Original Sin by Allison Brennan

self-made prison, where people maimed and tortured and raped and killed without thought or remorse, where magic was the norm and evil ruled. Where pleasure was pain and pain pleasure, where there was no justice, no light, no hope …
    She said, “When we got here, there was chaos all around—see?” She gestured to the candles and the linen under Abby’s body. “They didn’t even gather up all their supplies. They didn’t erase the circle. And there was sulphur in the air, incense and poison.” Moira was unconsciously rubbing her scar. She stuffed her hands in her pockets.
    “Are you saying Abby was poisoned?”
    “No. Maybe. She might have been, but that’s not how she died.”
    “How did she die?”
    Moira took a deep breath and looked at Anthony. “Anthony knows.”
    Skye sounded irritated. “Can the woo-woo . Just tell me the truth or I’ll arrest you.”
    Moira bristled. “Abby was a sacrifice, necessary to bring forth the demon.”
    “Not just one demon,” Anthony interrupted.
    Moira and Skye turned to him.
    “How do you know?” Skye asked.
    He said, “The symbols. There are seven.”
    “I only saw three,” Moira said.
    “They were deliberately obscured.”
    “Seven?” she asked, incredulous. “At one time?”
    He addressed Moira with a subtle nod. “The ritual could easily have been Abby’s cause of death.”
    “Anthony, please—” the sheriff said wearily.
    “Skye,” he said softly, and for the first time Moira saw a tenderness she’d never before seen in the demonologist. “We have an extremely serious situation here. The Seven may have been released.”
    Moira blanched. Anthony was about to confirm her greatest fear.
    Anthony gestured with his flashlight to the triangles and symbols outside the circle. “I don’t know how they did it, how they found the spell. The book was supposed to have been destroyed hundreds of years ago, but this is the same as I’ve seen in two different sets of ruins, one in Ireland that is five hundred years old, and one in Italy that is nearly a thousand years old. There were more attempts, but we don’t know where or when. Every one has failed.”
    A chill ran down Moira’s arms. “They probably failed too,” she said. “Look around, it’s chaos.”
    “I don’t know,” Anthony said.
    “The Seven?” Skye asked.
    “The Seven Deadly Sins. If they’ve been freed, we have a supernatural war on our hands. And we are not prepared.”
    It was the Conoscenza . Only the Book of Knowledge had the proper spell to release the Seven Deadly Sins from Hell. Fiona had found it.
    Anthony stared at Moira. “Arrest her.”
    “What?” Moira and Skye said together.
    “Moira O’Donnell is a witch. She has the power to do this.”
    “Bullshit! You damn well know I had nothing to do with any of this!”
    “She’s here illegally,” he continued, facing Skye and ignoring Moira. “Olivet is a reclusive, all-male theological college similar to St. Michael’s, where I’m from. She couldn’t have legitimately gotten a student visa. I sent a friend of mine a message.” He glanced at Moira, triumphant, and Moira knew exactly what he was going to say. “They’ve been expecting her for months. She never showed.”
    Skye said, “That’s an Immigration issue, Anthony. I don’t have grounds to arrest her unless she committed a crime.”
    What Anthony said was true, she was supposed to return to Olivet after learning the deaths she’d investigated in upstate New York three months ago weren’t related to supernatural forces. But both Father Philip and Rico knew she was following her mother’s trail. They kept her involvement under wraps for a whole host of reasons, not least among them was the division she’d caused among the Order after Peter’s death.
    But she wasn’t going to prison over their secret. “Call Rico Cortese,” she told Anthony. “If he didn’t tell anyone about my trip to Santa Louisa, I’m sure he had good reason. Need to know and