Sacrifice in Blood

Prologue

Was this what it felt like to die?

I had brushed with death more times than I would have thought possible.

I should have been familiar with the feeling by now but this time it felt different...it felt more final.

Someone had once asked me if I believed in fate and destiny. At the time I had laughed and asked whether this included pulling swords from stones and heeding fortune cookies. Fate and destiny had always seemed so big and foreign, like something out of a fairy tale.

But as I felt myself drift, I knew in my heart they were real. This was my fate. It had been my destiny to die here all along. I thought I'd be scared or feel cheated but I wasn't. Frankly, I was exhausted. Everything that had happened had been leading up to this point, destiny running its course; propelling me along the path that had long been predetermined. It felt like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders to know this was my final destination. Now I could just relax into the darkness.

***

It was almost 2 in the morning when I finally headed home. It had been a long night and I couldn't wait to jump in bed. Although technically it had been a study group, it felt more like a group of friends hanging out. It had been an intense year and a day but definitely worth it; I was almost ready.

"Soon you'll be one of us Leina!" Ava had reminded me excitedly earlier tonight, sounding a little like a cult member beckoning a new unsuspecting initiate into their fold.

I laughed at the thought of my best friend Ava Carmichael being a cult leader; it was absurd- the bouncy blonde haired, blue-eyed compassionate young woman could never be equated with a nefarious cult.

I took a shortcut through the forest to my street as I often did, admiring the beautiful starry sky and surrounding trees. I loved that I lived so close to nature. Our town Woodcreek, as it was so un-originally named, is a small rural town with a charming creek at it's centre, and surrounded by sprawling forest. Up until a few years ago, the town rarely had visitors; everyone knew each other and the kids had dubbed the town as the most boring in the state. Since the local university had been built here the population had grown and more people flocked here, me being one of them.

I smiled at the familiar trees surrounding me, wondering how I had ever lived peacefully in the city. My parents and I moved here from across the state when I first started at the university a year and a half ago. I had completed my Bachelor's degree in history and archaeology at Torrence University but when the opportunity arose to escape to the countryside, I transferred to Woodcreek university to do my honours degree and never looked back. I loved it here, the loud traffic traded for the sound of birds, the skyscrapers for hills, the pollution-free air. I always felt at peace when surrounded by nature.

It was as I was nearing the home stretch when I heard something that made my heart almost jump out my chest: an agonised groan.

I came to a halt, frozen and holding my breath, waiting to check if I had just imagined it. It had sounded so out of place, I'd surely imagined it.

Another groan.

Oh my god. I glanced around frantically trying to find the source of the sound. It could have just been an animal, a possum or what have you, but it didn't sound like any animal I'd ever heard. In fact, I walked through the forest most nights and had never heard anything like it. I forced myself to take a breath in, there was no need to freak out.