More...Moon Over Manhattan...

Okay...here's more from the Prologue of Moon Over Manhattan! The first half of the Prologue was given to you on 8/2/10 so if you've not read that...scroll down to read it and then...enjoy the end.

Happy Monday people! :) -Tamsin xo
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Silver, Tamsin L.
Moon Over Manhattan
© Copyright 2010

PROLOGUE Cont. ...

By now they’d reached the cement bridge that would lead onto Umpire Rock. Up the stairs and then single file they ran the bridge onto the rock. Denika stopped and sniffed the air, she could smell blood, and not just hers. It was close to her and seemed to go to the left. She motioned for Cash to go to the right. He touched his nose and pointed toward the trail she’d noticed and shook his head. Obviously he could smell the blood trail too and wanted to go that way.

She shook her head vigorously and pointed for him to go to the right. He was pissed but as Beta he didn’t have a choice but to obey the Alpha of the pack. He turned and went around one way and she the other.

With one sword out and one in its sheath she quietly and gracefully ran around the side of the rocks, staying as hidden as possible. The blood trail seemed to disappear once she was on the other side. Tucking her dark curls behind her ear to get them out of her eyes she crouched down to get a better whiff.

The smell of blood stopped because simply enough, so had the blood trail. Either he stopped to wrap the leg when they were fighting his goons or he’d jumped; cleared the rest of the rocks and picked up running wherever he landed. This meant they now needed to try and find where the blood trail picked up; somewhere out there in the dark.

“Damn it, where is a blood sucker when you need one!” She whispered.

Werewolves can follow blood and scent easily, like a dog can. But a break in the trail makes it hard to pick up unless you know for a fact the direction they’re heading, which she didn’t. A Vampire, on the other hand, follows the scent of the body’s essence itself as well as the heat trail they leave behind. If they jump the vamp can follow the scent through the air for an hour after they’ve gone through an area.

The wind picked up and she put her nose in the air to sniff. Picking up his scent she began to head in that direction, staying low to the ground as she could and in the darker shadows. That is when she spotted Cash, walking out into the open on the right side of the rock, his blonde hair catching the light. A shot rang out. She dropped flat to the ground but watched as Cash took a bullet to the shoulder and then to the thigh and he went down.

“Cash!” she screamed out and without thinking twice, she headed for him, running across the rocks on all fours.

Another shot fired and she could tell it was coming from up in the trees somewhere in front of them. They were sitting ducks on this rock. She had to re-maneuver their position. When she reached Cash she saw he was bleeding pretty bad but trying to get up.

“Stay down!”

A gun shot fired off and she rolled just in time as it hit the rocks next to her knee. “Damn!” Denika touched the device on her throat again. “Mayday mayday—we got shots fired at us at Umpire Rock. Beta is down, repeat, Beta is down. Need back-up!”

She sheathed her sword and got both her hands under Cash’s arms so as to pull him over to a huge crevice.

“Leave me here, go after him,” Cash said.

She pulled him a bit further. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“You called for help now go!”

“The hell I will!” She said, pulling him a few more feet to the side. A gun shot fired off, missing them again. “Jesus!”

“I’ll lay cover down for you—go!”

“Not till we pull those bullets out of you!” She said and then as random shots hit the rocks again adrenaline kicked in and with one huge pull she rolled all two hundred pounds of him into a large crevice and then jumped in after him. This was a good spot as it obscured their enemy’s view of them from above and well as if they were walking by. Helping him sit up, his back against the rocks, she squatted next to him to check his wounds.

“I’m fine,” he grumbled.

“Fine my ass. Hold still!” She looked at his shoulder. “This is a through and through.” She ripped off another piece of her shirt like she’d done for herself earlier and tied it under his arm and around the shoulder tight.

“Ouch! Damn it boss!”

“Gotta stop the bleeding.” Denika looked at his leg and ripped off another strip of material and handed it to him. Any more wounds and she might as well take off her tank and fight in her bra, she thought. “I trust you can get that bullet out of your leg and tie this yourself?”

His green eyes flashed great irritation with her. “Of course I can! Now get where you can fire on this asshole!”

Denika wore two guns, one on each thigh. She pulled the one from the right thigh harness and checked that it was loaded. She looked at him. “Cover me while I get to that tree.”

She scooted over to the edge of the rock, waited for him to fire a few rounds and used that to cover slipping behind the closest tree; about twelve feet from where Cash hid. She even had time to poke her head around and fire a few rounds up into the tree before they retaliated with shots of their own, which were now coming faster.

“Cash!” She whispered, “You got those heat sensor shades?”

“Yes ma’am I do!”

“Toss ‘em here!”

“The hell I will! Last time you broke my pair.”

“Dude, this is no time for you to be all possessive of your shit!”

“I’ll use ‘em! I got a shot from here.”

“I think he’s too far to the left for you to have a clear shot. I have a better shot from this angle and you know it! Now give ‘em here!”

Denika heard a grumble and then something landed on her foot. She bent down and felt them lying by her toe. She snatched them and slid them onto her face. Sticking her head around the tree again they were showered with bullets.

“Mother fucker has an automatic sniper rifle with silver bullets and a partial silencer! Who the fuck is this guy?!” Cash yelled over the gunfire.

“No idea but silencer or no, if this keeps up someone will hear and alert the good ol’ fuckin’ NYPD and we can’t be havin’ that! I’m gonna end this dude. You ready to cover me?”

“Always.”

“On the count—one, two, three!”

Cash twisted to his left, his right hand and head slipping out just enough to see and fire off a bunch of shots toward the tree but not really aiming. This gave her the chance to lean out without being fired upon; which she did. Looking up into the trees she quickly spotted him, as clear as could be, his heat signal glowing at her from high up in a tree to the left. She took aim and squeezed off a few rounds and watched as the blob of heat react to them and fell from the tree. After the thud he made hitting the ground, all was silent.

“Well done boss!”

She let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the tree for a moment, listening, but there was nothing. She’d not wanted to kill him. Secretly she hoped her usually perfect aim hadn’t been. She couldn’t question him if he was dead.

Denika went over to Cash. “I’m going to go out for a look.” She looked down at his leg; it wasn’t wrapped yet and hence bleeding all over the rocks. “Do you need me to go get your mommy to wrap your leg?”

“Fuck you. Been a bit busy thank you very much.”

“Get that silver out of there! I’ll be right back.” The longer the silver bullet was in his tissue the more it would hurt, the sicker he’d feel, and there was a larger chance it would do permanent damage.

His hand grabbed her leg. “Where you goin’?!” He was obviously upset.

“I need to see if he’s alive or not. I’ll be right back.”

“Wait for back up!”

“He’s laying out where anyone can see him Cash! I need to move him. Take care of your leg and that’s an order!” With that she stepped out of his hold and away from the rock’s protection.

“Damn it Denika, get back here!”

As she moved out into the open she saw no one else for as far as the eyes could see. Glancing up into the trees proved to show anyone either. She sniffed the air and smelled no one but herself, Cash, and the guy from the tree. But if someone was approaching from downwind she’d not smell them. Because of this she moved the glasses to the top of her head and quickly went to the man lying on the ground.

Again she had to hurdle over one of the green seeding fences and then run across the grass. That’s when she saw the man had fallen backwards, landing on the blacktop path vs. the grass. Denika hurdled yet another seeding fence so as to get to the body on the other side.

She crouched down and touched his neck. His pulse was slow and he was injured but it looked like he’d live, thank goddess. Quickly she realized how many lamp posts were in the area. With a curse or two she lifted the huge man to a sitting position against the fence, which he leaned against with his side.

As she finished she noticed a couple, holding hands, walking towards them. Damn it! They must’ve come from the bathrooms by the playground. Still in a squat she slipped her gun behind him and turned so her front faced them, relying on the glamour spell on her swords to work. Denika looked up at the couple with a smile. “He can’t hold his liquor even at his weight! He’ll be embarrassed tomorrow!” She laughed.

The gentleman semi-offered to help her; meaning he offered but yet he didn’t take even one step closer or let go of his girl’s hand—typical human New Yorker. Denika declined saying her friends were on their way so he was quick to say that was great and scuttle off towards West Drive. She twisted back to look at the man, more specifically at his leg and began to curse again as she grabbed her gun; this wasn’t the target.

“Looking for me?”

She spun about. There sat a man, on the green bench, looking very relaxed; leg crossed over the other like her dad use to do, his right arm draped along the back of the bench and a gun in his left hand directly pointed at her head. This man had an injured leg. This was our guy. Problem was he now wore a full coverage black mask with mesh over the mouth and eyes that you couldn’t see through from her side. She could see no features to support their informant’s claims. Quickly she glanced about for humans. But that couple must’ve been one of the last idiot humans in the park after one in the morning. The park was bare.

“Drop your gun,” his deep voice said. It sounded like it was being modified by something in his mask.

“You first,” she said with a smile. He pulled the hammer back on the gun and she cussed under her breath, dropping hers to the ground.

“Kick it away.”

Instead she stood up. It was a better tactical advantage. “Who do you work for?”

He laughed. “Kick it!”

“Fine fine—” Denika said and kicked her gun across the path into the dirt of the kickball diamond. He motioned for her to raise her hands so she did. She figured if she could keep him talking the rest of her team would be here in moments and they’d take him down. “You know, your friend here isn’t fatally wounded, you can still take him and go. You kill me and you’ll have the whole West Side Pack after your ass.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” his distorted voice said.

“Why? Who do you work for? I’ll pay you double what they are! We can make a deal!”

He coughed out a laugh and then said, “You talk a lot.”

“Tell me about it!” a voice said from behind the mystery man. It was Cash. He’d somehow gotten enough strength in his leg to totter out into the open, like the fool he is.

Two shots rang out as Cash fired upon her attacker. The man moved like lightning and was up and dodging in seconds. His first move saved him from the first bullet but the second on hit him in the shoulder. He fired upon Cash, who ducked behind the tree our sniper had fallen out of.

The man started to run towards Central Park West. The minute he got there he’d snag a cab and they’d lose him. Denika knew they couldn’t let that happen. She stooped to pick up her gun when another shot rang out. She heard Cash yell out her name but as she stood up she felt a bullet go through her chest and then another rake across the left side of her head and she went down.

“Denika!” Cash yelled. Suddenly she could see his face above hers. “It’s just a grazing on your head—hang in there—I can hear Marlen coming with the team.” He touched his throat. “Mayday, Alpha down,” he choked out, his voice catching. “Alpha has been hit—Marlen get your ass the fuck over here now! Path by the kickball field.”

“Shit. On my way. Hang on!” Came Marlen’s voice in their ear pieces.

She could feel blood on her face and a warm sensation at her back that told her blood was pooling out under her onto the blacktop. She coughed and tasted blood. She reached up to grab Cash’s glasses from the top of her head. “I didn’t break them this time.”

Denika knew she must be seeing things since it looked like tears were forming in Cash’s eyes. He took the shakes from her.

“You crazy woman, I don’t care about the—”

She coughed again and the pain began to hit her and she started to silently scream, her body curling in on itself.

“Hang in there Denika—just hang on!” He took her hands for her to squeeze, which she did until it all went dark.