After a while, Electa finally said, "We should probably go..."

He nodded faintly. He didn't want anyone to start going violent and hurt her. Or even realize he wasn't dead and then try to harm him as well. He picked her up in his arms as he stood.

Electa's embrace tightened on his neck and she tensed against his shoulder as she looked over it

He didn't say anything, just tried to leave back where they'd come since no one had been down the halls before.

The angel they'd seen fighting Nate earlier was diving through the air toward them, wings outspread, its beautiful face set in a snarl. Electa grabbed her gun, keeping one arm around Vexin's neck.. The angel landed about ten feet away, and with a dark ripple changed to its human form: a handsome, slender man with pale skin and coal-black hair.

Vexin stiffened, watching the man closely as he tried to avoid him.

"The half angel and his assassin," he said in a low, deadly voice that somehow carried over the noise. Electa stiffened at the man's English accent. It was the same angel who'd ordered Vexin's death.

Vexin gave a soft hiss, but was pretty scared.

Behind him, now almost half the length of the cathedral away, the stream of arriving angels continued to fly, shining, overhead. Eyes narrowing, the angel took a step forward.

"Get back, or you'll regret it," said Electa.

The angel curled his lip. "I think not, actually. It's time now for you both to die, the way you were supposed to in the first place." Shifting back into his angel form, he surged straight toward them, wings flashing.

Vexin could only think of two words that bullies had said to him a lot. "No you!" He said, wings ripping the back of the robe as they burst from his back. He threw them open and batted them at the angel.