Page 38 of Blood Sacrifice

My gaze snapped to the aforementioned cooker, and noticed the vegetables that she had been chopping had found their way into the pot, the spoon stirring it again. That wasanother difference to the old Luna. She couldn’t cook, while this version created food that left me salivating. My heart wanted to go out for the day, but my stomach was in control right now and he was demanding a huge bowl of whatever that spiced stew was. He might even be tempted into a second portion.

“Fine,” I said with a pout. “Since you enchanted the kitchen utensils into cooking for us, it would be rude to ignore their hard work and devotion to our lunch.”

“Hey!” Luna protested, pushing me playfully, a smile lighting up her face.

We never had this before in our relationship, and it felt so different in a good way, as if there was more to Salvator and Luna than explosive sex and passion in the moonlight. I set the table as she put food on plates, the two of us working comfortably together, moving around each other as if we had lived together for years. A realisation hit me as I poured drinks: this was the first normality I had experienced in forever, a sense of being in a family and relaxed around someone because they made you safe to be yourself.

After lunch, we set out to explore the local area. Any time we were out and about, Luna took the opportunity to collect samples from nature that she used in spells. She had limited materials with her, and this allowed her to replenish her supplies with items from the country where she learned magic. I had gotten used to the scent of herbs and spices being mixed in my home, Luna changing the energy where I lived.

We were about an hour away from the house when I noticed a car in my rearview mirror. I didn’t say anything, but kept an eye on the situation, even changing my route to determine if it was following me.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Luna asked, moving in her seat to watch me.

I glanced at her briefly. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?” I queried, shooting another look in the rearview mirror.

She sat up straighter and held her hand out to start counting. “One, your body language is tense. Two, you keep looking in the mirror. Three, the spell I put in this car activated about twenty minutes ago to alert me to the fact that someone is following us.” She pointed to a little dancing cat she had put on the front dashboard a few days ago. Instead of moving side to side, it seemed to be rotating in a circular motion.

“You could have told me you had a spell that had activated,” I muttered, giving her the full power of one of my grumpy glares.

“There are spells all around the house and in some of the rooms. I thought you realised the significance of the little cat.” She touched the top of it with her fingertip and it stopped dancing.

“Do you know who is following us?” I queried.

Luna rubbed her hands together and muttered in a language I hadn’t heard for a very long time. It sent shivers rippling down my spine and the vibrations of magic filled the car. A mist formed like a screen on the front dashboard, clearing to reveal the man who had blown up my house and who had been following us a few days ago.

“How the fuck does he keep finding us?” I demanded.

“A powerful witch could create a locator spell by using an item that belongs to you,” Luna replied. “It’s why no one knows where I live, and I travel lightly.”

“I don’t know whether to be terrified or impressed at the level of security in your life,” I admitted.

“A deranged psychopath was hunting my kind to absorb our powers,” Luna said, her voice low. “Mother priestess told me to run and hide, and to trust my instinct. That is what I’ve doneto ensure I survived, and Balor never got the chance to access our collective power.”

I felt her sadness through the bond that strengthened between us every day, and I wanted to destroy everything Balor and his organisation stood for. Whatever had happened to me had taken that killer instinct from me, leaving me merely protecting my borders from incursion, but not actively taking the fight to him. Whoever had been responsible for the spell on me had been subtle to ensure no one would see their true ambition—to allow Balor to expand his empire away from my borders.

“I’m going to try and lead him somewhere isolated,” I said, returning my attention to the asshole currently following us.

“Do you think he has alerted anyone else about our location?” Luna asked, her head dipping to study him in her wing mirror.

“If it was me, I would want to make sure I had the correct target before calling in backup. He was at the house alone, and I didn’t detect anyone with him at Machu Picchu.”

She wiggled her nose again, which meant she was thinking the situation through. “I can try to create an illusion for him to follow to allow us to escape.”

“Or you could create an illusion to allow us to get behind him and surprise him,” I countered, the need to end this chase pulsing through me.

Luna chewed the corner of her mouth. “I will kill to defend myself, but I don’t deliberately seek to harm others. It is not the wiccan way.”

“Luna.” I sighed and moved my attention from the road to look at her. “This man tried to blow us up only your vision saved us, he followed us into the mountains, and is now currently behind us in his car. I think we can agree that he intends usharm, and we should at least speak to him to see who he is working for and why they are trying to kill us.”

“Capturing him to ask him questions would be okay,” she replied slowly, nodding her head.

I didn’t reply because the only way this scenario would end involved an immense amount of pain and that asshole dead at the bottom of a slope with a broken neck.

She took out her phone and began to type, probably to get Maia’s help to anchor whatever spell she was about to perform. It was the reason why witches worked in covens—at least one to perform the spell, and another witch to ground it to ensure success. She then proceeded to rummage through her bag until she retrieved a smaller silk bag that contained her magical items.

“I’m going to distort reality, so he believes that we are still travelling down this road, but you can pull over and fall into place behind him,” Luna said, bringing out the wax candle I had seen her use to draw symbols. Anyone else drawing on the interior of one of my cars would have faced the full force of my wrath, but Luna possessed the ability to calm the savage beast inside me.

Luna used the window beside her as a canvas for her to draw on, and the hairs on my arm rose as magic manifested inside the car. She chanted lowly, the symbols illuminating one after the other until they glowed on the window.

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