Chapter 14 #2
“Oh.” Aaron hesitated, and his shoulders lifted ever so slightly. “Then I guess they were like me. Some of them had a mark like this on their arms.”
And he tilted his head down toward the sigil imprinted on his flesh.
“That’s not good, right?” Caleb said, looking over at Ty.
“Not really.” The half angel had kept his gaze fixed on Aaron the whole time. Now he asked, “Do you know how many of them there were?”
“Um…four or five?”
He didn’t sound very certain, but Caleb had a feeling that if they pressed him on that particular point, he wouldn’t be able to provide much more information than he already had.
Ty also seemed to realize further questioning wouldn’t be very helpful, because he also let out a breath and said, “So it seems we’ll have some vessels to worry about, on top of however many demons or demon-controlled humans August Sellers has in his cabal.”
Pru didn’t even blink. “Are they going to be a problem?”
“Maybe.” The half angel rubbed a hand against his chin, expression now thoughtful. “It depends on how strong a hold Sellers has on them. We were able to break the spell on Aaron, so it’s possible we might be able to do the same for the rest of the people he has in his thrall.”
“What, by throwing my blood bombs at them?” Caleb definitely didn’t like the sound of that. Yes, getting the few drops they’d needed to disrupt the sigil on Aaron’s arm hadn’t been too big a problem, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to do the same thing over and over again.
Especially since he was pretty sure that Sellers would figure out what they were up to and do whatever he could to stop them before they were able to unenchant more than one or two of the other vessels.
“If necessary,” Ty replied. Before Caleb could say anything in response, though, he went on, “Although I’m not sure that’s going to help much.
Sooner or later, Sellers will realize that Aaron is no longer under his control, and I’m sure he’ll be able to guess why — and alter the existing spells so they can no longer be broken by part-demon blood. ”
“Then that means we need to work fast,” Pru said, then returned her attention to Aaron. “Do you know why you were guarding this door?”
He blinked. “Um, no. I just got the idea that I should be here for a while.”
A truly insidious spell, Caleb realized, since it seemed designed to make its target believe that all their actions were of their own choice, rather than suggestions implanted there by a demon with his own motivations.
“But it’s okay if we look inside that door, right?” Pru persisted, and the frown returned to Aaron’s brow.
“I don’t know…this is Aquarius Hotel property, isn’t it?”
She set her hands on her hips, dark eyes intent on the man’s face.
Caleb decided it would be better not to interject, since it seemed as if she knew what she was doing.
For all he knew, she was using the skills she’d burnished while getting confessions out of men who’d cheated on their wives or people who were out perfecting their golf game when they were really supposed to be on bed rest, thanks to a workman’s comp injury.
Or maybe not. He still didn’t know exactly how hands-on Prudence was when working on one of her cases, although she’d already amply proved that she could handle herself in a crisis.
No wonder she and Delia were best friends.
“Do you work for the hotel?” Pru asked, her tone pointed, and the furrows in Aaron’s brow deepened.
“Um…no.”
“Then what does it matter to you whether we look inside that room or not?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, expression now mildly panicked.
Although Caleb still wasn’t sure exactly how these things worked, it sure seemed to him that the spell had some lingering hooks in the guy.
Maybe not enough to completely erase his free will, but sufficient to make him second-guess anything that went against the original instructions he’d been given.
“Um….”
Pru cocked an eyebrow, and that seemed to be enough to make Aaron Sanchez fold.
“I guess it doesn’t matter,” he told her, and even stepped partially out of the way so he was no longer blocking the door handle. “But I’m pretty sure it’s locked.”
Since Ty had already shown that door locks were no big deal, Caleb wasn’t too bothered by that weak caveat. “It’s fine,” he said. “We can take care of it. Right, Ty?”
“Not a problem,” the half angel responded. He moved closer to the door and touched a finger to the handle. Even from where he stood, Caleb could hear an audible click.
His heartbeat sped up just the slightest bit.
He could tell himself until he was blue in the face that his worry over Delia was the same concern he would have shown toward anyone in his circle if they’d disappeared unexpectedly — all right, his “circle” consisted of Delia, Ty, and Prudence and no one else, but still — and yet he knew his concern was deepened by the realization that he wanted Delia to be much more than merely his friend.
Even if he wasn’t sure whether he’d ever have the guts to tell her that.
The door opened out into the corridor where they all stood, and the space inside appeared utterly black — much darker than a simple windowless room probably should have. A chill inched its way down his back.
Something about the chamber felt utterly wrong, much worse than the odd, pulsing energy of the Colorado River.
“Another spell,” Ty said briefly. “One that put this place outside time and our plane of existence.”
“If it’s not on our plane, then why can we see it?”
“Because it protrudes into our existence enough that we can still detect something of its shape and form.”
That explanation made about as much sense as the organic chemistry class Caleb had struggled through his senior year of college. Anyway, he wasn’t here to discuss the physics of the situation.
“Delia?” he called out.
“She can’t hear you,” Ty said. “The whole reason she was placed in here was to keep her out of our reach. However, I’ll do what I can to disrupt the enchantment.”
He raised his hands, and a white glow enveloped them, slowly moving outward until it surrounded his entire body. Pru’s mouth dropped open slightly — she might have seen him use his powers here and there, but nothing as obvious as this — but Ty wasn’t paying any attention to his audience.
With the white glow still surrounding him, the half angel took a step into the room, then paused, as if he was taking a read on the spell and doing his best to think of the most efficient way to neutralize it.
Caleb wasn’t sure exactly what happened next, but the white light expanded outward abruptly, making it look as if a supernova had gone off in the space. Out of reflex, he lifted a hand to shield his eyes, while Pru did the same.
Aaron, on the other hand, continued to look into the room as if nothing strange had happened.
When Caleb lowered his hand, he could tell everything had changed. While it was still dark in there, it appeared to be an ordinary darkness, one where he could pick out the occasional detail, thanks to the light filtering in from the corridor outside.
And when Ty touched the light switch next to the door, everything was thrown into sharp relief — a daybed with a padded head and footboard, a small table.
A pair of women’s sandals lined up neatly next to the table, with a brown leather purse sitting next to them.
“She’s not here,” Pru said, her face taut with worry and disappointment.
Caleb could relate. He was so sure they’d find Delia trapped inside the room.
But….
“No,” he replied, “but she was here. She told me she was sitting on a daybed, and I’m pretty sure those are her sandals and her purse.”
He didn’t like the idea of her wandering around barefoot or being without her cell phone, although he supposed he should be somewhat relieved that the room they’d found pretty much matched the few details she’d been able to tell him about the place where she was being held prisoner.
“So…where is she now?” Pru asked, her voice tight with worry.
Caleb had moved closer to the bed as he was speaking. Now he was close enough that he could bend down and retrieve Delia’s purse and her sandals, which were a pair of low wedges made of brown leather. He straightened, and they dangled by their straps from one hand.
“I have no idea,” he said heavily.