Chapter 34

Sarah POV

The car's engine hummed in the dark of the night, a lone sound that seemed to fade into the nothingness surrounding us. The trees that lined the road pressed in on all sides like towering giants, their skeletal branches clawing at the sky. I sat stiffly in the passenger seat, my knuckles white as I gripped the journal in my lap. The leather was warm beneath my trembling fingers, but the words on the pages felt like poison, each line a revelation that sank deeper into my mind.

Beside me, Zeke drove with a grim intensity. His hands gripped the wheel, knuckles taut, his face fixed ahead, unreadable. Neither of us spoke, but the silence between us was thick with an unspoken weight, the kind that presses on your chest until you can't breathe.

The car's tires crunched against the gravel, and finally, Zeke's voice broke the silence. It was low, heavy with something I couldn't quite place. "You're handling this better than I expected."

I didn't have the energy to respond, not with words. It felt like I was suffocating under the weight of the truth. The Blackwood estate, the ritual, the blood, the demons, everything had been leading to this moment, and I couldn't escape it.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came. Instead, I gripped the journal harder, its weight too much to bear. Zeke noticed my struggle and glanced at me for a moment before returning his gaze to the road.

"You're stronger than most," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But I don't know how much longer you can hold it together."

The air felt thick with fear, but I couldn't explain it-not to Zeke, not to myself. "I don't know if I am," I muttered. "I'm barely holding on, Zeke."

He didn't reply. The car's engine was the only sound again, its low rumble the only thing anchoring me to reality.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Zeke pulled the car off the road, bringing it to a halt in front of a small, dilapidated house. The windows were dark, the house standing in eerie silence, as though it had been forgotten by time itself. I felt a twinge of unease twist in my gut as Zeke turned off the engine. For a moment, he said nothing, but his eyes were dark, haunted.

"This is it," he said finally. "The safehouse."

I wasn't sure what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for what awaited me inside. The moment we stepped out of the car, the night air seemed colder, heavier. Zeke led the way, his steps steady as I followed behind, the weight of the journal pulling me down with every step.

We entered the house, and the musty smell of old wood and dust filled the air. The walls seemed to close in around me, the darkness pressing in, but it wasn't the house that made my heart race-it was the figure that appeared from the shadows.

"Sarah," a soft voice called, filled with a mixture of relief and sorrow. I froze, my heart skipping a beat. In the dim light, I could barely make out the figure that stood in the doorway. But as my eyes adjusted, I recognized her.

It was my aunt.

She stepped forward, her face drawn with age and fear. She had the same haunted look that had been in my mother's eyes before she died. And there were others behind her, more faces I remembered but could barely recognize.

"You're safe now," my aunt said, her voice trembling. "We've been waiting for you."

I could barely form words, my mind racing to process the sight of them-my aunts, the women who had been kept hidden away, who had been so close, yet so far. The horror of everything that had happened surged in me, and I couldn't breathe.

Zeke stepped back, his face serious. "They have something to tell you, Sarah.

Something you need to know."

My aunt's eyes were full of sorrow as she stepped closer. "We were taken, Sarah. Captured, held against our will." Her voice faltered, but she forced herself to continue. "They used us. For blood. To feed the demon."

I shook my head in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Blood? Demon? What does that have to do with me?"

My aunt's eyes darkened. "It has everything to do with you. You were never meant to be just a Blackwood. You were meant to be something... darker."

The words sank into me like a blade, cold and sharp. "What do you mean?"

She glanced at the others, the other women standing in the shadows, before stepping forward. "Your mother..." She hesitated, her voice trembling. "She was never supposed to be part of this. She was forced into it. Sarah... your mother was raped by Victor's brother."

The world tilted beneath me, everything spinning as the truth hit me like a wave. "What?" I gasped, the words barely forming. My mind couldn't keep up with the horror. "Victor's brother...?" I choked on the words.

"Victor's brother was part of the Blackwood legacy," my aunt continued, her voice tight. "And your mother, when she fell pregnant with you, Sarah, that was when the curse marked you. It marked you from the moment you were conceived, a part of the Blackwood family bloodline and something else entirely." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The demon was already waiting."

I stumbled back, my heart pounding in my chest. "No. No, that can't be-"

"It's true," Zeke cut in, his voice soft but firm. "The curse chose you before you were even born. Your mother's bloodline, your father's blood, it was all part of the demon's plan. You were born for this, Sarah. For the curse."

I could barely breathe, the weight of it all crashing over me. "But why me? Why did the curse choose me?"

"Because you were the perfect vessel," my aunt said softly. "Your birth was no accident, Sarah. It was all planned. The curse needed someone to bind it to, someone who could anchor its power, and you were that person."

My heart felt like it had stopped beating. "No. No, I was just... I was just a normal girl. I had no idea."

"You were never meant to be normal," Zeke said, his voice carrying the weight of a thousand broken truths. "The moment you married Eren, the curse began to intensify. The demon, bound to him, bound to you, began to grow stronger. You were a virgin when you married him, weren't you?"

I nodded, too stunned to speak.

"Eren..." My aunt's voice cracked. "He's the one bound to the demon. He's the one who holds the power. And once the time is right, he will sacrifice you. His bride. The vessel. And when he does, he will gain immortality. The demon will grant it to him, and to the Blackwood family-Victor, Axel, Eleanor..."

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. "Eren... he's going to sacrifice me?" My voice shook with the enormity of the betrayal. "But why? Why would he do this to me?"

"They all want the same thing, Sarah," my aunt whispered. "Immortality. Youth. Power. The demon will grant it to them, but only after you're sacrificed. Your blood. Your life. It's the key."

Tears blurred my vision. "And my aunts?" I whispered, my voice barely audible. "What happened to them? Why were they kept away?"

"They were used for blood," Zeke said, his voice low with disgust. "Kept alive so that when the time came, they could fuel the curse, feed it, prepare for the sacrifice."

I felt sick, my stomach turning with the realization of what had been done to my family. My aunts, the women who should have been protected, had been reduced to nothing but vessels for blood, pawns in the Blackwood curse.

And I... I was the final piece in the puzzle. The vessel. The sacrifice.

I could feel the anger rise in me, hot and fierce, burning away the fear. "No," I whispered. "I won't let this happen. I won't let them have me."

Zeke stepped forward, his voice urgent.

"You need to prepare, Sarah. There's a way to break the curse, but it's dangerous. You'll have to confront the demon, sever the bond, and destroy the curse forever."

"I'll do it," I said, my voice steady now, filled with a fury I hadn't known I had. "I won't be their pawn."

And as I looked at my aunts, who had suffered so much, and at Zeke, who had risked everything to bring me here, I knew I had no choice. This fight wasn't just for me. It was for all of us. The Blackwoods had taken too much, and now it was time to take it all back.

I was done being a sacrifice.