(a,n) I just returned to this fic and had some ideas to put down. I know it's been a few years but if your still here and haven't hopped to another fandom, Thanks!. Updates are planned every week or two.

Chapter 31

An eerie silence echoed over the crowd as the Lex's clip ran out, only broken by heavy breathing. Lex could hear guns being cocked all around her as she desperately looked toward the night.

"Lights!" Rochelle screamed but no one moved. She shouted "You know what to do so move people!"

The crowd began hustling around them in silence. Spotlights broke through the darkness and roved through the night sky. Adults started gathering up the younger children in the crowd, pushing them underneath the tables set out around them.

"Mom!" Lex heard Aaron's shout as Sam and Rochelle were leading him toward a table for cover. Lex watched as Rochelle placed a glock in Aaron's hand as she made her way over to them, Michael following close behind.

"Way to ruin a perfectly good time, Lex." Rochelle whispered, as her eyes maintained skyward.

"That's me, always the party pooper." Lex replied as she put her hand on Aaron's shoulder, more to confirm his closeness than anything else. She began counting the clips on her holster.

"How many up there?" Rochelle asked.

"A lot."

"Goddamn it, Lex. I hate your heebee jeebee shit." Rochelle cursed. "What's a lot?"

"Enough to do a lot of damage when they attack. Possibly wipe us out."

"I hear the dogs." Michael whispered. "They seem to be hovering out of sight."

"How the fuck can you hear them, oh Mikey?" Rochelle turned to him and focused her attention solely on Michael.

Lex stepped in between the two. "Let's focus on one crisis at a time, shall we?"

"I keep telling you I'm a muti-tasker." Rochelle replied, her predatory eyes never leaving Michael's stoic face.

"More heebee jeebee shit you really don't want to know about, Roach." Lex insisted. "If I say he's with me, then I mean it."

"Just so we're clear, I'll be sticking my nose all in that business later." Rochelle said as waved her hand motioning at Michael. "If we survive and all."

The crowd was starting to murmur as nothing was happening. As if waiting for an attack was more tortuous than seeing it coming at them.

"Greetings, Citizens of The Camp!" A voice boomed from the night sky. "We bring good tidings from the aerie of The Great Archangel Gabriel!"

"Fuck off!" Someone yelled from the crowd and Lex just shook her head. Rochelle rolled her eyes then shrugged her shoulders back at Lex. The Citizens of The Camp were not known for their diplomacy, even when their lives were hanging in the balance.

An old man stepped out from the crowd. Lex recognized him from somewhere but couldn't place his name. He spoke loudly and clearly, "I am Judge Ed and I'm the leader here." He continued without pause, "Greetings from The Camp. We are only interested in trade or battle. Do you offer a trade?"

"That's balls if I've ever seen them." Rochelle half giggled. "Way to stick to protocol."

Lex thought maybe the tension might be getting to Rochelle. Sam's eyes were big as saucers as he knelt next to Aaron and stared at Michael. Michael hadn't moved a muscle, other than cocking his head in that birdlike way of his.

She kept running scenarios in her head where Sam and Michael wouldn't be exposed, nor herself. There were no obvious answers jumping out at her. She was not about to abandon these people to a slaughter, even if it meant exposing them all. She could be ruthless but she just didn't have that in her.

Then she remembered the old man, not from her own mind, but from her visions of Michael. He was a general that the archangel had many dealings with, in Vega.

"The honorable Archangel Gabriel offers a trade to the great people of The Camp, of course." The voice rained down. "Gabriel offers a 20-year peace with The Camp. All of angeldom will know that this human settlement is under his protection and any angel who violates this proclamation will face death immediately."

Murmurs began anew through the crowd. "Fuck him." "What does he want in return?" "We could be safe." "If I wanted to live under a king, I would have stayed in Vega." "No more looking over our heads." "Fuck him and the wings he rode in on."

Michael's general shouted back "What payment does Gabriel ask for such an offer?"

Lex looked at Michael as worry washed through his eyes. Lex knew they were going to say Michael's name, calling him out. She just knew it, damn it.

"Gabriel asks for such a small favor. A small token as payment for this great offer. A tiny gift that will guarantee safety for your families for a generation. A miniscule price for the greatest prosperity a human settlement has had since the great war."

After a forever pause, as everyone held their breath, the voice continued finally.

"A boy arrived a few days ago to your camp, along with his mother and a man. We ask for the boy named Aaron to be turned over to us."