Mortal Sin (54 page)

She worried about him. He was drawn, tired, weak from the induced coma and seizure and whatever Juan had done to save his life.

A miracle, she thought. And not the first one she’d witnessed. She felt like she was living in an alternate universe.

Anthony looked up when she walked in. “
Mi amore,
thank you.” He rose and kissed her. “I will spend the rest of my life making amends for all I did that hurt you.”

She shook her head. “No, Anthony.”

His face fell. “I had hoped you could forgive me, in time.”

“Anthony—if that’s what you need to hear, I forgive you. But it’s okay. Nothing you did was out of malice. You were protecting Juan the only way you knew how. Even with everything that has happened in the last six months, I still have this disconnect, that I can’t quite believe this is all real. But in the end, the most important thing is I love you. And that’s all I need from you.”

“‘The greatest of these is love,’” he murmured and kissed her lightly. “Thank you for the coffee. Cream? Sugar?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I still don’t understand the American love affair with this bitter, nasty brew.”

“Our small rebellion against England’s tea tax must be in our genes,” she teased. Already, Anthony looked better than when she’d first walked in.

He sipped, then held up the folder with Dr. Lieber’s notes. “I see the treachery. I don’t know why I couldn’t see it before, when it is now so clear.”

She sat down and pushed his sandwich toward him. “Sit, eat,” she said. He took a bite, then another. She asked, “What does it mean? Do you know how to send the Seven back? Or better yet, destroy them?”

“I’m still working on that part. I know they can’t be killed—their existence maintains balance in the world.”

“You’re not serious.”

“They aren’t meant to roam the Earth. Their domain is beneath it, ruling the levels of Hell similar to that which is described in Dante’s
Inferno.
”

“Aren’t there nine levels of Hell?”

“We don’t know. Dante wrote of nine. While he was devout and possibly a private prophet, he wrote fiction.” He rose from his seat and paced, clearly still upset that he’d been deceived by the writings. “Dr. Lieber believed the Underworld is not so much the way we conceptualize levels, as things on top of each other, or steps up or down. Dr. Lieber sees the universe more as a world within a world, and the Underworld wholly contained within the core of the universe. Spherical, perhaps, and multi-dimensional. This is why the fissures that have been created here in Santa Louisa, in Victoria, and most recently in Anacortes, are so dangerous. They disrupt the balance.”

Skye leaned forward. “Anthony, people are dying. We have to stop this now. How do we send them back?”

“It’s clear I was wrong.” He sat back down, his face long. “My anger toward Moira about what happened with Peter clouded my judgment. I saw what I wanted to see. That she must sacrifice herself to destroy the
Conoscenza
, which would send the Seven back to Hell. I wanted her to die.” He took a deep breath. “It’s what I wanted to see,” he murmured, looking out the window. Then he shook his head and turned back to her. “The truth is, if Moira killed herself, the portal would close and the Seven would never return. They’d remain here until the end times. It was all a trick.”

Skye frowned. As a cop, deception was something she understood all too well. “Who had access to the papers? Who could have done this?”

“Only a magician could have altered the papers without touching them. Now that Juan opened my eyes, I can see the real truth. It’s true that Moira’s blood will destroy the book—because her blood can kill demons. The book was written with demon blood. Though Dr. Lieber doesn’t explicitly explain it, her blood will erase the book. The book will physically exist, and must be locked up as it has supernatural origins, but the spells, the incantations will disappear. But if she dies, all is lost. Her blood has no power in death. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Without her soul, her blood is powerless.”

“Wow.” Skye didn’t know what else to say. It sounded so incredible, but then so much of what she’d seen and heard these last six months was incredible.

“It’s dangerous because the book is seductive. It breathes as demons breathe. Not alive, but undead.”

“Sounds like zombies. Do not tell me zombies are real.”

“I’ve never seen one, but the concept is similar. Demons have no soul. They are not living, like humans. They are more like angels, the bad side of the coin, in a simple sense. But the book will lie to her. Tempt her as Satan tempted Jesus.”

Skye grabbed Anthony’s hand. “You know, I have my doubts and questions about God and all that, but I do have faith. Not your faith, and sometimes I envy you that you can so easily trust what you can’t see. But one thing I know: Moira is the strongest person I’ve ever met. I trust her. You need to trust her. Tell her that. Tell her you forgive her for what happened to Peter. She doesn’t talk about it much, but she still blames herself for what happened to him. She thinks everything bad that happens to her is a punishment for that one act. It matters to her, and you have to mean it. We’re in this together, united. I’m not leaving this fight. No one is leaving. We’ll defeat the Seven or we’ll die trying. And honestly, that’s all your God can ask of us.”

He nodded, his emotions clear on his face.

“Now, Anthony, I ask you again—who at St. Michael’s did this?”

“This is why I have not slept. There is only one person who could have managed it. One person, who is in a position of great power. I’ve alerted the Order; they are calling all reinforcements to Sicily to help with the relocation.”

“You’re moving the entire monastery?” It seemed so extreme. “Why not just ban the bastard?”

“Because the only person who could have done this, who had access and was at the monastery when Dr. Lieber died, is Francis Cardinal DeLucca. And he’s the only one who can shut us down. We have to move our library, our artifacts, our history before he realizes that we know. Because if our knowledge falls into the wrong hands—let’s just say that there are worse things that could happen than even the Seven Deadly Sins.”

#

Anthony had gone over his conclusion again and again, but ended with the same. The Cardinal DeLucca was a magician.

“Skye, several weeks ago, when Rico asked me to review the papers again and make sure our understanding was accurate, I called John Martinelli. He brought Dr. Lieber from Switzerland to St. Michael’s three months ago. He died before I could speak to him, and though I talked to John, all he could tell me was that the doctor was old and very tired from his journey. But John told me about a notebook Dr. Lieber wrote in during the journey that he kept in a slim briefcase. I was never given a briefcase. I went through two boxes of notes, but there was no notebook. John started asking questions for me because he was still in Sicily. Then, he was called to Olivet and sent on a mission, where he died.

“I think he found something suspicious, but couldn’t tell me before he died. Plus,” Anthony continued, “the cardinal is not a member of St. Michael’s Order. He’s been our protector and benefactor, but he wasn’t raised in the walls. Since I refused to move back, he’s been trying to shut down the monastery. His argument is that there are too many old, retired priests and the place is falling apart. Which is true. But I think it’s because he wants to end the Order. I spoke to Gideon about my suspicions and he gave me more information that supports my theory.”

Father Philip had been the glue that held St. Michael’s together. Now that he was gone, they were rudderless. Even Bishop Aretino, the head of the Order, seemed at a loss without Father Philip as his sounding board.

But the loss of hundreds of years of heritage, of prayer and studies, of fighting evil wherever it rose…  St. Michael’s was no more. At least physically. The weight of the loss tore Anthony’s heart. Before, he would have been angry. Enraged. Wanting to fight to protect his home.

Today, he saw the future, and though uncertain, the few that remained with them were stronger than the multitude of numbers in the past.

“I am so sorry, Anthony,” Skye said. “I know you love your homeland.”

“I love my heritage. But this is my home.” He took a deep breath. “Rico sent Andrew and Dimitri to shut down the Order and bring everyone to Olivet, at least temporarily until they find a permanent home. Gideon is on his way here because of the situation with Lily.”

Skye frowned. “What happened to Lily? Is she hurt?”

“I should have called you immediately, but I spoke to Rico so late last night, and you were sleeping… ”

“Tell me now.”

“She’s the
arca,
as we’ve known from the beginning. Fiona’s coven found a way inside Olivet—through an evil spirit—who possessed Lily and released Envy and Lust into her body. They’re trapped, and I honestly don’t know if Lily will survive this ordeal. Rico and the others believe she’s on her way here, to rendezvous with the coven and the remaining Sins. It’s why I asked you to meet me here at the mission.”

“Rafe and Moira are coming back? Finally.”

“They’re on a plane with Rico and Phineas and some of Phineas’s followers.”

“Back up. Who’s Phineas?”

“Rafe’s brother. His fraternal twin.”

“Rafe has a twin brother,” Skye said flatly.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you someday. But they believe that the coven will be coming here, to the mission.”

Anthony shuffled papers, looking for something. “For months I’ve been reading and re-reading all Dr. Lieber’s notes, papers from hundreds of years ago, and I couldn’t make any sense of it. After Juan opened my eyes, all the work I’ve done shifted into focus. I knew the answers all along, but my blindness prevented me from seeing.

“The coven is returning to where it all started—the murder-suicide of the priests here at the mission.”

Anthony showed Skye a map of Santa Louisa and put an X at the mission, the cliffs where the Seven were released after a human sacrifice created a portal, and Rittenhouse Furniture Warehouse, where a demon-infected employee killed his colleagues and was killed by Skye’s SWAT team.

He connected the three marks. As the crow flies, they made a perfect triangle.

“This was all planned,” he said. He found the center of the triangle. “And this is where it will end.”

Skye leaned forward. “The high school.”

“Moira is working on a plan, and it starts with sabotaging each point of the triangle, but we have to do it without letting the coven know.”

“You spoke to Moira as well? What else happened while you let me sleep?”

“
Mi amore
, you need rest, because today there will be a battle.”

“Don’t keep anything from me.”

“I’m not.” He took a deep breath. “For months I believed that only through Moira’s suicide that the
Conoscenza
would be destroyed. But once Juan opened my eyes, I saw the truth. Her blood will erase the book. Then we can destroy it because it’ll have no more supernatural power.”

“And then what happens to the Seven Deadly Sins?”

Anthony hesitated.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Skye asked. “We agreed on honesty. In all things.”

“Yes, we did. Dr. Lieber wrote in several languages. The one thing that is clear is that if the book is destroyed, the Seven will be purged.”

“Which means?”

“I don’t know. I think they’ll be dragged back to the pit of Hell. But I can’t be certain. And if we destroy the book and the portal to Hell opens, what does that mean to everyone in town? To Moira who must bleed on the book to erase the demon blood?”

“Do you have another option?”

“No.”

Skye rubbed her eyes. She was still so tired, he thought. He reached over and massaged her shoulders.

“Then we have to do it,” Skye said.

“That is what I think as well. Call everyone you trust. Rod. Hank. Jared. David. Rico and the others will be there in two hours. We must all be on the same page. Together, we have a chance. Separated, we will fail.”

#

Jared didn’t want to go to school Wednesday morning, but his dad insisted. They only had three more weeks before graduation, but Jared couldn’t think that far ahead, not when he hadn’t spoken to Lily in days. He was worried about her, and about Moira who also hadn’t checked in.

Maybe it was silly to think that he was important, but Moira had depended on him. He’d brought her to Santa Louisa in the first place, three months ago, when he’d learned about the coven and was worried about Lily and Lily’s cousin, Abby. And he’d been right to worry—Abby had been murdered and Lily was nearly killed by that group.

Real quick he’d learned that there were things in the world that were unexplained and that evil was very, very real.

He’d helped Moira with research, had protected Lily when her mother wanted to lock her up, and even the sheriff herself had trusted him to watch over Anthony while he was in a coma. School just didn’t seem that important these days.

He didn’t have a first period, so he arrived at school just before 9:30 when he had calculus. He didn’t know why he had to go—he’d taken the AP test last Monday and they weren’t learning anything new, just preparing for the final exam. Though he’d already been accepted to CalPoly in San Luis Obispo, only an hour from Santa Louisa, he wasn’t certain he would even go to college in the fall. What if Lily was still in danger? What if the Seven Deadly Sins were still in town? He couldn’t—wouldn’t—leave.

Because he started late, he had to park on the far edge of the student parking lot. He looked over at the burned-out church. The outside still stood, but the windows were all broken and the stone charred. Part of the roof had collapsed. In the morning fog, the scene looked surreal and gothic. Poor Father Isaac. He hadn’t known him well, but he was a kindly old priest. What kind of person can stab an old priest in the back?

The first bell rang, and he had five minutes to get to class. He walked briskly across the parking lot.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lily. For a moment, he thought it was his imagination because he’d just been thinking about her. He stared. Long blond hair, willowy body, wearing something he’d never seen her in before—a leather jacket.