Immortal City (36 page)

It knew where they were now, Maddy thought. It was closing in.

Jacks pulled Maddy down behind a long counter. She listened to the sound of her shallow, quick breaths, trying to control them. The lab was divided by four counters running the length of the room, bordered by narrow alleys on either side. Test tubes, beakers, and other glassware sat atop the tables awaiting next week’s use. Maddy peered at the far door, across the room. She could see the hallway through the door’s square window. The hallway, she knew, led directly out the school’s side entrance to the street.

“Let’s go,” Maddy said. “We can make it if we run.” Jacks held her arm with an iron grip.

“No. We can’t,” he said quietly.

“Why not?” she whispered, almost pleading.

“Because it’s in here with us.”

Maddy heard the door to the classroom click shut. The darkness felt suddenly alive all around her. Then she heard it. The faintest sound of air.

She could hear the thing breathing.

A suffocating heat permeated the darkness like growing fire that gave off no light. The pungent smell of earth, decay, and something worse wafted out of the darkness toward her. It smelled like death, Maddy thought. Stinking death itself.

A scream rose up her throat and she slapped her hand over her mouth. It took all her strength to stop it.

Maddy listened as the thing began to move through the room.

Step,
click click
. Step,
click click
.

Jacks held up one finger. Maddy stared at the silent signal, willing her terrified mind to understand. Then she got it.
One.
It was behind the first counter. Jacks crouched with his feet under him and beckoned her. Maddy shook her head. She was frozen with fear.

Jacks pointed toward the door. Through a red fog of terror Maddy realized what he was indicating. They had lured the thing into the maze of the lab, and they were going to slip out while it searched for them. They crawled on their hands and knees, listening to the steps of the creature.

Step,
click click
. Step,
click click
.

Then the footsteps stopped.

Silence descended over the room. Jacks put a hand on Maddy’s forearm, an indication to be absolutely still. She held her breath. At last, Jacks pointed up.

It was right above them, on the counter.

Maddy felt the scream rising up inside her again, and this time she didn’t know if she could stop it. She pressed her trembling lips together, but they were numb. She felt herself losing control of her body. Her mouth opened to scream.

Jacks’s hand closed around her mouth like a vise. His other hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her toward him. He held her in the darkness as the scream died silently in her mouth.

The second passed like hours. After what seemed like an unbearable length of time, Maddy heard two footfalls as the thing stepped off the counter.

Step,
click click
. Step,
click click
.

It was back on the ground, continuing its methodical investigation of the lab. Jacks released Maddy from his grip and mouthed a single word.

“Move.”

On their hands and knees again, they circled around the second counter and headed for the third. Maddy saw they were close to the door now. A tiny spark of hope leapt inside her. They could do this, she thought. They could make it. She scooted quickly around the corner and her shoulder collided silently with the counter, jarring it.

Perrrring.

It sounded like the ring of a delicate bell. The sound seemed to roll and then disappear. In the rush of adrenaline, Maddy recognized the sound instantly. A test tube had just rolled off the counter in front of her, and it was heading toward the floor. She thrust her hands out blindly in front of her. She was terrible at any sport that involved catching anything—or really, any sport at all. Miraculously, she felt the slap of the delicate glass cylinder against her palm. It leapt up again, and for a single breathless moment it danced across her reaching fingertips. Then it was gone.

The sound of the tube shattering was like a gunshot in her ears. It was followed by the most awful, inhuman sound she had ever heard. It sounded like tearing metal, like the growl of some rabid animal, hungry and guttural. It was so loud it was painful. Instantly Maddy felt something grab her by her hood. She heard fabric tearing.

It was a claw.

Maddy shrieked and threw her arms backward, wriggling out of the hoodie as the claw cut it cleanly in half. She felt Jacks’s strong hands around her waist, pulling her away from the beast.

“Run, Maddy!” he yelled.

Maddy tore into the black hall. She was alone now, terrified and blind, running through the darkness. Arms that were not Jacks’s wrapped around Maddy. She screamed.

“I
t’s okay, it’s okay,” a voice whispered. “You’re okay now.” Maddy looked up at the man who was holding her. He was older and wore glasses. His face was creased and worn.

“It’s got Jacks!” Maddy protested, her voice muffled against the man’s jacket. “We have to help him.” Maddy twisted away from his grasp and ran back down the hall. The man followed quickly. They found Jacks crouched like an animal waiting to attack. His wings trembled in the air, ready. In a blur, he had thrown the man against the lockers. The Angel’s eyes burned in fear, almost unrecognizable.

“Jacks, wait!” Maddy said.

“It’s . . . gone . . .” the man choked. “Please, it’s gone.” It was several seconds before Jacks released his grip on the man’s throat. The man slumped, coughing, against the lockers. Jacks’s chest was heaving. His eyes darted to Maddy and then back to the man.

“Wait a minute, I
know
you,” Jacks said furiously.

“My name is Sylvester. I’m a detective with the ACPD. We met when I interviewed you at your house earlier this week.” Jacks’s face tensed. Sylvester held up a hand in surrender. “I’m alone. If my intention was to arrest you, this place would be swarming with police right now.”

“What are you doing here?” Jacks asked. Sylvester rubbed his throat.

“Up until tonight I was leading the investigation into the Angel attacks on the boulevard. I started tracking the demon two days ago. I tracked him here.”

Demon,
Maddy thought. She had heard the word before but never thought they were real.

“It just left,” Jacks said, his eyes bewildered. “It was right there, facing me, and then it just disappeared.”

Sylvester nodded. “I was hoping this would work if I ever made contact, and it did, but it likely won’t again.” He opened his fist. A small amulet with an ancient inscription sat on the palm of his hand. He retrieved the brass ornamental box from the pocket of his jacket and carefully placed the object on the crushed purple velvet inside. He closed the box securely.

Jacks studied the tall, tired man before him. His eyes narrowed.

“You’re an Angel,” Jacks said in disbelief.

Sylvester nodded again. “Yes, I am.”

“How is that possible?”

“Not every Angel is still a Guardian, Jackson,” Sylvester said, “and not all Angels are loyal to the Council.”

Jacks stepped back. Sylvester straightened up and smoothed his coat.

“You have a theory?” Jacks said. “About this . . . this
thing
?”

Sylvester shrugged. “It’s just a hunch.”

Jacks considered his words. “We need to talk,” he said after a moment.

Sylvester’s brow furrowed. “Technically I should be bringing you in.”

“But you’re not going to do that,” Jacks said carefully. “Are you?”

Sylvester sighed.

“No, I’m not,” the detective said. He removed his glasses and rubbed his face. He looked between Jacks and Maddy.

“My car is parked out front. I’ll pull it around.”

They rode in the back of Sylvester’s unmarked cruiser through the sleeping streets of the Immortal City. The car tracked past the pockets of nocturnal homeless and criminals, fluorescent-lit twenty-four-hour donut shops, the occasional fogged window with lights creeping out from behind drawn curtains. Unsavory business getting transacted. The Angel City underworld. In another hour or so, it would start to get light, street sweepers would scour the roads and alleys, and the Immortal City would be camera ready again.

Maddy settled into the seat quietly next to Jacks and let the relief course through her veins. She had never experienced fear like that she had felt in that biology lab. She wasn’t sure she trusted the rumpled detective who was driving them to who knew where, but at least they were headed away from the school. At least for now they were safe.

Maddy looked down at the small gap of vinyl between her and Jacks on the seat. When they had gotten into the backseat, she had instinctively left that space between them, like she always did. A minimum of protection from Jacks’s intoxicating presence.

In the terror of the moment she had almost forgotten the new deal she had made with herself. To believe he actually had feelings for her. To let him in. Carefully, she leaned toward him and closed the gap between them. Her heart thudded irregularly as her shoulder touched his, and the wave of his warmth washed over. It was so lovely to be close to him. Jacks reached over and rested his hand on her leg. The casual touch was thrilling. Like he was familiar with her. She sat there feeling the warmth of his hand through her jeans, listening to the sound of her pounding heart, and trying to control her suddenly erratic breathing as Sylvester pulled up a narrow driveway and parked.

The apartment was in a Spanish-style building from the 1930s. Old Angel City, Maddy thought, a reminder of a forgotten past. They followed him upstairs and into his corner unit. The apartment was simple and unadorned. There was a living room with a fireplace at its center instead of a television and chairs for sitting instead of a couch. Through the glass door of the tiny balcony she could see an old Catholic church. She had never noticed it before; it was beautiful.

Newspaper clippings and articles haphazardly covered the walls. The apartment must double as an office, Maddy thought. She went to the wall and read some of the clippings. Bizarre sightings, unexplained tragedies, natural disasters. Descriptions of a strange, burning creature with wings. Maddy began to feel uneasy. When Sylvester spoke, it made her jump.

“I know it’s not much,” Sylvester said, a little self-conscious, “but please make yourselves at home.” Maddy turned and glanced at Jacks. He gave her a nod as if to say he thought things were okay. They sat in the old chairs.

“It’s not every day I have a Godspeed and a Godright over,” Sylvester said as he settled into his chair.

“You know?” Jacks said, surprised.

“Of course,” Sylvester said, looking at them both. “I’m one of the very few who does.”

Jacks nodded. He was silent for a moment as he considered this.

“That thing,” Jacks said finally. “At the school. I’ve never felt anything like it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Most of us haven’t,” Sylvester said grimly. “It’s been years since anyone has encountered a Dark Angel.”

“A what?” Maddy asked.

“A demon,” Jacks said.

The word hung ominously in the tiny room.

“But there’s no such thing,” Maddy said, as if saying the words would make it so. Sylvester looked at her evenly.

“If you can accept there are Angels in the world, then you must also realize that there are demons.” His face was deadly serious. “Just as there is a world above us, there is a world below us too, Maddy.”

“But they were destroyed. Thousands of years ago,” Jacks said.

“The world is a darker place than you think, Jackson.”

Maddy thought about the
thing
. She felt the claw trace down her back again. A demon. It sent a chill slithering down her spine.

“Demons can be found in the darkest corners of our world. They’re in the shadows, causing catastrophic earthquakes, tsunamis, even hurricanes. I think if someone went looking for a Dark Angel and looked hard enough, they could find one.”

“Even if what you’re saying is true,” Maddy said, “and even if they do still exist, what was one doing in my high school?”

Sylvester’s face faltered. “I don’t know. Ancient writings, even the Bible, describe demons attacking cities and laying waste to villages. Causing chaos. What’s going on in Angel City is entirely different. This demon is attacking specific Angels. It’s choosing its targets. It tracked Jackson there. It feels like premeditation to me, like there’s a motive behind it. It feels like a good, old-fashioned, regular crime.”

Jacks studied Sylvester intently. “Meaning what?”

Sylvester removed his glasses and began polishing the lenses against his shirt.

“Meaning I think someone could be controlling it. That’s my theory at least. We talk about demons in our lives, and we talk about
controlling
them. Where do these metaphors come from? I think a long time ago it was possible to hire a demon, much like Angels are hired today. Not with money, of course, but with something much more valuable. Something the demon wants. It may still be possible today. Someone might have brought a demon to the city and be using it to carry out these attacks.” He finished his polishing and returned his glasses to his face. “I know it sounds incredible, but I think someone is playing a very dangerous game with a force they can’t possibly comprehend.”