Natural Born Angel (Immortal City 2)

“My influence on the Archangels isn’t as strong as it once was,” Mark continued. “The others aren’t going to want to stir up trouble chasing ghosts, tales from the Bible, unless there is incontrovertible proof about what’s going on. Until then, they’ll feel we need to show a united, strong front.”

“But it’s not a story from the Bible. There was one here just last year!” Jackson said, his tone sharpening.

“It’s true,” Mark responded. “But enough questions were raised about Angels during the demon crisis last year. We can ill afford to dig up problems now, unless it’s something that’s a direct threat. This is something that sounds like a scary story from The Book of Angels, David. And we’re too old for scary stories. Right now we’re focusing on discovering who was behind the bombing and eliminating that threat. Not supposed Dark Angels a half a world away.”

“Demons don’t leave behind a smoking gun, a fingerprint, a chain of phone calls. They simply destroy.” Sylvester smiled sadly, shaking his head. “Don’t you understand, Mark? By the time it’s a direct threat, it’ll be too late. If what I think is happening is actually happening. . .” He put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Thank you for taking the time to meet me tonight.”

The detective walked to his car and opened the door.

“I’ll do what I can, David,” Mark said, his voice louder. Sylvester paused. “I can promise you that. I’ll be in touch. But things are just complicated.”

Sylvester smiled the sad smile again before getting all the way into the car. “They always are in this city. Goodnight, Mark, Jackson.” He nodded at both of them.

Jackson and Mark watched as the headlights of the cruiser started descending into the parking structure, ultimately disappearing into the levels below.

CHAPTER 12

In the days and weeks that followed, Maddy plunged deeper into training, even if now she had a vicious, whispering doubt that she was ever going to get her wings, despite what the Angel doctors had been promising her. The Guardian training campus seemed like an island while the Angel media howled outside. Although not a peaceful island.

The more time Maddy spent in training, the more she realized that the other Guardian trainees were resentful of her getting dropped in their mix – with, perhaps, the exception of Mitch, Jackson’s long-time best friend. Even though Maddy would train for a few years, that wasn’t very long compared with how long most of the other potential nominees had been training. The NAS was giving her a big leg up, and the others knew it.

And Emily Brightchurch was the worst.

Just into her second week of training, Maddy was studying in an open classroom on the training grounds when Emily showed up. The redhead walked in and closed the door. Maddy looked up.

“Hi, Maddy,” Emily said.

“Hello, Emily,” Maddy said coolly, remembering how the Aussie Angel had treated her at the party the week before. Emily had also been tweeting a lot lately, and one of her tweets was from the night of the event: “When a girl has someone who’s TOTALLY out of her league #MakesMeCrazy.”

“I’m glad I found you. Alone,” Emily said. “It’s about time we had a chat.”

“Is it?” Maddy said, her adrenaline starting to flare.

“Yes.” Emily flashed her a thousand-watt fake smile. “I’m not sure if you noticed or not, but we just wanted to make sure that you knew nobody wants you around here.” She batted her eyelashes. “In case you were confused.”

Maddy’s face flushed. She stared the girl Angel down. “Thanks so much for the message, Emily. I really was confused. I hope you haven’t gone to too much trouble to deliver it. I know it must have been hard for you to stop taking your clothes off for money and come over here.”

Emily narrowed her eyes at Maddy and sucked her breath in through her teeth. Her voice, when she responded, was low and sharp: “If you think I’m just going to stand by while you pollute the Angels and ruin Jacks both at the same time, you’re more than just a half-Angel freak. You’re a fool. And I’ve got people who will help me.”

Maddy looked at the Angel in front of her, taking a moment before responding. “Jacks is mine,” she said firmly. She looked the Angel up and down. “You’re not me. You’re not even Vivian,” she said, referring to Jacks’s ex. “Frankly, she’s a much better bitch than you.”

“Watch me.” Emily flipped her hair and huffed out of the room.

Maddy’s eyes followed the Angel as she left, knowing that Emily wasn’t going to just disappear for ever (however appealing that might be). Maddy was going to have to keep an eye out. Sighing, she tried to return her focus to her homework but found it almost impossible. Although everyone might not be as vocal as Emily, Maddy knew the Aussie temptress spoke for a lot of the nominees when she said Maddy wasn’t wanted at Guardian Training.

And as if the prospect of not getting her wings, Emily’s threats, and the resentment of her fellow potential nominees weren’t enough, Maddy had another thing to worry about. Through hints her professors dropped, Maddy knew Louis Kreuz was keeping a very close eye on her progress. She had to show him she could hack it as a Guardian nominee. She seemed to work twice as hard as everyone else – she had so much to catch up on! – and her car, a brand-new Audi S5 she had bought as soon as she got her first check from the NAS, was always the last one still at the car park at night, the other Guardians in training having already left to go enjoy life as an Angel in the Immortal City.

After one of these late evenings at training, when even the guard was surprised at how long she had stayed, Maddy stopped in at a chic furniture showroom to finish picking the pieces she wanted for her apartment, which was going to be just a few blocks from the Halo Strip, down the canyon from Jackson’s house. She had a few more weeks, and then she’d be able to move in. Although she knew Kevin would miss her dearly, she’d only be a ten-minute drive, and she bet that deep down her uncle might enjoy being able to walk out to get the paper in his ro

be in the morning without being greeted by a dozen photographers.

The furniture dealer had arranged for a private showing for Maddy. A woman in all black with some kind of Nordic accent showed Maddy a flurry of pieces. Maddy yawned, trying to pay attention. Everything looked the same to her, and was probably too expensive. But Jacks’s mom had said this was the best place to go. Her mind was elsewhere, back on training, since she was having a difficult time even getting a start in her Elementary Time Pockets class.

“Thees one would be seemply stunning, an elegant but modern addition, do you not agree, Miss Montgomery?” the Danish woman coolly stated, pointing at a sleek sofa that looked like it had come straight out of its own photo shoot.

“What?” Maddy said, snapping back to the present. Her eyes focused on the sofa. She realized she didn’t really know what she liked and didn’t like. She’d never even thought about this stuff before. Were there always so many decisions in the world of the beautiful Immortals? “Oh, yes, definitely. I’ll take that one.”

By the time Maddy left, she was too late to meet up with Jacks for a bite – he’d promised to accompany his mother, Kris, to an Angel charity event that Mark couldn’t make. As Maddy’s Audi zipped down Sunset back towards Kevin’s, she was kind of glad to have an empty social calendar, actually; she was exhausted, and she was looking forward to an evening in. Plus, ever since the dinner after her first day of training, Jacks had seemed somehow different. Not in a bad way, but just different – a little more serious. She and Gwen had talked for hours about it on the phone but hadn’t really come to any conclusions. Gwen had made the shockingly un-Gwen statement, “Well, he may be an Angel, but he also is just a boy. And boys are strange sometimes.” They’d left it at that.