Page 16 of Blood Sacrifice

“Balor hasn’t broken the treaty and entered our lands in a long time,” Paulo said. “That worries me. He seems to be prepared to start a war over whatever it is he is searching for.”

“Is it one of our lost priestesses?” Aisha asked, and I could feel her trying to influence those in the group to seek truthful answers. It had never bothered me in the past as she had a vested interest in finding her sister priestesses.

“Hard to know,” I replied. “None of us have detected any magic from any of the group. Jethro was staying in the hotel last night.”

His face appeared on the conference call, and he sat in a chair. “I detected some wolf activity around the hotel,” he replied. “No magic being used.”

My face remained neutral. “Did you have time to look through those on the tour?” I asked, knowing that I hadn’t released the information until just before the meeting.

“No.” Aisha smiled, tilting her head to the side. “I don’t believe that information was available.”

I nodded to indicate Tarrack share the files. Jethro was an excellent poker player, his face not changing when the image of Luna appeared. The photograph of the woman I had added in her place was similar, but definitely a different woman.

“Do you recognise anyone?” I asked.

“No.” Aisha shook her head. “Although it has been a very long time and witches are capable of changing their appearance. Maybe I should get a flight to Cusco and observe the people?”

“We can’t have a priestess visit this territory,” Jethro said easily. “It’s bad enough we have something that has piqued Balor’s interest, we do not need to add to his excitement.”

I carefully watched the reaction of everyone on the call. Tarrack and Jethro were the only ones who knew I had changed the photographs of one of the people on the tour. It sent amessage to them that I knew who was the real target and we were protecting her.

“I think it’s best that we have more than just lycans on this mission,” Aisha continued. “There is no offence intended, but there are many magical creatures in this world and Balor has only ever remained interested in the missing priestesses. We have ways of detecting a null shield.”

“If you’re correct, then Jethro is right. We cannot have two priestesses here at the same time,” I replied. “If we need to, we’ll bring the entire tour back to one of our bases to interrogate them.”

Aisha’s jaw tightened, but she forced herself to relax and smile. She didn’t agree, but didn’t want to argue further since two of us had vetoed her idea. “Thank you, I’m still concerned for my sister priestesses after all these years.”

“We’ll keep you informed,” I replied, rubbing above my eye. “At this moment in time, I want all teams brought in and ready for redeployment. Jethro, Paulo, and I will remain here and monitor the situation. Tarrack, ensure evacuation teams are at our closest location and ready to mobilise.”

I treated this like any other mission that involved Balor, taking the normal precautions.

Phoebe’s phone pinged and she glanced down, bringing her head up a few moments later. “I could travel to Cusco to help. I’m not a priestess, and I possess the gift of clairvoyance, so I should be able to help.”

I had never noticed how pushy Aisha was before, but I had no doubt she’d just messaged Phoebe.

“Fine,” I agreed. “Tarrack will organise your travel arrangements.”

My phone was on the desk in front of me, and I typed my own message to Tarrack.

Me:Arrange travel for Phoebe to the main facility. Have her stay there until we need her.

In other words, keep her out of the way.

“That seems a wise decision,” Aisha said. “Thank you for volunteering, Phoebe.”

Jethro:Well, that was awkward. Should we expect an accidental visitation?

Me:I wouldn’t be surprised after watching that.

“We’ll keep everyone up to date,” I said, terminating the meeting. “The tour is leaving soon, and we need to get on the road to keep them under surveillance. Tarrack will remain central contact for anything to do with this mission.”

Instead of waiting for goodbyes from everyone, I terminated the call for everyone at once, glaring at the blank screen. I had worked with all of these people a long time, and I trusted them, but today I realised some of them were holding onto secrets that had the potential to destroy everything we had built.

A knock sounded on my door and I glanced up.

“Do you have a minute?” Jethro asked, wandering in and closing the door. “I thought I recognised her. That woman on the tour is Luna, isn’t she?”

I continued to stare at him without speaking.

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