Natural Born Angel (Immortal City 2)

“Don’t, Tom – you’re always welcome,” Maddy said. “I’m sorry, it’s all just complicated right now.”

“Nothing to be sorry for. We can’t all be Angels,” he said.

“That’s not what— ”

Tom passed closely by Jacks as he walked to the exit. The Angel and the pilot stiffened as they neared each other.

“You might want to appreciate what you have, rather than take it for granted like everything else in your life,” Tom said, mere inches from Jackson’s face. The door jingled, and he was gone. The muted, deep rumble of his pickup entered the diner and then slowly faded.

Maddy looked at the Angel in front of her. “Jacks, don’t start.”

The report on the TV continued. They were replaying Maddy’s unsanctioned save on loop.

Jacks glanced up at the TV, then down at Maddy. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

“I was able to save her. How could I let her die?” Maddy said. “Jacks, I did the same thing you did with me last year.”

“It’s different.”

“How? How is it different?”

“I don’t know. It just is,” he said.

“I had to save her,” Maddy said, shaking her head. Lauren’s terrified eyes still haunted her memory. Maddy glanced out of the window to the car park. “Why aren’t they here yet?”

“I don’t know. The agents should have been here by now,” Jacks said. “With me, they were able to spin the story. Turn me into a villain. Nobody saw what actually happened. There’s no spinning now for you. The Angelcam footage was out instantly; everybody knows what happened, and that she wasn’t a Protection. If anything happened to you, the uproar would be unforgettable. ‘Punished for saving a life’. And the Archangels and the Council, their backs are against the wall. President Linden was looking for anything, any excuse to show that Protection for Pay isn’t necessary. That Guardians could be saving anyone out there, that we Angels are supposedly in it only for profit and power, and that we don’t care who lives or dies as long as we’re paid. Any reason he could get to make a move against us. And you handed it to him on a silver platter.”

“But I couldn’t leave her. How could we let them die? We could save all of them!”

Jacks snapped with anger. “You may be right. But don’t act naive, Maddy! Where do you think it all comes from? Your apartment? Your car? The clothes you wear for the photographers? From nowhere? That you get it for just being you? It comes from Protection for Pay. Pure and simple.”

His words cut Maddy deep, like a jagged knife, but she knew they were true. She knew they’d been true for a while. Maddy felt the ground underneath her start to crumble, her sense of self shaken to the very core.

She’d let herself be transformed into the very rich and famous Angel she had once hated.

“I may not even like it. But that’s just the way things are,” Jacks said bitterly.

Anger and shame loosed Maddy’s tongue as she turned on Jacks.

“You talked me into it, Jacks, you brought me along— ”

“I’m tired of hearing that, Maddy. You knew what you were doing when you became a Guardian!”

“I did not. You told me it could change!”

“Well, maybe I was wrong,” Jacks said.

Silence hung in the large dining room. Orange evening sun was filtering through trees across the street, starting to steam into the front windows of the diner.

Maddy reached for Jacks’s hand. The warmth and smoothness of his fingers gave her some comfort. But only momentarily, before he pulled his hand away.

He turned and looked at her, his perfect Immortal features rimmed by the fading sunlight glinting through the window.

“Originally, I was coming to find you here for another reason, Maddy,” he said. “It seems almost stupid now.”

“What reason?” Maddy asked.

Jacks looked away. He didn’t speak for a few moments. And when he did, it sounded like his words were carefully chosen.