Page 23 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)

Her brow furrowed as she looked down at the map.

“Nina Cho was babysitting,” Cleo said from beside her, leaning forward to point at a far spot on the map. “The corner of Somerset and Helen.”

“Right.” Benny reached for the spot to make her last mark. “Thanks.”

Harker leaned forward, his finger hovering over each black “X” as he walked around the edge of the island. He shook his head, a faint chuckle passing through his lips as he stopped on the other side of Benny.

“Of course,” he said.

Luke came around the other side, lingering beside Cleo, studying the map.

“What exactly are we looking at?”

Gideon was the only one on the other side of the island now, and he couldn’t help but glance at the others standing across from him, the way each of them held different emotions.

Harker was impressed, a rare reaction from the demon hunter.

Cleo and Luke shared vaguely confused looks.

And Benny? She looked pissed. Like all the rage she’d been holding was ready to burst. Which left a heavy feeling in his gut.

He glanced back down at the map and felt a moment of realization.

“It’s a pentagram,” he said, surprising himself.

And the others, apparently.

“Bravo, Gideon,” Harker said with a smirk.

“Isn’t that a little on the nose?” Luke scoffed.

“The pentagram is sacred,” Benny said. “To use it for this purpose feels rotten.”

“Darling, this is one of our best leads yet,” Harker said, plucking another marker from the island.

He connected each ‘X’ with a line, formulating the exact shape Gideon had remembered reading about in the witch book.

The book he had fallen asleep reading the night before, trying to not only understand a little bit more about Benny and her power, but what bothered her so much about how it was written.

The center of the star covered a part of Philly Gideon didn’t spend much time in, Hunting Park.

But there was one thing that stood out. “We might have just figured out the location of the ritual.”

The man at the quarry had said they would unlock the gates of hell.

Gideon plugged in the location into the laptop beside him. “A church?”

“I don’t know, brother.” Luke grinned. “Being forced to sit through mass always felt a little bit like torture when we were kids.”

“Can you guys even go inside churches?” Cleo asked, turning to Luke. “Or will you burst into a little confetti bomb of ash?”

Luke opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and then opened it again.

“I actually have no idea,” he said. “Harker?”

“There will be no confetti bombs of ash,” the demon hunter replied. “As long as we stay clear of the holy water and the crucifixes, we ought to be just fine. And even then, it’s a bit of a pinch, a burn—we’d heal.”

“Okay, but that shit still hurts,” Luke countered.

“Touché,” Harker said.

“I’ll do some research,” Luke said, then. “See what we can dig up on Our Lady of Perpetual Help. If there’s a gate to hell hidden in a church, some weird shit has probably happened there before, right?”

“Try and find the blueprints,” Gideon said as he stared down at the map.

“And the kids?” Benny asked, worry creeping into her features.

“The text isn’t entirely clear on their purpose,” Harker said carefully. “Each kidnapping has been exactly a week apart but we’re still a few weeks off from the blood moon. From my experience? I’m not sure there are still children to find. But I will see what I can find through my contacts.”

There was a heavy lull.

Gideon had a feeling Harker was being incredibly kind in his response.

“Hunting Park, huh?” Luke said, interrupting the silence as he glanced back down at the map, his finger tapping against the paper. “Feels like a weird place for a gate to Hell.”

“Rumor is there’s one in Orlando,” Harker said with a shrug.

“Tell me it’s underneath Cinderella’s castle,” Cleo said.

“See, now that wouldn’t surprise me.” Luke chuckled.

Something was nagging at Gideon as he thought more about the previous night.

“Halmanthoran,” Gideon said slowly, sounding out the word. He let out a huff of breath as it suddenly clicked. “Hal Moran.”

Luke snorted.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” he said.

Gideon shrugged. “I mean, everything else we dug up has led us to jack shit.”

“Great,” Cleo said, punctuating the word with both hands. “We’ve got Benny. We’ve got the ritual location. The only other thing I can think of is the—”

“The stone heart of the sun,” Luke finished for her.

“Whatever the hell that is,” Cleo chimed in.

“Oh!” Benny shifted on the stool, her bare legs swinging on either side now as she drummed her fingers at the countertop. They tapped a steady rhythm as she spoke, “I actually think I know someone who can help us with that one. But that means making a phone call.”

Gideon and Luke exchanged a glance.

“Who?” Gideon asked.

“A witch from my coven,” she said. “Liv is the best gemologist I know. If anyone knows what the stone heart of the sun is, it’s Liv.”

Luke fixed her with a stare, “And you trust her?”

“The bonds of coven witches are sacrosanct,” she said. “A betrayal like that, it’s a curse. If Olivia or Imani were responsible, I would know. I would trust those women with my life.”

“Well then, be my guest,” Luke said, tossing her his cell phone.