Page 74 of Blood Sacrifice

She pursed her lips together and nodded once before she disappeared back through the portal, leaving me alone in thisforsaken place. An elaborate doorway was carved into the stone, symbols etched around the edge. Twisted iron rods formed a gate in the middle of it, which radiated out from a central point like a starburst.

I moved forward, narrowing my eyes to try and read all the symbols. The warning spoke of death to the unworthy, and a judgement to those who dared to enter.

“Fuck it,” I muttered, grabbing the gate to tug it open.

A flash of light blinded me and pain seared through every part of me. It felt like I was dying all over again.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Salvator

“Red team in place,” Jethro’s voice sounded in my earpiece.

“Blue team at the front of the building,” Paulo added.

“The black team are like the bats in the belfry, ready to strike,” Dominic said and I felt like groaning. Why could he not just use the same terminology as everyone else?

“Roger that,” I replied. “On my mark.”

This was not a friendly visit, nor was it one to take prisoners. The time for negotiations had vanished long ago. The world deserved to be rid of these vermin and their evil acts purged.

We had limited magic users, and Maia needed as many as possible to protect the base, brew potions, and scan wolves as they returned to ensure they hadn’t been whammied. Therefore, our team didn’t have any witches on it, but a niggling voice whispered that Dominic was more than he pretended.

I didn’t knock the door or wait to be invited in. Instead, my boot connected with the wood where the locking mechanism should be, shattering it and sending the lock clattering to the floor.

That was the signal the rest of my team had been waiting for. I heard another door being destroyed, followed by the sound of shattering glass.

I strode into the old chapel complex with a gun in each hand. The blaster was still attached to the strap on my leg because there was something about the smell of spent ammunition in the air that made my wolf almost hum with satisfaction. A warlock emerged from a door on the left, and stumbled back when I double tapped him in the head, both bullets entering through the same hole.

I tossed a hand grenade into the room he had exited because they were rarely on their own. A scream echoed when it detonated, and a sadistic smile curved my lips. It was good to be me again, and every single lycan loved violence in the very fibre of our being. I embraced it and continued to walk through the building. Gunshots sounded somewhere behind me, and there was a bloodcurdling scream to my right. I stopped, watching in horror as Dominic descended from the ceiling on top of a warlock. His fingers looked more like talons as he tore the magic user’s heart from his chest and threw it on the floor.

“Filthy animal,” Dominic snarled. “He was trying to curse Paulo.”

It was only then that I noticed Paulo on the floor with an injury to his shoulder. “I’m fine,” Paulo said. “Just a scratch.”

It looked more than a scratch, but this wasn’t the time or the place to argue with him. We needed to clear this rats’ nest of the rodents who were infesting the house of God.

The prickle of magic touched my skin and my head snapped up, my sight lightening, which meant my eyes were glowing. Dominic’s body language changed as well, a feral grin slowly spreading across his face.

“It looks like someone wants to play,” the vampire said, his fingers flexing.

I may have been spellbound, but Luna had created my amulet and added a few spells of her own, one of which meant that no spell could influence me. I felt the touch of magic as it sought out a victim. Instead of cowering under the power of it, I strode forward, seeking out who was casting.

The next few minutes were filled with the metallic scent of blood as we slaughtered everything in our paths. The magic users couldn’t affect Dominic or me, and while the others were left behind in the main body of the chapel, the vampire and I made our way through the lesser magic users and guards who had been sent as cannon fodder.

A soldier jumped down from the rafters on top of me, knocking me to the floor. I rolled over, wrapping my arm around his neck, my legs holding him captive as I pulled at his head with my full strength. A sickening flesh-ripping sound echoed as his head detached from his shoulders. My wolf howled in glee since he had been fully let off his leash to create havoc.

I jumped up, my claws elongating as my gun was long forgotten. Dire wolves possessed a hybrid form between human and wolf, utilising the strengths of both species. The blood of my enemies was splattered on me, and a loud growl rumbled from my chest. To destroy the monsters sent to try and subjugate us, we needed to release the beasts inside us.

I stretched my arms wide, my muscles bunching as I howled my anger, the windows shaking in their frames. My wolf added his strength to mine until we were one being, our minds focusing on the fight.

A fresh wave of expendable soldiers entered the rear of the complex. Balor had been employing mercenaries in recent years as more and more dire wolves escaped his grasp and defected to our side of the war. What none of us realised was that they had been spellbound before they reached us.

All my frustration and anger erupted, and I ripped into anything that moved too close to me. My claws were designed to eviscerate my enemy, my canines to tear into their flesh, and I didn’t care that I had become a creature of nightmares. I relished the aroma of blood, the thick, warm fluid spurting and landing on me. It was the mark of a warrior, as no wolf ever exited battle without being covered in the blood of their enemies as proof of their success.

Balor’s mercenaries were strong, but both Dominic and I were faster than their human reflexes. The magic users were chanting and trying to prevent us from going any further.

I grabbed one of the warlocks by the throat, lifting him off the ground. “Your magic doesn’t work on me,” I snarled, exposing my elongated canines as I spoke. “It’s merely an annoyance against my skin. Let’s see if my weapons work on you…” I let my threat trail off, my claws trailing down his chest to separate flesh and bone.

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