Prologue
People are the single most destructive force this planet has ever seen. One often wonders why we put up with ourselves and the havoc we reek. Or why God doesn't just wipe us all out and start fresh. Perhaps He shouldn't have saved Noah and all those people when He flooded the world. Just put all the animals on the ark and forget the humans. But He didn't and here we are.
The world is on the brink. Wars, riots, mayhem. We are on the verge of social and political revolution every day. Yet here I sit day by day, stuck in a prison not of my own making. Apart from it all, forced to endure this solitude made of stone walls and iron fences. The decision was never mine to remain here. The choice was made long before I was born that I would be trapped here, forever bound by God's will to live within these walls till the day I die.
Blackwood Abbey. A sprawling estate of 12 acres in the wilds of Maine. All of it undeveloped and wild as nature intended save for the Abbey. A gothic mansion of epic proportions, with countless rooms, multiple libraries , a chapel, a solarium, extensive gardens and its own cemetery. A thing of beauty that seemingly appeared overnight in the woods circa 1633. This place has stood for more than three hundred years and the Savage family has lived here for just as long. Lived probably isn't the best word. We've been entombed here, cursed to be caretakers of this monstrosity. Most people would laugh to hear me say that. How is it a curse to live in a mansion, filled with comforts and splendors beyond your wildest imagination?
Within these hallowed walls lie the very darkest souls of humanity. Souls unworthy of God's forgiveness, souls who have committed sins blacker than the night. They shed the blood of the innocent and damned themselves. Their souls are then sent to Blackwood. Some for eternity, some not. And the Savages? We must care for them, we are the wardens of their prison. We hold the keys to their cages and every moment spent within these walls those souls plot their escape. Plot our deaths as the means of their freedom. We are the caretakers of the Vault of Heaven, the keepers of Purgatory's worst, and the sentinels of humanity. Without us, this world would burn. And just how did we, the noble Savage family, come to bear this burden from God? Why is our family cursed to protect the world and live apart from it? To spend every day mired in the darkest parts of hell and humanity for all time?
A schmuck named Elah Savage. The idiot fourth son of a shipwright with no ambition or goals. He fell in love with the daughter of the richest man in he couldn't seem to get her attention. No need to wonder why. He was the idiot fourth son of a shipwright and she was the pampered princess of the richest man in town. Desperate to have her love, without even bothering to ask if the girl wanted him back, he sold his soul to the devil. Quite literally. Somehow he found a manuscript, detailing on how to summon the devil and make a deal. So he does it. He sells his soul to Satan in exchange for the pretty girl he fancied himself in love with. They were married in a whirlwind and Elah was happy. For a time. Then the idiot fourth son of a shipwright found out something crucial : he'd sold his soul to marry a vain shrew and the devil was about to come collecting. His wife that he was madly in love with? Wanted nothing more than what he could give her, which wasn't much since riches were not a part of his deal with Satan. So when the hellhounds were coming for him, when he could hear them growling in the forest at night, hungry for his soul, he ran to a church. He went to his knees before the altar and screamed for God's help. For God to save him from Satan and the hellhounds that were going to tear his soul to shreds and drag it back to hell to be tortured for eternity. And Elah's bad luck got worse because God answered.
As legend has it an angel descended from the ceiling and made a deal with Elah. God would deliver him from his deal with the devil. But it did not come without a price as nothing ever does. In return, he would become the steward of a new home that God was building, that he would take care of its inhabitants. And his family would be bound to do the same until they had earned His forgiveness for Elah's actions. For Elah had sold his soul like one does a pair of shoes. And what did the idiot do? He said yes, and damned the rest of us for his mistakes. He still hadn't learned to read the fine print. God had made him the steward of a prison for the damned, a vault for all the occult and dangerous objects of the world, and a cage for the monsters of earth and hell. He would be the caretaker of demons, despots and murderers. And so would the rest of us.
So at 26 I have taken on Elah's role as caretaker of Blackwood Abbey. I have had little choice in this matter, as my mother has died and neither my brother, my sister, or any of my cousins, aunts or uncles will take my place. As a rule the caretaker of Blackwood Abbey doesn't live a long life. How can one live for very long when the house you live in tries to kill you and thirsts for your blood? My mother died at 50. If I still prayed to God, I would pray that he wouldn't torture me for that long. But I don't pray. I can only hope I don't die in the same bloody, and gruesome manner Mama did.
From the diary of Prosperity Lee Savage, circa 1968
