Carnal Sin

appreciate the support you’ve given each other over the years. So if Anthony is somewhat blind to what’s been going on, I can take his comments and report with a grain of salt. But Moira?” Rico slammed his palm on the counter, a rare physical burst of anger. “She’s never lied to me. But she did it fully knowing what she was doing. I know her better than she knows herself, and I will not tolerate her hedging.”

“What are you going to do? Toss her in a dungeon?”

Rafe was being flip, but Rico’s sharp reaction surprised him. “Don’t you dare suggest that I’m anything like her evil mother.”

What did that mean? What had Fiona done to Moira-and what did Rico know about it? Rico’s comment reminded Rafe that he didn’t know Moira as well as Rico did.

“You’ve distracted Moira long enough,” Rico continued. “Stay away from her. She has a vital job to do and she can’t do it if her loyalties are torn.”

“Is that the real reason you don’t want me going to Los Angeles?”

“I can see right in front of me what’s going on,” Rico said. “Moira is preoccupied with your problems, your coma, your dreams. She’s worried and not fully focused on finding Fiona and Matthew Walker. She’s not focused on destroying the Conoscenza.”

Rafe defended her. “She is consumed by her search for her mother!”

Rico shook his head. “If she wavers, even a fraction, she’ll die before she gets a chance to complete her mission. And if that happens? There’s no one else. No one that we know of who can destroy the book.”

“That’s all she is to you? A tool?”

“Isn’t that all any of us are? That’s why you’ve been wandering, Raphael. You refuse to accept that you have a calling more important than yourself. Moira is not you. She’s accepted her charge, and she’s willing to do what it takes to stop evil on Earth.”

“Even if she has to die.” Rafe realized why Moira would not acknowledge their intense, growing feelings for each other. She believed she would die. She was trying to protect herself, and him as well. But he didn’t want that kind of protection. “You weren’t there during the last battle. You have no idea how bravely Moira performed. Nothing can distract her from her goal; you trained her well.” Rafe sounded as bitter as he felt. But he would not let Moira die.

“Yes I did,” Rico said with complete confidence. “But make no mistake, Raphael-her situation is extremely dangerous and any distractions will prove fatal. I don’t know what you did to ingratiate yourself with Moira, to get her to lie for you. I don’t want you going to Los Angeles. Stay away from her.”

“Like hell I will. Moira and I are a good team. We worked together trapping Envy. You can even ask Anthony.”

“Moira doesn’t need a partner.”

“Doesn’t that go against everything you taught us at Olivet?”

“I am Moira’s partner.”

“You?” Rafe laughed. “From way up in Montana? I can see how well you protected her two weeks ago when Matthew Walker nearly killed her. Or from the Cerberus who attacked her. Or from the demon-”

Rico pushed off from the counter and was only a foot away from Rafe, his jaw tight and his dark eyes narrow. “I will be there when it counts.”

Rafe didn’t back down. “It counted then.”

“Stay away from her.”

“No.” Why was Rico so fixated on Rafe partnering with Moira? They had the same goal: stopping the Seven Deadly Sins. And no one else cared about Moira the way Rafe did. He didn’t want her to die. He wondered if Rico or Anthony felt the same.

“I’ll have you recalled,” Rico threatened.

“I dare you.”

“The cardinal won’t protect you if he thinks you’re stopping Moira in any way from completing her mission.”

Suddenly, everything came clear. Rico’s attitude, his efforts to keep Rafe from partnering with Moira. His harder-than-usual animosity. Before he could stop the words from spilling out, Rafe said, “You’re in love with her.”

Rico’s eyes widened in shock. He hadn’t realized it, but Rafe saw it as clear as day. Rico was playing the dominant male, trying to chase Rafe away from Moira because he considered her his territory.

Rafe wasn’t about to be chased away from anyone he cared about, especially Moira.

Rico said in a low voice, “You’ve been lying to everyone, Raphael, and maybe you’re even lying to yourself. Anthony told me how you cut open Moira’s hand during the battle with Envy. You claimed it was because the demon at the witch’s house died after biting her, and you were taking a leap of faith. Good excuse, which Anthony bought hook, line, and sinker. But we both know there’s more to it than that.”

Rico thought Rafe cut Moira as some sort of excuse? A cover for nefarious activity?

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Rico. What I told Anthony was the truth.”

“The truth?” Rico said. “I don’t think you know the truth.”

Rico was baiting him and Rafe tried not to jump.

“You took Moira’s blood because you think it’s a weapon.”

“Isn’t that what you used it for? None of us even suspected her blood might hold the answers.”

“It was just a theory, I didn’t know it would work. We were all going to die. I had to do something.”

“But you knew exactly what to do.”

“That’s why you want her blood. You’re going to test my theory, try to hurt a demon with it.”

“It’s not a theory if you’re using magic.”

“I’m not going to tell you again that I’m not.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Go to Hell.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Raphael.”

“I’m not playing. I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

“If anything happens to Moira under your watch, I will kill you,” Rico said. He strode toward the sliding glass door, but Rafe wasn’t letting him have the last word.

“The same goes for you, Rico. And I’m betting that your plans for Moira have more to do with her dying than mine.”

Rico hesitated a moment, then continued out the door without looking back.

Rafe stared after him. You’re on notice, buddy.

FIVE

Rico and Anthony retrieved the tabernacle that housed the demon Envy from St. Francis de Sales Church, and Anthony drove Rico to the small Santa Louisa airfield where Rico had landed his private plane earlier that morning.

Rico always kept his emotions under tight rein, which was why most people thought he was heartless. In many ways, he was; his vocation required it. He had no time for the pleasantries that were customary among people. Like Anthony and the others, he’d been abandoned as an infant at St. Michael’s doorstep and raised by the priests and monks in the fortress they called home. He’d been trained to be a warrior for God. He knew nothing else. He didn’t want to know anything else. His calling was clear, and he had never doubted it once in his thirty- seven years. Never.

Which was why Raphael was able to get under his skin. Ex-hunter, ex-seminarian, the guy was full of doubt and questions. And he had the audacity to question Rico about the single most important, most dangerous battle they’d faced this century-which also could be the last. Raphael had never understood that he was a soldier, and soldiers take orders. Though he didn’t agree with them, Rico had accepted Raphael’s choices. Until now. Raphael