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“I’d prefer a box of donuts, if anyone’s taking notes,” Khloë called out.
Raini sighed and rolled her eyes. The girl was such an eavesdropper.
“Do you need help moving your things to the Underground?” asked Maddox.
Raini shook her head. “But thank you for asking.”
He gave another nod. “I have an angel to speak with. I’ll check in with you later.” With that, he teleported away.
People began to trickle back into the room.
Evangeline blew out a breath. “He’s … intense.”
Raini hummed in agreement.
“Whatever Demi or anyone else might think, you do matter to him,” her mother claimed. “I don’t think he really knows how to handle it yet. He’ll learn.”
“He’d better,” added Harper. “Well, Raini, you up for moving to the penthouse tonight?”
“Now’s as good a time as any, I guess,” said Raini.
Harper nodded. “Then let’s go pack your stuff.”
Maddox’s inner demon smiled with a twisted sense of satisfaction as the sleeping halo-bearer shivered within the arctic energy forcefield. Maddox had erected it around the angel, sure it would contain him. No one had ever broken out of it before—not demon, not fey, not vampire. He doubted an angel would be an exception.
Maddox looked at Hector and said, “Wake him.”
Moments later, the angel’s eyelids fluttered, and he squirmed restlessly. The fog of sleep finally seemed to clear, because he opened his eyes. And, of course, he tried wavering away, but his form did no more than wink like a faulty lightbulb. Then he sprung to life and battered the forcefield with holy fire.
Maddox sighed. “I wouldn’t bother wasting energy trying to escape. There’s no way to take it down or waver out of it.”
But the angel continued to fight, refusing to admit defeat. He would eventually, though. And then he could clear up a few things for Maddox.
In ordinary circumstances, Maddox would pluck the information he needed from his captive’s mind—few mental shields could keep him out. But it was agonizingly painful for a demon to delve into the psyche of an angel, and vice versa. Maddox might have archangelic blood, but he was still a demon. It would also lead to psychic burnout, and Maddox couldn’t afford to be weak—not as a Prime responsible for his lair, and not as a person who was currently marked for death.
There were ways of extracting information from people that didn’t include invading minds, though. Ways which his demon found much more enjoyable, since they involved dishing out pain.
Finally, the halo-bearer gave up. He stood still, breathing hard, each exhale fogging the chilly air within the forcefield. “You killed them.”
Rolling up one sleeve of his shirt, Maddox said, “Oh, you mean your friends. Yes, I did. They would have killed me and mine. And that’s because we’re abominations, right?”
“Nothing dark should possess holy blood.”
“Why not?” Maddox began to roll up the other sleeve. “Why should only celestial beings be entitled to anything holy?”
The angel’s chin lifted, but the defiant gesture was ruined by the shiver that ran down the length of his body. “None outside of the upper realm are worthy.”
Maddox’s demon rolled its eyes. “You people really do think you’re superior to everyone and everything else, don’t you? Why? Because you can wield holy fire? It’s not much different from hellfire. Just stems from a different source of power.”
Another shiver racked the angel from head to toe, and he pulled his limbs closer to his body. “Holy blood is only for the pure.”
“Is it? What’s pure about executing people who’ve done you no harm? What’s pure about stationing an angel on Earth and forcing them to earn their way back home? The latter can take eons, from what I’ve heard. You lot are no better or worse than us. You’re just different. And more narcissistic.”
“Think what you like. The fact is, you should not exist.”
“Says who?”
“Angels. Demons. Everyone.”
“I don’t say it.” Maddox looked at Hector. “Do you?”
The sentinel shook his head. “Can’t say I do.”
Maddox slid his gaze back to the angel. “It can’t be that great up above if some choose to fall.”
“Only the weak fall,” the angel sneered.
“Are the infamous Seven archangels weak? I’ve heard not. I also heard that one of them fell recently.”
The halo-bearer tried not to react, but he betrayed his surprise by the flicker of his eyelids.
“You hadn’t expected that we’d hear of such things, I see. I’ll bet the archangel’s fall caused a stir. A major one, in fact. There must be people clamoring to take his place. But to become the new seventh archangel, they would have to prove themselves, wouldn’t they? They might even choose to do something big to make them stand out from the others who seek the position. Even something as big as eradicate the descendants.”
Shivering again, the halo-bearer swallowed.
“Archangels generally don’t care what occurs on Earth. But everyone upstairs cares that a breed of demon possesses holy blood. That just rankles all of you, doesn’t it?”
