Shadow of a Grave ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter eighteen ✧ bloodlines

Savior Mode by Balance & Composure

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The manor was empty when Robert Gaunt arrived home. Most of the time it felt empty to him. It was far too much space for such a small family and it often took a while to figure out who had been home where they were there.

That evening it seemed extra hollow inside.

Robert took soft quiet steps, afraid of making too much sound in the old house, in fear of being found first.

Normally when he was a child he would have called for a house-elf to help him, but it had been years since there were any in the manor. He hadn't necessarily missed their help until then. But now, after everything that he had learned, he was more scared of the house itself and the secrets it held within each inch of the walls.

But Robert swallowed the fear growing in his throat and headed to the basement first. There wasn't a lot of information that he knew about the wards on the property, but he did know that his father had maintained them down there.

It was blood magic and he didn't fully understand that yet. Robert was only a fourth year at school and still had a lot to learn before Blood Magic made the list of important topics.

He followed the instructions that the blind man had given him as he walked around the basement, surprised to figure out just how much someone without sight could remember the old house. When he got to the hidden room that had been described to him, his eyes widened at the source of the ward.

It looked like the house itself was a disease. The walls inside the small room were wittering away and stank of rot. Old paint peeled and chipped into flanks shattering the floor.

A cauldron sat on a small table in the room with trails of dry red blood trailing out and sinking into the floorboards just as it was described to him. It was as if the cauldron itself was melted and fused into the foundation of the building. It had been almost as old as the Gaunt bloodline itself.  

Ominis Gaunt explained the secrets of their family history to him truthfully. At first, the young boy wasn't sure if he wanted to believe everything that he told him, it had been a lot to process. He didn't understand why his father may have been lying to him. Yet the proof was right in front of him now and he couldn't ignore it.

The ward allowed for two bloodlines to live in the house, even though his father had always told them that it only protected the Gaunts. It had been a lie. Someone had clearly added another bloodline to the cauldron as two thick trails of scarlet blood exited the ward and sunk into the foundation of the home.

The second bloodline on the ward was for Annabel. Amelia had been a Gaunt through marriage and the traditional rules still applied to her, but not to her daughter. Just as his Uncle Ominis had told him, the little girl hadn't been from the Gaunt bloodline.

Quickly and quietly, Robert fumbled to get the vial out of his pocket before emptying it into the cauldron.

When the group had decided on this plan, Ominis had been very detailed about what changes he planned on making to the ward and the effects of everything. But already barely understanding the power of Blood Magic, Robert chose to force on only what he needed to do and worry about the why later.

Deep red bubbles grew and groaned inside the blackened cast iron walls of the pot. One of the trails of blood that crawled into the walls of the house began to glow and hiss at the change. Burning bright white as if the blood had turned into lava burning into the walls.