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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The next day, when Maria went down into Carmen's room, she was already awake for once. When she saw Maria her eyes lit up, and she picked up a piece of black clothing off the bed and handed it out to her.
"What's this?" Maria asked, trying to make sense of the garment.
"It's a cloak I borrowed from Clementine." She said, "Put it on."
Maria did as she was told, tying the silk ribbon around her neck as the hem of the cloak skimmed the floor.
"Alright." Carmen said. "Are you ready?"
Maria nodded.
They headed down stairs, but Switchblade stopped them before they could leave.
"You two going out?" He said, his gaze sliding between the two of them.
"Yep." Carmen said. "We might not be back until tomorrow."
"Oh yeah?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Mhm." Carmen said, tight lipped.
"Well... stay safe, I guess."
With that he walked off. Maria stared at the floor, utterly mortified. Did he know what they were going to do? Did he think she was a slut? Was he going to tell somebody?
"Ignore him." Carmen said. "He just likes to annoy me."
Maria nodded, though the burning of her cheeks didn't go away.
They left the house, and to Maria's surprise, they walked right past Carmen's car.
"We're walking." Carmen said. "It's safer. Here, take my hand."
Maria had never been to this part of Enigma. She had never really been in any part of it without a chaperone from the church, and even then, she had never left her house at night. There were so many people scurrying around, down the sidewalks. She assumed at least some of them had to be humans.
Carmen grabbed her hand.
"Stay close to me." She whispered. "It's not a great area. Even I don't like being here."
Maria squeezed her hand and moved a bit closer, trying to focus on the chill of Carmen's fingers as she kept her head down.
Eventually, they came to a hulking brick building, seven stories high, with crumbling edges, and sparks of ivy inching up the sides. Maria thought she might have seen it once or twice, in passing. She thought she remembered her mother saying it had been abandoned since the war.
Carmen pulled her, rounding a corner that led to a set of stairs, leading down. It seemed like the entrance to a basement of some sort.
