-Ovid
Chapter Nineteen: The Induction
By most accounts, the Nocturnal Society's sabbath ceremony was in the middle of nowhere. Going down route 17, the seaward strip of land was anywhere between half a mile and two miles wide and populated with increasingly-waterlogged pines as you went out toward the coast. These were the Palmetto Pine Swamps, fifty square miles of mostly-uninhabited, mostly not-worth-inhabiting forest and marsh. On either side of the swamp, to the north and south, were perfectly lovely beach communities built upon or protected by the barrier islands, but nobody lived out in the pine swamps. Well, almost nobody.
Their driver turned off of 17 onto an access road and then onto a questionable rural route going deep into the pines. Their Dryvr driver was visibly nervous, glancing to his GPS a couple times a minute as it told him to about-face from the desolate route their destination was driving them along. Vera reassured him for the fifth time that they were going to the right place, telling him they were meeting up with a friend for a 'macabre midnight photoshoot'. He regarded the two of them in the rear view a bit too long to be paying proper attention to the road.
"You two, then... are you models?"
"We're influencers," Lisa said.
"Ah." He nodded sagely. "Do you need me to, you know, wait around to give you girls a ride back?"
"Girls?" Vera objected.
"Would you?" Lisa pleaded before Vera could object. And she didn't object afterward, either. It would be very convenient to have a waiting ride back... but, frankly, Vera worried for the man's safety.
"It might be after midnight," Vera cautioned.
"Oh, I don't mind," he said quickly. "It seems peaceful out here. I'll just wait around and listen to my True Horror podcast, and I'm sure to be the closest driver for miles when you request your pickup. Two big fares in a night, so it works out for me. Sound good?"
"Thank you so much, Salvador!" Lisa leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, her mass of blonde hair tumbling all over the man, the subtle scent of her perfume roiling along after her.
The coven was hidden, but it was still pretty obvious when they got near its location. Rural route 37 was drivable, but just barely. Some of it was quasi-paved... better than the pothole-ridden roads of Longstreet, honestly, but not great. More often, the asphalt had broken and broken again into, essentially, a raised gravel road. The only way to differentiate it from the stretches that were actually gravel road was the side-to-side lurch of little ruts along the gravel and the splash of deeper puddles. And all along the route was blackness and trees as far as the eye could see – which, in the dark of night, was about ten yards, even with vampire vision. But approaching their destination, the road suddenly became a smooth concrete stretch about a hundred yards long and lit along its length by ruddy, solar-powered LEDs. At the mid-way point of the expanse was a little white road sign: This stretch of road generously maintained courtesy of the PNS.
"I think this is our stop," Vera said.
"Be seeing you girls... ladies in a few," Salvador said.
"Thanks again!" Lisa chirped.
The night was muggy and filled with the chorus of a billion teeming swamp animals – frogs, crickets, and hoots that sounded like they might be monkeys. Mosquitoes, too, thousands of them. They hovered in little clouds, wafting back and forth between Vera and Lisa, approaching in hopes of a blood meal and then dipping away when whatever part of their vampire scent told the mosquitos' tiny brains they didn't have the right sort of blood. What would even happen if a mosquito managed to sip of vampire blood? Most likely, its proboscis would get clogged with syrup-thick vamp blood, and that would be the end of that mosquito.
On the road across from the PNS sign was a little stone path weaving through the swamp, soggy grass and waterlogged plants to either side of a mostly-dry walkway. The path itself was demarcated by little posts every fifteen or twenty feet, but it was easy to see how somebody without vampire vision might get hopelessly lost in there at night. Vera could see ruins out beyond the path, too. They passed the moldering, half-sunk remains of several houses and the crumbled stone edifice of a larger building. A bronze plaque in front of the ruins read: Remnants of the 1st Carolina Goodwill Society, Est. 1721.
"I think that's where the first vampire coven was," Vera said, remembering a snippet from Ghastly Spires. "The first in the American South. It got burned down in the Revolutionary War."
"I guess they haven't moved all that far in the time since then," Lisa said. "I see a building up ahead."
She was right - there was a decent-sized building about thirty yards off in a little raised clearing surrounded by an expanse of reclaimed land. The place might have been a modern non-denominational church of some sort, or perhaps a temple to an ascetic new-age religion, all glass and metal with a sloping roof that leaned forward just enough to make the building seem to loom. Honestly, though, the only actually-creepy bits about the building were that it was in the middle of the pine swamps and that there was absolutely no lighting anywhere around the place. There were, however, several very nice cars in a small side lot... they must have got there through a secret back route to the coven. If Moody had given them directions, they could have avoided the walk - oh well. Erasmus Moody wasn't big on unsolicited favors.
Vera stopped outside of the building, wiping a spot of mud and some moss off of her brand-new $400 shoes. Lisa floofed her hair and reapplied some lipstick, lush lips gleaming in the moonlight.
"How do I look?" she asked Vera.
"Killer."
She pinched Vera's arm. "Be nice now. Seriously..."
"Hotter than Chernobyl, babe. Come on."
Arm in arm and just a little nervous, they strutted underneath the banner reading: Palmetto Nocturnal Society – Welcome New Members! and into the vampire chapel.
+++++
Going to the vampire 'service' was strangely like going to church. Most of the people inside were familiars, most of them dressed in business-formal clothes with a few little nods to ceremony – their tattoos prominently on display, little golden pins on their lapels, and necklaces bearing gunmetal gray amulets, each embossed with an intricate geometric symbol like a jagged, radiant sun. The doorman compared Vera and Lisa against the photos on his tablet, and said reverentially:
"Welcome to the chapel, Miss and Miss," he nodded to each of them. "Straight down and into the big room, please."
The 'big room' was perhaps thirty feet to a side, with a raised altar area and seating for no more than thirty people – though all of those seats were plush and velveteen, far finer than any seats that Vera had ever seen in a church. High above the center of the chamber, in brassy metal, the jagged geometric pattern the familiars had on their amulets hung from above. It was circled by intricate stained glass in abstract glitters of swirling blue, green, and ruddy orange... nothing about it screamed this is demonic, or at least nothing about the décor. But it was definitely cult-y. Half a dozen familiars ringed the outside of the chamber, standing at parade rest – functionaries or security, Vera couldn't tell Another dozen or so... exactly a dozen, actually... people gathered closer to the center of the room, whispering amongst one another right in front of the altar. These were the actual coven members. The vampires. One of these, of course, was Master Vampire Erasmus Moody.
"If it isn't our two neophytes!" Erasmus said, looking up from the group. "Miss Lisa and Miss Vera! If your ears were burning, it's because I was just telling these fine brethren about our newest little magpies. Nothing too incriminating, I assure you."
"What's a little venom between friends?" another vampire said.
"Vera I'm already familiar with," Mistress Xia interjected, looking up from the group. "I was pleased to see you'd completed our task... too many would have been careless, messy, and required too much of my time to tidy things. I appreciate not being inconvenienced... so welcome, Vera. This other one... I'm sure I'd remember if I'd seen her before."
"Lisa. Lisa Mulberry," Lisa said in a small voice. She clamped onto Vera's hand hard enough that, vampire bones or not, Vera winced.
"Lisa Mulberry," Xia repeated. She approached them, the sequins of her dark evening gown glittering in the dim light, a dozen items of priceless gold and platinum jewelry bobbing soundlessly as she moved. In a strangely possessive gesture, she ran her fingers through Lisa's mane of soft, golden hair. "Breathtaking. I always worry about 'outside' vampires, especially one created by one so new as Vera. Flawed vampires. Ugly vampires... child vampires." She visibly shuddered. "These we cannot have. And, as much as I dislike ending our own kind, sometimes it must be done. But others turn out very well... though it may be some decades until you come into your power, being the product of such a young vampire, beauty is a commodity that will pay dividends through the centuries."
Vera wasn’t entirely sure what Xia meant by that, but she'd inferred, both through Ghastly Spires and through the interactions of the vampires she'd observed, that the vampire hierarchy wasn't only social like human hierarchies. Older vampires were literally more powerful, either by virtue of age alone or from some tiny but cumulative buildup of blood-borne power. Lisa was measurably less powerful than Vera in some regards – strength, speed, and resistance to sunlight, for instance – but not remarkably so. To extrapolate, the elder vampires must have been immensely powerful, though Vera had never seen them exercise such power.
"I made Lisa before I knew about the coven... I didn't even know there were other vampires," Vera said.
"But surely you suspected," Erasmus said. He tutted at her, strutting across the chamber with an ornate walking stick. He held a top-hat under his arm and the tails of his dark suit swayed as he walked. He looked like an industrial magnate from the gilded age. He slicked a finger along his mustache and chuckled. "No matter. We have no rules barring vampires made without permission – entry is decided on a case by case basis, and we've already decided we want you both. You are the product of our own efforts, after all, intended or not. Now... if a vampire within the fold was to make another vampire without permission... the consequences would be quite dire. Am I clear?"
"Crystal-clear," Lisa said. Vera nodded.
"Wonderful! Beautiful and smart, Miss Lisa!"
"Are you quite done, Erasmus? I grow tired of idle prattle." The Lady of the coven stepped into view behind the altar and Vera couldn't help but gasp – this wasn't the first time they'd met.
+++++
As a 'NVC Kid' struck with a rare vascular disease, Verne had attended multiple fundraisers and awareness campaigns for the Southeastern Fundraiser for Pediatric Vascular Disease. These fundraisers were to drum up funds and awareness for NVC and a small constellation of other juvenile illnesses of the blood and cardiovascular system. These funds went to health care costs for the children, of course, as well as research toward ending the diseases. Or at least allegedly, that's what the funds were used for. And the whole initiative was managed under the aegis of the CPVDI – the Clandest Pediatric Vascular Disease Initiative headed by Sophia Clandest, the great-great-granddaughter (give or take a 'great') of the CPVDI founder, Lucretia Clandest sometime around the turn of the twentieth century.
Verne had always had a bit of a crush on Sophia Clandest – she occasionally showed up to events to give speeches, present awards, or cut ribbons, and Verne had always found her imperious and exotic in the manner that many-generations-deep old money aristocrats were. She was beautiful, too, a cool beauty reminiscent of Lisa's newfound looks, though Sophia was darker of hair and complexion. It was a cultivated, patrician beauty less likely than Lisa to make people stop in their tracks and gawk when they saw her walking down the sidewalk. Not that you'd often see Sophia Clandest on a sidewalk. In public, you'd see her at events in the expensive, modern medical wings of new hospitals, hosting galas in expensive classical art galleries, and sliding out of expensive luxury vehicles on the way to either. Yes, Verne had once had a crush on Sophia Clandest... and she was, it would seem, the Lady in charge of the Palmetto Nocturnal Society vampire coven.
Lady Clandest wore a ceremonial gown, dark satin and lace with gold symbols, the jagged brassy sun of the vampire order glittering across a field of midnight black. Around her head, she wore a little silver circlet embedded with blood-red jewels, and her eyes were as black as any onyx. She stepped up toward the altar and glanced toward Moody.
"Are these two the ones to be tested?"
"They are, my Lady," Erasmus said with a deferential bow.
"Very well. Have these aspirants cast in chains and brought before our sacred altar."
Before Vera could process what was happening, two of the familiars ushered up behind them and started fitting manacles around their wrists. Vera could have fought back – familiars were only humans after all – but it seemed like a bad idea to do so. She didn't feel like she was in immediate danger. The vampires and familiars were all unconcerned - this was a normal part of the ceremony. With her hands in front of her, the manacles clicked closed, cool and heavy against her wrists. She and Lisa shared a glance before the Lady continued.
"Bring them to our altar of the great one and have them kneel in deference."
The familiars nudged them up three short steps and then tapped the back of Vera's leg, indicating that she should kneel. The floor's stone was hard and cool through the fabric of her dress and the altar was high enough that only her head poked above its plane. The table was old stone, its flat surface scarred by nicks and scrapes and mottled with what had to be old blood stains that had soaked in too much to wash clean.
"Before any may be introduced to the Nocturnal Order of Abaddon, they must demonstrate themselves to be His true children. There are three tests to demonstrate your worthiness, and only then shall you be brought within the fold," Clandest said. She spoke with the careful pronunciation and slight idiosyncracy of inflection of somebody who'd received some of their schooling overseas, albeit at very good schools. If Vera had to guess, though, Sophia Clandest's dusting of accent was best explained by her having been around since before the invention of the English language. "The first test is that of Purity of Flesh. The sun reveals, but it also corrupts. The pure flesh of His children, being incorruptible, withers before it. Let them be marked by their purity."
One of the familiars came forward with a heavy staff of dark wood. It looked unspeakably old and had a faint purple glow at its angular tip. The man gestured for the two of them to rest their arms upon the altar and they did so. Sophia Clandest leaned forward, her eyes flashing manic as she watched. The familiar rested the tip of the staff against Lisa's wrist and did something to bring the artifact to life, the tip irradiating a brilliant white-violet light that hurt to look upon. Lisa winced as the light was applied, and when the staff was removed five or six seconds later, her arm sported a small, dark blister the size of a one dollar coin and shaped like a jagged starburst... like the symbol of the coven. Vera assumed the shape was associated with Abbadon – he was the demon who undergirded the vampire coven.
Then Vera got the same treatment, feeling the cool of the device's wood against her skin, followed by warmth and a prickling discomfort. Honestly, they could have accomplished the same thing with a much-smaller UV light, but the big staff made for dramatic ceremony. When the staff came away, Vera's skin was darkened and very slightly blistered, but the marks were already fading before their next test... but they stayed for long enough for Sophia Clandest to get a look at them.
"Let it be noted: they are pure of flesh. This, I have seen."
"So mote it be," the other vampires replied.
"The second test is Purity of Body. The mortal flesh is weak, but ours is a greater substance, and death shall not find us. Who shall test these two?"
"I shall," Mistress Xia said.
"And I shall," Master Arnold said.
Lady Clandest nodded. “Good – test them, and only if their mortal weakness has been quenched shall they survive our trial.”
Flawed vampires. Ugly vampires... child vampires
What? No Gothic Lolita Vampires?
There's nothing against it in the rules of vampirism, but the coven frowns upon it. Maybe they should rethink the rules?
@OvidLemma that's right. This coven has not even 30 members. In case of doubt, there is a coven in Japan which consists only of Gothic Lolita Vampires.
@Tycos Widely regarded as the most powerful and fearsome coven in the world!