Understandably, I decided it would be a good idea to check it out.
Before we left, I decided it would be a good idea to get Sera some 2024-chic clothes, so she wasn't wandering around looking like she was from a reenactment of the Pilgrimage..
"It's still day," I said. "I'll go get you some clothes, as I have this necklace that makes me immune to the sun and stuff."
"So that's what that necklace is for," she said. "I didn't realize that vampires can wear cross - OW!"
She had just touched the necklace with her finger and drew back. I saw that her fingertip was burned.
"I'm immune to crosses," I said.
"Because you're Christian?" she guessed, still nursing her finger.
I nodded.
"Anyway, back to the situation," Sera said. "I'll go with you as well."
"But, uh, won't you burn up?" I said.
"No," she replied. "Do you notice my eyes?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"Notice that they are orange," she said.
"I can see that," I replied.
She waited. I got the feeling that I was supposed to know something.
"So what?" I added.
She sighed. "I'd have thought you would know this. It applies to you, too!"
"What?" I said, suddenly intrigued.
"When untransformed vampires have different-colored eyes, that means that they have special abilities. Orange eyes mean immunity to sunlight, purple means the ability to hypnotize, and green means enhanced abilities."
I thought about it.
"So that means," I started. "that I have enhanced abilities?"
"Well, all vampires do," Sera replied. "But the ones with green eyes have even more powerful abilities. And I mean strength and speed and such."
"Ah. Okay," I said.
"In other words," she said. "Yes. I'm going with you."
"Okay, then," I said.
We went up the stairs into the church proper. Once we were up there, we transformed into big grey dogs and left the building.
"Follow me," I said to Sera, in Dogese, of course.
Sera gave a doggy nod, and we ran off toward the inner city. I ran into an alley beside the clothing store, and Sera followed. We transformed back into humans - or vampires, I guess.
"Okay," I said. "Beside us is the clothing store I go to. I have a friend who works here, and she won't ask questions. Come on."
We went inside. There weren't very many people in there, as per usual, so there were only a few people who gave us weird looks.
Wait, actually, I lied. There just weren't very many humans in the store.
There were several witches and warlocks. You could tell because they were using magic to try stuff on. You could tell becausethey would snap and the clothes would disappear off the racks and instantaneously appear on their bodies, negating the need for the changing rooms.
There were also a several werewolves, who you could recognize from the excess amount of hair on their bodies. There were a couple of Invisibles, who you could only tell were there because of the floating clothes. Those were people who had put stuff on their skin to make themselves permanently invisible. I could see a Hyde, recognizable by their fidgeting and muttering like a drug addict - which I guess they were. I even saw an elf, which was weird, as they generally tried to stay in the uninhabited areas of the world.
Probably because of Phoebe, I thought.
Phoebe Mackenzie, as mentioned before, was a Seer. She was one of the very few blessed by God, or The Powers That Be, as a couple of them called Him, that could tell the future by visions sent to them by God. Phoebe, the UK's Seer, hadn't prophesied since…I don't even know when.
We looked through the racks of clothes. Sera found some she liked, and she went into a changing room. I struck up a conversation. His name was Dominic, and, as I guessed, he was there for Phoebe. He was in the clothing store to find some clothes so he could blend in. After a while, Sera came out, and I was taken aback by how amazing she looked. She was wearing a long black cot, as well as black high heels, black leggings, a short black skirt, and a black sleeveless cropped top. And she looked absolutely stunning.
"Looks good," I said.
"Thank you," she said.
Dominic looked back and forth between the both of us. Finally, he said, "You two are connected in vampiric matrimony. Aren't you?"
"Uh, yeah, actually," I said. "How'd you know?"
"He's an elf," said Sera. "They have very…special abilities."
"Well put," said Dominic. "I know how to get you two seperated, you know."
"We know," I said. "One of us has to die."
"True, true," said Dominic. "But there's another way. One only the elves know."
That got our attention.
"How?" said Sera.
"It's a very ancient ritual," said Dominic. "One…only able to be taken by the older crowd of vampires."
"How old?" I asked.
"At least 120 years," he said.
"I was born in 1884," I said.
"And I as well," said Sera.
Dominic nodded. "Good. You can both do it. Come with me."
I paid for Sera's clothes and Dominic led us to the door. When he opened it, there was a forest on the other end. I was surprised, but I realized that Dominic was an elf, and elves have a very ancient type of magic. They probably could make you teleport. We went deep into the forest until Dominic stopped.
"Here," he said. "You will both need to take off your clothes."
"WHAT?!" Sera and I yelled.
"Not all of them, right?" I asked.
Dominic sighed. "If you would like to be seperated, then yes, all your clothes."
Sera and I, red in the face, took off our clothes. Then, both of us standing there naked, Sera asked, "What now?"
"Submerge yourselves waist-deep in the lake," Dominic instructed.
We turned, and there, where I couldn't see it, was a large lake. Sera and I walked in until we were in waist-deep. Dominic walked in behind us.
"Now I will submerge you both in the water," Dominic said. "Oldest first. Close your eyes, Seraphine."
He pinched Sera's nose as she closed her eyes. He dunked her into the water for a second then brought her back up. She was soaked.
"Now you, Will," he said.
He pinched my nose, as well, and dunked me underwater. When I came back up, my wet hair was in my face and I moved it out of my face. Dominic put a hand on Sera's head, and then mine.
"In the name of Yahweh," he said in a deep, booming voice, and Sera hissed quietly at the naem of God. "The Creator God and Father of us all, may these two cursed souls be seperated from their unholy matrimony. HAVAK, TRUNNIS, SURNITAK!"
All at once, I felt a sharp pain shoot through me from Dominic's hand, and Sera yelped. Then Dominic took his hand off of us and the pain was gone.
"Now you will need to drink from one another again," he said. "Except this time, whoever was drunk from first will drink first."
"That'd be Will," Sera said.
She walked slowly closer to me and bared her neck. Her pale, lovely neck. And suddenly I was hungry. So very, very hungry. And so I grabbed Sera and sank my teeth into her neck.
When I finished, I drew my mouth away from Sera and her knees buckled. I held her up and said, "Now it's your turn, Sera."
She looked up at me and stood up on steadier feet. I bared my neck, and the same thing that had just happened began again, except the blood was being drunk from me. And just like that, it was over. Sera licked the blood off her lips and said, "There. Is that it?"
Dominic nodded and said, "You are no longer connected to each other."
I looked within myself and found it so. I no longer felt the inexplicable attraction towards Sera that I had felt before. I looked at her and felt the normal stuff - I felt that she was attractive, as men normally do when they see a naked woman, but nothing more.
"It's gone," I said.
