Hybridization

"Sometimes you need to be shown what is right before your eyes." – Jay's thoughts when Kurt describes his recent meeting with the Origin.

It was Monday morning after their date night and Kurt was walking through the Order offices to meet Jay and Rupert. He was briefly wondering if they would be getting any time off for Christmas since it was coming up very soon. He would have asked Penny, but she would probably tell him to check the information packet he got when he signed on several months ago.

Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled at Val and Kristi. They smiled back and he wondered what he would have done without them. Sure, the situation with Val was a little… sudden, but that didn't take away from the fact that he loved them both.

"What has you all happy?" Val asked after seeing his expression.

Kurt shrugged and they all linked hands as they walked to the conference room. "Just thinking about us."

"Daw…" Val cooed then darted in for a quick kiss. "Love you too."

A few minutes later they met up with Penny who was holding a tray of coffee cups with a familiar logo on the sleeve. "Morning, guys!" She called in her overly chipper morning voice. She was waiting next to a door leading through a wall of frosted glass. They could vaguely see it was a meeting room with some figures moving around inside.

"Hi Penny." Kurt said.

Their manager passed over the tray after taking her cup from it. "Thought you would like a little coffee for the meeting. Everyone else already has theirs and is inside."

"Huh, figured we would be first since we're early and all." Kristi said after taking her cup and tossing the tray in the trash can. "Who all is here?"

"Rupert, Tig, Jay and a couple representatives from a coven in Florida." She rattled off.

"What's this about?" Kurt asked, not yet entering the room.

"They need some help."

Val seized her moment in the string of rapid-fire Q&A. "How's your boyfriend?"

"Jamie is good, he doesn't like waking up early, but it helps when I…" She suddenly stopped, realizing what she was saying and turning bright red.

Laughing, Val patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry I couldn't help my selFFEEEEEE!" She cut off as Kristi gave her a very firm spank on her ass, the skintight jeans doing nothing to cushion the blow.

Kurt looked at Kristi who shrugged. "I thought that was what we do when she starts teasing too much."

"Well, yeah, I just didn't expect it from you." Kurt said, smirking as Val rubbed her butt.

"I would have waited until we were in bed but I feel like that kind of spanking would lose some of its meaning." She grinned back at him.

"Ooookaaaay. On that note, let's go in." Penny said, her earlier embarrassment completely forgotten as Val made some rather impressive oaths under her breath. She held the door open as they all filed in and found seats at the table next to Rupert and Tig. The girls gave them quick hugs while Kurt settled for a couple handshakes.

Jay waited for them to be seated before starting the meeting and restarting the conversation that had stopped when Kurt's group had entered. "Alright, now that everyone is here, let me make introductions."

He waived to Kurt and Rupert's teams. "These are the two teams I have assigned for this task. Here we have Kurt of team Numbers." Kurt raised his hand. "And this is Rupert, the team lead for team Fraction. These fine folks are from the Florida chapter of the Celestial Path Magical Association or 'Cep-Ma' for short."

Kurt looked across the table at the two people sitting there. One was a man who appeared to be in his early forties, though it was hard to tell with some magic users. He had longer blond hair that was held back in a ponytail but was otherwise clean shaven with a pair of bright blue eyes set above a thin nose. He seemed to have a rather athletic build, though it was hard to tell under the short, sky-blue robes he wore.

The second person was an older woman, appearing to be in her early to mid-seventies. Despite her mostly grey hair being firmly in the 'I want to speak to the manager' style, she had a warm and friendly smile as she waved at them from her side of the table. She looked to be rather short, though of a slim build with hands that had a lot of small scars, showing she was a do-er and not a talker. Her robes were also a different color, being khaki and green rather than blue.

The man spoke up after a gesture from Jay. "Hi, my name is Clark and this Michelle. We co-chair the Sarasota chapter of the Celestial Path."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Michelle said and it felt like she actually meant it. "Honestly we were hard pressed on what to do about our problem and it was our good fortune to learn we can hire out for this service."

"Yes, and can you share with the teams what the issue is and what you need help with?" Jay asked. He pointed to the laptop in front of Clark and offered him the cord for the room's projector screen.

"Thanks." He said and plugged in the cord. "Our situation is a little complex since our chapter has several inherent responsibilities set within the charter."

Rupert leaned in, extending his hand and placing it flat on the table, palm down, in an odd gesture, signaling to speak. "What responsibilities and how do these charters work?" He asked before withdrawing his hand.

While Clark was pulling up the data, Michelle answered Rupert's question. "Well simply put, our association was founded by a rather altruistic group of people. They originated from and still have ties to Sikh culture, so they have a strong moral compass that they follow. The charter to be a part of the association states that we have responsibilities to our community and we dedicate many hours to those works.

"We volunteer with a lot of things like community events, blood drives, food banks and other mundane social works. Then there is our magical work which affords us a lot of practice but along similar lines."

Jay suddenly spoke up, making everyone look to him. "Please stop being humble, Michelle." He said with his traditional smirk in place before turning to the line of agents. "Their chapter also uses magic to run a free medical clinic providing magical treatment to not only people but also pets. Then they also are heavily involved in wildlife management, keeping the populations of the more magical species healthy and in check."

"That is a lot to do." Tig said, almost bouncing in his seat. "How many people are in your chapter? Oh, oh oh, wait. What is your favorite part?"

Michelle smiled at the excitable possessed elf. "Honestly, I like the wildlife management. But that is also what brings me here today." She gestured to Clark who had finished his work and was waiting for a moment to interject.

"Ahem, right. Michelle and her team got a tip listening to the police band scanner. Apparently, a lot of people were going missing on the edge of the glades." Clark said and clicked to a map of the area.

Kurt groaned and got a look from Val at his unusual outburst. "You know how you hate cold and wet?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Val answered, not sure where he was going with the comment.

"Well, there ain't no cold in the glades but more than enough wet to make up for it." Michelle said while laughing. It was a warm and welcoming sound but had a little rasp to it, once more reminding them that she was not just a sweet old lady despite her appearance.

Clark took over the presentation at that point and showed the evidence they had collected. His map was slowly populated with dates and times above little red markers surrounding one of the patches of state land. He outlined the swampy area that was in the middle of the markers.

Then he switched to the next slide and a series of pictures were put up next to a few of the markers. Each had highlighted areas showing the outlines of a variety of things. Some were footprints, a few had claw marks and others still had a note showing where drag marks suddenly stopped.

"Fuuuuck." Kurt hissed under his breath. He recognized the prints and habits displayed in the photos. When everyone turned to him, he voiced his concerns. "Wendigo."

"Wendigos. Plural." He corrected after all their heads turned back to the picture.

"How did you get that?" Michelle asked.

Kurt stood and walked over to the screen, taking the pointer Penny stuck out for him. "These here and here are clear prints. This is the triple joint that you see in the lower leg of a wendigo. Note the digitigrade print in the stride but a long resting heel between these points." He tapped at the picture showing what the photographer had correctly identified as a footprint, not multiple prints like the caption said.

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Clark raised his hand. "How do you figure multiple? None of the attack times overlap."

"But they do." Kurt said and had them back up to the larger overhead map. "The minimum cycle time for a wendigo is roughly five to six hours. Here we have three attacks with a five hour stretch across too wide of an area. They don't run when hunting, so they have a slow gait and only move with decent speed due to their stride being so long."

"Cycle time?" Tig asked.

"The time they take to process one of their victims." Kurt was beginning to growl through his clenched teeth. Something about wendigos was driving his werewolf side crazy and his half-elf side was inclined to agree with the sentiment.

The faces around the room had hardened significantly. Val especially had a tense expression with even Tig and Jay looking concerned. Many looks were shared but nobody spoke until finally Clark stood, shutting his laptop and causing the projector to go dark.

"What do you need and how soon can we expect you?" He asked.

Kurt looked at Jay, but the old demon just waved his hand for him to continue. "I need all your scouts, trackers and combat ready troops. Iron or steel weapons are the only thing that works unless you have specially prepared magical arms."

"I will get the closer chapters to send their people too." Michelle said, making a note on her pad of paper.

"Jay, I need my squad. My people." Kurt said, not explicitly saying werewolves incase their guests were skittish about lycanthropes. He was getting a push from his instincts that he would want them there.

"Done. Want me to call in Piper's team?" Jay was already reading between the lines and making the connection to what Kurt needed.

Kurt shook his head. "Only if they are completely free. We can handle this with our two teams and support squads if not."

Jay consulted his tablet. "No, it's just you guys then. They are pulling two rifts this week to cover for your teams. I will push our auxiliary teams to you to cover." He looked Kurt dead in the eyes then. "You have complete 'authority' over this task. Wipe them out by any means necessary. I am fine with burning thousands of acres if it prevents a breeding population of these monsters."

The room was now a flurry of activity as the magic users excused themselves and Penny began making phone calls. Kurt nodded once after sharing a look with the girls. "Understood."

"See it done, Lupus Rex" Jay said and swiftly walked out the door while dictating to Kevin on what needed to be done and who he needed to meet with.

*****

"Leading another hunt I see." Kurts's wolf said as he awoke in the forest. "And you came here without going to sleep." There was a nod of approval from the large wolf.

Kurt looked around. He could feel something was different. "Yeah, I thought I needed to meditate. There was something driving me crazy about this and I suspect it's from our connection."

"Not our connection so much as his." The wolf said and pointed his muzzle off into the trees at the edge of the clearing.

Lurking just in the shadows, was the Avatar. It was somehow staying under the cover of the trees despite being larger than most of them by a fair margin. "What does he want?" Kurt wondered aloud. They watched it stalking around the perimeter for a few moments before his wolf spoke again.

"Go ask."

Hesitating for only a moment, Kurt walked toward where the Avatar had stopped. They made eye contact as he approached and he suppressed a shudder as he felt it peer into his soul, judging him like it had that first time. Apparently, it approved of what it was seeing because it only huffed slightly as it approached.

"Well met, king/abnormality/legacy." The Avatar greeted after stopping several yards away. A distance that only provided the illusion of safety. Something Kurt learned in his first visit to this place.

Kurt tried not to groan as he was once more bombarded with the discordant multi-meaning mental voice. "Well met, Avatar."

"You learn/know/grow. Now is time/instance/opportunity to push/act/build." The Avatar's whispering rasp of a voice washed over Kurt again, this time imparting something different.

"Soon you/they/us will fight/hunt/erase the great enemy/antithesis/dread for which I/we/you exist." It continued after Kurt remained silent.

Kurt got the feeling it wasn't just talking about the wendigo but wasn't sure why. There was once again a lot of context that he was clearly lacking. He also got the impression that now wasn't the time for him to ask, and he could learn the details later. "What would you have me do?"

The large wolf seemed to flicker for a moment before suddenly becoming more 'real'. It was a jarring sensation that Kurt likened to watching a movie in 3D then taking off the glasses to find that there was a real actor standing there. It was an unnerving sensation that made him want to simultaneously look away and bask in the effect.

"You will spread the currrrRRRR…" The Avatar's word trailed off, like he was fighting something as he snarled. "…GIFFFFFFffft of elevation. Select and raise up your SSSssecond's and lieutenants. Mmmmaaake more of the Alpha…"

The Avatar was shaking, its hackles raised as it flickered into and out of that strange half reality. It forced its words out regardless of whatever pain it was in. Kurt had to know more and when the words had choked off into a muted growl, he asked his question. "How? How do I make them more? Who do I pick?"

Suddenly, the growling stopped and there was a sudden surge of… something. It was a type of presence that was so palpable Kurt could smell and taste it along with a feeling that ran soul deep. The Avatar, once more in reality, stepped forward again and Kurt readied himself for another bite.

"Knowledge is what you seek?" Said a suddenly much clearer, human sounding voice. "Then knowledge and ability you shall have." Instead of a bite, he received what could only be called a 'boop' from the Avatar's nose to his forehead.

Kurt wasn't sure if the Avatar vanished or if he did as his world suddenly went white. That whiteness was then rapidly replaced by a whirlwind of color. That color brought with it sensations that he had never experienced before. There were smells, sounds, emotions and… something like mana? Suddenly the strange sensations stopped, pausing in the kaleidoscopic void he found himself in. Then the memories came.

He found himself standing in a large clearing, perched atop a large, flat rock and looking down into the mass of werewolves. His wolves, his children and grandchildren. They were his… Kurt suddenly knew he had seen this before, in the mural.

This was when the Origin had made the Alpha strain or whatever it was. It was after the scene of the funeral and just before the selection of the Alpha's. It was strange to see the scene not only through the eyes of the Origin but in real life and not in the stylized art from the murals.

He could see a sort of haze floating above each of the assembled wolves and slowly being pulled toward him. It wafted off them like someone had given heat haze a color gradient to contrast it against the background. One by one, the Origin pointed and selected wolves. They each had haze that was the same amber as the Origin's eyes. The same as Kurt's own wolfen eyes. He suddenly realized that the haze was actually aura, the descriptions he had read suddenly came to mind as he saw it for himself.

The Origin only picked the best, those with the densest aura haze. Some had more, some had less in terms of the overall volume, but they were all similar in quality if not quantity of the aura. He then had them all follow him to a more secluded clearing where they formed a line and stepped forward to receive the gift of the Alpha.

Kurt watched and felt the sensations around him, even experiencing the thoughts and memories of the Origin as he shifted, leaning down to bite the first in line. Unlike in the mural, there was a slight pause as his fangs pierced the skin of the man's shoulder. There was an influx of information, like raw data that hadn't been processed into anything. With a start, he realized it was genetic information mixed with the imprint of the man's soul.

Kurt wasn't sure how he knew this, he wasn't even sure what was happening, but he felt as the Origin changed the man before him. There was a conscious effort involved as he forced a slightly altered strain of their lycanthropy into the man, changing the way the bite worked.

Unlike a normal werewolf bite, this had an order to it and was actively designed to overwrite the DNA and soul of the target. With each bite, the blood spread the change within the body, affecting the cells and genetics of the werewolf. While that happened, the Origin forced his will and intent into the soul, controlling the change while sharing a little speck of his…

What was he sharing? Kurt wondered. He couldn't make heads or tails of it despite experiencing it. Fortunately, he had a long line of people to relive the experience. He settled in to watch as the Origin spread the Alpha strain, one werewolf at a time.

After the fourteenth wolf, it clicked, and Kurt knew what was happening to the soul. The Origin was imprinting his will and intent into the soul by breaking off a little spark of his own divinity. It was that sudden realization that made Kurt pay attention to the Origin and not the scene before him.

He turned his metaphysical gaze inward and saw his, or rather the Origin's, own soul. It was a heavily scarred thing, battered and broken before being made whole again. But despite the damage, it shone with a brightness unlike anything Kurt had ever seen before. Not that he had ever been able to see a soul, or even an aura. He briefly wondered if that would change now but quickly returned his attention to the scene he was living and watching.

Kurt followed the motions and actions much closer as the Origin bit another. He could feel the purpose and the forceful intent to start the change. He could feel that he was passing on something that he held precious. He also knew that this use or spending of divinity was temporary and also beneficial.

There was a knowledge that the Origin had, one that Kurt was also aware of after his realization. He now knew that divinity was a resource. He had to gather it and hold it to expand his vessel. He also had to spend it to condense it into something that was usable. Now only if he knew where to get it…

Suddenly, the line of werewolves had all shifted into the larger alpha forms. Their frames expanding through the sound of tearing skin and breaking bones that healed as fast as it was damaged. Then, after they had all shifted, they returned to gathered packs and Kurt could see the aura wafting off them.

It all gathered, its various colors and density being pushed toward the respective alphas where it was absorbed. Those alphas then passed on an even more condensed, amber version to the Origin who absorbed it readily before he was suddenly racked with pain.

Kurt felt something inside him stretching and tearing like sheet metal being ripped and stretched without heat. He turned inward, ignoring the pain and following the path of the aura, looking to his soul once again. The aura was not only condensed but also had little sparkles mixed within. Tiny flecks of what he realized was the missing component for divinity. The Aura was filled to bursting with faith.

The soul before Kurt expanded, leaking the aura and faith from cracks and tears on its surface. On the outside, a similar thing was happening. Kurt once again could feel the changes of going from the alpha version of a wolf to the king version. It was slightly muted, not nearly as intense of a shift as his first time. He then thought that might be because the Origin had gone through worse but couldn't confirm it.

Soon the change was complete, and he was left with the sight of the expanded soul that was also the divine vessel for the Origin. It was a sight to behold but it was also a sight short lived as he was suddenly ejected from not only the memory but also from the forest that he had first gone to.

Kurt remained in his mediation, not exiting it as he explored himself. He wanted to see if he could… yup, there it was, clear as day now that he knew what to look at. Kurt could see his own soul and even see the divinity swirling within it. It wasn't as large as the Origin's, not even close, but that was to be expected since he had only been a werewolf for a little more than a decade and not centuries.

Letting out the last breath he had been holding, Kurt eased out of his meditation peacefully and opened his eyes to return his awareness to the living room. "Gyah!" He flinched backward as he opened his eyes to see Val a couple inches from his face.

"He's alive!" Kristi called from somewhere.

"Great! Now what the actual fuck, Kurt!" Jay said, his voice growing as he approached from the kitchen. "My ward for sensing divinity went bat shit crazy again."

Getting his heart rate under control as Val and Kristi wrapped him up in hugs, Kurt began to retell what he saw. He didn't leave anything out since he could now see the little sparks of divinity in each person in the room. The theory for why the hybrid stigma was made suddenly got a little clearer after his recent encounter with his own divine nature. Was that something they could all do? A height that they could all achieve?