The Forbes family vault lay in the basement beneath the manor's annex.
When William pushed the door open and switched on the lights, the square chamber sprang into view.
"Vault" wasn't quite the word—there was nothing glittering about it.
If anything, it felt chilling.
Because—
Chairs woven from the hair of enslaved people.
Drinking vessels made from skulls.
Chopsticks carved from bone.
…
No exaggeration: if the contents of this room ever saw daylight, it would cause an earthquake of public outrage.
Some would call it a remembrance of a "bygone era."
Others would loathe it as a stain on history.
Hawk fell into the first camp—he had strong opinions about that era.
Even so…
What seized his attention most among the Forbes collection wasn't any of the slave-era trophies. It was a skeleton.
A—
Set of angelic remains?
Even as bare bone, the figure was unmistakable: skull, limbs, and a pair of feathered wings, all shackled by iron chains to the stone wall in a kneeling pose. Hawk's senses jolted. He glanced at William.
"This…"
"Yes. An angel's skeleton."
Meeting Hawk's eyes, William smiled and said with certainty, "A genuine angel's skeleton."
Hawk's brows tipped.
William looked at the kneeling bones, a reflective cast in his gaze. "Hawk, those times were rough—and in some ways, remarkable. My grandfather found this when he came ashore and settled here."
Hawk frowned slightly. "He killed it?"
"Killed?" William shook his head. "No. This is an angel, Hawk. When the first Forbeses came and started building, they dug it up. It already looked like this."
Yes—already bound and kneeling when they unearthed it.
The Forbeses—arriving in the wake of the Mayflower generation—had chosen this spot for their house after the discovery. They raised the manor here, built the annex, and sealed the angel's bones in the family vault to remain forever. (Wikipedia)
As William spoke, Hawk let his sixth sense circle the remains.
He had a decent guess where they came from.
It's known:
Once, Earth had Jehovah and angels.
Mephisto can attest to that.
Long ago, human souls on Earth were under the Heaven dimension. Then Mephisto came; after a war of angels and demons, Hell won, and Heaven lost guardianship over Earth's life and death.
If Hawk was right, this angel fell in that war.
But—
"What are the five chains for…?"
"Jesus rose on the third day," William said. "My grandfather told me: never touch the chains, and never let these bones see the sun—or it will 'rise' again."
"…Right."
Hawk nodded with a small smile.
Resurrection doesn't just… happen.
Even bringing his sister back had required both body and soul.
Here there was only bone—no flesh, no soul. Reviving this would take an all-powerful hand.
And Jehovah was not that.
Philosophically speaking—limits exist.
Still…
"Jehovah."
"Heaven."
"An angel?"
"Heh."
Night fell.
After dinner with Gwen, William, Aunt Liz, and Caroline, Hawk returned to their guest room. Lying on the bed, he replayed the afternoon in the vault—and those angel bones—mind spinning.
William hadn't shown him the Forbes' "greatest secret" on a whim.
William wanted him to inherit the Forbes estate.
It sounded abrupt, but William had said as much.
As for why—William didn't say, and Hawk didn't ask.
If he had to guess, William knew his time was short.
Yes.
William was ill; a year or so left at most. He was looking for a successor for the manor.
Hawk was curious why he'd picked Gwen and him.
But that wasn't the mystery that truly nagged him.
What truly gnawed at him was the faint but familiar trace he'd sensed on the angel's bones when he swept them with his sixth sense.
That same "scent" he'd caught clinging to Dr. Merrick's soul. Counting today, he'd found it four times.
First, Damon outside the manor.
Second, Caroline.
Third, Elena.
Fourth, this angel.
If he ranked intensity from high to low, Elena's trace was the strongest—and the angel's even more pronounced.
But Elena's wasn't identical to Merrick's; like Damon and Caroline, hers felt "picked up" by contact.
As for the true owner of that scent—Hawk already had a suspect.
Which explained why he'd looked at Elena, startled first, then suddenly enlightened.
Even so, he needed proof.
The bathroom door opened.
Fresh from her shower, Gwen stepped out, combing her hair as she looked at him on the bed. "You're really not going to tell me what's in the vault?"
Hawk came back to the moment and smiled. "Sorry. Grandpa said not to."
Gwen shrugged. "I can guess. The sort of stuff that gives you nightmares."
She knew how the Forbes family had built power.
So—
She already had a picture of what might be down there.
"Okay, then go shower."
"I'm heading out for a bit."
"Hmm?"
Gwen paused, glanced at the night sky through the window, and brightened. "Now? To see vampires? Can I come?"
Hawk chuckled. "Didn't you already?"
Gwen blinked, thinking he meant the drive into town. "No way—back then you only mentioned it. I didn't even see a shadow."
Hawk shook his head. "You did. You spent the whole afternoon with one."
I did—and all afternoon?
Gwen froze, thinking hard, then her pupils widened as the answer hit her. "You mean my cousin…"
"Yeah."
Gwen sucked in a breath, stunned.
A second later she shook her head. "Wait. If she's a vampire, shouldn't sunlight burn her?"
"Didn't you notice the ring on her finger?"
"I did. I even asked. She said it was a sister ring."
"It's a witch's ring."
Hawk smiled. "Enchanted jewelry. With it, a vampire can walk in daylight." (vampirediaries.fandom.com)
Gwen's mouth fell open as she replayed Aunt Liz and Caroline's reactions back when vampires came up.
"What about my aunt…"
"She's not."
"But she knows Caroline's turned?"
"Mm." Hawk nodded. "Makes sense. Your kid turns, you don't 'solve' it by killing her—you help her keep it quiet. And vampires aren't all evil, anyway."
That much was true.
Like any faction with a dark reputation, there were exceptions.
Gwen pressed her lips together, sat on the bed, and handed him the comb. "Was she forced, or did she choose it?"
Taking the comb, Hawk naturally began to work through her hair while he sifted through what he remembered of the town's "diary."
"You know how the turn works, right?"
Gwen nodded.
It's not a quick bite and—boom—new vampire. That's zombies.
To turn, a human has to ingest vampire blood first.
That's only step one.
Step two: the human must die—so the vampire blood can circulate and reanimate the body.
Then comes step three—the crucial step.
Within twenty-four hours of waking, the newly turned must drink human blood.
Fail that—
At the twenty-four-hour mark, they die. Permanently.
Succeed—
And they cross the line.
No longer human.
A vampire.
Supernatural.
Vampire.
…
(End of Chapter)
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