Original Sin by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online

at once, and blackness fell. It was chaos as the light vanished—no moon, no stars, no flame. The gut-wrenching sound of demonic screams filled the void.
    With an invisible explosion, the Seven burst through the double circle, up and out, into the world.
    “Get him,” Fiona told Garrett as she rose from the ground. “Now I will learn his secrets.” She would take deep pleasure in torturing Raphael Cooper. He would tell all he knew before she was through. He would renounce all he believed in and swear allegiance to Fiona!
    She would make Cooper suffer. Suffer for as long as it took her to hunt down each and every one of the Seven, even to the ends of the earth. He would pay dearly for his interference.
    “He’s gone,” Garrett said.
    “He’s not gone. Serena! Light!” Cooper could not have fled so quickly.
    Serena fumbled in the dark and came up with a flashlight. She cast its beam around the circle.
    The coven members were rising from the ground, the stench of fear rising from their skin. Pitiful.
    Cooper was nowhere to be seen.
    “How did he breach the circle?” Fiona demanded.
    “How did he know the language?” Serena countered.
    “Garrett, you and Ian stay and destroy the circle and bring the vessel.” She waved irritably toward Abby’s dead body. “Then find him. I want Raphael Cooper in front of me before sunrise.”
    She looked at the others. “Disperse! Quickly! Speak to no one of this. Punishments you could never even imagine await anyone who betrays me.”
    “Dammit!”
    Moira slammed her fist on Jared’s dashboard as he stopped his pickup truck at the end of the short road that led to ruins along the cliffs.
    “They’re gone,” she lamented. And for a split second, she was relieved. She wasn’t ready for this confrontation; she wasn’t ready to die. Guilt washed over her—she needed to prepare herself for the inevitable. She’d been trained for this moment, and now she wanted to run? She could never live with herself if she did.
    “Maybe you’re wrong,” Jared said. “Maybe this isn’t what you thought.”
    For a split second Moira hoped she had been wrong. It had been a mistake to come here, and she’d misread the vision. The feeling she had ten days ago when she walked across the scarred foundation and saw a burning river of tortured souls beneath the earth’s surface. No, she knew she was right about Santa Louisa, but that didn’t mean she knew what she was doing. What made her think she could beat her mother at her own evil game? Fiona had a lifetime of experience and a passionate— obsessive —desire to control the underworld. The power of Hell was on her side. Moira had fear, revenge, and a couple of years’ training with the top demon hunter in the world. That made her little better than a novice. An amateur. And amateurs died while masters prospered. Fiona, most certainly, was a master.
    But if she didn’t do something to stop Fiona, Peter’s death wouldn’t be avenged. If she didn’t stand against evil, she stood for it. If she didn’t die fighting evil, she allowed it to flourish.
    Rico always quoted some guy who’d said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing . Being cocky, and scared, finally Moira had countered with, “You’re a man, I’m a woman. So you do it.” Rico just stared. He had no sense of humor. And when you faced life and death on a regular basis, Moira didn’t understand how anyone survived without enjoying a little humor in life.
    She took a flashlight from her pocket and opened the passenger door. “I’m checking it out.” The interior light came on, and she quickly reached up and flicked it off.
    Jared became incensed. “We have to find Lily! She’s not here, no one’s here! Where’s her car?”
    She understood the kid’s frustration. What if … She shot a glance at Jared. Her instincts told her he wasn’t possessed or under a spell, and both Father Philip and Rico told her to trust her