Chapter Six - Camaraderie and Duty

The Best Laid Plans O'Mice and Men

Chapter Six - "Camaraderie and Duty"

One of the things that the six realized was that it was getting close to the full moon. Werewolves were affected by the full-moon and they were the most dangerous of the occults that they had to deal with. Vicious and cunning, they could and would savage anyone that they took offence to. And the full moon caused their form to change for the duration that the full moon was up and visible. This was also a weakness since the whole town would know who was a were. The Alpha Pack Leader was also the one that had the capacity to give you a cursed bite. So they had to be careful. And Tosh discussed this with his subordinates at dinner time. They needed to be on their guard at full moon. "I want everyone equipped with M-16A3s, locked and loaded. one in the chamber on your person at all times during full moon. If they breach the perimeter, we're toast otherwise. Is that understood?"

"Aye-aye...sir!" Tosh received a chorus of assent from his subordinates.

"If we have to go out to do perimeter patrols, we go in pairs. Each one covering the other; just watch your fields of fire and make sure that you have a clear shot if you need to take it. Weapons hot when you're on the perimeter."

"Yes, sir!"

"If any of the occults breaches the perimeter, you are clear to take him out with due prejudice."

"They may be mean, but they can't outrun a bullet, sir." Phil stated, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Any chance that we can get crossbows and wooden arrows for the Biters."

Kimber smirked at him, "Weres or vampires, they both bite."

Phil looked disgustedly at Kimber "Thanks...better to call them walking leeches then?"

"Oh, you mean those pale undead guys with sharp fangs." she smirked at him.

"Pretty obvious, ain't it?"

Tosh looked over at Harm, "You know, I think Burrows has a good idea. We could use crossbows. It'll mean not having to close with the enemy and keep us out of their arm's reach. Two shooters with .556 and a crossbow. The .556 NATO will incapacitate the vampire and the arrow will stake him. Adios, Vlad the Impaler. If they set one foot inside our perimeter, it's going to be showtime, that we're not going to go down easy and they may very well lose a good number of their kind."

Phil snarled ferally, "If Eddie Cullen shows his face, I get first dibs to put a stake through him." The three women present in the room laughed at him...

...and Tosh smirked, "So...Burrows, did he steal your girlfriend? I thought he was playing footsies with that...uh...werewolf... and anyways, isn't that a woman's bedroom fantasy script or somethin'? I don't think he's real."

Phil grumbled, "Well, I hated any mention of that movie, the last three women I dated wouldn't shut up about it...so I figured that pale sparkly foofoo would be somewhere around here with the rest of his sparkly buddies and I might get a chance to stake a couple of them after having my ears assaulted by that drivel."

"The company you keep, Burrows..." Harm snorted sarcastically.

After the meeting broke up and the rest of the group went to make sure that their sidearms and rifles were cleaned and prepped for the next night's festivities, Meg and Tosh had their own little private celebration. Thank goodness for the CNO. Any reservations that they had about initiating a relationship had vanished like the early morning mist when it meets the hot sun's rays after sunrise.

Their little ad hoc family had grown by two family members, an adopted Rottweiler named Atlas who was aggressive and would make a good guard dog as well as a hunter of gemstones and Charlie the cat; a stray that had wandered up to their gate and yowled piteously until he was let inside by a soft-hearted Meg Austin who had showered affection onto Charlie: in return was reciprocated by the fluffy male cat. It was a long hair and a rare one at that since it was a calico: most calicos being female. Since Tosh had grown up with dogs as well as cats, he didn't mind in the slightest and hey, if he was going to open up the house to anyone, better it be the four-footed kind than an occult whose allegiances he was not privy to or, for that matter, to a human he didn't know.

Meg and Tosh knew that they were not going to get a whole heckuva lot of sleep the next night; as it was the full moon. They would probably be kept up the majority of the late hours of the night ensuring that their perimeter was secure. So they hit the sack early and got in some very intimate snuggling time; and some skin to skin contact, with nothing coming in between the feel of the sheets to bare skin. Needless to say, it was a comforting night for Meg to be nestled in her lover's arms.

The day of the full moon cast an eery pale green glow on the ground...and the ominous green-tinged clouds were a supernatural omen. Harm felt an inner hunch that he needed to check the elixir shop and headed out. He hit pay-dirt as there was a cure-elixir being sold by the proprietor and he was able to get his hands on it. Tosh had told him that there was no hard limit to the purchase price; just get a cure elixir or as many as he could in his hands. But there was only one...but that was enough for the time being. They would have other opportunities that they could try to acquire more or start learning alchemy themselves: it was one foot in the deep end of pool, but sometimes one had to swim with the sharks to get an idea of what the situation was like.

Meg and Tosh got in some intimate time before getting dressed to go downstairs to get their breakfast, but not before a passionate kiss. The two officers were in love and well, with no UCMJ to have to deal with thanks to their friend at the top of their rank structure, they took every available opportunity to further their relationship in every sense of the word.

...and mainly because tonight would mean that they would be too busy securing the perimeter to have any sort of intimacy.