She managed a smile.

By the time a band called Los ngeles Amigos came on--four guys wearing angel wings and a girl singer with a slightly crooked halo--the square was packed with people and there were over two dozen real angels gliding around overhead. It was kind of ironic: as rock music celebrating the angels beat through the night, the angels themselves dipped and turned, taking their time as they chose which human to feed from. Occasionally one dove, disappearing into the dancing crowd. On the next car, the people on the roof had their arms around each other, singing along with the music.

Vexin honestly couldn't help but be amazed by the situation. The band and all, but not the angels.

Finally the band stopped; a woman in a short red dress stepped onstage and grabbed the mic. She shouted something about "los angeles" her voice booming out through the speakers.

"S!" roared the crowd.

He covered his ears at the loud booming voice.

The woman called out something else. The crowd screamed, "Si! Si!"

He knew Si meant yes, but to what they were saying yes to he didn't undersand.

The woman crouched down on her high heels, flinging one arm up as she shouted a third time. Noise thundered through the night; the crowd went berserk, screaming and jumping up and down.

Electa started to speak, then broke off, straightening abruptly. One of the angels had just dodged to the left, its great wings slicing through the air. The angel paused, hovering, as it seemed to look around it. With a sudden flurry, it darted aside again.

And then, on the far side of the square, another angel vanished in a petal-pattern of radiance, like a firework going off over the crowd. Pieces of light drifted to the ground.

Vexin watched in shock, eye brows raising but hands still over his ears.

When Electa spoke, her voice sounded rough. "Somebody just shot an angel."


There was a tense excitement pulsing through her. There was another AK out there in the crowd--someone else who knew how to fight the angels. More than one in fact, because back towards the stage, two angels were flying towards the one who had first dodged--and suddenly one of them lunged to the side too, as if avoiding a bullet. At the same moment, the first angel jerked away again with a bright shimmer.

"At least three gunmen," murmured Electa. "Theres a whole team of AKs out there."

Vexin gently squeezed Electa's shoulders, watching what was happening.