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

by Mae Doyle

  “We do, your majesty,” he said, and I frowned.

  What do we do? Before I could open my mouth to ask, though, the goddess spoke again.

  “Do you all know who I am?” She turned to the church. The pews on the left side of the church all nodded vigorously. Of course they knew who she was. They’d probably seen her on a regular basis. The other side, however, the one full of witches, had some blank faces.

  Looks like they didn’t pay attention when learning about the blood pact. How anyone couldn’t know who she was seemed crazy to me.

  “I am Etris, the goddess of spring.” Her voice was light and airy, but it seemed to grow and pulse as she spoke, filling the church. “I was created from energy before your ancestors dreamed. The winter god, Wydar, the fall god, Aruer, and the summer god, Suros, all join me today to accept your sacrifice. Blood magic comes with a price, and this family has been the willing ones to give for all of you.”

  There was some murmuring in the crowd, and my dad reached out and squeezed my hand.

  “We’re happy to do it, goddess,” he said, clearing his throat a little as he spoke. I glanced up at him, surprised at how confident he sounded. I didn’t think that I could possibly form a coherent thought, not with everyone here staring at us.

  Etris stared at our family. Behind her I saw the three gods float up through the air. The descended at the same time, two on Etris’ right, one on her left.

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them. My parents had been intentionally vague about what would happen when it came time to sacrifice Sara, so I didn’t know if there was a huge event leading up to it or if they would just take her and kill her.

  Sara moved out of the corner of my eye. Slowly, she stepped away from our family and stood in front of the three gods and goddess.

  “I am yours,” she said, her voice echoing through the church. “I was born to fulfill a pact made between you and our people, and I am happy for you to spill my blood.” She paused, and I thought for a second that she wasn’t going to be able to continue, but then she swallowed hard, locking eyes with Etris.

  “You are the first daughter of the third son?” Etris’ voice was cool and sang through the church. Every time she opened her mouth, I felt a soft breeze blow, even though all of the windows and doors were shut tight. It smelled like petrichor, like a soft spring rain, and like fresh basil in the church. The smell was almost dizzying, and I wished that I had a chair so I could sit down and rest a moment.

  “I am.” My sister lifted her chin a little. “I come before you four as the perfect sacrifice to maintain the oath.”

  “The perfect sacrifice?” Wydar’s voice surprised me and I turned to look at him. His cold eyes were locked on my sister, and I felt a pang of jealousy.

  Why should I care who the gods look at? Judging from the look he gave her; I should have been happy that he wasn’t looking at me. Leave it to me to be overdramatic when my sister was about to be sacrificed and I was mad that the gods only had eyes for her.

  “I think that you are hardly that. Hardly the perfect sacrifice.” This time, it was Aruer who spoke. His voice made a thrill run through my body and I actually felt myself start to take a step towards him before I was able to stop. “I think that you are damaged goods.”

  My mom spoke up. “Damaged goods? Dare you to insult us?” The air crackled with her energy as her voice rose. “How dare you call Sara damaged goods when we have raised her and guided her to this one defining moment in her life?”

  She took a few steps forward towards the gods and goddess, her head held high. Even from a few feet away, I could feel the energy radiating off of her in waves. It was enough to make me sick, full of anger and loathing, but nobody else seemed to notice.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, witch, your daughter is not whole.” Suros glared at her and then turned to Sara. “Tell us, girl, when did you lay with a man?”

  My sister paled and I gasped out loud, but nobody paid me any mind. There wasn’t any way that this was true, right? My parents did everything possible to keep a tight rein on Sara, even going so far as to refuse to let her date until she met Travis.

  And they only allowed her to date Travis because of his family. They were witches, just like us, which meant that they understood the pact. They knew that all of us relied on Sara being pure and they had agreed to have his memory wiped. He wanted it. He wanted to forget her, which is something that I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive him for.

  “Tell us the truth.” Aruer’s eyes flashed and he took a step forward, a cold breeze whistling through the church. When I glanced at Wydar, I was surprised to see that he was so angry that snowflakes were beginning to whip around him. There was a definite chill coming off of him, and some of the people in the front pews of the church were beginning to shift in their seats.

  As for me, I wanted to run, but I felt like I was glued in place. It wasn’t an enchantment, as far as I could tell, so I had to chalk it up to sheer terror.

  “The truth is that you four are terrible at keeping promises! You only want to take back our magic!” My mom shrieked, lifting a few inches off of the floor. Her toes dragged and her eyes darkened as she floated closer to the gods and goddess. “You do not want to keep the pact. My daughter is whole!”

  “Silence”! Wydar’s voice chilled us all, and when I breathed out, a puff of smoke left my mouth. We could all see our breath, it was suddenly so cold in the church. “Tell us the truth, Sara, first daughter of the third son. Tell us what you have done.”

  She didn’t answer right away, and he raised his arm, pointing right at her. Immediately her mouth dropped open and she began to speak, tripping over her words as she confessed.

  “I did. I did it. I’m no longer pure, no longer your perfect little virgin. You wanted a virginal first daughter of the third son, but you don’t have one any longer. I’ve been tasted by man and I’m no longer fit for you to spill my blood.” When she finished, her mouth snapped back shut and she blinked hard, like she was just waking up.

  I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and obviously neither could my parents. They turned to her, faces slack with fear.

  “Why?” My dad’s voice sounded strangled. “Why, Sara, when you knew how important this was?”

  Sara turned to him and I caught a glimpse of her eyes. They had gone black with a blue rim around them that was glowing. When she spoke, sparks flew from her fingers.

  “I couldn’t give up this power. There was no way that I was willing to let this energy course through me and then die.” Her voice sounded distorted, and I shivered.

  Nobody went back on a pact with the gods and lived to tell about it. Movement caught my eye and I looked up to see Etris walking towards our family. The three gods hung behind her, as if they already knew what would happen.

  She locked eyes with my sister and flicked her wrist. Immediately, Sara’s head snapped to the side. There was a sickening crack and her body slumped to the ground in a pile of golden fabric and blonde curls.

  “No!” The scream escaped my lips and I lunched for my sister, but something pinned me in place. Who the hell would dare to try to stop me right now? I looked at my parents, but my mom was falling to her knees next to Sara, and my dad’s face was crumpled.

  It wasn’t until I looked at the gods that I knew who it was. Aruer was staring at me, his eyes boring into me. He was holding me in place, refusing to let me move, no matter how hard I tried to struggle against him. Tears sprung to my eyes, but before they could fall, Etris started screaming again.

  “You fooled us, humans!” Her voice was pure venom and my parents both flinched when she spat the words at us. “You fooled us and expect us to accept it from you, but we will not. Your daughter is vile and damaged, but you have another.”

  She slowly turned to face me before I realized what she was talking about. The look on her face made her meaning clear, but I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I was not supposed to be the sa
crifice. I was supposed to be the one who lived.

  That’s how the pact worked.

  Should I make a run for it?

  I shook my head. There’s no way that I could get past the three gods and Etris, and even if I did, the church was packed with witches and creatures who would want to stop me. Everyone here had something riding on this working out, and my sister had royally fucked it up.

  “Me?” I shook my head. “Not a chance. I’m not the first daughter.”

  Etris grinned and walked up to me, reaching out to touch my hair. It immediately turned strawberry blonde under her fingers, the dark color fading away. When Sara got her magic, her hair had turned curly, but mine still hung around my face in thick straight sheets. I felt power start to run through my veins, and I gasped when I looked down at my fingers.

  They were sparking, just like I’d seen my mother’s do a thousand times before.

  She was giving me my power only to take it away from me. She gave me the gift that my sister was supposed to die for, but she was going to kill us both. My parents were going to walk out of the church without daughters, and it would be this bitch’s fault.

  “Don’t do this.” My dad stepped in between us, obviously figuring out what was going on. “You can’t take her too.” His voice choked and I glanced past him to the floor where Sara lay. Big mistake.

  My mom was kneeling next to her, running her hands up and down her body, chanting furiously, but I knew already that it was a lost cause. Only one person could bring her back, and she wasn’t about to do that.

  She wanted more blood.

  I felt choked, like I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Sara’s body. She looked smaller than she had before, and I realized that it was probably because the magic had flowed out of her body.

  “Oh, yes, I’m doing this.” Etris’ eyes glittered with rage and she swept her arm to the side, flinging my dad out of the way. “You broke the pact, witches, and now you must pay by losing both of your daughters. I’m sure that her blood will be just as sweet as the blood of the firstborn. You may try again to have a child that doesn’t deserve to die.”

  This last bit she shouted over her shoulder at my mom, who flew from the floor in a rage and rushed her. Etris held up a hand, and huge vines dropped from the ceiling, wrapping around my mom’s arms and torso. Two more snaked around her wrists, holding them tight as she squirmed and swore.

  Shit. This goddess was angrier than I thought. I watched in horror as my mom writhed to try to free herself. All she managed to do was tie herself up more, the vines wrapping tighter around her wrists. She screamed, horrible incantations flying from her lips, but nothing seemed to slow Etris down. After a moment, a bright red petal peeled itself off of Etris’ dress and flew across the room before slapping across my mom’s mouth, silencing her.

  I felt my blood run cold in my veins, and I glanced at Wydar, but he didn’t seem to be doing anything to cool the room. This was panic, pure and simple, and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t run. None of us could. No matter what Etris wanted to do, the only three beings who could stop her were the gods, and so far, all they had done was pin me in place so that I couldn’t attack her.

  “Now,” Etris said, turning back to me and rubbing her hands together. “You are to be the blood sacrifice, girl. You are to be the one who saves your family. Enjoy the magic running through your veins, because it’s going to be the last thing you ever feel.”

  Chapter 6

  Wait. What? Did I hear her correctly?

  There was no way that I was to be the blood sacrifice. I hadn’t been born to be it, hadn’t been formed and created so that my blood, pure and holy, would spill on the floor and cement our agreement with the gods and goddess.

  There was no way that spilling my blood was the answer to the problem, but Etris advanced towards me, her toes skimming the ground as she rose off of it. I watched in horror as a sudden flash of light from across the room became a knife zipping through the air to meet her.

  She grabbed it by the hilt and held it in front of her. The blade was curved and sharp, with runes and other foreign symbols carved into it. As she chanted, the symbols began to glow with a soft purple light, which slowly darkened as she continued to speak.

  I risked a glance at her face and immediately wished that I hadn’t. Her gorgeous eyes were black. She looked hollow, filled to the brim with evil, and I wasn’t surprised when some of the black of her eyes began to ooze out of the corners.

  Horrified, maybe, but not surprised.

  When I tried to take a step back, I found that I still couldn’t move. “Please let me go!” I turned to Aruer, my eyes searching his face for some bit of humanity. Surely, even in a god, there has to be some part of him that doesn’t want to see an innocent person killed. Surely, even though they came here for blood, they would let me live with mine.

  Aruer was staring at me, his lips moving as frantically as Etris’. Fuck. Whatever enchantment he was saying kept me pinned in place, my feet stuck to the ground. My only other hope was dad.

  “Dad!” I screamed, but a cold wind whipped the word out of my mouth. I felt the rush of an arctic breeze flow down my throat and whip through my lungs, making me cough and sputter. Wydar didn’t want me to call for help. He wasn’t going to help me.

  That left Suros. We hadn’t met before, and when I looked at him, I could tell that he wasn’t going to help. He was painfully handsome, his lips twisted into a small smile, his hand resting lightly on his hip. I felt an immediate pull towards him, and I turned my body to face him without realizing what I was doing.

  Longing pooled between my legs, a hot fire licking up my core as I stared at the three gods. Surely one of them would have mercy on me. That was what gods were supposed to do – be kind and merciful, not go on murderous rampages in a church.

  All of this happened in seconds, but Etris moved quickly, raising her arm high above her head, the point of the knife tilted down at me. I flinched as she swung it down. She was aiming for my throat, I was sure, wanting a clean slit that would split me like a pig and pour my essence out onto the floor, but I wasn’t going to make it easy on her.

  I wasn’t going to stretch out my neck so that she could slit me and bathe in my blood.

  I cringed, my shoulders crunched up around my ears to the point that they hurt, but the stab never came. Cautiously I opened one eye and then the other, looking up at Etris.

  Her beautiful face was twisted with rage, her incredible features dark from the liquid oozing from her eyes. Dark purple light from the knife reflected off of her skin, highlighting her cheekbones and making her teeth appear like amethysts stuck in her mouth.

  “What magic is this?!” She screamed, raising her arm and trying again to bring the knife down on my head. Instinctively, I flinched, but the knife caught and held a few inches above my head, trembling in her hand, but she was unable to force it any closer to me.

  “Who dares to stop the goddess of the spring?!” Her voice sounded deep and gravely, like rocks and broken pieces of glass being tossed in a bucket, and it made small shivers shoot up my spine. She whipped around and locked eyes with my dad, but it wasn’t him.

  The smell coming off of him was fear, not one of deep magic.

  No, whoever was doing this wasn’t a witch. They were stronger.

  “You.” She faced Aruer, pointing the dagger at him. “You’re saving this witch. She’s mine! Let me have her!”

  “She’s not yours.” Aruer was no longer chanting under his breath, but whatever protection he had given me must have still been working. I couldn’t move, but I felt like I was safe under a current of energy and light. It was warm and cozy, and almost made me feel like I could curl up and take a nap.

  Almost. Except for the whole murderous goddess thing, of course.

  “She is!” Etris screeched. Her face had changed, morphing from one of beauty to one with stretched out features. I watched in horror as her face lengthened, her
jaw dropping down. Rage poured out of every pore of hers, filling the room and threatening to choke me, but the warmth I felt from Aruer somehow kept the worst of it away.

  The people in the pews and my family weren’t so lucky. I watched in horror as the witches and creatures in the front rows started to gasp and claw at their throats. There was a burst of magic from the witches’ side as they put up a protection spell, but the realm creatures didn’t have that luxury.

  Some of them slipped out of the front pew, slowly working their way back to the back of the church.

  They probably wanted to avoid Etris noticing them, but they weren’t so lucky.

  “Stop!” Her voice reverberated around the church, ringing in our ears. Every time she spoke it changed. She was drawing on deep magic and it was ruining her. “Don’t you leave. Nobody may leave until I get my sacrifice!”

  The stained glass windows of the church blew in, small shards of colored glass sparkling in the light as they shattered and flew over the beings in the pews. Everyone gasped and covered their heads as it landed, tinkling as it bounced on the stone floor. Immediately, before anyone could make a run for an open window, huge vines grew over them, sealing us in. The church groaned under the weight of the plants, but it held.

  Etris seemed to be smoking. Black wisps of smoke rose from her body and floated to the ceiling. All of the blooming flowers that were twined up the staircases in the back of the church wilted, their heads dropping to the floor, their petals withering up.

  Finally, she turned back to Aruer and the other gods. “I will have her blood. Release her from your protection spell before I decide to take your throne as my own.”

  “Threats like that are not taken lightly, Etris.” Suros sounded calmer than I would have thought someone could be. His voice was soothing and smooth, like a babbling brook that you can barely hear when you’re napping. “Do not make a threat unless you’re willing to make good on it.”