Page 60 of Sacrifice

My heart sank. “Papa,no!”

My father ignored me and went on. “I’ll have some men meet you down at the trailhead to carry them up to the village.”

“Sounds good. I’m not far from there now,” Adam said smoothly, raising his brows as he leaned back and waved the gun in my face again. “How long will it take for your men to arrive?”

“Wait.” My father coughed to clear his throat. “I have some terms I want to discuss first.”

“Terms? What fucking terms?”

“I don’t think you truly understand what it means to sacrifice a child, Adam. So if we’re going to do this colossal favor for you, then I must insist that you be there. To watch. To comprehend all that you’ve asked for.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No. You’ll be there, or it won’t happen. Then you’ll have to do the dirty work yourself.”

Adam chuckled softly. “Jesus, you must think I’m a total moron,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re obviously just trying to lure me up to Alderwood so you can kill me too. That way you can finally get your revenge against me for everything I’ve done to you.”

“That’s not true, though I can certainly understand why you’d jump to that conclusion,” Papa said evenly. “No harm will come to you here. I only want you to witness the sacrifice, as I already explained.”

Adam scratched his chin. “Why the hell should I trust a word you say?”

“I’ve protected your terrible secret for all these years, haven’t I?” Papa said. “Even though it destroyed the reputation of the Covenant, I stayed silent.”

“Don’t act like that wasn’t also for your own benefit. If you’d ever told the outside world the truth about me, your village would no longer exist, and you and your Covenant friends would be rotting in prison for your part in the drug scheme.”

Papa sighed. “I suppose that’s true. But youcantrust me, just as you’ve trusted me all these years despite the division between us,” he said. “If you come here to observe the sacrifices tonight, I promise you that I will not hurt or kill you. I swear it.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. “That’s a very sneaky way to word things, Augustus.Youmight not hurt me… but someone else could.”

“No one from the Covenant will hurt or kill you. Not a single member will so much as touch a hair on your head. I swear this upon the Entity,” Papa said. “You know I would never,everbreak a vow to the Entity. And if it makes you feel safer, you may bring some sort of weapon with you.”

“Oh, believe me, I’d do that even without your permission,” Adam replied.

“Right. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, I believe we do. One wrong move from any of your people, and I’ll start shooting.”

“Understood. My men will meet you in one hour at the bottom of the trail.”

“Great. See you soon, old friend.” Adam let out a snort of amusement as he ended the call. Then he turned back to me. “See? I knew he’d agree.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and a lump in my throat prevented me from speaking properly. “I hate you,” I choked out. “You’re a monster.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned over to the glove compartment. “I really don’t want to listen to this whiny bullshit for the next hour,” he said, rifling around inside it. “So, let’s get you dosed again, shall we?”

“No!” I wriggled around in the seat again, eyes wide as saucers as I watched him produce a small syringe filled with a pale yellow liquid. “Don’t! Please!”

He ignored my pleas, tapping the syringe lightly. My heart pounded in my chest as I fought against the restraints to no avail, my vision blurring with tears.

“Please, don’t!” I begged, my voice breaking.

But he only smirked, leaning closer. I flinched as he grabbed my arm, his grip painfully tight as he found a vein. The sharp sting of the needle pierced my skin, and I felt the cold liquid flood my bloodstream.

A wave of dizziness hit me instantly. The world around me started to blur, my head spinning as my muscles went slack. I tried to keep my eyes open, but my eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

“S-Sebastian,” I whispered, my voice barely audible now.

His slumped body blurred in front of me as darkness began to creep in at the edges of my vision. My limbs grew numb, and the last thing I heard was the soft hiss of Adam’s laughter as everything faded away, pulling me into unconsciousness once more.

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