The Forbidden Basement — Holler Mansion (Continued)
The magical flames flickered dimly as Edward knelt before the blood-colored magic circle. He opened his grandfather's journal once more. The harsh handwriting reflected the mind of a man who had begun to change from what he once was.
"…At last, I have found the perfect path. A ritual that transforms a human into a pure vampire—not through a curse, not through an accident, but through intention."
"The final component is the blood of a direct vampire lineage… it must come from the same family. Only then can the pure current of power flow from one soul to another."
Edward froze. His hand stiffened above the page.
He turned to Hill, who stood quietly a short distance away. The dim torchlight illuminated a face that was calm, yet scarred by the weight of the past.
"I… am not of your blood," Edward said softly, confusion in his voice."I'm not part of this family."
Hill remained silent for a moment before walking slowly toward him. He stopped in front of Edward. His gaze was not harsh, but it carried a gravity that tightened Edward's chest.
"You may not be of my blood… but I chose you."
The words made the entire chamber fall silent, as if time itself had stopped.
"I saw something in you from the very first day we met," Hill continued."A boy torn from his life by monsters… yet who refused to surrender to fate. You possess something even my own descendants never had."
His voice remained calm, but trembled slightly at the end.
Edward lowered his gaze.
"But what about the blood? If I don't carry the Holler bloodline, this ritual can never be complete."
Hill extended a ceremonial knife toward him.
"Then prove it. If fate has chosen you to inherit this family… even blood will surrender."
Edward stood still for a moment before accepting the knife with solemn resolve. He gripped the blade tightly, the cold metal sinking deep into his bones.
He turned back to the journal.
"I asked my father for his blood. He begged me to stop. But I believed that once I succeeded, he would understand… he never did. The look in his eyes in his final moment was filled with despair…"
Edward clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tightly.
"I don't want to become like him… I don't want to lose what little remains inside me."
Hill placed a hand on Edward's shoulder.
"Then you must learn… so you will not fall prey to the darkness as he did."
Edward tightened his grip on the knife.
Then he stabbed it into his own palm.
Blood dripped down into the ancient magic circle surrounding him.
The stone beneath the floor trembled softly, as if the blood of one man might reconnect a broken lineage.
Hill stepped into the center of the cold stone chamber. His cloak fluttered slightly under unstable currents of power.
Edward sat in the middle of the circle, surrounded by eight candles burning with unwavering light. His eyes held both doubt and fear, yet he spoke no words.
Hill lifted a silver dagger etched with anti-curse enchantments and slowly cut across his right palm.
Dark red blood—tinged faintly with black—began to drip from his fingers.
He stepped forward and raised his hand above the circle that held Edward's blood.
The first drop fell.
"If this blood rejects yours," Hill said slowly, "the circle will ignite in flames… and the blood will turn to ash."
"But if it accepts you… then you will become one of us."
A low hum rose from the magic circle.
Purple-red lines of magic began glowing around Edward.
The air grew heavy.
Silence filled the room.
Then—
The circle emitted a faint, warm light.
It did not burn.
Edward did not collapse.
"You can receive my blood…" Hill whispered.
In his eyes there was relief… and something strangely sorrowful.
He stepped behind Edward and pulled the boy's shirt down slightly, revealing his pale back.
"Remember this," Hill said quietly."This power is a blessing bought with a curse. And you will never return to being human again."
Hill cut his arm again. Dark blood flowed slowly into a glass vial engraved with a Soul Seal symbol.
He lifted the vial and slowly tilted it.
The blood dripped into the wound he carved into the center of Edward's back.
Edward's body convulsed immediately.
"Ah—!" he groaned in pain.
But Hill did not stop.
He began chanting an ancient incantation. The echoes of ancestral voices seemed to resonate deep within the underground chamber.
The blood on Edward's back seeped into his skin as if alive.
The magic circle began rotating slowly, lifting slightly from the ground.
Vampire power fused with the human blood inside Edward—creating a reaction never seen before.
His body burned.
His breathing grew violent.
His eyes changed color, becoming sharper with every drop of blood.
Then suddenly—
A purple-black beam of energy erupted from the center of the circle.
A voice—something ancient—echoed inside his mind.
"I cannot continue this much longer," Hill said quietly.
"Your body is adapting. You are no longer human… but you are not yet a vampire either."
Edward slowly opened his eyes.
A flash of purple-black flickered in his pupils before fading.
"I can feel it… a heartbeat that isn't mine… and something waking inside me."
He clenched his hand.
"It's like a whisper… coming from the darkness."
Hill nodded.
"My blood will change what you believe yourself to be. It will teach you to forget pain, hunger, hesitation…"
"But you must never forget why you began this path."
The old man took a red crystal from an ancient crate and tossed it into the air. The object immediately glowed and transformed into a training target.
"Control your magic. Use only enough blood power to destroy it—without draining yourself."
Edward raised his hand.
Veins beneath his skin bulged as purple-black energy gathered at his fingertips.
Boom!
The target shattered instantly.
But the stone floor beneath his feet cracked from the backlash.
Hill frowned.
"Too much. You nearly burned the blood inside you to ashes."
Edward breathed heavily but nodded, accepting the mistake without excuse.
From that day on, Hill gave Edward one or two drops of his blood each day while training him to control blood magic.
Edward's body slowly changed.
He no longer felt cold or heat.
Wounds that should take days healed within seconds.
His eyes could see in darkness.
He could hear whispers that no one else heard.
But every gift came with burning pain that never truly stopped.
He was no longer human.
Not vampire.
Not anything that existed in this world.
But he chose this path—
To protect what he loved.
And to uncover the final secret of that book.
The secret of a grandfather who once believed:
"Love can never rival power."
Edward trained every day, often with Henry—his most trusted companion—helping him.
Edward stood within the magic circle, sweat covering his face despite barely moving.
Inside his chest, flames seemed to burn endlessly.
His heart beat irregularly.
Pain, anger, doubt, and fear clashed violently within him.
Henry stood across from him, expression calm.
In his hand was a silver dagger coated with wind runes.
He had been ordered to act as a trigger for Edward's emotions.
"Ready?" Henry asked.
Edward clenched his fists.
"Just do it."
The blade sliced across his arm.
Blood slowly emerged.
But the terrifying thing was not the wound—
It was the power that erupted instantly, as though something inside him had become hungry.
Edward's pupils turned completely black.
Veins in his neck bulged.
Purple-black energy swirled around him like demonic mist.
"Edward!" Henry stepped back—
Too late.
BOOM!
A shockwave exploded from Edward's body, extinguishing every candle in the room.
Henry was thrown against the wall.
Stones fell from the ceiling.
"Y-yes… that's it…" Edward's voice rasped.
But another voice layered beneath it—cold and emotionless.
His hand lifted unconsciously.
Magic flames wrapped around Henry's arm instantly, tightening as if ready to crush his bones.
Henry gritted his teeth.
"Can you hear me, Edward?! Control it! You're not a monster!"
Edward's eyes trembled.
For a moment the magic paused—
Then tightened even more.
At that instant—
Hill rushed forward and slammed his palm into Edward's chest.
Edward collapsed onto the floor.
"Breathe!" Hill shouted.
"You're about to let the blood inside you burn you to ashes!"
Edward gasped violently, his body shaking uncontrollably.
The surrounding magic slowly faded.
Henry fell to the ground, clutching his chest as he looked at Edward with trembling eyes.
"…It… it spoke to me," Edward whispered.
"In my head… the voice… of blood that isn't mine."
Hill was silent for a moment.
"You have begun to sense the vampire blood within you."
Henry turned toward him in shock.
"My power… and my sins… are awakening inside you," Hill said slowly.
"That is not ordinary vampire blood. It is blood in which I sealed my memories… my pain… my anger… and the things I have done."
Edward clenched his teeth.
"Then teach me to control it… before it controls me."
Hill studied him quietly.
"…You should rest today."
"There will be many more days ahead."
"And I will teach you how to control it."
Earlier…