Her energy shifted. Her expression hardened as she spotted the angels. "Get down," she said, not taking her eyes off them. She drew her gun out from under her waistband. There was a faint click as she took the safety off.

He slunk down turning and putting his head to the flat of the seat. He watched her nervously.

The angels continued on their way without noticing them, achingly glorious against the mundane buildings and run-down houses. That deadly beauty was half Vexin. He might not be a predator like they were, but half of him was angel all the same. As the flock grew more distant, they winked in and out of the street lights like stars, finally fading from view.

Electa checked out the area around them, and then relaxed. "Its okay; its clear now."

He pulled himself back up onto his seat, watching where the angels had last been see. He felt so... different. He wasn't like humans much, and he wasn't an angel. He wished to be at least human, if anything fully.

"I've never seen one that size before." She put her gun away, revealing a ribbon of her flat stomach. "I guess they're from the Second Wave--maybe heading down to Albuquerque to live."

He nodded, sitting back and looking back to her.

She drove for hours, heading south on minor roads, stopping only once to grab food from a tiny convenience store in the hills north of Alamogordo. The land turned to desert, vast and empty, with the stars shimmering overhead. Once, as they skirted a town, there was another angel in flight, its pure white figure clear against the night sky. It wheeled sharply on one wing and plummeted, deadly as an arrow.

Vexin winced at the sight of the dive, having to look away

They started climbing back into mountains; the cold wind seemed like it could practically be felt through the truck's cab. She finally pulled off the road. It felt late, after midnight.

He was tired, but refused to sleep while she had to drive. He wanted to stay up with her, since apparently humanities time was now limited. He wanted every second he could have with her.