Spirit Tales (The Millennium Wolves AU)
Chapter Seven

I bit my lip and kept quiet when Samantha started speaking, her expression quite indifferent. “For you to understand what I’m talking about, you have to learn what a Spirit is,” she said dryly, as though she was reading out a textbook. “There’s an idiotic human concept of spirits but it’s nothing like the Spirit inside you.” She glanced at me. “Do you get it, Wayne?”

Nodding despite my disbelief, she continued. “Spirits are extremely rare. They were from the beginning of the world, of the universe even. They created everything. But bit by bit, they disappeared as humanity and werewolves evolved. In the end, no one heard from them anymore and researchers believed they became one with the innovations and developments of the world. But, as you must realize by now, this is not exactly the truth.”

“I don’t understand,” I blurted out before I could stop myself and avoided her irritated gaze.

“I told you not to ask questions,” she snarled. “So shut up.”

Bobbing my head again, she said, “Good. No, understand, Wayne. Spirits were born or made by a divine entity beyond our grasp. Religions love fighting over the entity’s identity. Yehovah, Allah, Buddha, whatever - it doesn’t matter. This entity created the Spirit to bring balance to the world, but when humans and werewolves started pushed the world forward and balance it on their own, Spirits dissipated, leaving us the hard work of keeping the balance intact.

“Things were good for some thousands of years, and even if the balance was sometimes broken, all was still stable. Then the year of zero arrived, the beginning of the counting, and in this year, the balance was irrevocably broken. Spirits suddenly reappeared, but not exactly in the same way and shape they used to be.” Samantha’s face hardened. “Every time a drastic, world-changing even happened, a human was born, and inside them a Spirit that was somehow related to this event and could help restore the balance in its aftermath. Currently, we’re aware of three such humans, who were also the ones who gave us this information, and we’re looking for me. This is why Fred is doing his big world tour - to replace more Spirits.

“The most famous example I have to give you is a guy called Apollo, who was born at the year 269 CE.” A surprising blush crept into Samantha’s cheeks. “At this year, there was ‘The Great Fire’ which led to the destruction of three-quarters of the world. Therefore, Apollo, a Greek boy, was born, and he’s been aware he could control fire with a mere thought ever since he could remember himself. Nowadays, we call this ability Pyrokinesis.” The blush on her face turned into a deeper shade of crimson. “I believe you realize now why the Spirit of Fire was inside him. That fire had led to a catastrophic case of imbalance, and that’s why Apollo was born.”

I stared at her for a few moments, trying to process everything she’d just said. Spirits? Pyrokinesis? Why the fuck did she think I’d believe this nonsense? “You must be kidding me,” I murmured.

She glowered at me. “You don’t have to believe me, stupid human,” she snapped, “my job is to tell you the truth - whether you believe it or not.”

My hand curled into fists as a spark of anger lit up inside me. Samantha smiled cruelly when she noticed my efforts to keep my anger in check. “Anyway,” she said smugly, “Apollo is one of the three Spirits we know of. Now, there’s you too, Spirit of Chaos.” She folded her arms, her eyes challenging me to contradict her.

I couldn’t stay still. I jumped off the bed and began pacing in the room, trying to comprehend this illogical information. Spirits couldn’t actually exist. This must be some kind of a joke. Yet what could be the explanation for what I’d done last night? Because no matter what, what’d happened was incomprehensible.

Samantha suddenly snickered. “I thought you would ask me some questions at this point, like ‘why did the Spirit choose me?’ or ‘What happened nineteen years ago when I was born?’”

Wrapping my arms around myself, I glanced at her. “I don’t believe any word that got out of your mouth,” I told her with utmost honesty, even though she scared me. “So I have no questions.”

She bared her teeth suddenly, and her eyes changed color to glowing blue. I froze, staring at her, and stepped back at once. When werewolves eyes glowed, changed color, or both, it meant their wolf was close to the surface and that they were feeling a very strong emotion.

Samantha was beyond angry. She was infuriated. She took step after step toward me, her eyes planted on my face as though she marked me as her morning snack. “You better start believing, girl,” her voice was two octaves lower than before, “because this is the absolute truth.”

Panic took a grip on me and my body started shaking, I kept on steering back until my back came against the wall. Shit, I thought in dismay, she’s going to kill me -

The door flung open, cutting the tension like a knife. Maria, the Healer, entered with a tray of food, and when she saw the situation, her eyes turned to Samantha and she said, “Sam, you should leave.”

“No,” one word left Samantha’s mouth, her face taking on an animalistic expression.

“Samantha Lawrence,” Maria’s voice was suddenly very stubborn. “Get out of the room.”

The mad she-wolf set her glowing eyes on Maria. “Don’t tell me what to do!”

“Leave,” Maria stood her ground, her hazel eyes glowing green. But, unlike Samantha, Maria couldn’t get angry, and she was simply being severe.

Samantha growled, but it was apparent that, even in her current state, she respected the Healer. She stormed out of the room, banging the door shut so strongly I felt the walls trembling - and this time not because of me, for a change. Maria’s eyes returned to normal, her silver-gold hair flying behind her back as she put the food tray on the nightstand. “Come,” she said in her warm voice, smiling at me.

I felt my fear of Samantha leaving me, and I sat on the bed. “Eat,” she commanded softly. I didn’t have to be told twice; I grabbed a toast and munched on it. Maria seemed relieved. “Don’t worry about Sam,” she said soothingly, “she might seem threatening, but she has a good heart.”

It hurt to look at her - she was so fucking beautiful and I felt like I was at my ugliest - and so I averted my gaze. “Is it true?” I asked with my mouth full, flushing a little in embarrassment.

She cocked her head. “What is?”

“All of those tales she told me about Spirits and the like,” I murmured, finishing my toast.

“Yes,” Maria said with bluntness I wouldn’t have expected from her. “I know it’s hard to believe - but when you meet Apollo, you’ll understand.” A sad smile settled on her face. “Although you can simply shake the earth again and see she wasn’t pulling your nose.”

I frowned. “Why are you sad?” I asked her, going for the cup of hot cocoa in the tray.

Maria was quiet for a while, and when she finally opened her mouth, about to tell me something, the door opened again and cut her off. The hand holding the hot cocoa cup froze when I saw Strider Luxford striding inside. “Ah, good,” he said dryly when he saw me, “you’ve been told it all.” He glanced at Maria and directed his million-dollar smile that had made all the vagina-wielding population melt.

“She doesn’t know everything yet, Strider,” Maria stared at him with no flush on her face - the first time I’d seen such a reaction from a woman to Strider fucking Luxford. It made me swallow a triumphant grin.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Strider asked with a mock-innocent look. He then glanced at me and scrunched his face in disdain and disgust. Yes, I can’t stand you too, you pompous idiot.

“Fred,” Maria retorted simply. “I don’t think Angela will listen nicely to anyone else but Fred. She made Sam lose it.”

Strider arched a brow at me. “I know Sam is hotheaded, but not to the point of losing control,” he whistled. “I didn’t know you had the ability to make her angry, Angie.”

The disdainful way he said my name, or rather the nickname, made me narrow my eyes. “Don’t call me Angie,” I hissed at him, feeling something moving inside me. As though it was only now waking up when I was truly angry. “I’m not one of your sluts.”

Strider seemed surprised I said something like that to him. “They’re not my sluts,” Strider said with a smirk that made my hand tingle, I wanted to punch it off his face so much. “They just want into my pan - “

He didn’t even finish his last word before I felt a shock of rage heating up my veins. Next thing I knew the window leading to the balcony shattered and a strong breeze entered the room. I thought it would end there, but the wind grew stronger with every millisecond that passed, and I felt it on my body, freezing me to the spot.

Then I blinked once and all I saw was black.

I heard nothing, saw nothing, though of nothing. Everything I was was gone, and I knew only rage. Then, after what felt like an eternity, I blinked again and the darkness was gone.

I was face-front on the floor, my body limp, my sight blurry, and my mind dizzy. I felt hollow, as though my emotions fled me when the rage settled in. From the distance, I heard quiet voice murmuring, and I wanted to raise my head, call for help, tell them something was wrong with me, but I couldn’t. My muscles refused my begging, my vocal cords numb.

Someone thrusted their hand into my hair and pulled my head up. It caused a sharp, slicing pain that made me see white for a moment. I blinked, and the white and blurriness disappeared, and instead, I saw very clearly the red eyes of the Alpha of the Millennium.