Carnal Sin

TWENTY-SEVEN

Moira and Rafe sat in Pastor Jackson Moreno’s sunny kitchen, where she explained her plan to trap the demon Lust and save George Erickson’s soul from eternal suffering. He didn’t seem to like it any more than Rafe did, but Moira was certain she could pull it off. She had to try.

“Your plan is not only dangerous,” Jackson said, “but the chances of success are next to nothing.”

Moira said, “Others have been successful. It has worked before. And I’m good at this.”

“Arrogance-pride-is one of the deadly sins,” Jackson said.

“You don’t have to remind me,” she snapped. “You want to check my back? See if I’m marked?” She began to lift up her shirt, but Rafe grabbed her arm.

“You are good, Moira, but Jackson is right. You can’t ignore the inherent dangers,” Rafe said quietly.

“I know,” she said, equally quiet. “I promise, I’m not being a hotdog. I have to at least try. I won’t do anything rash.”

She and Rafe had been through this earlier at Starbucks and again in the car after she’d spoken to Rico.

He hadn’t wanted to share the exorcism rite with her because it put her in too great a danger.

“Why are you risking your life for this man?”

“It’s the right thing to do. It’s the only way to save his soul, or are you going to tell me I am more important than he is?”

Rico didn’t say anything for a minute, then said, “I emailed you the exorcism prayer.”

“Thank you.”

“Moira, you are more important. But you are also correct that it is the right thing to do. Put Raphael on.”

She didn’t know what Rico said to Rafe, and Rafe didn’t tell her. His response to Rico was simple: “I understand.”

They’d picked up the necessary supplies-more holy water, several bags of salt-then went to Jackson’s place to fill him in on their basic plan and ask for his help.

Moira said, “All we have to do is stick Detective Nelson in a reverse spirit trap and wait. The demon will come to us.” She glanced at her watch. “We’re meeting him in an hour at the Palomar. I’m going to lie through my teeth to get him here, or knock him out and kidnap him.” She was only half joking.

“Sunset is at five forty-five,” Rafe said. “We only have a few hours to set the traps and bring the detective here, and then there’s the waiting to hear from Anthony about trapping the demon.”

“What about the chalice?” Jackson asked.

“We don’t know yet. We can’t use it to send the demon back to Hell, but we might be able to use it as a trap.”

Moira frowned. “I’d be very wary of using any occult vessels. We don’t know enough about it.”

“For now, we’ll keep it in the vault,” Rafe agreed.

“Will the demon even come inside the church doors?” Jackson asked.

“The demon thinks it’s invincible,” Moira said. “And it’s driven to find Detective Nelson. But it isn’t stupid. It will sense a trap, so timing is important. As soon as the demon is in the church, you have to finish sealing the outside walls with salt, and mark every door and window with the blessed oil. That will complete the reverse trap and weaken the demon. We hope.”

“Nelson may not be thinking rationally,” Rafe said. “We can’t count on him being cooperative.”

“It’s not like I’m going to tell him,” Moira said. “I don’t think he’ll believe me until he sees it himself. He wants to ask me questions; I’ll see what he has to say, then come up with a fabulous excuse to bring him here.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Rafe said.

Jackson said, “I think Rafe is concerned that Detective Nelson may act on his base impulses.”

Moira raised an eyebrow. “I would hardly let him.”

“We need something to melt the chalice once the demon is trapped,” Rafe said. “Jackson, can you find a kiln or something?”

“I’m already ahead of you on that one. One of my flock has a ceramic shop. She’s bringing a portable kiln over and will help me set it up in the sanctuary behind the altar. It’ll be fired up before you return.”

“Perfect. Jackson, are you going to be able to do all this alone?” Moira asked. “Rafe, do you think you should stay here-”

“Absolutely not,” Rafe said. “We don’t know what condition Grant Nelson is in. He was already showing signs this morning of being affected-the headache, for one, and he was preoccupied.”

Rafe was right. “No sense delaying the inevitable. Ready?”

Rafe grabbed his bag and checked his knife.

“Let’s go.”