Page 23 of Blood Sacrifice

The sun blinded me for a moment when I walked outside, but I needed a connection with nature to help me speed my healing. Salvator’s home was surrounded by a beautiful garden that felt like it was a piece of paradise far from the prying eyes of the world.

“I’ve never heard of a witches’ network,” Salvator replied, taking a seat beside me on the elaborately carved wooden bench.

“That is because you’re not a witch and technically it is a secret organisation,” I said, leaning back and closing my eyes.

“We have magic users in our organisation,” he defended. “Technically, that includes your sister.”

That touched a raw nerve because I had felt her death and that didn’t make sense to me. We had been connected not just through the coven mother priestess had formed but through a sister witch link that was powerful magic, allowing us to sense each other at a primal level.

Exhaustion crested over me as I allowed the sun’s energy to sink into me, the earth beneath my feet grounding me.

“Are there other priestesses from that night in your network?” he asked, his fingertips touching my hand, sending waves of awareness through me.

“A few that I encountered over the years. They are well hidden, some of them in the long sleep,” I admitted.

He turned in the seat, and I felt his gaze boring into me. “The long sleep?”

I finally opened my eyes to look at him. “Four hundred years is a long time to live,” I replied. “The long sleep allows us to sleep through decades. It’s the basis of the faerytaleSleeping Beauty.”

His eyes widened for a moment before he glanced away. “I didn’t know that was possible.” He shook his head. “It seems I have been misinformed about many aspects of magic.”

“Maybe,” I replied. “Maybe not. If you only use one aspect of magic, then you never know the true potential of it, and the real power behind spells. I spent a lot of time travelling to help myself forget, and found a different path along the way. Mother priestess told me to go east and follow my instinct. That’s what I did.”

“And I remained here and am still just a lycan.” Salvator sounded bitter.

“Dire wolves contain magic,” I said. “I’ve met several over the years, and many of them have the ability to cast spells and control the elements.” What I didn’t say was that those black wolves had all been mated, and their abilities flowed from their union to their mates.

“None of this makes sense,” Salvator said. “What bothers me is that you’re walking around with that necklace on, which means no one can detect who you are, yet Balor knew you were in the country. How?”

“Maybe I can answer that question when my head stops thumping,” I replied, touching the lump at the side of my head.

“Come on.” Salvator stood up and held his hand out. “You had a serious concussion and the doctor wanted you in hospital for observation. I was worried you’d be discovered there after the crash.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’re going to lie down in a darkened room after you take some of the medication he left for you.” He grabbed my hand and led me inside. “I’m going to try and find some answers as to why we’ve been misled about the use of magic all these years.”

My lips twitched at his bossiness. Some things hadn’t changed, even in four hundred years. I had snuggled down under the covers in the darkened room when a vision flashed behind my eyes, making me sit straight up in bed.

“Salvator!” I shouted, already stumbling to the door.

He appeared in front of me with his phone in his hand, confused.

“We need to go,” I said. “Now!”

His eyes widened, but he didn’t reply, merely grabbed my case and his bag in the other bedroom on the way past. I unplugged my phone and threw it into my handbag. We hadn’t even reached the end of the drive when the house exploded behind us, the heatwave making me duck low in my seat.

I wasn’t sure how they found us, or even who they were, but someone had just tried to kill Salvator and me.

Chapter Eight

Salvator

I owned a number of safe houses all over South America that I had selected over the years for their location or just because they appealed to me when I visited the area. This one was the closest I owned to Cusco. I didn’t believe anyone knew where it was, but that assumption had been incorrect because there was a blocker in my car in case someone had bugged Luna’s bag at the hotel.

I had been on the phone with Jethro when Luna screamed for me. One look at her face and I knew she was viewing a vision. They had saved us from discovery in the past, and just saved our lives today.

Someone had previously known about this property and extrapolated that I would go here. That meant there was a spy in my organisation, and that didn’t sit well with me.

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