Blood Sacrifice (The Astral Chronicles #1)

Chapter Thirty-OneLuna

Chapter Thirty-One

Luna

Owen handed me his phone as he drove, the message from Dominic still on the screen.

“Soul walkers were supposed to be eradicated during the witch trials,” I said, passing the phone to Maia. “Even the magical community banded against them. All that power that could be used for good, and they sold their souls to the darkness.”

“Magic tends to find a way to survive,” Maia replied. “I recognise that man. Do we know who he is?”

I remembered the face of every warlock who had stood and executed an innocent soul. “They changed their names over the years, but he was in Balor’s inner circle.” Everyone in the car knew what that meant. He was an evil soul who had benefitted from the suffering of others.

“Thankfully, in our organisation, we all still observe the old ways,” Maia said, returning the phone to Owen.

“No one is getting anything with my DNA in it,” Owen muttered. “There’s always some creepy fucker out there wanting to get their hands on it.”

Technically, he was right. Any body part or liquid could be used by the soul walker.

“Dominic always was obsessed with the power of blood,” Maia teased.

“It is the origin of life.” Owen rolled his eyes as he repeated the words his coven leader had engrained into him.

Misti took centre stage of the main horizon, her presence resonating inside me, reminding me of the reason for our mission.

“There are myths that stretch across civilisations of creatures of great power being buried under mountains and volcanoes,” Owen said. “What do you think is under there?”

There was only the three of us, and they were about to walk this final part of the journey with me. “I believe today we are going to open the void,” I replied. Salvator had paced for an hour when I had shared the full extent of my time in Purgatory.

The car swerved before Owen controlled it, turning in his seat to stare at me as if I had committed blasphemy. “Are you fucking serious?” he demanded. “I thought we were just searching the area!”

“We are, but I think I know where the doorway is,” I replied simply. “I can feel her calling me, demanding I set her free. There is a reason it was contained, but there are also prophesies about why she needs to be released again. Life requires balance, and void magic is the balance of the natural magic we use today.”

“This world has been infested with hellspawn, and the magic users who swore to protect it seek power instead,” Maia said. “There is an imbalance in the divine order. Maybe void magic is the answer.”

“You are both crazy,” Owen muttered, his knuckles white from the grip he had on the steering wheel.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked.

“I’m one of those anomalies that shouldn’t exist,” he replied. “Something like me could happen, only worse.”

He never saw the good in himself, only the differences that set him apart from the two races he descended from. Dominic hid him in plain sight in his coven because there was nowhere else for Owen to belong. Prejudices were changing, but when he was born, his mother faced death for allowing his birth.

“Being half vampire and half warlock is not a bad thing,” I pointed out. “You have all of their strengths, and none of their weaknesses.”

“I’m an abomination,” he muttered.

“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 lost their 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.”

I slowly spun around, sensing the energy around me. I obviously hadn’t made it into the inner zone when I was in the area with the tour a few weeks ago. A familiar energy thrummed in the air, calling to me, whispering for me to come closer. All those years ago, I hadn’t been able to make out the words in my head, but they were stronger and clearer now, almost screaming my name.

“What do you feel?” Owen asked from beside me. He was tall and lean like all the vampires, but he possessed something his paternal line didn’t—eyes that could see into your very soul and almost read what was in your mind.

“I just never knew what it was called before,” I replied in a low voice. “Back then, I believed what I felt was connected to the ceremonies and rituals. It never occurred to me that they chose this place because of what resided under the volcano.”

“Most great sites around the world were chosen because of their cosmic alliance,” Maia said, coming to stand with us. “Stonehenge, Newgrange, the Pyramids, Easter Island. Our ancestors knew what many of us have forgotten.”

I grabbed their hands so they could experience what I was feeling, the throbbing hum that sent a unique music through the air. A silent drumbeat that spoke to my soul.

“I guess we’re in the right place then,” Owen commented. “Please don’t make me say I told you so.”

I squeezed his fingers before releasing both their hands. “Nature finds a way even when they concrete or tarmac over her, she finds the resilience to free herself from their confinement. Void magic is the same; if we don’t release her gently, she could explode with dangerous consequences.”

“Come on.” Owen turned and began to stride toward the car. “The sun is shining, the weather is lovely, it’s a beautiful day to die.”

“Technically you should be hiding since the sun is shining,” I pointed out.

“Only when I’m with those who think I’m just a vampire,” he called over his shoulder.

He was so much more than a vampire, and hid in Dominic’s coven with other hybrids who would have been put to death anywhere else in the magical fraternity. It was why their coven was so strong—they protected each other’s secrets and accepted everyone, no matter what their differences.

The closer we got to Misti, the louder the voices screamed in my head, like a million souls had been trapped and were desperate for release.

“What do you think is in there?” Maia asked, rolling the back window down to study the view.

“Every time I think I know, I sense something different,” I replied. “At one point, I thought it was like a primordial soup of void magic that had created its own realm much like the magical realm. Then I believed it was a place that the souls of the void magicians were held, and now I’m not sure.”

“Another reason we should leave it alone,” Owen muttered, earning a stern look that he refused to acknowledge.

“You’ve spent years combing through ancient texts,” Maia said to Owen. “Why are you so against this?”

He sighed, and his fingers loosened on the steering wheel for a moment before he tightened his grip again. “I’m not against it,” he finally replied. “I just don’t think we have researched it enough to know what is in there. What if we release the equivalent of Godzilla? This organisation was established to protect this planet and the immortals living on it.”

“What if everything we have endured over the past few centuries means we are the only people who can protect people from what is in there?” I asked. “What if we all went through trials to ensure we were ready?”

“Then I’d say Fate is a cruel bitch who has an awful sense of humour,” Owen replied. “Because every single person in this car has lived through too much torture and pain.”

Silence descended as we all lapsed into memories from the past. He was right—life hadn’t been kind to any of us, but each of us was still standing, and stronger for it because we would never let the same thing happen to anyone else.

“This is as far as we can go,” I said, pointing to the signpost for a carpark up ahead, signalling the end of the Chiguata route. “The rest of the way is on foot.”

We were at 3300 metres, and climbed out of the car to pull on our backpacks with potions in stoppered bottles, and other weapons, although the greatest weapon any of us possessed was our bodies. We had honed our craft, and turned our bodies in a walking arsenal with spells written on our skin, and symbols infused into our auras.

Tourists booked two-day tours to visit this volcano, starting from Arequipa. Some groups had gathered with their tour guides beside buses while we prepared ourselves, blending in behind large sunglasses and tourist clothing.

The rest of the ascent would be taken on foot up the slope of the volcano. There was a camp further up at 4800 metres about 1000 meters from the top, but I knew where there was a cave network that could be entered using an incantation. It was risky, but would take us into the heart of the volcano.

We wandered off, pretending to take photographs with the other tourists, all the time watching for any warlock activity. I noticed some of the women shooting Owen covert glances as he strode around, ignoring everyone around him. In all the years I had known him, he had avoided relationships as if they were the cause of the greatest evil in the world.

We all bore scars that we didn’t reveal to the rest of the world.

About half an hour into our trek, we detoured off the allocated route, and I followed an older pathway that nature had reclaimed. My feet remembered the way, walking the trail of my ancestors.

A drumbeat sounded in my head, a chanting in my blood that beckoned me on until we reached the place that mother priestess had shown me so long ago. Now that I had finally returned, I realised she had already seen my future and was preparing me for this day. My fingers found the indentations in the stone, moving instinctively in the pattern which would allow me to open this entrance. The symbols on my fingertips vibrated as they activated the spell keeping this doorway hidden from the rest of the world.

The stone disappeared for a few seconds to allow us to step inside, then we were contained in the very heart of the volcano.