Victor Sells is weird, no doubt. There has been speculation in the forum that Lord Raith was his “sponsor”, arising from the fact that Sells was previously employed by Silver Capital or something, a naming convention used by the Raith family. This makes a certain amount of sense given Lord Raith’s actions in Blood Rites.
I’m not sure that Sells was Nfected, although it has been implied by both Lily & the Gatekeeper that Nemesis was involved here. Here are a couple of reasons why I think so:
- A Nfected Sells wouldn’t have been goofy enough to make noob mistakes like letting slip the name of the demon under his control in front of a White Council-level Wizard.
- It would also have known Harry’s status as a Starborn & not wanted him dead, or even if it wanted him dead, an Outsider would’ve been called to do it, not a mid-level demon
We have seen the corruptive influence of black magic upon the human soul, and the amount Sells had been doing for a few years would’ve been enough to deeply corrupt him. Especially if it were being guided/ directed by someone like Lord Raith or worse.
I don’t think Sells would’ve been a good candidate for Cowl & would have been rejected by the latter - Sells was too insane to be a good pupil in the long-term - while he possessed a good amount of low cunning, he is too absorbed in power for its own sake to be more than a magical thug. Harry’s appeal to the smarter bad guys is that he is a thug who has discipline enough to accomplish complex goals - he is not swayed by the obviously corruptive power offered to him by people like the Denarians etc.