struggled against whatever the hell the blade put in her head. "Please come back, please honey, please." I wouldn't be able to handle it if she'd been hurt some way, turned catatonic like Jacob or ended up with more nightmares because of me. She sunk to the ground, the Crow wrapped his wings around her head and shoulders and I swore I felt a hot wind that felt and smelled like it had come straight from our back porch. I just about tasted the herb garden I'd taken over tending to, the cheat grass and prairie dirt. Then the voices came, all singing in Lakota, all distant like a storm gathering miles out across the plains. I don't know who or what Brother Crow was drawing on, spirits of Shamans or current ones but I'd never underestimate what her Spirit guides would be willing to do after this. I just hoped it worked.

His wings slowly parted and I got to see her face again, it wasn't as contorted but sweat was beading on her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes. "Dean?"

"Right here honey, right here. I'm fine."

A massive amount of relief spread across her face, "I, I thought..." her teeth started chattering.

I looked at Brother Crow, "Can I move closer?" He even looked like he'd gone through the ringer but he bobbed his head and moved to the side. I was next to her in seconds, she collapsed against me as soon as I got my arms around her.

"I thought, I had..."

"Shhh, shhh.."

She pulled away and ran her hands over my chest and throat, "No blood, no blood..."

"No, I didn't get close to you. It didn't happen."

Brother Crow placed his wingtip on my forehead, a thread of velvety rope that I hadn't even noticed still in my head slipped away. "Brother Crow, can you..." I caught myself, I wasn't a Shaman or even a Native, who the hell was I to ask him anything. He patiently looked at me, he'd helped me, cleared the compulsion from my head just as he had hers. That had to mean something, "Can you help with Jacob? He killed his family with that blade."

A shudder ran through him, I wasn't sure what that meant. I wasn't quite sure why he hadn't talked to me like the Coyote had when he'd told me about Azazel.

"Brother Crow says he was able to help us because we had not been taken over yet. We had not touched it," Coyote murmured, "Jacob touched it, killed with it. Gave himself over to her, therefore he bound himself to her. Brother Crow can't break a bond between a priest, even an unwilling one, and another God. I am bound to him, so he could prevent her from taking me over, interfere with her summons. You are bound to him through me so his protection extended to you."

That sounded awfully final, "Is there any way we can help him?" I'd never thought crows could shrug, but he did.

"He says he can't, not directly," Coyote continued, "Jacob may be able to refuse her, but we have to get him coherent enough to do so. He is not of her people, nor has the power of a priest. What I saw..." she shuddered against me but kept talking, "The sacrifices happen in threes. Jacob only killed two people. If he had killed a third the compulsion would be more likely to fade on it's own, or enough that we could easily break it. The blade does serve as a conduit for her, but it has a definite purpose, three deaths then it closes. Every lunar cycle it reopens whether or not someone touches it. If no one touches it, it goes dormant again. That was the sense I got from it."

"Well we can't let him kill again."

"Let me process this, please. There may be another way." She'd managed to get all that out even though her teeth had been chattering and her hands shaking the whole time.

"Right, sorry. Let's get you into bed."

She smiled, it was weak and forced but it made me feel a million times better. "Normally I'd be all for that," she said, "But I need to get back to the room I used to speak to Brother Crow in. I have to center, think."

"Got it. Am I carrying you or can you walk?"

"No need to break your back Babe, I'm not crippled, just weak."

I never thought the word Babe would make my entire week, but that one just had. "All right. I'll help you." She got her arm around my shoulders and we made our way back through the labyrinth that was the Bunker. Brother Crow rode on my right shoulder with his head tucked under his wing, guess the poor bird needed a nap after that. I couldn't blame him. I was kind of surprised he hadn't just left. "Hey, Coyote?"

"Yeah."

"Why is he still here?"

"He's going to help me sort through everything I saw. If I look at it through his eyes, not mine, it won't be as emotional."

That required a lot more faith in a deity than I'd ever had but her guides had been the only ones I'd ever met who seemed to actually give a shit about their followers so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, makes sense."

I helped her into the room, being careful not to disturb anything she'd laid out and lowered her to the ground and stood there for a minute. She sat cross legged and seemed to gather some strength back, Brother Crow hopped off my shoulder and landed next to her.

"I'll come out when we're done," she instructed.

"Sure..." I couldn't leave it at that, "Love you."

She leaned against my legs, "You too. Sorry about getting pissed off earlier. You were right. I had no idea it could hit that fast or that hard. Thank you for keeping me safe, even when I'm being an utter bitch about how independent and strong I am."

I ran my hand over her hair, "Fair's fair, you keep me safe when I'm being an asshole about things. Besides, I have years of practice keeping people safe who don't think they need me to."

"True, let me get started. The longer I wait the harder it will be."

I bent down and kissed the top of her head, "Be careful. I'll be right outside if you need anything."

"Thanks."

She straightened up and I walked out. My hands were clammy, my mouth was dry and I had to lean against the wall as soon as I shut the door. "Thank you Brother Crow, thank you," I whispered. I was pretty sure I felt a wing brush my cheek as I heard a very oddly accented and soft, "You're welcome," in my head.