With Wounds and Worship

He bleeds so she'll touch him.
Anastasia is just a soft-spoken helper in the school nurse's office-she flinches at blood, apologizes too much, and believes every wound can be fixed with gauze and kindness.

Then Gael Rodriguez walks in. Hoodie up, eyes dark, blood trailing down his arm in a cut that looks too clean to be an accident.

"Blood ritual," he says when she asks what happened-like it's the most normal thing in the world.

He keeps coming back. Always bleeding. Always watching. Always smiling when she reaches for the bandages.

Anastasia thinks he just needs help.

But gods don't crave kindness. They crave offerings.
And Gael has already chosen who the final offering will be.