Battle Angel (9 page)

“That’s all we can expect from you, Maddy. Thank you. The Angels have cut off all channels of communication with every government in the world,” Linden said. “They’re not answering any calls, any pleas. They’ve really just disappeared. You, and your bond with Jackson, truly are our only hope of getting to them.”

“But the phone lines are down, cell service, too. How am I even supposed to get in touch . . .”

Linden’s eyes twinkled. “We’re the American government, Maddy. We can fix that for you. That’s the least of your worries.”

And once again, like a sickness that comes in waves, Maddy’s mind cast back to the fury and agony written all over every inch of Jackson’s face as she chose Tom.

“Just don’t invest too much hope in this,” Maddy said, “because I have a feeling you’re going to be disappointed.”

J
ackson Godspeed wandered the quieter precincts of the sanctuary, lost in thought as his slow footsteps echoed down the empty hallway. The main portion of the complex was laid out like three wheels, one on top of the other, each one larger than the first, with numerous spoke-like passageways coming out from a central hub that connected them all. Jackson was now in the outermost ring, where he was sure he could be alone.

The hallway was dimly lit with soft lighting gleaming along the dark marble floors. He paused at one of the openings off the hall, where a small artificial stream ran along a short path, soothing as it babbled. Every so often, he saw a rainbow trout swim up and glisten in the current. But the serene scene still could not calm Jackson’s relentless train of thought.

The images he witnessed during the first demon attacks remained burned in his mind. To watch his native city endure an assault like that, and for him to do nothing about it, had affected him deeply. And, of course, he also couldn’t help wondering about Maddy, as painful as it was to even think her name.

Jacks let out a deep breath and made his way back to the center of the sanctuary. He needed to
do
something besides wander around the outskirts, if only to get his mind off things.

He hadn’t gotten far when he ran into Louis Kreuz walking with an assistant weighed down with files.

“Godspeed!” Louis said. Kreuz’s meaty paw overwhelmed Jacks’s fingers as the two shook hands. “Been out in the boonies?” Kreuz motioned toward the outer rings of the sanctuary.

Jackson was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected to run into the brash head Guardian trainer, and for a moment he felt like he was back in training, being chewed out by Kreuz for some small mistake.

“Just clearing my head, sir,” Jacks said.

“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ anymore, Godspeed,” Kreuz said, grinning. “It’s just Louis these days, now that you’re a Battle Angel.” Jackson didn’t return Louis’s smile. “Seems like maybe you didn’t get too much cleared up out there. Thinking about . . . ?” Louis pointed up, toward the surface, toward Angel City, where the humans were awaiting their fate.

“I don’t know anymore, sir—I mean, Louis,” Jackson said.

“The humans
did
leave us hanging out to dry, you gotta admit,” Kreuz said. “We had our backsides hanging out there in the wind with Linden and that bill.”

Jackson thought he saw a strange sparkle in Louis’s eyes as he spoke.

Jacks just nodded and didn’t respond. He’d retreated once again into his thoughts.

“Well, if you’re lucky, you’ll run into Gabriel. He’s just down there,” Kreuz said. He pulled out an unlit cigar and chomped his teeth on it. “He just walked me out of another meeting. He likes getting air and visiting with the rest of the Angels. You know, he’s got high hopes for you.”

Kreuz was one of the few Angels with whom Gabriel consulted regularly. Louis had been so instrumental over the years, training generation after generation and churning out groomed Guardian after groomed Guardian, that it only made sense that he’d remain a confidant during this current crisis.

“Well, take care of yourself, Godspeed,” Kreuz said. He motioned for his assistant, who had busied himself on the sidelines while he and Jackson talked, and the two of them proceeded down the hall together.

“You, too, Louis,” Jackson called after them.

Jackson rounded the quieter passageways and headed into the main section of the sanctuary. Up ahead he heard a low hum. In the hub of the sanctuary was a tree circled by a round marble fountain encircled by a bench. Just off the fountain was a piazza lined with various high-end stores, as well as restaurants and open seating.

Up ahead, Jackson saw Gabriel talking with a small group of Angels. Gabriel was easy to spot—he always gave off a kind of glow. The Immortals weren’t used to seeing so much of Gabriel, but it only made sense that he’d venture out into the public more often now that they were all banded together in the sanctuary.

The True Immortal wore a more casual robe than usual, sleek and contemporary in its cut. Catching Jackson’s eye, he excused himself from his conversation and approached the young Battle Angel with a smile and a clap on the shoulder.

“Good to see you, Jackson,” Gabriel said.

“Thank you, sir. It’s great to see you as well,” Jacks said.

Gabriel smiled, and Jackson thought about how distant and mysterious Gabriel had seemed to him when he was growing up. He was
the
leader of the Council.
The
Angel who had taken them out of hiding and formed the National Angel Services. He was a living legend, practically out of a myth. But now that they’d been meeting semiregularly in the solarium, Jackson felt he was starting to get to know the real Angel, the
true
Immortal behind the figurehead.

“I’ve just left the company of your old friend Louis Kreuz. We’ve been discussing the human situation again.”

Color leapt into Jackson’s face.

“Jackson, you shouldn’t be angry at them,” Gabriel said. “It’s in their nature to err. And we can just no longer protect them from their own selves anymore.”

“I’m not angry,” Jacks said. But even though he didn’t even know what he really felt, he knew in his heart that he’d just lied to Gabriel. He just knew he didn’t feel right, and that he was just trying to focus on the human-Angel situation without bringing
her
into it.

“Yes, well, that kind of . . . energy can be used for much more productive things,” Gabriel said. “For the future, Jacks. Our future.”

“I understand,” Jacks said.

“Jacks, I was wondering if you might stop by again this afternoon. I’d like to discuss something with you,” Gabriel said with a gentle smile.

“Of course, sir,” Jacks said.

“Wonderful. I’ll see you soon,” Gabriel said. He put his hand on Jackson’s shoulder and walked off, presumably back to the Council chambers. Jacks just watched him go.

“Jacks!” Before Jacks could react, Emily was up on him, kissing him on both cheeks. “What are you doing here? Rubbing elbows with Gabriel, I see? Sit down!”

A couple of younger Angels sat at a bistro table with Emily, their Immortal Marks displayed provocatively in their low-cut designer shirts. Emily’s protégés, no doubt.

“I have to get going. . . .” Jacks tried to protest, but Emily wouldn’t take no for an answer. She grabbed his arm and tugged him to sit down.

“What were you two talking about?” Emily said, her eyes lighting up.

“Nothing.”

“Well, even if it was something, I wouldn’t want you to tell me if it was confidential,” Emily said, as if she wanted to look out for Jackson.

Normally Jacks would have tried his best to keep respectful distance from a girl like Emily, just as he had with Vivian when she’d been obsessed with getting back together with him. But now, for some reason, Jacks was letting Emily do her thing. She did sometimes make him forget about Maddy for a while, but sometimes she made him think about her even more. This time, however, even though nothing had happened between them, she was making him think of her less.

“When are we going flying again, Jacks?” she said. Her Angel friends looked Jackson up and down with moony eyes as they poked at their green juices with their straws. They had surely heard about Jacks and Emily’s recent flight after the first demon attack.

“We’re shopping for new bags,” Emily explained, without giving Jacks time to answer. “Well, I am, for sure. Ashley doesn’t know if she wants one or not. But I haven’t been able to find one yet. The selection here in the sanctuary is just, like, okay. We’re just taking a juice break.”

Above, Angel City was preparing to face its destiny with a demon enemy, and down here, Emily was going on about green juice.

“The kale in it kind of tastes weird, but you get used to it. Plus, it’s supposed to be great for your skin. You should totally try it.”

“Cool.” Jacks just nodded. He couldn’t be less interested in kale juice if he tried.

“Gosh, Jacks, you always sound so serious!” Emily teased.

The girls whispered something between each other and started giggling, their laughter echoing down the sanctuary halls. Emily leaned in and put her hand over Jacks’s as she talked, and Jacks was surprised when he didn’t pull away. She noticed and gave him a smile.

“You’re in with Gabriel. How long do you think we’ll be down here?” Emily asked.

“As long as it takes, I guess.”

“It’s not so bad as long as you’re down here,” Emily said, and her friends started giggling again.

Jacks looked at his watch, still a bit thrown by how he responded to Emily’s touch. “I should really go. I have somewhere to be, and I can’t be late,” he said.

The table grew a bit more serious. The girls didn’t ask where he was going. They didn’t have to. They knew he had to go meet Gabriel, and one didn’t really joke about Gabriel. Jackson stood to leave, and Emily didn’t stop him. The True Immortal, founder of the NAS, leader of the Angels, was waiting.

• • •

There was talk that Gabriel was grooming Jackson for something special. A wild rumor had even started that one day in the future, Jackson would be named the first Born Immortal on the Council.

Jacks was aware of the talk floating around the sanctuary, but he didn’t pay too much attention to it. It was true he was now a Battle Angel and had volunteered to lead the Angels against the humans. And he had spent more time with Gabriel these past few days than he ever had before. But really, Jacks just enjoyed hearing him talk about the days before the Great Awakening and tell the ancient tales of the Guardians and of the last Age of Demons, when the Angels had emerged victorious. Gabriel had also known Jacks’s real father pretty well. Sometimes they talked about him, too. A lot of the younger Immortals weren’t so interested in these old stories, but Jacks found them fascinating. And more than anything, he really treasured the anecdotes about his father.

Gabriel was a steady North Star amid so many changes throughout the years. And he was especially dependable now, even though the end of the demon war would bring about a radically different Earth for the Angels. In contrast, Jacks was just a young Guardian, still discovering what kind of life he would live.

Far, far above the Council chambers, skylights rigged with an ingenious system of mirrors and reflections spilled shafts of light from the surface down to the vast rooms underneath. The Council chambers and halls never ceased to impress Jackson. Regular Angels only saw these sacred places maybe once in their lives. Maybe. And Jackson was fortunate to have been invited in several times already.

Gabriel greeted him and they walked from the solarium into the main hall just outside the Council chambers, which were lined with Grecian columns like a beautiful chapel. The main hall itself was an enormous span of arches, with walls adorned with a jaw-dropping marble frieze, which, at its center, depicted the most famous image of Home. In it, Guardian Angels wearing ancient garb stood in a circle around a flame. The rest of the frieze told the story of the Angels in intricate detail, from their very beginnings, through the Demon Struggles for control of Home, and all the way up to the Great Awakening. Gabriel had been a witness to all this history, firsthand, not just through sculpture and song.

“You know, you remind me so much of your father, Jackson,” Gabriel said to Jacks as they strolled along the hallowed halls. He turned to Jackson, his seemingly ageless features warm and kind. He donned a simple white robe, lined with golden handspun embroidery.

“I’m honored to hear you say so, sir,” Jackson said. “From what I understand, he was a tremendous Guardian.”

“Indeed,” Gabriel said.

Jackson knew that Gabriel thought it was important that a warrior and leader have both physical courage and moral courage, and, most essentially, loyalty. Gabriel would often bring these topics up with Jacks, discussing both human philosophers and ancient Angel philosophers like Luxiticus, a brilliant thinker who was totally unknown to the humans.

“Loyalty,” Gabriel said. “It’s something the humans lack. We have been saving them for millennia, and now they turn on us at a moment’s notice with no provocation. Like ungrateful children.” Gabriel shook his head sadly. “Humanity is self-destructive, which is why we first came out of the shadows. I and the others who became the Council were tired of watching mankind kill one another, day after day, year after year. Brothers turning on each other in bloodlust. We tried to save them secretly, and then we tried to save them in public after the Great Awakening. But humanity cannot be saved from itself. We’ve tried for too long. And now it’s our time to stop and let destiny take its course.

“Mankind is perpetually at war. They are as restless as they are violent. We Angels represent their better nature. We are
their ideal. We are perfect. Even you, with your new wings, are perfect.”

Jacks felt confused. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he saw on the outside, and he had a hard time reconciling those awful images with the logic of Gabriel’s argument.

“But . . . can we really blame humans for being less than perfect?” Jacks said.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t call five thousand years of war ‘less than perfect.’ I’d call it something far, far worse. Jackson, I know you must still have sentimental attachments to the human world. But you mustn’t let those get in the way of your duty, which, first and foremost, is always to the Angels. In my lifetime I’ve had to face difficult decisions, many of which nearly broke my heart. But I’ve always known I was performing my fated duty, not for myself, but for the good of Angels everywhere. And that’s made all the heartbreak worthwhile. You, too, have that opportunity now. We all do.”

Jackson nodded. Gabriel was right.

“They have abandoned you, Jackson.” He paused to study Jackson’s face. “I know it’s hard, but sometimes the truth hurts.
She
has abandoned you.”

Jacks turned away, his lips curling in bitterness.

“That’s another issue,” Jacks said. “I can’t let things get personal.”