Chapter 8 - THE GRAVE THAT WAS EMPTYThey reached the cemetery before dawn.
Rain poured over the graves.
David stood before his father's tomb.
“We're really doing this?”
Stella nodded.
“If Adrian wants us to find the contract, it's here.”
They dug.
The coffin was old.
The wood collapsed when they opened it.
David looked inside.
Empty.
No body.
Only a black envelope.
He picked it up.
Written on the front:
FOR DAVID.
Inside was a letter.
Son,
If you are reading this, the house has awakened.
I am sorry.
Everything I told you was a lie.
There was never any disease.
There was never any ordinary death.
Your mother was cursed.
Stella was chosen.
And you were the sacrifice.
David froze.
He continued reading.
Adrian needed a child without blood ties to inherit the fortune.
I refused.
So he created one.
David looked at Stella.
“Created?”
She was staring at the letter.
Stella was born under the curse.
She was never meant to live past thirty.
David's heart sank.
Stella would turn thirty the following night.
Another page.
But there is one thing Adrian fears.
The original ledger.
It contains every name that ever accepted the fortune.
Find it.
Burn it.
And the contract ends.
David folded the letter.
“Where is the ledger?”
A voice came from behind them.
“Under your father's grave.”
They turned.
Samuel stood between the tombstones.
He carried an old leather book.
David stared.
“You found it.”
Samuel nodded.
“This is what Adrian has been protecting.”
They opened it.
Hundreds of names.
Generations.
Entire families.
Beside each name was a number.
Not money.
Lives.
Then David saw a familiar name.
ADRIAN VALE.
Beside it:
FIRST DEBT.
Samuel turned the page.
The final entry was:
STELLA CARTER.
But beneath Stella's name was another.
DAVID CARTER.
David stared.
“Why are both our names here?”
Samuel's expression darkened.
“Because there are two contracts.”
“What?”
“One for the giver.”
“One for the receiver.”
David flipped through the pages.
Then he found Adrian's name again.
A note had been written beside it.
THE GIVER CANNOT DIE UNTIL THE LAST RECEIVER FORGIVES HIM.
David slowly understood.
“You're trapped too.”
Samuel nodded.
“Adrian isn't immortal.”
“He's bound.”
“Yes.”
“Then why doesn't he just die?”
“Because nobody has forgiven him.”
The cemetery went silent.
Then footsteps sounded behind them.
Adrian appeared.
“You're becoming very difficult to kill.”
David held the ledger.
“How do we end this?”
Adrian's eyes moved to the book.
“You don't.”
“Why?”
“Because the ledger is not the source.”
David froze.
“Then what is?”
Adrian smiled.
“The first coin.”
“What first coin?”
“The one that started everything.”
He pointed toward Stella.
“It is inside her.”
Stella suddenly screamed.
She collapsed.
A black mark appeared over her heart.
May you like
And from beneath her skin...
something metallic began moving.
