Immortal City (10 page)

“Another Angel?”

“Only an Angel can kill another Angel,” Sylvester said. “We’re looking for an exceptionally strong, exceptionally powerful Immortal. Get on the horn with the Archangels and start taking statements from their people. Try to find out if Godson has any enemies among the bigwigs.”

“There’s an ex-wife. It’s all over the gossip shows,” Garcia said.

“Bring her in. Find out if she has a new man,” Sylvester said. “And we need immediate saturation patrols for Angels in the area tonight. We need to talk to everybody.”

“They won’t like that,” Garcia scoffed. “I know you haven’t been on the front lines in a while, so let me just tell you, the Angels pretty much pretend we don’t exist. I mean, they think they’re above the law.”

“Well, tonight they’re not,” Sylvester said flatly.

Garcia nodded and walked back to his cruiser to radio in the request. Sylvester stepped back to the darkened Walk of Angels and looked down the long, empty boulevard.

The whole thing felt unreal. Garcia was right to be afraid. Sylvester struggled to remember the last time an Angel had been mortalized. It had been a long, long time ago. And if it was happening again . . .

Garcia walked back over, his radio crackling. It echoed in the night air.

“Detective, lucky for you they’re all in one place tonight. There’s a big party down the street.”

“Party?” said Sylvester. “What for?”

Garcia grinned. “You don’t have a daughter, do you, sir? It’s a Pre-Commissioning party for Jackson Godspeed.” At the name, a moment of recognition flickered across Sylvester’s face.

Garcia’s radio squawked again, and he held the speaker close to his ear. “Okay. Everyone’s accounted for. Actually, wait, everyone except one. He was spotted leaving in a hurry without talking to anyone. No one knows where he went.”

Sylvester’s eyebrow raised. “Okay, let’s find him, and let’s begin questioning those other Angels at the party. And start knocking on Angel doors up in the Hills, too,” Sylvester said. “As for the one who left the party in a hurry, consider him a person—well, Angel—of particular interest. And before we hear otherwise, let’s consider him potentially dangerous.”

Garcia paused and looked at Sylvester. “You’re not going to believe who it is,” he said. Sylvester looked at the sergeant.

“Who?”

J
acks’s Ferrari spun through the crisp Los Angeles night, the city twinkling all around him. He headed east on Sunset, just driving. He felt himself becoming more real, more free, with every mile he put between himself and the party. Was this disconnected sensation going to chase him all his life? He needed to get over it. He was Jackson Godspeed. It wasn’t like he could just move somewhere and be anonymous. And, he reminded himself, he didn’t want to. He’d been looking forward to saving people since he was a little boy.

After ten minutes his phone rang over the car’s Bluetooth. Jacks checked the caller ID. It was Mark.

“That didn’t take long,” he murmured before picking up. “Hey Mark, I’ll be home in a bit. I wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to—”

“Never mind that now,” Mark said, cutting him off. “Where are you?” His tone was urgent.

“Somewhere in Angel City. Why?”

“Get off the road.”

Jacks sat up in his seat, alarmed. “What?”

“Something has happened. I’ll explain later, but right now I need you to get off the road, go somewhere out of the way, and just blend in.” His voice sounded almost panicked. “Make sure no one knows you’re an Angel. And don’t talk to any police. Do exactly as I say, all right?” “Is Mom okay? Is Chloe? What’s—”

“Don’t ask any more questions,” Mark snapped. “They’re fine, but this is serious, young man. Do as I say. When you’re somewhere safe, give me a call and I’ll come meet you.” With that he hung up.

Jacks’s pulse quickened. He had never heard Mark so upset. What was going on? He took a hard left and zigzagged up side streets, through an Angel City he rarely saw, with modest homes and small, neglected lawns. Making a hard right, Jacks slowed and looked around, trying to get his bearings.

He had never been in this part of town before. He saw only one sign lit up, up on the left, a diner called Kevin’s. His heart racing, he drove forward and pulled into the tiny lot. He parked, took off his suit jacket, and threw on a dark hoodie from the backseat. Then he looked at the diner again through the windshield. The place looked deserted. He wondered if this could all be about Vivian. No, he decided, it had sounded more serious than that. He should do exactly as Mark had said. He got out and pulled his hood up, locked the door, and walked toward the diner’s front door.

Maddy was running a mop over the floor when the door jingled open and someone she had never seen before stepped into the diner. It was past closing and she realized, with regret, that she had forgotten to click off the neon Open sign in the window. Standing in the doorway was a boy Maddy thought looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. He was oddly dressed in tailored formal pants and a hoodie, and he had the hood pulled up over his head. Stabs of straight brown hair cut across his eyes. Maddy picked the mop up and set it back in its bucket. He looked out of breath and confused, unsure of himself even, and after a moment of what Maddy guessed was contemplation, he turned to leave.

“Hey,” Maddy called after him. He turned around. “Can I help you?”

“Um, yeah,” he said. “A table for one, please? If it’s not too late?”

Maddy looked around at the nearly empty diner. Just a couple of regulars finishing up, one paying the check. By his tone she knew she could tell him they were closed, and he would accept that and leave. Still, it was her fault for not shutting off the sign. “No, of course not. Right this way.”

She pulled a menu from behind the counter and led him to a booth by the window. As they walked to the table, Maddy realized that even dressed as he was and hiding under a hood, he was absolutely, strikingly beautiful. It was strange how it seemed to radiate off him. She could almost
feel
it, could almost taste it on her tongue. Maddy’s head swam. Where was this coming from? She was around her share of what everyone would consider “cute boys”: at school, at the diner, even just around Angel City. And sure, maybe they were attractive, but she had never felt herself gushing
he’s beautiful
. That was Gwen’s job. Maddy was supposed to be the levelheaded one.

She took a breath and tried to collect herself. He was a customer like any other, Maddy thought, and he would be treated as such.

“Here you are,” she said, setting the menu down on the table. “I’ll be right back to take your order.”

Jacks slid into the booth and glanced at Maddy as she walked away. She was really pretty, he thought, even if she was just an ordinary girl. As she disappeared into the kitchen, he was surprised to realize he was still watching her. He pulled out his cell phone and texted Mark his location.

Kevin was hanging up his apron when Maddy appeared. “One more customer,” she told him.

“Really?” Kevin asked wearily. “You didn’t just tell him we were closed?”

Maddy looked down at the floor, thinking about her reaction to the cute stranger. “Uh, he seems a little shaken up. I didn’t want to send him away.”

Kevin gave Maddy a look. “All right, go get his order,” he said, putting his apron back on. “The sooner he gets his food, the sooner we can go home.”

Maddy poured a glass of ice water and placed it on her tray. She headed over. “Long night?” she asked as she set the water in front of Jacks and pulled out her notepad.

Mark’s text came in. Jacks glanced at it: STAY THERE, COMING TO YOU. Jacks flipped the phone over on the table and looked up at Maddy.

“Something like that. I just needed to get off the road for a second.”

“Well, you came to the right place. What can I get you?”

“Ah,” he started, then stopped. Maddy waited. His gaze had drifted outside. Maddy looked up. Two ACPD cruisers had just pulled into the parking lot.

Jacks picked up the menu. “What do you recommend?”

As Maddy ran through the specials, Jacks’s eyes darted outside again. The cruisers had parked in the lot, and two policemen stepped out.

“Any of that sound good?” Maddy asked, and waited for a response. Jacks watched as the officers examined his Ferrari with flashlights. At once they turned and looked in the direction of the diner. Jacks instinctively sank down in the booth, his mind racing. “The meat loaf’s good too,” Maddy continued, trying to spur a decision, starting to feel guilty that she was keeping Kevin.

“Actually . . .” Jacks said, trailing off. And then he noticed it. There was a sign in the window. Even facing away from him, he could still read the red lettering: HELP WANTED, and below that, scrawled in black Sharpie,
Part-time position available.
Jacks looked at Maddy. “I’d like to apply for a job.”

Maddy blinked. “Okay, I’ll bring back an application with your food.”

“I was actually hoping I could apply right now,” Jacks said, a little urgently.

“All right,” Maddy said, a little surprised, “I’ll bring you the application.” Maddy turned to go in the back, oblivious to the officers approaching just outside the window.

“Miss?” Jacks called. Maddy turned. “Isn’t there someplace we could go in the back? So you could interview me? I’d like to get that part out of the way.” His eyes flickered to the door, where the police were just entering, their hands were on their holsters. He looked back at Maddy.

“Please.”

There was something different about him, Maddy thought. Something beyond the obvious good looks. It was in the way his eyes caught the light. The way he looked at her. They way he held her gaze. The funniest thing was, it made her want to trust him.

She was surprised to find herself speaking.

“Okay, follow me.”

Jacks jumped to his feet and followed Maddy around the counter and into the back. He couldn’t believe she didn’t recognize him, but at this point he didn’t care. He wasn’t concerned with anything except getting out of the dining room.

Maddy’s uncle was cleaning the griddle as they passed. Before Kevin could look up, Maddy had taken Jacks into their tiny office and closed the door.

The room was dingy and cramped. A battered metal desk was covered in piles of receipts and bills, an old picture of Maddy and Uncle Kevin in a frame poking up out of the mess. Maddy’s backpack, exploding with textbooks and college brochures, sat on the floor. She smoothed her uniform and found an application among a stack of forms. Jacks took a seat in the creaky chair opposite the desk and pulled his hood back.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Sure.”

Closed in the small room with him, the fact struck Maddy that this boy’s beauty was nearly overwhelming. Who was this guy? It didn’t even seem real. His pale blue eyes were piercing under strong, dark eyebrows, and his model good looks sat on a sturdy face, giving him a slightly rugged quality.

“Okay,” she said, assembling her thoughts and grabbing a pen out of a nearby coffee mug. “I didn’t get your name.”

“It’s Ja . . . Jason.” Jacks looked over to a newspaper sitting on the desk and read the headline: STOCKS SLIDE AGAIN. “Jason Stockton.”

“Okay, Mr. Stockton,” Maddy said, “do you have any prior experience in serving?”

“No,” Jacks said. Maddy looked up at him.

“Any experience in the restaurant industry at all?”

“No.”

Maddy sat back in her chair. “You know, Jason, to get a restaurant job in Angel City it’s pretty much required to have some experience serving.”

Jacks’s lips pulled up into a half-grin. “Well, how are you supposed to get experience if you can’t land a job to begin with?”

Maddy folded her arms and leaned over the table. She was trying not to flirt, but she almost couldn’t help herself.

“Okay, then, why should I hire you?”

Jacks looked for something, anything, that would keep him safely in the back room. His eyes drifted down to Maddy’s backpack and a college brochure sticking out between two textbooks.

“To save money for college,” he said, improvising. Maddy paused, her expression softening. Jacks looked at the image of the leafy campus on the brochure’s cover. “Somewhere back east, actually. Away from Angel City.”

“Really?” Maddy said, her interest piqued.

“Yeah . . .” Jacks said unsteadily. He took a deep breath and lied. “It’s always been my dream. Problem is my family, well, we don’t have a ton of money right now.”

Maddy shook her head in empathy. “I know how that is. Did your dad lose his job or something?”

“Actually, he . . .” Jacks trailed off, searching Maddy’s eyes. He was surprised she had unwittingly brought him back to the truth. “He died.”

Maddy flushed. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

Jacks shrugged. “It’s okay, I was young. I never really knew him at all.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” Maddy said, her defenses collapsing with startling quickness. “I mean, I know just how it is. Both my parents died when I was just a baby. I never knew them either.”