12

I could feel the new Pack boundary in place as I crossed the line into the Blood Moon territory. I was in familiar territory as I ran quickly down the trails, my wolf enjoying his time to be free. The smells, the sights all telling me that I was home, yet in the back of my mind I knew none of this was mine anymore.

That Nathan had died at the feet of his Alpha. I was a new creation now, with Nathan's memories and character, but a whole different body.

I could see a few wolves looking at me in shock as I ran by; it's not often you see a grey wolf the size of a horse running by. My huge paws thudded onto the ground, my claws digging for purchase as I changed direction on the trails. It wasn't long until I was in front of my house. I raised my nose, sniffing the air and sensing the familiar smells of my parents, but they were stale. They were not here. I shifted and walked up to my room; looking around, I saw my old clothes. None would fit anymore, and I kind of liked my outfit of cargo shorts and boots. It rocked the tattoos, and was intimidating as hell.

I walked out of my house and headed for the Pack House. The Pack members that saw me didn't recognize me, and had only heard the tales of the Angel that had shown up and destroyed the Rouge Army. They stood aside as I walked to the door, where the new Alpha and Luna were standing together. "Nathan, Angel of Luna, the Blood Moon Pack greets you. I am Alpha Nicholas White, and this is Luna Maggie." I looked in their eyes, my father didn't recognize me but I could see a glimmer in Mama's eyes.

"Come, let us go where we may talk privately," I said. They turned and walked in front of me as they led me to the Alpha's office on the second floor. We entered the room and an Omega brought in drinks and snacks, obviously not knowing enough about me yet. I waited until the door was closed, then walked over and embraced my mother. "Mom," I said, "I'm back."

She stilled in my arms, then looked up into my eyes. Her mouth dropped as she recognized me in my new body. "Natie boy?"

"Yes Mom." She jumped into my arms, pulling my face down to her lips. "Luna sent me back."

"Oh baby," she cried, "I'm so happy!" Dad joined the hug and we stood for a few minutes. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"I had a rogue problem to take care of, and I had to make sure Alpha Max didn't succeed in taking out the Silver Moon pack," I said. "I also had to get Wendy help."

"She's alive?" Dad looked concerned. "I heard what happened, hell, I couldn't believe it. She didn't deserve that."

"She's at the Silver Moon Pack Hospital now, but she's in bad shape. I had to come see you, though, and explain what was going on." With that, I sat them down and explained everything that happened at the meetup, with Luna, and my return to Earth up to that point. They listened without interruption, it was a lot to take in.

"So you're here to take out the trash?" Dad always had a way of cutting to the chase.

"Yes, but there's more to it than just bringing justice. Removing the evil gives those in the middle a chance to change course, to repent. I have to bring people back to the Goddess and the ways she told us to live." I closed my eyes, and heard the prayers from their Pack. "I would ask that you keep secret the part about me being your son. It will only interfere in my work if people think I'm just a warrior." They nodded, so I asked one more thing. "Can you bring your Pack members here? I need to speak with them."

Ten minutes later, an emergency Pack meeting was being held in the street outside their house, including the Silver Moon Pack members who were still here to help out. When the Alphas had them quiet, I walked out and explained who I was and why I was there. "The rogues wiped out today, the greedy Alpha willing to betray an ally for power, they aren't the only evil present here. Allow me to show you something."

I raised my hands like I had done this a million times before, I was just hoping it would work. I forced my way into their Pack links, and played a memory of my time in the Hereafter. I showed them the Goddess Luna, watching as her people went through the Sort. There were cries of horror as the demons from the Underworld came to claim the evil ones, dragging them to eternal punishment. "Luna is merciful, that is why I am here as her messenger and her arbiter of justice. Repent of your wicked ways, turn back to her and receive her mercy and your soul will continue to exist until it is perfected. Persist, and I will send you to the demons of hell myself."

The Pack almost as one fell to their knees, their prayers fervent. "I will be on the front porch. I will see each of you for a few moments, so you may know what your Goddess has for you." I had recently discovered this ability, that by touching a werewolf on the head I could see the things driving their judgment. I had spoken to the Alphas in private, and had warned them of the red eyes and the instant justice for them. There would be no more chances to repent for the evil ones still out there.

It wasn't as bad as I feared for those who came past me. For most, they carried hatred in their hearts and needed to forgive and make amends. Others needed to confess their sins and make restitution. Only three were killed, their necks broken as soon as their glowing red eyes came before me.

When it was done, an eerie quiet descended over the Pack as the sun moved towards the horizon. Most had returned home to think about what they had heard. I stood and walked to the railing of the porch, gazing up at the clear blue sky. Closing my eyes, I tried something new. I focused on the most fervent prayers, the ones who needed it the most. I found those were the brightest lights. Bringing the brightest one close, I listened in and was shocked at what the prayer was. Since she was praying, I got a good idea of direction and distance and immediately flew off into the setting sun.

I landed in Chicago, on a ten-story apartment building on the south side. Bringing my wings in, I made my way to the stairway. I took a good smell; they were all humans, except the young girls and a few rogues. The smell of drugs, sweat, blood and sex were heavy in the hallway. I unsheathed a katana as I opened the door to the fourth floor; the young werewolf praying had been enslaved in the sex trade, and was being drugged and held with a dozen other young female werewolves in rooms in this makeshift brothel. She told of how they were beaten and forced to service dozens of men a day by the cruel men and women who had stolen them from their Packs.

I assessed the situation as I walked down the hallway. I passed the rooms that had a female wolf and a human male, I would be back. I wanted the rogues. I unsheathed my second katana as I approached the room with the open door by the elevator. I was almost there when the elevator chimed, and the door opened.

Four college age white kids stepped out, talking loudly about how this was going to be the best bachelor party ever. They froze when they saw me, seven feet of muscle and anger tipped with gleaming steel swords. The rogue with them growled and pulled a gun, and just like that it was on like donkey kong.

My swords flashed in front of me as I charged, deflecting the two shots he got off into the walls before one lopped his hand off with the gun still in it. I continued the motion down to cut off his right leg just above the knee, and as he screamed and fell to that side my other sword was already cutting through his neck. The head rolled onto the foot of frat boy #1, who screamed and pissed himself. Frat boy #2 ran back to the elevator, pulling the others with him, and promising loudly that they didn't see anything.

Bullets started hitting the wall around me, as another rogue had jumped up from the desk inside and started firing a machine pistol. I ignored the pain of the bullets hitting me, I was immortal. I turned and smiled wickedly at him as his magazine ran dry and I was still standing there. I threw a katana at him, it punched through his shoulder and embedded itself deeply in the door frame behind him. He screamed in agony, but he wasn't going anywhere.

The next rogue was female, naked from the waist up as she ran out of the back bedroom with a baseball bat in her hand. I sidestepped her swing and grabbed the bat, then ran the sword through her belly and stuck it through the wall. She also screamed, but she wasn't going anywhere either.

The leader was as gutless as I expected; he had pulled pants on and was trying to get out the window to the fire escape. I may have helped him get out the window, but he never touched the ladder. He dropped five stories before crashing headfirst through the roof of a Ford Escort across the street. "I'll be with you in a moment," I said as I went back out to the others.

I grabbed the woman by the neck, pulling the sword free and out of her in one motion. Her eyes were not red, so I gave her a chance. "Give me one reason why Luna should show you mercy right now."

Her eyes flashed in defiance. "Fuck you," she spat at me.

"Sorry, I don't have a dick." I ran the sword into her stomach and up until it came out between her shoulder blades, slicing her heart along the way. I wiped the blade on her pants. Walking over to the man, I looked in his eyes and they were glowing red. I could have asked him why, or how, or any number of things.

Instead I just stepped back and with a mighty two handed blow, I sliced him vertically from neck to groin. The half still pinned to the wall stayed up until I had sheathed the first sword, then withdrew the other. I walked back into the hallway with the two bloodied swords, a few half-naked men were looking out the doors. "GO BACK IN," I yelled as I pointed a bloody sword their way. They complied.

I started to work my way down the hallway, telling the girls to get dressed while I dealt with their johns. They were all human, so I couldn't use their eyes. I asked the girls if the men had hurt them; if they said no, I let them go. When the girl who couldn't be thirteen yet said the man hit her, I had a completely different reaction.

Lets just say my swords should be nicknamed "Ballchoppers."

I left him bleeding in the hallway as the girl ran to another room, into the arms of her sister. When I reached the end, there were two humans down and thirteen young girls clustered behind me. "Luna sent me here to free you girls," I told the crying group. "Follow me, we're getting out of here."

I went back to the office and grabbed the set of keys hanging by the door, then we all got in the elevator and rode down to the lobby. During the ride I took off my shirt and wiped the obvious blood off my body, then made a new shirt appear with a hoodie over the top to cover the Katanas. I also made some sweatshirts and pants appear for the girls, who weren't allowed to have more than lingerie to wear. I made up a bunch of shoes, and when they were all ready, I allowed the elevator door to open and we stepped into the lobby.

The johns had made their way out quickly, no one wanted to be here when the cops finally arrived. Even on the south side, the gunfire would eventually attract attention. I walked us to the back entrance where the parking lot was. A press on the remote caused the lights to flash on a Cadillac Escalade, and we went towards it.

A young kid started to tell me to leave it alone, but he quickly shut up and ran when I fixed him with a glare. The kids loaded in and I drove off, seconds before the first police car arrived.

Some girls were crying and holding each other, others were looking out the window, hesitant to believe it was over. We drove out of the inner city as I got their stories and home Packs. The oldest was sixteen, the youngest twelve, and all had been kept for between six months and four years.

There was no way I could fly them all back, but I wasn't going to leave them alone. I found a nice hotel by O'Hare Airport and paid for a half-dozen rooms. The girls slept or ate room service pizza while I called their Alphas and gave them directions to come get them. While we waited, I talked them through a few things; nothing they did was their fault, it wasn't their choice to do the things they did, and their families and Luna would understand. When they asked me how I knew, I stood in front of them and let my wings come out. Extending them and folding them around the group like a blanket, I told them I was Luna's Angel and I was sent to save them because they prayed for rescue, and Luna answered.

I may be the biggest, baddest Angel on Earth, with wicked fighting skills and a mission from Goddess, but I had a tough time holding it together as they were picked up. The emotions, the joy of reuniting with family, it wasn't easy to maintain a tough-guy image as tears ran down my face.

I wouldn't be Luna's Angel, though, if I didn't feel that burning need to see justice done.

Ch. 8

It took until the next evening before the last of the girls was retrieved. Jenna was only twelve, taken from her family in Oregon while visiting a park. She still walked with a limp, the leftover of a badly healed break given to her when she resisted her captors. She learned to go along, but never lost her defiant interior. My heart broke when she gave me a hug and told me I was her hero. "I'm doing my job," I told her, "you are the real hero. You're stronger than I will ever be."

She hugged my leg as her parents approached. Her father shook my hand, tears in his eyes as her mother hugged me tightly. "Thank Luna for bringing her back to us," he said.

I gave the adults the same thing I had given the other parents; using the mind link, I sent them the images of me finding them, of the rogues being killed, of the scared girls escaping. "She will need professional help, the things she endured no child should have to," I told them as their faces went pale. "Make sure after all this, she understands that Luna loves and cherishes her as her daughter, and sent me out of her love."

"We will," they said and led their daughter to the car. I walked out to the Escalade, and using the car's navigation system I drove to the nearest police station. I asked to speak to a detective, and soon was led to a desk on the seventh floor to speak to a Detective Clark. He was nearing retirement, I could see the irritation on his face as he got the "walkin duty" as they called it. He gestured for me to sit, and got out a notebook.

"What can I help you with, sir?"

I chuckled internally, I was close to seven feet tall and they hadn't even searched me, I still had my Katanas strapped to my back. Oh well. "Last night on the south side, an entire floor was emptied and multiple bodies left behind. Are you familiar with it?"

He nodded. "I saw the reports, the place was a whorehouse, but they didn't find the girls."

"That's because I took them after I killed every one of those bastards," I said.

His eyes grew wide, he started to reach for a phone but I shook my head no, fixing him with a glare. "You might want to record this." He nodded and reached into his desk, pulling one out. I went through the whole thing, describing how I came onto the floor, knowing the girls were being held against their will. "She was fourteen, and had been kidnapped at twelve. For over two years they held her as a sex slave, moving her and the others around the country. It wasn't going to last another minute."

"How did you know?"

"She told me." I left the rest silent, he would figure I was her john at some point. "I was looking around when the door opened, four frat guys and the pimp in it. He drew, I drew my sword and chopped him up. Then I went after the others."

"You cut them up pretty good," he said. "Except one guy we found dead in a car across the street."

"I may have helped him get out that window he was struggling with," I said with a smile. "The guys left nutless, they deserved it. If they were a normal John I let them leave, but those men hurt the girls. I couldn't just let them walk away."

He laughed a little. "Good. A buddy sent me some pictures of their junk lying on the carpet, said they were whining like little bitches at the hospital about how some huge dude cut them off for no reason. You're confirming what we suspected, these were bad dudes." I finished the story, he asked a few questions. He turned the recorder off and looked at me. "You know, you just confessed to multiple assaults and murders. Why?"

"Because you guys need to know the truth. The bad guys are gone, the girls have all been returned to their homes. Justice has been done. There's nothing left for you guys to do, so just let it go."

He sighed and sat back in his chair. "That's not for me to decide, not when I have this," he said pointing at the recorder. "You're under arrest for assault and murder. You have the right to remain silent." I stood up and pulled my shirt off, exposing my tattoos and my swords. There were shouts around me as the other cops recognized the threat, raising the alarm and pulling out their pistols. "FREEZE!"

I dropped the shirt and looked around the room. "I'm not here to harm you," I said. More men, now with rifles, poured in through the doorway and took up positions behind desks. I turned my back to them, my hands wide at my side.

Before any could react, I ran away from them and dove headfirst through the window. As soon as I was out, my wings spread and I flapped them powerfully, turning to the left and up. By the time they got to the window, the broken glass was hitting the sidewalk and I was nowhere to be seen.

I didn't answer to them.

I climbed to a comfortable cruising altitude and set course for the Silver Moon Pack. Along the way, I let my mind focus on prayers. Most were ones I had to leave for Luna; finding your mate, getting a Pack rank, having bigger boobs. Then a bright one appeared, and I pulled it close to listen. "Please, Luna, stop him, he's beating Mom!"

I banked in her direction, she was only ten miles away so I was there in minutes. I landed in the front yard of their small house at the edge of a Pack in Indiana. I could hear the fighting from inside, pans were clattering to the floor as he threatened to kill her.

I didn't need swords for this one, fists would be SO much more satisfying.

Kicking the door down, I raced through the living room to the small kitchen. The woman was on the floor being viciously kicked as she tried to protect her stomach and face by curling into a ball. The man didn't even hear me coming, his right leg went back to kick her again and it never went forward. I grabbed it with both hands and lifted, he fell forward and his face smacked the floor next to the empty liquor bottles. The house had high ceilings, a good thing because I went Bam-Bam on his abusive ass. I picked him up by the legs, swung him up and over my head and slammed him through the countertop until his face was stopped by the pots and pans underneath.

"Big man to beat on a woman, huh?" I pulled him free, then swung him again like an axe, this time he went through the middle of the dining room table. "Feels good to work out your aggression, doesn't it?"

I let go of his legs and he moaned in pain, rolling over onto his back as the cuts and broken bones made themselves evident. The Mom had rolled to her knees, and the daughter who had prayed for help ran in to hold her. I grabbed him by the throat, holding him high on the wall so I could look directly into his eyes. "That woman you were kicking is special to me. She's a child of Luna, just like her daughter, and I take it damn personally when someone hurts them. It makes me want to hurt them back even more. Hell, my wolf just wants their throat for touching what isn't theirs." I shook him a little until his eyes opened again; they were blue. "If you touch her again, I will kill you slow, and make every remaining moment of your short-ass life as full of pain as I can make it. You will leave here, you will stop drinking, you will get counseling, you will beg them to forgive them. I'll be back to check on you." I tossed him out the back door into the yard, then went back to the others.