Mortal Sin (28 page)

She wished she could talk it out with Rafe. Guilt flooded her as she realized she didn’t trust Rico in the same way. She trusted him… but there was a barrier between them that hadn’t been there before.

Stronger after the water, she took several deep breaths and forced herself to her feet. The hair on her neck rose. “We need to leave.”

Rico had his knife out. “What do you feel?”

“I don’t know. A bad vibe. You’re the one who taught me to trust my instincts, right?” She didn’t mean to sounds so snippy, but her head hurt and this place was bad, bad, bad. Whatever ritual Serena had performed had left a dark cloud in this place, thinning the line between here and the Underworld. One more weak point. What if there were too many? Would they tear, like taffy pulled tight?

“Good news though—the demon was repelled by John. He couldn’t possess him, and Serena tried to force it. I’m sorry he died, Rico. Truly. But—I saw something I’ve never seen before. A bright aura at his death. It flashed in the blink of an eye and was gone.”

Rico nodded once.

“You have more to tell me, Moira,” he said. He was angry; he knew she’d been holding back.

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“First we find and exorcise that demon. To do that, we need to locate Serena.”

“She got what she wanted. She trapped one of the demons in the box—the box with the Mark of Cain—and then found a host for it. An
arca.
Like Lily was supposed to be.”

“You don’t know that. Or do you?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You’ve been lying to me since Raphael woke up from the coma. I don’t know what to trust anymore.”

“I haven’t lied to you.” Lies of omission, but she’d never lied directly to Rico. Her skin tingled. “We really have to go. The demon saw me. It knows I’m here. It could come back.”

“I thought you said it was no longer here? You are not making sense, Moira.”

“The demon Greed doesn’t have to come in person; it can send another demon. Why are you doing this now?” Her voice rose as sweat trickled down her spine. “Please, Rico, someone is coming. We have got to go
now.”

A voice from the top of the construction stairs said, “And you said she wasn’t psychic.”

Moira and Rico turned their heads to face the man who had snuck up on them. Flashlights shined down in their eyes to partly blind them. They had their daggers out, ready to fend off an attack—spiritual or otherwise.

Several pairs of feet trekked down the metal stairs. Moira glanced behind her. Kyle was standing apart from them, looking from Rico to the man at the top of the stairs. He was confused and scared. Dammit, her gut had told her to keep him out of this. She should have made him stay put. He was a kid!

She turned her body slightly to put her in the path of anything that came at them, to divert any magic away from Kyle. Give him a chance to escape.

She needed to know what they faced, so she reached out with her senses, just enough. She had no idea what she was facing, but it wasn’t magic. There were no spells coming from these people.

That made her feel a little better. The death imprint had weakened her; human battles were far less taxing.

Three people came into the center of the room and lowered their flashlights. Two men and a tall, blond woman. Moira didn’t move. They didn’t act like magicians, but they could be waiting to attack. Still, she felt no magic surrounding them, no auras of protection or latent spells.

“Phineas,” Rico said, surprise and anger in his tone.

Moira glanced at Rico, but didn’t take her attention off the three strangers.

“Who?” she demanded.

“Certainly Rico has told you all about us, the
fallen
ones.”

“What the fuck?” Moira said. “You’re no demon.”

The man laughed, but Rico said, “We’re leaving. Do not try to stop us, Phineas.”

“You and the boy may leave—Kyle, right?—but Moira is coming with me. I don’t want to kill you, Rico, but I will.”

“Try it. You will fail.”

“Hold it,” Moira said. “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on.”

She eased back on her internal defenses, trying to figure out what was making her so uneasy. It wasn’t just these people—people Rico obviously knew—it was something else. She had to figure it out before it was too late.

“Trust me,” Rico said to her quietly.

“I do.”

“How sweet,” Phineas said. “I’m not going to hurt you, Moira.”

“Can we take this reunion elsewhere?” Moira said.

“I would, but the end result will be the same. You’re coming with me Moira.”

Rico was standing two feet in front of her, and started moving back toward the tunnel. Great, they could run through a maze of tunnels being chased by three who-the-hell-knew-who-they-were people. She didn’t have a gun because guns really didn’t do anything to stop demons. Her sacred dagger was far better for the supernatural attackers, but what she would give right now for a good, old-fashioned gun.

Phineas said, “Robert.”

Behind them, at the tunnel, a man stepped into view. And this guy
did
have a gun.

Rico said, “You would kill me? You will be hunted and executed by St. Michael’s.”

“By who? Really. You’re spread so thin you don’t even have the resources to find me, let allow
capture
me. My people are growing in numbers because I give them something to
do
. To
believe
in. I have the courage to do what you do not.”

This man was talking about courage? Moira had never met anyone with more courage than Rico Cortese. She trusted him with her life, which wasn’t something she gave lightly.

A hint of magic drifted into the room. She glanced around. She didn’t see any of Phineas’s group working a spell. But it was coming.

“Let’s debate this later,” Moira said, “we have to get out of here now. Something else is coming, and none of us want to find out what.”

Maybe something in her voice told Rico she meant it. She turned and walked toward the guard at the head of the tunnel. The magic was stronger over here. It was the traps. This man had sprung the traps Serena, or another coven, had set up in the tunnels.

“You fucking idiot!” she yelled. She planned on taking him out, but instead said, “Robert, get out of the way.”

He didn’t move.

“He only takes orders from me,” Phineas said.

“Then tell him to run!”

A wave of dark magic pushed her back several feet, bouncing off her as if she had an invisible shield. The others just stared at her. They didn’t see it or feel it, but Moira did. She saw the dark swirls, a fog of evil filling the room. It was a trap. Worse than she had envisioned when she walked down the tunnels.

“You walked right through that chamber, didn’t you?” she said to Robert. “You touched something. You fool!”

She looked over her shoulder and caught Phineas’s eye. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you’re an idiot!”

“Grab her,” Phineas commanded the man and woman who flanked him.

Before they could move, Robert stifled a scream. Moira turned her attention back to him. He was staring over his shoulder. He sensed the evil, too.

“Robert!” Phineas said. “Grab her now!”

Moira backed into Rico. “Kyle, come here,” she said.

He obeyed. “Stay with me,” she said. “Trust me.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “I don’t see anything, but all the hairs on my arms are standing up.”

“Well, I guess I’m special then. A darkness is filling the room. We need to find a way out, but we can’t go back through the tunnels.”

“What is it?” Rico asked through clenched teeth.

“A spell. The trap has been sprung.”

“Robert!” Phineas called.

Robert couldn’t move. He was frozen in place, his eyes wide and unfocused. Moira pulled up her sleeves, let the spell touch her skin.

“It’s a summoning spell. Brilliant. She set it up to begin as soon as someone walked through the chamber. Like… a spell on hold. He tripped the invisible wire and it began to work. Spirits are coming.”

“But I don’t sense anything,” Kyle said.

“Because they’re not here yet. Kyle—these aren’t going to be lost souls who want your help. These are bad ass spirits who want to destroy.”

“Why not send demons?” Rico said.

“Because I’m here,” she said. “This was a trap for me. Remember the chamber? I knew not to go in. But Robert here did. Your friends sprung the trap.”

A low-pitched wail came from the tunnels.

She turned to Phineas. He and his two followers were clustered just like she was clustered with Rico and Kyle. Backs together, forming a triangle.

“You did this,” she said. “Bastard.”

“I’m not a magician. I’m a hunter.”

She blinked.

“I’ve been looking for you for months,” he continued.

“Why?”

“I need your help.”

“So you threaten me like this? You spring that damn trap?”

“I didn’t know there was a trap.”

“Then my statement stands. You’re a fucking idiot. And not much of a hunter, either.”

Phineas bristled and looked like he wanted to hit her.

That would almost make her feel better. A good old-fashioned brawl.

“Moira—” Rico began, but the wailing began to grow.

“Shit, Rico, we need their help or none of us will get out of here alive.”

“I’ve battled ghosts before,” Phineas said.

“Dear, God, there is enough testosterone in this room to fill a stadium! These aren’t your average ghosts.” She glanced at Kyle. She was very worried about him—he was particularly susceptible to spirits. But maybe they could use that.

“Kyle, how do you prevent being possessed?” she demanded.

“Um, I don’t know. I have this prayer that runs through my head, sort of on auto-pilot. I’ve known it as long as I can remember.”

“Start now. Do not stop saying it for anything.”

Her blood didn’t protect her from ghosts, but she’d battled poltergeists before. She pulled out a bottle of iron shavings and opened it. She poured some on her hand, then rubbed the shavings over her arms and face. “Rico,” she said and held the bottle out to him.

“I’m ahead of you,” he said as he had already applied his own layer.

Iron disrupted spirits. It didn’t kill them, but forced them to regroup.

“I can see them,” Kyle said.

“Pray, dammit!”

“I am. They’re vindictive. Trapped. Imprisoned by someone.”

“Don’t listen to them.”

“I’m not—I just, I don’t know, I just know it.”

Serena would know Moira could fight off spirits. So why would she send them? Sure, they were dangerous, but not fatal to Moira. So why?

Think, Moira!

Then she knew. It would keep her busy for a while. Weaken her. And give enough time for Serena to return.

“They’re buying time,” she told Rico. “We have to find a way out.”

She glanced over at Robert. He was in a trance, terrified, on his knees. The spirits were weakening him, making him unable or unwilling to fight.

“There’re more coming. They keep coming,” Kyle said.

Her urge was to run, but if Serena had opened a portal, the spirits would keep coming, and they wouldn’t be contained in this building.

“She opened a portal,” Moira said. “We have to close it.”

“I’ll close it,” Rico said. “If this is Serena’s trap for you, she’ll expect you to do it, and that gives her the time to get here.”

“You can’t do it alone,” she said.

“Neither of you are going anywhere but up those stairs with me,” Phineas said. “Let your ghost hunter handle the creatures.” But he frowned, his eyes darting toward where his friend Robert was nearly comatose in front of the gate.

The ghosts screeched. Moira only saw wisps of darkness as the spirits flew around. She glanced at Kyle and realized that he, too, could see the ghosts.

Just like Rafe.

“Kyle, do what you need to do,” she said. “I’m going to close the portal.”

He nodded, focused completely on the task in front of him. His prayers became verbal, though she couldn’t make out what he was saying. He was successfully sending the ghosts back. But if she didn’t close the hole, they would return and eventually take over the city. Kyle couldn’t keep this up forever. In a town like Victoria, Canada, that was already susceptible to spirit activity, they would reign.

That’s why Serena was here. All the energy made it easier for her to tap into a portal.

Phineas stepped in front of her and Moira said, “Come with me if you must, but we’re doing this, or you’ll condemn many innocent people to suffer.”

“You’re not going with him alone,” Rico told her.

“Then both of you follow me
now.
”

Without waiting for either of them to argue further, Moira started toward the tunnel. Robert was dying. She saw it as clear as anything. “I hope this was worth it,” she said to Phineas.

“Robert understood the risks,” Phineas countered.

“I highly doubt that,” she said.

They each had their daggers up in case a spirit tried to possess them. They couldn’t see the wisps, not clearly, but whenever the iron of the daggers or the shavings on their skin touched one, it screeched and disappeared.

There were dozens of screeches.

The chamber wasn’t far from the basement. As soon as Moira stepped in, she felt dread and hope at the same time. Dread because this was the dark spell that had terrified her earlier, but hope because it
was
a spell, and spells were something she
could
fight. Especially when the witch wasn’t here changing things up on her.

But this chamber… evil had been born in here. There was a dark history, very old, deadly… This portal had been here for generations. It had been used for sacrifices, for the darkest of black magic. It was a sacred place for those who worshiped the Underworld.

“Stay behind me,” she ordered the two men.

She slowly lowered her barriers so she could figure out what kind of spell was working here. The center of the spell was the center of the chamber—no surprise there. But now that she was inside the room, she noted that there were markings on the floor, very faint, but clearly made in blood. Her stomach heaved, but she swallowed the bile and said, “Rico, pour salt in a complete circle outside of the altar. You should be able to see a faint red line.”