Vultana kept her golden gaze focused on the rooftop of the Palace of the Wolf, ignoring the warmth oozing down her back and between her breasts as blood flowed from the wound at the side of her neck.  This was nothing.  She was no stranger to pain... her master had made her suffer far worse injuries.  She could ignore this, though she thought her aim might suffer from it before too long.<br/><br/>Nothing moved on the roof.  She knew there was one guard left there, but she had no idea where he was.  For all she knew he had no clue how to use any rifles left lying around... but she couldn't take that risk.<br/><br/>As she zoomed out with the scope, trying to get a broader image, she saw a rifle fly into sight and smash against the outer wall of the palace, a muzzle-flash showing that it had fired harmlessly.  The sound of that shot reached her a second later.  The movement made her risk looking below; she spotted the Beartaur walking around out there, injured but somehow still alive, even oozing a rivulet of molten chocolate from her mouth as she turned and glanced right in Vultana's direction.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"> You're welcome, </span>she tought, smiling slightly, aware that the Beartaur knew she'd had an anonymous helper and was grateful.  That thrown weapon had to be an attempt to return the favor... as Vultana had thought, the Beartaur knew honor.<br/><br/>She saw the Beartaur suddenly dart undercover again, but she winced as she saw small explosions of blood burst from her backside.  Distant gunshots sounded, and a glance around through the scope revealed that the guards still mobile nearby had given up all pretense at a fair fight.  They'd seen what trying to match the beartaur's frenzy had given... now they just wanted to finish her off, and preferably to survive while doing so.<br/><br/>Vultana, however, wasn't going to let them act with impunity.  She found one guard that was completely exposed and took off most of his snout with a silent shot; she found another and put the slug into his chest, throwing him against a wall from the force of the impact.<br/><br/>She hadn't forgotten the roof, though.  She slid her gaze back to it, watchful for any movement; seeing none, she slid her sight back below to take out a third guard there.<br/><br/>She couldn't help the beartaur as effectively, not if she wanted to also cover the roof to prevent more snipers from targetting her... but she wouldn't be of any help to anyone, let alone the beartaur, if she let herself get blown away.  This would have to do... for now, at least.<br/><br/>---- ---- ----<br/><br/>Dreamer was almost on top of the three bodies before he recognized one of them.  "Aw... aw, shit," he murmured, not loud enough for Kitten to hear her but likely loud enough for Sherra to.  "Heifa... damn..."  He hadn't seen her often, but after that female bovine cop had found Dreamer that fateful day with Lakran, he had seen her now and again.  Like Lakran the beat cop had gained a rank or two in the six months since that day, though nowhere near as many as her partner.  He remembered little of that first day, but afterward he remembered seeing the lustful looks she had given him and tried to conceal.  He'd been flattered by it at the time...<br/><br/>She'd probably tried to come to the rescue of her collegue and friend Lakran, and Maeve... and she'd almost made it to the farmhouse before the human guards had caught her and her two allies.  Evidently she had decided fighting was suicidal and had opted to surrender, thinking the humans were honorable enough to accept it... and she'd been wrong.  They'd simply executed her and her allies.  True, it looked like she'd at least avoided being swallowed alive by a human with vore juice, and hadn't been violated either... but this was no less dishonorable, somehow.<br/><br/>"I'm sorry," he said softly.  He checked for mines again, but by how cold the bodies were he knew this wasn't an ambush... the human rebels were violent, not patient.  They wouldn't wait around on the off chance that more furs would pass.<br/><br/>After making sure there were really no traps, he started by snapping the ropes from their stiff limbs before removing the two male bodies, carrying them gently to the side of the road.  They were stiff... rigor mortis had set in.<br/><br/>Finally he picked up Heifa's corpse as gently as possible and laid her out next to the other two.  He remained kneeling on one knee, and he bowed his head for a moment.  "Dunno what gods you believe in... believed in," he corrected with a grimace, "but... rest in peace.  Don't worry... I'll get the last two Blotars to safety.  You won't have died in vain."<br/><br/>He straightened, turned, and headed back to the car.  "Let's go," he said softly.  "Let's go, Kitten.  Let's get them to safety."