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“The demon should have known it would take more than that to mortalize a Godspeed.”
Jacks turned his head stiffly.
It was Mark.
Jacks tried to sit up again, the cords of the monitors tangling around him.
“Get out,” Jacks croaked. “I know what you did. All of it. Get out.”
His stepfather didn’t move, although something unreadable flickered in his eyes.
“I will. Just as soon as I tell you something.”
He took a step into the room.
“The NAS and the Council have dropped their case against you. I made a personal plea that, based on special circumstances, you had done nothing wrong.”
“Nothing wrong?” Jacks said incredulously, rage edging his weakened voice. “She’s dead.”
Kris put a hand on Jacks to calm him.
“Maddy is dead because of me,” Jacks said again, his voice cracked with misery.
Mark just smiled. For an instant Jacks hated him.
“Only an Angel can kill another Angel, Jackson.”
Tears welled in Kris’s eyes as she looked at her son. Mark stepped forward and pulled the curtains aside.
Maddy lay in the next bed. Her breaths were long and deliberate, her vitals steady. Kevin sat asleep in the chair next to her. A magazine was open on his lap, facedown. The sound of the curtain woke him. His eyes were red and bleary from keeping watch over his niece, but he smiled when he saw Jacks awake.
“It’s good to see you up,” Kevin said. He gently rubbed Maddy’s arm.
Maddy’s eyes fluttered open. She lay there blinking at her uncle for a moment, then turned her head and saw Jacks.
“Hey,” she breathed.
Jacks attempted to get up, cables and tubes tangling up as he went. His foot touched the ground and he almost crumpled. He was much weaker than he had thought. Kris helped him back into bed.
“I thought I had lost you,” Jacks said, his voice saturated with relief.
Maddy just looked at him, tired but radiant, her eyes never leaving Jacks’s. He felt like he could live in those eyes forever.
“I’ve taken care of all Maddy’s recovery costs,” Mark said. “The doctors assure me she’s going to be just fine. Apparently there’s more Angel in her than we first thought . . . More than anyone thought. Because she’s half human, though, her Angel traits have only begun to develop in the past few years. So that’s what I argued to the other Archangels. Technically it wasn’t an illegal save, Angel saving Angel. There’s a lot to talk about, but it can all wait for later.”
Jacks took his gaze off Maddy long enough to see Kevin eye Mark coolly.
There was a light knock at the door. It opened, and Mitch stuck his head in.
“Are we interrupting?”
Jacks smiled.
“Come in, Mitch.”
“You’re awake, man!” Mitch beamed. He stepped into the room. Just behind him followed Gwen. They both carried cups of coffee from the hospital cafeteria.
“This is Maddy’s friend Gwen,” Mitch said.
