I Volunteer As Tribute Novels & Stories

Unless… My heart drops. ‘Unless there is a volunteer, who is willing to give up his or her life to take the place of the person who was originally sacrificed’.

Tauri fought alongside us without knowing my true identity, and my true intention for precluding the ritual from taking place. I told him white lies that the Cuvari tribe had the wrong final tribute. It was true. The last tribute, Agnes, was a powerful rogue wolf they found in Brazil, but she wasn’t my other half. She became a loyal subject of mine after we saved her life and promised to aid me if I needed her help.

Why was I doing all of this? My father was already dead. I turned to her, feeling a strange urge to hear her voice continue. “Why have you volunteered as a tribute?” The girl gave me a small smile. She clutched at her knees, the wind blowing back her dark hair and echoed my words back to me. “I’m looking for someone.”

In each patient's smile, in the shared moments of vulnerability, and in the connections forged in the midst of life's fragility, Abigail found a way to celebrate and immortalize the essence of her dear friend. Sophia's memory lived on not just within the walls of Larry's apartment but also in the lives touched by Abigail's selfless acts. The charitable work became a living tribute, a continuation of the love and kindness Sophia had sown during her time on Earth. Abigail, in her dedication to service, carried forward Sophia's legacy, turning grief into a force for positive change.

Lucian and I worked together on the tribute, carefully selecting words that could convey both grief and gratitude. When the day came, the church smelled faintly of lilies and candles. The girls sat quietly, wrapped in blankets, clutching small mementos my father had given them over the years—tiny drawings, a notebook, a hand-carved wooden horse. Aria leaned against my arm, Arianna held Lucian’s hand tightly, and Arian sat upright, trying to appear composed, though her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. When it was time for the reading of the tribute, I stepped forward first. My voice shook, but I carried on, each word a lifeline, each sentence an offering to his memory.

Veronica hung her head. She left something out? Nicholas and I glanced at each other, before the Oracle spoke up once more, reclaiming our attention. “For the volunteers it will be painful. Perhaps you’ve guessed as much. The sacrifice of life force, even that freely given, leaves it’s toll. Knowing this, do you wish to persist?” “Yes,” I said at once. “This changes nothing for me.” I realized as soon as I said it, that I shouldn’t speak for my friends. Though I was willing to do whatever it took to save Elva, that didn’t mean the same for others.

I kneel in the center of his throne room, wearing nothing but a thin white shift that does little to hide my body. The villagers left me here an hour ago. The annual tribute. A virgin sacrifice to keep the vampire lord from descending on our town. Most girls are dragged here screaming. I walked in willingly.

"You mean you. When you say someone of our blood has to die, you are not describing a problem. You are volunteering." "I have been volunteering for eighteen years," Tristan said, and his calm was the worst thing in that gallery of horrors. "I am the anchor, already here, already sealed to it, already at the end of a life that stopped being mine the night this city fell. If a Moongale has to die for the crown to pass, let it be the one who is old and caged and finished, not the young queen the north needs or the baby up in the tower. I am the obvious answer, Talitha. I have had a very long time to grow comfortable with being the obvious answer."

Looks like you’re just a stray in the hallway,' Mike laughed before cutting the link. Fuming, Job went straight to Ethan’s inner sanctum. Ethan didn't look up from his monitors. 'We provide a tribute to our sentinels every Winter Festival. This year, it will be aerial tech. Do you have a grievance with the choice?' Job was floored. He shook his head. 'No! I’m just... caught off guard.'

They came to a hault on the lawn beside the pool, just steps away for the table that eveyone was standing beside at that moment. General Han stepped forward and said "Master and Madame. We are here to volunteer for testing. Each man and woman here has been informed of the process and of the dangers involved. When I told them of the need, and who the need was for, every single man and woman stood up to volunteer of their own free will. They have expressed their admiration and respect for both of you, and feel that it would be an honor to be selected to be the donor. The rest of the force is either out of town or on shift. But all have volunteered as well." Rick had tears in his eyes as much a