Page 55 of Blood Sacrifice

Something resembling a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie was outside. Tall, dangerous wolves prowled around the diner, trying to break through the wards I had placed on the building, driven by a need to complete a task assigned by their master. There was a wildness in their eyes that said they wouldn’t remember what happened here today when they were recalled to the base.

It was why spellbinding was an offence punishable by death from the elder council. Free will was something given to every living being, and it was against the divine laws to interfere with it.

Salvator flexed his fingers, his features sharpening as his wolf combined his strength with him. There was a raw, feralnature to this man, a predator barely contained in human flesh. Power radiated from him in magnetic waves that called me to him.

“Stay here,” Salvator growled, his eyes glowing amber, his hand grasping behind my neck and dragging me against him for a moment. His emotions crashed into me, stunning me before he strode toward the door, leaving me standing speechless.

Jethro and a still bewildered Paulo followed him out.

Chaos ensued with vicious growls rumbling into the diner through the closing door. There was no way I was sitting here when my mate was at risk out there. I was rarely out in the field, so in my head I imagined these wolves still fought in hand-to-hand combat.

Salvator walked out, pulling a gun from the back of his belt, shooting the first man who stepped in front of him in the centre of the forehead. The lycan fell back, a shocked expression on his face. He punched the next target in the face, swiping his leg to bring the guy to the ground. When he rolled over to try and crawl away, Salvator stomped on the back of his neck, breaking it and leaving him lying dead.

Jethro and Paulo fanned out behind him, each as deadly as the alpha of their pack.

I jolted when another gunshot rang out, pressing myself against the wall as I followed them. Guns scared me, they always had because they were unnatural and deadly. Someone grabbed me when I got to the end of the wall, trying to drag me down an alley.

Just because I didn’t like violence, didn’t mean that I hadn’t trained in many different fighting styles over the years. Strong arms wrapped around my waist to incapacitate me. I used my weight to propel myself up to hit them in the face with the back of my head. When they almost dropped me, I slammed my heels into their feet, and a grunt sounded behind me. Itallowed me a moment of shock to help free myself, spinning to kick them between their legs, my hand coming up to break their nose.

A witch I met two centuries ago taught me that women had to learn to defend themselves, and it was something that I practiced to this day.

The man launched himself at me, claws extended, and blood pouring down his face. “Someone wants a word with you,” he snarled, his top lip lifting.

“No, thank you,” I replied, bringing my right hand up to hit him in the centre of the chest as he moved closer to me. He froze when I touched him, his body being flung back by the force of all the elements combining together in an explosive energy.

A shadow stole the light from the alley, an angry alpha dire wolf prowling down like a dark avenging angel.

“You shouldn’t have touched my mate,” he said, his form growing bigger with every step.

The guy should have stayed on the ground and pretended to be unconscious. His first mistake was standing up to face Salvator, the second was looking at me, the third was taking a step forward. He was so under magical influence, he didn’t register Salvator’s reaction, especially so close to his mate. He took another step, and a growl echoed in the alley, reverberating off the walls, and making my stomach clench.

“You are one of the chosen,” the guy said. “One of the lost children of the sun.”

He didn’t say another word because Salvator’s hand wrapped around his throat, his fingers clenching to turn his knuckles white.

“She is my mate,” Salvator corrected him. “And you dared to put your filthy hands on her.”

There was no hope for weaker souls who were spellbound. Their minds were permanently damaged and the person theywere before lost. His aura reminded me of a dark, muddy pond with no light. If I broke the spell, it would kill him instantly.

Salvator lifted him by the throat until he was eye level to him, staring into his eyes as if trying to see through a two-way mirror. “Tell Balor I’m coming for him and all the cowards he hides behind. There’s nowhere left to hide, no rock I won’t overturn to find him. The war is coming to an end, and only one side will survive.”

I didn’t need to see any more. There was a finality to his words that heralded the fate of the lycan who dared to attack me. I walked in the opposite direction toward the light that guided me back to the street.

The growls and cracking of bones followed me, but I refused to look back, not even when a disarticulated arm flew past my head. Witches cast spells and collected herbs. Vampires were bloodthirsty, homicidal maniacs who moved incredibly fast. Lycans were violent psychopaths with anger issues and mood swings associated with the moon.

Jethro was dragging a body down the middle of the road to put with others when I emerged from the alley of death. Paulo sat at the side of the road with his head in his hands. I walked across to where I left the bottles of water. They had been infused with the enchantment I had cast in the diner earlier.

Chanting the words to activate it, I emptied the water on the ground, using the element of air to elevate it above my head. These lycans may be dead, but they deserved to be untethered in the afterlife, their souls free to evolve and grow. It was the least I could do for them.

The water droplets spun up into the air like bullets to go and find their target, dropping on the bodies of the dead to remove the spell that bound them into the slavery of a dark witch.

“May the great mother guide me to find who did this,” I said, the last of the water pooling in the dip of the palm of my hand. “I ask for justice in their names.”

It was a petition to the higher powers that still held dominion over magic. The old gods had not been seen for centuries, but that didn’t mean that they no longer existed. Physics alone didn’t keep this planet spinning, but the seasons blending seamlessly into one another. Humans spoke of biology and chemistry while witches talked of magic. The fabric of this world was fragile and the original sorcery that carefully knit it all together still operated today. It was the reason why the hellspawn that were clawing their way from the depths of Hell needed to return there.

I felt his presence approaching, the hairs on my body lifting in awareness.

“Feel better?” I queried.

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