The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)(48)

But I did, and more than that, I could feel an even more powerful weapon inside this room. So, I stared back and tried not to let him see how rattled he made me feel.

"Why does he have eyes all over him?" I asked Adrian in an admirably calm voice.

"Blinky used to be a seraph," Adrian said, giving me a slanting look. "Seraphim were one of the highest levels of angels, radiating light like firestorms, but Blinky lost all that, plus his feathers, when he rebelled during the Fall."

Demons were so evil; I often forgot that many of them used to be angels. I hadn't heard of a serpah before and had never guessed that an angel-fallen or otherwise-could look this freaky. Being covered with feathers and radiating light would have helped, but still. With those strange, wide flaps sprouting from his upper arms, back and legs, Blinky looked like a cross between a man and a manta ray. Add in the dozens of eyes covering him, and once again, my preconceived notions about angels had been proven wrong. One day, I had to pick up a Bible and research this stuff.

"She is the Davidian?" the seraph-turned-demon replied, with a disdainful snort. "You must be joking."

The insult chased away the last of my unease. "Blinky, is it?" I said, my tone cool. "I totally get why they named you that. You're an ophthalmologist's dream."

He smiled, and that simple stretch of his lips managed to ooze malevolence. 

Jasmine walked in, took one look at the demon, and then walked out, visibly shaken. Adrian stopped me when I started to go after her.

"Costa'll make sure she's okay," he said. With a single glance at the demon, Costa left, looking relieved to do so.

"Don't touch the circles around him," Adrian warned me. "They'll hurt you because they mark the limits of the cursed earth."

"Cursed earth?" I repeated, and leaned down, but didn't touch the three separate lines that formed circles around the demon. The one closest to me appeared to be made of pale, loose sand, the second ring looked like it was ashes laminated into the stone floor, and the third was formed from a dark stain that resembled dried blood.

Adrian knelt next to me, his finger resting near the pale sand circle. "Yep. We poured and then glazed over these lines around Blinky after we let the hallowed ground knock him out. I told you that hallowed items have their counterparts. This first ring is made up of the ground bones of Moloch, a half demon who ordered child sacrifices for his worship. The next ring contains ashes from the Tower of Babel, and the third contains spilled blood from the first battle between Archons and demons. Put items like these together, and they turn whatever ground they rest on into condemned earth, making the space where Blinky stands as safe as home base."

I was openmouthed at the history behind these innocuous-looking circles. "Where did you even get those things?"

He arched an amused brow. "Former demon prince, remember?"

Right, I kept forgetting that. So, that's how Blinky could survive beneath a chapel. The cursed earth formed an invisible shield under him and around him. It also explained why there were no locks on the door to this crypt. If the demon took one step outside of his tiny, protected space, it would be his last.

And I now also knew that cursed objects would hurt me in the same way that hallowed ones hurt demons, but that didn't tell me everything.

"You never told me how you ended up trapping a demon in the first place," I reminded Adrian.

He shrugged. "I ran into Blinky a couple years ago while he was trolling for students to supply a nearby realm. I forced him onto hallowed ground, which almost killed him, and then I made this section for him in the crypt so I could interrogate him about the slingshot. I told you, at first, I was looking for it because I wanted to kill Demetrius. It wasn't until later that I discovered I couldn't use it even if I did find it."

No, Zach had hidden that from Adrian, much as the Archon had hidden a lot of important things from me. I continued to look around the room, seeing more strange circles drawn into the walls. They even went over the door, which was still open after Jasmine and Costa's hasty exit.

"What are those?"

"Muters," Adrian replied. "They cancel out the vibes left by supernatural objects. That way, other demons can't follow their trails back to the source and find Blinky."

"That's why I didn't feel the staff before." I let out a shaky laugh. "Those ‘muters' must've dulled its vibe, too."

And when Adrian had opened the door, it broke the muting circle, allowing the staff's residual power to light up my hallowed sensors enough to knock me off my feet. Now for the really hard part.