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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Maria finished all of her work by her second day, quickly sorting through the pile and finishing each task with as much skill as she could manage. "Extremely impressive" were the words Mrs. Weber has used. Maria remembered smiling with pride at the woman's words, against her better judgment. She seemed to be struggling with pride a lot recently.
When Edwin picked her up from her second day of work, she felt happier than she had in awhile. It felt like something new was bubbling up in her, and she was unable to keep it down.
Back at the house, she awkwardly sat in the living room with Clementine, Edwin, and Raven. Raven was sitting casually on Edwin's lap, a sight Maria kept finding herself trying not to look at. It seemed so obscene. She could probably count the number of times she had seen couples share so much as a kiss on one hand. Clementine was boredly watching the television, clearly unaffected by the couple's unwed displays of affection.
Maria found it even harder to concentrate on the television. She had never seen television, except in passing while in stores or doctors offices, and she'd always been told not to stare. In fact, she'd even been told to keep her eyes on the ground in such situations, though she had peeked a time or two. Television was considered obscene and immoral, and Maria could see why. Whatever they were watching had plenty of foul language, and implied sex.
Clementine seemed to notice her unease, her eyes shooting over to her.
"You wanna come to my room?" Clementine asked.
"Uh, I-"
"I was going to let you have some of my old clothes. You've been wearing the same two dresses since you've been here."
"Um, thank you. I'd like that." Maria said, mostly just glad to get away from the situation she was currently in.
Clementine got up, and Maria quickly followed behind her. Part of her was worried Clementine would attack her, and try to bite her when they were alone. No, she told herself, she wouldn't do that with others in the house. It would be too risky. They would want a share too.
The door to her room was identical to most of the others she'd seen, but inside, it was completely different from Carmen's room. Everything was neat and pristine, polished and in place. Slate gray walls were lined with black antique furniture. There was no bed in the room... only a black coffin, lined with lavender satin and quilted blankets.
Clementine noticed her staring.
"Yeah, I sleep in a coffin." She laughed, "I kind of like to ham up the whole vampire thing, now that I don't have to constantly worry about being killed."
Maria's gaze went back to the young girl, puzzled.
"I've been a vampire for a while." She said, "Not quite as long as Mrs. Virgie... But a while. Things weren't always as easy for us back then. I guess they still aren't now, but at least I can leave the house without worrying about getting murdered."
