“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.”
