The Empty Grave Lockwood And Co Novels & Stories

"Lock you in? What are you talking about? You just need time to think. I did the same thing with your sister when she acted up. Now go!" "No…" "Dad, you can't…!" Judy rushed over. "You want to start, too? None of you ever make things easy for me!" He shoved Judy aside with one hand and pushed me forward with the other. "Dad…" I stumbled inside, my shoulder hitting a stack of boxes. The door slammed shut behind me, and the lock clicked. Darkness swallowed everything. "No… Don't lock it!" Everything fell away. All that was left were flashes of fear. The whip with barbs. The clamps biting into skin. Men laughing as they closed in, hands already at their belts.

Ezekiel nodded. "And..." His eyes settled on Patricia. "...when Grace's eldest daughter stood beside the empty coffin." Nobody moved. Patricia felt tears filling her eyes. Grace had anticipated this. Years ago. She had planned beyond her own funeral. Beyond her own death. Beyond twenty-six years of silence. Alex slowly examined the lock. It wasn't rusted. It had been maintained. Recently. Someone had oiled it. He looked at Ezekiel. "You've been expecting this moment." The old caretaker nodded once.

It was more like corpses flooding the entire yard. Some lay there half transformed while others were completely dead already. Within such a short moment of time, I was shocked by how completely Lockwood had been annihilated. Lockwood knelt before Lucien now, his hands trembling badly despite still holding the blade. Lucien carried no pity in his eyes, as though he had been waiting for a reason to do something this horrible.

Even Theodore, who had faithfully served the Blackwell family for more than fifty years, looked shaken. "I buried an empty coffin..." he murmured. "I spent fifteen years mourning someone who never died." No one knew what to say. Elena slowly stepped beside Adrian. She didn't speak. She simply slipped her hand into his. This time... He held it tightly. Almost instinctively. As though letting go would cause the fragile truth before him to disappear. --- Dr. Amelia Grant carefully examined the room. "It doesn't look abandoned." She ran a finger across the desk. No dust.

No one else knew that nickname. She kept reading. There is one place no one has searched. Not because it is hidden… But because everyone assumes it is empty. Below the message, Daniel had drawn a simple sketch. A cemetery. One grave was circled. The headstone bore a single name. Richard Blackwood. Ethan’s heart skipped. “My father’s grave.” Daniel had written one final sentence beneath the drawing. The dead are the safest guardians of the living. Silence settled over the room. Victor was the first to understand.

Not to lose the opportunity, I stepped inside. I was in the living room, which would be perfect for any business meeting. I saw an open space towards the end of the room, which showed the entire view of the city. I saw a dining place and a bedroom on the other side. I snapped out from admiring the interior when I heard a click and turned to see Mr. Alastair closing the door. But why is locking and stowing the key in? Was he not going to wait for whoever is about to come? Or did he booked the room for any other purposes and mistook me? I took a step back unconsciously at these thoughts. **************************

He glanced at me, his eyes unsure. “What is it?” I stood up and snatched the paper from him, faster than he could blink. ‘Rose Blackwood is dead. Her grave is at Kennedy Cemetery. Stop wasting your time.” The paper slipped from my hands and dropped to the ground, just like my hopes.

The scent of time hung heavy. Inside the drawer, carefully arranged like relics of the dead: —A worn, creased photograph of a young boy with Matthew’s eyes and a forced smile. —A letter, its words almost obscured by the blood smeared across its edges. —And a name, once powerful, now erased from every official record—but not from vengeance. A pale hand reached in. Slender fingers, ringed with silver—an exact match to the one Mr. Lockwood had worn. The figure held the photo up to the dim light and stared.

If I played this right, I could stockpile expensive items and sell them later if needed. For a brief moment, we were just a father and daughter enjoying a simple meal together. But as much as I tried to relax, I couldn't forget the reality of our relationship. John's warmth was always laced with a hidden agenda, and I couldn't let my guard down for too long. ‘Thank the heavens he only uses force when he’s all out of options and all I have to do is to let him think he hasn’t run out of them.’ A maid came in taking me out of my thoughts. “Sir Mr Lockwood is here to see you.”