Page 60 of Blood Sacrifice

The wolves had devised a plan, but that didn’t mean I had to stick to it. The remainder of the potion was at the bottom of my bag, safely contained in a sealed flask. I had memorised the basic plans Salvator had drawn, and I had asked several questions to hide the one I wanted answered. The water supply all came through one pipeline into the building.

I left the shooting people to Dominic, and navigated my way through the base, being careful to stay clear of any magical signatures I sensed. I was making good progress when someone stepped in front of me, their nails digging into my arm to stop me.

The woman’s eyes widened in recognition, and my heart thudded in my ears when I recognised one of my sisterpriestesses. Her face was the same, but her aura wasn’t, darkness tainting her.

“What did you do?” I asked in a low tone.

Her beautiful face contorted to show the evil that lurked inside her. “What I had to do to survive. Not all of us were protected by mother priestess. Some of us she willingly left to be caught and sacrificed, while others were given gifts so they could hide themselves.”

I remembered being confused by what was in the bundle she had given me. A small book of spells, an amulet, and some food and money. That amulet had travelled the globe with me several times over, ensuring my protection. I had assumed we had all been given the same gift. Obviously not.

“Mother priestess wanted us all to survive,” I replied. “She would be ashamed to see what you have become.”

“They watched Salvator for years,” she said, and I pulled my arm away from her. “Everyone knew how much you were infatuated with him. If anyone would draw you back to this place, it would be him. What I don’t understand is why now after all this time?”

Over the years, I had learnt to mask my emotions so no one saw the turmoil inside me. A fake smile turned my lips up into a smile. “This is not my first time to return,” I replied. “I visit frequently to catch up with old friends.”

“We would have felt your presence,” she snapped.

“And yet, you didn’t.” I rubbed my fingertips together to activate the spells held there. I had avoided fighting witches for centuries because I hated to harm one of my own kind.

“There is a great reward for your capture, a power that many covet.” She raised her hands, ready to stun me, but she was too late.

Even though I tended to live in isolation, I had learned to fight in the witch wars two centuries ago. None of us were proudof what we had to do to endure, but survival was a base instinct. The spells on my fingers had taken years of dedication to perfect and place on my body, something a dark witch wouldn’t have the patience or the connection with nature to complete.

The power of elemental magic hit her full force to the chest, forcing her back several paces. I followed her, strengthening my attack, and forming a ball of energy between the palms of my hands before releasing it. The energy balls impacted against her, spinning her in the middle of the room.

Her entire face changed, her true distorted form revealed, the beautiful veneer fading away. She launched herself at me with her elongated claw-like hands with sharp nails honed as weapons, muttering an incantation.

Magic wasn’t my only form of self-defence. I flung-up a protective bubble, side-stepping her, and spinning to grab her long hair. I dragged her back, kicking her abdomen, and activating the tattvas on my hand. I slapped her in the centre of the chest to push the spell into her body.

She shrieked, body writhing as she tried to escape. She lashed out, her fists pounding my face and neck, her feet kicking at me. Her strength did not match her slender form, her blows weakening me.

I tightened my hold on her hair, and activated a spell I had hoped never to have to use again. The phobia spell released the recipient’s greatest fear, making them experience it everywhere they went. Fear tended to override every other emotion, paralysing the person.

She screamed again, this time her hands flailing in front of her as if to try and get rid of something. I dragged her toward a door at the back of the room, which revealed a storage area. I should kill her, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that that would strengthen Balor, so instead I bound her with magic, leaving her in a statis spell, her body frozen, but her mind alive and fightingagainst her phobias. When I sealed the door with a locking spell, I retraced my footsteps through the building, taking an unused stairwell near the back that led directly to the basement.

I could inject every single person in this building, or I could infuse the remainder of the potion into the water system that everyone had access to, including any corrupt witches. It wasn’t specifically designed to break a spell-binding, but to remove any spell cast on that person, and that included one that masked the true identity and intent of Balor’s operatives hiding here.

Time was against us, and I felt Salvator’s emotions inside me. He was irritated and angry, his wolf screaming in both of our heads.

“I’m trying,” I whispered. “You need to trust me.”

For a moment, I felt the wolf’s energy inside me, giving me the strength I needed to forge ahead. I stopped for a moment, my hand on the wall to stabilise me.

“I need to find the water inlet,” I said, and a ghostly energy nudged me to show me the way. I staggered on, determined to set these wolves free, to return their free will to them.

I hated the darkness, the memories flashing behind my eyes of my years in captivity. They had kept me locked in a dark room with only rats and cockroaches to keep me company in between them taking my blood and cutting pieces from my body to try and steal my magic.

Salvator’s wolf led me further into the bowels of the building, his presence reassuring me. Eventually, we came to an inlet, a lever at the side. It was stiff from not moving for years, the damp down here causing a crust to form around the mechanism. My hands slipped several times, my fingers aching from trying to open it.

“Take a breath and concentrate,”Salvator’s voice sounded in my head.“You have lip balm in your bag. Use the strength of my wolf.”

My energy was flagging, but I centred myself, connecting with the power of the wolf who had sought me out because he sensed my need. I felt his presence in me, as if I was too big for my body, my shoulders trying to widen and my frame needing to expand. I smeared the waxy lip balm that contained my illusion spell around the mechanism, and gripped the lever again. My fingers changed form, elongating into powerful claws as they used brute strength to force the lever to open.

I sucked in a breath, tears escaping to roll down my cheeks when it finally gave way. I poured the potion into the main water supply, locking the valve again before picking up my bag. It hadn’t occurred to me that Salvator would be able to see or sense what I was doing down here since our connection had been blocked since he returned from the rainforest.

“There’s a problem up here. You need to get out of the basement and hide somewhere,”Salvator said, his voice urgent.“I’ll find you when this is over.”

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