Page 60 of The Devil Went Down to Laughlin
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.”
