Battle Angel (Immortal City 3)

“Maddy . . . ,” Tom moaned. “I’m sorry. I promised I’d . . .”

“Be quiet. . . . Don’t move,” a voice said. “You’re badly hurt.”

He closed his eyes again, and he felt a pair of arms wrapping around him.

And then he succumbed to the darkness once again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The flight deck of the aircraft carrier had transformed into a triage area for casualties of the demon attack. Bandaged-up navy enlistees were being led around by their arms to the sick bay and an Angel doctor tended to the stunned and battered Immortals. They had never before met such an enemy—such sheer evil and tenacity. It had been breathtaking in the most horrible way. Although medics were yelling and crewmen were shouting to each other over the radio, the air over the flight deck was filled with a deep, hollow hush. A solemn reflection over what they had just faced. And what was yet to come.

Things were looking grimmer and grimmer. Once again, the demons hadn’t even hit them with a full attack before they moved back for reasons still unknown. During the first wave, it had seemed that their goal, aside from causing general terror and inflicting death, was to stop anyone from leaving Angel City. But this time, it almost seemed as if the Dark Angels were testing them—both the humans and Jackson’s Battle Angels alike. More than ever Maddy was convinced there really was a head demon, and that it was clever, persistent, and patient. She knew the demons wouldn’t hold back next time. Almost everyone knew that.

There was an unspoken feeling, a reverence for those already lost and those who would still be lost. The final battle would be a great sacrifice for both humans and Angels—and they would ultimately be defeated.

There was almost something noble in the inevitable.

• • •

The first thing Tom saw was Maddy’s face, peering over him.

“Shhh . . .” Maddy ran a comforting hand through his hair.

Tom tried to sit up, but as soon as he did, he fell back on the pillow, dizzy, his head throbbing terribly. Glancing to the side, he saw he was in the sick bay of the aircraft carrier. He put his hand to his head and felt a large bandage.

“How . . . ?” Tom asked, his thoughts still muddled. Slowly, he pieced the past several hours together. He had seen the wings. And now he was waking up here, with Maddy. He tried to sit up again, but a shooting pain winced through his entire body.

He managed a weak smile. “Ow. Won’t try that again.”

Maddy gave a light smile back.

Tom looked up at her. “You saved me?”

Maddy shook her head.

“I tried, Tom, but we couldn’t find you,” she said. “As soon as they said you went down they had to stop me from just leaving right there and then,

totally blind into the night. I could see you were in danger, but you kept moving in and out of consciousness and I’d lose your frequency. Never long enough for me to find you. But we waited to see if we could get a read on your location. The transponder was gone. We started looking for you. But it was so dark. It seemed impossible.” Maddy’s face quavered with emotion as she recalled the failed search.

“Then who . . . ?”

Maddy gnawed on her lip slightly. “Jackson found you, Tom. He brought you here. He saved you.”

“Him?” Tom’s face was cast over with shock.

Maddy was silent.

Tom tried to sit up again, with more success this time. But he still groaned in pain as he moved.

“No . . .”

The darkness took him again.

• • •

After some searching, Jackson found Maddy leaning against the railing along the rear deck of the ship.

His approach was quiet, but Maddy still turned around at the sound of his footsteps. She broke her expression of deep thought with a faint smile, but in a moment it was gone and she turned back to look out to the sea. She had seen so many injured fighters, both Immortal and human. And she had seen Tom.