Blood Sacrifice (The Astral Chronicles #1)

Chapter TwentySalvator

Chapter Twenty

Salvator

Every stupid decision I made in my lifetime involved Luna:

The day I let my hormones rule and kissed her for the first time, then going back the next night because I couldn’t escape the feeling of her lips on mine.

The night I threw caution to the wind and committed what Balor considered a cardinal sin, having sex with Luna with only the moon and stars as our witness. She had infected me with pesky little gremlins called emotions and I started to fall helplessly in love with her.

The morning I paid a trader to keep her safe, and walked away to fight in a war to save my kind was my worst decision. I should have stayed with her, turned my back on everything but the woman who meant the most to me.

My latest stupid decision was thinking I could block her out because I was ashamed of the man who stood there and watched impassively as young witches were murdered to steal their powers. I never wanted her to see my weaknesses because she had weathered horrendous storms in life and remained true to herself and the people she protected.

I didn’t deserve her, and yet the moment I felt her in danger, I sent my wolf to her.

Tarrack was still in the command centre, but Jethro and Paulo sat on either side of me at the conference table, staring at a sea of faces which no longer held any friendly intent.

“We have received troubling reports,” Aisha said, lifting a black folder from the table to wave it in the air. “A massacre in a small town, yet when our operatives arrived there was no evidence. The CCTV units had been wiped, and the humans confused.”

My eyebrows shot up and I leaned back in my seat to regard the four witches. “Is there a reason this report didn’t come to me or one of my commanders?” I asked, deliberately infusing my tone with alpha energy. Some of the wolves near the door moved uncomfortably in their seats.

Aisha drummed the tips of her nails on the table for several heartbeats. “My witches report to me,” she finally replied. “One of them had magical business in that area at the time she intercepted human communications.”

That was bullshit because there were blockers up all over that town and Luna had personally ensured humans didn’t venture anywhere near us. I didn’t comment on the fact she had already said the humans were confused, so how could they send out communications?

“Balor seems to be getting more and more confident. He had some of his men following a tour group a few weeks ago in our territory, and some of those tourists ended up dead in mysterious circumstances,” I replied, and I noticed Jethro nodding from the corner of my eye.

“We had to clean up the mess. It’s why I’ve been off the grid for a few days trying to track them,” Jethro added. “The pathologist didn’t find anything suspicious at their postmortem, but when I viewed the bodies, I could smell magic.” He wrinkled his nose up to demonstrated his disgust.

“There was an explosion at one of our safehouses as well,” Paulo said. “There was no one there at the time thankfully, but I’ve spent the past few days investigating.”

Someone in this room had to know who gave the order to blow up my house, and I slowly scanned all their faces to determine who the traitor was. By the way their auras jumped and darkened, it suggested there were quite a few secrets being hidden. This aura-reading ability had appeared after I mated with Luna, some of her magical gifts seeping into me like a sexually transmitted infusion.

I leaned back, taking in the room while pretending to be relaxed. The device in my ear connected me directly to Tarrack so he could hear what was happening here. “This base is now locked down,” I said, and the click of all the doors locking sounded in the silence that followed my announcement. “There have been too many strange occurrences that need to be investigated.”

I watched as certain individuals looked at each other in silent communication, the witches sitting up straighter in confrontation.

Aisha’s tongue flicked out to moisten her lips. “I don’t think that is acceptable,” she replied. “We have a mutual alliance that allows us to protect each other against a common enemy, but we will not be treated like criminals or an inferior species.”

“This is to protect all of us,” I said, pushing my chair out and rising to go and stand at the window. “It has been a long time since Balor dared to encroach on our domain, and we can’t rule out the possibility that some of our new staff may be affiliated with him.”

That seemed to pacify some of the occupants around the table.

“That doesn’t explain why we are all locked in this room,” Kayla, Aisha’s second-in-command said. “If there is a security risk, then we need to remove our witches before we lose any more souls to the darkness of this war.”

“The key people in this organisation are locked in this room to ensure their safety,” I replied. “Our people are seeking out any new operatives who have joined in the past five years.”

That was a lie since there were only four of us released from the spell, with Dominic and Luna releasing more as we sat here. I had a vague idea what my little witch was planning since she had emptied that potion into the water supply.

The alarms activated, startling me as that wasn’t planned. Red lights flashed as emergency lighting was triggered.

“What the fuck’s going on?” I demanded, speaking to Tarrack and ignoring everyone in the room.

“We have breaches on all levels,” he said. “No one can access the armoury as there is something wrong with the doors.”

“Get those doors open, Tarrack,” I replied, my voice deepening as panic set in since my mate was out there alone.

“I’m trying,” he said. “Fuck it, I’m going to have to go down there and do it manually.”

“No need,” a familiar voice answered him, and I recognised Dominic’s unique accent. “Those are my vampires currently raiding your base since we were never going to get everyone with a few tranquiliser guns. Make an announcement for everyone to surrender to preserve lives.”

“Salvator would never agree to that,” Tarrack replied, his voice rising at the end.

“Which is why this plan will work. None of this is what anyone who knows Salvator would expect,” Dominic said.

The annoying vampire was right. Anyone who knew me would testify that I would die before I surrendered. This was the strategic mind Luna kept talking about, the man who viewed the war differently to everyone else and remained alive when his contemporaries were all dead. The least I could do was play along.

“Get those fucking doors open,” I said to everyone in the room. “We are under attack. I want every man out there fighting. Tarrack, get our men into the armoury.”

“I’m going to turn off the speakers in your room,” Tarrack replied. “Dominic seems to be in control out here.”

The alarm still sounded in our room, but the audio speakers in the room were silent, even though I could hear what was being said through my communications device.

“Everyone to their command posts. Do not engage the enemy at this time, as we believe them to be dark magic users.” Tarrack’s voice rang out loud and clear, and I knew none of our wolves would argue if dark magic was involved since we all knew the stakes.

We needed time to release as many wolves as possible who may be spellbound. These doors were bombproof, but I let everyone try to open them, I even managed to drag the door handle off as I tried to use my strength on the metal object that successfully stood up to attack.

I stepped back as the witches drew sigils on the door, flicking the lighter in my pocket open and setting fire to the napkins on the table at the back beside the coffee cups. Luna might be wanting to get everyone some of that potion through the drinking water, but the water pumping into this building fed the fire defence system as well. Smoke rose up toward the fire alarm that would activate the system for the entire building—not just this room.

Jethro spun around, detecting the smoke with his sensitive nose, his eyes moving between me and the small fire behind me. A second high-pitched alarm activated, the lights above the fire exits illuminating to show us which route to use out of the building.

A few drops of water dripped down from the ceiling before a fine mist sprayed out, coating everyone below it. I heard screams in my ear device as the building became saturated with water containing Luna’s potion. The fire alarm overrode the locking mechanism Tarrack had employed, opening the doors. The wolves in the room with us fell to their knees, grasping their throats or holding their arms over their heads.

How many of our people had been compromised in this magical attack?

Everything happened in slow motion and high speed at the same time. Pandemonium reigned outside, screams echoing as my wolves felt the agony of that spell breaking. Kayla held her hand out to catch some of the water, sniffing it before hissing.

“There is an enchantment in this water. We are under attack!” Kayla exclaimed, her hands spreading in front of her in a protective pose.

“We are all under attack,” I snapped, pushing past her into the hall. My flesh felt like it was burning when Luna removed the curse from me, almost as if it was being cut from every cell in my body. It had been agony, but I had gritted my teeth and bore it, so I had sympathy for what I was witnessing right now.

“What’s happening to them?” I demanded, playing my expected role. When I studied them, the appearance of the witches was altered, their faces the same but completely different as if their true intent was displayed.

“I’m not sure,” Aisha stuttered, moving forward to examine one of the younger wolves. “It almost looks as if they have been poisoned.”

Or cured from the curse that had been placed on them.

“No one is to leave this place!” I instructed. “Lock this base down until I hunt down whoever has attacked us. Balor will not get away with this insult!”

I strode off, and heard the rapid movement of feet following me. We were halfway down the corridor when I heard a commotion behind me.

“Take them,” Dominic commanded, his men surrounding us dressed in black, their faces covered with masks. He pointed at the witches. “Bind their hands as they are magic users. The dogs can be bound with silver.”

I growled, my claws and canines descending. Dominic merely raised an eyebrow, a smirk appearing on his lips. The asshole was enjoying this facade.

Three of the witches surrounded Aisha, lifting their hands as they began to mutter, but the vampires were more prepared than I gave them credit for, seemingly immune to whatever magic was being cast.

Aisha screamed, and the paintings on the wall shook. I felt the magic swell inside her, and even Dominic gave her a guarded look. Each of the priestesses had been powerful in their own right, each of them able to control all the elements. She threw up her arms and we were all pushed back several feet.

“Enough!” Aisha shouted. “Release my people!”

A soft tutting made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up.

“He can’t do that,” Luna said, emerging from a stairwell, and drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Dominic works with me, and won’t respond to your influence.”

It was only when Luna said it that I realised Aisha had been trying to control the men in the corridor. My heart sounded in my ears when she walked toward us with the air of a queen, taking her place beside Dominic. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist, and my wolf howled in rage in my head. I stood here wanting to break every bone in his body, even though my every instinct screamed for me to rip his hand off that dared to touch my mate.

“You always had a knack of being able to get what you wanted,” Luna continued, facing her sister. “Whether it be more food, the attention of the priests, or more favourable living conditions. You were able to control the will of men even back then.”

How the fuck had I never noticed her manipulative abilities before?

“Never him,” Aisha said, nodding in my direction. “No matter how much I tried, he ignored me. I realised why the night I heard the two of you laughing together behind the temple. Although I see your taste has changed to those with fangs.”

Dominic flashed a fang-filled smile complete with menace at her comment. “Vampires are the natural ally to the magical world.”

Aisha shrugged one delicate shoulder. “Salvator was yours for a short time in your youth, but he has been mine for centuries, while you have been slumming it with vampires. You will never have what we experienced together.”

Which was nothing. Everything slotted into place. I had trusted her because she was Luna’s sister, and she had been the one who told me Luna was dead, that she felt the connection break at the moment of her death. I had treated her like family because even though the bond hadn’t been completed at the time, Luna was my mate. Her lies meant that I had spent centuries alone, mourning my mate when I should have been searching for her.

“You should never have come back. No one has wanted or needed you since the night you ran away,” Aisha continued, disgust twisting her face. “Balor had accepted the fact he would never have all the priestesses, so he ignored some of us, and let us live. Now that you have returned, all that is changing.”

Luna slowly moved, deliberately gaining Aisha’s attention. “Mother priestess gave her life for us to escape. She loved every one of us enough to give us a chance of survival.”

Aisha’s lip turned up in a terrifying sneer. “No, she gave some the chance of survival, she put a target on the rest of us. Salvator saved me after he got rid of you.”

Luna continued to walk, deliberately touching the foreheads of the captive witches. They slid unconscious to the floor, eliminating them as a threat. She had been a girl the last time Aisha saw her, but had returned as a woman to claim her crown as my queen. She never reacted to anything her sister said, her gaze briefly meeting mine.

“I heard rumours of a witch who made deals with mortals,” Luna said. “It only made sense when Dominic started to report the emergence of hellspawn and their princes several years ago. They possess the ability to use the energy of Purgatory to broker deals in return for souls. The princes rarely visit this realm, and use those living here to negotiate in their name.”

All eyes were on Aisha, who stood watching her younger sister as she painted a horrendous picture of what had been happening under our noses.

“I did what I had to do to survive,” Aisha replied, her head canting to the side as she studied Luna. “The world was changing, humans fearing magic and hunting us to extinction. I refused to go back to being poor and living in squalor. You seem to have elevated your status as well.”

“Some of us fought to save others,” Luna retaliated, the expression in her eyes growing hard. “Some of us suffered to make this world a better place.” I had seen the scars on her body, they bore testament to the fact that she had bled to protect the whereabouts of her coven.

“They don’t hand out bravery medals to good witches. They give them a wand and put them in a book,” Aisha retaliated. “I’m sure they’ll find a princess for you to be a godmother to.”

The two women began to circle each other, and I noticed my wolves starting to regain consciousness, their faces creased in confusion while they held their heads. I nodded to Jethro and Paulo, who moved to help them. Dominic’s men didn’t try to stop us as all attention was on the two witches.

“I knew it was you when the reports came in that magic was detected. I could sense your energy walking on this land,” Aisha said, her fingers clenching and unclenching at her sides. “They promised me you were dead. My trackers said there was no energy signature of you for decades.”

Luna flicked her hair back, and I saw the symbols appearing on her arms that hadn’t been there before, as if her body was energising itself ready for a fight.

The depths of Aisha’s lies were astounding. “I thought the priestesses were supposed to be able to sense one another,” I said, intervening since everything was spiralling out of control and my mate was in danger. I’d seen witches fight and there were often casualties of those in close proximity.

“We can if we both continue to use light magic. When a witch indulges in the dark arts, then her soul is irreparably tainted and she dies to the rest of us.” Luna paused for a moment, her eyes meeting her sister’s. “I felt that moment, and believed you were dead. Mother priestess would be ashamed of what you have become.”

Aisha’s laugh made my sphincter muscles tighten because there was something incredibly sinister about that sound. “That was the day I freed myself from the restraints that had been imposed on me.” She raised her hands above her head and slowly lowered them to demonstrate herself. “I chose to be who I wanted, and be with the man I wanted.” She deliberately looked at me and my skin crawled. I had never given her any encouragement or hint that I was remotely interested in her. Since Luna was my mate, I looked at her as a sister.

Luna shook her head. “They are not restraints. The laws of magic are to be respected because in the wrong hands they can destroy the fabric of life and of this entire realm. Why else would Balor want the lifeforce of all the priestesses?”

It was a question I had sought the answer to for centuries, and no one had been able to enlighten me. Jethro and Paulo started to drag wolves off to my right, aided by more vampires who had arrived.

Aisha uttered a spell and blew it toward her witches, who fell through a hole that appeared below them. That was new; in all the years I had known her she had never been able to create portals. She spread her hands wide, her lips turning up in a mocking grin. “The combined power of the priestesses allows us to access void magic, which is raw and beyond limit. To prevent it falling into the wrong hands, the key to the portal was split and cast throughout the witches. Over time, the fragments were drawn together, manifesting in certain lineages, and ultimately converging in the place close to where the original nexus was found,” Aisha said, shrugging one delicate shoulder. “He needs our life force so he can bypass deals with the devil and make himself into a new god to rule this realm, like the old gods when they walked the Earth.”

Luna met my eyes briefly, and it felt as if someone had kicked me in the solar plexus. “Void magic is forbidden for a reason. None of us have the physical bodies to contain it, and those who have tried have been burned alive from the inside,” Luna replied.

“And if a priestess gets killed while Balor is not in the vicinity?” Dominic enquired, his dark gaze set on Aisha, and I didn’t doubt that he would snap her neck in a heartbeat if he thought it would prevent any further conflict.

“One priestess was killed about a hundred years ago,” Aisha replied, her attention moving to Dominic as she assessed the ancient vampire. “I believe there is a way to retrieve a soul if you have the assistance of a prince of Hell.” A sickness washed over me as I saw the true darkness that existed in her—she wanted access to the void magic herself, and would happily kill the other priestesses and Balor to access it.

This scenario went from bad to worse.

“This is my base,” I said, playing my part and attempting to take control of the situation again. “Remove your men and I might consider letting you leave with your head.”

Dominic’s lips quirked in a half smile. “I represent the allied forces of vampires and lycans, and magic users sit on our council also. Our main role is to protect this realm against the threat from hellspawn. There is intelligence to suggest there is hellspawn activity here, and after everything I have heard today, that has been confirmed. These witches seem to know what is happening, and must be brought in for questioning. I advise you to consider what side of this war your pack sits, as you technically are under the laws of Lycan High Command.”

This vampire was impressive. Not many would have the balls to stand here and tell me I was governed over by the laws of the wolves who thought they ruled the world. Yet, his words were correct if anyone was listening to this exchange.

“Get the fuck out of my base.” I took a step forward and found a strange weapon aimed at my chest.

“Calm down or I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger of this blaster,” Dominic snapped. “We were ordered to take in the magic users. I have no problem neutering a few dogs while I’m here.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Luna said to Aisha. “But the elders identified unusual activity in this land, and it isn’t attributed to Balor. We are sisters. Can we not be thankful that we both survived?”

Aisha screamed again, her gaze flicking around the corridor before a frown marred her forehead. She was trying to summon the wolves on this base. Her eyes cut to me, and her body stiffened, her jaw tightening.

“You stopped being my sister the day you took the man I loved!” Aisha shouted, her fists bunched at her sides, her attention snapping to Luna. “You knew how I felt about him when we lived in the village. As soon as you arrived at the temple you bewitched him.”

My mouth fell open and Dominic caught my eye. He gave me the universal look that all men knew when they encountered a crazy bitch. This was about me? I didn’t even remember Aisha being in our village until Luna told me her sister was a priestess as well. None of us chose our fated mates, but if I had the option, I would still choose Luna.

The sound of the slap of Luna’s hand connecting with Aisha’s face echoed down the hall, stopping Jethro from tending to a wolf lying in a doorway.

“How dare you!” Luna snapped. “Love spells and bewitching is forbidden by our sacred laws. We do not bend the will of others for our own personal gain.”

“Luna used to hide from me,” I said, unable to stop myself from coming to her defence. “She lectured me on the ethics of relationships between wolves and witches. It took me months to wear down her defences.” She had been consumed with guilt after we spent our first night together.

Aisha’s deranged laugh forced me to have to lock my legs in position to prevent me taking a step back. Her face distorted as she viewed her sister. She had tried to pretend that we were together, but her mask was slipping, and her madness exposed.

“They are forbidden for your kind, but I chose a different path, one that allowed me to become the witch I am today, to access ancient powers.” Aisha raised her hands and a ripple of energy pushed our bodies back, as if a tornado was in the corridor that lifted us up and moved us.

Dominic landed crouched on his feet. He lifted his hand and indicated me forward with his middle three fingers. The twitch of his lips told me he was enjoyed the charade. Two could play at his game.

My muscles and limbs strengthened as I combined with my wolf, the two of us fusing into our hybrid form. I ran forward, side-stepping at the last moment to grab the vampire and slam him to the ground. He bounced back onto his feet, defying all the laws of gravity with the ninja shit he pulled off. We tended not to have a lot of vampires in this part of the world because of all the sun, so I hadn’t encountered many of them, and fought even less. Rumour reported they were fast and vicious fighters. Rumour hadn’t lied.

I had gotten used to being the biggest predator in a fight, and today I felt slow and lazy. A feral smile crossed my lips and I backflipped to bring myself in front of the vampire. Our fight wasn’t real, but that didn’t stop Dominic hitting hard and my reply being harder. Anyone currently watching us would know I would never allow someone to insult my pack by invading my base.

Dominic slammed me into the wall, leaving the imprint of my body in cracks and a massive indentation. I punched him, sending him staggering back several paces, my wolf stalking after him.

Both of us jumped back when an explosion detonated on the ground about two paces from us. Luna ducked, and whatever spell Aisha had thrown at her landed on the ground. There was no playacting in their fight as the two sisters went head-to-head.

Scorch marks marred the walls, there were holes in the floor, and the sweet, heady scent of magic made my back molars ache.

“Thank the great goddess you didn’t mate with the crazy sister,” Dominic said, wiping blood from his nose with the back of his wrist as we paused to watch the magical fight.

Luna flicked her fingertips and a net of light beams fell on top of Aisha, pinning her down. “You need to stop,” Luna pleaded. “I don’t want to have to kill my sister.” There was pain in her voice, a real emotion that was preventing her from inflicting the death blow while Aisha was incapacitated.

“There is a reason that dark magic will always triumph over the light,” Aisha snarled, twisting and turning. “Because we will always do what it takes to win.”

Aisha crawled onto her hands and knees, the floor under her starting to shimmer as the bars of light that held her began to erode. Her gaze swept the corridor to take in all the damage before finally landing on me.

“I can smell her on you. I knew the moment you walked into that room that you had found her.” She slowly stood as the bars of light turned black. “You were supposed to be mine. We spent centuries together as a couple, and now that she is back, you toss me aside. If I can’t have you, then no one can!”

I realised too late what she was planning, the floor opening under her for her to escape as the curse uttered from her lips. I had only heard it said a few times in the past, but the death curse was powerful and deadly, striking down the recipient of its mark. A flash of red filled my vision, a scream in the distance, and my body fell back to the ground.

Today was not a good day to die.