Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
It was hard to say who looked more surprised — Aaron, or Caleb and his companions.
“What — what are you doing here?” Aaron stammered.
“We might ask you the same thing,” Caleb replied. “I have a feeling you’re not hanging out in front of that door just so you can enjoy the scenery.”
The other man blinked at him, his expression suddenly vague.
“He’s under a spell of control,” Ty murmured. “The sigil is working on him so he does exactly what August Sellers wants.”
Right…there was that black mark on the back of Aaron’s left forearm. Anyone looking at it would probably think it was just a tattoo, but Caleb and Ty and Pru all knew it was something much more than that.
“I need to watch the door,” Aaron said, still in that robotic tone, and Prudence frowned.
“Is the demon who’s controlling him watching through his eyes?”
Good question. To Caleb’s relief, though, Ty shook his head.
“I don’t think so. Aaron’s just doing what he was told. To turn him into an actual spy would take a much stronger enchantment than the one I’m sensing here.”
That was something, Caleb supposed. It would have really sucked to have made it down here without being detected, only to have Aaron start beaming their presence back to his lord and master.
“So…what’re we supposed to do?” Pru asked.
Ty crossed his arms, while Aaron continued to stand there, his expression now almost stupidly blank. Had that moment of shock when the trio appeared in front of him been his true personality emerging for just a second before August Sellers’ spell descended again?
Maybe. Caleb didn’t have a lot of experience with this sort of magic, so it was hard for him to say what was or wasn’t possible.
“I’m sure the binding spell attached to the sigil ensures that Aaron will fight to the death to protect this door if necessary,” Ty said. “That means we can’t just try to push him out of the way, because he’ll go on the attack.”
“I can take him,” Caleb responded — to his mind, the comment wasn’t bravado, since he had a couple of inches and probably twenty-five pounds on the guy — but the half angel shot him an annoyed look.
“You may think that,” Ty said, “but you don’t understand what a spell like this does to a person. He will literally bite your ear off…or worse…if that’s what it takes to keep you from going through that door.”
That didn’t sound great, but Caleb refused to be concerned. “Not if I blast him with a fireball first.”
“Can we stop all the macho posturing for a sec and figure this out like logical people?” Pru’s voice practically dripped acid.
“Nobody’s fireballing anybody. For one thing, even though Ty’s messing with the cameras to keep them from seeing us, throwing fire around is sure to set off a smoke alarm somewhere. ”
Which Caleb thought the half angel could also silence, although he realized doing so would be dangerous, especially if Delia really was hidden behind the door Aaron had been guarding. None of them wanted a fire to get out of control down here.
“Do you have any bright ideas?” he demanded.
Pru looked over at Ty. “This isn’t really my field of expertise. There has to be some way around the spell, though, right?”
He rubbed his chin. “Hard to say. August Sellers seems like a fairly high-level demon, and since Aaron is a vessel, that makes any enchantments cast on him even more difficult to dispel. But….”
The words trailed off as the half angel appeared to ponder their options. Then his gaze seemed to sharpen, and he nodded as if to himself.
“It could work,” he said, and Pru set her hands on her hips.
“What could work?”
Ty looked over at Caleb. “We could use your blood to circumvent the effects of the obedience spell that currently controls Aaron Sanchez.”
Immediately, Caleb raised his hands. “Whoa — blood magic? I don’t think so.”
Not that he even knew precisely what was involved in that sort of enchantment. But if it included getting blood out of him by some means or another, he was definitely not on board.
“Don’t be a baby,” Pru told him, ignoring the way he bristled at her comment, then returned her attention to Ty. “So…what’s involved?”
“It’s not that difficult,” the half angel replied, and now his lips wore something that looked suspiciously like a half smile.
The bastard was enjoying this, wasn’t he?
“If it’s so easy, we can use your blood,” Caleb said.
The slight smile didn’t budge. “That won’t work, I’m afraid.
My blood will only set off an alarm and let August Sellers know that something is seriously wrong with his servant.
Yours, on the other hand, is just demonic enough to keep Sellers from realizing what we’re up to…
but also human enough to disrupt the spell. ”
Great. It wasn’t that Caleb had a problem with the sight of blood, but he didn’t much like spilling his for a trick that might or might not work.
“How much blood?” he asked, knowing how suspicious he sounded.
“Not much,” Ty assured him. “Only a few drops.”
All right, that was a little better, especially since he’d been imagining the half angel opening a gash in his arm and letting the blood pour all over that damn sigil August Sellers had left stamped on Aaron’s skin.
Through all of this, the man had been standing there with a distracted expression on his face, almost as if he was listening to a song only he could hear. The heated conversation of the three interlopers in front of him didn’t appear to have fazed the guy at all.
In a way, it was kind of fascinating…but also creepy as hell.
“Then let’s get it over with,” he said. “This had better work, though.”
“It should,” Ty replied.
Caleb couldn’t help noticing that he hadn’t said “it will.”
Nice way to hedge your bets, Ty.
However, this was the only plan they had at the moment, and every minute they stood here arguing was another minute that Delia remained trapped only a few feet away.
Feeling resigned, Caleb asked, “What do I need to do?”
“Nothing,” Ty said. “I’ll make a small cut on your palm, and you’ll hold it over the sigil on Aaron’s arm. Once the blood hits it, that should be enough to break the spell.”
Yet another “should.” Rather than call the half angel on his equivocation, though, Caleb only extended his hand. “Do your worst.”
Ty shook his head, although he also reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with a small Swiss Army knife attached. He extended the blade and made a precise cut, barely half an inch long, on the rounded flesh just below Caleb’s thumb.
Immediately, blood began to well up. As both Pru and Ty looked on, he took a step toward Aaron, who now appeared vaguely alarmed, as though he wasn’t sure whether he should interpret such a move as a threatening gesture or whether he should just let it go.
Before the other man could react further, Caleb extended his palm over the sigil on Aaron’s arm. Blood dripped down on the strangely sinuous symbol, blurring it so its shape was no longer recognizable.
At once, Aaron stared at him, his expression one of utter confusion. “Where…what…?”
“You’re underneath the Aquarius hotel,” Caleb said crisply. “You don’t remember coming here?”
“No….” Aaron shook his head, as though doing so might clear some of the fog that had clearly descended. “I don’t remember anything after last night.” He paused there, brow furrowing. “If it was even last night. What time is it?”
“It’s a little after noon on Wednesday,” Pru supplied, and Aaron stared at her in shock.
“It’s not Tuesday anymore?”
“Nope,” Caleb said cheerfully. As far as he could tell, the blood had worked. Of course, his palm had continued to ooze through all this, which was a little annoying.
But Prudence, who’d had her satchel slung over her shoulder this whole time, only reached inside the bag, scrabbled around for a second or two, and then pulled out a miniature first aid kit.
“I told you that you didn’t need to be such a big baby,” she said as she pulled out a small antiseptic pad and a couple of alcohol wipes.
“And you could have told me you were carrying around a first aid kit in there,” Caleb returned, and she shrugged.
“So…what are we all doing here?” Aaron asked.
Caleb held back a wince as Pru dabbed at the cut on his hand with one of the alcohol wipes, but since she immediately slapped the pad on top and made sure it was properly secured, he figured he’d let it go.
“We were hoping you could tell us that,” Ty said. “You don’t remember anything at all about what happened last night? How did you get off the boat when it caught fire?”
Aaron sent the half angel a blank stare. “What boat caught fire?”
Demon control was a hell of a drug. “August Sellers had you on his private river cruise last night,” Caleb said, then pointed at the blood-smeared sigil on Aaron’s arm. “That’s where you got that. He’s using it to control you.”
Aaron blinked and stared down at his forearm as if he’d never seen it before. “I don’t remember. But….”
The words drifted away into the air, and Caleb sent a sideways glance at Ty, who hitched his shoulders but didn’t appear ready to offer any explanations.
Pru, on the other hand, didn’t seem too worried about stepping in. “But…what?” she said. “Do you remember maybe a little bit?”
Brow furrowing, Aaron said, “It’s really hazy….”
“We don’t mind a little haze,” Caleb told him. “Even the smallest piece of information could be helpful.”
A second or two passed while Aaron stood there, forehead still furrowed in thought. “I remember a room. There were other people in it.”
“Demons?” Caleb asked, recalling the group he’d seen gathered around while August Sellers painted that sigil on Aaron’s arm.
“No…other people like me.”
“Other vessels?” Ty demanded. He, too, was frowning, so it seemed as if this piece of news wasn’t a welcome one.
But Aaron only sent him a blank look. “What’s a vessel?”
Prudence released an audible sigh of exasperation. Ty, however, only kept his gaze fixed on the other man. “Someone susceptible to demon magic, like you.”