"Get behind me," she muttered, squeezing his hand briefly. Texs gun was just beside her foot; Electa kicked it away, sending it spinning into the shadows.

"Hes not human!" insisted Tex from the ground, his drawling voice fierce. "Hes one of them--you must be on their side, too--"

"Yeah, thats why I just shot three angels," snapped Electa. She glanced at the others. Four of them, all looking shaken. "What do you think?" she demanded of the girl with the sharp face.

There was a slight shuffling as they all looked at each other. "His aura..."

Vexin sighed, retracting his wings. "I'm half and half." He said softly, coming behind Electa as told.

"You might want to work on your interpretations a little. He doesn't have halo, or didnt you notice?" With her pistol, she motioned for Tex to get up, sending him to stand with the others. "Now, listen to me: hes on our side. Anyone who doesnt believe me, youd better go for your gun and shoot me now--because Ill kill the next person who tries to hurt him."

He tapped his pointer fingers together nervously. 'Great, I made a bad first impression.' He thought as he looked down shyly but also shamefully.

Her words hung in the air. Nobody moved. In the sudden silence, the drone of traffic could be heard, along with the fluttering of moths as they battered against the naked light bulb over the doorway.

"Good, Im glad thats settled," said Electa finally.

She took in the tense group, wondering who they were--all the voices shed heard so far were American. They stared back at her. Apart from Tex and the sharp-faced girl, there was a short guy with wiry rust-colored hair who looked frozen in place; a curvy brown-haired girl, features tight with worry; a black guy who met his gaze sullenly, arms folded across his chest.

"So who are you all, anyway?" asked Electa. "Youre sure as [heck] not Angel Killers."

Tex bristled. "We sure as [heck] are."

"Yeah? So thats why you managed to kill, like, none of them, right?"

Texs muscles swelled as he glared at Electa, like a quarterback in a barroom brawl. Before the Texan could respond, the brown-haired girl cleared her throat. "We...we were angel spotters," she offered. "Back in the US."

He stayed still listening.

Electa's forehead creased. "What, you mean for Project Angel?"

She nodded. She had an earnest face and blue eyes, her hair drawn back in a ponytail. "Until just a few months ago. And then--" The other girl nudged her, giving her a piercing look; she flushed and fell silent.

Angel spotters. Electa nodded slowly. Yeah, that made sense. The angel spotters had worked for the CIA too, the same as she had--their role had been to locate angels and send texts to the AKs with their locations. They were trained to see angels, but wouldnt have much of a clue about the rest of it.

She scanned the group again. "So what happened--how did you find each other? I thought you guys had to work in isolation too, just like--" she broke off as she heard a low female voice that came from the drive: "You want to explain why youre holding a gun on my group, hotshot? And itd better be good, or Ill blow your freaking head off."

Electa whirled in place, ready to shoot.

The dark-skinned girl who stood holding a gun on her was beautiful, and much taller than she was, with high, chiselled cheekbones and close-cropped black hair. Her brown eyes widened abruptly as they regarded each other. She wore tan jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt; she could see the slim, hard muscles of her arms, as if she spent half an hour every day doing chin-ups.

Vexin turned to view the person as well, surprised.

On her left bicep was a black AK tattoo in gothic lettering.

Time had come to a stop. "Kara," whispered Electa

The girl opened her mouth; closed it again. "Electa? she finished for him. The next thing she knew, she had catapulted herself into Kara's arms and they were hugging tightly. "I dont believe it!" Kara gasped, sounding close to tears. "Its really you--youre alive, youre okay..."

Vexin was quite shocked, watching. 'This is good, now they aren't mad.' He thought, glad Electa had a friend. He didn't think he could make friends with any of the others any time soon with ease.