Page 97 of Blood Sacrifice

“Only to those who cannot see the real you,” Maia said, her head poking in between our two front seats. “You’re family, Owen, and any one of us would give our lives to keep you safe.”

He watched the two of us out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t comment.

We lapsed into silence, watching the outline of Misti get closer, the circle finally coming to completion from all those years ago. I had been here as void magic first started to rumble and try to free itself, only I didn’t possess the strength inside me to channel it. Four hundred years had incorporated a lot of life lessons that had changed me physically, emotionally, and mentally.

I didn’t know what I was about to face, but I had to believe there was enough inside me to be able to cope with whatever fate was about to throw at me.

“What if this is what the hellspawn and the angels want?” Owen asked. “What if void magic allows them to open the gates to Heaven and Hell permanently?”

“From everything I’ve read, the angels want all the gates closed so they can be insular and hostile to everyone who doesn’t possess wings,” Maia said from the backseat of the car. “They don’t play well with others.”

That was an understatement considering they had watched me as if I’d crawled from under a rock. Over time, they had losttheir humility and became arrogant. Too long in either extreme had made the inhabitants of both Heaven and Hell dangerous in their own unique ways.

“There is something about that volcano that I always felt drawn to,” I confessed. “The nights I attended ceremonies, I had believed it was the accumulated magic that I sensed, but now I believe it was the void magic churning under the restraints that held it.”

“Surely if it was dangerous enough to hide under a volcano, we should just leave it there?” Owen asked, giving me one of his disapproving glares that often reminded me of his mentor Dominic.

“Who are any of us to decide what should be eradicated?” I replied. “The elders decided the soul walkers were too dangerous and issued a kill order, yet nature still found a way and they continued to be born. If we don’t tell an acorn how to become an oak tree, then maybe we should leave the evolution of magic to the elements which control it.”

Owen nodded thoughtfully, his lips pursing together as if to hold whatever he wanted to say inside.

“There’s a magical barrier ahead,” Maia said about ten minutes later. She had always been an excellent tracker, and her ability to detect even the smallest spell was impressive.

Owen slowed the speed of the car. “What do you want to do?”

“Maybe I should examine the fabric of the spell to determine if it will alert people to our presence? They knew a priestess was here after Luna was in the area on the tour. It could have been the barrier around the volcano.” Maia rolled the window down of the car and stuck her arm out as if she would be able to reach out and touch the spell.

We travelled as far as we could until Maia called out for us to stop. She exited the car to stand outside with her hands on her hips as she studied the fabric of whatever surrounded this place.

Magic was like a crochet project—there were many knots and stitches all intricately holding it together in a beautiful pattern that created the end result. However, like a crochet pattern, if you picked a specific stitch out, the entire project would unravel.

Maia studied the intricacies of the pulsating, living entity in front of her. “It’s been here a long time, protecting what lies beyond from those who seek it.” She crouched low, her finger tracing a pattern in the dirt.

“What if we put a null field around the car?” Owen asked, coming to stand behind her. “Would that give us enough time to enter through the enchantment and reach our destination?”

“They know I’m here, and that I probably have others with me,” I replied. “Then add in that Aisha saw vampires back at the base…” my voice trailed off.

“They would increase the wards,” Owen finished. “I can make my vampire side more prevalent and suppress my maternal side. Would that make a difference?”

“I think corrupting the basis of the spell would be our best option,” Maia said. “Most magic users tend not to examine the fundamental basics of their work, just add layers onto it.”

“Agreed,” I added. “What do you need us to do?”

For the next hour or two, the three of us examined the different layers of the enchantment until we discovered one of the basic spells that was tethered to the earth element.

“If we corrupt this and remove its link to the ground surrounding the volcano, we can probably pass through without them detecting us,” Maia said. Her fingers moved as if she was knitting with them, and then knotting the magical threads back together again in a different pattern.

“Should we try it?” Owen asked, his eyebrow raising in question.

Maia shrugged. “It’s the only way we’re going to know if it’s worked.”

He stepped through, flapping his arms as if he was about to fly with the birds who had been watching us with interest. “I can still sense magic as I step through,” he said.

“Good, that means the main body of the spell is still in place.” Maia nodded to me. “Now you.”

I was one of the original priestesses, and we all knew there could be specific clauses put in the enchantment to detect me.

Maia watched the energy field intently. “It isn’t registering anything unusual,” she said. “I vote we just continue our journey, and see how far we get.”

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