Dean Elliot Sandow

## Elliot Sandow

**Elliot Sandow** is the Dean of Lethe House, serving as liaison between Lethe and the Yale university president.

## Biography

### Pre-Series

Elliot Sandow attended Yale University and lived in Branford College. He was a delegate of Lethe House in the late 1970's. Sandow is accredited for being a brilliant Lethe delegate, having created rituals as a student, some of which were still in use. As a student, Sandow figured out that the death of young girls spanning since the 1800s coincided with the creation of a nexus and a building of a tomb. Ten years after his graduation, he returned to Yale as an associate professor. He has served as the Dean of Lethe House since then, a very prestigious position as the liaison between Lethe and the university president. He was acting Dean over Lethe members Michelle Alameddine and Darlington. He would recruit Darlington after his stint in the hospital after trying to brew Orozcerio.

At some point, Sandow married his wife Claire and adopted a yellow Labrador named Honey. Claire Sandow would experience two bouts of breast cancer. While doing chemotherapy, Claire would buy weed from Tara Hutchins, who the Sandows invited into their home. Sandow admitted that Tara was nice. He didn't bother being too discrete about Lethe business in front of Tara, likely leading to Tara learning more about the Ancient Eight societies and the existence of magic. Two years before Alex Stern's first year, his wife would leave him which would result in an ugly divorce court case that would drag on for the two years. This, combined with the fact that Elliot had not published anything in years, left him financially bereft. While he makes plenty from the university as a tenured professor, his savings were drained and he owed a lot in terms of alimony.

Elliot approached the board of St. Elmo's with a proposition. Claiming that he could prepare a site for a coming nexus to build a new tomb over, Sandow offered the lesser House of the Veil the chance to become a landed society once more in exchange for monetary compensation. The money of a few dedicated alumni was enough to alleviate Sandow's financial concerns.

### Ninth House

#### Last Fall

Sandow thought that the creation of a nexus followed a pattern, believing that one would simply have to prepare a site and then wait for the death of a young girl to be its catalyst. In the meantime, Sandow continued his duties as Dean of Lethe House, which included recruiting Alex Stern at the hospital during the summer. He would record his interview of Alex as she confirmed her ability to see Grays and would ultimately offer her a free ride to Yale if she joined Lethe House. Once the school year started, he sent Alex his contact information and an invitation to his office hours, although Alex never took him up on that offer. At one point in late September, Sandow had lunch with Darlington and Alex at Il Bastone, in which he and Darlington made conversation on a new book on women and manufacturing in New Haven.

Although Sandow prepared the site, no death occurred and no nexus formed. The board of St. Elmo's grew impatient, and soon demanded their money back, threatening to go to the Lethe board, who as of yet were unaware of Sandow's intentions. He then created a new ritual, believing that the ritual killing of a young girl over a plot of land was enough to create a nexus. Sandow planned to kill Tara, knowing she was involved with Scroll and Keys and Manuscript and that her death would eventually be dismissed as she was a drug dealer and criminal.

However, his plan would be further complicated when Darlington told Sandow his theory that the death of certain young women throughout history were connected to the creation of the nexuses tombs were built on. While he told Sandow this as a passing thought, Sandow knew that if he carried out his plan to kill a girl, he would instantly draw the suspicion and attention of Darlington. This led Sandow to summon a hellbeast and set a trap in the Rosenfeld Hall basement, intending for it to consume both Darlington and Alex. However, Alex survived.

Sandow would receive a text from Alex notifying him on Darlington's disappearance. He went to Il Bastone with his dog and listened as Alex explained how Darlington disappeared. Sandow made an effort to calm Alex down and concluded Darlington must have disappeared through a portal, despite Alex' protests that Darlington said it wasn't. He explained Darlington is probably trapped in a pocket realm, not even perceiving time, and that he would need to be brought back through a retrieval spell on a new moon rising. Wanting to keep his disappearance quiet, Sandow created a cover story for Darlington's absence, that he was in Spain to study the nexus beneath San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Since then, Sandow has kept Alex and Pamela occasionally updated on his efforts and stalling so that they would skip the new moon in January and would have to wait for the one in February.

#### Winter

One Thursday night, Sandow attended Professor Marguerite Belbam's salon and pretended to get drunk. Around half-past ten, Sandow snuck out and using Lethe's mirrored compact, was able to disguise himself as Lance Gressang, Tara's boyfriend. After getting Tara high, Sandow killed her on the empty plot of land in front of the Payne Whitney museum around 11 pm. Sandow chose that location as it mirrored the map of the New Haven colony, and performing rituals on auspicious places increased its power. However, despite the ritual being sound, no nexus was formed.

The morning after the murder, Sandow texted Alex to rest easy and not stress about investigating Tara's murder, however, Alex continued her investigation. Sandow found out about Alex's trip to the morgue and, unsure what she found out from Tara's body, he decided to perform necromancy ritual to send a gluma armed with corpse beetles to kill her. Pamela Dawes called Sandow to come the Hutch, where he was surprised to find Alex conscious and recovering. Sitting down and stirring his tea, he informed them that everything was ready for the new-moon rite to retrieve Darlington, although he forced them to consider the possibility Darlington won't ever return. Spotting axtapta, the potion to cure the damage from the corpse beetles, Sandow feigns shock at Alex's attack. He then proceeds to be skeptic, dismissing Alex's theories that the societies sent the gluma after her in connection to Tara's murder. Sandow tries to raise the possibility that Alex's presence, with her innate ability to see Grays, might have attracted the gluma to attack, only to be thoroughly shut down by Pamela. When Alex tried again to convince him, Sandow only shows her the video tape of what happened outside the mini-mart, which showed Alex being attacked by an invisible figure, telling Alex that the Lethe board wouldn't take her seriously if she made these serious accusations now. Sandow goes to convince Alex and Pamela to stand down from investigating and to leave it to Detective Abel Turner's trusted hands. He leaves Il Bastone, telling them he'll send Alex's original report to the Lethe board and that he will see them on Wednesday for the ritual.

The night of the new moon rising, Sandow picked up Michelle Alameddine from the train station and drove her to Black Elm, where they met up with Alex, Pamela Dawes, and Aurelian members John Zelinski and Amelia. The group performed a hound-dog ritual in Darlington's family home in an attempt to call Darlington back from a supposed pocket dimension. During the rite in the ballroom, Sandow stood at the southern compass point, facing Alex, as Pamela and Michelle to the others. This ritual would instead summon something demonic. Sandow knew the hound-dog casting wouldn't work and that by saving the group from the supposed hellbeast with an incantation, Sandow would bar Darlington from returning ever to Black Elm.

Knowing Tara's murder will continue to be investigated, Sandow set out to clean up loose ends. Using a coin of compulsion, Sandow armed Blake Keely with Starpower and sent him to Il Bastone, ordering him to attack Alex and suggest that Keely himself killed Tara. Sandow knew that Tara had found out about Blake's abuse of Merity and used that as a false motive for why Blake would murder Tara. Sandow himself showed up, allowing Blake to order him to stab and ultimately kill Alex, who was already ordered to be still and not speak. Alex, taking advantage of the loophole, whistled for the Lethe spirit hounds. The jackals burst in the door, tackling and biting Sandow off of Alex and overwhelming Blake. Sandow's leg was bitten through, and with his femur broken and bleeding, he passed out.

At New Haven Hospital, Sandow's leg got set and wrapped up. He, along with Turner, went into Alex and Pamela's room, where he first apologized for not looking into the societies' illicit activities. When Alex argued she knew Keely didn't kill Tara, due to her interrogation where he was under compulsion, Sandow explains it away, saying that Blake might've believed his own innocence or had been made to forget by whoever sent the hellbeast after Darlington and the gluma after Alex. He reassures Alex that an investigation will be conducted to see who is behind everything, as well as into the societies themselves. Sandow, of course, knew all about the societies rule breaking beforehand. In an attempt to soothe Alex and Pamela's indignation at his "failure" to look into the societies, Sandow promises Alex that she'll pass her classes, ensuring a 3.5 GPA. When Alex demands to know how the societies will be punished, Sandow tells them they will be fined, using Lethe's dependency on the Ancient Eight and their alumni as a scapegoat for his lack of stronger action and consequences.

#### Confrontation

Sandow was confronted by Alex in an office at the university president's party. Sandow leaned against the desk and feigned stuffing tobacco into his pipe, and then set it down without lighting it. Sandow readily admitted to having killed Tara and how it came to be he was working on the behalf of St. Elmo's, why he sent the hellbeast after both Darlington and Alex, and later the gluma. He does admit that the ritual didn't create a nexus after all, but he dismisses this as, thanks to Alex, he is advocating for Manuscript to be stripped out their tomb so that St. Elmo's could take over. Genial now, Sandow then asks what Alex wants.

Alex is incredulous and condemning. Sandow derisive of Alex's noble perspective on Lethe, picks up his tobacco pipe and taps Astrumsalinas into his mouth. He goes to vocally halt Alex in place, however, it doesn't work as she is bolstered by North, who quickly went to reside in her. Alex shoves Sandow into a chair and curses him out only for Professor Belbalm to walk into the office, concerned with what was going on. Using this to his advantage, Sandow yells at Belbalm to get help, that Alex was attacking him, that she was unstable. However, the compulsion doesn't work. Belbalm greets Alex and North, who she can see residing in Alex, before locking the office door behind her.

Sandow listens as Belbalm reveals that she has the same powers as Alex, as both she and Belbalm are Wheelwalkers. Her familiarity with North clues Alex and Sandow in to the fact that Belbalm is actually Daisy Fanning Whitlock. She reveals what actually happened that day at the factory and how she survived by eating Gladys' soul. Alex realizes that Belbalm was the one who killed all those girls and how they were related to the societies' nexuses. Sandow realizes that the reason why Tara's death didn't create a nexus was because Belbalm was planning to consume Alex's soul. Disliking Sandow's smug tone, Belbalm consumed Sandow's soul first, resistant to Sandow's futile attempt to banish her with death words.

#### Post-Mortem

Sandow's death was ruled a massive heart attack. Sandow's role in the murder of Tara Hutchins was kept out of the official reports. Even after Alex's recording of Sandow's guilt was brought to the Lethe board, it was agreed that Blake Keely would continue to be blamed for Tara's murder. The Lethe board didn’t want anyone to attempt the creation of a nexus through ritual homicide and they didn’t want Lethe connected to Tara’s death, especially with it being a funding year.

## Personal Attributes

### Personality

On the surface, the dean seems like a fatherly figure, but he turns out to be a murderous villain. To pay off the divorce and alimony costs, Sandow promises to find the St. Elmo's society a clubhouse on a new source of magic power called a nexus. Believing that nexuses form after young women are murdered, he kills a young woman named Tara, sends a hellbeast after Alex and Darlington to keep them off his trail, and engineers several attacks on Alex.

### Physical Description

He is described as a small, tidy man with the trim build of a jogger and silvery brows that steepled at the center of his forehead. He has black hair that has been described as salt-and pepper like, due to the strands of gray hair.

## Quotes

* “[Darlington] didn’t understand that the city walks a tightrope. On one side, success. On the other, ruin. The magic of this place and the blood shed to retain it is all that stands between the city and the end.” (Chapter 30)

## Trivia

* Sandow is a smoker, and bears his habits on his nicotine-stained fingers.

## References

1. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 20 (Winter) - Lethe Days Diary
2. ↑ While Sandow, according to Darlington and relayed by Alex, was a delegate during the late seventies, in his lethe day's diary excerpt Sandow was listed as (Branford College '69). It could be the Dante/Virgil and 'delegate' mean different things. Or it could be a faulty error.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Ninth House Chapter 11 (Winter)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 *Ninth House* Chapter 30 (Early Spring)
5. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 13 (Last Fall)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 22 (Winter)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 29 (Early Spring)
8. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 1 (Winter)
9. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 3 (Winter)
10. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 25 (Winter)
11. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 26 (Winter)
12. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 27 (Winter)
13. ↑ Ninth House Chapter 31 (Early Spring)