Original Sin

by Allison Brennan

  “Anthony,” Father snapped, interrupting him. “You’re wrong about Moira, and while she was supposed to return to Olivet, Rico knew her plans. But we haven’t time for this discussion now. Are you certain about the Seven?”

  Anthony hesitated, feeling like an admonished child. “Yes,” he replied. “I’m certain that’s who they were summoning, but I can’t say whether it worked, or why they need the Seven, or who specifically is behind it. This is bigger than anything I’ve dealt with. I need my books, I need to research.” He felt far more confident poring over ancient texts than battling demons face-to-face. He’d done it once to save Skye—he didn’t want to go through that horrible experience again.

  “Good, I’ll send you anything you need. But please, let Moira do her job.”

  “Job? What job?”

  “I can’t tell you over the phone.”

  Anthony froze. Father Philip was his mentor, had been since he was a small boy. They shared the same last name, because that was the way it was at the monastery with the orphans—one of the priests or monks “adopted” the child and was his primary caregiver. Father Philip had taken him … and Peter. Which was why Anthony didn’t understand Father’s acceptance of that witch, Moira O’Donnell.

  “Has this job been going on while she was supposed to be at Olivet?”

  “Longer. Anthony—I will explain when we are face-to-face. Or you can ask Moira herself.”

  “Neither will happen soon.”

  “It may be time for a council at Olivet.”

  Anthony couldn’t control the hurt he felt deep inside that Father had kept something as important as this from him for so long. But he said, “I understand.”

  “Anthony, I need to talk to Moira, where is she?”

  “Jail.”

  “You need to get her out as soon as possible! Anthony, she needs your protection.”

  “Protection?” He rubbed his jaw. “Hardly.”

  “Fiona will find her in jail! The police wouldn’t allow her to have any of her protective gear. You know that!”

  For a moment, Anthony felt a twinge of guilt.

  Father said quietly, “You and Peter were close. I understand. I loved Peter deeply. What happened was a grave mistake; it was hard on all of us. But you must forgive Moira. Both she and Peter were culpable, but in the end, it was Fiona and her demon who killed Peter, not Moira, and not Peter himself.” Father Philip’s voice deepened. “Anthony, you are very special. Exceptional and gifted by God. You are vital to our calling. But your weakness will be your destruction. If the Seven have been released, your anger will be used against you. You must pray for the strength to forgive.”

  Anthony felt the reprimand from thousands of miles away, even though Father hadn’t raised his voice. “Now, tell me, how long has she been unprotected?”

  Anthony swallowed a retort and said, “An hour.”

  “Don’t let Fiona find Moira. I will leave for Olivet tomorrow.”

  “You’re coming to America?”

  “I must. Promise me you will get Moira out of jail.”

  Anthony struggled, not wanting to obey. “Yes, Father, I will.”

  EIGHT

  Philip Zaccardi packed light—he didn’t need much.

  The priest despised travel. He rarely left St. Michael’s. His fellow monks, the young men he trained, thought it was because he was fearful of flying. They were right about one thing: he was afraid. But it had nothing to do with airplanes.

  If Anthony knew the private revelation Philip had been entrusted with years ago, the young demonologist would insist he never leave the island. But Philip had told no one; it was a revelation meant only for him.

  The time had come. If he was right—and he believed he was—people would die. If his interpretation was wrong? He’d set into motion a chain of events where far more would suffer and die, including those he deeply cared for. But inaction, doing nothing in the face of evil, was a sin, and to many—including himself—inaction was an even greater sin than being wrong. No one could sit on the fence in the battle of good versus evil. The line had been drawn eons ago, when the serpent first lied to Eve. Sides were still being chosen. Only God knew the outcome, and He wasn’t sharing.

  Philip sought out Bishop Pietro Aretino, the elderly vicar who handled the day-to-day spiritual needs of the priests and monks. It was time for confession.

  One might think the sins of a devout priest were few, but Philip’s mind was a maze of conflict and doubt. Doubt showed lack of faith, which increased fear, endangering him and others both physically and spiritually.

  Philip’s entire life had been filled with doubt and questions. And yet, he persevered. Still, he stood against evil.

  After he received dispensation, the bishop took him on a walk through the garden. The garden that he’d at one time cherished was going the way of weeds. Such was the reality of the twenty-first century: fewer young priests with strong backs, more elderly priests with weak bones. At one time, decades in the past, when Philip had been new to St. Michael’s, it was common to have three, four, or even five infants left on the island each year. These young ones were to be raised and trained in the battle against evil. Now? Four in the last twenty years. Did that mean the final battle was near? Would ten-year-old James Parisi be the last warrior in an order that had been founded hundreds of years before?

  “You’re leaving,” Pietro said.

  Philip had said nothing of his journey during confession, but the bishop was astute, even in his advanced age. “Yes.”

  They walked in silence. It was midday, the clouds obscuring the descending sun. Philip paused to pull weeds that surrounded the tree they’d planted after Peter’s death. So many trees in this row … too many trees. Peter. Lorenzo. Elijah. And more.

  “Take Gideon with you.”

  Philip hesitated, then slowly rose and faced Pietro. “I thought we’d decided Gideon would stay another year.”

  “We haven’t the luxury of time.”

  Philip didn’t want to disobey orders, but he wanted to keep Gideon safe. His mentor had died last year, and Gideon’s training here was complete. His calling was still obscure, but his gifts were many. Dangerous gifts, and easy for misinterpretation by the young man.

  Pietro resumed walking down the broken stone path with deliberate steps, his age forcing him to walk slowly and carefully. “You have affection for the boy.”

  Philip followed. “No more so than the others.” Was that a lie? Not a deliberate lie. To clarify, he added, “He reminds me of Peter.”

  Pietro nodded.

  “Peter failed.”

  “Did he?”

  “He believed he was stronger than he was; he believed he could turn dark power into light. He kept secrets.”

  “You fear for young Gideon’s soul. Your greatest failing, Philip, is your greatest strength.”

  When the older priest didn’t elaborate, Philip said. “I’m going to Olivet. I’ll need your blessing and authority.”

  Pietro nodded. “You have it.”

  “Anthony is asking questions.”

  “As he always has. Let him ask. He’ll find answers when he asks the right questions.”

  “If he’s right about the Seven—”

  “He is.”

  Philip stopped walking. “You know something of this?”

  “I know the Conoscenza was not destroyed at Santa Louisa.”

  “In Santa Louisa! The Conoscenza was destroyed hundreds of years ago. Here, in Italy—”

  “A book that had been called the Conoscenza was destroyed, a brilliant forgery. But the real Conoscenza, the one written in ink tainted with demon blood, the one written by demonic hands, the original, which is older than Moses and unintelligible to most humans, is still on earth. Our ancestors in the Order were misguided, led by their own pride and erroneous sense of invulnerability. They were deceived. One of their own betrayed them, a Judas, who forged the book and hid the original so well that no one knew it existed.”r />
  “Why was this kept secret? We needed this information. How can—”

  “Philip, we weren’t certain until today.”

  “Because of Anthony’s report about the Seven.”

  Pietro nodded. “It confirms out deepest fears. We had no proof, but Anthony is not generally wrong about these things.”

  “He’s not, but—”

  Pietro held up his hand. “I know this is hard to believe, and I didn’t want to believe myself.”

  The old man sat on a bench under a plane tree, one that had been planted more than four decades before, its gnarled trunk rising into countless branches. It was Father Lucca Zaccardi’s tree, planted after his death during a violent exorcism when Philip was still training under him. Philip often sat in this spot when he meditated, or when he doubted. Father Lucca had been a pillar of strength, much like Anthony. Philip felt weak between the two men, and was usually comforted here. Not today.

  Pietro continued. “Father Salazar contacted me from the Santa Louisa Mission four months before the murders there. Poor Herve expressed a rather … paranoid, for lack of a better word … belief that the book was alive.”

  “Alive?”

  “His word, but fitting considering the origins of the book. The inner council didn’t want to accept it, but I believed him. So did the Cardinal.”

  There were many cardinals in the Church, but only one cardinal publicly associated with the Order: Francis Cardinal DeLucca. He was their main benefactor, the one who ensured that St. Michael’s Order survived from his position high in the Vatican. Other high-ranking supporters did so with much discretion.

  “The Cardinal sent Raphael to the mission at Santa Louisa to find the Conoscenza.”

  Philip had to sit down at this revelation. He hadn’t known. How could he have not known? He looked up at the gray sky, through the leafless branches of the plane tree, and knew with certainty that he wouldn’t see spring blossom on the island.

  Pietro continued. “It wasn’t until after the murders that the idea that the Conoscenza was at the mission took hold. The witch’s belief that her mother was searching for it meant we needed to—”

  “The witch? You call Moira O’Donnell a witch?”

  Pietro stopped for a moment, sat next to Philip, and said, “I’m sorry. I know you have affection for the girl.” He went on. “The Cardinal sent Raphael into the mission to assess the situation. You understand that we still don’t know his calling.”

  By the age of twenty-one, the “calling” of all St. Michael’s children was clear. Whether they were to be priests, exorcists, empaths, demon hunters, demonologists, scholars, linguists, or one of many other specialties was discerned no later than twenty-one. Some, like Anthony, had been discerned at an early age. Others, like Raphael, were more elusive. He was in his thirties and still unsettled.

  Pietro continued. “After Father Salazar’s cryptic messages, we sent Raphael to Santa Lousia, but we also began to discreetly investigate all the men at the mission. You know why they were there.”

  “Because they’d been spiritually and emotionally damaged by evil.”

  “And we have sympathy for our people. But—”

  “You knew about the priest Jeremiah Hatch.”

  Pietro paused long enough that Philip wondered if he was working on a fabrication, or if he simply didn’t want to comment. “We began to suspect Hatch was a practicing magician,” Pietro said. “It was in retracing his steps in Guatemala that we discovered some inconsistencies with his story, and in those inconsistencies accepted that he may have uncovered the Conoscenza.”

  “By design.”

  “We don’t know how the book came to be in Central America, or how Hatch learned it was there. But he was missing for three years, and everyone who was lost with him is still missing. They are likely dead. Hatch returned to America, and is the only priest who asked to be sent to Santa Louisa.”

  “If you knew, why didn’t you stop him before the murders?”

  “We didn’t know! We didn’t have all the information until after the massacre. If Anthony is right about the Seven, the only known spell to draw them from Hell is in the Conoscenza. You sent the wi—Moira—to track Fiona’s coven, and she lands in Santa Louisa. The same place that we were looking for proof that the Conoscenza survived all these years. Now that the Seven may well be on earth, we face an ancient evil we are ill prepared for.” He sighed wearily as the sky grew darker, as the sun slid farther down and the clouds grew heavy. The light breeze that had flitted through the courtyard all day strengthened, pushing at the men.

  “There are times, Philip, when I want to close my eyes and leave it all for the End Times. There will be an end, and I am so tired.”

  Philip refused to live his life in the belief that nothing he said or did mattered. Forgiveness was commanded by the Lord, even for those who had done unspeakable acts. And if Philip died because he obeyed, then he was ready to die.

  “If we do not fight against evil, we are as those who celebrate it.”

  Pietro didn’t comment, and Philip felt very alone. He was considered an idealist, known for his passion and compassion. But Pietro was a realist, and realists often looked only at the facts—that Judgment Day was inevitable, regardless of what they did or didn’t do. Arrogant, Philip believed. This arrogance—pride—was the fall of many in the Order. That they were pure and thus could turn their back on the masses of God’s children.

  Philip had always been drawn to the parable of the lost sheep. That the Lord would sacrifice the pious to save the one who wandered. That the one mattered. Raphael … Anthony … Philip … Moira … even Peter, who had made wrong choices for the right reasons. That the Lord would forgive, would search for His lost sheep night and day, endlessly, and have mercy on them.

  Lord, please be with your lost sheep today and forever.

  “You, Philip,” Pietro said quietly, “are a rare soul.”

  “I am who I am, nothing more than a servant for the Lord.” They sat in silence for many minutes, until the clouds opened and a solitary drop of rain fell on the ground.

  Philip accepted his fate and rose, his bones cracking audibly. Despite the infirmities of old age, he no longer regretted his lost youth. “I should finish my preparations. It is a long journey.”

  Pietro remained sitting and caught Philip’s eye. “As you know, the Conoscenza can only be destroyed by a very specific person.”

  Philip’s stomach rose. “A witch.”

  “Moira.”

  “But you still call her Witch.”

  “She will always be a witch.”

  Philip shook his head, wiping raindrops from his brow. “You can’t believe that. We all can be forgiven.”

  “’Tis true, but she is what she is. Forgiven or not, she is our one best hope. Only a mortal witch can destroy the book written in the blood of a union between demons and humans. She is a descendant of the fall of man.”

  “We all are.”

  “But you know what I speak of.”

  Of course Philip understood what Pietro meant. After humans were banished from the Garden of Eden, after the first taste of knowledge from the forbidden fruit, a few in the following generations turned to magic, and demons roamed the earth with them. It was that first coven, the first magicians on earth, from which Fiona had come. And, thus, Moira.

  “Are you certain?” Philip asked as the rain fell more steadily and they began the walk back to the building.

  “I am,” Pietro said.

  A chill ran down Philip’s spine. As if sensing his fear and hesitation, the wind whipped up around them, coming down into the fortress as if blown in from the heavens. Pietro pulled his handmade sweater tighter around him.

  “I know you are upset with me, Philip, and I am sincerely sorry that I had to keep information from you. Rico needed Moira to believe that she was to be one of us, but it was simply to divert her questions. He never lied to her.” He hesitated. “Since you’re reluctant to bring Gideo
n, instead John will escort you to Santa Louisa.”

  “I’m going to Olivet.” Even as he said it, Philip realized that he’d been unconsciously planning to go directly to Santa Louisa. Anthony, Moira, Raphael—they were in danger, and they needed the truth if they were to have a chance.

  Philip wiped drops of rain from his cheek. “They deserve the truth.”

  “Perhaps. Philip, up until now, Moira’s visions have been of the present; if she begins to see the future we have to stop it.”

  Philip shook his head. “There are gifts—”

  “Her gifts are not from God. Philip, you are blind when it comes to Moira. I need you to be safe. John will escort you to Santa Louisa. He can protect you.”

  What Pietro was implying … “Moira would never hurt me, or any of us. It took her years to accept the assignment to”—Philip hesitated, unable to say the word kill, in violation of all he believed—“stop her mother and the coven.”

  As he passed Peter’s tree again, he glanced over, his heart heavy. Pietro had said all he had to say.

  They stepped inside the stone halls, water sliding off their clothes onto the ancient floor. Philip said, “I will leave tomorrow. Gideon will stay here, yes?”

  Pietro nodded solemnly. “Agreed. Gideon will join you later. I will prepare John to escort you. You’ll both leave at dawn.” He took Philip by the arm. “We cannot lose you, Philip. I’ve been … uneasy lately. Without you, we lose our center.”

  “I am merely a man.”

  “You are a rock, Philip. I remember when you arrived at the gates. I was ten, not privy to much, but I heard Father Lucca say, ‘This one, he is of the foundation. We must protect him as long as possible.’ And he took you under his wing. It was a first for him; he’d never raised one of us.”

  Philip had never heard that story before, and it moved him. “Are you keeping anything else from me?” he whispered.

  “You now know everything I know, but—” He stopped.

  “But? Pietro, please. I must know.”

  “The Cardinal knows more.”