But she did pass the Sanguinists’ test.
Erin gave a small shake of her head, accepting this truth.
At least for now.
And if nothing else, the woman was at least proving cooperative.
“This is what I’ve come to show you,” Elizabeth said, stopping beneath a magnificent mosaic that graced the roof above. “It is titled the Temptation of Christ, one of the finest in the basilica.”
Rhun kept to Elizabeth’s side, shadowing her at every step, his gaze wide upon her, his face full of relief and awe… and joy. After all that the countess had put him through, he still loved her.
Jordan stood a little apart from Erin. She wished Jordan would look upon her with that same expression of unquestionable, unquenchable love. Instead, he studied the spread of the artwork.
“So this is showing the three times Satan challenged Christ,” Jordan said, “when Christ was out fasting in the desert for forty days.”
“Exactly,” Erin said. “The leftmost section shows the devil — that’s the black angel in front of him — bringing Christ stones and tempting him to turn them to bread.”
Christian nodded. “But Christ refused, telling him Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
Erin pointed to the next section. “The second temptation is where the devil tells Jesus to jump off a building and have God catch him, but Jesus refused to tempt the Lord. And the last one — showing Christ standing on a set of mountains — is where the devil offers Christ all the kingdoms of the earth.”
“But Jesus turns him down,” Jordan said.
“And the devil is banished,” Erin added. “Then those three angels to the right take care of Jesus.”
A new voice intruded. “And that number is significant.”
Erin turned to Elizabeth, who kept her hands demurely folded before her.
“What do you mean?” Erin asked.
“Three temptations, three angels,” Elizabeth explained. “Note also that Christ stands atop three mountains during the second temptation. Three was always an important number to the Church.”
“As in the Son, the Father, and the Holy Ghost,” Erin said.
The Holy Trinity.
Elizabeth unfolded her hands and motioned to Rhun, Christian, and herself. “And it is why the Sanguinists always move in groups of three.”
Erin also recalled how it took the blood of three Sanguinists to open the door that Bernard had sealed. Even the Blood Gospel’s prophecy centered on three figures: the Woman of Learning, the Warrior of Man, and the Knight of Christ.
“But that’s not the most significant trio that is hidden in this mosaic,” Elizabeth said and pointed up. “Look closer at the mountains under Christ’s sandals.”
Jordan squinted. “It looks like He’s standing on some sort of watery bubble?”
“And within that bubble?” Elizabeth asked.
With the mosaic so far overhead, Erin wished that she had binoculars, but she still saw clearly enough to understand. Small luminous tiles of white surrounded a trio of objects hidden there, floating in that watery brilliance.
“Three chalices,” Erin said, unable to keep the awe from her voice.
One hope rose through the questions in her mind: Could one of them be Lucifer’s Chalice, the cup they were supposed to find?
She turned to Elizabeth. “But what’s the significance of you showing us this?”
“Because it might be linked to your quest. Long ago, this artwork was commissioned by men who would later form a court in Prague under Emperor Rudolf II. The Court of the Alchemists.”
Erin frowned. She had read about that group, in children’s tales about the Biblical golem. They were a group of famous alchemists assembled in Prague, who studied the occult, along with seeking ways to transform lead to gold. In their many labs, they sought to tease out the secrets of immortality.
So far as she knew, they had failed.
“What’s the significance of the chalices?” Erin asked.
“I do not know for sure. But I know they are somehow connected to that green stone you found. That green diamond.”
“Connected how?” Jordan asked.
“That stone also has a history that goes back to the Court of the Alchemists. To a man I once knew, back when I was performing my own study concerning the nature of the strigoi.”
Erin scowled at her choice of words. Study. It was a despicably clinical way to describe the torture and murder of hundreds of girls.
“He was one of the court’s alchemists,” Elizabeth continued. “He showed me that symbol you discovered on that diamond, the mark I copied in my journal.”
“Who was he?” Erin pressed.
“His name was John Dee.”
Erin stared harder at Elizabeth. John Dee was a famous English scientist who lived during the sixteenth century. Through his skills with navigation, he helped Queen Elizabeth set up the British Empire. But later in his life, he would become world renowned as an astrologer and alchemist. He lived during a time when religion, magic, and science stood at the crossroads.
“What was he working on that involved the green diamond?” Erin asked.
“One of Dee’s life goals — one that would discredit him in the end — was his quest to speak with angels.”
Angels?
A year ago Erin would have scoffed at the idea, but now — she glanced over to Jordan — she knew how real they were.
Elizabeth continued. “Dee worked with a young man named Edward Kelly, who claimed to be a scryer.”
“What’s that?” Jordan asked.
“A fortune-teller,” Erin explained. “They used crystal balls, tea leaves, and other means of predicting what was to come.”
“In Kelly’s case, he possessed a black polished mirror, said to be constructed of obsidian from the New World. In that mirror, he claimed the angels appeared to him, or so he convinced John Dee. Dee transcribed the words of those angels using a special language that he invented.”
“Enochian,” Erin said.
Elizabeth nodded. “In time, Dee lost his faith in Edward Kelly and wished to speak to the angels himself. To that end, he sought to open a portal to the angelic world through which he might speak to those beings and share their wisdom with mankind.”
“But what does any of this have to do with the green stone?” Jordan asked.
“Exactly,” Erin muttered.
“The stone held the power to open that portal. It was full of a dark energy, one strong enough to pierce the veils between our worlds. On the day that Dee was to open the portal, a calamity occurred, and he and his apprentice were found dead in the laboratory. Emperor Rudolf hid the stone so that none could unleash its power again.”
“How did you learn of this?” Erin asked.
The countess smoothed the folds of her skirt. “Because Emperor Rudolf II told me.”
Christian frowned skeptically. “You knew the emperor?”
“Of course, I knew him,” she snapped, clearly angry. “I come from one of the most royal houses in Europe.”
“I meant no offense, Sister,” said Christian.
Elizabeth quickly collected herself, refolding her hands at her waist, looking like she was trying her best to be that humble nun again. She did a poor job.
“The emperor wrote me a letter,” she explained. “He knew that Master Dee and I were the only ones in the known world engaged in the same kind of research — exploring the nature of good and evil.”