Page 58 of He Who Sleeps

"Then let's do this." Finn nodded with grim purpose. "Where do you want us to set up?"

“Are you absolutely sure this is the route you will take? Once you do, things change,” the High Oranari said.

Emerson looked to Jack who blanched. “What...what changes?”

“Your ability to feed him,” the third said. “Sacrifice must be through the female you chose today.” He walked forward to them and walked around their physical bodies. “There is enough of her still inside you to bind the pact. How you go forward once it is done, however, is on you.”

“Are you saying that if we choose pleasure, it is only her own going forward if we do this?” Kendrix said, interest in his voice. “Or ours as well?”

“There must always be balance, Lord Kendrix. Essence comes from the lowering of the aura, and potent essence is both the Yin and the Yoni. He prefers a balance there.”

"But then what role does the pain play?" Finn asked, giving up on the one question rule since they weren't giving full answers and he wasn't leaving until they knew everything. "That was the one aspect of the journal that was actually pretty clear—she must hurt as much as she must find pleasure in it."

"And what happens if she nopes out or dies in a car crash?" Easton asked, speaking up for the first time. "Life isn't guaranteed. She could walk in front of a bus tomorrow for all we know. Just because she accepted the pact this year doesn't mean she isn't scarred mentally from it and would rather die than come back next year. Does that mean we're all fucked?"

"He has a point," Finn agreed, his sudden fire to get the tattoo extinguished. "Do we have to get the tattoos now? Can we watch over her instead and then come back, say next July, for the tattoos if it looks like she's okay?"

"And you still haven't answered all our questions anyway," Carter pointed out. "You haven’t told us what the tattoos even do. Do we have to give blood? I'm not jumping into this with both feet until I know everything."

Emerson looked to Leo, who had been extremely quiet through all of this. “Leo? You okay there, man?” As their most...emotional of the seven, he was always a wild card, from his decisions to his kinks.

The High Oranari sighed. “Lords, we are but servants to His will, we can only answer what we know, and admittedly what we know is steeped in the times they were conceived in. Truth is we do not know what would happen if she died in an accident of the modern world’s making.

“In the past, she was protected by her sacrificers, and Him as well, becoming a Daughter of the Blood. It has been a very long time since that has happened, and as to her mental capacity to accept this, that is for you to decide. Surely you will not allow her to live her life without your influence, however hidden?”

"Of course we can be in her life," Finn said. "Some of us already are, which is kind of weird. I knew I recognized her from somewhere—she's the receptionist at the gallery I'm the accountant for. But I'm not going to get into fate right now. The point is, we'd need to be right there next to her to prevent accidents, and she'd notice that. If you say the God is distant and can't protect her, why would we take the risk?"

“The pact binds completely her to him, her to you, you to her. The tattoos with her essence involved, and you are all rolling in that, would extend safeguards to her. I do not believe he would allow for his Eternal Sacrifice to be harmed.”

Number three looked up from a book he had picked up. “It was only after the age of Those Who Sacrifice passed and a new group was instituted in the past that the woman was released from her service.”

"That could easily be another twenty or twenty-five years," Easton pointed out. "None of us have even been called to breed yet. Does it have to be a legacy group or can someone else take over?"

The High Oranari smirked at him. “Is she not a woman you would want forever as a victim?” He chuckled. “It is written that certain women are made for this, they were, back in the times of high belief, anointed early through our old customs, and raised to become. It has been many, many ages since that happened. If you found, or were gifted a woman that would make your sacrifice dynamic, different and...a return to the old ways...would you not take it?”

"I'm not sure that's what my brother was getting at," Carter sighed. "The kind of pain we give is a lot. As she gets older and her skin gets more fragile, she's not going to heal as easily from bruising or scratches. It could get debilitating for her, taking that kind of damage in her late forties or fifties."

"Exactly," Easton agreed. "She's no good to us broken."

“Sadly there is no precedence for that, either, given how long people lived back then as well,” the third offered.

“Though, by your own fifties, you should have passed the torch to a younger group,” two said.

“Are there any accounts of what happens to the woman after they left the service?” Emerson asked.

“Three,” the third said.

“And?” Kendrix asked.

He just smiled. “Do not believe answering that at this junction would help your cause,” he offered. “After your fourth year, ask this again, should this experiment continue.”

The second went to a shelf and pulled a book, starting to look through it. “Lord Easton,” he said, “your question about legacy is a no. Technically you are not legacy, though you must have some old blood for him to accept your sacrifices.”

"So we can retire her and ourselves at any time?" he clarified, letting out a sigh of relief when the priest nodded.

"Well that seems a whole lot less terrifying all of a sudden," Carter snorted.

"I still think we need to watch her," Finn cautioned them. "We need to be sure she can handle it."

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