Chapter 10 - The Broken Circle
Leo’s heart plummeted into a bottomless abyss. The cold, calculating gaze in Harlan’s eyes was far more terrifying than the hollow, decaying face of the corpse at his window. Julian was a monster born of death, but Harlan was a monster born of greed.
"You tricked her," Leo whispered, backing away from the chair, his small boots scraping against the dusty floorboards. "She spent eight years living in terror because of a lie you told her."
"A very effective lie," Harlan agreed calmly, stepping around the table with the bone-handled knife held loosely in his right hand. "Your father was weak. He believed love could supersede centuries of ancient law. He wanted to break the Circle, take you and Eleanor, and leave the valley forever. But the land requires a master, Leo. And the master must have a bloodline tied to the soil."
Harlan lunged forward with shocking speed for a man his age.
Leo threw the heavy ledger straight into Harlan’s face. The thick leather book struck the older man across the nose, staggering him for a fraction of a second. Leo didn't hesitate; he spun around and sprinted toward the dining room's side exit, bursting into a dark, cavernous library lined with towering bookshelves.
"You cannot run, child!" Harlan's voice echoed through the house, completely stripped of its calm demeanor, replaced by a harsh, grating rage. "The boundary stones keep things out, but they also keep you in! There is nowhere to hide!"
Leo ducked behind a massive oak roll-top desk in the corner of the room. His chest heaved as he fought to quiet his ragged breathing. His hand plunged into his jacket pocket, his fingers wrapping around the silver pocket watch he had taken from the stairs.
To Julian. May the earth hold your silence.
His father hadn't abandoned him. His father hadn't tried to kill him. Julian had died trying to protect him from the very man now hunting him through the dark house.
From the dining room came the heavy, methodical thud of Harlan’s boots. The older man was not rushing; he knew every corner of this ancestral home. "Your father fought like a demon that night, Leo," Harlan spoke into the shadows, his voice drifting between the towering bookshelves. "Even with six feet of wet earth over his chest, he refused to stop clawing. We had to drive four iron stakes through his limbs to pin him to the roots. Did your mother tell you that part?"
Tears burned Leo’s eyes, but beneath the fear, a hot, sharp ember of fury ignited in his gut.
Suddenly, a strange sound cut through the oppressive silence of the manor.
It was faint at first, coming from the far side of the overgrown lawn beyond the library windows: tap... tap... tap.
Leo glanced toward the tall, shuttered French doors leading to the veranda.
The rhythmic tapping grew faster, heavier. It was the exact same sound from the living room window. Julian was outside.
"He can't cross the boundary stones, you foolish ghost!" Harlan yelled toward the windows, his irritation showing. "The runes were carved by the founders! Your rotten flesh will burn to ash before you take three steps onto this lawn!"
As if in answer to Harlan’s boast, a tremendous crash shattered the stillness outside.
It wasn't the sound of the house being struck; it was the sound of earth-shattering stone. Outside in the fog, the pale, decaying figure of Julian Vance hadn't tried to walk past the boundary stones. He had taken a massive, rusted logging chain from the old barn and wrapped it around one of the central warding pillars.
Through the gaps in the window shutters, Leo watched in awe as the dead man hauled with monstrous, unnatural strength, his decayed muscles tearing under the strain, black fluid pouring from his limbs.
With a deafening crack that shook the very foundations of the mansion, the ancient granite pillar snapped at its base.
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The faint green glow around the perimeter instantly vanished. The ward was broken.
A freezing gale blasted through the cracks in the house, blowing the library doors wide open and extinguishing Harlan’s lantern, plunging the mansion into total, icy darkness.
