He was sent to end me. The estate opened its gate for him anyway.Cassius Vane has kept the Vow Rites — six centuries of unbreakable blood-bonds — for longer than the modern world has had a name for what he is. He has buried forty-one people he loved. Thirty years ago he made himself a quiet promise: keep what remains, and want nothing new. Then a Registry contractor walks up his drive with a contract to neutralize him, and the ancient house does something ...