Kiss of the Moon Ch. 10

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"Cut it…" Gillian told them both, "We cannot afford this kind of division. Amy is the boss, you answer to her; she doesn't answer to you. She is an Alpha; we only take our orders from you because she wants us to. Granted what they did was a little reckless but it got the job done before it attracted a whole heap of them to us." Gillian took a deep breath, "Now lets dig the slugs out and regroup," he suggested.

****

Grey-hawk dived behind a raised garden bed. He was showered in dirt a moment later as the grenade exploded near him. He growled gently and tore his jacket off as it was hampering his ability to move freely. Where the fuck do they keep getting the grenades? He asked Wolfgang.

No idea, Wolfgang replied. How's your head Shia? Wolfgang asked as he tried to get closer to the two idiots with grenades.

Still throbbing, give me another five and I should be fine, he told Wolfgang. Would be easier if the explosions stopped for more than a minute, my ears are ringing like church bells.

Grey-hawk snorted in amusement.

And the human? Wolfgang asked; he could only just keep the amusement from his voice.

A little shaky, her bleedings stopped though, Shia told him.

When the fighting started Shia had stood and was pushing people down to get them out of the way of any bullets. Shia was the one who noticed the grenade that had been lobbed into the café they were in. He booted it out and covered a woman as it went off, a large piece of shrapnel lodged in his skull but he had saved the woman's life.

Wolfgang could hear screaming all around him, it disrupted his focus on the men with the grenades. He kept moving closer.

I'm going to come around on their left, Grey-hawk told Wolfgang.

Okay… keep your head down, Wolfgang warned him.

Grey-hawk crawled along the ground as Wolfgang quickly darted between cars. They were trying to get close enough to take the grenades out of the equation. Another grenade was lobbed into the air. Wolfgang watched it sail over his head and land over fifty feet from him. He ducked behind a car as it went off.

Fools are just throwing the things. They don't care who they hit, Wolfgang turned towards Grey-hawk as he spoke.

Grey-hawk quivered in fury for a moment before he stormed the cars. Wolfgang growled gently to himself, only fools rush in headfirst he thought, and stormed forward. He slid across the bonnet of the car the men were hiding behind. He caught the back of one man's head and slammed it into the asphalt killing the man instantly. He glanced over to Grey-hawk and saw instantly what had made him furious enough to attack without a plan. The other man had been raping a young woman.

Grey-hawks hands were wrapped around the man's throat. Grey-hawk turned to the woman, "What do you want done to him? I can end his life, you'll never have to see him again or I can tie him up and the human authorities can handle him?" Grey-hawk asked her gently when really he just wanted to squeeze until the man died, but he wanted her to decide the fate of this man.

"If he was Were?" She asked shakily as Wolfgang offered her his jacket so she could cover herself. She slid the jacket on and pulled it closed to cover her torn clothes.

"He would be dead," Wolfgang explained. Wolfgang turned to Grey-hawk taking the decision out of her hands. "Causality of war. Kill the fucker," Wolfgang said, he never liked rapists, to him they were the lowest of the low, they were vile people who couldn't get sex any other way and didn't know how to treat a woman.

Grey-hawk snapped the rapist's neck, wiped his hands on his pants and turned to the woman, "Can you stand?" He asked gently, he had learnt a lot from Alanna and the others, on the right way to approach and handle a person who has been abused.

She nodded. Grey-hawk slightly offered her a hand up. She held out her hand and he helped her to her feet. Wolfgang studied her for a moment, he could see strength hidden behind her delicate frame.

"Lets see if we can find her a safe place to wait out the fighting," Wolfgang said gently.

Shia joined them, "Okay my head has stopped throbbing so what are we up to?"

"First we are finding a safe place for this lady, then we are going to try to find my queen," Wolfgang told them.

"Can't… can't I stay with you?" She asked gently.

Wolfgang sighed, he knew having her with them would slow them down but he also knew that leaving her alone or with people she didn't know or trust could cause her death or worst get her raped again. "Okay, what's your name?" He asked gently.

"Cassidy… Cass to my friends," she said gently.

"Okay Cassidy…" Wolfgang began.

"Cass," Cassidy corrected him.

Wolfgang smiled, she was just like Amy; he mused to himself. "Cass… have you ever fired a gun?"

She nodded, "My grandda is a rancher, I spent every summer at his ranch up until last summer."

Electra joined them looking frazzled.

"Kind of you to make an appearance," Grey-hawk said sarcastically.

"You try to get some hysterical old woman who thinks you're her daughter to let you go in the middle of a gun fight then you can tell me what to do," Electra snapped back.

Shia chuckled.

Wolfgang rolled his eyes. Several police officers joined them, as did some civilians. Everyone was looking to Wolfgang for leadership having recognised his face.

"What do all you want?" Wolfgang asked.

"You're going to fight aren't you?" One of the policemen said.

Wolfgang nodded.

"So are we. This is a coup…" The same officer started to say.

"No this is terrorism…" Another officer said.

"No…" Cass said startling everyone, "This is war, it's us who want to live with Were against them who are fucking idiots. It's not terrorism or a coup, it might eventually go that way if we don't get this under control."

Wolfgang smiled, "You sound like Amy."

Cass blushed; she had never been complimented like that before. She knew who Amy was and that she was widely accepted as the spokeswoman for the Were and Others.

"If you want to fight sure… get your weapons and vests and meet those who don't have weapons at the army surplus around the corner," Wolfgang told them. He had been hoping to keep his group small but Amy's words flashed through his mind. Don't stop those who are willing to fight, lead them, this isn't just about us vs. them; It's about all of us, working together, human, were, other, together, one goal.

He led them around the corner and up to the army surplus store. He knocked on the door, and found a gun was aimed at him.

"I'm a patriot but I ain't supporting you racist fuckers," the man said as he leveled his gun.

Wolfgang pressed his hand against the glass and shifted it into a claw. The man dropped his weapon and opened the door.

"What can I do for you?" He asked; there were children huddled behind his counter.

"These guys need weapons. I'll pay…" Wolfgang began to say.

"Don't need money, anyway I owe you guys." He stepped aside and let them in. The police officers joined them moments later with heavy bags.

"Name's Ref, I was in Nam, my best mate saved my life; he was drafted. Were to boot, didn't find out until he saved my life," he said quickly in short sentences, "Not a wolf, he said panther though," he finished. He spotted Cass.

"Only got army issue, help yourself. There's a shower in the back through my room, you're welcome to use," he told her as he locked the door. "Got plenty of guns and ammo, help yourselves," he told everyone. "Even got vests." He turned to one of the police officers, "Guard the door." He walked out the back with a noticeable limp.

Cass grabbed clothes and then quickly went to shower and dress.

He came back with a trolley loaded with boxes. "Knew the moment the Were went public it was because a war was coming, I've been stock piling for years. He warned me," he said as if continuing a conversation.

"What was his name?" Shia asked.

"Tucker, Garth Tucker, see him every now and again, hasn't aged a day," he told Shia.

"Garth's my second. He's keeping an eye on my mate," Shia told him.

Ref glared at Shia, "Garth's a good fighter and you have him guarding your woman…"

"My mate gave birth two days ago she needs protection," Shia replied angrily.

Wolfgang stepped between the two. "Garth volunteered to protect Naomi; just as Gillian chose to protect my Amy. You have to understand Ref, if we win the children you're protecting and Garth is protecting are the future; they are more important than money, they are the future. Garth knows this, heck I have most of my pack younglings at the manor being protected by some of my best fighters."

Ref thought about it, Wolfgang was right. It was why he had offered to take the teacher and her class in. He nodded his apology to Shia and started to open the boxes. He tossed bulletproof vests to all the humans.

Cass walked back out her hair was damp from the shower she had taken. She grabbed a belt, as her pants were a little too big, quickly sliding it through the loops. She found a pair of boots in her size and two pairs of heavy socks to prevent the boots from pinching and causing blisters. She sat and pulled both on listening intently as plans were made. She grabbed a vest and some webbing, strapped the vest on and slid the webbing on top of it then walked over to look at the guns on offer.

Ref eyed her for a moment, "Bah, those are for show, I have standard issue assault riffles in the other room behind a hidden wall," he told her. The police officers frowned, normally they would be arresting him for having such weapons on hand, but now that they thought about it, those weapons were much better issue then the self-loading rifles on offer. Cassidy pointed to two pistols in the cabinet.

Ref stepped behind the counter and pulled them out, he reached lower and pulled out thigh holsters for the weapons. "You know what you're doing with these?" He asked cautiously.

Cassidy loaded a clip with bullets and slid the clip home. She slid the slide back loading a round into the chamber then flicked the safety on. "Yes," was her simple reply.

Ref nodded and handed her a dozen spare clips and enough bullets to fill them three times over. Cassidy started to load the clips while Grey-hawk helped her. Cassidy's hands shook slightly as shock of what had happened to her set in.

Grey-hawk noticed the slight shaking of her hands. He also watched as she took a deep breath to control the shaking and continued to push bullets into the clip. She had gall, he thought to himself. He studied her between glances knowing that if he stared or took notice of her it might make her snap. Her shoulder length wavy red hair was pulled from her face and tied back in a ponytail. A sprinkling of freckles danced across her small button nose and her vibrant green eyes focused on her task. Her skin was almost as pale as Amy's.

A bruise was forming on her jaw, just the sight of it made him furious. He studied her body, she was lean, perhaps a dancer in her youth. After that it was all hazy, he could only guess what lie beneath the bullet proof vest and the baggy cargos.

Wolfgang noticed Grey-hawk's fascination with Cassidy, Take it slowly with her, he told Grey-hawk silently.

Pardon? Grey-hawk said trying not to make an issue of Wolfgang's comment.

Take it slow, go to the bathroom and cool down, Wolfgang warned him. Grey-hawk nodded and left.

Cassidy turned and watched him leave. Wolfgang took over loading the clips.

"Why did he leave?" She asked gently.

Wolfgang sighed, "He feels a connection to you. After what you went through it would be inappropriate for him to approach you."

Cassidy nodded. It took them another half an hour to get organized.

"Okay everyone ready?" Wolfgang asked.

Everyone nodded keeping there weapons down.

"Let's jump into the fire then," he told them.

****

"Okay were to?" Sarge asked Amy once everyone was checked for bullet fragments.

Amy closed her eyes and sent her senses out, looking for any Were who might know where a good fight was. Her mind brushed Wolfgang's. Where are you? She asked him.

Bogged down, we stumbled across a group heading towards city hall, he replied, possible reinforcements. Why? He asked.

Meet you there, Amy told him and came back to herself. She could feel both his anger and anxiety about her fighting through their bond.

"City hall, Wolfgang says his group intercepted reinforcements heading to city hall," Amy told Sarge.

Sarge pulled out his map and glanced to the nearest series of street signs, thirteen blocks to get to city hall, too many possible ambush points. "Sewers it is then," Sarge said. He didn't want people noticing that Amy was in their group, it would bring more heat on them.

Drifter was already lifting the nearest manhole cover. Mac glanced into the darkness, every underground scary movie he had seen quickly flashed through his head. He took a deep breath and crossed himself, then hesitated before going down.

Alanna chuckled, she didn't mean to but she couldn't help it, the big tough Marine was afraid of going into the sewers. "Don't worry Mac I'll protect you from the big mean spiders," she said mockingly before she jumped down the hole, not bothering with the ladder. She landed with a splash into the ankle deep watery sludge.

Mac glared at the hole she had just disappeared down. He sat and put his feet in the rungs, he slung his riffle onto his back. "It's not the spiders I'm afraid of, it's the gators," he told Alanna loudly as he climbed down the ladder.

"That is a myth," Sienna told him.

Mac paused, "One of my uncles works down in the sewers he swears black and blue he saw a friggin' gator down there."

"Get your butt down the hole," Sarge said, he wasn't going to listen to such nonsense, "Besides those are New York sewers, we have no idea what could be crawling around in these sewers."

Mac gave Sarge a reproachful look, going into the sewers was the last thing he wanted to do, ever.

"Get your butt down the hole soldier," Sarge demanded in his best parade ground voice.

Mac had no choice but to scoot down the ladder, as he could not disobey a direct order. Everyone followed, the Were not bothering with the ladder the humans were fumbling down.

Amy closed her eyes as torches were turned on. Sammy, Sienna, Gillian and Alanna stepped away from the glow of the lights letting their eyes shift slightly so they could see in the dark. Amy mapped their route in her mind. She trotted off using one hand to keep her body steady on the slippery surface. Everyone followed her keeping their steps short and sure. Amy took them down lefts and right almost at random but they knew that was wrong, Amy always knew where she was going.

She stopped by a ladder. Mac went up and went to open the manhole.

"Stop, this one is too open," Amy told him. She walked to another ladder a hundred yards away. She closed her eyes and focused. "This one… it's an alley it will give us cover."

Everyone joined her. Mac went back up and carefully lifted the manhole cover. He peeked out just to be sure. Amy was right, this manhole was set back in an alley which would give them cover and some time to figure out a game plan. He pushed the cover off trying not to make too much noise. Mac was up and guarding the area as the rest followed him up.

They crept to the alley's opening. The wide square that fronted the town hall stretched out before them and they glanced around to see if they could spot danger. Amy grabbed the scope off of Susan's riffle and started to scan the rooftops that she could see. Susan rolled her eyes, snatched her scope back and gave Amy her compact binoculars while everyone else was scanning the area to get an idea of the situation.

Sienna was using a scope she had stolen from one of the gunmen from earlier. She had spotted the school bus and wanted to make sure that the children were safe.

She found the group huddled together, out in the open; two bodies, a woman and a child were on the ground. Every time one of the children tried to move for cover they were shot at. Sienna focused on the child lying on the ground. She was trying to get up, she was shot again and she dropped back to the ground. Her white with randomly placed light grey feathered wings lifted slightly and were shot at.

"Amy it's Sage, they're taking pot shots at Sage," Sienna told her.

Sammy went white, "The Nephalim will be pissed."

Amy shook her head, "Sage's ma is Were, she has control of the child until her twenty fifth birthday. It's her they have to answer to. What is she again I forget?"

"Snow Leopard," Drifter supplied.

"Still doesn't mean they won't be pissed," Sammy said gently.

"What's her ma's name?" Amy asked suddenly.

"Bianca Strays. You interviewed her yesterday for your P.A job. She's pack," Alanna said aspirated, she seriously wondered how her mother ever remembered anything. Since Alanna had started to open up Amy and Wolfgang had both encouraged her to think of them as her parents, only recently did they make it all legal freeing her to call them ma and da.

"Looks like her teacher was hit too, she's not in a good way," Susan supplied.

Sarge had quickly formed a plan, "Sienna, the bus, can you get to it?" He asked, Sienna had proven herself to be the fastest after Amy when they were learning about each others strengths and weaknesses.

Sienna quickly judged the distance and nodded, "Yep I can get to it. Why?"

"I want you to hotwire the bus and drive it between the children and the sniper," Sarge told her.

"Take them out of the equation," Sienna said as she nodded, it was the most reasonable course of action. Remove the children from the equation then they could get to work getting rid of the sniper.

"What about the reporters?" Lock-heart asked.

"For the moment the sniper is ignoring them, probably wants this seen all over the world," Amy told them.

Susan grabbed Amy, "Nephalim, I don't know anything about Nephalim physiology," she complained.

Alanna smiled, "Simple… Were with wings," she said as she shrugged, it wasn't that hard.

Susan rolled her eyes. She knew better then to think it would be that easy, Sage could have bird physiology for all she knew. She turned to Amy but Amy just shrugged, she couldn't help Susan.

"Sorry I can't help you, just do your best," Amy responded.

Susan sighed; she didn't like flying blind.

"Everyone keep control, remember with reporters on scene we are on the world stage," Amy cautioned them.

"Sniper's don't count," Sarge told them, "Instant threat removal when it's them." Sarge turned to Lock-heart, "sniper's yours."

Lock-heart nodded.

A shot rang out over the square. Sienna frowned, her eyes were still on Sage, "That wasn't at Sage."

Drifter spotted the sniper who had been taking pot shots at Sage slump down, "No it was at the sniper."

Lock-heart was looking for the new threat. He spotted the new shooter and went to fire on the new sniper as he had his gun pointed at them and his eyes were on the scope. The new sniper put his gun down and pointed to his vest. Lock-heart took his finger off the trigger, "SWAT sniper, he's on our side, he took out the sniper taking pot shots at Sage."

"Mac, Susan cover Sienna," Sarge told them.

They moved into position as Sienna planned her route. She took off her coat and waited for Sarge's signal.

"Go," Sarge told her.

Sienna slipped around the building and almost crept along its edge trying to get into position for the best dash. She ducked instinctively as a bullet thudded where her head had been and started to run changing direction often so the sniper couldn't aim giving Lock-heart and the SWAT sniper time to target him. She dived under the bus and crawled until she came out the other side.