I looked over at Rossi. “Demon-marked?”
Rossi finally stepped out of the shadows and stood behind me where Ben could see him.
“Benoni, son of my sorrow, see me,” Rossi commanded gently.
Ben’s eyes stuttered upward and fixed on his maker.
“There is no demon who could take you. No mark I can’t break. You are mine.”
Was that true? I noticed that Bathin had settled into the corner of the room, silent enough he hadn’t disturbed the wolves.
I sent him a questioning look. He shrugged and flicked his eyebrows. A “yes” sort of look. Rossi was that powerful for the one vampire he’d turned.
On the one hand I was relieved that Ben couldn’t be possessed. On the other hand I was annoyed Bathin hadn’t told me that when I was arguing with Ryder earlier.
But then, Bathin wasn’t really on my side here. He had gotten what he wanted: a soul, a person to torture, and access to the forbidden lands of Ordinary.
I didn’t know why he wanted to be in Ordinary, but it wasn’t hard to guess the answer to that wouldn’t be anything good.
“He will kill you.” They were the strongest words I’d heard Ben say so far. I thought he meant Lavius would kill Rossi. But Ben wasn’t looking at Rossi, he was looking at me.
“I know he wants to. He already told me that.” I meant it to be comforting but it came off sort of dismissive. Not what I had intended.
Ben’s body seized with that panic again.
Jame leaned in, the wolves behind him moving with him, pouring out comfort. Rossi’s strong fingers wrapped around my arm. He pulled me away from the bed and into the shadows.
“It’s a compunction,” Rossi said.
“What is?”
“Ben is being forced to tell you Lavius’s message. It’s all he’s been trying to say since he’s been conscious. I had hoped that bringing you here and letting Ben deliver the message would break the spell.”
“Spell. As in real magic and real spell?”
“Death isn’t the onlyIchor Technespell Lavius knows how to cast.”
“Can we break it? Can we neutralize the spell? Wash it off or something?”
“I did. This is deeper than the surface.” His eyes flicked to the blood dripping down through thin tubes to feed Ben’s emaciated frame.
“He injected the blood spellintohim? It’s inside Ben?”
Rossi’s eyes glittered in the shadows. “Yes.”
Oh, there was so much hatred in that one word, so much need to savage, to kill.
“Will the transfusion erase it?”
“No. It has eased it, diluted the strength, but the spell remains.”
“How do we break it?”
“There is a counter spell.”
“But?” There had to be a catch if he hadn’t just cast it yet.
“It is written in theRauðskinna. If we cast it, Lavius will know. He is waiting with a counter spell. One that could bring the book of dark magic to him.”
