Persuade Francesca to go to the church

You didn't intend to leave it to chance. If Olivia knows where I am and actually is coming here, I have to persuade them to leave. Fran, the owner, the drinkers... all of them. You didn't know if you could pull it off, but you had to try.

"Fran... Hey, Fran, listen to me." You approached Fran first, who was mixing cocktail for the latest customer, and you believed that you had to tell her the truth, "Olivia is coming. I think we should get everybody out of here and leave."

"What!?" Fran frowned at you and smiled in disbelief, "How do you know?"

"I saw it in my vision!" You were too excited but you tried to keep your voice down, "She got my neighbour and she knows I'm coming to you. We can't stay here!"

"Your vision!? James... This is..." Fran took a deep breath and put the cocktail she's mixing down, "Okay. Again, suppose I believe all the vampire and vision stuff, convincing Victor and everybody is impossible."

"We have to try..."

"Hey, lady!" A drunk came to the counter and dragged Fran's sleeve, "You should... *hiccup*... You should come and drink with us!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm quite busy here." Fran rejected him with a smile.

"Come on! Don't... *hiccup*..." The man kept dragging her, "Don't ruin the moment..."

"She said no, mister." You walked up to him and grabbed his hand.

The drunk man grabbed your collar and said something, but it was too blurry to hear what he said. However, his threatening act and the pressure around your neck, around the bite marks, made you lose your temper for a moment. A sense of **** rushed your mind. On impulse you punched him in the face. He was barely moved by the punch and he returned a strong, straight on your nose. You dropped to the ground.

Your head was buzzing. You touched your nose and felt relieved that, though bleeding, it wasn't broken. And then the fury came in. Fran screamed for the owner as she was about to get out to check on you. But she wasn't even half way through when you got up from the ground and wiped the nosebleed.

You were still a little bit weak after what happened last night but you're strong enough to concentrate your strength. You launched a heavy punch at the drunk man's stomach, and instantly he knelt on the floor and vomited. You intended to keep going, when a powerful hand grabbed your shoulder and stopped you from doing so.

"That's enough." The boss of this bar, Victor, said behind you.

"Let go of me!" You shouted furiously and was trying to kick that man's ass.

"Alright! Both of you just get out of my bar!" Victor pushed you and you felt his strength. It was unwise to disobey him here. The drunk man was not doing well, either, but his friends were already holding him up and leaving the bar.

"Hey, Victor. He's just feeling uncomfortable. I'm sure-" Fran tried to speak for you.

"Is this the friend you told me about? An excellent detective, or investigator, whatever? If you're harassed by customers, you should call for me first, instead of asking your big friend to start a fight!" Victor was a little bit angry at her, too. He saw your nosebleed and those wounds on your neck, and sighed, "Take your friend and leave, Fran. You should take a day off tomorrow and get him to the hospital."

Although the bar's owner was a little bit harsh on you, you knew that deep down he was a good man. And that's why you didn't want to just give up.

"Victor. I apologize for causing the trouble, but-" You still tried to convince the owner to leave.

"Mr. Wilson, right? I can't run the bar if the customers know that I keep a violent guy like you around." Victor held his hand in front of you and indicated you to stop, "Please, don't waste my generosity and just leave."

You were about to say something, but you noticed that Fran was winking at you behind Victor. You sighed helpless as you knew there was nothing you could do. You nodded with a grateful smile, turned around and left the bar. You waited in the cold wind for several minutes until you saw Fran coming out from the back door.

You arrived at the church at around 9 p.m.. You decided to come here first since you barely knew anything about vampires. The more closer you got to the door, the hotter you felt. But you managed to reach it with Fran's help and knocked anxiously. Several seconds later, a mid-aged man wearing a black suit answered the door. He seemed to be shocked to see you.

"Mr. Wilson! I'm glad you're still alive. And this is..." He opened the door and curiously looked at Fran. His voice sounds familiar, you thought.

"My name is Francesca Evans, nice to meet you." Fran smiled politely.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Evans. I'm Brandon, the priest here." He happily led you in, "But I'm afraid that we don't have much time to chat right now. Please, come inside."

While following the priest, You felt your strength was losing when you went deeper into the church. Brandon guided you to a room and indicated that you should rest on the bed.

"The vampire blood is still inside your body and it's being rejected by the holy ground. It's killing you. Please wait for a minute." Brandon left the room quickly.

You sat on the bed as you couldn't keep standing anymore. The heat in your body was spreading so fast that you felt like you're burning. You twitched and slightly groaned in pain. Fran anxiously touched your forehead and noticed that you were having a terrible fever. But before she could do anything to help, Brandon returned with a cup of water - at least you thought it was water - in his hands.

"What is this?" You felt like you're afraid of it and stayed back for a bit.

"Holy water. You must drink it to cure yourself, otherwise you'll turn or die in a few minutes." Brandon stepped closer.

You managed to suppress the unreasonable fear and drank up all the water in the cup. As soon as the cool water flowed through your throat, the heat inside you was quickly cleansed in a few minutes. Fran was comforting you all this time. She held your hand tightly and she sang you a lullaby like you were just a frightened child.

You twitched painfully on the bed and groaned for several times, but you felt calm when you heard Fran's soothing voice. You endured it. The pain has come and gone, and you felt energetic again.

"Oh God, James..." Fran almost cried, "You looked terrible..."

"Been worse... I'm alright now." You patted her head gently, "Sorry to get you worried."

"Congratulations, Mr. Wilson." Brandon was sitting by the bed. He greeted you with a smile, "You came here in time. The curing process could be much more horrible if you were to come later."

"I feel better... Thank you." You stood up from the bed and shook hands with him, "Could you please explain what's going on?"

"Just like what I've mentioned to you before, you've drunk vampire blood and you're turning into one." Brandon spoke calmly, "Normally the time required for a victim to turn varies from minutes to hours, a day tops, based on how much they've drunk and how much blood they've lost prior. You lasted for more than a day. It's a miracle."

"So... the holy water actually works."

"Yes. Holy water can cleanse the vampire blood in your body before you turn." Brandon continued to explain and led you outside, "It works only in the church. That's why I must ask you to come here."

"What? How's that possible?" Fran was astonished to hear that, "Are you saying that the holy water loses its blessings outside the church?"

"The blessing expires in 3 minutes outside the church. Since the moment the veil of corruption began to lift, all divine blessings on subjects will diminish quickly outside the holy ground." Brandon helplessly shook his head, "I can perform a ritual to bless the water outside, if necessary, but it takes about 10 minutes and I can't be disturbed."

"The veil of corruption? What is that?" You wondered.

"It's just a myth. We don't know what exactly happened, but after some point of time in the past, all kinds of monsters became real and came to our world. Vampires are just one of them."

"Jesus Christ..." Fran covered her mouth in shock.

"So, Mr. Wilson. I have some questions, too, if you don't mind." Brandon led you to another room where he usually lived, "A vampire sneaked into the city about a week ago. He was responsible for the cases you and the police were investigating. I killed him when he was feeding on a victim, and I'm sure he hasn't turned any fledgling yet. So, where did that vampire who bit you come from?"

"The police found some blood on the last victim." You thought for a second and continued, "It's probably from when you killed the vampire, but we didn't know back then. So I asked Olivia to examine the blood sample. And... Olivia told me that there was a voice in her head telling her to drink it..."

"That... that's impossible..." Brandon was shocked, "A drop of vampire blood couldn't do that..."

"Wait, James said her had a vision, that Olivia was going to the bar and was about to feed on everyone. Is that true?" Fran interrupted you and asked.

"You tried to connect your mind with hers?" Brandon looked at you in surprise, and you nodded, "It's true. The mind connection between a vampire and a bitten victim is very strong. Mr. Wilson could've seen every detail."

Fran shivered at the reply, grabbed her cellphone and went out the room. "Tracy? Are you alright?" You heard lustful moans coming from the other end and Fran crying for a few times before she went back in the room, sobbing.

"We must go back to help them!" Fran exclaimed with tears rolling down her cheek, "Priest Brandon, please tell me that you can help."

"I'm sorry, but those completely turned are beyond help. I've contacted Vatican and asked for reinforcement right after I called Mr. Wilson. Elite vampire hunters of the United States will be coming tomorrow night and taking over my position." Brandon began to pack his things, "Let the professionals do their work."

Fran couldn't believe that things would get worse this quickly. She sat by the bed and covered her face.

"Tomorrow night? It will be too late!" You shouted in disbelief, "There are dozens of them already, and there could be hundreds if not thousands when they come!"

"It's too late already, Mr. Wilson." Brandon shook his head.

"Okay, you don't want to help, fine. But how do we kill vampires?" You anxiously asked. You couldn't just wait for Olivia to show up again. You needed to be prepared.

"Decapitate them, stake their heart and burn them with sunlight. I think that basically sums up." Brandon replied and frowned, "But I'm afraid that neither of us could deal with that vampire alone. The most conservative plan for you would be leaving the city with your loved ones before the war started, while you still can. You're welcomed to stay here tonight and leave with me tomorrow night."

"Thank you. I'll think about it." You nodded in respect.

You gently comforted Fran who was still grieving for her friends. But the dire situation Brandon just mentioned upset you right away. You're just an investigator. Fighting supernatural monsters, which you just knew that they existed last night, was not your job.

"If I had believed more in you, I could've warn them... I'm sorry..." Fran cried in a shaking tone.

"If I were you, I probably wouldn't believe you if someone told me vampires existed a few days ago, either." You held her shoulder, "Don't blame yourself."

You stayed in the church for the night. Fran slept in the guest room, and you in the study. Even though you knew that this was probably the only place that was safe in the city, you couldn't sleep well.

What would you do tomorrow? What could you do? You closed your eyes and tried to calm down.