Allison Brennan - Carnal Sin

“So I used old-fashioned methods. I went through my boyfriend’s notes.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Grant. Detective Nelson? We were together last night. After what happened to Nadine.”

“You’re screwing the detective?” Moira asked, stunned and worried. She’d sensed no magic in Grant Nelson. Had she missed something? Had he figured out a way to block his aura from her?

“Grant and I-we have a relationship.”

“Terrific!” Moira brushed by Julie and crossed to the window. She looked down into the parking lot, expecting to see a legion of witches outside her window ready to burn her at the stake. Or worse, take her to her mother.

She wasn’t 100 percent confident that her finely tuned senses always worked the way they were supposed to, but she had never once been wrong about a witch or a demon.

There was always a first time.

Taking a chance, she turned to Julie and said, “Nelson isn’t a magician.”

“No, of course not. My coven is female only.”

“Right. Because you sacrifice male souls to a succubus. Very liberating of you.”

“Please! Grant’s life is in danger. I wouldn’t come to you if I had any other option. Moira, you’re my only hope!”

“Do I look like Obi-Wan Kenobi to you?”

Rafe put his hand on Moira’s shoulder and squeezed. He said, “Julie, start at the beginning.”

“Grant came to the club after Nadine died. I was supposed to take him to his place, but we went to my apartment instead. I told Wendy he insisted, but I really just wanted to save him. Wendy will kill me if she finds this out.”

“And I care, why?” Moira asked.

Rafe said, “Wait-why were you supposed to take him to his house?”

“Because Wendy was going to send the succubus there. Wendy didn’t want any more problems at the club. We don’t have much time. The succubus can go after Grant anytime after sunset. I don’t want to lose him.”

“Tell him,” Moira said. “Tell him he’s the target of a demon and see what he does.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Pot, meet kettle.”

Rafe squeezed Moira’s shoulder again. Damn, that hurt.

“Julie,” he said, using his calm, cool, collected-and very sexy-shrink voice, “we can protect Grant, but we need to know everything about the ritual Wendy used to summon the succubus.”

Moira bit back an argument. She wasn’t going to help a witch, not unless Julie gave up using magic. But she couldn’t let Grant Nelson die because this witch had cursed him.

Julie frowned. “I planned on sticking by him all day-but something has happened to him. I don’t know what … he’s not himself. I’m scared.”

“Is he possessed?” Rafe asked.

“No. Not like that. But he’s different. Last night we screwed like rabbits. That’s common, but Grant wasn’t the same. I don’t know how to explain it, but he was rough. Cruel and crude. Then this morning I saw a mark on his back and it scared me.”

Moira felt sick to her stomach. She found her phone and scrolled through her photographs. “Did it look like that?” She showed Craig Monroe’s demon mark to Julie.

“Y-yes,” Julie said. “That’s it. So you know what it is?”

“Yes,” Moira said. She stared at Julie, trying to figure out whether she was telling the truth. “Don’t you?”

She shook her head. “What is it?”

“It’s a demon mark. You’re familiar with those, I assume.”

Julie shrugged. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen one.”

“Haven’t been a witch long, have you?”

“What do you want from me? Are you going to reverse the spell and save Grant or not?”

“Reverse what spell?”

“Wendy’s. Our coven’s spell. I think when we brought Kali into our world, we must have done something wrong. Wendy wanted to strengthen the ritual, called on Kali to claim three men we’d cursed, and I think the changes she made did something. Nadine died. That shouldn’t happen!”

Every vein in Moira’s body froze. Kali . She knew that demon-knew of it, at any rate. Old, evil, powerful. The ancient Jewish people had many nightmarish stories about Kali, under a variety of different names. Az, Lilith, you name it-this badass demon went back to the fall of Lucifer. The stories Moira had heard made the Brothers Grimm appear downright cheerful.

If they summoned Kali, how did the demon Lust get into the mix?

“You’re messing around with the darkest of supernatural forces. No wonder you lost control!”

Julie recoiled from Moira’s outburst. Rafe grabbed her arm and pulled her to his side.

“When did you perform the ritual?” Rafe asked. Moira tried to pull her arm loose from him, but he held on tight.

“Tuesday night.”

“Tuesday?” Rafe said. “Are you certain?”

“Of course-Kali claimed Monroe on Wednesday, Erickson on Thursday, and Grant was supposed to be last night, but-”

“Wait,” Moira said. She mentally ran through the timeline of what she knew. “Kent Galion died Friday.”

“That had nothing to do with us. I swear to you, the ritual was Tuesday night. It’s a special feast for Kali; we do it the same feast day every year.”

It didn’t make sense to Moira. Kent Galion died on Friday-and four days later the succubus was summoned? Yet Galion, Monroe, and Erickson all had the same demon mark.

Julie continued. “We tried the men who’d betrayed us, and gave Kali a taste of their blood so she would know them.”

Moira snapped, “You tried them? You’re the judge and jury and use a demon to execute them? You think you and your coven are demi-gods picking and choosing who should lose their soul?”

Julie’s lip quivered, but she tilted her chin up and justified their actions. “Craig cheated on his girlfriend repeatedly. He was an asshole. Belinda worked at Velocity and found out she was pregnant. Craig dumped her and told her to get an abortion. She dropped out of college and quit her job. She wasn’t a witch! She was just a sweet girl who got used by a douche bag. He deserved it! I loved Belinda like a little sister and he destroyed her. She went home and her father kicked her out of the house. She was so upset, she felt so alone-” Julie looked at the ceiling and blinked back tears. “She died in a car accident. I don’t know if it was suicide or not. So yes, I picked Craig because of that.”

Rafe pulled Moira back and asked, “What about George Erickson? From all accounts, he was a good guy.”

“That was Pamela’s pick. Pam was furious because he was sleeping around.”

“But they supposedly had an open marriage,” Moira said.

Julie raised her eyebrow. “Open? You don’t know Pam. Pam gets what she wants, but George wasn’t allowed the same privileges. I felt bad about him because I liked him, but those are the rules. And Grant-” Her face clouded.

“You wanted Grant dead,” Moira said flatly.

“No! He was Wendy’s pick. I–I went along, because I was mad. I didn’t know he’d slept with Wendy during one of our off-again times. Grant sleeps around, I know that, but he wasn’t supposed to go after the girls I work with! Talk about humiliating … I found out he’d slept with four of them, and once back when we were still together. But …”

“You think you love him,” Moira said. “You bitch. You’re jealous and you sold his soul to a demon? Do you know what happens when a demon claims a soul? Do you know the pain, the emptiness, that the victim feels as his soul is ripped from his body? Skinning him alive would have been more humane!”

“Kent Galion died Friday,” Rafe said quietly.

Moira took a deep breath. “I was thinking about that-but can we even believe her?”

“She’s telling the truth,” Rafe said. He stared at Julie.