Page 6 of Their Offering

My heart practically thumped out of my chest. Our father would want to hear about this immediately, but I was hesitant. I never thought the day would actually come. I knew what he would expect of me, which was the opposite of what I wanted out of life. There was a reason my brothers and I lived in the city and not in the palace.

None of us got along with our father, but my relationship with him was decidedly more strained. He hated that I questioned him, that I was not as vicious as him.

As I approached the back wall, I felt a tug, like a thread had been tied to my beating heart. I rubbed my chest, confused.What the hell was that?

“Hail Satan, it’s open!” Aiden exclaimed from the doorway. He walked through without a second thought, Nicholas right behind him.

“What’re we going to do?” Nicholas looked to me for an answer, and I hesitated.

My brothers were aware of my apprehension about running straight to our father. They’d willingly moved out with me when I left, but even though they disliked our father, they didn’t have the added responsibility of being his heir.

I ran my hand through my hair, and my sigh filled the silence. “I don’t fucking know. If we don’t tell Father, he’ll find out anyway.” I shook my head, thinking of some way to stall telling him.

“Well, we can’t let this opportunity go to waste, brothers.” Aiden stood at the back wall, the symbols of our demon ancestors beginning to glow across the stone. “Let’s go.” He jabbed his thumb at the wall.

“No.” I gave him a look of disbelief and shock.

“You don’t have to suck the fun out ofeverything, Keir.” My brother rolled his eyes, looking to his twin for help. They knew that if they joined forces against me, they’d win. I could never say no to them, and if I did, they’d do it anyway. If I gave in, I could at least keep an eye on them.

I didn’t wait for him to add his two cents before relenting. “Fine. Quick. We don’t leave the portal, though. No exploring. Got it?” I didn’t move until they both nodded their heads in agreement.

“What do you think there will be?” Aiden asked, a smile creeping across his face.

“Probably nothing. The portal hasn’t been open in so long; the human probably forgot all about us,” I stated with a shrug. I wasn’t expecting much, but Iwasinterested in seeing the altar. I’d always been fascinated with the history of Hell’s portals, but my fathers’ obsession with getting one open made me weary of them. I didn’t like this portal being opened one bit.

“Do you think the one who opened it is still there?” Nicholas looked between us.

The thought hadn’t occurred to me. What if there was a human on the other side? It’d been hundreds of years since I saw a human in the flesh––the only time, if memory serves right––and the last one I laid eyes on was tortured and killed by my father for closing a portal.

“Let’s hope not.” My brothers’ eyebrows shot up at my statement. “They’re in trouble if they are. We’d have to take them.”

“So…wearegoing to tell him?” Aiden questioned.

“Not sure yet.” I gestured to the wall. “What’re we waiting for?”

The twins’ faces lit up, and we simultaneously pressed our hands against the wall. A bright white light surrounded us, and I raised my arm to shield my face. The feeling of being sent through the portal was a bit like my shadow-jumping, just more intense.

When the light faded, we were in a room almost identical to the one we’d just left, except this one wasn’t empty. There was an altar…and a girl.

She stood between the wall and the altar, facing us, her face stricken with surprise. Her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail, but some stray hairs framed her slim, pale face. She was small, and not just because she was short.Did humans not eat anymore?

Short––too short––shorts and a tank top hugged her tiny body. I shivered from the coolness of the room, and I was in my usual black pants and black, long-sleeved button-up. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t freezing in her lack of clothing.

Though she looked frail, she was striking; I could admit that with certainty. Her human features were soft in comparison to the women back home in Hell. I couldn’t look away from her, and I couldn’t explain why.

I was so focused on the woman before us, I hadn’t noticed Aiden had begun to talk to her. She backed up as he stalked toward her, hitting the altar with her round ass. He emerald-green eyes were huge, glued to his face, and her chest rose and fell quickly.

A part of me felt sorry for her, like I should step in and save her from the trouble she was in––Aiden had clearly set his eyes on her. The poor girl was going to be another one of his victims. I wondered if a human could withstand what my brother put many, many demon women through back home.

The tug in my chest returned, but neither of my brothers appeared to be suffering the same thing.

Aiden asked us to join him in partaking in the offering––the silly girl offeredher body. When she plopped onto the altar in front of us, her fate was sealed. She had no idea what that meant.

There were no takebacks when it came to offerings. According to the history of altars, whatever was placed on the altar belonged to whoever took the offering, indefinitely.

She belonged to us now.

I declined, spouting off a sharp comment about getting it over with. I took note of the woman’s disappointment at my statement, but I stayed in the shadows, out of her sight. She was beautiful, I could admit that much, but she wasn’t worth getting in trouble over. The faster Aiden finished, the sooner we could figure out how to handle the portal situation, and the human who opened it.

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