days of sacrifices prime the pump

Martin shrugged. "Many. Many will be their personal guards. Others, the . . . highest-ranking servants, I suppose you would call them. They are like Susan and myself. There may also be mortal foot soldiers, there to keep the sacrifices in line."
"Sacrifices, plural?"
Martin nodded. "The ceremonies of the Red Court of old could last for days, with blood sacrifices made every few minutes. There might be a hundred or two hundred others chosen to die before the ritual."
I didn't shudder, but only by sheer force of will. "Yeah. Priming the pump." I nodded. "Probably they're doing it right now."
"Yes," Martin said.

Changes chapter 39, Page 415-146


"Oh," Bob said. "Oh, my."
"What is it?" I asked.
"The ritual curse they're setting up," Bob said. "It's a big one."
"How does it work? In ten seconds or less."
"Ten sec - Argh," Bob said. "Okay. Picture a crossbow. All the human sacrifices are the effort you need to pull back the string and store the energy. This crossbow has its string all the way back, and it's ready to fire. It just needs a bolt."
"What do you mean, a bolt?"
"Like the little girl hiding back behind it," Bob said. "Her blood will carry the stored energy out into the world, and conduct that energy to the target. In this case, her blood relatives."
I frowned for a second. Then I asked, "Does it have to be Maggie, specifically?"
"Nah. One bolt is pretty much like another. Long as you use a compatible knife to spill the blood, it should work."
I nodded. "So . . . what if we used a different bolt?"
"The same thing would happen," Bob said. "The only difference would be who is on the receiving end."
"It's a loaded gun," I said quietly. I frowned. "Then why'd they leave me alone with it?"
"Who you gonna kill to set it off?" Bob asked. "Your little girl? Yourself? Come on, boss."
"Can we disarm it then? Scramble it?"
"Sure. It'd blow this temple halfway to orbit, but you could do that."
I ground my teeth. "If it goes off the way they mean it to, will it kill Thomas?"
"The girl's human," Bob said. "So only the human bits. His body, his mind. I suppose if he got lucky, he might wind up a vegetable in which his Hunger demon was trapped, but it won't spread any farther into the White Court than that."
"Dammit," I said. I started to say more, but caught motion out of the corner of my eye. I stuffed Bob all the way back into the sack, admonishing him to shut up, and turned to find Alamaya entering the temple with a dozen of the full-vampire jaguar warriors at her back.

Changes Chapter 44, Page 467-468