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 sat in a chair, sweating profusely. Around her were all manner of strange things. Posters of girls in bikinis, neon signs, and strange machinery. The man beside her looked like he was getting surgery, leaned back on a table, a light above him, while another man leaned over him with a buzzing gun.
"You don't have to be so nervous." Carmen said, placing a hand on her shoulder and smiling down at her.
"I-I'm not nervous!" Maria lied.
"Really?" Carmen chuckled. "Because you look even paler than me right now."
"Okay, so I'm a little nervous." She said. "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"
"Nah, I swear. Isn't that right, Switchblade?"
Carmen elbowed Switchblade in the stomach. He quickly elbowed her back and straightened up a bit.
"Uh, Yeah. It doesn't hurt at all."
"I don't trust you!" Maria said. "You've got like a hundred piercings!"
"I've only got sixteen." He said. "And if anything, that means I know which ones hurt the least."
"Just calm down, you're psyching yourself out!" Carmen said. "Here, you can even hold my hand."
Maria took hold of her outstretched hand and put it in an iron grip. Carmen winced, But didn't say anything.
The man they had talked to earlier came back. He had said his name was The Undertaker. He was huge and bald, with a neat row of piercings above his eyebrow. None of that did anything to ease her fears.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
Maria was too scared to form words out loud, so she settled for nodding fearfully up at him.
"Just don't look at the needle." Carmen said. She used her free hand to cover Maria's eyes. Maria tried to focus on her breathing as the man put a clamp down on her earlobe.
There was a quick pinch, and Maria tensed, waiting for something else to happen. But nothing else came.
"Are you gonna do it soon?" she asked.
Carmen and Switchblade both laughed.
"I already did it." The man said, clearly trying to hide his amusement.
Maria dared to peek out between the cracks of Carmen's fingers.
