The Blood Contract
Chapter 59: Nothing but a pawn

Chapter 59: Nothing but a pawn

"I received a letter from Maria last night, and everything contained in the letter is the same as what is contained in your father’s journal." Marlowe began to speak after they had finished eating, and all their attention was on her.

"There are only a few differences that didn’t add any alteration to the story.

The name of Salvador’s child was Gabriel. The boy was born like every normal child, but trouble only started when he reached his late teenage years. He died at 18.

Given the fact that his mother was a witch and his father had altered her genes while trying to save her when she fell unconscious while pregnant, the boy was born with powers that the human mind couldn’t comprehend.

He could tell what was going on in your mind even without asking you anything, and worse, he could make you do stuff without telling you anything. Apart from his top-notch mind control ability, he also had abilities like super hearing, summoning an invisible shield to block an attack, and twisting the bones in a person’s body without touching them.

Now, all these things came with a downside. The more he used them, especially the mind control, the closer to insanity he was getting. But nobody noticed it in the early stages. His father continued to exploit his abilities, gaining wealth, fame, glory, and power for himself. The Council of Vitae today is standing because of how much power and money Gabriel’s abilities brought to his father and the mafia don who had helped him save his wife.

By the time they noticed the boy was gradually heading to insanity, he was already in his late teenage years. Salvador did everything to stop or at least slow down the process, but nothing worked—until the boy fell in love with a girl from his mother’s clan. His downfall into the abyss of insanity halted when he met this girl, and he became his normal self whenever he was with her.

Knowing the kind of being he was, the people from his mother’s clan decided that it would be disastrous to have somebody like him end up with a witch from their clan. And so, they decided to eliminate the girl.

On two occasions, he succeeded in saving the girl from their brutal attacks, but the third time he tried to do it, he completely lost touch with reality and ended up killing the girl himself by mistake. When that happened, he lost everything—including his humanity. Everyone became his enemy, and he went about killing anyone he laid his hands on, apart from his parents.

At this point, a secret society had already been formed, and their sole aim was to eradicate the boy from the face of the earth. Before he went insane, they had been trying everything they could to kill him, but they didn’t succeed. However, after he lost his mind, they got the perfect opportunity to get his blood from one of his attack sites, and with that, they formulated an artifact that finally succeeded in killing the boy.

Grief-stricken, Salvador vowed to bring his son back. His wife, who was fully in support of that mission, sacrificed herself to keep him alive until he achieved that goal because she couldn’t accept her child dying before her. Before she died, Salvador made another vow—to bring her back first, but only when he was absolutely certain of bringing their child back."

Marlowe paused at this point to catch her breath. The dining hall was as quiet as a graveyard, and everyone pinned their attention on her as if they would lose something important should they do otherwise.

The looks on their faces were a different story altogether.

"Now, this all sounds like a fairy tale—until I stumbled across a place where your father said you were the exact copy of Salvador’s wife," Marlowe continued, this time shifting her undivided attention to Serena.

A puzzled frown appeared on Serena’s face as soon as those words made it into her ears.

"A copy of who now?" she threw the question before she could stop herself.

Marlowe nodded. "I didn’t believe it until last night when I received Maria’s message, which came with pictures."

Marlowe overturned the pieces of paper she kept on the table, revealing they were pictures indeed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Leah Eldora Roberto."

Serena’s eyes stretched to the maximum. It was as if she was staring at herself from a different time. But she was not the only one shocked—everyone, including Lucian, didn’t escape from the shock.

"This painting was done in the 1700s," Marlowe pointed to the ancient painting before moving her finger to the one that looked more modern, "and this one was done eight years ago. As for why you don’t have her memories yet—that, according to the message I received, will be settled after the birth of the child."

She paused again to allow them to absorb the information before she continued speaking.

"The name of the secret society that finally succeeded in killing the boy is Katharistiká. It’s a Greek word that means ’cleansers’ in English, and their sole aim is to destroy the evil one, according to their motto.

The people that attacked you two nights ago are members of Katharistiká. They have been keeping tabs on the council’s activity for a long time. They know you, they know what you represent, and they know what you are going to bring forth. So they are trying to take you out of the picture to avoid the bigger calamity. If they have your blood, it means they’re already working on something we don’t know yet.

So, this is the time where you have to be extremely careful, Serena. You have more than the Council of Vitae to worry about now. And that goes for you too, Mr. Draven."

Now, giving her full attention to Lucian, Marlowe spoke again.

"The council will try to keep Serena protected at all costs, but I cannot say the same about you. To them, you are nothing but a pawn in this game. It is certain that they will take you out of the picture as soon as she conceives. I am not guessing this—I am very sure about it. So you have to be careful."