already in our possession. The second, very close. The third remains to be discovered, but its time cannot be far off. Soon, the true spell for immortality will be spoken. Then we will no longer be merely undead, dependent upon the living blood of others. We will be immortal, invincible, incapable of being destroyed. All this will be bestowed by the third trial, the Rubedo , the test of blood.
“But the time for that has not yet come. First, we must reestablish the sacred number, the seven who are the Board. Tonight, we will begin to see which of you is worthiest to join our great quest, to earn our great reward.”
The Chairman paused, gazing at Sloane and me, each in turn.
“Tonight’s trial is the Nigredo . To pass it, you must surrender to the darkness. Think on this, and let the trial begin.”
He raised his hand, and darkness was precisely what engulfed us.
When my senses functioned once again, I was in a room out of time. An ancient Egyptian burial chamber. There were no windows, no source of light, only a faint glow that seemed to come from the very air itself. Every wall was covered with figures and symbols I recognized from my research on the Board. The gods of ancient Egypt : the jackal-headed Anubis ; the falcon god Horus ; the lion-headed war goddess Sekhmet ; Bastet , with the body of a woman and head of a cat. And, of course, there was Thoth , himself.
Fitting imagery for vampires
, I suddenly thought. For we have human bodies but are human no longer. Alchemical symbols danced across the ceiling. Planets, elements, processes for turning base metals into gold.
I was chained to the wall.
I gave a slight tug to the manacles, testing their strength. As the metal made greater contact with my flesh, pain flashed along my arms. I strained upward to gaze at them more closely. They were lined with silver, the metal lethal to vampires.
Interesting choice
, I thought. There were no sharp edges, nothing that could cut me. The restraint was not designed to put an end to my existence. Only, depending on the circumstances and how I reacted to them of course, to make it very, very uncomfortable.
Without warning, I heard a low rumbling sound. The floor beneath my feet began to tremble, then shifted abruptly. One sudden motion that had my wrists pulling against the silver in agony before I could right myself. But in that painful moment, I was sure I understood. Had Edgar Allan Poe been a human servant of the Board? For surely the floor was going to drop away, little by little, inch by inch, until all my weight was on my arms, a process that could take hours or days. There was absolutely no way to tell. Only one thing was certain. I would be in agony before the end.
Think, Ash
, I commanded myself, even as I felt the floor shift once more.
Use your mind to get you out of this. It is a test of the dark. A test of will over matter .
The floor slipped again, and I shifted up to my toes. The seconds ticked by. I put my feet flat up against the wall at my back, desperately trying to keep myself upright. It simply could not be done. With a second great groan, the floor dropped away entirely. My feet slid down. The manacles tightened against my wrists, searing like acid, as my arms took my full weight. Pain screamed up my arms, spread throughout my body like wildfire. I fought to subdue it, to force my mind away from the pain even as my body thrashed like a fish on a line.
My vision went gray around the edges. Spots danced before my eyes.
Don’t black out
, I chanted to myself.
You are strong enough to hold on. Don’t black out. Don’t give in to the dark
.
And in that moment I understood. I was getting it all wrong. I had provided the clue myself: not surrender of will, but conscious dedication to a greater cause. This was what the Board demanded. This was the true test of the dark. To surrender not my will, but my ego. To give it over to the pain and the dark.
I let my body go completely limp. Screaming in agony as
“But the time for that has not yet come. First, we must reestablish the sacred number, the seven who are the Board. Tonight, we will begin to see which of you is worthiest to join our great quest, to earn our great reward.”
The Chairman paused, gazing at Sloane and me, each in turn.
“Tonight’s trial is the Nigredo . To pass it, you must surrender to the darkness. Think on this, and let the trial begin.”
He raised his hand, and darkness was precisely what engulfed us.
When my senses functioned once again, I was in a room out of time. An ancient Egyptian burial chamber. There were no windows, no source of light, only a faint glow that seemed to come from the very air itself. Every wall was covered with figures and symbols I recognized from my research on the Board. The gods of ancient Egypt : the jackal-headed Anubis ; the falcon god Horus ; the lion-headed war goddess Sekhmet ; Bastet , with the body of a woman and head of a cat. And, of course, there was Thoth , himself.
Fitting imagery for vampires
, I suddenly thought. For we have human bodies but are human no longer. Alchemical symbols danced across the ceiling. Planets, elements, processes for turning base metals into gold.
I was chained to the wall.
I gave a slight tug to the manacles, testing their strength. As the metal made greater contact with my flesh, pain flashed along my arms. I strained upward to gaze at them more closely. They were lined with silver, the metal lethal to vampires.
Interesting choice
, I thought. There were no sharp edges, nothing that could cut me. The restraint was not designed to put an end to my existence. Only, depending on the circumstances and how I reacted to them of course, to make it very, very uncomfortable.
Without warning, I heard a low rumbling sound. The floor beneath my feet began to tremble, then shifted abruptly. One sudden motion that had my wrists pulling against the silver in agony before I could right myself. But in that painful moment, I was sure I understood. Had Edgar Allan Poe been a human servant of the Board? For surely the floor was going to drop away, little by little, inch by inch, until all my weight was on my arms, a process that could take hours or days. There was absolutely no way to tell. Only one thing was certain. I would be in agony before the end.
Think, Ash
, I commanded myself, even as I felt the floor shift once more.
Use your mind to get you out of this. It is a test of the dark. A test of will over matter .
The floor slipped again, and I shifted up to my toes. The seconds ticked by. I put my feet flat up against the wall at my back, desperately trying to keep myself upright. It simply could not be done. With a second great groan, the floor dropped away entirely. My feet slid down. The manacles tightened against my wrists, searing like acid, as my arms took my full weight. Pain screamed up my arms, spread throughout my body like wildfire. I fought to subdue it, to force my mind away from the pain even as my body thrashed like a fish on a line.
My vision went gray around the edges. Spots danced before my eyes.
Don’t black out
, I chanted to myself.
You are strong enough to hold on. Don’t black out. Don’t give in to the dark
.
And in that moment I understood. I was getting it all wrong. I had provided the clue myself: not surrender of will, but conscious dedication to a greater cause. This was what the Board demanded. This was the true test of the dark. To surrender not my will, but my ego. To give it over to the pain and the dark.
I let my body go completely limp. Screaming in agony as
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