All of her life, Maria Alvarez has been sure of three things.
1.) The Lord God will protect and guide her thought all of the trials of life.
2.) Vampires are soulless husks of their former selves, little more than animated bodies feedi...
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On Thursday, there was a knock at the door. Apparently, it was pretty unusual to have a guest as early as four in the afternoon. Maria didn't know any of this, however, until Carmen explained it to her as they walked down the stairs, still wearing their pajamas.
"They asked for you, specifically." Carmen said.
Maria stiffened, stopping in her tracks.
"They're not from the church, are they?"
She didn't know why the thought scared her so much. She didn't know why it made her feel like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't.
"I don't think so." Carmen shook her head. "They're both guys, and one of them has an earring. The church will do a lot of things, but I doubt anyone still a member would forsake their 'morals' like that."
You don't even know. Maria thought. They'll do some pretty sacrilegious things in the name of God.
But did he want them to do it? Maria shook her head. Now wasn't the time to work herself into a tizzy over hypothetical situations.
"Don't worry. I'm going to go down there with you anyway." Carmen said, swinging an arm across her shoulder and squeezing her tightly.
Maria gave her a fake smile.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, there were two men waiting there. They both seemed to be in their early thirties, dressed in fashionable, worldly clothing, holding a few small bags. One had his hair in a bun, and the other had a fade haircut with earrings. Probably not anyone from the church, much to Maria's relief.
"Are you Maria Alvarez?" The man with the earring asked.
"Uh, Yeah. I think so." Maria said. She immediately wanted to slap herself over her bumbling stupidity.
"I'm Deedrick Thompson." He said, extending his hand. "And this is Samuel Deal."
"Um, nice to meet you." Maria said, nervously shaking his hand. Her palm was sweaty, and their skin stuck together when they touched.
"We're from Bite Magazine in Atlanta, and we wanted to see if we could interview you." He said. "We tried to contact you before coming, but you don't seem to have a phone number or an email address."
"Wait, you want to interview me?" Maria asked.
"Yes." Samuel spoke up. "We're writing a long form article about different individuals who have escaped from The Church."
"Oh, I—"
"I don't know that Maria feels comfortable doing that yet." Carmen interrupted her.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that." Deedrick said.
"Wait!" Maria said. The words seemed to jump out of her mouth, without any volition of her own.
