Allison Brennan - Original Sin

Moira didn’t want to accept his help, but she didn’t know how long it would take for Anthony to arrive if she called him for a ride. And Pennington wasn’t dead-he could come up those steps any minute. And the longer Moira waited, the more danger was not only to Rafe, but everyone in town.

“All right, thank you.” She glanced at Donovan. “Can you tie her up downstairs with Pennington?”

“Gladly.”

Matthew went down the stairs and Moira picked up his keys, which had fallen to the ground when he’d tackled Nicole Donovan. Moira sprinted across the church parking lot to Matthew’s car.

Matthew Walker’s timing was too good. He might be exactly who he said he was-after all, he had taken down the teacher. But Nicole Donovan hadn’t seemed concerned about Walker. And the demon knew his name. She wanted to trust him, but she’d rather be safe than dead.

Besides, if he wasn’t involved with Fiona, she didn’t want to risk his life. She didn’t know what she’d face when she found Rafe.

Walker’s car had a GPS. Great, he could call in a grand theft auto and the cops would be on her ass in minutes.

She’d have to take her chances.

She typed the address of her first-choice property into the GPS and it gave her a map. Ten point four miles away, near the ocean. She memorized the route, then ripped the device from the dash and tossed it out the window as she drove off.

She called Anthony. “I have a lead on Rafe. I’m following up on it.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m leaving Good Shepherd now.” Moira filled him in on the highlights. “This place has been used as a center of black magic for some time, at least since Pennington arrived,” she said. “I sent Jared off to destroy Ari’s altars and break the energy vortex.”

“Can he be trusted?”

“Tonight? Hell yeah, he got a good scare. Oh, speaking of Pennington, he’s unconscious in the so-called church basement. Can you call your girlfriend and get her to arrest him? He tried to kill me. I’m happy to press charges. And Ms. Donovan, the teacher from the school, is there too. She pulled a gun on me. Fiona’s web has spread far and wide. And she implied they’re working another ritual to recall the Seven. I’ll find Rafe, you find where they’re setting up.” She put on a brave front, but she knew tonight was it. She would walk straight into the lion’s den, and she was no Daniel.

Anthony said, “The photo you sent. Of the box? You didn’t touch it, did you?”

“No. I told you that. It’s bad news.”

“It’s worse than that. I’ll retrieve it myself when I get there. It’s evil incarnate.”

“What is it?”

“The Mark of Cain.”

“Cain, as in Cain who slew Abel?”

“Yes. I’ll fill you in later. But don’t go after Rafe alone. Father Philip is very concerned.”

“I’m fine,” she said, then glanced in her rearview mirror. She was already out of sight of Good Shepherd. “I had some help at Pennington’s place. Matthew Walker, the original minister of Good Shepherd. Skye talked to him earlier, and I guess they put two and two together and came up with Garrett Pennington is a lying sack of occult shit. The good pastor Matthew held his own against the two witches. But I left him there. He probably won’t be happy because I kinda borrowed his car without asking.”

“Moira-”

“It’s Rafe’s life on the line. When you get over there, could you explain it to him?”

By the time Skye arrived back at the sheriff’s station, it was after 8 p.m. She was exhausted, hungry, and worried. They’d already had two homicides, three attempted rapes, one assault and battery, and an astounding twenty-four felony thefts. That didn’t count the nearly one hundred misdemeanor thefts-including a woman who went to a boutique, tried on a wedding dress, and walked out wearing it. Without paying.

Before she could sit down at her desk, Rod Fielding came in. “I have something for you,” he said.

She collapsed in her chair. “Take a number.”

He sat on the corner of her desk and said in a low voice, “It’s related to our conversation this morning.”

“Another marked body?” she guessed.

“Not exactly. Same M.O.”

“M.O.? We’re not dealing with a serial killer here.” Though as she said it, Skye couldn’t help but think that the Seven Deadly Sins were supernatural serial killers. They were racking up victims faster than any human killer.

“I don’t have the body myself, it’s out of my jurisdiction-up north in San Luis Obispo. But I called the coroners and pathologists I know in the surrounding areas, asked them discreetly about the mark. No one has seen one yet, but Karen up in SLO had a case that came in today that was unusual and she was chatty about it. A woman who lost her house in foreclosure a few months ago burned it down this morning-and the family living inside it barely escaped. They’d just moved in over the weekend. The grandmother, who was living with them, died.”

“They caught the arsonist?”

“She’s in the county jail.”

“And this fits the M.O. how?”

“I called one of the deputies up there, to see what he knew about the case, and get this-the arsonist rents an apartment in Ned Nichols’s complex.”

The Rittenhouse shooter. “Odd coincidence.”

“Coincidence? You think so?”

“No. Keep the connection to yourself. And if you hear of anything similar-or any corpses with similar marks-let me know.”

“Will do.”

“Thanks, Rod. And-be careful, okay?”

He stood and said somberly, “I’ve checked my back ten times today in the bathroom mirror.”

She would have laughed, but Rod was serious.

“You be careful too, Skye. Just because you got a demonologist on your side doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable.”

That was certainly true. She’d had a couple of close calls back in November when she’d been investigating the murders at the mission.

As Rod was leaving, he said, “I just wanted you to know I’ve taken care of Abby’s body. She was cremated this afternoon.”

“Thank you.” She watched him leave, then called a friend who worked nights at the SLO county jail. She asked if the arsonist had any distinguishing marks. Ten minutes later the woman returned to the phone and said, “How’d you know? She has a big-ass birthmark on her upper shoulder. Odd shaped, part of it looks almost like a crescent moon.”

“Thanks for your help,” she said and hung up. What would Anthony think about this?

Before she could call him, her cell phone rang. It was Anthony.

“Funny, I was just thinking about you,” she said.

“There’s been trouble at Good Shepherd.”

She straightened. “What kind of trouble?”

“The kind I seem to be lucky enough to find,” he said with a rare hint of sarcasm.

“I’ll meet you there.”

“No-not yet. Let me go over and assess the situation first. I don’t know what we’ll find there.”

She unfortunately knew what he meant. “I’m in the office less than ten minutes away,” she said. “Do you know what happened?”

“Moira tracked Ari and Jared to Good Shepherd, where the girl set up a dangerous ritual. Ari ended up possessed, Moira took care of it-she had some help in the form of Matthew Walker, the former pastor. He said you called him today about Pennington?”

“Yes. He seemed upset about it. Are the two kids okay?”

“Apparently. But as they were leaving they encountered two of Fiona’s coven: Pennington and a teacher from the school, Donovan. Said Donovan is involved with Jared’s father. Which matches what you said about Santos earlier and the mark you saw.”