Blake Thorburn

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   <default>Blake Thorburn</default>
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Blake Thorburn is the protagonist of the series. An independent man who grew tired of his families infighting and ran away as a teenager, then spent three years estranged from them.

He returned only at his grandmother's deathbed and soon ends up becoming embroiled in their family secrets after his cousin, Molly Walker died, and the Vestige set up by his grandmother, who is the female version of him named Rose was sent to alert him to the danger.

Appearance

Blake has wavy dark blonde hair, and watercolor tattoos of birds on his arms. Its mentioned that he has a few scars, although not where, but with the application of glamour ink he erased some of the most obvious ones.

Personality

Blake seeks to leave the world a better place than he left it so he tends to take on responsibilities that aren't his own and at cost. He prefers to avoid conflict, but if pressed he would lash out rather than remain passive.

While he's able to empathize with people, due to his time on the streets, Blake has an aversion to being touched and notes that while it gave him a keener set of instincts it hasn't made him a stronger person overall and in his opinion he's not much of a man.

He does, however, have a fatal flaw of seeking revenge on those he's felt has slighted him, even when it isn't neccessary. This led to the escalation of the conflict between Laird and him sooner than planned.

Chronology

Bonds

The story begins with Blake returning to the Hillglades House at the beckoning of the Rose Thornburn's lawyers after running away from home three years ago. There he reconnected with his cousins Paige and Molly Walker and learned that he now had a little sister, Ivy Thorburn. Despite his efforts at not getting drawn into his family's drama he still found himself getting hostile until meeting with his grandmother, who he unloaded all the negative feelings he had towards her for practically baiting them into it, only to learn that the next to inherit the Hillglades House was Molly. When Molly asked everyone to leave he wished her well and then departed back to Toronto.

Four months later Blake has a prophetic dream of the events in Jacob's Bell after the death of Molly and wakes to find that Rose had taken the place of his reflection and instructed him to flee for the house because it was a sanctuary where he would be safe. Borrowing his landlord's car he took drove towards the small town while questioning Rose until he was attacked my mask-wearing humanoid creatures drove him off the road while trying to arrange for him to be killed by either a car accident or drowning in the lake. With the help of Rose and a hitch-hiker, he made it to the Hillglades House. Once inside he and Rose discover a hidden room, the study of Rose Sr. containing all her esoteric knowledge.

The next morning police officers Pat Macguin and Laird Behaim approach the home and told him the cause of death for Molly was that she was mauled to death. Laird then takes him out for coffee and explains the situation he's now in, as well as demonstrating the use of Shamanism before leaving out. Blake soon discovers that, however, Laird had caught him in a trap that altered his perception of time, leaving him to get back to the sanctuary on his own and he soon encountered trouble with Padraic, Ev, and Keller, until Rose intervened and they made it the house again, where Laird explains he would prefer to keep things civil as they have more pressing matters with his family and then advises that Blake awakens soon.

The next day Blake orders a pizza to test whether or not he would be able to get food delivered as he and Rose studied materials to perform the awakening when they witnessed the delivery man being killed, only to reveal it was a trap as the house itself was a sanctuary and not the property. Performing the awakening ritual, both Blake and Rose became practitioners and Blake checked on Barbatorem before getting ready for the council meeting.

Damages

Before the cease-fire that began before and after the council-meeting, during which time it was safe for Blake to leave the house, he makes a list of supplies and has a brief and tense discussion with Rose before he leaves out to go shopping, where encounters trouble at a local store with his cousins, Molly's brothers, Christoff Walker and Cullen Walker, who accused him of being responsible for Molly's death.

The encounter, which led to a minor altercation, was forced by someone manipulating the connections between them and ended with Laird arriving to retrieve Blake for the meeting at an old church. At the meeting he tried to sow discord by revealing that his grandmother had already put motions into place to prevent the sort of thing that happened to Molly from happening again and tried to start in-fighting, but Laird smoothly neutralized the threat by revealing he had measure in place in case Blake used any demons and suggested that those who didn't could take the open slots Blake offered.

After the meeting he's escorted part way by Johannes Lillegard and Maggie Holt who inform him he needs to win over the majority to avert a vote of execution by the council and exactly who is willing to work with him and who opposes him, with Maggie being a potential ally. On the way back Rose then reveals to Blake, while alone, that she's a vestige running on a limited time-frame.

The next day he binds the ghost of June Burlison into his hatchet and calls the lawyers of Mann, Levinn, and Lewis up, who explain the general scope of things like karma and how his family had nearly seven lifetimes of debt and how they operate. Ms. Lewis then takes an opportunity to assist him in binding the frost hatchet properly and educating him about conflicts as he faces the familiar of Joanna Duchamp and her older sister Penelope Duchamp, a Faerie named Letita.

After making what amounted to a retaliation to Laird, Mrs. Lewis gives him more information about Johannes' demesne and warns him that he's not long for the world. Maggie then comes by and they enter into the beginnings of a partnership when Laird comes by to inform Blake that he will soon retaliate and that Maggie's goblins were the ones that killed Molly at his behest to have them cripple her instead. This effectively breaks apart the partnership before it can be rooted.

Breach

Following the previous events, Blake summons and binds Leonard Harlan into a bottle and he and Rose discuss the matter of Laird's planning and Maggie being responsible for his cousin's death. He doesn't want to forgive her because it feels wrong that he's brushing her death aside for an ally, when they notice his tattoo's moving. Rose guesses that because he used too much power something else is filling the void, which the first expected may have been because he nearly summoned a demon, but then that Rose is entering into him and they worry that either she would collapse from having a part of her removed as a vestige or she would usurp Blake's body as their grandmother did want a female heir.

Blake makes an Oath to help her out of the mirror world in exchange for her loyalty and help and then Blake then goes out to the backyard and call for Briar Girl to come and talk to him. A homunculus-bird comes out to answer the call and guides him to her in the marshlands, where he tries to bargain with her for support against the Duchamp Coven and the Behaim Circle

She explains she doesn't care for power, but she dislikes the fact that his family are diabolists because they have the taint of being associated with him and will run the risk of ending the world. Instead she wants his land because its where all the spirits and Others she befriended were and was willing to kill him to get it, he mentions that the best chance she had was with him because, barring his cousin Paige, the rest wouldn't deal with her and if she learned Briar Girl killed him then she wouldn't either. Likewise, if his family line ends then lawyers get the land and the devil's get a major foothold.

Eventually they come to an agreement and informs him on the basic of Shapeshifting through the use of Glamour in exchange for a piece of the land. Blake makes and uses ink made of the hair he took to change his appearance before meeting with Maggie and her parents while arranging for her to loan him some goblins. When she called Dickswizzle they learned that Rose is the only one it would recognize because their family line being traditionally women and most Others who are too old won't recognize a male as having the same clout.

Afterwards they attend the event at the household before the wedding between the Duchamps and the Behaims under the guise of the glamour ink. Blake nearly succumbs to it, but manages to hold out enough to sabotage their attempt at slowing down time around his family property before sending Dickswizzle and Rose to cause collateral damage to some of Laird's sister's books and property.

On his way back home he runs into Andy, who he has a discussion with until he feels the change around his home and learns that the ritual still went off and that he was effectively cut off from his resources. With no other choice he has Rose call the lawyers to get him safe passage to Toronto.

Collateral

Blake arrives in Toronto and is informed of Conquest as well as escorted into his apartment building by a driver from the Mann, Levinn, and Lewis Firm in exchange for reading Black Lamb's Blood and that the next time he makes a deal he'll have to do a task for them as a sort of internship should he take a deal in the future. Inside his apartment he meets with his landlord, Joel, and thanks him for the car. Soon he's joined by all his old friends and acquaintances, Alexis, Amanda, Goosh, Tyler, Nick, and Joseph, as well as a new friend of Alexis' named Tiffany. He tells them a bit about his circumstances and Alexis talks to him in private about an offer between her and Tiffany, which he refuses for the time being.

Rose then alerts him that someone else was inside with his friends and managed to get in undetected. The stranger informs him that he's come to take him to see the Lord of Toronto and Blake buys a painting as a gift before departing to the meeting. In the meeting he is introduced to Conquest, Isadora, Jeremy Meath, and Diana Thompson. The meeting goes well until Jeremy, at the behest of his ex-wife Sandra Duchamp manipulates it so that Blake's heritage as a diabolist is exposed and divides the council into those who would oppose Conquest's plans for him and those who would remain neutral.

Inside his domain, Rose is freed of her mirror and given a physical form as he awaits them to call down Ornias so he can take control over it. Rose and Blake manage to convince him to abstain it by stating they need the books from their home, which is inaccessible to them because of the trap on it. Blake is then tasked with binding and bringing three troublesome beings over the course of three days and Rose takes Blake's place at being shackled to Conquest, leaving her bound in his power.

Fell arrives the next day at Blake's apartment to give him directions to the three beings Conquest wants bound and tells him what he knows about them. When Fell departs Blake feels he's being watched and spots a connection between him and a bird, hinting that someone was spying on him. When they arrive in the neighborhood where the Imp is they learn that the entire place is infested with animals and pests that have been twisted and made feral as Blake is attacked by the corrupted wildlife until he makes a circle out of the innards and feces of a rabbit and Rose calls for the imp to show itself.

Pauz answers rather than risk losing power from Rose's challenge and bring it to the table with an offer of getting it a chance to possess Conquest, which would further it's goal of turning the natural order of things upside down. Once he can get away Rose and Blake discuss matters as they make their way to a college in search of Isadora, in hopes of getting her assistance. There they run into Tiffany, whose a student there, and some of Jeremy's followers. A conflict looks inevitable until Rose breaks a few windows to get Isadora's attention and she scatters them before denying Blake because he has the radiation from dealing with Pauz and no scope of the big picture.

With that option not looking promising he goes out to get coffee with Tiffany, where they discuss matters between them when a fight breaks out, possibly due to the radiation as well. When they split apart he returns back home and awaits for Rose to return, as she hadn't been present since breaking the windows, while preparing for conflict with binding Pauz. Only once at the Dowghty house and striking up a conversation with Pauz did he learn the imp did something to her.

Blake draws up the contract, seven pages total, and Pauz agrees to be bound until a few minutes after Blake was supposed to bring Conquest the third being. However, Pauz managed to get around the contract stating no direct harm may befall Blake by its hands by leaving him in the room with feral animals and the formerly possessed man. With the Frost Hatchet he managed to keep them at bay and even rescue Dowght, but sustained many wounds in the process and was forced to call Fell using a connection, which he found unpleasant. He then delivered Pauz, bound in the Black Lamb's Blood book, to Conquest and found that Rose was unconscious because of whatever Pauz had done.

When Blake arrived home he tended to his injuries, using glamour ink to erase most of them as well as a few older wounds, before contacting his cousin Paige, who came by to visit while he was out according to Joel. During the conversation he let's it slip that Molly was murdered, not an accident, and that there were some heavy things going on. Because he didn't want to involve her too deeply he told her to just stay as far out of it as he can and he'd leave her a note if necessary.

The next day he's driven out to meet the Knights of the Basement by Fell. During the drive they discuss whether the additional knowledge he had gained was worth all the trouble or would it have been better if he had been left ignorant of the supernatural, how Fell's family has been bound to Conquest, who can't stop now that he's started, and they pass by ghosts and spectres that have been maimed and enslaved by the Hyena.

The Knights reveal they're Dabblers with no specific strong points and prefer to minimize contact, but inform him about how they encountered the Abstract Demon and it was responsible for a decrease in their numbers. While not interested in gaining power in specific or opposing Conquest directly, they inform him of the Sisters of the Torch and others Toronto powers. Nick then tells him what they know on the Hyena as well as loan him some chain and a few weapons, and teach him a Wind Rune and Silence Rune.

He then goes to confront the Hyena and encounters the ghost of a little boy in a red hood while running from Others that were maimed by the Hyena, eventually working with him to find holly and come up with a trap for the goblin. Blake snares it with the chain and a circle of Holly and forces it to submit, causing it to seal itself into sword form, before taking it to Conquest.

He then returns to the forest, now free of the Hyena's influence and spectres, and finds Evan's ghost and body to lay him to rest when the Toronto Police arrive to arrest him.

Conviction

Blake is taken in and put into an uncomfortable situation where his triggers are constantly being pressed to put him off game by Duncan Behaim, who informs his friends in hopes of having them turn on him and to get him either locked away or indisposed for the next 24 hours so he fails his task to Conquest by citing that, while he has nothing against him, it's to his family's advantage and the world if he gets rid of a diabolist. He then makes Blake seem like he's insane by writing down a list of questions for the interrogators to ask, such as if he sees Goblins, which he refuses to answer to avoid self-increminating himself.

Evan's ghost is there with him and discuss things, but the next morning his body that anchored him was damaged to the point he was having trouble remaining. Blake, who managed to summon one of the Knights of the Basement for help, manages to break their hold over the officers by bringing into doubt Duncan's participation three times. But Duncan uses chronomancy to rewind to the beginning of the day again and diverting any help he could find so that he doesn't get free.

Blake has Evan search for his body and then bleeds himself to fix the connection with Rose, as Pauz had reversed the connection so that he took from her already limited power. He then escapes his cell, eventually breaking out of Duncan's Escher Stairwell trap, to find Evan's body and perform the rite of the Familiar, turning Evan into his after he recites an Other's Oath. After a brief confrontation with Duncan, where it's explained that by bleeding himself like he did he lost so much power that Others would fill in the gap and his body would reject it by making himself sick or he would slip through the cracks in the world, Blake is taken back to his cell where he makes it known to the other officers that Duncan had taken his Frost Hatchet in his coat pocket, an illegal action, and Duncan slows their movement to shoot and kill Blake. 

Evan manages to make the shots miss and reveals that he retrieved Blake's Locket, missing the hair unfortunately, and Duncan's Impliment needed to reset time. As a result Blake is allowed to go free, but Fell and Rose advise him to simply sit out of going after the Abstract Demon until he's better since he's bording being possessed. Blake still goes to confront it, but he, Rose, and Evan are forced to retreat from the demon with only it's claw to show for their effort.

Subordination

On their way back to Blake's home, Rose is taken by Conquest. With little other choice, Blake admits the truth to his friends about his circumstances. Half of them awaken to assist him as best they can while the others remain in a supporting role. At Conquest's tower he meets Isadora, the Shepard, Elder Sister, and Jeremy Meath who have drawn lines in the coming conflict in trying to prevent Conquest from gaining access to the final demon until Fell tells them to quit stalling. He then goes to confront Conquest, finding both Laird and Duncan there, and challenges him to a competition, where one must defeat the other through the use of their chosen champions.

Blake chooses Rose, Fell, Pauz, Hyena, and Maggie Holt, while Conquest chooses the Shepard, Elder Sister, The Eye, Laird Behaim, and The Astrologer. The terms are laid and Blake's group ends up in the Spirit Realm as the contest begins.

Art

Blake is a practitioner who has inherited a large amount of diabolic knowledge from him grandmother and as such is considered a Diabolist. As he prefers not to resort to said arts and the fact that his alternate-self, Rose, carries the clout of their family, he utilizes aspects of Shamanism and Glamour alongside other arts that put him closer to the classification of a Dabbler or Sorcerer.

He also has a Familiar named Evan.

Tools

• Frost Hatchet

Diabolism

Because of Blake's grandmother leaving her heir with a wealth of knowledge in the form of tomes, he has access to the diabolic arts as well as the service of .

Shamanism

Blake has learned some aspects of Shamanism throughout his tenure as a practitioner including the use of Runes:

• Unlocking Rune: A rune to unlock doors.
• Silencing Rune: A rune to muffle noises.