The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Content Warning: This section of the guide features discussions of flashbacks of rape and references to sexual abuse.

At age 17, Oraya believes that she is in love with the young vampire. Knowing that Vincent wouldn’t approve, she hides her new relationship from him. Eventually, she wishes to experience sex. Though he starts gentle, his thrusts become rough, turning Oraya’s pleasure into pain, and her love into fear. In the throes of lust, her lover draws blood from where his nails bite into her arms. The blood causes him to succumb to his bloodlust. She thrashes against him as he latches onto her throat, begging him to stop, but he doesn’t. She grabs the silver candelabra from beside the bed and hits him with it. She sees his expression transition from confusion to horror, “as if he had not even realized what he had done” (271). She grabs her clothes and runs for Vincent’s room with a broken heart. Vincent lets her inside and cleans her wounds.

At this point in the trial, 11 contestants remain. Ibrihim is the last to pass through the gate after killing his own partner, and once he does, the contestants are returned to the Moon Palace.