Brick Holmes. That was the latest of a long string of different names. For 1,000 years, he had been making sacrifices twice a year. That was 2,000 lives he had taken to keep himself young. He hadn't thought it was a big deal. After all, he was an athlete. It was his due. He hadn't squandered his gift. He had played every sport known to man. But, then he had met Betsy. She was getting older before his eyes. She turned the other way during sacrifice time, but he could tell it weighed on her. He couldn't do that to her any more. And he couldn't watch her shrivel up and die. He knew what he had to do.