One of the earliest references to the Dark Trick comes from the Great Laws of the Children of Satan, an ancient vampire coven that existed long before Lestat, during the times of the Roman Empire and throughout the Middle Ages. Their first Great Law specifically states: “Each coven must have its leader and only he might order the working of the Dark Trick upon a mortal.”
Essentially, the Dark Trick is a name for the process of turning a human mortal into an immortal vampire. The Dark Trick works several supernatural facets throughout the transformation process. Not only does the Dark Trick give the fledgling a ferocious bloodlust, but it also provides the superhuman abilities of telepathy, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and levitation, along with superior strength, speed, senses, and healing, plus immortality.
The act of both giving and receiving the Dark Trick is very intimate. An ironic result of the Dark Trick is that it diminishes intimacy between maker and fledgling. While makers usually transform fledglings into a vampire out of love in the hope of creating an immortal companion, their telepathic connection is eternally severed. No longer can the maker hear the fledgling’s thoughts or send psychic messages. This one facet in the process of making a vampire is both dark and a trick to maker and fledgling, since it causes between them, in most cases, a great rupture of intimacy.
In one case of the Dark Trick destroying a relationship, Armand loves Daniel Malloy so much that he dreads turning him into a vampire, knowing how they will be separated telepathically. His instincts are correct when, after he turns Daniel into a vampire, Daniel ends up hating Armand intensely. In another case, Marius does Armand a favor by turning Armand’s wards, Benji and Sybelle, into vampires so that their strength will be equal to Armand’s and so that they can communicate with him telepathically.
The idiom appears in The Vampire Lestat (1985), The Queen of the Damned (1988), The Tale of the Body Thief (1992), The Vampire Armand (1998), Pandora (1998), Blood Canticle (2003), Prince Lestat (2014), and Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (2016). For more perspectives on the Dark Trick in the Vampire Chronicles, read the Alphabettery entries Armand, Benji Mahmoud, Children of Satan, Daniel Malloy, Great Laws, Lestat de Lioncourt, Louis de Pointe du Lac, Marius, Sybelle, and Teskhamen.