Page 27 of A Dawn Of Blood

Doubt and guilt gnawing at me, I enter the dimly lit classroom, finding Jaeger sitting cross-legged in front of a low wooden table.

“Take a seat, Anna,” she tells me as soon as I enter.

I smile. “Wow, so serious.”

She throws me a no-nonsense look that makes me understand we won’t be making light of this. Taking a seat across from her, I immediately turn serious.

“Today will be all about showing you how to do your rituals,” she says.

“Alright, I’m listening.”

“Biologically, Anna, you’re already a vampire, which comes with heightened senses and a slower aging rate, but to be granted any actual powers, you need to make your vows to the Holy Trinity, and keep doing it every day, unless you want the gods to overlook you.”

Frowning, I smile at her. “Yes, I’m well aware, thank you.”

She throws me a flat glare. And while I’m fearing that having to listen to information I’ve known practically all my life won’t exactly help with my distraction, I clear my throat and decide to just force myself to focus.

After all, thisiskind of redundant, but it’s also important.

“The three gods making up the Holy Trinity,” Jaeger starts, “are Death…” She takes a fat white candle from under the table and places it on the smooth dark surface. “Dream…” Now there’s a spindle next to the candle. “And Flow,” she concludes, adding a bowl of blood to complete the set.

The bowl makes my mind flash with the image of Dryden’s blood.

Jaeger places her hands in her lap and looks at me, making me snap out of it. “Now,” she keeps going, “Death is the one granting Stealth and Strength, Dream Mind Magic, and Flow Blood Magic.”

She waits for me to signal that I got it. I nod.

“It’s good to acknowledge all three gods whenever you do your rituals, but the ones you’ll make actual vows to are the ones you’ll establish a deeper connection with. There’s no way to foretell which god you’ll connect with, or whether, eventually, it will be just one or all three of them. Only time will tell.”

I give another nod.

“So, for now, all I can do is show you how to do the rituals and have you do them yourself.”

Lighting the candle, pricking her finger on the spindle and adding a drop of blood to the bowl, she addresses each of the gods.

Once again, I have to fight to stop myself from ruminating about Dryden.

Once she’s done, she looks up. “Now you try it.”

I take a deep breath and start. Lighting the candle, I murmur, “Give me a light step, oh God of Death, and one day, I’ll walk away with you into the unknown.”

Nothing happens.

Alright. Pricking my finger on the spindle, I say, “Thank you, God of Dream, for making me your child.”

Still nothing. My eyebrows shoot up. Will it be Blood Magic then? Adding a drop of my blood to the bowl, I recite, “Give me mastery of the Flow, oh God of Flow, and I vow to use your blood to rise above nations.”

It makes me frown, when nothing happens, yet again.

I look up, finding Jaeger already staring at me. “Did I do something wrong?”

She shakes her head. “No, you didn’t. That’s alright, why don’t you just try again.”

I do, but still, nothing happens. Pressing my lips, I blow out a frustrated breath. “How many times did it takeyou?” I ask Jaeger.

She just looks at me for a second. Then she shakes her head again, but it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, that she chooses not to answer my questions. “It’s all highly individual. Just keep doing it.”

Five more times I try, failing miserably. And every time I do the blood ritual, I only get more distracted by my thoughts of Dryden, my frustration steadily building.

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