The Legend of Darklore Manor and Other Tales of Terror by Joseph Vargo, Joseph Iorillo
Authors: Joseph Vargo, Joseph Iorillo
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also a high-ranking vice president of Drayfort & Drayfort, one of the wealthiest private equity firms in London. To Logan's right stood Geoffrey Parmentier, the chief advisor to the French Minister of Defense. Up and down the table, all these Masters of the Seventeenth Degree emanated affluence and influence, confidence and power—and here they were, toasting Harris Logan.
"Thank you," he murmured, his throat suddenly very dry. He had meant to say something more profound and memorable but in the presence of the Brotherhood's highest level of Masters he found himself as abashed as a schoolboy.
To Logan's left, Michael Mansfield patted Harris on the back and winked. "You're doing fine," Mansfield whispered.
"This is Professor Logan's first trip to England," Yardley explained to the other Masters, "and I'm sure he's a bit jet-lagged and a bit intimidated by being surrounded by so many new faces. But rest assured, Mr. Logan, we are all friends here. Your friends. If the Brotherhood teaches us anything it's that you will always have us to rely upon, without question."
"Hear hear," someone affirmed.
Logan's smile was polite but wary. He was waiting for the catch. There was always a catch.
Yardley smiled, his eyes brimming with nostalgia. "I can remember when I was in your place. Years and years ago. The Ritual of the Crossing had taken a lot out of me and, I admit, I would have been content to stay a Master of the Sixteenth Degree." He chuckled and feigned a horrific shudder. "After the Crossing, I thought, No more. Keep me at Sixteen. Hell, drop me back down to Fifteen—at least that was just a written test! Those were the days, weren't they?"
"Yes," Logan said, "they were." The initiation into the Fifteenth Degree was indeed a written exam concerning the history and philosophic underpinnings of the Brotherhood of Shadows and Light. The questions were at first routine and factual, quizzing the initiate on the founding of the group in medieval France as a secretive conclave of radical philosophers and thinkers who were unimpressed with Church teachings. The questions then dealt with the Brotherhood's subsequent persecution by the Church as a heretical, even diabolical sect practicing Satanic rites. Eventually, though, the questions became more introspective. One question was, What is the purpose of the Brotherhood?
After all his years in the group, Logan could answer that without much hesitation. To perfect the human being by lifting him out of the world of animal instinct and instilling in him new instincts of trust and faith.
"It's quite profound, when you think about it," Mansfield had once told him over brandy at a restaurant near Mansfield's law firm in Chicago several years ago. "Most of our lives are spent reacting to things based on our primal needs, our selfish desires, our fight-or-flight instincts. Which is fine—if you want to remain on a level with animals who think only about food and self-preservation. But aren't we capable of much more than that?"
"If a man is robbing you at knifepoint, a good fight-or-flight response isn't something to sneeze at."
"No, but that's my point. The world as it's constructed keeps us at the animal level. Thieves rob out of a primal lust for power, or because they're hungry and desperate. Their victims cower like rabbits and let themselves be robbed, hoping not to be harmed. And at those moments there is little that separates us from the primitive, fearful hominids that foraged for food half a million years ago."
"And the Brotherhood hopes to change that," Logan said, trying not to sound too skeptical. Being skeptical, however, was what made him the University of Chicago's most effective professor of philosophy.
Now, as the gathered Masters of the Seventeenth Degree sipped their wine and listened to Yardley, Grand Master and Protector of the Royal Secret,
"Thank you," he murmured, his throat suddenly very dry. He had meant to say something more profound and memorable but in the presence of the Brotherhood's highest level of Masters he found himself as abashed as a schoolboy.
To Logan's left, Michael Mansfield patted Harris on the back and winked. "You're doing fine," Mansfield whispered.
"This is Professor Logan's first trip to England," Yardley explained to the other Masters, "and I'm sure he's a bit jet-lagged and a bit intimidated by being surrounded by so many new faces. But rest assured, Mr. Logan, we are all friends here. Your friends. If the Brotherhood teaches us anything it's that you will always have us to rely upon, without question."
"Hear hear," someone affirmed.
Logan's smile was polite but wary. He was waiting for the catch. There was always a catch.
Yardley smiled, his eyes brimming with nostalgia. "I can remember when I was in your place. Years and years ago. The Ritual of the Crossing had taken a lot out of me and, I admit, I would have been content to stay a Master of the Sixteenth Degree." He chuckled and feigned a horrific shudder. "After the Crossing, I thought, No more. Keep me at Sixteen. Hell, drop me back down to Fifteen—at least that was just a written test! Those were the days, weren't they?"
"Yes," Logan said, "they were." The initiation into the Fifteenth Degree was indeed a written exam concerning the history and philosophic underpinnings of the Brotherhood of Shadows and Light. The questions were at first routine and factual, quizzing the initiate on the founding of the group in medieval France as a secretive conclave of radical philosophers and thinkers who were unimpressed with Church teachings. The questions then dealt with the Brotherhood's subsequent persecution by the Church as a heretical, even diabolical sect practicing Satanic rites. Eventually, though, the questions became more introspective. One question was, What is the purpose of the Brotherhood?
After all his years in the group, Logan could answer that without much hesitation. To perfect the human being by lifting him out of the world of animal instinct and instilling in him new instincts of trust and faith.
"It's quite profound, when you think about it," Mansfield had once told him over brandy at a restaurant near Mansfield's law firm in Chicago several years ago. "Most of our lives are spent reacting to things based on our primal needs, our selfish desires, our fight-or-flight instincts. Which is fine—if you want to remain on a level with animals who think only about food and self-preservation. But aren't we capable of much more than that?"
"If a man is robbing you at knifepoint, a good fight-or-flight response isn't something to sneeze at."
"No, but that's my point. The world as it's constructed keeps us at the animal level. Thieves rob out of a primal lust for power, or because they're hungry and desperate. Their victims cower like rabbits and let themselves be robbed, hoping not to be harmed. And at those moments there is little that separates us from the primitive, fearful hominids that foraged for food half a million years ago."
"And the Brotherhood hopes to change that," Logan said, trying not to sound too skeptical. Being skeptical, however, was what made him the University of Chicago's most effective professor of philosophy.
Now, as the gathered Masters of the Seventeenth Degree sipped their wine and listened to Yardley, Grand Master and Protector of the Royal Secret,
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