Battle Angel (23 page)

“No!”

Jackson had been able to get to his feet. He would only have a moment. The demon was still partially blinded and distracted by Sylvester’s gunshots. But the other heads were still going to keep Jackson at arm’s length.

Jacks reached back and launched the Divine Sword like a javelin harder than he had ever thrown anything in his life.

His aim was true. And perhaps something forged in the weapon itself kept its course straight. The sword struck the demon’s left eye, plunging in all the way to its hilt. Fountains of black blood came pouring out as the demon shrieked and dropped to its knees. Suddenly, the entire tunnel was filled with the brightest light. Every single speck of dust—and every centimeter of the demon—was now clearly visible in the light. The blinding illumination flashed off the blade of the Divine Sword and then was gone.

Gasping, Jacks dropped down to his knee, catching his breath. The demon’s final death quivers filled the tunnel with rumbling. But Jackson knew it was dead. The sword had told him that.

After a few moments, Jackson was able to stand up. He moved quickly over to where Sylvester lay, crumpled against the wall. He feared the worst.

But Jacks was relieved to find that, though he was unconscious, Sylvester was still breathing.

“Detective Sylvester!” Jacks said. He lightly slapped him on the cheek, to no effect. Jacks picked up the revolver off the floor and put it in the detective’s overcoat. He then pulled him up to sitting. It’d have to do for now.

Jacks approached the steaming demon carcass. Its bulk almost filled the whole hallway. Carefully, he began climbing the heap. Its scaly skin was now hardening, although it was still scalding hot. The soles of Jackson’s boots steamed as he walked on the skin.

The demon’s lifeless main head was facing him, its eye sockets totally empty.

“You have something of mine.”

With a satisfying tug, he pulled the Divine Sword out of the demon’s skull and wiped it clean against the hardening scales of its wings. Taking one last look at the unconscious Sylvester, he climbed down on the other side of the deceased Dark Angel and looked forward, down the dim passageway.

At the end of it was the main hall, where he had spent much time with Gabriel. The inconstant light from torches or candles was burning there in the distance, pointing the way toward the chambers—where Gabriel would likely be waiting.

Jackson walked down the dark hallway toward the atrium, more determined than ever. He ran his forearm across his face to wipe away the sweat that had accumulated during his struggle with the demon. He couldn’t be sure he was ready for Gabriel, especially after all he’d been through. But he might never be ready, so now was as good a time as any.

Two torches burned along the wall. From far above, at the tallest point of the arched main hall, a ghostly red glow shone through the skylights. Angel City was burning. The dim red light illuminated the sandstone frieze that had been recovered from an ancient Angel ziggurat, which told the story of the Angels defeating the Dark Angels during the great Demon Struggles of long, long ago. Jackson wondered how many thousands of years had passed since then. And now they were back here again.

To the right of the atrium lay the Council chambers, its doors wide open. Here was the huge, chapel-like space where Gabriel had made all the decisions with the Council. It was the place where he had decided to doom Angel City.

Jackson saw flames flickering from within. With slow, precise footsteps, he approached the open door. The torchlight cast his long shadow across the chamber’s threshold.

Although Jackson couldn’t see anyone yet, the voice he heard was unmistakable.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Jackson,” Gabriel said. “By all means, please come in.”

H
olding his Divine Sword up at the ready, Jackson took a cautious step inside. It was deathly quiet; the only things he could hear were the muffled sounds of battle clamoring in from outside. Each step he took echoed in the large open chamber.

Lit candles flickered along each side of the row of Grecian columns topped by Corinthian capitals. A slight draft made the flames waver, casting orange-tinted shadows that danced along the arched ceiling.

Gabriel sat, alone, at the head of the large Council table.

“I must admit, some part of me is quite happy to see you, Jackson. I’m impressed you made it this far. We trained you well.”

Of all the Council members, only Gabriel remained. An ageless king upon an ageless throne.

His shock of white hair glinted more brightly as ever. Shadows danced in and out of his face.

Jackson carefully continued walking in, making sure to keep the Divine Sword between him and the True Immortal. Gabriel seemed quite untroubled.

“I’m afraid that whatever victory you have had here will be a short-lived one, Jackson,” said Gabriel. “And only what some might call a moral one. The demons will not fall today. I’ve made sure of it.”

“How could you?” Jacks asked. He looked at the ancient True Immortal before him, the Angel who had been symbol of all that was righteous and pure since his childhood.

Gabriel just shook his head. “After all we’ve been through, all our talks, I thought we had an understanding. That you had moved beyond weak, immature sentimentality to a bigger, more important revelation. I thought you understood what is necessary for the Angels to thrive. I overestimated your capacity for understanding such complex, eternal matters. My heart grows heavy thinking of how you betrayed me. Betrayed us. Betrayed the Angels.”

Jackson was incredulous. “You’re the one who has betrayed.”

“Jackson. You didn’t really think we’d let
humans
, the weakest creatures of all, run this planet, did you?” Gabriel said. “All Immortals are of the same family, Jackson. Whether of the light or of the darkness. And now is our moment to stand together and take hold of our common destiny. For too long we perfect Immortals have dealt with humanity’s defects and weaknesses. No longer. Today, we take our birthright. I’m just disappointed you won’t be joining us, Jackson. I really had high hopes for you. I see now that my judgment was wrong.”

Gabriel’s face showed genuine regret. He was thoroughly convinced of the rightness of his actions.

“But my biggest regret is allowing you to grow as strong as you did,” Gabriel went on. “I should never have let you become influential enough to draw the other Immortals to you. The law of the Angels will land harshly upon all those you persuaded to leave.”

“Everyone has joined,” Jacks said.

“Yes, well. The punishment will surely take a long time,” said Gabriel. “But eventually, they will be let back in. And they
will
come back, don’t you worry. Once they see how miserably you’ve failed. How you’ve led them astray trying to deprive them of their destinies. They will come to curse the Godspeed name.

“I’m sure it’s difficult for you to understand how much damage you’ve done in so short a time. But I’d like you to at least try,” Gabriel said. “It will take us very long to fix the wreckage that you’ve caused. We’ll have to rebuild our loyalties, bring everyone back into the fold. It will likely take years, even decades. But fix it we will. Trust me, Jackson. With humanity no longer bothering us, we will have all the time in the world. Angels will become utterly ascendant, the way it always should have been.”

“Do you really think the demons will just stop once they’re done with the humans?” Jacks said. “You think you can trust a Dark Angel? They’ll turn to the Angels next.”

Gabriel smirked. “I’ve known them a long time, Jackson. I know their secrets. All of them. I know how to deal with them. They wouldn’t dare cross me.” He paused. “They . . . fear me.

“The lower orders of the Earth will be fully given over to the Dark Angels. Humans are their natural playthings,” Gabriel said. “And we Angels will take our rightful place as the fully acknowledged preeminent beings in the world. We’ll no longer have to worry about petty mortal annoyances. We’ll be able to fix our thoughts always on the perfect, Angelic nature from which we come.”

Jacks stepped forward, his Divine Sword leading the way. “Call them off. The demons. It’s over. The Angels aren’t following you anymore. You’re alone in this.”

Gabriel laughed at this. “They’ll do as they’re told once this is all over. Just like they always have. But you’re too young to know that,” Gabriel said.

Suddenly Gabriel stood up. He almost seemed larger than life. “Believe me when I say this, Jackson. It gives me no joy to think that I will have had to kill two members of the Godspeed line.”

“
What?
” Jacks said. What did he mean,
two
?
He didn’t fully understand, but blood began rushing into his head and limbs, as if his body knew what was happening before his mind could make sense of it.

“Your father, Jacks,” Gabriel said. “We could not allow him to live.”

“But his killers were brought to trial. . . .” Adrenaline and shock shook Jackson to the very core. His knees wavered and nearly buckled as the weight of revelation was forced upon him.

“I
am
the Angels, Jackson. Nothing happens without my knowledge.” Gabriel’s expression was grave, but then it twisted into an almost sadistic grimace. “And I did that particular job myself.”

Gabriel killed my father.
Jackson had sat for how many hours with Gabriel, a sworn True Immortal, founder of the Council of Twelve. He’d been the embodiment of everything a leader should be, the very Angel who had brought the others out of hiding and into the open. Gabriel had even told him how exemplary a Guardian Jackson’s father had been. And all that time, he’d just been pouring words into Jackson’s ears, completely unfazed by the fact that he’d murdered the father of the Angel sitting next to him. How many times had Gabriel put a comforting, fatherly hand on Jackson’s shoulder? If only Jackson had known it had been the hand of death.

Jackson lifted his head and looked at the killer in front of him. His lip curled in rage.

The True Immortal examined Jacks coldly. “It’s no use, Jackson. I made you. And now I will break you.”

Through clenched teeth, Jacks drew in a deep breath and then let out a terrible cry as he rushed toward Gabriel.

Gabriel simply kept on smiling. Then, suddenly, his wings burst through his golden robes and he flew up from the floor. Jacks met him in midair, and they collided with a tremendous crash that shook the columns.

They flew around the marble columns, causing them to smash back and forth into one another. Broken stone and chunks of marble crumbled to the floor with each of their collisions. Bits of debris slowed, froze, and then sped up again as they fell to the ground—the two Angels were using and blocking each other’s time freezes to get an advantage over the other.

Suddenly Gabriel launched forward and hurled Jacks all the way out into the main hall. He crashed into the far wall above the frieze, which showed the Council leading the Angels to the Awakening. Jackson crumpled and slid thirty feet down to the ground, landing hard.

Shaken by the fall, Jackson looked up and saw a dark shape moving at him fast. It was Gabriel, flying directly toward him. With rapid speed, Jacks pulled his Divine Sword from its sheath. But before he could bring it around, Gabriel powerfully pinned the young Angel’s arm down with his foot and then kicked the sword to the side, leaving Jacks defenseless.

Jacks thought fast and swept his legs under Gabriel, who flew up to avoid the attack. But it was enough time for Jackson to clamber to his feet. With a powerful thrust of his wings he met again with the True Immortal in midair, colliding into him, hard. Spinning and spinning, the Angels whirled up near the top of the chamber. Their wings became tangled as their hands reached for the other’s throats and arms and wrists. And then, like a stone dropped from a great height, they fell, still grappling with each other, smashing down into the storied marble floor so hard that a large crack split down the length of the atrium.

Jacks was stunned by the impact, and he’d barely had a chance to get to his feet before Gabriel was on him again. The True Immortal swung his fist straight into Jackson’s stomach, then kneed him in the face as he doubled over.

Groaning and spitting out blood, Jacks attempted to pull himself up.

“I told you, it’s useless,” Gabriel said. “What chance does a Godspeed stand against a True Immortal? None, I’m afraid.”

Gabriel reached into his robe and pulled out a gilded dagger, which glistened with the symbol of the Council. He raised the blade above Jackson’s head.

E
very step was agony for Maddy as she wheezed her way through the passageways beyond the sanctuary. Maybe she’d just been in shock before and hadn’t noticed it, but now it felt as if at least one of her ribs had been broken. Every breath, every step forward, hurt. That ibuprofen most definitely wasn’t cutting it.

She was beaten up and bandaged, with a severely mauled wing. But it didn’t matter. She knew in her heart that time was running out. For Jackson, and for all of them.

Focusing on Jackson’s frequency, she could glean just one image. Gabriel’s face. What did it mean? Her only choice was to follow her instincts.

Even if the allied Angels and humans could somehow vanquish the demons, there was no way Jackson would survive a battle against a True Immortal, one of the Twelve. And certainly not against Gabriel, the engineer of the NAS and the powerful leader of the Angels since their first day moving out of the shadows. He was the symbol of Protection for Pay, and, moreover, of the entire Angel world.

Going after Gabriel was suicide.

Maddy could only hope that her vision was trying to tell her something else, that Gabriel was just a red herring.

As these grim thoughts passed through Maddy’s head, she came upon a heavy wooden door connecting two passages. It was partially open. A heavy, humid heat lay in the air, telling her only one thing: demon. Carefully, she stepped forward, her senses sharpening as she advanced. But then, across the threshold, she saw an enormous black mass, practically as big as a small mountain. It wasn’t moving, reassuring Maddy it was okay to continue on.

She looked in wonder at the goliath demon corpse that lay in a heap in the hallway. Then, in the corner of her eye, she noticed another figure, slumped off to the side.

And it was breathing.

She rushed over to find Detective Sylvester, injured and leaning against the wall. He was unconscious. She tried to wake him, but his only response was a mumbled groan of pain. His arm was curled strangely, unnaturally, at his side. But his breathing seemed normal, and as far as Maddy could tell, it looked like he would be all right.

“Detective, detective,” she whispered, trying again to rouse him.

Moaning, Sylvester slowly drew to consciousness. His eyes opened wide in surprise as he recognized Maddy.

“Detective! Thank God you’re all right. What happened?” Maddy asked, practically breathless.

“Jacks . . . ,” Sylvester muttered. His eyes started fluttering closed again.

“What?” Maddy said. She had no way of determining what had happened here. All she knew was that the demon had failed, and Sylvester was alive. She also knew that it couldn’t have been the detective’s pistol that had cut off the demon’s head. It must have been Jackson. But she had no idea where he was, or what state he was in. He could be injured . . . or worse.

“Stay here, Detective Sylvester,” she said. “I’ll come back for you.”
If I can
,
she thought, but she didn’t say that aloud.

Just down the dark passageway she could see the faint glimmer of torchlight. There was but one way for her to go. And that was forward.

Just when she had thought she had already scraped out every last milligram of willpower, Maddy discovered some newfound strength. She took another look at Sylvester to make sure he was still breathing on his own, then held her breath so she wouldn’t smell the horrible demon as she scaled over the massive corpse.

She stopped short for a moment. A voice echoed down the passage. Through the distortion Maddy could tell it was Jackson’s voice, crying out in agony.

Oh no.

What if she was too late? The premonition of Jackson’s lifeless face flashed across her mind. Gritting her teeth, she forced down the thought and ran as fast as she could, tears of pain welling up uncontrollably as she entered the main hall. She passed the dark, silent marble sentinels that watched over the final passage to the main hall and Council chambers.

Maddy crossed the threshold into the atrium. There she saw two things. First, Gabriel, standing with a dagger poised for murder. His eyes were sharp and terrifying, and imbued with a demonic power. The second thing she saw was Jackson, lying helplessly beneath him. His face was battered, his battle armor torn.

She had less than a moment to react.

“Jacks!”

Maddy reached down and hurled her Divine Sword toward Jackson with all her strength, just as she froze time for everything except herself, Jackson, and the blade. The veins on Gabriel’s forehead bulged as he slowed under Maddy’s time freeze, attempting to counter it by slowing the time around the sword. The weapon skittered in slow motion across the marble floor as both Maddy and Gabriel strained under the pressure of battling each other’s time freezes. At last the blade took one final clatter and slid to Jackson’s feet. Gasping, Maddy let go of her time freeze just as Gabriel lost control of the Divine Sword.

In one fluid movement, Jacks leaned down and picked up the sword to defend himself from Gabriel’s next blow. A flash of light exploded across the room as he picked it up and blocked Gabriel’s strike.

Gabriel screamed and recoiled from the sword as if it were a hot flame, his eyes flashing red for a moment. Was it possible that he was not only controlling the demons, but that he had actually
become
a Dark One himself? Taking a few steps back, he recovered, covering his face with one cloaked arm and then pumping his wings to drop back.

Jacks took a tentative step forward. Then another. He thrust the sword at Gabriel, who rose a few feet off the ground, but the True Immortal dodged each stab. Gabriel was ancient but nimble. Reaching back and flying forward, Jacks swung the sword in a large arc with all his strength. Launching himself up with his wings, Gabriel caught Jackson’s arm and bent it backward, pushing the sword away. They both grunted under the pressure as they pressed against each other until they dropped to the ground. A slight smile emerged on Gabriel’s face as he bent Jackson’s arm farther back. In just a few moments, Gabriel would be on top of him.

Jacks needed to make a move.

Suddenly Jacks let his sword fall to the ground and grabbed hold of Gabriel’s wings. Before he knew it, he was leveraging his weight against the True Immortal’s chest and using all his force to pull and tear at Gabriel’s wings. Jackson’s own cybernetic wings pressed against the ground as he fought, giving him even more strength. Spittle and foam flitted out from Gabriel’s clenched teeth as he tried to free himself and his wings from Jacks’s vise-like grip.

Then,
one
,
two
—the sounds were distinct, like enormous branches breaking and echoing in the halls. Jackson had broken Gabriel’s wings, the bones snapping under the immense pressure. Jacks roared as he broke them, while Gabriel screamed.

Overwhelming pulses of blinding light and waves of force suddenly burst forth from the True Immortal, knocking first Jackson, then Maddy down on their feet, then rumbling out all across the compound with the force of an earthquake. Everything turned bright white in front of Maddy, and she stumbled forward, reaching blindly. Slowly, as the rumbling lessened, she began to regain her sight. Still blinded, Jacks had managed to pick up her Divine Sword and was now stumbling backward, away from Gabriel, who lay on his back. Crumpled underneath him on the ornate marble floor were his broken wings. Jacks sliced at the air in front of him, unsure of what happened. Gabriel was quiet and still, his chest moving up and down only slightly.

“Jacks!” Maddy cried. “It’s clear!”

She rushed to him and put her hand on his arm, letting him know he no longer had to defend himself with the sword.

“It’s over.”

Gasping, Jacks fell to the ground, taking Maddy with him. His sight was slowly restored, and he eyed Gabriel’s shape just ten feet away. Gabriel’s breaths came out in rasps, his chest rising and falling.

Maddy and Jacks edged up to him carefully.

Gabriel’s eyes were open, but it was clear he could not move his head. His eyes flitted around helplessly, as if asking Jacks and Maddy for help. Jacks still held the Divine Sword, keeping it ready to attack, just in case this was some kind of trick. But soon he realized that it wasn’t. Maddy reached for Jacks’s arm.

The True Immortal’s frame began to shake slightly.

“What’s happening?” Maddy asked, her eyes opening wide.

“I think he’s . . . aging.”

The eternally youthful Gabriel slowly began to age before their very eyes. The skin on his face grayed and faded into wrinkles, and his hair lost its luster until it started to fall away and dissolve into nothingness. Liver spots bloomed on his face and arms, the wrinkles spreading everywhere now. His broken wings became yellowed and bony, until the sharp feathers evaporated into a fine dust. He was growing older with every second. His eyes rolled around in their sockets in agony; his mouth fell open, but no sound came out.

Maddy shrieked and jumped back as his skin began to sink in against his bones, every ounce of fat and muscle shrinking and dissolving until all of it was gone. The skin itself began to melt away, leaving only a mess of dissolved blood vessels and bones, which then, too, dried into dust. The eyes were the last to go. Like overripe fruit, they rotted and turned in upon themselves before dissolving into nothingness like the rest of him.

Turning away, Maddy felt like she was going to be sick. But Jackson didn’t take his eyes off the grisly spectacle. The face of death for the one who had brought the Angels to corruption and the brink of destruction. Who had killed his father.

Now nothing was left of Gabriel but a pile of dust underneath a ceremonial Angelic cloth. A breath of chilling air blew in from the sanctuary halls, and the dusty remains blew into the air, disappearing, until there was no more trace of Gabriel, leader of the Council of Twelve, True Immortal, founder of the NAS and Protection for Pay, engineer of the Great Awakening—and wholly corrupted collaborator with the Dark Angels.

“But . . . I thought he was a True Immortal,” Maddy said.

Before Jacks could take a stab at the answer, a voice called out from behind them.

“He must have broken that bond when he went into league with the demons.”

It was Sylvester.

“Detective!” Jacks said. “You woke up! Are you okay?”

“I’ll live.” The detective held his broken arm with his good hand. “That was probably the only real sleep I’ve gotten in the past couple of weeks.” He looked at Jacks and Maddy with concern. Jackson’s face had been more than bloodied in the battle, and Maddy’s amateur bandage job was coming apart at the seams.

“Don’t worry. This looks worse than it is,” Jacks said.

The detective gazed down with a mixture of wonderment and pity at the robe that had, until just moments ago, graced Gabriel’s powerful frame. They were now little better than rags.

• • •

The three stumbled out of what was left of the Council chambers. Crumbled marble, broken glass, splintered columns, and collapsed beams littered the sanctuary halls, evidence of the quake. The sanctuary was ruined, and from this point forward would be known as the lost underground city of the Angels.

Emergency power flickered in the corridors, lighting all the dust swirling in the air. Along a corridor, the wall of televisions was nothing but flickering static behind them.

After encountering a number of blocked passages, Jacks, Maddy, and the detective at last made it to the main elevator to the surface. The doors appeared to be undamaged, but Jacks still looked dubiously at the call button. He pressed it, but the elevator didn’t respond.

“We’re going to have to climb up.”

They found the emergency stairwell and started making their exhausted climb up to the surface. What they would encounter up there, they had no idea.

After they had been climbing for a few minutes, they found that the quake caused by Gabriel’s death had caused a portion of the stairwell to collapse. Their path wasn’t fully blocked, thankfully, and they began pulling some of the rubble down in big chunks. And then they kept climbing.

At last they reached the exit. Maddy held her breath as Jackson opened the door to reveal the vast ruins of the once-grand glass cube structure. A warm breeze ran up the hill as the three of them walked through the wreckage to the ridge that looked over the city, not one of them wasting the energy to look back. Maddy greedily gulped at the fresh air, thankful to be free of the stifling stairwell.

Dawn peeked out from the horizon, finally breaking through the cover of bloodred and black clouds. Welcome bands of orange and purple streamed across the sky as the smog began to dissipate.

Jackson tentatively eyed the sky above, still prepared to do battle with any remaining Dark Angels. But there were none.

“Look!” Maddy cried, pointing toward the ocean.

Gabriel’s demise had caused the demons to lose their impetus. The Dark Angels were fleeing, their Dark Master now dead. Jacks, Maddy, and Sylvester watched as bands of furious Battle Angels drove the demons back into the ocean, this time for good. Flashes of light burnished on the horizon, each one marking the demise of a Dark One.

Tears of joy streamed down Maddy’s face. She leaned on Jackson as they looked down from the hill upon the city, gleaming with the day’s first light.

A new dawn had broken over Angel City. The warm golden light revealed a city rife with smoke, destroyed buildings, a populace in hiding, and so many dead soldiers, citizens, and Angels. But this was not a broken city. Angel City had survived. As Jackson, Maddy, and Sylvester looked out on the destruction, it was clear that it would be different from now on—far different than anyone could have ever imagined.

But the Immortal City had proved itself immortal. It was a new day.