Disclaimer: Just your average run of the mill standard disclaimer. The characters in this story come from somewhere inside my gray matter, and are not taken from any literary source or any other source whatsoever. If you're going to blame someone, blame me. But be warned, I'm still paying off my student debt so I ain't rich! There are also some names and places from Werewolf The Apocalypse by White Wolf. If you are familiar with the game system then the way I use some of the terms may seem a bit odd. But, I've been told the same about myself.

Violence and Language: Well, yeah. Quite a bit of slice and dice, some may be a bit graphic. Werewolves are rather messy you know. Also, I'm afraid that both Jamie and Jenny can sometimes have quite the mouth on them…but that's something that normally isn't a problem. ;)

Sex and Subtext: Yes, hints of grown and consenting adults "doing the nasty".

Type: This is the third story in my Wolf's Moon series. No, it's not complete; I have grown rather attached to these characters.

Constructive comments can be sent to: elena@beltran.nu

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,

I pray the lord my soul to take.

Child's Prayer

Jenny glanced over to where Jamie was working at her desk.

Well, not exactly working. Jenny could tell since Jamie had been staring at the same papers in front of her for the past half hour. The garou had her head in her hands, fingers threaded thought her short dark hair as she stared without really seeing the papers strewn about on her desk in front of her.

They had begun their paper work session with both of them seated at Jamie's desk. Jenny had seated herself across from her friend in a rather wobbly wooden chair. The mounds of paper work that seemed to pile up daily had been doing so for the past week as the two of them had run around trying to gather clues as to what the latest threat to the community was.

Latest old threat I guess, Jenny thought.

It really was more like a continuation of the previous problems they had had. Which made it more of an old threat, but Jenny thought you really couldn't quite call it that since the problem stemmed from something that seemed outside of the power of the previous mage group.

Ack! I think I just confused myself with my own babble! Jenny winced.

The mage group that Jamie had destroyed before didn't quite have the same signature as whatever was causing the current problems. As they had learned in the past twenty-four hours the signature of the old group had a few key things in common with whatever was behind the sightings of the strange beasts and other strange magical happenings. What more, whatever it was appeared to be working alone. That much the Old Ones and other sensitive people in the community were sure of.

Jenny's gaze went back to the papers in her hands. After a few minutes of idle staring at the pages she looked back over at Jamie again. The younger woman was still looking down at the pages in front of her. Jenny shifted slightly from her reclined position on the couch where she had laid down an hour before after getting a crick in her back from bending over her work at Jamie's desk.

I really need to get my own desk. Jenny thought as she shook her now numb right hand. It never failed, whenever she would hold up something in front of her to read her hands went numb within five minutes.

"Ack!" The sharp sound drew Jamie out from whatever place of contemplation she had drifted into. Looking up from the papers in front of her Jamie saw Jenny shaking her hands vigorously, a grimace of pain clearly evident on the blond woman's face.

"You okay?" Jamie asked, her tone and face showing a mixture of sympathy and worry.

Jenny tried to sit up into a more dignified position as she switched tactics and began hitting her useless hands lightly against her thighs. Or rather, she would have sat up if it weren't for the extreme pain that shot up and down her spine, making her legs and feet want to curl up on themselves from the pins and needles that danced along her lower body.

The sudden appearance of the dark haired garou at her side startled Jenny. It seemed as if she had barely blinked when Jamie had come from behind her desk to crouch next to her by the couch.

Deciding that laying back down would be the best choice Jenny let out a breath and turned her head to look into the blue eyes gone almost gray with worry.

I think I need a handbook on "The Emotional Workings of Jamie McConnor". She thought, and then said aloud, "Yeah, just a few pins and needles. My whole body must have fallen asleep I guess."

Jamie frowned slightly as she regarded her friend. Something was in the back of her mind jumping around like an impatient three year old, trying to get her attention.

Over the past few weeks Jamie had had the vague notion that her relationship with the human woman before her was changing. Whether it was for the better or not, the dark haired garou couldn't figure out. She knew that the tugging at her heart whenever she looked at Jenny was from something more than friendship. As to whether or not she wanted to travel down that path again was another matter.

The very thought of moving into a more intimate relationship with the ex-programmer made all the walls that Jamie had constructed over the years rise up around her heart. It was a learned reaction that had worked many times before. However, looking into the bright green eyes of the human woman who had somehow wiggled her way into her life was beginning to put a stop to some of those reactions.

That scared Jamie more than anything she had ever faced before. The conflicting emotions that she felt when ever Jenny was around, or even when thinking about her, nearly sent Jamie into a frenzy. It certainly made her do things that went against her normally carefree, roguish behavior.

Case in point, the other night at the Dixie Dyke club where the Furies had been playing when she and Jenny had gone to visit them. The club owner, Manda Marcy, had nearly sent her flying when opening the door after Jamie had knocked on it.

Jamie had told herself that she had only gone up to Manda's to ask her if she had heard anything from the patrons about any new magic users who were in town.

The almost stereotypical red haired, buxom club owner had a sharp mind and the ability to ply information out of her patrons without them realizing it. That she was also a good lay and coveted Jamie's body had absolutely nothing to do with the visit. Or so Jamie had told herself as she made her way up the stairs to the second floor apartment.

Instead, Jamie found herself being pulled through the door and pushed back up against it, without a complaint. Lips pushed roughly against hers as she found her mouth being assaulted by the red head club owner's.

A knee pushed itself between Jamie's legs as the taller woman held her against the door, running her hands up and down the garou's body. Some where in the back of her mind a small voice that Jamie supposed was her conscious (annoying thing that, Jamie had thought she had gotten rid of the little pest years ago) was jumping up and down yelling at her to get a hold of her hormones and get down to the business at hand.

Jamie's body however was on autopilot and must have completely misunderstood what her mind was trying to tell her. The other woman had already managed to get Jamie's shirt untucked from her jeans, further fueling Jamie's raging desire. Deciding that she really needed to get a handle on the situation and assert her dominance, Jamie pulled the other woman down to the floor, flipping her onto her back at the same time.

In her many sexual encounters Jamie had never been known to give up her dominance over her partners. Whether it stemmed from a lack of trust or was just part of her character, Jamie wasn't sure. It was simply the way she had always been; and this time was no different.

Manda's facial features shifted slightly as Jamie bit down slightly on one pert nipple through the fabric of the red head's blouse. Ridges and light colored spots appeared on her face as she gasped, feeling the dark haired garou's warm hand slide up her skin as it made its way underneath her shirt. Releasing the nipple that she had been paying so much attention to Jamie pulled away from the woman underneath her, leaving a wet spot in the wake of her hot mouth and tongue.

The club owner gave Jamie a lust filled smile as the dark haired garou moved forward once more to claim the demon's mouth. Before she could though something in Jamie's mind finally broke through her hormonal surge enough to draw her attention.

Jamie pulled back slowly, taking a deep breath to settle herself as she tried to push down her body's reactions to the demon's hungry assault. Pushing herself off of the woman under her the dark haired garou took a few more seconds to get herself under control, wondering just why she felt as if she was dishonoring Jenny somehow. Jamie pushed the thought aside for the time being.

"I need some information," Jamie said, managing to keep the shakiness out of her voice.

Manda's face shifted from her true demon features to those of her normal human ones, "Now that's not a normal response. What's wrong lover? That time of the month?"

"No, this is important." Jamie frowned, "I need to know if you've heard anything about a new mage, mages who might be proficient enough to conjure up physical puppets."

The club owner sat up slowly, her body exuding a cat like grace in its suppleness. Manda smiled as she saw Jamie drag her eyes away and back up to her face.

"Some Outlanders were in the other day," The red head said as she graciously accepted Jamie's hand to stand up, "They were mentioning something about a "dark mage", or some such thing. You know how they can go on about such things though." As the Dixie Dyke's owner spoke more a peculiar accent that was hard to place could be heard in her almost lilting speech.

Jamie raised one dark eyebrow as she watched the other woman move in to the rather large kitchen and open up the refrigerator. The Outlanders' tip was an interesting turn. They were not a common demon species around the area.

Cocking her head to one side the dark haired garou asked, "Were they just passing through? Or where they planning on staying a while?"

"The leader said that there was "no way that they were staying around this town with what was about to come". Cheery thought, ain't it?" Manda gave Jamie an ironic smile as she handed her a bottle of beer.

"Hmmm." Jamie made a non-committal grunt as she took a sip of the import the club owner kept on hand for her "special guests".

"Unfortunately, they didn't say much else." Manda walked over to the overstuffed silk draped couch with Jamie in tow, "It was rather busy that night so I didn't get the chance to talk much with anyone. We had two cover bands and the Furies in."

"Ephany's doing great with the group isn't she?" Jamie asked as she leaned back on the other end of the couch from the club owner.

"Yes, she is." Manda had enough intuition to know when something was on the dark haired garou's mind.

Peering closely at her guest Manda continued after a pause, "That girl idolizes you still you know."

Jamie looked at the club owner, making a sound somewhere between disbelief and amusement.

"Though lately, I've heard you've got another little convert to the "Jamie McConnor Fan Club"." Manda leveled her gaze at the other woman, a smile playing on her lips at the light blush that crept across the woman's features.

"No, she's just a colleague. Pretty nice, for a human." Jamie gave a roguish grin, "She puts up with my darker side so far though."

"You have a darker side?" Manda questioned as she gave Jamie a look, "I shudder to think if we were all to see it. Though the rumors say that she's even staying up at the Children of Gaia's house. That she has the ear of the elders council too."

Goddess damn rumors. Jamie thought, "Hmmm. She is staying up at the house. Jacob asked her to move in. No harm in that."

Manda wonder at the confrontational tone in Jamie's voice, but decided against pushing her luck with the volatile garou.

"At any rate, sounds like she's been quite the help to you guys." The club owner said instead.

"Hmm." Jamie made another noncommittal grunt, which having known the dark haired garou for sometime, Manda knew that this signaled the end of their conversation. That and Jamie's beer bottle was empty.

Jamie had headed back downstairs to the bar and ended up arriving just at the end of the Furies set. Blue eyes briefly reflected her disappointment at missing being able to hear Ephany's beautiful voice sing. The younger woman had said once that Jamie had inspired her to start being serious about her interest in music. Jamie found it laughable that anyone would find her an inspiration, especially for something as soul rendering as the music that the Furies produced.

She had taught Ephany how to play the piano and the some chords on the guitar, but certainly that had nothing to do with anything Jamie could do but instead had everything to do with the innate talent that came from Ephany and the other members of the Furies themselves. Though it was odd that even Pony had been ragging on her to get up some day and sing with the Furies for one of their gigs.

Jenny looked into Jamie's eyes, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Jamie blinked, "Uh, sorry bout that," a sheepish grin, "here I was trying to find out if you were okay and I go and space out on you."

A soft smile from the blond haired woman, "That's okay. It was just a bit surprising to find half my body had fallen asleep. I didn't think I had been laying here that long."

Moving slowly as she gingerly tested to see if her body had finally 'woken up' Jenny sat up with the help of Jamie. Noticing the tired look on her friend's face Jamie mumbled something so quietly that Jenny almost didn't catch it. Something about them just packing it in for the night and heading to bed.

"Big night tomorrow and all," Jenny stretched a little, unaware of Jamie's eyes still on her, "I don't know how much fun I'm going to have, you said there's going to be a lot of politicking going on."

"Sort of," Jamie said as she eased herself back on to the ottoman in front of the couch, "More like "my teeth and claws are sharper than yours, and "I have the prettiest, smartest, fastest, best clans members". Nothing you wouldn't find at any gathering."

"Yeah, but I don't know that many garou in THIS city, let alone some of the other places that you said garou will be coming from." The new 'Community Human Liaison' woman said.

"Most of the garou will be from local areas. A lot of them are going to be from the richer, snottier sections though," The look in Jamie's eyes was unreadable, "Really, garou are just like humans. They have the many of the same personalities and all."

Cocking her head to one side as she regarded her friend Jenny said softly, "I know that garou and humans are much alike. It's just, well, Jacob said something about presenting me to a bunch of people. That should be lots of fun…"

Jamie smiled at the sarcasm in the other woman's voice, "Heh, actually, I'm sort of biased. Most of those stuff shirts aren't actually that bad. I've just sort of made the wrong impressions over the years with them so there aren't too many who want to play nice." Taking a breath Jamie looked down at her shoes, saying, "I've probably given you the wrong impression. I'm not much of a people person I guess."

Jenny watched Jamie; this vulnerable side of her garou friend was surprising. Jamie was not someone to be intimidated by anyone. A range of emotions played across the dark haired woman's face, a frown settling on the woman's features. The angst poured off of the younger woman in waves as Jenny remained where she sat. Suppressing the urge to hug her friend.

"I'm not really into having to be around a bunch of people either," Jenny said, keeping her expression neutral as Jamie looked up at her through the black hair that had fallen into the garou's face, "Don't remember if I've told you or not but I'm sort of empathetic. I can 'feel' people."

"Like their emotions?" Jamie asked as she sat up straighter. This she could understand.

"Yeah, I can feel their emotions." Jenny confirmed, "And too many people equals too many emotions. Which translates into 'Excedrin written all over it'. Ted and Diane taught me a lot about how to mute my empathy problems, but it can still be over whelming."

Jamie smiled at her friend in understanding. She knew she was 'sensitive' as well. Jacob had told her as much when she was younger. It was part of his reasoning behind teaching her shamanistic techniques, hoping that the control over her mind would help her violent outbursts when the stimuli of to many people became too much.

It mostly helped. There were just some people who tended to rub Jamie the wrong way. Well, most people.

"Loads of people staring at the 'new girl', along with trying not to freeze in the dress I'm going to be wearing..." Jenny trailed off and shook her head as she smiled to herself, "I'll just take along the whole pill bottle I guess."

Her legs feeling better, Jenny rose from the couch holding out a hand to her friend on the ottoman.

"It will be okay though," Jamie told the smaller woman as she accepted the proffered hand without thinking, "How short of a dress are you going to wear that you're worried about freezing in it?"

"Hmm, well let's just say that Jessan whistled when he saw it." Jenny said as she made her way into the main hall and started up the stairs.

Jamie almost tripped on the first few stairs as she followed the blond haired woman. Visions of Jenny in a very short dress and high heels danced their way merrily though the garou's mind as she focused on trying to place one foot in front of the other. As they reached the top step and headed off to their separate rooms Jamie swallowed past the dryness in her throat.

"You could, um, always wear a shawl."

Conclusion in Part 5…

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