Immortal City (Immortal City 1)

“Maddy?” he said, surprised. His expression turned almost thoughtful, apologetic. “I . . . I didn’t want you to see this.”

“What are you doing?” she said through the numb shock. Confli

ct played in his eyes. The Ethan she knew fighting with some other part of him she did not. Then he looked down at Jacks, and his expression hardened.

“I’m doing my duty.”

Raising the knife over Jacks’s back, he brought it swiftly down. There was a sound like a pop as the blade sank into the Angel’s flesh at the base of the wing, then a wet snap as the knife severed the wing from the body. It went lifeless and fell to the concrete with a thud.

“No!” Maddy screamed. She reacted on instinct and ran toward Jacks. At once a black shimmer crossed her vision. A low, inhuman growl made her blood run cold. The last time she had heard it, she had been in the high school.

The demon emerged from the night in front of her. It was large, at least ten feet tall, but it had no definite features. Its shape kept shifting and changing. Maddy froze, her limbs refusing to move.

“I see you’ve already met my Guardian Angel,” Ethan said, smiling. Maddy realized the thing was hard to see because its skin really was shimmering. It was more than just shimmering. It was on fire. The creature was literally burning; the licking flames were black instead of orange. The fiery monster circled around Ethan and then crouched next to him, ready to strike.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Ethan.” Maddy shook with fear and fury. “Do you think you can control that thing?”

“If people can hire Angels, why can’t I hire a demon?” Ethan said. “The price may be different, but . . .”

He began to raise the knife again.

”Leave him alone!” Maddy screamed through numb lips. Ethan’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Why should I!?” he demanded. “What about our discussions at the diner and at school? Angels are all the same, Maddy, shallow, vapid, overly privileged creatures who do more harm than good.” His tone had a note of hysteria now. His mask of calm was beginning to crack. “Don’t you understand? They aren’t the heroes, they’re the villains. I’m giving them what they deserve.”

“Why Jacks?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper now. “He never did anything to you. Or to your dad.” She could see Ethan wince at the mention of his father, but he quickly recovered, his mouth turning into a cruel grin.

“I have you to thank for that, Maddy. At first I just wanted to kill Angels, any of them. Make them suffer. They’re all guilty. Then I saw you with Jacks.” He sneered, standing over Jackson’s trembling form. “I wanted you, Maddy. We were supposed to be together, but you didn’t see it—yet. Was I not good enough for you? Not enough of an Angel?” Ethan spat the word out like venom. “You wouldn’t have me, so I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t have him, either.”

The words stabbed like knives.

Maddy struggled for breath as the truth sank in and the world began to spin around the rooftop.

“It’s been you all along. Not the NAS. You’ve been murdering Angels on the boulevard.” Her entire body shook as the final pieces fell into place. “We came to you for help, and you sent the demon after us at the school.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

“Don’t blame me, Maddy. Blame yourself. It was you who did this. The truth is, he’s far too powerful. If you hadn’t abandoned him at the train station, none of this would’ve been possible.”

Maddy blanched. He was right. It was all her fault. Ethan seemed to smile at this.

“I know all about it. I know how you left him standing at the platform like he was nothing to you, left him to be delivered into the hands of the Archangels.” He shrugged. “I thought about just letting the NAS mortalize him, but I don’t know. I guess after I saw him with you again, I took it a little personally.” He raised the knife over Jacks’s maimed and bleeding back. “So anyway, since you obviously don’t care about him, let’s get on with it, shall we?”

“I love him!” she screamed. The words just came out. She had never spoken them before. She looked from Ethan to the trembling Angel below him. “Do you hear me, Jacks? I came back to tell you that I love you.” She saw a glimmer of recognition in Jacks’s eyes. The gray had turned the palest shade of blue again.

Ethan smiled like the devil himself.

“So much for true love.”

He brought the knife swiftly down again. Maddy heard the whistle of the blade through the air.

Then the slap as Jacks caught Ethan’s arm midswing.

Ethan grunted. A surprised, painful sound. Jacks’s hollow eyes had filled with color. The blueness blazed. The Angel’s fist collided with Ethan’s jaw on the left side and shattered it. The knife dropped from Ethan’s hand and skittered harmlessly to the floor.

The black shimmer crossed Maddy’s vision almost instantly as the demon lunged at Jacks.

“Jacks, look out!” Maddy yelled.