Free Immortal City by Scott Speer

she was wearing a backless dress with her Immortal Marks showing, looking almost childlike in the flashing lights. Angels gasped. Fans screamed. Jacks ground his teeth. He couldn’t believe his mother had let Chloe wear that. One of Darcy’s assistants led Chloe quickly over to the press line.
    “Chloe Godspeed, how are you?” It was ANN again. “Are you here to support your big brother tonight?”
    “Yes, of course,” Chloe chirped.
    “And congratulations are due to you as well on the success of your reality show,
Sixteen and Immortal
. The number-one-rated reality show on cable and already picked up for a second season, isn’t that right?”
    “Yeah!” Chloe beamed. “You can see it on Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 4 p.m. on A!”
    Near the end of the carpet, Darcy pulled on Jacks’s arm; he had been watching his sister. “Talk to A! Then we’re done, okay?” she said as she led him over to Tara Reeves and her camera crew. They were broadcasting live from the event.
    “And here he is, the Angel himself, Jackson Godspeed,” Tara Reeves squealed. She looked beside herself with anticipation. “Well, it’s no secret. You’re a hit with the ladies. I’m just going to come right out and say it. You’re
gorgeous
!” She blushed deep crimson and corralled a strand of hair behind her ear.
    Jacks felt exquisitely uncomfortable. He shrugged self-deprecatingly. “Oh, come on—”
    “—no really, how does it feel to know every lady Angel and woman on the carpet is worshipping you?”
    “If you say so, Tara,” Jacks said.
    “So, the question on everybody’s mind, and the speculation of girls and their moms across the nation, is, are you single? The big buzz this week is that you and a certain Angel are back together.”
    “Well, I’m not in a relationship, if that’s what you mean.”
    Tara took a quick breath. “Can you characterize your
relationship
with Vivian Holycross, then?”
    “She’s a great Angel. I think she’ll make a wonderful Guardian.”
    “But will she be wearing your Divine Ring one day?”
    Jacks glanced at Darcy. She was glaring at him, stern and expectant. Tara’s eyes narrowed.
    “Well, I have to get it first. Then we’ll see,” he said finally.
    “So it’s still a mystery!” Tara shrieked into the camera. “Jackson and Vivian, are they secretly back together?!”
    Jacks looked back at Darcy again. Her expression had transformed into relieved approval. She gave Jacks a thumbs-up. He felt that pang again, just for a moment. As though he wasn’t even here.
    Darcy led Jacks toward the throng of Angels sipping drinks, talking, and laughing in the lobby. He recognized a few of the other Angels who were going to be commissioned this week, like Milo Trinity and the Churchson twins. They’d been a class ahead of him until this year, so he didn’t know them all that well, but it seemed they had shown up at his party despite the fact that the attention around Jacks had basically taken over their own Commissionings. Jackson had just pulled out his phone to text Mitch when he saw Vivian eagerly waving to him across the room.
    “Good job,” Darcy said while pounding the keys on her phone. “I’ll leave you here. Go have fun, okay?”
    “I will,” he lied.
    Jacks sighed as he watched Vivian walk toward him.
    •   •   •
     
    They entered the lobby together and Vivian took hold of Jacks’s arm. Despite his attempts to disengage, she made herself inseparable from him, and they worked the party together. They chatted with the Archangels. They posed for pictures. It looked like they had never broken up. Finally they walked out to the patio to get some air.
    “I just wanted to tell you I’m glad we took this break,” Vivian said as she led him to a quiet corner.
    “Great, Viv,” Jacks said. “Me too.” Maybe he had worried unnecessarily. Maybe she was starting to move on after all. Had she started to understand how he felt about the whole thing?
    “You’re