Page 85 of Blood Sacrifice

“He has a point,” Tarrack replied. “I had trouble detecting them on our monitors and I knew they were here.”

“I’m the best tracker we have, and I swear these guys have wings,” Paulo added. “Either that or they are walking on the ceiling.”

A smirk crossed Owen’s lips, and his aura flashed. He had always been more than anyone anticipated, and there had been moments in the past when I saw his true power. He was a hybrid from an era when it was against all the laws for creatures to procreate with other species. Dominic trusted him, so that was good enough for me, but it didn’t eliminate the fact that he was a dangerous predator in the skin of a beautiful man.

“Maybe you’re looking in the wrong places,” Owen said, his head canting to the side as he studied Paulo. “Vampires are fast and agile, our feet not always touching the floor.”

I’d witnessed them jumping from tree to tree, moving so fast they were nothing more than a blur. Vampires were creatures of the night, blending into the shadows and becoming the monsters of nightmares. You tended to see a wolf when it was racing toward you, but you rarely saw a vampire before they struck.

Paulo and Jethro shared a troubled look before they neutralised their expressions.

“Take a team,” Salvator instructed. “I don’t want to know what you’re doing or how you go about it. None of my wolves are to be injured or killed, but anyone not in this pack or Luna’s organisation is fair game.”

He was declaring open season on every night creature out there.

Balor would never anticipate that Salvator would send vampires as the first wave in an attack.

“Should you take some of our magic users with you?” I asked. “When I visited that area on the tour, I could feel tendrilsof magic. It could be a remote detection system to determine who is in the area.”

“I’ll go with them,” Maia said. “They might detect your energy, but they have never encountered me before. I’ll put together a tactical team and pack a few spell bags to help mask our presence.”

“If memory serves, they tended to avoid the higher energies,” I replied. “And mostly the elements of fire and earth.”

“Can we use a portal to take everyone there?” Dominic asked, making Salvator frown.

“Portal?” Salvator shot Tarrack a confused look. “Am I missing something?”

“The other team I work with uses portals to save transportation time and ensure no one can track us,” Dominic replied. “Not to worry, we’ll take our cars. It will allow us to do a little sight-seeing of the countryside.”

Tarrack typed on his laptop. “Did you want me to programme some of the best sites for you into the satnav system?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Salvator groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He was being sarcastic. I would imagine our new friend has scouted this country countless times over the years.”

Dominic shrugged one shoulder. “Vampires tend to wander in their youth. It is how we taste the flavours of the world.”

The muscle at the side of Salvator’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t comment or acknowledge Dominic’s attempt to provoke.

“I’d like to see the Nazca Lines,” Owen said. “They are the greatest proof that aliens have visited this planet.”

Salvator’s eyebrows shot up. “We have magic users who could have created those lines.”

Owen waved off his comment. “I’ve witnessed the marks left by magic and I don’t believe they fall under that category.”

“Angels?” Tarrack asked. “Luna said she encountered them.”

“I’ve lived a long time and seen a lot of shit, and every day there are more creatures crawling out of the forest of life. Who says we are the only life in the universe?” Owen shrugged as he spoke, and I met Maia’s gaze since she had always been fascinated by the idea of life on other planets.

“We’ll deal with the threat at our door first,” Salvator replied. “We’ll put beings from other planets on the list for another day.”

Owen nodded solemnly. “I’d appreciate that.”

Dominic rolled his eyes but said nothing since he tended to indulge Owen and his projects. “My coven has been arriving in small numbers to avoid detection. They are already in safe houses that Maia arranged. I will have them move toward the volcano.”

“We need to set up an exclusion zone since we don’t know what will happen if the warlocks attack,” I said. “Also, the void was sealed a long time ago. The wards around it are weakening and it could open at any time. If the entrance to it is in that area, we need to be aware of what might happen if it tears open.”

Salvator leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “Is there anything in the archives to allow us to know what to expect?” he asked.

“I think the last time it was open, it was before written records,” Maia replied, typing on her tablet to access our archive of ancient documents that we had digitised in recent years. “There is reference to the Titans being wrestled into the void before they destroyed the world with their chaos. The stories appear centuries after the event when some of our ancestors decided to record the spoken legends.”

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