Allison Brennan - Carnal Sin

“About a quart.”

“I need it.”

He handed her a large water bottle. “What’s your plan?”

“I’m kind of making it up as I go along. Do you have a better idea?”

“No.” Rafe kissed her quickly. “Be careful.”

“You, too.”

But she wasn’t taking any chances. She took her dagger and cut her arm an inch, wincing at the sting of the blade as it reopened the wound Nicole had inflicted.

He stared at her. “What are you doing?”

“Rico wanted my blood, so there must be something to it-like when we slowed down the demon Envy.” She rubbed her blood on Rafe’s arm. “Sorry, this is kinda sick, but I can’t think of anything else.”

A scream from the spirit trap had them jumping. Julie was regaining consciousness, and slowly rose from the ground.

“No!” Rafe shouted. “Julie, what are you doing?”

Moira ran to the sanctuary. The font was portable, but damn heavy. She was surprised to find Nina hiding in the corner.

“Nina!”

“Rafe told me to hide in here.”

“I need your help moving this.”

“Why?”

“Questions later.”

Together, they slid the baptismal font along the floor. When they reached the doorway, Moira told her, “Now, go back to hiding.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to try and trap that demon in here. But I have to force it out of its corporeal form to do it.” She bit her lip and glanced over at the spirit trap. Julie was stumbling, much like Nadine had after the demon left her body. Rafe was trying to help Julie, but she was shaking her head and fighting him.

In the trap, Lust was touching Grant. His face, his hair, his chest. One hand went down to his erect penis and squeezed until Grant screamed.

The chalice was next to Grant. Moira needed to get it out, but to do so she had to trick the demon.

She swiped her finger over her still-bleeding cut and made the sign of the cross on Nina’s forehead.

“I’m Jewish,” Nina said.

“Good.”

“But I don’t believe that-”

“I don’t care. Do you believe in God?”

“Of course, but-”

“Do you believe in demons?”

Nina frowned, glancing over at the trap. “Today I do.”

“Then push this font directly under the cross, take off the lid, and pour this holy water into the bowl.” She handed Nina Rafe’s container of holy water. “Then hide.”

“You’ll save George’s soul, right?” she asked quietly.

That had been the last thing on Moira’s mind but she remembered her promise. “I’ll try.”

Rafe watched as Julie’s astral self fully reclaimed her body. She stumbled for a moment, weak on all accounts. When the demon first touched Grant, Julie had surprised Rafe and took over his consciousness. He’d fought her the entire time she had control, but she’d panicked. Now, she had little strength left.

“Julie!” he yelled. “Get out of there! Please!”

Julie ignored him. She staggered into the circle and grabbed the demon by its neck, trying to pull it off Grant’s body. “Leave him! Take my soul instead!”

Julie had no strength to move the demon. Lust slowly, sensually, rose from Grant’s trembling body and turned to face the witch, bemused.

“You,” it said. “Where were you?”

Julie took a step aside, not answering the demon, looking only at Grant.

To distract the demon from Julie, Rafe crossed himself and began the Lord’s Prayer.

The demon growled, then said, “Oh, you again.”

Rafe felt his body twist as the demon pushed him with its will. He shouted a prayer he’d never heard before. It came from deep in his memory, a place he couldn’t access when he wanted to, a place that opened for him only when he wasn’t trying.

He didn’t dwell long on the situation; it had disturbed him since the Seven Deadly Sins had been released in Santa Louisa. Now, however, he used the force of the prayer he barely understood to stop the demon from hurling him across the church the way it had Pamela Erickson. His feet came back to the floor and he crouched, bracing for another attack.

But it didn’t come. The demon saw that Julie was untying Grant’s restraints and it grabbed her with hands that turned into talons. She screamed as two marks burned her flesh.

“You displease me. You trapped me here, and now you won’t give me my due!”

Rafe leapt into the spirit trap and kicked the demon in the stomach. It didn’t loosen its hold on Julie. Rafe jumped out again and started the exorcism. The demon hissed, throwing Julie to the ground. It kept rubbing its arm as if something burned. Rafe glanced down. A smear of blood-Moira’s blood-stained the demon’s forearm.

Grant slowly rose from his chair, shaky and weak. “Leave me alone!” Grant cried at the demon. “I’m not yours!”

The enraged demon howled and stepped toward Grant.

Moira leapt into the circle and wrapped her cut arm around the demon’s neck.

The demon became paralyzed. Its eyes bulged and then it lost shape and form, turning from a woman to a snake to a deformed centaur-like creature. Moira held on even though Rafe saw she was in agony, her grip on the demon slipping. The demon tried to shake her off but Moira clung, her blood forcing the demon back to its noncorporeal form.

The demon turned to a thick black cloud and Moira fell to the ground.

Rafe rushed to help her, but Moira screamed, “The exorcism! Keep going!”

He did, stopping just short of the demon trap. The ancient words rolled off his tongue though he didn’t know exactly what he was saying-deep inside he knew, but as soon as he concentrated, all meaning was lost. He let the words flow from his lips without conscious thought, as if he were speaking in tongues.

Grant was carrying Julie from the trap and Moira grabbed the chalice. “The kiln!” Rafe told her.

She wasn’t listening. She had begun her own exorcism. She was trying to draw out George Erickson’s soul from the demon.

“Moira, stop!”

“I have to, Rafe! I promised!”

Rafe wouldn’t let her. The danger was too great. And the only thing Rico had commanded him during their conversation was to keep Moira alive.

“Or the world is over as we know it.”

He stepped into the circle and commanded the demon, “By the power of St. Michael’s sword, a faithful servant to the Lord, release the souls you stole!”

The demon took partial form, the head of a snake, the body of smoke, and hissed in his ear, “Take them alllllll.”

An inhuman screech had Rafe on his knees, his eardrums near bursting. Dozens of spirits whipped around him, trying to get inside, the demon hurling the souls at him one by one, pummeling him with the pain of their collective suffering.

Rafe couldn’t think; he could scarcely breathe. The assault continued and he held up his hands to ward off the attack. He knew the exorcism, but he couldn’t get any words out.

Moira screamed his name. The snake turned to her and she held up the chalice, then turned as if to leave.

“Noooo,” the snake hissed and turned again into the smoky mist. It wrapped around Moira, then dove into the chalice, filling it. Just as Moira had hoped. The chalice was its escape route from the trap-she’d nabbed the demon’s portal.

Moira ran from the trap to the baptismal font, hoping-praying-this would work. She had to get the demon to the font before it escaped the chalice. She glanced back at Rafe, who was on his knees, battling spirits she couldn’t see but felt with every cell in her body. These weren’t ghosts-they were raw spirits, human souls, released from bondage. The good, the bad, and the downright evil.

“What’s happening?” Nina cried. “Is that George?”