Michael walked away from the casino, he had no idea where he was going, just so long as he was away from people. He had been walking about an hour before he stopped and looked around him. The place looked derelict, buildings boarded up, some with windows smashed. He heard a man shout, a woman shouted for him to 'shut up'. He heard a girl scream and a baby crying. This was the Vegas people didn't want to see. Someone knocked into him from behind, his defences were up immediately, he whirled around. He relaxed slightly when he saw it was a drunk. Michael stepped out of his path, the smell of whisky was over-powering. The man staggered past him and went down a dark alleyway. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a movement. Michael turned and tried to see what it was but it was too dark. He saw headlights coming in his direction, he looked at the boarded building in front of him and ran for it. He just made it to the building when he heard the car come closer the engine roaring. He ran up a few stairs and pushed open a door, it almost fell of the hinges causing him to stumble into the room. He went to the boarded up window, he peered through the cracks. The car had stopped outside a group of kids fell out the car and came towards the building. Michael cursed to himself. He couldn't use his powers to lock the door, they would see the glow that came with his powers. He could hear voices coming closer, he could hear someone flicking a knife, he heard a girl giggling. He slumped down on the floor, if he pretended he was drunk or high maybe they would just leave him alone. The door creaked open. "Well, well, what do we have here?" A guy came closer, he had a knife, the blade was visible by the moon that came through the cracks between the boards. Two girls and another guy came into the room. One of the girls came up behind the guy with the knife, she eyed Michael up and down. "Oooh, baby can I play with him?" "Quit it Amy." "Aw come on baby, you played with that girl, it's only fair I get to play with him." The guy looked over his shoulder at the girl, he saw the glint in her eye. He handed the knife over to her. She ran her hand over the blade, moving closer to Michael. She knelt down beside him, she ran the knife over the front of his jacket, moving it up towards his face. The cold blade ran over his cheek, he saw her smile at him, then felt searing pain as the blade cut his cheek. She leaned closer to him and licked the blood that trickled down his cheek. "Mmm, you taste nice." Michael stared at her, his blood was on her lips. He looked past her at the others, they were shooting up. The girl looked behind her, she grinned when she saw what they were doing. "Hey keep some for me." "Hurry up and do him then." She looked back at Michael grinning. "I think I can wait a little longer, I'm going to have some fun with you." Michael could feel his anger returning, it was rising up in him. He felt like he was going to burst. He could feel the tingling start up inside him, travelling down his arm to his hand. When she cut the other side of his face, he raised his hand letting the power burst from him, the room lit up as the girl screamed and flew across the room hitting the wall hard. He heard the sound of bone crunch. Michael pushed himself up onto his feet. The other three turned on him, one pulled out a gun and aimed it for him. Michael heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to the room. The door was flung open just as the gun went off, the bullet pierced his shoulder and he fell to the floor. There was another brilliant light then the room was silent, there wasn't a sound not even from outside. He heard a voice say his name, he lifted his head from the floor and looked up, he was sure he was seeing things. He whispered 'Tess' then passed out. TBC

Part 21