Blackwood Farm is a 2002 horror novel by American writer Anne Rice, the ninth book in her The Vampire Chronicles series. The novel includes some characters who cross over from Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy (1990–1994), continuing the unified story begun in Merrick (2000).
Plot[]
Tarquin "Quinn" Blackwood, heir to a powerful old family in New Orleans, has been plagued by a mysterious spirit named Goblin for his entire life. Made a vampire in his youth, Quinn seeks out Lestat de Lioncourt looking for help in getting rid of Goblin, who has become more and more malevolent. Quinn recalls his youth, his family, and his forced transformation into a vampire by Petronia. His stories allow Lestat to better understand the reach and power of Goblin, and clue in Lestat to the fact that Quinn is connected to the Mayfair family of witches. After his own failure defeating Goblin, Lestat asks the witch Merrick Mayfair, also a vampire, for assistance. Meanwhile, Quinn has fallen in love with heiress Mona Mayfair, and the ghost of their mutual ancestor Julien Mayfair warns him against making Mona a vampire. Goblin is revealed to be the spirit of Quinn's twin Gawain, who died days after being born. He is bound to Quinn, and is relentlessly jealous to experience whatever Quinn does. Merrick performs a ritual using Gawain's corpse to exorcise Goblin. She sacrifices herself by carrying the child's spirit into the hereafter with her, and Lestat is heartbroken.