Sacrifice for the Gods: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Ruling the Gods Book 1)

by Mae Doyle

  “A little,” he admitted. Neither of us could tear our eyes away from what my mom was doing to Sara. Slowly my sister glowed less and less. Mom was siphoning the energy from her, and before I could reach out, my sister crumpled to the floor.

  Mom stepped back with a gasp. “Get her to bed,” she said to my dad. “She’s going to be out for the rest of the day. We just have to kill time before the ceremony.” She turned to me, her eyes snapping.

  There was a hollow in my stomach and I suddenly felt very afraid. I’d never seen this much power in a witch before, never seen one take it from another like my mom had just done. The thought that it would soon be running through my veins was terrifying.

  “Did you stop her?” The gargoyle was completely pushed from my mind. I had to know what had happened with Travis.

  My mom nodded. “I think so. She won’t talk to us, of course. Are you okay?”

  I paused and nibbled my lower lip. My dad had already told her about me pissing off the gods, but there wasn’t any reason for her to know about the gargoyle stalking me from the garden. Finally, I nod. “I’m good. I cleaned up while you guys were gone, but I drank all of the coffee.”

  Mom narrowed her eyes and flicked her wrist. The sound of the coffeepot turning on in the kitchen made me smile.

  “Go get rest, Emily. It’s easy to think that you’re not going to have a hard day, but it’s not going to be any easier on you, okay?”

  I nodded, turning and following my dad up the stairs. He held his hands over my sister’s body, floating her through the air as he guided her to her room.

  Fuck. Even as I stretched out on my bed, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get any sleep, not when I had so many things to worry about. The thought of going to sit with Sara to talk to her crossed my mind, but I pushed that thought away quickly.

  She wasn’t my sister any longer. She’d taken on her role as blood sacrifice, and with her energy and magic drained out of her by our mom, she’d probably sleep all day.

  I thought about twitching the curtains shut so that the gargoyle couldn’t see through, but before I could move, my covers whipped up over my body and my ceiling fan turned on.

  Fine. Mom wanted me to rest. I’d rest, but I didn’t think that I’d actually sleep.

  ***

  I slept all day long.

  When I opened my eyes, they were thick with gunk and I had to pry them apart before looking at the numbers on my clock. At first, they were fuzzy, and it wasn’t until I rubbed my eyes to clear them that I could see the time.

  4:30.

  Shit. It was almost time. Throwing my covers back, I sprang out of bed and ran down the hall. My sister’s room was open and she wasn’t in there, which meant that she was probably downstairs getting ready. Taking the stairs two at a time, I barreled past Milo and into the living room.

  My mom sat brushing Sara’s hair, barely glancing up at me as I ran in. “You need to get changed, Emily. We’ll leave for the church in a bit.”

  Ignoring her, I dropped to the ground in front of Sara and reached out to take her hand. It pulsed with heat and energy in mine, and when I squeezed it, she opened her eyes to look at me.

  “Hey, sis. How’re you feeling?”

  She didn’t answer, but in response, her hand glowed in mine and was so hot that I had to drop it.

  My mom looked up from fixing Sara’s hair into a bun on the top of her head. “She’s drunk on power, Emily. She won’t feel a thing, okay?”

  I nodded, but tears sprung to my eyes. We’d been over this a thousand times in our family as Sara and I tried to figure out a way to stop the ceremony from happening.

  Blood magic. Covenant with the gods. Our family was singlehandedly responsible for witches all over the world to be allowed to maintain their power, and all we had to do was sacrifice to the gods every few generations. I was sure that it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t such a great deal when it was my sister on the chopping block.

  “Emily.” My mom’s voice was softer than normal, and I glanced at her in surprise. I’d been so caught up in thinking about myself that I hadn’t really considered what it was going to be like for my parents to lose their oldest child. Guilt gripped my heart. “It will be okay.”

  Adults lie when they need to. Everyone knew that, but what I couldn’t tell is whether or not she was lying to save me from being upset or if she was trying to convince herself that Sara wouldn’t hurt.

  “Right.” I knew that I had to try to hold it all together, and I turned around to leave the room, but something caught my eye. There was a dress behind me on the chair, already laid out for me. When I picked it up, I felt the magic in it. I had no idea where it had come from since I’d never seen anything like it on earth.

  Lifting it from the chair, I ran my fingers over it. Gold threads held the fabric together, which had been obviously woven by elves. The dress was embroidered and had intricate beadwork. Tiny glass beads, so small that they caught the light but were difficult to see individually, dripped down the entire dress. I knew that only fairies made these types of beads, their tiny hands and fingers turning and forming them for their goddess.

  “It was sent by the gods.” My mom sounded tired. “They wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly today. Go ahead and put it on.”

  The last thing that I wanted to do was pull this dress on, but I did as she asked, quickly slipping out of my jeans and pulling it up in a hurry. It was tighter than anything I’d worn before, clinging to the curves of my body.

  The fabric was light and shimmered in the sun, almost sparkling as I turned and twisted to see how it felt. It laced up the back, and I had to turn for my mom to tie it for me. The soft leather ties slipped through her hands as she did.

  The dress was cut low in the front, and my mom slipped a necklace on me while my back was to her. The stone looked like an opal as it shimmered and threw the light, but I’d seen this type of jewel before. It wasn’t an opal, or anything that a normal human would ever wear.

  It was made of pure compressed energy, and it felt warm where it rested on my skin. I fingered the thin chain and gave it a slight tug. Nothing could break the chain or destroy the stone, as they were both made by dwarves deep underground.

  Spinning slowly, I showed off for my mom.

  “You look beautiful, Emily,” she whispered. With a flick of her wrist, my hair was braided and piled up on the top of my head. I reached up tentatively to touch it as my dad walked into the room.

  He wore a full suit and looked impeccable. Even though he and mom were both exhausted, he’d managed to find some energy somewhere, and his skin had a slight glow to it. Witches often had dewy skin and looked younger than they really were, and my parents were a great example of that.

  My mom and sister had on dresses that looked similar to mine, but Sara’s was made of pure gold. She’d been silent the entire time that mom helped me dress, but then she stood up from her perch on the floor and stretched, the dress moving and shifting with her. It made her seem to glow more than she already was.

  “Family.” My dad nodded as he looked at the three of us. “We’re ready. Go get in the truck, Emily, your mother and I have to bless Sara and then we’ll be right out.”

  I wanted to hear the blessing, but I could tell from the look on his face that it wasn’t appropriate for me to be there. Not yet. Not while I still didn’t have any powers.

  They were chanting as I left the house and walked to the truck. Bright light shot out of every window in the house, making me turn around and shield my eyes with my hand, and then it died down as suddenly as it had appeared.

  They left the house while I stood in the driveway waiting, and then the four of us got in the truck in silence and drove off to the church.

  Chapter 5

  “Why are there so many people here?” I asked, leaning up between the front seats of the truck so that I could have a better view. When my dad and I had come to the church this morning it ha
d been completely empty except for us, the two gods, and the gargoyle, but that had all changed.

  There were some witches that I recognized, and they turned to the truck, their faces solemn. Others I didn’t recognize, but I was appalled to see that they were grinning.

  Everyone loves a good blood sacrifice when it’s not your family that has to pay the price.

  “It’s a big deal,” my dad responded, pulling smoothly into the closest parking spot. It was labelled as handicapped, but I didn’t think that anyone here was going to try to stop us from parking there. Nobody wanted to get in the way of the family with the sacrifice.

  “Witches come from all around,” my mom added, her voice biting with anger. “Remember that your dad’s family hasn’t produced the first daughter of a third son in a while, so this is huge. None of the people here were around for the last sacrifice.”

  We all fell silent. Sara reached out and took my hand. I linked our fingers together quickly, ignoring the way I could feel her energy flowing into my body. If she needed to get rid of it, then so be it. I was strong enough to take it from her, right?

  There were more questions that I wanted to ask, but before I could form any of them, the crowd started to press up on the truck, and my dad waved his hand, making all four doors fly open. “Just stay close, okay, girls?” He asked, slipping out of the truck smoothly, like smoke.

  I clambered out and my mom shut the doors with a flick of her wrist before looping her arm around me and pulling me up the sidewalk to the church. This close to the crowd, I could feel the magic seeping off of them. They were excited and scared, and most of them were having trouble keeping their magic and auras to themselves.

  We entered the church to a cheer. Sitting inside were more witches, but they were only in the right pews. Some of them were fanning themselves lazily, paper fans floating in front of them and creating a nice breeze.

  My jaw dropped open when I saw what was sitting in the pews on the left side of the church. Sure, I’d run into realm creatures before, seen pictures of golems and trolls, and even helped get a fairy to a hospital when it was attacked by a hawk, but I’d never seen this many magical beings in one place at one time.

  In the pew closest to us was a hobbit. It was sitting on top of a stack of hymnals and eating something. When it saw me staring it grinned and turned away to whisper to the centaur sitting next to it.

  Great. Everyone there knew who we were, and they all wanted to be part of the excitement.

  The entire church seemed to be throbbing with energy, but there still wasn’t enough space inside for everyone still waiting to get in.

  “Do I have to do everything around here?” My mom muttered, then chanted a quick spell, drawing her hands slowly apart. The church slid apart, the pews lengthening. Beings who had before been packed on top of each other suddenly had elbow room, but before they could spread out and get comfortable, more creatures piled into the pews.

  “You might need to do it again,” my dad whispered, but my mom just shot him a look.

  “Once is enough. They can enjoy the show and then everyone can go home.” Her voice never quavered but I noticed that she’d reached out and was holding my sister’s hand tightly.

  “Where are the gods?” I did my best to keep my voice low, but my mom still frowned at me like I’d yelled the question. I couldn’t help it. Ever since my run-in with them that morning, I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that I wanted to see them again.

  No, that I needed to see them again. I couldn’t deny the fact that my body ached to be near them. If I closed my eyes, I could practically smell the delicious smoke that scent that Aruer carried with him. I knew that longing to be near the gods like that wasn’t a good idea, but I really couldn’t help it.

  I could only imagine what the third god looked like. The goddess didn’t interest me as much, but the gods were totally drool-worthy. And, with any luck, our family wouldn’t have to perform this sacrifice again for hundreds of years. It was probably my last chance to get to see them.

  That thought sent a twang of sadness through me, but I didn’t have time to think about how I felt because right then my dad grabbed my elbow and started walking me down the aisle.

  Everyone turned to look at us. I’d severely underestimated the number of creatures in the church. Hundreds of pairs of eyes, some human, more not, turned to look at us. I felt the energy in the gazes from the witches, but the other side of the church was no more comfortable.

  My sister and mom walked in front of us. They were still holding hands, and my sister kept flagging, even though my mom would give her a slight tug to speed her up. We were supposed to meet the gods and goddess in the front of the church, near the alter, but as of right now, it was empty.

  The four of us made it to the front of the church without any interruptions. This morning, the stained glass windows had looked gorgeous, but now they cast eerie shadows and lights on the people in the pews. I tried to tear my eyes away from a particular gruesome one of Jesus on the cross, and sudden movement in the balcony caught my attention.

  There were large spiral staircases at the back of the church leading up to the balcony. They’d been decorated, probably with the help of druids, with flowers and huge plants. As I watched, the flowers bloomed, their fragrant scent filling the church and almost making it difficult to breathe.

  Self-consciously, I opened my mouth to breathe through it instead of my nose, but nobody was looking at me. Half of the church was staring openly at my sister, the other half turned around in their pews to look up in the balcony.

  Yeah, I could see why. The movement that had caught my eye?

  Aruer.

  My heart literally skipped a beat in my chest when his eyes locked on mine. He’d changed from the morning and was no longer wearing his cloak made of all leaves. Instead, he had on a brown suit that was perfectly tailored to his body. The jacket hung open, his shirt underneath straining over his muscles.

  On top of his head he wore a gorgeous crown. It was gold and made of fine gold filigree that was twisted and sculpted together. Small stones were set in the gold, and while I couldn’t tell what they were from my vantage point, they caught the light and threw it back across the church.

  I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He glanced at me, letting his eyes slide over me, like I wasn’t interesting, and I felt my heart drop. Was it possible that he didn’t recognize me from the morning? My dress suddenly felt tighter than before and a flush rose on my chest, but his eyes were locked on Sara.

  More movement on the balcony and Wydar appeared at his side. He’d also changed and wore a crown. Unlike Aruer’s, which looked warm and gave off a soft glow, his was made of silver and ice. It glittered and glistened under the lights of the church.

  The stones in his crown had to be diamonds. I could see the barely pointed tips of his ears from here and I was surprised to see that he carried a cane. He didn’t lean on it, but he used it to point down at the crowd and whisper something to Aruer, who smiled.

  When he finally looked up at our family, he never even looked at me. I’d never been as invisible as I was standing next to Sara.

  “Was that them?” My dad barely breathed the words at me. I nodded, a tiny movement of my head that I hoped everyone else in the church wouldn’t notice.

  “It was. But where are the other two?” I’d barely gotten the question out of my mouth when another man appeared on the balcony. His suit was green, and he had a thick brown beard. He stood a little taller than both Wydar and Aruer, and even from my location in the front of the church, I thought that I felt some heat radiated off of him.

  “Suros,” my dad whispered to me.

  Of course it was. The god of summer. He had a kinder face than Wydar, whose high cheekbones made him look a little evil, but I knew better than to be fooled. Just because a god looks kind doesn’t mean that he is.

  He also had on a crown. It sat lightly on his gorgeous dark hair, which he had pulled back into a br
aid. His crown looked sharper and more angular than the other gods, but I couldn’t tell what color it was. Every single time I thought that I had an idea of what color it was, it seemed to shift.

  The effect was dizzying, and I dropped my eyes from his face. As soon as I did, I realized that that was probably his desired effect with the crown, and I forced myself to look back up at him. He was staring at our family, a grim look on his face.

  Like something was wrong.

  Panic set in and I wiped my hands on my dress. Three gods. We were just missing the goddess, but if remembered correctly from stories my parents had told us, she liked to make a bigger impression than the gods.

  Sure enough, the flowers and the vines on the staircases suddenly started to grow and change. The flowers were large before, but they suddenly grew oversized, turning their faces to the balcony. I realized that I was holding my breath and I forced myself to try to breathe normally, but just then huge vines burst from the ceiling of the church.

  She was wrapped in them. The vines grew and moved so quickly that it was difficult to keep an eye on her, but from what I could see, she was stunning. Her long blonde hair was curly and worn loose to her waist. She spun in the vines and petals from the flowers ripped away from the staircases, floating over to her.

  The vines twisted and shifted, slowly lowering her to the ground, but managing to keep her covered and out of sight. There was a long pause where all I could see were thick green vines, but they suddenly snapped back, spiraling back up to the ceiling, leaving the goddess standing a few yards in front of us.

  I couldn’t help but gasp.

  She was easily the most gorgeous person I’d ever seen. Her light skin practically shown, and she had bright emerald green eyes that stood out from her pale face. The flower petals that had floated towards her had somehow wrapped around her body, creating a skintight dress that flowed out around her hips.

  Her crown was blooming, the flowers on it opening and closing as she breathed. It was entrancing, and I didn’t realize at first that she had said something until my dad started to speak.