The Sealed Vow

"As long as the blood does not dry, the vow holds."
Words engraved on the back of the reliquary

The Stag and the Tower

What it is

A heavy medallion of chased gold, hanging from a thick-linked chain. At its center, a bead of glass holds blood, in which a vampire's fang lies steeping. Below, two escutcheons face each other: on the left, the stag of the Hartwells, a human line of merchants; on the right, the tower of the Draven, an old house of vampires. Three centuries ago, the two houses sealed a blood pact within it. That blood has never clotted. As long as it stays liquid, the pact holds.

What it does

The pact binds two opposing needs. The Draven grant the Hartwells protection and long life. In return, the Hartwells give them what the night denies them: passage for goods in broad daylight, lands, political cover. The vow also forbids the Draven from laying a hand on any Hartwell. But the medallion keeps a second oath, more recent and more intimate: the human memory of Viktor Draven, surrendered the night he was turned.

What it costs

Breaking the glass undoes everything at once. The Hartwells lose in a single night what built three centuries of prosperity, and the Draven lose the daylight face that hides them from the world. Viktor, for his part, suddenly remembers everything he agreed to forget. No one knows what he will become then, not even the one who sealed his oath.