Mortal Sin (45 page)

#

Serena O’Donnell stood on the mountain, alone. The damp air wrapped around her skin, but she didn’t feel the cold.

Below her, in the valley, was Olivet.

Twice, Fiona had attempted to breech St. Michael’s training ground. Twice, Fiona had failed.

Fiona was a powerful magician, no doubt. But her power came the easy way. Through deals and agreements, through sacrifices and promises. Fiona had placed her fate in the hands of others, while Serena had learned through hard work and suffering and personal sacrifice.

Serena had been born in love and lust, not calculation and demonic deals. But she still had Fiona’s blood, her strength, her heritage. Fiona talked about family lines, but Serena believed in them. She had learned to tap into the power of generations of witches, going back to the beginning, to before it was written in some pathetic book that witchcraft was forbidden.

The only reason the religions on Earth vilified witchcraft was because the art of the craft gave power and knowledge to humans, not just the demons and angels, the spirits and sprites. God had claimed humans were his favored children; Serena didn’t believe it. Because He took from them the tools of knowledge. He wanted subservient, obedient children, not wise and wonderful children.

But Serena understood the balance far better than Fiona. Fiona had gone to Olivet twice with an army; only one person was needed the breech the walls.

She prepared the chalice. Her father had assured her that everything had gone according to plan. Elizabeth Ellis had done her job; Serena had Lily’s hair and blood.

Serena took out the
Conoscenza.
Her mother did not know that Serena had removed the book made from human skin and demon blood. Serena was the only one who could read it; she was the only one who knew how powerful the spells were. The connection between the book and herself was unmistakable; it pulsed in her hands. It breathed life into her. She didn’t need to turn the pages; they turned on their own to the spell she had uncovered only a few weeks ago, as if the book itself was giving up its secrets to her one at a time when she needed answers the most.

She said the words; power flowed from her. Wind whipped around her, lifted her hair, but she didn’t feel a breeze. She lifted her arms up and spoke the ancient words. The Earth shook but she held steady and smiled.

It was time.

She opened the Box of Cain. Inside, Greed called to her, begging for release.

“Soon,” she told him.

She removed Jezebel’s Blade from a protective sheath. An electric jolt nearly knocked her to the ground, but she caught her balance. The danger was real; Wrath could turn on her in an instant. Wrath had been trapped by the Blade almost as soon as he had been released, and it had taken them months to figure out Wrath was still in Santa Louisa. But her father had liberated the Blade and now they controlled two of the Seven.

Soon, they would have four, and then the others would come, drawn by their brethren.

Wrath let her be, because the book, the
Conoscenza
, had chosen her. And the Sins obeyed the book.

She dipped the blade in the Chalice and finished the spell. A spirit took shape, wispy and almost invisible.

“You know what must be done,” Serena said. “As it is below, so it is above. Fulfill your calling and I will grant you your reward.”

The spirt flew into the dark night.

And Serena waited, with Wrath and Greed as her guardians.

#

Lily awoke with a start. The dreams again turned to nightmares, but this one she couldn’t remember. She began praying, speaking words she never remembered learning, but they soothed her.

She’d eaten an early dinner. A young man named Gideon had arrived that morning. Hardly a man, he was younger than Lily, but he was tall and broad, and Tristan and Andrew and even sour Dimitri all deferred to him. It seemed odd to Lily that they would defer to a teenager, but she didn’t understand the ways of this group.

She liked Gideon. He didn’t treat her as an intruder, but seemed truly interested in what she had to say. Which, truthfully, wasn’t much. What could she say when her mother wanted to sacrifice her and she questioned everything she’d grown up believing? They’d talked for hours, and she’d asked all the questions she was too scared to ask the others here. What was it like to grow up in a monastery? How did he learn? Who were his friends? What was Italy like? Lily had wanted to travel the world, but until now, had never left the California coast. She was both curious and fearful. Gideon had been everywhere, it seemed, yet told her this was his first time in the United States.

While she spoke with Gideon, the other three men watched over them, as if there was a hidden test in the meeting. They’d watched over her since Moira left her at Olivet. Yet, they didn’t seem to want her here. When she walked the halls, she saw them lurking. She had no privacy, except in her room.

Yet, she’d felt safe the entire time she was here.

Until now.

She left her room, grateful for the warm socks Tristan had found for her. They were too big, but two pairs kept her icy feet warm. She was always so cold. Why had she fallen to sleep so early? Maybe, because the sky had been dark all day, she’d lost track of time.

She found Gideon and Andrew in the great room in front of the fire. The room was so warm, so peaceful.

Simultaneously, they turned to her. Gideon said, “Is something wrong?”

He knew something was wrong. His dark eyes filled with concern… and strength. There was something hypnotic about him, as if she couldn’t lie if she wanted to. Not that she would. Not when these people were all risking their lives for her, for no reason at all. Because who, really, was she?

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I feel… scared. I had a nightmare, but I can’t remember what.”

Gideon said to Andrew, “Secure the compound.”

Andrew hesitated. “The compound is secure.”

“It’s not.”

“How do you know?”

Gideon didn’t answer. He immediately rushed to Lily. “We need to get you to the sanctuary.”

“I thought this house was a sanctuary.”

He smiled. “A sanctuary within a sanctuary.”

Andrew called Tristan on the house phone as Gideon gently took Lily’s arm and walked down the hall toward the chapel. He was worried. Why was he so worried?

“Moira told me all of you had gifts,” Lily said. “What’s yours?”

“It’s still being discerned. I’m seventeen. I’ve shown different aptitudes.”

“Like what?”

He didn’t answer. They rounded the corner and Lily froze.

In front of them was a shimmery glass. But not glass. It was like looking through a waterfall. The temperature dropped dramatically and Lily screamed.

“No, no, no!”

Gideon grabbed her arm. “Turn around! Come with me! Don’t look at it!”

“Can you see it too? It wants me. It came for me. It’ll hurt you.”

“I see it reflected in your eyes. Don’t look at it!”

She tried to turn her head, to close her eyes, but she was rooted to the spot. “Help me, Gideon, please help me!”

He picked her up and ran back down the hall with her. Suddenly, they were both flying through the air. Lily landed twenty feet away, her breath knocked out of her.

Gideon…

He was lying on the opposite end of the hall, unmoving. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t! He was trying to save her. Why did everyone who helped her had to die? She didn’t want this; she didn’t want any of this.

“God, why are you doing this to me?” she cried.

The shimmery glass approached her and she tried to crawl away. She heard shouts, from far off, but didn’t know who or what.

When the entity touched her, she froze. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t scream. It wrapped its cold, dead spirit around her, absorbed her. She collapsed, clutching the small crucifix that Father Philip had given her.

“You don’t need that anymore,” she said. It was her voice, but she wasn’t talking. It was the thing. The spirit.

“I have a name. My name is Jezebel. We have a job to do.”

Lily walked down the hall. She could see everything, she could hear everything, but she had no control.

Don’t do this. Please stop.

Jezebel laughed, but it was Lily’s voice. She passed Gideon. His head was bleeding, but he was trying to get up.

“You like him, don’t you?” Jezebel said. “Sweet Lily, you’re still a virgin. I wish we had time to fix that, because he is a nice specimen, isn’t he?”

Lily leaned over Gideon and smiled.

“Fight her, Lily,” Gideon said.

Lily kissed him.

No!
Lily screamed.

Jezebel laughed. “She thinks she loves Jared. Oh, dear Lily, you and I are going to have so much fun. But first things first.”

Gideon began an exorcism ritual, but Jezebel laughed again, a dark and hypnotic sound. It hurt Lily’s head to listen to her, the echo deafening.

“You can’t do anything about this, so sit back and be a good boy. Follow us, you die. Leave us alone, you’ll live to fight another day.”

Gideon stood his ground. “I can’t let you take her, Jezebel.”

Jezebel was stunned. “You know me.”

Gideon continued the exorcism.

She walked away, untouched by the prayer. Gideon rose from the ground and still he continued talking.

“Sticks and stones, Gideon,” she said. Then she turned and held out her arm.

No! Don’t hurt him. Don’t touch him!

“Oh, poor weak little Lily is begging for your life. How sweet.”

A jolt of energy shot from Lily’s arm and using all her inner strength and will, she moved her arm so the energy hit the stone wall and dissipated.

“Fiesty little virgin, isn’t she?” Jezebel said. “I could do this all day until she wears herself out, but I don’t have time.” With a flick of her wrist, she brought down the walls of the hall, separating Lily from Gideon. “Let’s go, Lily. Two of my old friends need to hitch a ride, and you’re the only one who can give it to them. You should feel honored. I was sent to protect your pathetic soul from corruption by Envy and Lust. But we’re certainly going to have fun in the process!”

Lily tried to say a prayer, any prayer she could think of, but Jezebel laughed, drowning out her voice, until Lily passed out.

“That’s better,” Jezebel said, relieved that the little peon wasn’t giving her any more trouble “You just made my job a whole lot easier.”

Jezebel stopped for a moment and listened. “There you are, sweet sins,” she murmured. She walked down several long, halls, then down a flight of stairs. Doors and locks didn’t stop her; one touch and she was in.

She loved having a body, but more, she had her power back. She’d been trapped for hundreds of years in that damn box, and when she finished her job for the witches, she would be free… free to seek retribution for her imprisonment.
That
would be fun.

The vault was deep in the mountain. The seals were a bit more challenging here, but she’d learned a lot over the millennia. Mere minutes later, the spiritual seals disappeared, and the physical lock was a breeze.

She walked inside. The room was cavernous, dark and cold. Dim lights cast shadows all around, but she didn’t need light to see. She had all her senses, much better honed than humans. The walls were stone and Earth, etched with demon traps and ancient symbols to ward off spirits. For the first time since she’d stepped into Olivet, she began to feel weak. There were powerful prayers in this room, draining her. She must be quick.

She walked over to the first safe. The melted chalice that trapped Lust sat on a pedestal. All the protections here, in this spot, were to prevent the demon from escaping. These idiots at Olivet didn’t understand that all it took was a person to walk off with it. Maybe their fences and gates and security cameras could stop an invasion of witches, but none of that could stop a spirit like Jezebel.

She laid her hand on the chalice and Lust flowed inside her. Jezebel’s entire entity vibrated with pain and excitement. Such an erotic combination. She yearned to lay with a man again, to feel alive, to be a goddess. She craved a human touch, the exquisite rush of desire and need.

She turned toward the other trap, and stumbled.

Be quick! Something ancient is weakening you.

She opened the door of the tabernacle and put her hand inside. Envy crawled over her, angry and vengeful and desirous. She absorbed him as well, then ran as fast as she could from the vault.

The only way Lust and Envy could escape was through the
arca
. And those poor, pathetic people had brought the
arca
to them.

Moira didn’t know if she could trust Phineas. He’d ordered a coven of witches to be driven insane after allowing them to fracture the astral plane. He’d gone so far off the beaten path that there might be no way to return. He was so convinced that he was right she feared he wouldn’t listen to her on the fly. Right now, he was in turmoil over having a traitor in his midst—embarrassed and angry that he hadn’t known that Adrienne was a witch and had been reporting on him and his activities for two years. He cared about his team—that much was clear—and Moira had to use that loyalty to her advantage.

What choice did she have? She wasn’t going to disappear alone into the woods and let Fiona and her coven slaughter Phineas and his people, no matter what Phineas had done. She also didn’t expect to walk away free. Fiona had been pursuing her for years, more frantically since the Seven escaped. It was as if Fiona needed Moira for more than revenge. For Fiona, revenge would be enough… but she was also a smart woman. She wouldn’t risk her own life solely to punish Moira. There was something more important to Fiona, and Moira suspected it had to do with Moira’s growing power—the psychic ability she had dismissed repeatedly.

But Moira couldn’t dismiss her empathic feelings; she couldn’t dismiss her ability to see and sense magic, to know what to do and when to do it. It had grown stronger since she and Rafe started working together. She wished Rafe were here now.