The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Chapter 15: The Trials Of Darius - To Become a Prince



Ahhh greetings my children….let us again travel back in time….to when Darius took his trials….and learnt what it meant to become a Vampire Prince.



I stirred slowly, a rubbed my eyes as I looked around the cavernous room, this was where I had been put, I stood up slowly and stretched my bones cracking, a knock came at my door as I walked over to it and opened it to see a guard standing by the door.



The guard nodded at me before saying in a grizzly voice “You are required in the meeting hall where the Princes will decide your Trials that will decide whether you are good enough to be a Prince and lead us” I nodded my head as I pulled on my shirt and my trousers before following the guard out of my room as he led me through a series of twists and turns.



We approached a thick old oak door, two guards garbed in blue robes were standing on either side of it, the doors swung open, the guard led me deep into the inner sanctum of the Vampire Princes where he put his left fist over his heart and bowed to the Princes as he backed away from me. Prince Quil stood up and glanced down at me as he spoke in his soft voice, (I found out that he was over 900 years old and still going strong) “Greetings to you Darius, you are here to take several trials, only then….will you be fully accepted as a Vampire Prince, and only then will these guards and other vampires that have made their home here for the time being….but even when they leave you will still command them, they will come to your aid wherever you are” I nodded my head in understanding.



Trire stood up and looked down at me and said in his husky voice (He was the youngest of the princes at 200) “Now Darius, the tasks you will be undertaking are dangerous, but should you work hard then you will succeed. You will have a trainer to assist you over the course of the next few weeks, your first trial will be in four days” he sat down slowly in his wooden throne as Versam stood up and stared at me….his eyes feeling as though they were piercing into my very soul, I shifted uneasily on my feet as Versam’s booming voice echoed throughout the hall “The first trial that you will be undertaking….is that of a test of skill, you will have to pass through an underwater labyrinth, you will have 1 hour to complete the task, as a Vampire you can hold your breath for longer, but if you do not complete it in an hour then the water will be heated and you will be boiled alive” my mouth hung open as I nodded my head slowly as Quil clapped his hands together and Crelsa came into the room and bowed to the princes and led me away to my room.



I turned to Crelsa and said “So who will be my trainer for these trials then Crelsa” Crelsa studied me before replying “I shall come and collect you in a few hours and we shall go and see your trial trainer, get some rest….you will need it” he nodded to me and turned around and left me in my chambers. I sat down on my bed and stared around my room, it was a bare room with a bed, I ran a hand through my hair and laid back on my bed and closed my eyes conserving my strength for the challenges I knew were to come.



I awoke startled what seemed like hours later but was merely only an hour or so as a tapping came at my door, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stretched as I stood up and walked over to the door and opened it to see Crelsa standing by the door, he pulled away from the door frame and bowed to me as he said “Your trainer awaits our arrival My Liege” he then motioned for me to follow him as we walked through the halls, with Crelsa pointing out various points of interest to me as we walked. I noticed something as we walked and turned to Crelsa saying “I haven’t really seen that many female vampires….apart from the one that turned me” Crelsa chuckled softly as he opened up a pair of heavy oak doors leading me into what could only have been a training room for the vampires.



In the room, which seemed to me to be a very plush and well furnished room, with many pieces of equipment to train on, as well as lots of weaponry, which glinted in the flickering candle light, I heard someone clear their throat, I turned around and I was sure that my mouth hit the floor as one of the most beautiful vampire women that I have ever seen stood there before me, her auburn hair was tied up in a pony tail, she stared at me with emerald green eyes, she was slim and quite muscular, she was dressed in a tight fitting black tank top, and a pair of pants that fitted her perfectly as if they were tailor made for her, she had fairly pale skin…and I guess she must have noticed me staring because quicker then lightening she pulled my legs out from under me with a Bo staff and put it to my throat.



The woman stared at me and said softly in a light voice “I am your trainer…I am Erika Dashley….I will be helping you throughout your trials” she held a hand out for me, I took it and she pulled me up to my feet, I thanked her and she raised a hand to stop me as she spun around and strode off, I followed her quickly to keep up with her, she led me down a spiral staircase which led us down to where the labyrinth was going to be for my first trial, Erika stopped and looked at me before saying “This is your first trial….the underwater labyrinth” She leapt down into the labyrinth, I expected to hear a splash but there was none, I peered down over the side to see that it was empty Erika motioned for me to follow so I leapt down beside her and looked around as I said confidently “Well this doesn’t seem so tough” Erika let out an exasperated sigh and muttered something which sounded like “Men” as she strode off and I hurried once again to keep pace with her.



She explained the labyrinth to me, she said that when my trial begun, the labyrinth might not be the same configuration as it was right now, they changed it so that the person taking the trial didn’t know where the end was, she also told me to make notes on certain walls to keep track of where I was, I nodded my head as she led me towards the end of the labyrinth where I saw a big black circle with a red triangle in the middle, she turned to me and said seriously “This is where you exit, many other vampires who have taken these trials have died, there is no assurances that you will pass all three of your trials” I nodded my head sombrely saying softly “I am prepared to do what I must….if it costs me my life then so be it” she deftly leapt out from the labyrinth and pushed a ladder down, I clambered up it and got out of the labyrinth and looked down at it, knowing in my heart that I would conquer it.



I followed after her as she took me into a smaller room where there was a pool of water, it was gently lapping at the sides of the pool as Erika turned to me saying “Strip to your underwear….we need to see how long you can hold your breath for” I nodded and immediately stripped to my boxers before putting a toe into the water and to my embarrassment shrieked like a little girl as the water was freezing. I heard Erika snicker softly as I turned and glared at her but she smiled at me and then pushed me into the water, shocked I fell in and splashed around the coldness seeping through my skin chilling my bones.



I came up to the surface spluttering and spat water out of my mouth as I bobbed on the surface of the water my eyes blazing red as Erika wagged her finger at me and said trying not to laugh “Now now Darius, I just thought you needed to cool off, remember I am your trainer, nothing can happen between us” I grinned as I splashed the freezing cold water at her, she howled in surprise and jumped back, I only managed to get the bottom of her trousers wet, she grabbed my hair and dunked me back under the water, she was surprisingly strong as I struggled against her hand trying to come up for breath. I then realised I should stop struggling and relax as Erika removed her hand and I came up for breath she nodded at me saying “That was good, but you will need to do better next time, there will be several air pockets in the labyrinth but you will have to find them” I coughed as I gulped in mouthfuls of air.



Erika grabbed me under the arm and pulled me out of the pool and looked down at me and laughed softly “You have no stamina, we’ll have to work on that before your trial in a few days, but for now I shall take you back to your room and you may rest” I nodded my head meekly as we headed back to my room where I collapsed onto my bed in exhaustion.



Erika left my room as I closed my eyes and fell into a light sleep, I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed as I stood up and stretched and put on a black shirt and a pair of black trousers, I then left my room and headed down to where the vampires were eating as I sat at a table and looked around. A vampire came over to my table with a plate of food and sat it down in front of me, he said gruffly in an east European accent “Eat, you will need your strength for your trials to become a prince” I nodded and dug into the food.



I looked around me and saw all the other vampires, all of them wearing different things, I took a sip of water and closed my eyes, when I opened them I saw Erika standing in front of me with her left hand on her hip as she studied me, I smiled at her as she sat down in a seat across from me and drank from a wine glass with some red liquid in it, which I could only assume was blood. She stopped drinking and looked at me before saying “We will train some more today, get ready because I am going to be working you much harder” I nodded my head and stood up and stretched as my bones cracked and I headed towards my room.