Kiss of the Moon Ch. 10

She went to the door and saw the cowering bus driver. Sienna pushed the doors open and climbed up, "Keys," she demanded.

The man pointed to the ignition.

"I would get out if I were you?" Sienna told him as she jumped into the drivers seat, turned the key and started the engine, the driver got out and ran into the nearest building. Sienna rolled her eyes and turned back as she threw the bus in reverse. She gunned the motor and took off; bullets thudded into the bus. She moved the bus into position, putting it between the children and the other snipper.

"Go," Sarge said as he clapped Amy and Susan on the back and then clapped Alanna.

They ran as fast as they could, bullets chased their ankles. Alanna kept right behind Susan to catch any stray bullets meant for her. Amy dived under the bus and rolled until she was safely on the other side.

Alanna stumbled as she followed Susan around the bus, she stared at her thigh as it was gushing blood and sat behind a tire. Amy coughed blood as several bullets had hit her in the back. Susan went straight to the teacher knowing Amy and Alanna would survive their wounds.

"Hey guys; up against the bus is safer," Alanna invited the children. She pulled out a pair of tweezers and started to dig out the bullet in her thigh.

Sienna started digging the bullets out of Sage.

Sage pushed herself onto her knees with a sigh. Her raven black hair had natural streaks of white, it was shoulder length and left loose except for two plaits that came from each temple and wrapped around to connect together. Her eyes were such a pale blue they were often mistaken for grey. For a ten-year old Sage could almost pass for someone older as she was almost six feet tall, only she was long and gangly.

"You okay?" Sienna asked the clearly shaken Sage.

Sage nodded and pushed up so that she was kneeling. Her wings angled forward over her shoulders so that her all her important flight feathers weren't bent.

"I just hope my ma is okay, she was heading to her new job today. I know she didn't want me to be out today," Sage said softly as she turned to Sienna.

Sienna sighed, "I'm sorry Sage, we don't know."

Amy knelt before Sage, "I'm sure she is fine Sage. If I remember correctly she's had some Nephalim training, she can take care of herself," Amy said trying to reassure her.

Susan had the other teacher in the group, who wasn't injured, applying pressure to one of the injured teachers wounds. She dug into a bag and pulled out four packets of, for lack of a better word, syrup. She tossed one to each of the Were and one to Sage. "Eat up it's one of Nathanael's rapid healing thingies," she explained before turning back to Sage's teacher.

They tore the edges off and sucked the syrup down. After Alanna pulled the slug from her leg she turned and started pulling bullets from Amy's back.

Sage sat next to her teacher who had tried to drag her to safety shortly after the initial shots were fired. Sage watched Susan carefully hoping she could do something, that she knew something about treating humans. The others finally joined them after driving some more cars to create a three-sided box to protect them with the SWAT snipper at their back.

Susan glanced up to Sarge, "She needs a hospital, the abdominal wound missed the liver and spleen but it's clipped the large intestines. The wound will go septic if the hole isn't sealed and the site cleaned within the hour," her grim expression was all Sarge really needed to see to know that the teacher wasn't in good shape.

"I could fly her," Sage suggested. She didn't know if she could handle it if her teacher died because she had tried to protect someone who couldn't be killed.

"No Sage…" Amy told her firmly, "One stray bullet and you could both come crashing down, you'll survive a fall; she won't."

Sage nodded, she understood but she felt like she had to do something. She wasn't like other Were children. She was part Nephalim, a warrior race that were wildly feared for their uncompromising battle skills but admired for their code of chivalry. Sage, because of her Nephalim blood didn't need to be taught how to fight, she only needed to practise and according to her father she was born to the blade and fighting arts.

"Black van," Drifter called out.

Those with guns raised their weapons as the van backed up to them. They dropped their weapons when they saw SWAT plastered across the back of the van; bullets ricochet off the armour. The doors opened and several men hopped out.

"Whose in charge here?" A man asked after he pulled his black cloth mask down.

Everyone pointed to Amy. Lock-heart's finger rested on the trigger of his gun, just in case they suddenly decided to start firing. He would at least get in several good shots before his death, he vowed silently.

"How can we help?" The same man asked.

Lock-heart's finger left his trigger. If Amy wasn't judging them to be a threat neither would he.

"This lady needs a hospital asap and these kids have to get out of here. You're guy up there took out two snipers but we're guessing there are another two," Amy informed him.

"We could use more ammo if you've got any," Sarge added.

"Help yourselves to the ammo and we'll ensure she gets to a safe hospital and the children are put somewhere safe," the man who did all the talking answered.

Another SWAT man approached the children; he knelt before them and smiled, "Hey guys, who wants to ride in the SWAT van?" he asked them.

All the children except Sage raised their hands, it wasn't often that children were invited to ride in a SWAT van.

Sage turned to Amy after she thought for a few moments, she could do something to help, "I'm Nephalim, I can help," she stated boldly.

Amy sighed, she had known deep down that Sage was going to ask to join them. "Sweetie…"

Sage's look hardened, she was going to fight, she was going to help. "No… I am not some prissy footed Were child, I'm half Nephalim, I can take care of my self better than humans can," Sage glared at Amy as she spoke, while she lived with her mother she had to obey Were society as well as the Nephalim code of chivalry. The code mandated that she offer her services to Amy and not to take no as an answer but if Amy said no she would have to obey as she was in Were society at the moment not Nephalim.

Amy sighed again weighing her options. Sage was correct, Nephalim were warrior Demi-gods, born fighters, they didn't have to learn to use their powers or how to fight, that knowledge was blue printed into the genes. She also knew who Sage's father is, the War lord, so of equal rank to Amy, by saying no to Sage it would be as if saying his blood was not good enough for battle and could very well reignite the Were-Nephalim wars which had nearly decimated both sides.

The wars had only ended twenty years ago and had lasted thousands of years. The only reason the wars ended was because of Sage's father Dominic. During a raid on her previous pride he had found Bianca just before one of the Elemental men under his command raped her. He pulled the man from her then helped her to her feet, both Nephalim and Were shared an intense dislike for rape. She promptly kicked his shin and kicked the man who had been about to rape her between the legs. Dominic roared with laughter and let her flee.

It was during the next raid that he managed to kidnap Bianca, the woman he couldn't get out of his mind. It had taken him weeks of slowly getting her to trust him before he could start to court her, and slowly Bianca had fallen in love. It was her determination to see their people as friends that got Dominic to call a truce. When Sage was born Dominic went further and organised trade relations and had written the Nephalim/Were alliance, giving Nephalim the freedom to travel pack and pride lands and visa versa.

"Okay," Amy conceded knowing she really had no choice.

"Amy she's a child," Sarge objected.

"She's Nephalim, a War lord princess amongst her own," Amy told him frankly.

Sarge shrugged, he didn't understand, "So?" He questioned.

"So… she can fight better than almost every human in this realm and a good chunk of Were, I have no desire to insult her father and reignite the Were-Nephalim wars," Amy explained. Amy levelled her best glare at Sage, "Lets get something straight, I'm in charge, you obey my orders, if I tell you to get out of the fighting you obey instantly," Amy told her sternly.

Sage sat straighter and bowed her head slightly in submission, "My father would string me up by my thumbs and take a spiked cat and nine tails to my back for disobeying my commander," Sage told her solemnly. The punishment she had stated was the least of all the punishments she knew could be dealt to a soldier who disobeyed an order at any time let alone disobeying an order during a battle, the worst would be a nerve whip lashing.

Sage closed her eyes for a moment, focusing her thoughts to summon her armour from the rack it was set up on in her bedroom. She opened her wings and clapped her hands; form-hugging armour appeared covering her body, her father's crest was blazed across her fitted chest plate. The crest embossed on her chest proclaimed her a War Lord's daughter, a War Lord Princess. The shoulder guards were carefully etched to carry on the crest's design. A linked chain mail shirt was beneath the chest plate, back guard and beneath arm guards. Chain mail encased her legs and went beneath shin guards.

She opened her eyes for a moment and adjusted a buckle on her chest plate. She closed her wings making sure everything was sitting right. She held out her hands and focused for a moment, her sword appeared. She slung it over her shoulder so it sat between her wings and buckled it up.

She turned to Amy to await her orders.

Amy studied her for a moment as she finished checking her buckles and the way her armour sat. "I want you in the air to see if there are any more snipers near us," Amy ordered.

Sage nodded and opened her wings, bent her knees and jumped high into the air. Her wings started to pump to get her airborne. Several bullets bounced off her well made armour, she tilted her wings dipping down to catch an up draft. She shot up into the air getting her above the sniper.

Susan was doing her best with the limited supplies she had to stabilize the teacher before she was moved. Another, better equipped medical kit was put down beside her. She opened the box and smiled when she found an IV needle and bag. She expertly inserted the needle and taped it down, attached the bag and thrust it into the hands of the nearest SWAT officer.

"If I had known I would be working on civilians I would have packed a better kit," she mumbled to herself as she pulled out a stethoscope and checked the teacher's blood pressure. She tore off her gloves and started to write down what she had done to stabilize her and her vitals. A man walked over with a flat wooden door, two men carefully lifted her onto the door and strapped her down to keep her still.

"Someone has to keep pressure on this wound," Susan told them as they got ready to lift her into the van.

"I'll do it," the only woman in the group said. She pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, hopped into the van and applied pressure to the wound the moment the teacher was in the van.

"Keep her talking," Susan told her as she handed the IV to another SWAT officer already in the van making sure the children were seated and buckled in. The last of the officers jumped in.

Amy sniper to your left, Sage told her.

That is the SWAT sniper, Amy responded.

Sorry my left your right, he is fiddling with his riffle, it might be jammed, Sage told her.

Amy turned to the SWAT commander, "The SWAT sniper is he yours," she asked.

"Yes he is why?" He replied.

"Sniper on that roof," Amy told him pointing to the roof in question.

The commander quickly relayed the information and a shot rang out several moments later.

He is down, Sage informed.

Come back now, Amy told her, then turned to the commander, "That was the last one, you're safe to go," she told him.

He nodded and tossed them several radios, one for each human and one for Amy as she could transfer orders to the Were mentally. "Your code name is Renegades. Amy you are Renegade one. Our channel for the moment is forty two, if you hear red alert switch over to channel nineteen," he told them as he hoped into his van and pulled the door shut, the van drove off.

Sarge turned to Amy, "Where to now?"

Sage cleared her throat to draw attention to her so she could report, "The heaviest fighting I saw was at the new Were relations building," she told them.

"What did you see?" Sarge asked wondering how observant she really was.

Sage thought for a moment, "About fifty or so heavily armed men holding a storming position around the building, five snipers, three I could see and two I could only hear. They are being held off by about fifteen to twenty people, some police, some Were, and they are being aided by some civilians. They have made a crude barricade," Sage waited for a moment before adding, "Sorry I couldn't be more accurate I only had a glance. I also noticed four ambush points along the most direct route, some fighting down near the police station and another group trying to take the courthouse. They are being held off by court officials and some Were and a smattering of cops." She waited.

Sarge was surprised, all that in a glance, "How did you do that?" He asked, "You were only in the air for what a minute, two at the most," he demanded.

Sage shrugged, "Da has always said I would make a good scout. I remember what I see in a glance. It's not one hundred percent but it's more accurate than a spying mirror."

"Spying Mirror?" Sarge asked wanting her to explain.

Sage nodded, "Any reflective surface will do," she explained as she turned to the side of the bus. She drew a circle on the polished surface then wrote a series of runes in the middle of the circle. The space within the circle shifted the moment she finished writing the last rune. It misted over and slowly a blurred image appeared in the shiny surface, it showed a battle scene, men shooting at what could be called a small group of people huddled behind a planter box.

"See you can't make much fine detail out. My verbal accounts of a glance are more accurate," she told him as she broke the spell by running her fingers through the edge of the circle she had made. The image vanished leaving the reflective yellow surface.

Mac groaned; he knew what Sarge was going to do, "Please not the sewers," he begged.

Sarge smiled taking an almost perverse delight in watching Mac squirm. "Great suggestion Mac. I never would have thought of using the sewers."

Susan snorted trying to contain her laughter. They got ready to leave as the sniper joined them.

"Mind if I join you," the sniper asked.

Amy nodded and he smiled.

"I'm Ted," he said introducing himself.

Sarge performed introductions making a point to include Sage as a member of their group. A reporter joined them followed closely by his clearly flustered cameraman.

"Can we tag along?" He asked hopefully as he clutched nervously at his microphone. He knew that tagging along with this group would sky rocket his career. "We wont get in the way," he promised.

Amy sighed, she didn't want to, it would put their team in more danger but she nodded. She knew that having a reporter with them would help them in the long run. "Keep behind us at all times, if I tell you to drop, you drop, no questions just do it," she told them firmly.

They nodded quickly accepting those terms easily.

Sarge decided to add his own rules and grabbed the cameraman. He turned and glared at the reporter, "If you even show Amy's shadow you will endanger us. So don't do it. She stays invisible."

Again they both nodded they knew that this was going to be dangerous and they had no desire to make it more so. The reporter put his finger in his ear, creating a tighter seal on the earwig. He listened to a producer who was warning him that they were about to switch back to him. He moved to get Amy out of the shot as his cameraman Dave counted him in.

"This is Ken coming to you live from outside of town hall, as you can hear the fighting has stopped and only moments ago the SWAT van left with the children and the injured teacher. I'm sorry I can't tell you any more. Although the fighting has finished here we can still hear fighting going on in the streets. If you are at home watching this lock your doors and keep down," Ken paused for a moment and watched as they were waiting for him.

"I've joined up with a mixed bag of warriors the same ones who so bravely risked their own lives to free the teachers and the children who were pinned down by snipers. I'm sorry I can't give a more detailed report at the moment, they are about to move on and they are letting us tag along. I'll give you updates on the fighting as they come to hand. This is Ken for CBS News signing off." He moved out of the cameras field of view.

The cameraman turned his camera off and got ready to move. Amy walked them to the nearest manhole and lifted it then jumped down. She closed her eyes as she mentally went over her path as she took a few steps away from the ladder.

The others joined her and waited for her to lead the way. Torches were turned on but kept out of faces as eyes adjusted.

Amy's eyes snapped open and she started to move her feet slipping slightly in the grime beneath her feet. Everyone followed her trying not to think of what was in the water that sloshed around their feet and sometimes up to their waists. When the water got to their waists they had to carry Sage to keep her flight feathers as dry as possible. Sage said her flight feathers could get wet, but Amy wasn't taking any chances. They had no idea if the slime and sludge in the sewer could affect Sage's ability to fly and they knew they would need her eyes in the sky if they were going to avoid ambushes and snipers.

Amy paused at a ladder that lead to a manhole cover and sent her senses up. They were in the general area they needed to be in to get to the Were relations building. Lock-heart climbed the ladder thinking this was the one Amy thought was safe, he tried to move to cover but it failed.

Amy watched him climb down. She arched an eyebrow at him as he turned to her, "I could have told you it wouldn't have budged," Amy told him. She closed her eyes for a moment and then backtracked to a different ladder. "This one is better," she told everyone.

Lock-heart went up the ladder and pushed the cover up and moved it aside, as he went to climb out. Amy grabbed his ankle before his head could rise out of the hole and yanked him down just as a bullet ricocheted off the asphalt where his hand had just been. He landed in a splash on his backside.

He glared indignantly at Amy.

She smirked as he got to his feet and tried to get the muck from his hands, "I said better not safe," she told him sternly.

"You could have told me!" Lock-heart demanded.

"You didn't ask," Amy replied.

Sarge chuckled and stepped between them, "No harm done she saved your life, Drifter up and out, Ted see if you can get the smart guy who took a shot at Lock-heart."

They both nodded. Drifter smirked as he walked past Lock-heart, who was cursing under his breath and climbed up the ladder. Ted was up the ladder moments after Drifter. Ted waited for Drifter; Drifter took a deep breath and leapt up and out of the hole. Ted scooted up the remaining rungs and got his riffle up. It took him a moment to locate the source of the shots at Drifter and another moment to aim and fire, Ted's shot didn't miss. He climbed up and looked for another sniper or anyone who would have noticed the death of that particular sniper.